Crime Marches On

With a costume party just hours away, the Human Torch tells Toro he cannot accompany him until his homework is done. Meanwhile at the Office of Culver and Nite, the party organizers, Claude Nite points out to his colleague Culver that their business is bankrupt. When asked what to do, Culver tells his partner that there will be many important bankers at their costume party and perhaps they could convince them to extend their credit.

Later that night as the party guests arrive at Culver's house, the Human Torch notices bank heiress Brenda Hearn who is wearing expensive jewels on her costume. Just then the party is crashed by a gang of crooks led by a crook calling herself Madam Crime. She steals Miss Hearn's jewels and when the Torch tries to stop her she douses him in chemicals that prevent him from using his flame and he is slugged from behind by one of her men. They then drag the Torch outside and stick his face into the water of a pond on the property so that he will drown. Before the Torch can drown, Toro arrives -- having skipped out on his homework to join the party -- and sends Madam Crime and her men fleeing while he revives the Torch.

The following day, Toro rushes in on Torch while he reads the paper to tell him that Madame Crime has kidnapped Claude Nite and demanded a $50,000 ransom for his safe release. They meet up with Culver to assist in the transfer of money. When they stop to get the D.A., Culver leaves the car to make a call just after the Torch does. At that moment, Madam Crime sends a remote control car to try and run the Torch down and break open the wall to a bank making it easier to rob. While they fail to strike down the Torch, Madame Crime and her minions rob the bank and make their getaway.

The two heroes give Madam Crime a chase, but her getaway car is equipped with gas emitter that douse Toro's flame. Toro is run down by her car forcing the Torch to take Toro to a hospital. Suspecting that Culver might be Madam Crime, the Torch confronts him and is even more convinced when he sees make-up on the mans neck. Later as he is checking on Toro in the hospital he is visited by Culver who tells him that Madam Crime had murdered his partner and no longer wanted the ransom.

The next day, the Torch gets an invitation to a bazaar fundraiser for the USO happening that night. Sure enough Madam Crime shows up to rob the charity event. There, the Torch captures Madam Crime and unmasks her as Claude Nite. When Nite douses the Torch in chemical gas he tries to flee but is stopped by his partner Culver. As the two struggle, the Torch gets between the two of them and captures Nite. He learns that Nite had took up crime when their business went bankrupt and that he blackmailed Culver into assisting him.

With the caper over, the Torch visits Toro in the hospital, bringing him the homework he neglected to do while he was injured.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

A Whale of a Whopping Story

A group of poachers working for Captain Cutter managed to chloroform and bring the Sub-Mariner to their bosses home along the coast of the Atlantic. There Cutter asks Namor to tell him where large schools of sperm whales are located. Namor refuses and breaks free, but before he can attack Cutter and his men he is shocked to see that Betty Dean is among their number. Betty explains to Namor that she was paid handsomely by Cutter and decided to quit her job as a police officer.

Namor flees outside and as he heads toward the water he is horrified to find that Cutter and his men have been killing baby sperm whales as long as the adults -- an act which has been made illegal. Deciding to investigate the observation further, he enters a shed and knocks out one of Cutter's men searching for him. Inside he finds piles of Ambergris taken from the stomachs of whales and many barrels of whale oil as well worth at least one hundred thousand dollars.

Namor decides to jump out into the water and try and protect a pod o sperm whales nearby. Cutter and his crew decide to search for whales without Namors help and go out into their sea. As they both reach a pod of whales, Cutter and his men use a prism to reflect sunlight down into the waters attracting the whales to the surface where they are mowed down with the ships machine-gun harpoon launcher. Namor attempts to stop Cutter and his men but is clubbed from behind.

When he regains consciousness, he finds himself in the belly of Cutter's ship with Betty. When Betty does not appear to repent her ways she agrees to let him free on the promise he will not interfere with Cutter's harvest. The Sub-Mariner lies and wrecks their boat. When Cutter and his crew get into a small motorboat to pull their damaged vessel to port to get repaired, Namor dumps them into the water. As he struggles in the water with one of Cutter's men the Captain himself swims to shore. When Namor arrives on shore shortly thereafter he approaches Betty and when she refuses to help stop Cutter he lights a crate of TNT to explode, but is surrounded by Cutter and his men and taken prisoner and his explosive snuffed out.

He is then tied to two dead whales with his explosives and sent out drifting to sea to be blown to smithereens. When the macabre vessel explodes Betty sheds a tear for her friend. Then right after with a secret radio transmitter she contacts the Coast Guard telling them that she has enough evidence to go after Cutter. Betty then decides to avenge Namor's death when they go on their next whale hunt.

This does not come to pass as Namor has survived and attacks the boat, disabling it once more. As Cutter and his men attempt to flee in a boat, they are rounded up by Betty and the Coast Guard when they come to shore. When Namor shoves Cutter's hunting ship to shore, he learns that Betty was undercover the whole time.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean

The Case of the Terrible-Tempered Tycoon

Deadline Dawson is fired from his job as a reporter when he cannot get an exclusive interview with Mr. Walker, whose rubber experiments are due to yield a breakthrough. Terry decides to help his friend out starting his own newspaper by selling his car and helping him buy equipment for his fledgling paper the Weekly Bugle.

They then decide to sneak into Walker's home and try and get an exclusive interview out of him before the other papers can. With the help of Dr. Watson, they sneak into Walker's home and come across his ticker tape machine. Reading the tape they learn that the rubber experiment was a complete success. Taking this slip of paper they manage to get Walker to see them when they dangle the results of his tests in front of him.

