Human Torch Comics #24

Jul 31

Jul 31 Human Torch Comics #24

The Werewolf Horror

A peaceful rural town in Connecticut has been rocked by a series of savage wolf attacks that have local authorities stumped, so the Human Torch and Toro are called in to investigate.

When the heroes arrive they learn that the wolf only seems to strike when there is a full moon out. With a full moon scheduled for that night, the two heroes go on patrol around town. On their patrol they come across Mr. Jones trying to prevent his daughter Peggy from seeing a young man named Joel Taylor who recently moved into town three weeks ago, whom he has a great disliking for. She thanks the Torch and Toro for their intervention and asks them to pass along a message to Joel for her.

As they race to Joel's house they spot the wolf and fail to stop it from claiming a new victim. The creature is chased off by Mr. Jones who starts shooting at the creature. The Torch and Toro follow after the wolf tracks to the Taylor home where they spot Joel rushing back to the house. They question him about the cut he has on the forehead and give him the note. Finding Joel's activities strange they go to the house and witness Joel's father tossing wolf skin into a fire. When the Torch questions it, he dismisses it as an old hunting trophy they no longer want and kicks them off their property. Deciding to snoop around, the Torch and Toro spy through a window and witness as Joel cleans wolf tracks off the floor.

With the dawn breaking, the Torch and Toro go to the library where the Torch reads up on werewolves, confirming his hunch that they are dealing with such a creature. Suspecting Joel to be the werewolf, they stake out the Taylor house that night while Joel reads his note from Peggy asking to meet him near her house. As the full moon rises, the two heroes follow after Joel. Soon, Peggy is attacked by the werewolf. Hearing the girls screams, the Torch and Toro flame on and find Mr. Jones has been attacked by the creature. With the full moon being obscured by the clouds, they run into Joel who tells them that he ran when he saw the wolf.

While the Torch and Toro rig up a spot light to simulate the full moon's light, they resume spying the Taylor house where they over hear Mr. Taylor chastising his son for going out on a full moon. Horrified, Joel suddenly rushes out of the house and into the woods when he notices there is a full moon. The Torch and Toro go out on pursuit and arrive just as the wolf is attacking Peggy. Battling the monster, the Torch is forced to snap it's neck. As the creature is in it's death throes, Joel comes out of the woods with a gun and shoots the creature dead. To their surprise the monster transforms back into Mr. Taylor.

With the crisis over, Joel tells them that he suspected by wasn't fully sure of his suspicions. He then explains that the man who he shot was not his real father, but a man who adopted him after his parents were killed in an auto-mobile accident when he was 12 and that he is the heir to a fortune. Hearing this, Mr. Jones finally accepts Joel as a proper suitor for his daughter Peggy. With the crisis over, the Torch and Toro pay their leave.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Invisible Terror

Arnold Ogley and Parker are two competing chemists trying to get a job with a chemistry lab. One day while waiting for a letter from the mailman, Parker is the one that gets the letter of employment from the chemistry company. Arnold tells Parker that he'll show him one of these days and abruptly leaves his apartment. He pays a visit to his girl Kathie and tells her that he's going away but will come back when he's succeeded in his work. Under the alias of James Smith, Ogley rents out a new apartment to work on his new experiment uninterrupted.

Two months later, the Human Torch and Toro come to the decision that their apartment is too small to keep all their crime files and decide to try and find a larger place to live. They happen to stop by the apartment complex where "James Smith" rented out a room. With Smith two months behind on rent, the owner is about to evict "Smith" for back rent. Inside his apartment Arnold has completed his final tests on his invisibility serum and injects himself with the formula turning invisible. When the land lord comes to the door, Arnold kicks him down the stairs and slides down the railing past the Human Torch and Toro who rush up to check to see if he's okay. Arnold then steals a car and speeds off. When the Torch and Toro rush out investigate the commotion they dismiss the idea that the car was stolen by a ghost.

The two heroes head off to Chromo Chemicals where they are to participate in ballistic tests. When they arrive they hear gun shots and arrive too late to stop the shooter from killing Parker. Searching for the killer, they find nothing, but note that the bushes appear to be moving as though someone is moving through them. Realizing that their killer is invisible, the Torch and Toro tackle them but are knocked out by gas pellets allowing Arnold to escape. With the killer having escaped, the Torch and Toro begin investigating his motive for killing Parker.

Meanwhile, his revenge complete, Arnold decides to use his invisibility powers to cause trouble around the city and begins committing a series of pranks. The Torch and Toro question some scientists and learn about Arnold Ogley's grudge against Parker and that he dated Katie Winters. They pay her a visit and she tells them that after he promised to find fame he'd come back and give her a jewel. With this bit of information, the Torch and Toro learn from the papers of the recent purchase of the Queen Blue Sapphire by jewel collector Lucius White and decide to use it as a lead, unaware that Ogley has been following them and overhears their plans and begins a plot to destroy them.

