Human Torch Comics #37
Vampire Tale
Hearing reports of apparent vampire killings happening in a small town, Toro asks the Human Torch if the stories are real or not -- the Torch dismisses them as superstitions and that there is a more logical reason for the stories. The pay a visit to Professor Collins at his observatory to witness the approach of what the professor believes to be a meteor, however the Torch thinks it might be an alien space ship, a notion that Collins dismisses as foolishness. When it lands nearby, Collins shows the two heroes where it is on his map and Toro notes that it is the same region where the Vampire stories are coming from.
Flying to the town, the Torch and Toro get lodging at a local inn that has vacancies due to the recent Vampire scare. Later that night they hear a blood curdling scream and look out their window to see a giant bat flying in the sky. They follow the massive bat to a cave where the fight their way through smaller bats. Finding the giant humanoid bat, the pair realize that it is the inn keeper that gave them their room. The Vampire tries to attack them, but the Torch flames on and sends the Vampire fleeing. They go after it and watch as more of it's kind suddenly attacks and flies away with their target.
Following after them, they come to an open field where a space ship has landed. The leader of the aliens explains to the two heroes that "vampires" do not exist, that they are aliens from the planet Psi Centauri. They explain that they exiled their criminals to Earth millions of years ago when there wasn't intelligent life on the planet. However when they checked on the criminals later they found that the human race had evolved on Earth and were being victimized by their criminals and so they had come to take them to another world. With this explanation, the Torch and Toro allow the Psi Centaurians to leave with their criminals promising to keep their presence on Earth a secret.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch
Toro
A Spy There Was
Chief Wilson is being visited by a woman who is searching for her missing father, Professor Jan Skarda who is a leading atomic scientist from Europe. As the Torch and Toro enter the office she explains that she and her father escaped their home land when the communists took over. She managed to escape, but her father did not, but she had just recently learned that he managed to break free of the communists and flee to America and pleads to Wilson to help her find her father. Learning that her father was working on new fissionable material for atomic bombs, Wilson agrees to help search for him, and the Torch and Toro accompany him.
With a description of Skarda, they manage to locate his last known whereabouts in a run down tenement apartment that Skarda took out under the alias of John Bartorius. They find that Skarda's room has been sacked, searching for clues the Torch finds a newspaper clipping about Dean Prentis running for governor. Deciding to investigate the connection, the Torch and Toro flame on and fly to the Prentis estate. There they frighten the guard dogs and begin searching the property. Looking through a basement window they find Skarda being tortured by two communist spies.
The two flaming heroes burn their way into the home, defeating the spies but Prentis tries to take Skarda hostage. The Torch melts the traitor's weapon and he flees the scene. While the Torch sends Skarda off to safety with Toro, he goes after Prentis. Prentis tries to attack him with a bulldozer but the Torch destroys it with his flame powers. When Prentis tries to flee he is ironically attack and mauled to death by his own guard dogs. In the aftermath of the battle, the Torch and Toro bring Skarda back to Chief Wilson's office where he is happily reunited with his daughter.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch
Toro
Chief John Wilson
The Underwater People
Delores accompanies her brothers Don and Chick out on an attempt to try and beat the record for the deepest manned dive into the ocean. Delores is worried that her brother Don will be overcome with the "Rapture of the Deep", but Don dismisses the sensation as a hoax. Don dives down and reaches 600 feet below before he disappears off their fathometer. Delores decides to go to the mainland to get the aid of the Sub-Mariner and Namora who are vacationing in Florida with their friend Betty Dean.
When Delores brings Namor and Namora back with him Chick has decided that he is going to dive down and try to find Don and tells the two Atlanteans to stay out of his way. Like Don, Chick disappears off the radar after reaching 600 feet. The Sub-Mariner and Namora dive in after Chick and along their way down into the depths of the ocean they find Chick's breathing gear. Swimming to the bottom of the ocean, the pair are preparing to find two dead bodies but are shocked to find that both Don and Chick are alive and well and somehow able to breath under water. Even more shocking they find an entire group of people living underwater, something that is impossible for humans to do.
When Namor and Namora try to convince Don and Chick to return to the surface they refuse and knock the two heroes up, tying them up with belts from the scuba gear before swimming off to another part of the ocean. The two Atlanteans manage to break free and swim after them. Suddenly Don and Chick collapse, prompting Namor and Namora to put the scuba gear on the two men and rush them to the surface. However when they get there they find that the men are dead. With no answer as to how the two men managed to breath under water, Namor concludes the entire episode to the fact that they suffered from the Rapture of the Depths.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner
Namora
Betty Dean
The Menace of the Unhuman
The Human Torch gets a late night phone call from his friend Pete, who works at the nearby hospital. Pete has something fantastic to show the Torch that has been troubling him and the Torch agrees to meet. Waking up Toro, the pair head toward the hospital when they spot Pete's fiancee Margot who looks troubled. Questioning her they learn that she and Pete were planning to get married but lately he has been acting distant toward her. The Torch promises Margot that he will try and find out what is wrong with Pete and he and Toro continue on their way to the hospital.
There the two heroes are introduced to Pete's superior Dr. Manning and they are shown what appears to be an ordinary human cadaver. However, as Pete and Manning perform an autopsy on the man they reveal to the Torch that this "man" has mechanical parts and that he is the third person this year they have discovered like this. Finding that the mechanical parts mimic human organs in every way, the Torch instructs Pete to repair the robot and restore it to functionality. Pete does so and succeeds in reviving the robot. He hides with the Torch and Toro, telling them that he wishes to help them so he can insure that Margot lives in a safe world.
When the revived metal man gets up off the slab and leaves the hospital, the trio follow after him. They are led to the lion pen at the local zoo where the Torch and Toro frighten off the lions before continuing after the robot man with Pete. In a secret room they find an army of robot men under the command of an individual calling himself the Maker. The Maker tells his robots that he will send them on their appointed task once they all gather. Recognizing the Maker as Dr. Manning. While the Torch and Toro destroy the robot men with fire balls, Pete shoots Dr. Manning, mortally wounding him. Going to Manning, Pete finds that he is really wearing a mask and that Manning is really some sort of inhuman creature.
"Manning" reveals to Pete that he is a member of the Tyclose race, an intelligent species from another dimension that was seeking to take over the Earth with their army of robot men. Before he dies, the Tyclose creature tells Pete that he is also a robot man. When the Torch and Toro arrive they are too late to stop Pete from putting a gun to his head and killing himself. With the primary invasion force destroyed, the Torch and Toro leave to inform the authorities to watch for anymore robot men and to go tell Margot that Pete died a hero.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch
Toro
