Marvel Mystery Comics #69
The Laughing Sneak Thief
A crook named Cookie is released from Freedom Gate prison with a warning that if he's arrested again he's going for life. He is picked up by his gang, and he tells them that he has a new racket scheme that will make them rich. Returning to New York, the gang begins their plan: tricking children with bicycles into running errands and then stealing their bikes to be painted and resold on the black market.
Eventually, the local children get wise to it and pay a visit to the Human Torch and Toro to petition the two heroes to help them. Listening to their story, the duo decide to help them find their stolen bicycles. They are told of one tricycle in particular owned by a boy named Gerald, that has a gash in the handlebars that cannot be painted over. Flaming on the pair go to the local police station to compare notes and learn how large the operation is. Meanwhile, Cookie and his gang are laughing about the profits they will make on the bicycles. Back at their apartment, the Torch and Toro decide to begin searching all the second hand bicycle shops to try and find the stolen bikes, and split up to search faster.
Meanwhile, Cookie's head bike thief Slim pays a visit to his boss to fill him in on the progress. Unimpressed with the amount of bikes they are pulling in, Cookie orders Slim to go to the north end of town and begin working there. As Slim drives off, one of the boys who had his bicycle stolen recognizes Slim's truck and jumps on the back to learn the location of the stolen bicycles. At that time, Toro's search of second hand bike shops runs dry and he flies back to his apartment. There he gets a phone call from the Torch who is also not having much luck but still has some shops to check still. Soon some of the boys enter the apartment and tell Toro that they found the location of the stolen bikes. Toro tells the kids to stay to inform the Torch when he gets back and goes off to investigate. The children believe that Toro is outnumbered and go to help him, leaving a note for the Torch instead.
When Toro arrives at the warehouse where all the stolen bikes are being kept, Slim quickly douses his flame with the sprinkler system and wraps him up in asbestos. Arriving on the scene, the kids attack the mobsters and free Toro who then rounds them all up for the authorities. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, the Torch checks the last bike shop on his list and finds Gerald's tricycle. He is confronted by Cookie who secretly summons his men. They get the drop on the Torch and knock him out. When Toro and the children return to the apartment, they find the note untouched and one of the boys tells Toro that he found the shop where the dealers are hiding out.
Toro rushes off to the shop and stops Cookie and his men from stabbing the Torch with a knife. Freeing Torch from his asbestos bonds, the two heroes easily round up Cookie and his men. With the crooks rounded up, the two heroes take the children to reclaim their stolen bikes.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Toro
Case of the East Side Tornadoes
At a waterfront warehouse, the night watchman is startled by a noise and comes across a young boy. The watchman is suddenly shot dead and the boy flees the scene, running into Betty Dean. When Betty tries to get the boy to slow down the frightened kid slips out of his sweater and escapes. Namor soon arrives on the scene and she tells the hero what she encountered. When the police being talking to witnesses who saw the boy flee the scene, Betty is quiet, and tells Namor that she doesn't think the boy was responsible for killing the watchman. Examining the boys sweater, they find the name "Tornadoes", worn by the children who live in Dead End Street. Before Betty and Namor can leave they are attacked by a man who steals the sweater and escapes after threatening to shoot Betty if Namor does not lay off.
The two then decide to pay a visit to the Tornadoes, a bunch of youths who are playing out on the street. After Namor proves he is really the Sub-Mariner, they tell him that the boy they are looking for is Tommy Wilkins and where he lives. Betty and Namor visit the Wilkins home where they learn that Tommy was duped by a man who previously paid him for jobs while his mother was sick. He explains that the man later asked him to help get into the warehouse under the false pretence that he was playing a joke on a friend, but it all ended when the watchman was shot.
The boy does not know the man's name or address, but he provides Namor with a physical description (including a long scar on his face) and that he operated out of a launch near the warehouse. Namor dives into the water to try and find the man. Meanwhile, the real killer removes the fake scar, confident that nobody will be able to recognize him without it. As they try to leave the launch with their stolen loot they are attacked by Namor but they knock him out with a boat anchor and escape. When Namor revives he learns that the police found the sweater that the gang planted in the warehouse and Tommy was arrested for the night watchman's murder. Namor promises Tommy's mother that he will clear her son's name.
