Captain America Comics #40

Aug 1

Aug 1 Captain America Comics #40

The Jester of Death

Steve Rogers and James Barnes join General Haywood in visiting the House of Pranks, a new attraction built by Haywood's old friend Bryce, a devoted practical joker. They are greeted by the house mascot, the Jester (Whom everyone believes is Bryce) who gives them a good scare with a fake gun and wild dogs before inviting them to his "Arsenic Bar", when one of the patrons drinks on the of the beverages and actually dies of Arsenic poisoning, everyone thinks it is part of the prank and continue on the tour. Everyone except Steve and James who go back and investigate and find that the patron really is dead.

Realizing that all the guests are in danger they change into Captain America and Bucky and race after the Jester to stop him before anyone else gets killed. They catch up to the other guests to a torture room. There one of the guests has agreed to be tied to what he believes to be a gag torture wheel. The guests all play along until the man on the wheel actually starts screaming in pain. Captain America knocks the Jester down, but when he goes to remove the man from the torture wheel he finds that he is already dead. Before they can subdue the Jester, he flees the scene.

Captain America and Bucky chase after the Jester, but he slows them up with various traps until he finally gets them to walk over a trap floor. Surviving the fall, Captain America and Bucky find Bryce locked up in a cell. Bryce tells them that someone had jumped him and has been impersonating him ever since. With Bryce's help, the two heroes use a series of secret passages to locate the Jester who had just captured General Haywood and is about to torture him next. Captain America knocks out the Jester and unmasks him. The Jester is revealed to be a man named Johnnie Pinkham who had grown embittered after being humiliated by a prank played on him by Bryce years earlier. While everyone's guard is down the Jester then tries to flee the scene out of an elevator, but it is not in the shaft and the Jester seemingly falls to his death.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky, General Haywood

The Bloody Assassin

The Human Torch and Toro are on their way to the Falcon Aircraft Plant in Washington D.C. to be on hand for a high profile military meeting. As they fly past Washington Park, some Nazi spies murder the body guard for General Mershing. The shots attract the attention of the two flaming heroes who double back to investigate. Finding the body and confirming his identity, the Torch and Toro follow after the killer but lose him among some derelict buildings.

Searching the properties, they over hear Nazi spies led by a man named Loerder as they plot to eliminate Mershing and sabotage the Falcon plant. Hearing the heroes snooping around, Loerder and his men ambush the heroes and douse them with fire retardant spray and knock them out. They then seal the two heroes in air tight glass cylinders and leave them to die. Left alone, the two heroes rock their prisons until they tip over and smash open on the spikes of a nearby iron maiden.

The heroes then round up Loerder and his men, and then race off to the Falcon plant where Mershing is about to christen some new aircraft. They prevent the assassin from killing Mershing and turn him over to the authorities.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro, Nazis

Auction of Death

Lighthouse Island is rocked by a strange meteor that falls out of the sky. When the lighthouse keeper and his assistant go to investigate the impact the following morning they find the fragments of a strange glowing meteor in the crater. Examining the rock, they are shocked to find that when light is reflected through the fragments it creates a powerful and destructive beam. The assistant, seeing the money making potential kills his boss and then sends out notices to the American, Nazi and Japanese governments offering to sell the meteor to the highest bidder.

In the United States, President Roosevelt sends a team to participate in the bidding, but suspecting treachery on the part of other parties he calls on Captain America and Bucky to help ensure that America secures the weapon. While in Nazi Germany, Hitler and his minions decide to send some men in secret to steal the weapon and betray their allies the Japanese. While in Japan, Hirohito is plotting to do the same exact thing to the Nazis.

