Human Torch Comics #15
Big Brain
In Italy, Hitler and Goering witness a losing battle between the Nazis and the Allied Forces. Furious that the Allies weapon production has tipped the balance of the war and orders Goering to do something about it. In the United States, Nazi agent the Brain is contacted and given orders to destroy Americans arms factories. As the headlines stack up, the Human Torch and Toro begin to investigate these acts of sabotage in the hopes of stopping them.
As they pass Stone Valley Dam, they spot some men attempting to blow up the dam. The spies toss bombs that snuff out the heroes flames, and they are easilt knocked out by the spies. With the Torch and Toro's interruption the spies abandon their plan and leave for Washington to tell their leader the Torch. Overhearing this, the Torch and Toro head to Washington after coming around.
While at the secret hideout of the Brain, the spy has prepared a special weapon to turn off the heroes flames making them easy targets. Searching the Washington area, the Human Torch and Toro find no trace until they see a carrier pigeon with a message strapped to its leg heading toward the Capital Building. Intercepting it, they find a note from Senator Doakes agreeing to meet with the Brain at his home that night to stop the acts of sabotage.
Going to the Senators home that night, the Torch and Toro attempt to fly through the window, when they find that it wraps around them and snuffs out their flames. Caught in the flame proof rubber-like substance. The Nazi spies take the Torch and Toro to the Bolton Steel Works, the larges rolling steel factory in the country. They are then hung over a vat of molten steel and dropped in. However, the steel melts away the fire proof film and the heroes are able to flame on and escape their death trap. They then disable the explosives, knock out the spies and chase after the Brain. Knocking out the Brain, the spies falls to his death. The Torch realizes that he is wearing a mask. Removing it they reveal him to be none other than Senator Doakes himself.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Toro, Nazis (Adolf Hitler, Herman Goring)
Nazi Poison Fiend
On the pacific coast at Embarkation Base, soldiers are sitting down for supper. The soldiers find their meal tastes funny, but continue to eat. Suddenly, soldiers begin keeling over and many die, while others are in critical condition. Examinations of the ten dead soldiers finds that the meat is contaminated. When the story hits the newspapers, the Human Torch and Toro decide to investigate. The Torch tells Toro he suspects Nazi saboteurs.
They first head to the El Rancho Packing Company to meet with the owner at the head office. Told that the meat is inspected by the government before being shipping off the meat to the military. The Torch and Toro decide to investigate the plant itself. There, they meet with the plant manager Hans Thysenn who tells them that everything in his plant is to be inspected by the government and shipped out. The Torch and Toro decide to watch the shipment, and as they leave the Hans and his minions decide to continue with their poison operation, with Hans vowing to deal with the two heroes if they interfere.
Following the trucks to the military base, the Torch and Toro notice that the license plates on the trucks are different from the ones that left the plant. Realizing that the trucks were switched somewhere along the way, they rush back and find a secret Nazi hideout hidden along a roadside waterfall. There they catch Nazi spies attempting to taint the meat with cyanide. The Torch and Toro confront all the spies who commit suicide. As one of them dies, the Torch gets him to admit that Hans is the mastermind behind the plot
When the two heroes rush to the meat packing plant, they have their flames snuffed out with ammonia bombs and are knocked out. They are then tied up in a water tower with running water. With a coming rainfall, Hans hopes that the two heroes drown. As Hans and his minions pack up another load of meat to taint, the Torch pulls his hand free and holds it out of the water long enough for it to dry. The Torch then toss fire balls over into the pen filled with cattle. The spooked animals they stampede and knocking over the vehicles and trampling the Nazis to death.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Toro, Nazis
The Dog Tag Horror
Toro has assisted some local boys in converting an old barn into a patriots club. They are preparing to do a paper drive when Toro spots some strange men lurking outside of the barn and goes after them. The boys help out, and they are all swarmed by Nazi spies. When Toro tries to stop them, the rain douses his flame and easily knocked out and kidnap the boys.
The Human Torch meets with the parents of the missing children. One of the fathers tells the Torch that a Nazi appeared at his home telling him his older son Allen was a prisoner of war in Europe and threatened his son with torture if he did not cooperate and sabotage a defense plant. The Torch realizes that the Nazis made good their threats by kidnapping the children and goes to the barn to search for clues, he is quickly reunited with Toro who tells the Torch that the Nazis freed all the captured children except for his friend Fred.
Toro leads the Torch to the Nazis hideout, but a search of the property finds no trace of the spies. However, they find a list of German-American citizens who have been captured in the war. Realizing that they got the information off dog tags, they rush to the New York office of the FBI. There an agent tells the two heroes that after Nazi agents began using the next of kin information listed on dog tags taken from prisoners of war, the military has begun discontinuing the practice.
Meanwhile, at the Nazis secret hideout, they begin receiving a new list of potential victims from their allies in Germany. When Frank tells them that nobody will assist them, no matter the threat, he is belted by the leader of the spies.
The Human Torch and Toro resume their search for the spies, the Torch realizing they neglected to check the basement of the house. They burn through to the cellar of the house just as the Nazis are about to torture Fred. The Nazi's flee in a secret tunnel to a motorboat and attempt to escape, only to be blasted out of the water by the Torch and Toro.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Toro, Nazis
Yellow Fang's Unholy Mission
A small city is terrorized by a tornado that appears and seemingly has a mind of its own when it suddenly shifts direction and specifically targets a defense plant. When Betty Dean investigates the story she suspects that the tornado is man made. This gets her in trouble with the local branch of the FBI when she publishes the story, however she is willing to prove her claim by asking the Sub-Mariner assist her in investigating the strange occurrence.
Patrolling the town by car, they spot another tornado forming in a farm, and Namor rescues a farmer that is in its path. Namor follows after the twister and it soon chases after him. Namor attempts to seek cover by diving into a nearby pond, but the tornado passes over it sucking the hero up into its vortex. He is shocked to find that at the top of the tornado is a Nazi blimp and he is soon taken aboard. He is even more surprised to find Japanese soldiers inside. Their leader, a man called Yellow Fang, explains that the blimp was given to them by the Nazis and they had converted it into the tornado making device in order to sabotage defense plants and American cities.
Namor fights his way free and flees into the balloon portion of the blimp and hides in the high girders. The Yellow Claw is convinced that Namor will weaken without any water and perish in the blimp. However, Namor is far from helpless as the ballasts for the blimp contain water, and the hero bursts the ballast and revitalizes himself with the water. He then steals a parachute and escapes the blimp to warn military intelligence.
Meanwhile, Betty is continuing her own investigation and tracks the blimp as it lands. She is captured by the Yellow Fang and his minions, but Namor arrives to rescue her, yanking her free from the suction of the blimps tornado creating fan. Rushing behind some containers of gasoline. As the bullets strike the fuel, it cases a fire which is then sucked up into the still spinning vortex. The flames ignite the gas inside the blimp causing a massive explosion that kills the Yellow Claw and his men while Namor and Betty duck for cover.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean, Imperial Japan