Namor and Betty then search the yacht and find a wad of gum in a crumpled piece of paper. Unfolding the paper they find an address which Namor goes to investigate. There he catches the gang and quickly rounds them up for the police. Upon being turned over to the authorities, the leader confesses to his crimes, clearing Tommy's name.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean
Miss America
Madeline Joyce is out shopping when suddenly the band to her wrist watch breaks. She slips into a nearby jewel store to get it fixed unaware that a man standing outside is giving a signal to people inside. As Madeline enters the shop, two veiled women suddenly leave, bumping into her abruptly. When Madeline attempts to get a shop keepers attention she is shocked to find everyone in the store dead and the merchandise cleaned out. Before she can do anything about it she is knocked out from behind. When she awakens she finds paramedics and police on the scene covering up the bodies.
While being questioned by the police, Madeline gives a description of the women. The officer on the scene identifies them as Varden sisters, two spinsters that live up state in Westchester. Slipping away, Madeline changes into Miss America and flies to the Varden estate. She arrives to see that the Varden car is in the garage and that the two sisters are drinking tea. She confronts them about the robbery, and learn that they were actually at the jewellery shop that morning and then had a nap. When Miss America points out what time it is, the women are shocked that they napped so long leading Madeline to believe that the women are innocent.
Going to the family car she finds the hood still warm and hears noise going up above her. Flying up there, she catches the chauffeur, butler and maid trying to escape with the stolen loot. Miss America easily rounds them up and learns that they used a special slow release gas in each of the establishments and then disguised themselves as the Varden sister to try and rob the place, using gas masks hidden under their veils so as not to get effected by their freeze gas.
Recurring Characters
Miss America
The Rocket Will Glare
When news about a new Allied Rocket about to be tested hits the newspapers, Jeff Mace is assigned to cover the story. As he heads to the rocket range he spots Nazi spies attacking a French envoy but fails to stop them. Knocked out and tied up, Mace learns that the man with him is Pierre Dijov, and that the Nazis are led by Von Kropf a Nazi scientist with photographic memory who plans to use Dijov's credentials to get close enough to the rocket plans. The two free themselves and Jeff races off to change into the Patriot.
Arriving just as the spies are escaping, the Patriot takes a helicopter and chases after them. While fighting in their car, the Patriot is knocked out by a blow to the back of the head with a wrench. The spies then take the Patriot into their escape boat in a nearby swamp to eliminate him before escaping back to Nazi Germany. While the spies head for a U-Boat that is waiting for them out at sea, the news of their theft reaches the military and the press.
Meanwhile, the Patriot revives and breaks free from his bonds, easily defeating the Nazi spies and radioing the coast guard and giving them the location of the U-Boat. When the U-Boat is destroyed, the Patriot turns Von Kropf over to the authorities.
Recurring Characters
Patriot, Nazis
The Haunted Heritage of the Gobbling Ghost
After helping the police on a case, one of the officers offers the Angel a ticket to see a show that he boasts has a beautiful lead woman with an amazing singing voice. The Angel decides to check it out and is surprised when the girl not only refuses to sing but faints dead. Going back stage, the Angel learns from the stage director that he singer, Joyce Reynolds, has gone mad. The Angel tries to see Joyce, but her aide turns him away but not before she hands over a business card. When Joyce gets the card, she calls the Angel for help.
She explains to him that her uncle recently died and left her a fortune, but since his death she believes his ghost has been haunting her. Getting her family background, he learns that her uncle raised her and her step-brother. He also learns that her step-brother was a war correspondent who went to Europe after a falling out with his uncle and was apparently captured by the Nazis and Joyce presumes that he is dead as nobody has heard from him in over a year. After checking with the door man to see if anyone resembling Joyce's uncle had been seen, the Angel then pays a visit to his former employer and confirms that he was indeed captured by the Nazis.
Returning to Joyce's apartment, the Angel stakes out the building until he hears Joyce screaming. Entering her room she says the image of her uncle appeared in a window that has no balcony. Going to the building across the street the Angel spots a man fleeing the scene with a mirror step up to project an image. Chasing after the man, the Angel easily captures him and turns him over to the police. Unmasked of a lifelike death mask, the man is revealed to be Joyce's step brother. They learn that he defected to the Nazis and was captured in Italy and placed in an internment camp in Florida. He managed to break free and then murder his uncle, then using his tricks tried to frighten Joyce into insanity so he could claim the inheritance for himself. With the cape over, the Angel agrees to go and see Joyce's show again.
Recurring Characters
Angel