Later, in their civilian guises of Steve Rogers and James Barnes, Captain America and Bucky spot an classified ad in the newspaper asking them to come to Lighthouse Island in advance of the auction. Heading out on a PT Boat, Cap and Bucky spot a Nazi submarine attempting to sneak its way to the island and attack. During their attack on the Nazi sub, a Japanese sub surfaces from the water as well. As both Japanese and German forces bicker with each other over the obvious betrayals, Captain America and Bucky dive into the water and swim the rest of the way to the island. As the two Axis forces decide to go to the island together, they are spotted by the "Keeper of the Flash" who decides to teach them a lesson for attempting to come to the island early and uses the meteor fragment to destroy both subs.

However, undaunted the Japanese and Nazi agents make it to the island and run into Captain America and Bucky again and a fight breaks out. The two heroes are then tied up and placed in a cave while the Axis agents try to obtain the weapon for the mornings bidding.

The following morning, the Nazis inform the Americans that they have Captain America and Bucky prisoner and that they must lose the auction if they wish to keep the heroes alive. However, Captain America tells General Haywood that the weapon is more important than their lives and to continue bidding against the Nazis and Japanese.

When the Americans attempt to outbid the Axis representatives, they become furious and send men to kill Captain America and Bucky. However, the two heroes have used bones in the cave to break free from their bonds and in the ensuing scuffle a Nazi agent murders the Keeper, but Captain America manages to grab the meteor fragment, frightening the Nazi and Japanese agents away. Cap, deciding that the weapon is too powerful for any one party, uses the fragment to destroy the rest of the meteor and then Bucky tosses the last remaining fragment into the ocean.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky, General Haywood, Nazis (Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goring), Imperial Japan (Emperor Hirohito)

The Mystery of the Floating City

On guard at a coastal airfield, Steve Rogers and James Barns watch as another bomber heads off to England. However, Steve has his worries about if it will ever make his destination after reports of bombers going missing over the Atlantic. After hearing yet another bomber has gone missing, the two go to the map room where they examine the reports and pinpoint a specific location where the bombers seem to go missing.

Changing into Captain America and Bucky the pair visit General Haywood and get his permission to investigate the disappearances. They arrive just as Haywood is getting a report that the last bomber to go missing reported a strange floating island before the radio went dead. When Captain America and Bucky take a bomber across the Atlantic on the same course, they find the mysterious floating island which they are shocked to find is a massive floating city.

Their plane is then shot down and crashes in the water. Abandoning ship, Cap and Bucky begin swimming to shore when they are suddenly approached by strange people who are able to walk on water. Thinking that they are to be taken prisoner, Cap and Bucky defend themselves until their leader -- a man named Lyander -- tells them that they are friends. Fitting Cap and Bucky with special boots that allow them to walk on water, they come to shore on the island. there Lyander explains that their home has been taken over by the Nazis and he is part of a resistance movement to force their oppressors out of their peaceful land, which they have kept hidden over the years by avoiding detection.

Sneaking their way to the rebels secret base, Captain America and Bucky agree to help Lyander and his people break free from their Nazi captors. Sneaking to the Nazis main base, Captain America and Bucky begin fighting their way deeper into the complex and finds a number of Nazi subs cradled within. When the commanding officer of the Nazi operation learns Captain America and Bucky are on the premises he orders a red alert and orders that the intruders be captured alive. Captured, the two heroes are dropped in the sub cradle where a sea monster is unleashed to kill them. Cap and Bucky climb aboard one of the U-Boat and use it to kill the monster.

As the Nazi commander orders his men to kill the two heroes, Lyander and his men storm the Nazi base. With the Nazis overpowered by the resistance, they are easily subdued and their leader commits suicide by shooting himself in the head to avoid capture. With the Nazi threat defeated, the people of the floating island help Captain America and Bucky repair their bomber and send them on their way, Cap and Bucky promising to keep their home a secret.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky, General Haywood, Nazis

Lets Play Detective

Actress Brenda Kane is found murdered and Detective Mike Trapp and photographer Pepper Burns are called to the scene to investigate. Trapp reveals that Brenda was killed by playwright Mr. Ranes who was being blackmailed by Brenda with letters that would ruin his career.