Human Torch Comics #13

Jul 31

Jul 31 Human Torch Comics #13

The End

The members of Clamp Casey's mob decide to cut their leader out of their operations and turn against him. Despite Casey's resistance, they manage to knock him out, load him into a flaming car and drive him over a cliff. The car splashes down in a lake below and sinks. The mobsters, believing their former leader to be dead then go on a massive crime spree, however without Casey's detailed planning they are disorganized and cause even more chaos during their crimes than usual. Although this makes it easier to capture the crooks, the authorities along with the Human Torch and Toro find it increasingly difficult to deal with all the crimes that are going on at once.

When the Torch and Toro learn that this is due to Casey's supposed death, they wonder why the chief of police has kept them out of the loop and pay him a visit while he is sunbathing on the roof of the police station. When they are filled in on the subject, they resume their patrols to eliminate the rampant crime spree. They decide to stop at a diner for a bit to eat, and it is robbed by one of Casey's former minions. The Torch and Toro wait until the robbery is finished and chase after the crook. They chase him to the docs and briefly lose sight of him. Knowing the road leads to a dead end, the Torch and Toro are shocked to find that the car has been driven off the peer and that the man they were chasing has been murdered on the docks. They also find that someone had placed a sign that reads "The End" at the murder scene. As they are investigating, they are unaware that a misshapen man is watching them from the roof tops. When more of Casey's men begin turning up dead, Toro wonders if Casey somehow had come back from the dead. The chief of police dismisses this as ridiculous.

However, Toro's theory is closer to the truth than they imagine: As it turns out Clamp Casey survived the crash thanks to the lake water putting out the far. Due to a pocket of air being in the car it did not fully sink and was carried by the current down river where it was washed up on the shore outside of famous plastic surgeon Dr. Geeves. Hearing moans coming from the wreck, the doctor took the injured Casey into his home. The horribly scarred Casey then told the doctor that he was an FBI agent who was attacked and left for dead by Nazi spies. Buying this story, the doctor agreed to perform plastic surgery to try and restore Casey's face, but guaranteed nothing. when the surgery was completed, Casey was made whole once again but he was hideously deformed. Angry at the doctors failure to restore him to normal, Casey then strangled Greeves to death. Bent on revenge, Casey then decided to call himself "The End" as that is what he intended to be for those who betrayed him.

The Torch and Toro make the connection that they are all members of the same gang and rush to Casey's old hideout. They happen by just as The End is about to push him off a plank on the roof of the building. The Torch rescues the man while Toro tries to stop The End, but he knocks Toro out and flees. Learning that the rest of the mob are hiding out in a movie theater, the Torch and Toro rush there to stop The End before he can murder anyone else. When the movie that's playing ends, The End makes his appearance and is easily rounded up by the two heroes and turned over to the police. The next morning while they are reading the morning paper the two flaming heroes learn that The End hung himself in his own cell.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

Purple Ghost and His Reign of Terror

As the Jones family of a small midwestern town are sitting down to dinner their home is invaded by a ghostly creature calling himself the Purple Terror. He tells them to leave town and vanishes in a puff of smoke. When the smoke clears they find that their possessions have all been ruined. When Mr. Jones goes to the chief of police, he tells them that many citizens have been attacked by the same being.

When the story hits the newspaper, it is read by the Human Torch and Toro who wonder why the Purple Terror is attacking a small town with no defense factories, or a big city and decide to investigate. When they meet the chief of police of the town, he tells them that he has no clues for them and says that he has suggested to people terrorized by the Purple Terror to leave town for the city until the case is wrapped up. No evidence suggests that it is the work of Nazi spies and both heroes and the police chief doubt they have anything to do with it. They are wrong, as in a secret hideout Nazi spies have met to discuss their on going plans. Having learned the Human Torch and Toro are in town, they begin planning on how best to deal with the heroes.

Meanwhile, the Human Torch has decided to take their time in this town to "go on vacation", telling Toro that they won't have to go after the Purple Terror, the Purple Terror will come to them if they make their presence known. Sure enough, after a day out on the town they return to their hotel room where they are confronted by the Purple Terror, who demands that they leave town. The two heroes easily subdue the unsurprisingly non-ghostly being and reveal him to be a local hood. He tells them that he is part of a larger operation and agrees to show them his employers hideout.

