Marvel Mystery Comics #41
The Stolen Bomber
The Human Torch and Toro are flying on patrol along the seaboard when they spot one of Americas newest bomber planes preparing to land. Seeing that the landing gear is stuck, the Torch quickly pulls it out and discovers that sabotage was the cause of the malfunction. Learning from the commander in charge of the base that was but one of many "accidents" around the air-base which is the site where a new bomber is being developed. The Torch and Toro decide to stay the night on the base to make sure nothing happens.
That night, Toro wakes the Torch fearing that something might be happening. They find the sentry on base has been knocked out and come across a spy snooping around the bomber. When the pair attempt to stop him, they are doused in a chemical that prevents them from igniting their flames. The Torch and Toro are subdued by the spy, who manages to escape in the bomber. Searching the area for clues, they find a German Iron Cross.
Checking in with the network of plane spotters set up by the military they track the bomber to the state of Oklahoma. In the general area where the bomber was last spotted, the two heroes stop at a local farmhouse to ask if they spotted a plane. When the man slams the door in the face, they decide to search the property.
Finding tire tracks that are deeper than a car, they follow them to a nearby hill where they are attacked by men in asbestos lined suits. The Torch and Toro are captured and taken to a secret hideout within a mountain. there they meet with Nazi Colonel von Getter, who explains to the two heroes that they intend to use the American bomber on it's own people. When the flaming heroes attempt to ignite their flames and attack they are once more doused and then covered in fire proof paint. Locking the two in a room, von Getter tells the heroes that the paint will eventually constrict and suffocate them.
Toro finds that part of his finger is not covered by the paint and uses his ignited finger to melt through the door. They then find barrels of gasoline and use the petrol inside to wash the paint off of themselves. They then fight their way through the Nazi spies and board the bomber just as von Getter is flying off. A fire has started inside the base, igniting the gas causing a massive explosion that blows up the base. The Torch and Toro then quickly defeat von Getter and return the bomber to the military, turning von Getter over to the military authorities.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Toro, Nazis
Metal Monsters
Adolf Hitler is furious over the continued failure of his men to destroy the Sub-Mariner and takes it out on Hermann Goering. Fed up of Goering's excuses he assigns Admiral von Roeder to try and eliminate the Sub-Mariner. With no ideas on how to do so, von Roeder is greeted by Nazi scientist Captain Kessler who shows him designs for giant robots that he says would be ideal to defeat the Sub-Mariner. Von Roeder likes the idea and suggests that they send an army of robots to eliminate Namor in his own home.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Sub-Mariner has grown bored with the surface world and decides to go back to Atlantis to visit his people. As he is swimming through the oceans, Kessler finishes his robots, and with von Roeder pilots the robots into the ocean to seek out Atlantis. They come upon a young Atlantean and capture him and threaten to kill him if he doesn't reveal the location of Atlantis. When the boy complies they kill him anyway and head toward the undersea kingdom.
Namor soon comes upon the dead boys body and vows to avenge him against whoever killed the lad and swims off toward Atlantis. Arriving in Atlantis, he finds his kingdom under siege by the Nazi robots and leads the Atlantean army in a counterattack. The battle rages on as Namor and his minions destroy many of the robots, until it appears as though Namor is killed, prompting von Roeder and Kessler to believe that their mission to be a success and they begin to leave.
Namor has survived however, and follows after them. Knocking their robot down a underwater chasm, the water pressure crushes the massive robot killing the two Nazis on board. Namor then removes the robots head and send it floating back to Germany as a message to the Nazis.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner, Nazis (Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goring)
The Tour of Fairy Land
Continued from last issue...
King Ra shows Jimmy Jupiter and Knobby the Royal Candy Garden before sending them off with Fairy Delight to see what other wonders that the Land of Fairy's has to offer. Riding on a mouse drawn pumpkin carriage, they visit the valley of the blue bells, but leave quickly before the music from the plants can mesmerize Jimmy into an eternal sleep.