After committing some petty crimes Arnold then lures the Torch and Toro into the hosue he is staying in and catches them in an electrified asbestos net. He then ties them up with nooses in an air tight room and sets a machine that will slowly hang them, then leaves the heroes to die. As the machine begins tightening their nooses, the Torch has Toro use his teeth to pry the tops off of opened cans that they use to slip under their ropes, preventing themselves from being strangled, then knock over the device, freeing themselves. They rush to the location of the Queen Blue Sapphire and find that it has already been stolen. The pair then rushes back to Kathie's house and find Arnold there with the Sapphire and about to inject an invisibility formula into Kathie despite her protests.

The Torch and Toro douse Arnold with a luminescent paint and chase him out of the house. Rather than face capture, Arnold pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The House Killer

The Torch and Toro are out on a stroll one night when they witness a landlord turn away a potential renter because he has no vacancies. He tells the two heroes that there is a housing shortage, and in order to help out he is going to fix up a derelict old home that he has boarded up elsewhere in town. Suddenly there it an explosion far away and the Torch and Toro rush off to investigate.

At the scene of the explosion, a masked villain calling himself the House Killer leaves a note for the authorities, gloating over the success of his mission. The Torch and Toro arrive and witness as firemen fail to stop the blaze from burning the house to the ground. Coincidentally, this house is the home that the landlord owned. They search the property, the Torch wondering why the house would burn up so quickly. They find a note from the House Killer who gloats over burning the house down, leaving the landlord to believe that the person responsible was the man he turned down earlier.

The Torch and Toro then go on a patrol to try and find the House Killer. They spot him just as he has finished rigging another demolition. When they confront him, he douses their flames with chemicals and flees. The blast goes off, succeeding only in knocking the roof off the house. They examine the house and find that the house is a decoy and wonder why the House Killer would set up an elaborate ruse. Realizing that the House Killer likely stole the entire Kirk house and replaced it with a phony, they decide to rush to hall of records to learn what they can about he house.

However, the House Killer and his accomplice are already at the records and are about to light the records on file when the Torch and Toro arrive. The House Killer douses them with chemicals again and knocks a filing cabinet over them and they flee the scene. When the Torch and Toro revive they find a scrap of paper, all that remains on the report on the Kirk house. The Torch finds a reference to gold plating and realizes that the house used to be a gold plate pressing factory and the property was likely loaded with valuable gold dust which the criminals sought to extract from the materials of the house.

Checking police records for operational factories that could allow the crooks to complete this process, the Torch and Toro manage to track down the House Killer and his men and capture them. After their capture the House Killer admits that he created the "house killing" motif as a ruse to hide his true intentions.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Statue of Death

The Sub-Mariner and Betty Dean sit in on an auction of Laruse Statue. The auctioneer Mr. Tarscole tells the audience that he statue was sculpted on the isle of Tareda by famed sculptor Kolo based on a local native who was arrested for murder 10 years ago and executed. They say that whenever there is a stormy night the statue of Laruse comes to life to kill. Despite this legend, the statue is purchased by Gordon Kronin for $18000. After the auction, Namor thanks Betty for the night out and returns to the sea where he helps a sloop that has sailed into trouble.

That night, the statue is delivered to the Kronin house and Kronin notes that there is a storm outside. Suddenly the statue begins to move, meanwhile Namor pulls into shore in the area. Deciding to check on the Kronin house he is shocked to witness the statue coming to life and killing Kronin. Namor briefly clashes with the statue, but a falling chandelier knocks him out and the statue becomes inert again. After questioning Kronin's room mates, the Sub-Mariner visits Tarscole to learn more about the trophy.

Learning that Kolo (really Hector Olphanti) lived on Tareda, the Sub-Mariner decides to go there and dives into the water. He visits with Hector's brother Olphanti, a local wealthy man. Olphanti tells him that his brother was exiled by the local dictator two years ago and was forced to take only what he could carry. He tells Namor that he sold the statue on his brother's behalf. As Namor leaves, he runs into Olphanti's maid who tells him that Hector was exiled because he wanted to overthrow the island's dictator and install a democracy. When he returned home two years ago, he was shot and left for dead. However, the maid learned from Hector that the statue contained jewels intended for his people and told her a word that would be key to opening the statue but she does not remember what it is. She is then called away by the guards while Namor dives back into the water to check the statue again in America.

Meanwhile, the servant girl was overheard and Olphanti demands that she provide the word. When she dose not remember, Olphanti tells his man in the States that the Sub-Mariner is going back there to search the statue. When Namor arrives at the Kronin house he is attacked by the statue again and some thugs. He knocks the statue out and realizes it's Tarscole in a costume but is also knocked out and is captured. When Namor comes around he finds himself imprisoned with the maid and that Tarscole and Olphanti have been working together to learn how to access the secret compartment where the treasure is hidden. Olphanti leaves the pair alone for five minutes for the girl to try and remember the secret word or die. During that time, Namor comes up with a plan. Having the girl tell their captors that she remembers the word and then pretends to faint when the men burst into the room.

When they bring her a glass of water, Namor knocks them over causing the water to spill on him revitalizing his strength and allowing him to break free from his bonds. Namor then easily defeats the crooks, and the girl remembers the secret word "Minerva". Solving the riddle, Namor finds a secret compartment in the statues head that opens a compartment in it's chest revealing books on democracy, the treasure Hector had for his people. With the crooks turned over to the police, Namor later reads in the papers how the girl brought the books back to her people and they eventually overthrew their dictator and had their first free election.