Mastermind Excello

In the middle of the desert, Amadeus Cho gets a call from a woman named Agent Sexton. Cho isn’t intersted in talking to her, because he blames Sexton for blowing up his home. She insists that it was her enemies and asks Amadeus to come back as she needs him to work for her organization before her enemies can get to the boy first.[1] Cho, however, doesn’t believe her. Agent Sexton conceeds and asks Amadeus to keep a low profile while she can bring him irrefutable proof that she is telling the truth. As he ends the call, Sexton pleades with Amadeus to stay out of trouble as the forces that are hunting him are seeking to use him to destroy the world. As he ends the call he spots a coyote pup by the side of its mother, who had been run over on the street. Seeing vultures circling overhead, Amadeus decides to take the pup.

On his scooter, Amadeus soon arrives at a diner where he gets some food and sits in the back booth so he can keep a low profile, as well as feed the coyote pup, which he has hiding in his jacket. As he eats, a news report comes on the television about him. The reporter mentions how Amadeus was crowned “Mastermind Excello” after getting the high score in the Excello Soap companies “Brain Fight” internet game show. He then talks about how the Cho family home was destroyed and the family is feared to have all perished in the blast. The reception suddenly goes out. One of the patrons notices that this was caused by Cho who is using a pocket recorder to somehow jam the signal.[2]

That’s when the waitress notices that Amadeus has what she thinks is a dog hiding in his jacket. When she tells him dogs aren’t alowed, she notices that it’s actually a coyote put and alerts Bob, a police officer, of the situation. Amadeus tries to convince them that the pup is actually a dog, but officer Bob doesn’t buy it, saying that the pup needs to be killed since there has been a rabies alert in the area. Both the officer and the man at the lunch counter tell Amadeus not to be stupid.

However, Cho refuses. Hitting another button on his audio recorder, he causes the television signal to come back with amplified volume. While everyone is disorientated, Amadeus figures out the equation needed to get out of this situation. Quickly, he uses his straw to spit a lemon seed at Bob. He then leaps over the table, throwing pepper in the officer’s face. On his way out, he Cho kicks over a display case containing pies, causing it to fall on Bob and the waitress. Getting outside, Amadeus tries to escape on his scooter. That’s when a military helicopter arrives on the scene and begins following him. When the pilots try to target the boy, Amadeus kicks up his side-view mirror causing the laser sight from the chopper to bounce back and blind the pilot. This causes a missile to misfire and head directly at the man who was sitting at the lunch counter inside the diner. At first it looks like this stranger got atomized, however, as the smoke clear Amadeus is surprised to see that this man was Bruce Banner, who saved his life by changing into the Hulk. When Amadeus tries to convince the Hulk that it wasn’t his fault, the gamma-spawned brute knows this and when the chopper fires another missile, the Hulk punches it away. The Hulk then carries Amadeus to safety, stopping to get more food because using his hightened intelligence makes Amadeus very hungry.

Once they are safetly away, the Hulk asks Amadeus what Bruce Banner said to him before things went south at the diner. Cho tells the Hulk how his alter-ego told him to not be stupid. The Hulk scoffs at this, telling him that Banner is a weakling, not like them, and then leaps away. That’s when Agent Sexton calls Amadeus again to try and convince him to listen. He tlels her that he is going to come to them. When she asks how he plans on doing that, he assures her that he’ll think of something.

Recurring Characters

Mastermind Excello, Agent Sexton, Hulk, Kirby

Continuity Notes

1. Agent Sexton is later revealed to be Athena, the Greek Goddess. As explained in Incredible Hercules #126, she had visions that Amadeus had a future helping Hercules remain a force for good.

2. It’s later explained in Incredible Hercules #137 that Amadeus was targeted by Pythagoras Dupree, the 7th smartest man in the world, whom Amadeus defeated on “Brain Fight”, he was also the one responsible for blowing up the Cho family home. That story also confirms that Amadeus’s parents were killed in the blast.

Topical References

• The television in the diner is a CRT television.

