Captain America Comics #28

Aug 1

Aug 1 Captain America Comics #28

The Challenge of the Mad Torso

In Berlin, Germany, Adolf Hitler calls in Japanese emperor Hirohito and Italian ruler Benito Mussolini or an emergency meeting. He shows them a letter from a mysterious spy named the Torso who has offered to eliminate Captain America should they agree to supply him with all the funds, equipment and minions he needs. Exasperated by such a request, Hitler and his cronies decide to accept the offer and Hitler places the call.

In the United States, Steve Rogers and James Barnes are returning to base after a furlough and back in their tent Steve finds a note from the Torso. The villain has somehow learned his secret identity and has offered him a challenge, saying that the hero would be incapable of solving the various clues needed to locate him. Recalling that the Torso was responsible for a string of sabotage at local plants and the disappearance of brilliant scientists, they decide to deal take the spies challenge.

The first clue tells them that Doctor Robert Winters will vanish at midnight. That night, as Captain America and Bucky, the two heroes watch over Winters home. When they see Winters leaving his home to board a strange car they confront him but find that he is going willingly to visit a Dr. Roerich. As the car drives away, Cap notes the scientists glassy far-off looks and realizes that he was under the influence of some kind of drug and they follow after the car. The trail leads them to the Roerich Sanitarium where they are invited inside by Dr. Roerich himself. Cap notices a strange smell and the two realize too late that its a gas and they are knocked out. They are locked in individual padded cells to be dealt with later. With no way out, the duo scale the walls of the small rooms and wait for someone to check on them. One of Roerich's men checks Cap's room and when he finds it "empty" he leaves the cell door open as he goes to check if Bucky is still in his. Bucky climbs into Cap's cell through a vent and the two lock the assistant in Bucky's cell. They fight their way to Roerich's office and force him to provide answers. He tells them that Dr. Winters was taken in a truck marked "books" and gives them a note from the Torso. The note tells them that their next clue will meet them at the train station.

There they arrive just as a train is pulling out of the station. Jumping aboard they attack some men inside one of the open cars and tie them up. Inside the crate where they are told Winters is inside they find that he is dead. Another note tells them that their next clue awaits them in the Westown. There they get off the train and find a dead end until they question the station manager who tells them that the only regular visits is a delivery of books that are lugged up to a nearby monastery in the hills. The two heroes travel there and chase after the hermit who lives there but he manages to give them the slip. Examining his organ, they find that a certain depression of keys causes a secret passageway to open leading them to a large tower with no way up. At the top, the hermit tosses down another note this one encourages Captain America and Bucky to climb up the rope that the hermit is then dropping, telling them the next clue is in the belfry above. However, as they begin to climb, the hermit motions to cut the rope. Cap warns Bucky in enough time for the pair to begin sliding down the rope so that when the hermit cuts it, their fall has been lessened and they only sustain minor injuries.

Trapped in the room, Cap jumps out of one of the windows aiming for the river down the mountain below. Landing without injury, Cap makes his way back up to the monastery and frees Bucky from the room. Searing the premises they find a staircase that leads them up to the belfry. From there they spot a cable car that leads to another mountain. With the car on the other side of the mountain and no controls to call it back, they climb across the chasm by pulling themselves across the cables. On the opposite side they are welcomed in by the Torso.

They are shocked that the Torso lives up to his name sake. He explains that his arms and legs were blown off in an explosion and he had created mechanical limbs to replace the ones he lost. Angry at the world that maimed him he tells them that he seeks to take over the United States and make them suffer as he has. Then he wishes to eliminate the human race and replace it with a master race of his own creation. When the two heroes attempt to attack the he fires electrical jolts from his hands that subdue them. The Torso then shows them around his lab and the horrible abominations, amalgamations of man and beast, that he has created as well as the captured scientists that he has been experimenting on.

