When Friends Turn Foes

As school is in session at the Lee School, Fred Davis and Jeff Mace are not attending class. At a nearby warehouse Bucky is fighting alone against Digger Dolan and his gang, trying to prevent a robbery. However the young hero is no match against their superior numbers and is easily defeated while the gang flees with the stolen loot. Recovering from the fight, Bucky laments that Captain America is not around to assist him. Elsewhere, Captain America has found romance with a woman named Grace, whom he is dancing with at a nearby night club. The two begin talking over their long term plans and Grace suggests that Captain America retire from heroics and become her husband. Captain America agrees, but wants to finish his current case and bring down a local crime syndicate.

When Captain America returns home he finds Bucky waiting for him. When Bucky blames the success of the crime syndicates robbery of the World Wide Camera Factory on Captain America's absence and his constant dates with Grace cutting into their crime fighting, Captain America becomes furious and tells Bucky to leave, no longer needing or wanting him as a partner. As Cap leaves for another date with Grace, Bucky changes out of his costume, packs up his things and tearfully leaves the apartment he's shared with Jeff over the years. Wandering the streets, Fred recalls all the times that he came to Captain America's aid as his sidekick and then begins to wonder where he is going to stay now that he has nowhere to live.

Elsewhere, Captain America tunes into the police scanner in Grace's car and hears a police bulletin about the crime syndicate robbing the Elysium Tropical Fish Company. Spotting the gangs getaway car speeding by, Captain America jumps onto the vehicle and easily subdues the driver and his passengers. The gang surrenders and Cap and Grace turn them over to the police where Cap hopes he can get them to talk and learn about he crime syndicate's next plan. Meanwhile, Fred comes across a cheap flop-house to stay for the night. That night as he attempts to sleep, Bucky overhears some of the men talking about an emergency crime syndicate meeting at a nearby abandoned warehouse. Fred then changes into Bucky and rushes off to the warehouse to try to stop the gang on his own.

At the warehouse, the crime syndicate meets with their leader a masked woman known as the Chief. Bucky overhears her discussing that the gang is to change it's hideouts and passwords in light of the recent capture of some of their men. Suddenly, Bucky is attacked form behind by one of the syndicate members and a fight breaks out. Bucky is easily knocked out and brought to the Chief who orders the young heroes demise. However, before she can have her men eliminate Bucky, Captain America appears from the rafters. As Captain America and Bucky fight off the gang the Chief tries to make her escape. Captain America manages to jump into her car, and unmasks her, revealing that he knew that she was Grace the whole time. Forcing her to stop, Captain America explains that he pretended to be seduced in order to lead her into false security and capture her gang. With the caper over, Captain America invites Bucky back as his partner, showing the lad a death threat sent by the crime syndicate threatening Bucky's life, explaining that as the reason why he acted so callow before. Bucky happily accepts the invitation.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky

Continuity Notes

• According to the Captain America: America’s Avenger handbook entry on Fred Davis, the criminal organization here is the Crime Syndicate and their leader’s real name is Grace Rhose.

Meet the Matador

Jeff Mace is teaching his class about medieval Spain and about Hernando Cortez's conquest of Mexico when the bell rings to dismiss class. After the class a woman named Lolita D'Espana approaches Jeff and compliments his lectures. She then tells him that she owns the Cortez Crown that Cortez had taken back to Spain from Mexico and invites Jeff and Fred Davis to come to her home and see it. Elsewhere in the city a man named the Matador has gathered a gang to seek out and steal the jewels of the Cortez Crown. The Matador explains that he is the ancestor of a man who placed the crown lovingly on the fairest woman in all of Spain. However, he was later betrayed by the woman who cheated on him with another man and he died defending the honour of his home in a sword fight with the other man. As his ancestor died, he put a curse on the crown, telling that bloodshed would follow whoever's hands touched the crown. He explains that he has traced the crown and learned that some of the jewels from it have been sold around town, but he hopes to recover the full crown no matter the cost.

That night as Jeff and Fred approach Lolita's home they hear a gunshot and change into Captain America and Bucky. They rush to a nearby pawnshop where they walk in on the Matador and his men just as they finished shooting the shopkeeper dead. Although the two heroes gain the advantage, the Matador drops a smoke bomb of narcotic gas, knocking them out while he steals a ruby and flees. When Captain America and Bucky recover they rush to Lolita's house after checking the pawnshop receipts and realizing that Lolita had sold the stolen ruby to the shop. Lolita admits to pawning the ruby from the crown in order to continue her studies and tells them that she also sold the giant diamond off the crown to James Ortell, a famous collector of Spanish curios. Captain America and Bucky convince Lolita to leave the crown with Jeff Mace at the Lee School and rush off to the home of James Ortell.

The Ortell home is a Spanish castle transported to America brick-by-brick where Ortell and his family live in relative safety. That is until the Matador and his men scale the castle walls and break in. The Matador then confronts Ortell and forces him to reveal the location of the diamond. As Captain America and Bucky scale the wall, the Matador recovers the diamond. A fight soon breaks out and the Matador attempts to keep the heroes at bay by threatening the life of Ortell's daughter. However, Captain America kicks away the villains sword and he jumps out a window into the moat below where the heroes assume he drowned. However, the following day at the Lee School, Fred gets a note supposedly from Lolita asking him to return to the crown to her. Fred races to Lilita's house and is knocked out by the Matador who survived and had Lolita as a prisoner to recover the crown. He then sets a fire bomb off in the house to burn the two alive while he flees. At that time Jeff comes across a note from Fred about the crown and suspects something fishy going on and rushes to Lilita's house as Captain America.