• Amadeus Cho is depicted using a pocket tape recorder.

Heavy on the Action, Light on Plot

The duo known as Blackjack are on a mission in London that has every vampire in the area after them. As they flee from the bloosuckers, the pair refresh themselves on the various weaknesses that vampires have. However, they are soon surrounded in a park by the undead hordes. The leader of the vampires tells Ace and One-Eyed Jacquie that there is nowhere to hide. However, Ace doesn’t think so and pushes a button on a remote control. It causes a satellite in orbid to redirect its mirrors so that it deflects sunlight onto the park causing the vampires to all die. That’s when they get a call from their handlers at GRANDPA to ask if the space mirror worked and if they can shut it off now. Ace tells them that it was success but not to shut off the sunlight as Jacquie is taking the opportunity to get a tan.

Recurring Characters

Blackjack (Ace, One-Eyed Jacquie), Vampires

The Man With the X-Ray Eyes

At the Great Wall of Video, Paul Vance turns off the lights for the night and then attempts to burn the place down. Unfortuantely, this backfires as he also lights himself on fire in the process.

Ten days later, Vance wakes up in the hospital covered in bandages. He is woken up by Detective Blake who wants to know about the fire at Paul’s shop but first wants to read him his rights. Paul is horrified by the detective and his partner, as he sees them as glowing skeletons. This is because Paul is emmitting x-rays from his eyes. Quickly both Detective Blake and his partner catch fire and are burned down to their skeletons by the intense x-rays coming from Paul’s eyes. Grabbing a gun, Vance climbs out the windows and steals a motorcycle.

He drives home where he discovers his girlfriend Janie has left, taking everything with her but the phone. He tries calling her cell, but a man answers the phone. He tells Paul that Janie doesn’t want to talk to him, however she takes the phone back and tries to tell her everything that happened. Janie is uninterested, telling Paul that it’s over between them and she is with someone else now. She tells him that he’s not going to get any insurance money since the authorities found out that he burned down his business. Paul is furious, because that was Janie’s idea, but she dismisses it and decides to blow off the phone call, telling him that she didn’t take everything as she left his video camera.

Three hours later, Paul goes to the rival Big Budget Video where he confronts the owner, who wants to know why Paul has a video camera strapped to his head. Paul explains that he is making a movie for his girlfriend. He tells the distracted video store owner that he was inspired by an old Roger Corman movie from the sixties, The Man With the X-Ray Eyes and unleashes the full force of his x-ray vision.

Continuity notes

• Usually I’d say point out that a video rental store would be considered a topical reference in most stories since they are not as ubiquitious as they were in the past due to streaming video services. Likewise the fact that Vance is using a camcorder. However, this story is a homage to the science fiction stories that were prominent in the first volume of Amazing Fantasy. One could assume that this story takes place in the late 90s, early 2000s in which this story was published instead of the vague “Modern Age” of the Marvel Universe.

The Winning Hand

The massive alien known as Terminus is attacking Tokyo and the military is having no luck stopping the alien’s rampage. That’s when GRANDPA sends their Black Jack operatives — Ace and One-Eyed Jacquie. They arrive on jetpacks carrying a massive crate. When they land, they use their thumb prints and voice authorization to open the contain and produce what appears to be the Ultimate Nullifier. When Jacquie threatns to use it on Terminus, the alien instantly surrenders.

With the danger over, the pair return to the island headquarters of GRANDPA where they return the “Ultimate Nullifier” with the rest of their props.

Recurring Characters

Blackjack (Ace, One-Eyed Jacquie), Terminus

Monstro

Frank Johnson and his friend John are returning back to the firehouse after buying a bunch of boxes of donuts for the other firefighters. Along the way, Frank tells John that he doesn’t watch television, prefering to read over something he considers a dying medium. They then get to talking about John’s family. He tells him that between his daughter’s tuition at Emprie University and his son’s hospital bills, he’s not doing so well financially. Even though John’s life is pretty crappy right now, Frank insists that he tell a good story. John then tells Frank about how he took his son to Central Park to fly kites before the boy’s asthema got bad and how they later went for dinner with his daughter. Seeing Frank smile, prompts John to call him a big softie.

