Human Torch Comics #4

Aug 1

Aug 1 Human Torch Comics #4

The Mystery of the Disappearing Criminals

Torch drops in to see the Police Commissioner, at his request, to solve the case of noted criminals who disappear from their usual haunts and cannot be found again. Suddenly, Toro bursts in and informs them that the father of his friend, Jimmy Wilson, recently paroled from prison, has disappeared without a trace after going to New York to see about a job. They fly to Jimmy's home, where suddenly a Policeman arrives and tells the family that the father is dead. Torch & Toro go over to the morgue and check out the body....and Torch discovers the man has been murdered. So Torch decides to use Toro as bait to ferret out the true villains involved. Toro will start committing illegal acts while the Torch just ignores the situation. It gets so bad that the Police Commissioner demands the Torch to resign from the department. But the bait has worked as Toro is visited in his waterfront dive by one of the criminals involved, who wants Toro to join his club of crooks, who steal valuable items, but can't be arrested for what they do. Toro goes with the thug and Torch follows from high overhead to a creepy old house, which Torch burns into, but finds no one. Suddenly he is attacked by another gangster, who is quickly captured, but who suddenly drops dead! Torch searches the house and finds a compact radio sending set, which blows up in his face, and the house along with it. Meanwhile, Toro has been captured and is being flown overseas, and he is to be used to blackmail the Torch into inaction. Torch, knowing this, researches the remains of the house and discovers a clue, and then uses a radio transmitter into fooling the thugs to reveal their true location. Torch finds the ship and attacks it.....however, he is captured and held hostage himself until Toro finds a way to free him. Torch quickly captures the crew of the ship Toro is on and then seeks out the boss, a man named Blackjack. Blackjack hurls a vial of nitrogen at the Master of Flame, extinguishing his flame and blinding him.

With Blackjack having escaped, Torch corrals the crew and heads back to the United States. Toro questions Torch about how he knows Jimmy's father had been murdered, and he explains that there was a small, red hypodermic needle mark between his fingers. Meanwhile, from a hidden room aboard ship, Blackjack radios some friends to launch a bombing attack on the ship itself to destroy the Torch. Torch flies to defend himself and the ship and destroys the planes....but during the fight, Toro, unable to flame on, is wounded, and Torch successfully cauterizes his wounds. He then warns the crew to sail on and remember what happened to the planes if they don't want the same thing to happen to them! Suddenly, the crew spots several battleships approaching, but fortunately they belong to the U.S. and are merely there to escort the ship in. Blackjack jumps overboard and escapes, but that is the least of Torch's worries. Toro has gone raving mad, so he taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital for treatment. With Toro now in good hands, the Torch feels he can leave to track down the rats responsible for the crisis, and succeeds in getting all but two of them. Torch returns to the hospital and finds out that Toro is doing well, but is still very weak. He makes the mistake of blurting out that two criminals remain at large, for when Torch leaves, Toro follows. However, Toro stops at Jimmy's house and enlists his aid tracking down Blackjack and his henchman, Davis, then returns to the hospital.

Torch drops in the next day to visit Toro and brings Jimmy and other friends with him. Privately, Jimmy tells Toro that Davis will be at a ballgame he's playing in the next day, and Toro agrees to play on the team in order to capture Davis. Toro is pitching---literally fire balls at the batters, and notes Davis in the stands....and he throws one at him as well. Torch arrives and makes Davis talk and tell that Blackjack can be found at 15 South Bay Street. Toro is put back in the hospital to rest while the Torch goes after Blackjack. Shortly after Toro is back in his bed at the hospital, a nurse rushes in and tells the doctor that the incubators for the babies have gone cold. Toro rushes to the nursery with the doctor and nurse and uses his weak flame to heat the incubators until the problem is fixed. A man rushes into the nursery and tells the doctor an ambulance has been sent to 15 South Bay Street. There we find the Torch rounding up the remaining criminals. Blackjack, who was with this group, almost gets away until the Torch creates a giant flaming hand in front of the criminal to halt his escape. The hand of flame wraps around Blackjack, burning him to death. The police arrive and round up the remaining criminals just as Toro appears riding in an ambulance that was dispatched to the scene. He complains that Torch got to have all the fun, and Torch tells him to go back to the hospital and rest up for their next adventure.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Patriot

Text story. The Patriot foils a plane hijacking.

Recurring Characters

Patriot

Continuity Notes

Although this is his first appearance, the Patriot is not given a proper origin here, except that he decided to become the Patriot because he loves his country. A proper origin is given to the character in Captain America: Patriot #1.

The Serum Must Get Through!

In the cold arctic wastes of Alaska, a medium-sized town is being ravaged by an influenza outbreak. Doctors are frantic for a new serum that can battle the disease and wire Washington for a supply, which is soon being flown to the area. A storm threatens to turn the ship back and Sub-Mariner is asked to get the serum through by swimming an initial supply through. But the ice bests Prince Namor, who falls unconscious amid the great chunks of ice. Up above, planes searching for Namor encounter the storm and one crashes near Prince Namor, rousing him and allowing him to save the pilot from sure death. Other planes land and rescue them. Meanwhile, the small town is now being menaced by huge icebergs and Namor orders the planes to the town as quickly as possible to evacuate all residents. As Sub-Mariner nears the town, he sees a giant iceberg and blasts it to smithereens with a few bombs. This causes a fire and Namor takes care of that problem only to see the town now menaced by flood waters and freezing cold temperatures. He breaks through the ice to note that he is standing over the city's gasoline supply, which he ignites thereby warming up the town, melting the ice and allowing him to deliver the serum to the hospital.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, President Franklin Roosevelt

The Yellowshirts Turn Yellow!

The chief of a subversive group, called the Yellowshirts, announces that the group is now powerful enough to take on the U.S. government and destroy it, and the order goes out to do just that. As Jeff Mace walks along the streets with his girl, a building suddenly blows up and crumbles into dust before their eyes. Uniformed members of the Yellowshirts take to the streets, shooting Police and announcing their take-over. Mace changes to the Patriot and wades into them, crushes them and heads back to his newspaper office, which is now controlled by the subversive group. Patriot and the other news personnel make short work out of these Yellowshirts, then the Patriot heads uptown to take on the rest of the organization....head to head and defeats them.