Realizing that the majority of the Toro's power is transmitted through the metal floor, Cap grabs him and lifts the villain over his head. While the Torso is shocking him, Bucky rushes to the control panel and cuts off his power supply. Freeing the captured scientists unaltered by the Torso, Cap sends Bucky to lead them back to the cable car. Alone, Cap is tricked by the Torso into being placed as his desk. There the Torso grabs a portable dynamo that powers his artificial limbs and jolts Cap, grabs Bucky and then flees through a secret elevator to the mountains outside. Cap follows after him and when the Torso sees him, he tosses Bucky down. Cap grabs the boy, and the Torso looses his footing and begins tumbling down the mountain. Rolling into a gigantic snow ball, he ends up rolling off a cliff and falls to an explosive death that destroys his base and all the horrible creatures inside.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky, Nazis (Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goring, Joseph Goebbels), Hirohito, Benito Mussolini

Black Voodoo Murders

Frank von Kirsten was an African explorer from Germany who fled his motherland, stealing state secrets when defecting to the United States. Now with these plans he has contacted the FBI who have sent one of their agents to collect them. As they discuss the turning over of the plans over a pot of coffee, the FBI agent suddenly keels over dead, having been poisoned. Fred then calls the Human Torch and Toro who agree to come and bring the authorities.

When the two flaming heroes arrive they are greeted by Von Kirsten's daughter and learn that the police are holding him for murder. They walk in on the interrogation just as Frank tells the authorities that he was going to hand over some stolen Nazi plans when they notice the plans have gone missing.

Noting that Frank's daughter had been the only one in the room, the Torch rushes out of the house to find her and sees her leaving out the back yard with the plans in her arms. When the Torch stops her and asks her whats going on, Frank's butler -- from the upstairs window -- attempts to poison the Torch with a blow gun. Feeling the dart strike his neck, the Torch flames on burning the poison dart away before it can effect him. He then flies up into the room which is where Frank has kept all his souvineers from his expeditions into Africa. The butler, having hidden in a coffin uses a witch doctors drum to play a beat that makes the Torch begin to grow tired and pass out then sends out a massive boa constrictor to kill him.

By this point Toro has gone to find his mentor and runs into Frank's daughter who tells him what had happened. Flying into the room upstairs, Toro kills the snake trying to crush his mentor and when the butler attempts to escape, Toro encircles him in a flame and he is turned over to the authorities. Later they find out that Frank's daughter took the plans because the butler had threatened her father’s life.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro, Nazis

The Vultures of Violent Death

Steve Rogers and James Barnes are deployed to the Solomon Islands where military brass are attempting to find a secret Japanese airbase located in the New Guinea area. As the two privates bunk down for the night, Steve waits for Bucky to fall asleep and goes out as Captain America, as Cap has been asked to assist in the search. He is unaware that James had heard him awoke and is following him as Bucky and climbs onto the wing of his plane. Told about his stow away from the control tower, Cap takes the boy in and cannot turn back due to the urgency of his mission. They are soon ambushed by a squad of Japanese Zero fighters and are foced to eject from their plane and parachute to the ground below. The Zeroes turn around to shoot them out of the sky, by Cap blocks their shots wit his shield.

On the ground, they are ambushed in the jungle from a number of natives who are called the Birdmen of Pa-Pi-Ru-Gua who easily overpower the two heroes and take them prisoner. To their surprise they are lead to a clearing where they are loaded up on massive birds that fly them to a nearby dormant volcano which is where the Japanese have set up their secret base.

There they are brought before the ruler of the Birdmen who order that Captain America be put on the Three Trials of Ru-Gu-Ri-Bi. If Cap passes the trials he and Bucky would be let go, but if they failed they would be fed to the massive birds in the Birdmen's care. They are forced into a hut where many American soldiers are kept prisoner. Cap is shocked to find that they are malnourished and in poor shape. They begin planning how to escape while the Japanese are busy watching the trails.

As Cap fights off a gorilla and then swims through alligator infested waters, Bucky and the other soldiers jump the guards left behind to watch them and steals their uniforms. Then using this to cover their movements steal one of the planes just as Cap makes a run for it and they manage to take off, gunning down any Japanese who get in their way. As they are pulling out of the dormant volcano, they drop bombs causing it to become active again and destroy the Japanese base and everything inside.