When they arrive at the fire station one of the other firefighters complains about there only being glazed donuts. The situation is quickly put to rest when the fire bell goes off, prompting them all to get into their gear. Frank and the others arrive at a burning apartment building. There an elderly woman tells Frank that her husband is trapped inside. Frank then surprises the bystanders by climbing up the side of the building with his bare hands using his superhuman strength to tig his fingers and feet into the building. He finds the man trapped inside who tells Frank that he wants to die in the fire admitting that he intentionally started the fire.

Frank ignores this and leaps out the window, landing safely on the ground and hands over the man to the emergency crews that have arrived. As Frank and John walk away from the scene he tells John what happened and tells him to charge the elderly man with arson. John commends Frank on a job well done, saying that Monstro has struck again. Frank dismisses this nickname and reluctantly agrees to be examined by the paramedics who insist that its procedure. As they are checking his condition, John asks why Frank wastes his time with the New York Fire Department when his powers could qualify him for membership in the Avengers. As the press arrives on the scene and try to get a look at Frank, he tells John to help him get out of there as he doesn’t want to be on television. John helps Frank get away, but warns Frank that sooner or later they’re not going to be able to hide his superhuman powers if he continues to use them to make daring escapes. However, Frank won’t tell him why he wants to keep this a secret and why he doesn’t like people knowing about his powers.

That evening, Frank drinks alone in his dark apartment looking at an old family photograph. Seeing a photo of himself with his wife and daughter, Frank begins to cry.[1]

Recurring Characters

Monstro

Continuity Notes

1. It’s later revealed in Irredeemable Ant-Man #9 that Monstro accidentally killed his family shortly after he got his powers. Not knowing his new strength level he caused his family home to collapse, accidentally killing his wife and child.

You Say You Want an Evolution?

The mad scientist known as King SImian has created a device to make him and his Primateers human while simultaneously turning every human on Earth into humanoid dinosuars. Luckily, GRANDPA has called in their Blackjack operatives. While Ace and One-Eyed' Jacquie fight with the Primateers, King Simian attempts to activate his time machine to dump a devolving agent into the primordeal soup in order to drop humanity down further the evolutionary ladder. However, King SImian doesn’t account for Ace’s gun loaded with explosive bullets. With the time machine destroyed, everyone is restored to normal, including King Simian and his minions who are now apeas again. Ace and Jacquie then has the criminal apes locked up in the Bronx Zoo.

Recurring Characters

Blackjack (Ace, One-Eyed Jacquie)

Heartbreak Kid

Peter Parker arrives for classes at Midtown HIgh and discovers the kids are still gossiping about him even though his Uncle Ben was murdered over the weekend.[1] This only make Peter feel worse since he blames himself for the death of his Uncle Ben. With his powers as Spider-Man he could have stopped the burglar weeks earlier but decided not to act. Sitting alone at lunch time, Peter wonders how he’ll be able to keep on going with this crushing sense of responsibility, worrying that he’ll never feel okay ever again.

Not far away, Danny Shepart — the Heartbreak Kid — can sense that he is needed at Midtown HIgh. Danny has powers of his own that draw him to the pain of others. He discovered that he had these abilities two years earlier, he left his home of Abbotsford, Ohio, and has been wandering the coutry ever since. He has been using his powers to find those who are crushed with immesurable grief and freeing them from it. Inside the school, he senses a great deal of pain from the students who attend this school.[2] From Flash Thompson, Danny feels his insecurities and fears that he may have peaked in life at seventeen years old. From Liz Allan he senses her fears that her friends will shun her if they learn that she has a crush on Peter Parker.

Danny pushes past them all to find the source of the most grief and finds it when he comes upon Peter Parker sitting alone in the lunch room. Danny asks to sit with him. Peter agrees, but becomes very upset when Danny tells him that he knows how Peter feels, knows everything about him — including how he was bitten by a radioactive spider — and explains that he has his own powers and has come to take Peter’s grief away. Realizing that Danny is not a student at their school, he is horrifed to discover that Danny is nothing more than some kind of vampire, feeding off other people’s emotions.