They next visit the town of the china people, where Jimmy and Knobby meet with the fragile people and see how they deal with injuries when they are chipped. Next they visit the Plush Forest, where they meet the friendly animals there and Jimmy meets a new friend, a plush puppy he calls Plushy and takes with him. Next they visit Dream Land, where Jimmy is too late to grab a dream from the dream tree before the Sandman comes to put his blanket of sleep over the town. As Jimmy and the others run, Jimmy and Plushy fall through the mastress ground of Dream Land and begin falling back to Earth. Guided back safely by the Blue Fairy, Jimmy wakes up under a tree to find that Plushy has been replaced with a real live puppy.
Recurring Characters
Jimmy Jupiter, King Ra, Knobby
The Reformation of Thick Lips Scarbo
Criminal "Thick Lips" Scarbo is about to be released from prison after five years in prison. Surprisingly, Scarbo intends to reform, however a bunch of Nazi spies reading about his release intend to exploit his skills for their own uses. Also, Scarbo's story gains the attention of reporters Jeff Mace, Mary Morgan and Jack Casey who wonder what the crook will do now that he is free and decide to try and get an interview with him.
Scarbo flees into a cab that happens to be driven by one of the Nazi spies. The spy takes him at gunpoint to their hideout where their leader Von Boom demands that Scarbo use his skills as a former criminal to assist in their spy activities. Scarbo refuses until they show the crook that they have his son hostage.
However, the three reporters have also followed after them and are spotted by the spies. Jeff slips away and quickly changes into the Patriot in the alley and comes back fighting off the Nazis. To his surprise, Scarbo lends a hand and helps him defeat the spies and save the boy. With Mary and Jack preoccupied with what just happened the Patriot them slips away to change back into his civilian guise in order to protect his secret identity.
Recurring Characters
Patriot, Jack Casey, Mary Morgan
Master of Madness
Dr. Ross Ekker and his assistant Hugo have perfected a sonic device that causes living creatures to go mad at the sound of the device. With the device a complete success on animals the mad Dr. Ekker decides to go out and test it on a human test subject.
They grab a young woman named Jean Cooper and chloroform her and take her back to their lab. Later when her best friend Mary discovers that her friend left her purse over, she calls the Cooper home and learns from Jean's father that she hadn't returned home yet. Worried about his daughter, Mr. Cooper goes out looking for her and finds Ekker's discarded rag and detects a hint of chloroform on it. Following a trail on a nearby dirt road, the path leads directly to Dr. Ekker's home where Ekker has his daughter. He finds her locked in a cage just as the Vision is materializing in the area to deal with Ekker himself.
Cooper is knocked out by Ekker, and when the Vision attacks he is taken down by a blast by his device. However it merely stuns the Vision due to his other-dimensional physiology. Reviving after Ekker and Hugo have left to test out the device on the public, the Vision uses his cape to grab a blow torch from a nearby table and use it to melt through the bars of the cage they are locked in.
With the help of the Coopers, the Vision tracks down Ekker and Hugo and confronts them after they have turned an entire street filled with people mad. Attacking the two, the Vision forces them to crash their truck into a hydro pole. Battling Hugo, the Vision tosses him onto the live wires where he is electrocuted to death. Dr. Ekker attempts to flee the scene and is run down by a speeding car, killing him on impact. With the mad scientists dead and their device destroyed, the Vision tells the Coopers that the effects of the device will soon wear off and pays his farewell before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Recurring Characters
Vision
Dr. Watson's Call To Fame
Terry Vance and Deadline Dawson are of the scene of an apartment fire where one lone occupant does not seem to be capable of jumping from his window onto a fire ladder that is just too short to reach his floor. Dr. Watson goes into action, learning that the man has a broken foot, the monkey helps the old man get down and the rescue is caught on film for a national news reel.
