The Hunt for Hawk Rivers

Arsonists led by escaped con Hawk Rivers demand ten million or they will burn down New York with Arson bombs. The Torch, angered that they placed a bomb in a hospital where Toro is staying, burns a symbol of a rat into the foreheads of a couple of captured pilots. Toro thinks to himself that placing the bomb must have been an inside job and overhears a man speaking about the Torch. He follows the man into a warehouse and is taken captive. They bind him with asbestos strips and take him aboard an airplane. They set Toro's feet in plaster of Paris and dump him out of the plane into Torch's path. Toro cries out "Help me, Torch, I'm scared." to which Torch replies "Ok, Sissy, I will." After rescuing Toro, Torch burns off the gang's landing gear and sky writes a demand to land. The pilot doesn't understand how he can land the plane without landing gear, but is afraid Torch will destroy the plane if he doesn't do as he has been bid, so he noses it down. Torch creates a pair of 'fire wheels' for the plane to land with and takes Hawk Rivers into custody.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

To Crush Killer Casey

With the apparent death of their Emperor and recent cure of an illness blighting his people using Radium, Namor the Sub-Mariner returns to New York City to return the Radium he procured. Afterward, he meets with his friend Betty Dean who asks him for his assistance. She takes him to her apartment building and introduces him to Danny Dougherty, a young boxer who was crippled in a match against Killer Casey. Betty suspects foul play that led to Danny's defeat and asks the Sub-Mariner to help beat Casey in the ring.

Namor decides to take up the request and quickly goes to Madison Square Garden where he announces that he will battle Killer Casey. He then barges into the office of Casey's managers to deliver his challenge personally and floors Killer Casey with a single punch. The Sub-Mariner then goes to the Boxing Commissions head office to sign up and partake in basic training until the big match.

On fight night, the Sub-Mariner and Killer Casey meet in the ring. However, while Namor is more than a match for Killer Casey, his managers have brought things to try to throw things in their boxer's favor. First, they attempt to use a heat ray to weaken the Sub-Mariner. When this doesn't work they try greasing the ground in Namor's corner to make him slip in the next round. Again, they fail. As a last-ditch effort, Killer Casey's manager squirts ammonia into Namor's eyes with a water pistol. Namor is only briefly stunned by this and becomes so enraged that he goes at Killer Casey with his full strength, beating him into unconsciousness and winning the match. With Casey defeated, the Sub-Mariner gives the money to Dougherty's family to pay for his ongoing medical expenses.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean

Continuity Notes

• This story takes place after the alleged death of Thakorr (aka the “Holy One” in this story). His alleged death happened in Sub-Mariner Comics #1. The character will later reappear alive and well with no explanation in Sub-Mariner Comics #32. An explanation was not provided until years later in Saga of the Sub-Mariner #5. That story explains that Thakorr was actually killed, but seriously injured and comatose for a number of years.

The Vampire Killer of Star City

A strange "vampire killer" has claimed ten victims in Star City over the past number of nights attracting the attention of the Vision. Investigating the story, the Vision decides to search the lab of the first victim, a scientist. As a police officer is killed and has his blood drained by the mysterious stalker, the Vision comes across notes about "Experiment 36-B", a new breed of plant dubbed "Florus Homo", a humanoid plant that lives off of human blood.

Realizing what he is up against, the Vision goes out looking for the plant man and finds the creature just as it is about to attack another man. The Vision fights it off, and easily slays the creature by using its one weakness: fire.

Recurring Characters

Vision

High Tension

A text story detailing the origin of the Angel. Bob Soler talks about the costumed hero known as the Angel and explains his origins. The man who would become the Angel was the son of a warden who grew up learning to believe in justice. Learning that a man on death row was innocent of his crimes and time running out, the young man was unable to make it to the prison to stop the execution. Instead, he rushed to a nearby electrical tower that provided power to the prison. Tossing a wire at the tower it caused a short circuit that killed the power at the prison. This gave the young man enough time to present the evidence and clear an innocent man, thus saving his life. Once finishing his tale, Bob Soler reveals that he was that man.

Recurring Characters

Thomas Halloway

Continuity Notes

• This story gives a partial origin of Thomas Halloway, the man who would become the Angel. It is later revealed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1 that exposure to this electrical charged caused some kind of mutation that slowed his aging process, thus explaining how he could survive into the Modern Age (most notably his appearing in the US Agent limited series)

• More details of Thomas’ childhood and his motivation for becoming a hero were given more detail in Marvels Project #1. In addition to the story above, he was motivated into becoming a hero while giving hospice care to the Two-Gun Kid and after witnessing the Human Torch running loose through the city.