Peter rejects Dann’ys offer, telling him that the pain, sadness, and anger he feels is all he has left of his Uncle Ben. Thinks about something his Aunt May told him when they visited his uncle’s grave. She told him that the grief over Ben’s death will become more managable every day and that such grief is a good thing, as it will help remind Peter of the things that Ben taught him. Thinking about telling Danny all of this, Peter decides against it and leaves without another word. While this reinforces the harsh lessons Peter Parker learned following the death of his Uncle Ben, but for the Heartbreak Kid it teaches him an important lesson about the nature of his powers. Danny soon leaves Midtown High to see where his powers will lead him next.

Recurring Characters

Heartbreak Kid, Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn, Liz Allan, Aunt May

Continuity Notes

1. Sure, why not celebrate the 15th issue of the original Amazing Fantasy with a reference to poor Uncle Ben.

2. One of the teens is said to feel that he will never live up to the expectations of his father, a wealthy tycoon. Presumably, this kid is intended to be Harry Osborn. However, Harry never attended Midtown High. He first met Peter in Amazing Spider-Man #31, when Peter started attending Empire State University. In fact, Spider-Man #-1 states that Harry attended Standard High School. Any assumption that this is Harry Osborn should be considered incorrect.

Happy Ending

Alien robots have come to Earth and opened veraious Utopia Centers around the globes where humans can find everything they could ever want for free. That’s when GRANDPA’s Blackjack team attacks one Utopica Center. As they destroy the center and all the robots, the aliens try to explain that they came to from beyond the starts to bring huamnity contentment. However, Ace and One-Eyed Jacquie are part of a coordinated effort by GRANDPA to destroy these invaders, as they believe that humanity needs to know discontent. After they have destoryed this Utopia Center the people complain about having utopia taken away from them. Hearing that people are disappointed, Ace considers their mission a complete success.

Recurring Characters

Blackjack (Ace, One-Eyed Jacquie)

Poistron

In Atlanta, a girl named Annie is brought onto a rooftop by Jackson, a young man she has only known for the past 27 hours. They feel a strong connection and the two are about to kiss when Annie decides against it. She tells Jackson that they can’t get close because it might put him in danger as her father is after her. Jackson insists that he can protect her when suddenly they are both blinded by some bright lights. by three flying drones sent by her father.

Jackson tells Annie to get back and let him hand it, but she tells him that she can deal with this. Annie suddenly turns into an energy form and blasts the drones with relative ease. She then tells Jackson that she is made of positronic energy and that her “skin” is merely a shell. That’s when her father arrives in a drone of his own to collect his daughter. Annie tells her father that she refuses to return with him and be his guinea pig. However, that’s when Jackson places an inhibitor device on the back of Annie’s neck, incapacitating her and forcing her to revert back to human form. As it turns out, Jackson was hired by Annie’s father and in the aftermath of the battle, he tires to pay Jackson, who has had some second thoughts about his involvement in Annie’s capture and refuses the money her father was going to pay him.

Satisfied, the scientist collects his daughter and bids Jackson farewell.[1]

Continuity Notes

1. This story is ended with the tag “To be Continued?” suggesting that Positron would be returning at some point. However, as I write this (July 2020), she as yet to appear in any other stories.

The Guy in Spider-Man’s Armpit

Steve is on the phone with his friend Stan, telling him how he saw someone swing by his window. As he tries to explain what he saw, Steve leans out the window and accidentally falls out. His fall is broken by Spider-Man, who has swung back and saves the man. As Spider-Man boasts that people mock his alter-ego, Peter Parker, he knows that the world will soon marvel at Spider-Man. Steve doesn’t hear all of this because he is too busy screaming at the top of his lungs.

When Spider-Man gets Steve safely to the ground tells him to take it easy and then hands tickets for Spider-Man’s televised appearance at the Ed Sullivan Theater before swinging away.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man