The next day, Terry is contacted by a film director who tells him that he wishes to hire Dr. Watson for a film instead of another monkey that he was considering for the part and asks the pair to come down to the studio for a meeting that afternoon.
As Terry and Watson prepare for their meeting, at a pool hall across town a man named Conn learns about how the producer of the film is hiring a new monkey to be in the picture and his partners are furious as they had kidnapped Chatter, the other monkey considered for the part, and his master Professor Zartan in order to force them into signing a contract where the gang gets most of the money. With their get-rich-quick scheme in jeopardy, they send Conn to deal with this new development.
When Terry, Dr. Watson and Deadline Dawon arrive on the set Dr. Watson is quickly put to work in his first scene. When the ape is almost crushed by a falling studio light, Terry pushes his monkey to safety. Soon Dr. Watson is kidnapped by Conn and Terry and Deadline learn the ape was last seen with Conn and track him back to the pool hall he regularly hangs out in.
Sneaking in around back after they were thrown out, they find Professor Zartan, Chatter and Dr. Watson all being held prisoner. Freeing the monkeys, the two apes spring into action when Conn and the other thugs catch them. The crooks are easily defeated and turned over to the authorities. Later, the producer decides to use both apes in his film and also asks Terry to play the part of the jungle boy after seeing footage of his earlier rescue of Dr. Watson.
Recurring Characters
Terry Vance, Doctor Watson, Deadline Dawson
The Curse of Baron Trembieu
At Army Intelligence in Washington D.C., the military brass learn that a lost package containing a important secret was recently found and was being shipped to a Rene Trembieu in Louisiana. Not wishing the secret inside the package to fall into the hands of Nazi spies, the Angel is called in to help recover it.
In Louisiana, Trembieu is surprised to be receiving a large shipping crate that was mailed to him by his brother (who is now dead) before the take over of France by Nazi forces. With his niece by his side, Trembieu opens the crate and is shocked to find that it is the suit of armor owned by his direct ancestor Baron Trembieu, a suit of armor that is supposedly cursed. Trembieu explains to his niece that their ancestor was a ruthless baron who lived 300 years ago that revealed in the torture of others. He explains that eventually the people of his town slew him, but after ward the suit of armor was cursed and that on the night of a full moon the armor would bleed the blood of its former master and become lethal to the touch, hence how it killed his brother. Both Trembieu's are frightened of the armor and Rene decides to dispose of it somehow. He then gets a phone call from someone telling him to hold onto it for the time being.
Soon Trembieu is visited by a supposed art collector named Kurt Schnell who seeks to purchase the armor from Trembieu. As they discuss the offer, the Angel arrives and notices that Schnell did not arrive alone and realizes that something must be up. When Trembieu refuses to sell the armor to Schnell the man reveals himself to be a Nazi spy and that he intends to steal the armor if it wont be sold. The Angel then springs into action, but is forced to stop his attack when Schnell holds Trembieu's niece at gunpoint.
When Schnell's men enter the room they are horrified to see that the suit of armor has begun to bleed and when one of the men touches it he drops dead. However, soon the blood stops flowing and Schnell finds that the armor is safe to touch and so he carries it out warning the Angel against following him. The Angel has his bonds untied by the girl and attempts to chase after the crooks, but they pin him behind a tree with gun fire and escape in their car.
Not wishing the suit to get into enemy hands, Trembieu shoots at the car with a shot gun from one of the windows of his mansion. His bullet pieces the car and strikes the suit of armor causing a massive explosion that kills all the Nazis and destroys the car.
In the aftermath of the episode, the Angel explains that Trembieu's brother had actually invented a powerful explosive that he was attempting to smuggle into the United States in the old suit of armor, however due to the war the mail got lost until it was actually found and send on it's correct course again. The Nazis sought to take it for themselves. As it happened when Trembieu shot at the car he struck the explosives, causing the spies destruction. All are relieved that such a powerful weapon has been destroyed and the Angle pays leave to those he had saved.
Recurring Characters
Angel
