The Silver Scorpion

Betty Barstow and her employer, Detective Dan Hurley, have been given tickets to see a show at the theater. However, during the third act, the audience is shocked when the lead actress suddenly screams in pain, rapidly ages, and passes out on the floor. Betty joins Dan backstage where medics are examining the actress. She tells the pair that she should have listened to someone called Mister Black. Dan is then given a letter where this Mister Black threatens to threatened to steal this actor’s youth. The doctor concludes there is nothing that can be done and suggests that the actress pay the demanded ransom in order to have her youth restored. The next day, the actress visits Dan’s detective agency to give him a second note with instructions on how to pay the ransom. Overhearing their plans to pay the ransom, Betty pretends to be getting sick and gets the rest of the day off.

That evening she changes into the Silver Scorpion and follows the actress as she goes to pay Mister Black the ransom. As the exchange is happening, the Silver Scorpion comes crashing in through the window and tires to stop Mister Black. However, the actress interferes when Mister Black snatches away the cure from her allowing Black and his minion to knock the heroine out and tie her up.

When Mister Black tries to inject the Silver Scorpion with his aging formula, she manages to break free. A gunfire draws a State Trooper whose arrival distracts the villains long enough for the Silver Scorpion to trounce them. In the scuffle, the hero manages to get the cure and pass it back to the actress. With the ransom plan foiled, Mister Black is unmasked and revealed to be none other than the doctor who treated her earlier.

Recurring Characters

Silver Scorpion, Dan Hurley

Continuity Notes

• Although this story advertises a new Silver Scorpion story in the following issue, this is the character’s last Golden Age appearance. She will not appear again until Invaders (Vol. 2) #2.

The Fin

Following his battle with the Nazi operative known as the Barracuda, the Fin swims acroThss the Atlantic when he comes across a number of sunken ships that date back to the 1860s. Examining the inside of one of these ships the aquatic hero discovers a strange glowing cutlas. When he tries to grasp the sword, some unknown force causes him to recoil back. Succeeding to pick it up a second time, the Fin discovers that holding the weapon makes him feel revolted and he tosses it away. Surprisingly, the sword imbeds itself into the side of a cannon. Curious, he pulls it out and discovers that the blade has not been damaged and realizes that it is highly durable. Finally able to hold it without any ill feeling the Fin decides to take it with him as he leaves the shipwreck.

Returning to Manhattan, the Fin emerges from the water and goes looking for some excitement. Unfortunately, he is jumped by a gang of thugs and knocked out. They carry him onto a ship that is secretly run by Nazis. The captain recognizes the Fin and orders him to be tied up in the ship. When the Fin wakes up he is surrounded by Nazi spies who reveal that they are posing as sailors so they can tip off Nazi U-Boats to the location of enemy ships. When they try to torture the hero, the Fin breaks free and fights his way to the captain. Threatening the coward with his sword, the Fin is told where the secret communications base. Diving into the water, the Fin uses his new sword to incapacitate the spies boat so they cannot interfere with his new mission.

Once he locates the island, the Fin knocks out the telegraph operator and sends out a message to lure the U-Boat out into the open. Falling for the trap, the Nazi submarine is easily sunk thanks to the Fin’s new weapon. Returning to the spies ship, the Fin secures them before calling the authorities to pick them up.

Recurring Characters

The Fin, Nazis

Continuity Notes

• Like the Silver Scorpion, this is the Fin’s last Golden Age appearance. Chronologically, he is not seen again until All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #2

Citizen V

Somewhere in France, Citizen V arrives at a secret hideout of the French resistance. There he rallies an army of French citizens to join him in another attach on the Nazis that are occupying France. With a stolen Nazi car and uniforms, Citizen V and his allies drives into Paris and manage to sneak past the outposts. Once outside the city, By a river, Citizen V and his allies wreck a bridge in order to impede Nazi tanks from joining the battle on the Eastern Front. When the tanks arrive the rebels start a smokey fire in order to obscure the pilot’s vision.

Citizen V then rushes the tanks and tries to blow them up with grenades, unfortunately the Nazis manage to ambush the lone combatant and take him prisoner. Awaiting his execution, Citizen V is delighted when the resistance fighters help him break out of his cell thanks to a secret tunnel dug beneath it. However, the Nazis take Citizen V’s escape poorly and announce they will murder one hundred captured RAF pilots if the rebel does not surrender.

Learning this, Citizen V instead pays a visit to the commanding officer and beats him into submission. Then, after tattooing his trademark “V for Victory” symbol on the Nazi’s chest, learns when the train carrying the captured pilots is being brought into the village for execution. Citizen V meets the train and takes out the Nazi guards, freeing the captured British soldiers from captivity. They then rush to a nearby airfield that Citizen V and the pilots quickly secure. They then use a radio to send out a false alarm about a British air attack. While the Nazis are searching for the British planes with their mortar cannons, the freed RAF pilots use the Nazi’s own planes to bomb the military base landing a crippling blow to German occupation of France.

Recurring Characters

Citizen V, Nazis

Continuity Notes

• Although another Citizen V story is plugged for the following issue, this is the characters last Golden Age appearance. His next chronological appearance is the Captain America/Citizen V 1998 Annual.

Captain Daring Story

[No synopsis available]