The Mystery of the Radio Robberies

Terry Vance and Deadline Dawson are listening to the police band radio and hear of a bank robbery. Deciding to lend a hand they arrive at the scene and meet with Inspector Crane. Crane informs them that the crooks made off with $10,000 and the only evidence left behind was the remains of a radio tube. With no sign that the bank safes were tampered with Terry and the Inspector decide that they need to look into the radio tube clue a lot closer.

Later, Crane returns home to find his maid tied up and his papers shuffled through. He calls Terry to come at once, but when Terry arrives Crane is dead and his maid explains that he dropped dead after answering another phone call. Crane had the forethought to write a note for Terry, and when Terry looks it over he rushes off to get Deadline Dawson's help to crack the case. Rigged with a radio wave tracking device, Terry and Deadline begin scanning the area to find the source of the criminals' radio transmissions.

As the police learn of Crane's murder they put an APB out for Terry to help them with the case. Terry and Dawson meanwhile have tracked the criminal radio signals to United Trust Bank where they catch the crooks in the act and subdue them for the police. After the crooks are taken away by the authorities, Terry points out the crooks managed to learn the combinations to the bank vaults by planting sensitive microphones to record the sound of the tumbles going off. They also managed to rig a miniature gun inside the receiver of Inspector Crane's phone enabling them to murder the inspector via radio control. With the crooks' plot foiled, Terry is once more credited for his detective work.

Recurring Characters

Terry Vance, Doctor Watson, Deadline Dawson

The Cat's Paw Chapter 3: Tombs of Torture

Continued from last issue....

As the Cat's Paw and her minions attempt to escape the scene of their most recent murder, the Angel attempts to hitch a ride on their getaway car. He manages to grab hold but as the car gets out of the city limits the Angel is thrown from the vehicle. As he picks himself up from the ground he is attacked by another car full of the Cat's Paw's minions. He jumps aboard the car and fights all the passengers into submission, throwing them all out of the car and taking control of the vehicle himself.

Now with a way to catch up with the Cat's Paw, the Angel follows her all the way to her hideout, a mansion in the mountains. Witnessing as her foe heads toward her, the Cat's Paw causes the Angel to wreck his car and he almost meets his end driving off a cliff. Surviving, the Angel climbs back up and fights his way into the mansion. In the building's lower levels the Angel is shocked to find a torture chamber. Here he witnesses the Cat's Paw torturing a businessman to learn who the stock owners are for American Aircraft Inc. Realizing that the Cat's Paw is targeting companies that are aiding the British war effort he springs into action.

Catching the Cat's Paw by disguise, the Angel easily subdues her. With her defeat her employer appears, and reveals himself to be a Nazi agent. With the aid of the Cat's Paw (who is shocked to have been duped by a Nazi), the Angel defeats the Nazi agent and ties him up. With the battle over, the Cat's Paw asks to have some privacy to change out of her costume. The Angel agrees, however when she takes too long the Angel bursts into the room she is in and finds the remains of her costume burning away. Inspecting the room he finds that the only way the Cat's Paw could escape would be out a window that is a five hundred foot drop into quicksand, and that her survival is unlikely.

Recurring Characters

Angel, Cat’s Paw

Action in Ethiopia

Hearing news about Nazi soldiers setting up camp in Italy controlled Ethiopia, Ka-Zar decides to fight against these invaders and calls on Trajah and his tribe of elephants to help him in this matter. Sneaking onto the Nazi base, Ka-Zar gets the jump on one of the guards and steals his keys. He frees some captured British soldiers and helps them escape by using the Nazis' own planes. Ka-Zar is caught, he resists but is easily overpowered due to the Nazis' superior numbers. Ka-Zar finds himself tied to a bomb, but he is far from helpless. He calls on Trajah and the other elephants to attack. They trample the Nazis to death and free Ka-Zar. They then escape just as British bombers fly overhead and destroy the base.

Ka-Zar then groups Chaka and his apes and Zar to help him and the elephants attack an Italian supply train bringing in weapons for the Axis Forces active in the area. With the help of the animals, Ka-Zar boards the train and forces it to ride off the rails and into a chasm below a rail bridge. They then attack the nearby Italian base, overpowering the soldiers there with their sheer numbers. With the enemy defeated, Ka-Zar sets the fortress ablaze and he and the animals all flee as the bases ammo dump catches on fire and explodes, destroying the entire compound.

Recurring Characters

Ka-Zar, Trajah, Nazis, Chaka