He leads them to the Nazi hideout where the two heroes walk right into the Nazi's trap. Sealed in an asbestos room lined the leader of the Nazi's appears on a fireproof screen to mock them. However he made the mistake of not lining the floor with asbestos hoping the thick granite flooring would dissuade the two heroes from trying to escape. However, in spite the effort required the two heroes burn through the granite and escape their trap. They then knock out the Nazi spies and learn that their leader is really the chief of police. They also learn that the whole plot was to force small town Americans out of their homes -- and away from their farm jobs -- into the city to hinder food production and create larger panics during attacks on American cities.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro, Nazis

Deep Sea Lair of the Murdering Octopus

In New York City, a salvage conference is underway to figure out the best way to raise the S.S. Norman from the waters. The conference asks the Sub-Mariner to assist in taking a look at the situation with the Norman despite the protests of the engineer, a Norwegian immigrant named Morton Valnik. When Namor dives into the water and approaches the boat a massive cloud of black ink-like fluid floats toward him. Namor soon realizes that it is poison as it is killing the fish.

When the black fluid appears on the surface and dead fish rise up from the waters and Namor never returns they believe that he has gone missing or is dead, and the story hits the front pages the next day. As Valnik is reading this, he is visited by a Nazi spy named Karl Gluten. Gluten tells Valnik that he must come up with plans to sabotage the S.S. Norman otherwise his parents in Norway would be hurt. With no choice, Valnik agrees to the terms and gets to work. However, before he can turn over the altered plans, military officials storm his room and accuse him of treason and have him arrested.

The Sub-Mariner meanwhile had survived by avoiding the ink the day before. Spotting a Nazi spy planting a gyroscope inside, Namor attempted to get answers from him but he escaped in a mini-sub. Following after it, he found Karl Gluten's secret lair and watched as Gluten killed his subordinate. He then trailed Gluten to Valnik's home and overheard his threats. Following Gluten further, Namor then watched as Gluten went to a pay phone and was the one that ratted Valnik out.

Suspecting something was up, the Sub-Mariner posed as Valnik's "brother" and visited him in prison and learned that the authorities were going to raise the S.S. Norma at 54 degrees. Realizing that the gyroscope is rigged to a bomb, Namor then rushes to the salvage site and smashes all the water pumps before they can completely lift the ship out of the waters. Namor then dived into the water to stop the spies. They knock him out and leave him on the sea-mine they had set in place of their gyroscope bomb. However, Namor comes around and places it on the mini-sub and when the spies get far enough away from the Norman, they set it off. The resulting explosion destroys their sub and kills their crew.

Namor then returns to the surface and explains the whole ordeal was a plot to sour relations between Norway and the United States. When they go to release Valnik, Namor also reveals that he had Gluten arrested the night before by knocking him out and dousing him in alcohol and having him arrested for public intoxication until he could foil his plot. More good news comes as Valnik gets a telegram from his parents that informs him that they had fled Norway and are now living safely in England.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Nazis

Smashing New York's Black Menace

With Axis forces losing ground in Russia, Italy and Germany, Adolf Hitler has become very angry and has demanded answers from his highest ranking officers. Joseph Goebbels recommends they start using "Bellen Wasser" or "War Water" a new chemical compound Nazi scientists have developed. Hitler agrees and after a successful use in a Russian campaign they announce that they will be attempting to ship it into the United States for use by Nazi spies.

This news come at the same time that Swiss runner Kaspar Gregg is coming to the United States to compete in a triathlon. These stories attract the attention of both the Human Torch and Toro. When the Torch spots a secret message in the news story that suggests that Gregg might be the one smuggling the formula, he takes his suspicions to the FBI.

When Gregg arrives a week later, they inspect his luggage but find no trace of the formula and decide to keep a close eye on him. During the triathlon, members of the race are replaced by Nazi spies led by Herr Wolf and when the Torch and Toro realize what is going on they attempt to stop the fake athlete from making off with the formula which is hidden in the triathlon baton. However, the lights are doused and he manages to escape. When they question Gregg over his involvement, he tells them that his parents were taken hostage to a concentration camp and threatened him to do their bidding if he wanted to see them alive again. Having heard that their leader's name is Wolf, the Torch and Toro track them down to a company called Wolfs Chemicals.

There they attack the Nazi spies just as they have completed their first batch of War Water. The Nazis knock the two heroes out by spraying them with the water and then flee the scene in order to use their new weapon to destroy the George Washington Bridge. When the Torch and Toro come around they find that their flames are still on and realize that the War Water is a powerful incendiary fluid. Finding plans to the George Washington Bridge in the base, the two flaming heroes flame on and go after the crooks.

They catch them as they are about to douse the base of the bridge with the War Water and attack. While Toro pushes the cylinder of War Water into the water, the Torch easily rounds up the spies and turns them over to the authorities ending their threat.