Impressed by the boys spirit and determination to get an exclusive, Walker gives them the interview they are seeking. Putting it to press it begins to sell quickly. When Deadline's old boss hears about it, he purchases all the newspapers and then offers Deadline his old job back at a higher pay, an offer which Deadline accepts.

Recurring Characters

Terry Vance, Doctor Watson, Deadline Dawson

Robot's Revenge

The mad scientist Dr. Maxim Dreer and his assistant have partook in grizzly experiments fusing the heads of animals to the bodies of humans with little success. When the townspeople find the corpses of his experiments, they storm his home and toss him off a cliff to his death.

His minion dredges up his body and implants his brain in a robot body and revives his master. Horrified by what he has become, Dreer kills his assistant and storms out of his home to get revenge against the people who put him in this condition. His path of death and destruction is barred by the arrival of the Vision who battles him. The robot Dreer manages to knock the hero out and bring him back to his hideout where he prepares to remove the heroes head so that he can implant his own on its powerful body.

The Vision revives before the operation can begin however, and uses live wires from the scientists equipment against Dreer's robot body. The heat generated causes the body to melt and the flames from this melted slag of metal causes the volatile chemicals in the house to explode, destroying Dreer and his home.

Recurring Characters

Vision

The Island of Pearl

In the land of fairies on the Island of Pearl, King Ra is told by his people that they have located the one boy of this generation that can psychically travel to their realm: Jimmy Jupiter. Impressed to hear this, Ra orders his minions to bring Jimmy to him at once.

On Earth as Jimmy is relaxing under a tree he is visited by a blue fairy and agrees to join her to her land. Flying there they are soon attacked by an eagle owned by the evil wizard named Zar. Fearful of the eagle, the blue fairy disappears and Jimmy is captured and brought before Zar. Zar decides to eat the boy for supper and tosses him into the dungeon. There Jimmy meets the living marionette named Knobby who wishes he could be the club of wood he used to be.

Jimmy convinces Knobby to help break out when a guard comes by with food for them. Trying to escape they are captured by the wizard once more who decides to eat Jimmy right away. Jimmy manages to kick pepper into Zar's face causing him to sneeze and allowing the two to flee. However, Jimmy stops unable to leave even an evil wizard in pain and douses him with water to wash the pepper away. This turns out to be Zar's only weakness as it strips him of his powers and shrinks him down to size. With the wizard defeated Knobby agrees to take Jimmy to the Castle of Ra.

This story is continued next issue...

Recurring Characters

Jimmy Jupiter, King Ra, Knobby

Shadows Over India

Jeff Mace, Jack Casey, and Mary Morgan are aboard a plane heading from Australia to India along with an Indian diplomat. Their plane is soon surrounded by Japanese Zero Fighters and they are forced to land just outside of India. There they are shocked to learn that the "ambassador" is really a Japanese spy in disguise and they are taken prisoner.

Taken to a cell separate from his friends, Jeff fights off his guard and changes into the Patriot. Racing to the cell where they are keeping Mary, the Patriot overhears her getting torture and rescues her. He rushes her to Jack's cell and frees him as well and leaves them so that he can "rescue Jeff Mace". Along the way back to his cell he runs into the Japanese spy and knocks him out with a single punch. He finds secret invasion plans in the spies hands and finds them very interesting. Changing back into Jeff Mace he carries the spy with him and reunites with his friends, telling them that the "Patriot" had freed him.

Stealing a Japanese Zero Fighter they fly back to Australia where they are surrounded by Allied fighters. Surrendering, their plane is escorted to the ground where they identify themselves as American newspaper reporters and turn over the spy and the invasion plans to the soldiers on the ground.

Recurring Characters

Patriot, Jack Casey, Mary Morgan

Death Comes Humming

Thomas Halloway is walking down the street when he witnesses a car suddenly crash into a lamp post. With the car burning up, Halloway pulls the body out and finds that the man inside the car is dead. Examining his body he finds no marks except for a bee sting. When the authorities arrive on the scene, Thomas examines the car and finds the corpse of the bee that stung the driver. Searching the dead man's pockets the officer on the scene and Halloway learn that the deceased was a stock broker named Owen Lundy.

Visitng the morgue later, Thomas learns that the man was killed "bee poisoning", an accumulation of bee venom in the mans blood. Deciding that the death was not accidental, Thomas decides to go to the Museum of Natural History to learn more about the bee that killed Lundy. Showing it to a representative there, it is identified as a rare breed of bee and that some can be found at the Crown Bee Farm in Harville.

Deciding to pay the farm a visit he meets with Mr. Crown and asks him about any of his bees being involved in the murder of Lundy. Crown denies it but somehow manages to commands one of his bees to sting Halloway. When Halloway calls him on it, Crown orders the entire swarm to attack him. Rushing to safety, Halloway dives into a nearby stream and stays below water until the bees leave and it is safe to get out.

Changing into his Angel costume, Halloway breaking into Crown's home and looks through his diaries. He also comes across a cigarette case with some strange smelling cigarettes. He learns that Crown was once a researcher who did an unauthorized test on a human subject who later died and was fired by Lundy who was his boss at the time. Expelled from the university, he vowed to get revenge. Realizing Crown's motives, the Angel accidentally drops the diary on the ground and the sound wakes Crown from his sleep. Crown then summons his bees to swarm the house.

The Angel flees the bees and Crown into the basement of the house. Crown shoots open the lock on the door and follows him down into the basement with an army of bees behind him. Swarmed, the Angel seeks shelter inside a garbage can, and realizing the special cigarettes control the bees begins to smoke one and commands the bees to attack their master. Swarmed by his own army of bees Crown fleed outside of his house. Unable to handle the pain from all the be stings he then takes his own life by putting his gun to his head and shooting himself, ending his threat.

Recurring Characters

Angel