There arrives at Lolita's house to find the Matador and his goons. Cap easily bests the Matador's men and beats the Matador into submission. As the villain backs off from Cap he stumbles into the flames and burns alive. Cap then frees Fred and Lolita and they recover the crown then flee from the fire.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky

Death Swings a Bat

The Human Torch and Toro are on vacation and decide to fly down to Florida. When they arrive they spot a banner advertising a baseball game between the Tropic Typhoons and the Southern Sluggers and decide to check out the game. After they check into a hotel for the night they are confronted by Donna Carter the girlfriend of Typhoon's star hitter Jack Bartley. She asks for their help, explaining that he boyfriend refused a bribe of $5000 to throw the game and now the mobsters who offered it are threatening his life. She brings them up to Jack's room where they hear him arguing with people inside. The Torch and Toro Flame On and burst in, however the hotels sprinkler system kicks in, dousing their flames allowing Jack's harassers to flee the scene.

With the immediate threat over, the Torch and Toro agree to watch over Jack during the game. The next day at he ball park, Jack is about to get his bat when the Typhon's mascot Sparks licks his bat and keels over dead. The Torch stops Jack and discovers that the bat had been coated with a strong acid. Noticing that Jack has suddenly disappeared, they approach Coach Lamson and ask him who had access to Jack's bat. Lamson tells them it was a man named Ed Crums and that he was heading for the locker rooms. The Torch and Toro rush there and prevent Crums from fleeing by putting a circle of fire around. They leave Crums alone briefly when they hear Donna cry for help and come to her aid. She tells them that someone had knocked her out but she didn't see who it was. When they get back to Crums they find that he has been beaten to death with a crowbar. When the coach enters the room he laments over the violence against Crums and decides to go home for the rest of the day.

The Torch and Toro tell Donna to stay behind and rush over to Coach Lamson's house, the Torch explaining to Toro that the coach was able to tell exactly how Crums died without seeing the damage done to the body. There they catch the coach with the gang with Jack as their prisoner. The two heroes ambush the crooks and capture them and free Jack. After they turn the gang over to the police who confess that they were attempting to hedge their bets on the game. Later, the Torch and Toro run into Donna and Jack who inform them that Jack was able to win the game for the team.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Menace of Mirth

At the Lee School radio station, Jeff Mace announces the winner of their gag-writing contest: Miss Dorothy Graham and awards her the $1000 prize. Listening to the radio broadcast is the crook known as the Jester who sneers at Graham's award winning, believing that he is the funniest person alive, the Jester vows to use his criminal career to prove his point.

His first crime is to steal the wealthy Elwell Cluyon's Mongolian breed dog, leaving a bad joke behind but succeeding in getting Cluyon to pay his ransom. With his first theft a victory, the Jester then decides to target Dorothy Graham as she receives her prize money. That night, Dorothy is visited by Jeff Mace and Fred Davis who are delivering the prize money when the lights suddenly go out. When the lights go back on they find that Dorothy has been knocked out and the money stolen and another bad joke left behind by the Jester. Jeff and Fred change into Captain America and Bucky and chase after the crook and his gang. The Jester and his men manage to get away when the Jester unleashes a bomb filled with laughing gas and escape. Later, the Jester begins his next plot: to steal Jeff Mace's first edition of a joke book written by gag-writer Joe Miller.

At the home of Jeff Mace, Dorothy Graham pays a visit and explains that in explaining the theft of her prize money she may have accidentally implicated Jeff as a prime suspect given his sudden disappearance. Before they can discuss the matter a balloon in the likeness of the Jester floats in through the window and explodes in a blinding glare. The Jester and his men rush into the apartment and steal the book. But as they are fleeing they are attacked by Bucky who is joined by Captain America. The pair beat the Jester's gang but the Jester manages to gain the upper hand fleeing with his stolen loot and leaving another bad joke behind.

Captain America then gets the recovered Dorothy Graham and the trio begin plotting a means into luring the Jester into a trap. They plant an announcement that the sponsor of the gag-writing contest, Martha van Dozier is having Dorothy Graham on a live radio broadcast where she will be wearing the priceless Hen's Egg Diamond. During the broadcast the Jester and his men crash the studio. However the Jester cannot resist the temptation to take the microphone and tell his jokes over the airwaves. This causes sufficient distraction for Captain America and Bucky to launch a sneak attack. The Jester flees the studio. Captain America chases the Jester up the broadcasting tower where he saves the crook from a fatal fall. With the Jester captured, Captain America forces him to laugh at Dorothy's jokes over the radio broadcast before turning him over to the authorities. Later, Jeff has some fun at Bucky's expense by telling a bad pun about the Jester's prison sentence.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky

Continuity Notes

• Per What If? #4, the appearances of Captain America and Bucky in this issue are attributed to Jeff Mace and Fred Davis.