Marvel Mystery Comics #79

Jul 18

Jul 18 Marvel Mystery Comics #79

The Mother Goose Robberies

A criminal named Mother Goose robs a safe containing priceless Emerson first editions from the local library and leaves behind a nursery rhyme clue for the authorities. Stumped, they call in the Human Torch and Toro to help solve the case. Mulling over the first clue the Torch realizes that Mother Goose intends on stealing the famous Goose Woman painting at the Fine Arts Museum. He and Toro rush to the scene and arrive just as Mother Goose is fleeing the scene. However, when giving chase the two heroes have to flame off in order to prevent destruction to the other paintings in the museum and lose Mother Goose.

Returning to his hideout, Mother Goose meets with his aid King Cole and they begin plotting their next crime. Confident that he can continue to outsmart the Human Torch, Mother Goose sends his next clue directly to police headquarters. The Torch correctly deduces that Mother Goose is going to steal a number of "pepper" rubies and goes to a local jewellery store that had them on display. There the Torch and Toro learn that the "red pepper" rubies were sold to Mrs. Lloyd Kronite.

Getting the Kronite home address, the Torch and Toro arrive to catch Mother Goose in the act of stealing the rubies. When King Cole attempts to attack the Torch, both he and Toro turn their attentions to him allowing Mother Goose to flee. Chasing after Mother Goose, the heroes have their flames doused with a water hose and then are knocked out with a blow to the head from a lawn mower, allowing Mother Goose and King Cole to escape.

When the Torch and Toro revive Mrs. Kronite returns home and they tell her about the theft of two of her three rubies. Wanting to obtain the third ruby, Mother Goose returns to the Kronite home and kidnaps Mrs. Kronite's son from the garden. He later calls police headquarters and tells the authorities that he will gladly exchange the Kronite boy for the third ruby. The authorities agree and the Torch is given instructions to go to the south end of the forest preserve for midnight. As the Torch goes, he has Toro wait not far away.

The Torch goes to the location, and exchanges the ruby for the boy. Mother Goose then flees tossing an abestos lined blanket over the Torch. The Torch swats it away and chases after Mother Goose, but hears Toro crying for help. Rushing to the sound of the cries he finds that he has been tricked by a phonograph. Toro soon arrives with Jonathan Ware, the man who reported the library robbery. He tells them that he was visiting a friend in the country when he ran into Toro. They search the area and the Torch finds another clue in one of Mother Goose's footprints.

However, the Torch realizes that the note was dropped after the footprint was made and correctly deduces that Ware is really Mother Goose. Going to Ware's house, they attack him and King Cole, but are caught off balance by Ware's trained cats and fall through a trap floor and are knocked out by a vase. Ware then dresses both heroes in skin tight asbestos outfits and chain them in a room surrounded by photo-electric beams that will explode should they cross into them and are left to die. The Torch and Toro call Ware's cats, causing them to set off the explosives, freeing themselves.

Finding the remains of a note in Ware's den the Torch and Toro realize that he is going to rob the Watch Palace and capture both Mother Goose and King Cole and turn them over to the police.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Strange Dr. Feerce

One night strange apparitions confront wealth Roger Hunt and convince him to commit suicide, and he jumps out of a window to his death. The "ghosts" then put on normal clothing and drive away.

Two weeks later, the Sub-Mariner returns to New York and meets with Betty Dean. Betty tells him about the series of suicides carried out by wealthy men in the city. That nigh as he is swimming along a beach, Namor spots the strange apparitions running from the water and tries to stop them but they knock him out. When he come around he searched the beach and finds a pile of clothing along with a suicide note from another wealthy man named Jonathan Root, who drowned himself. Diving into the water, Namor finds his body and that the man has already drowned.

Namor pays a visit to Root's lawyer and learns that Root had willed a mountain he owned in Mexico to a Dr. Feerce. Finding this strange, he visits the lawyers of the other dead men and in each case finds that a piece of property has been willed out to Dr. Feerce: a piece of swamp land in the American south, a fish pond and an abandoned tunnel. Namor finds this all suspicious and decides to investigate Dr. Feerce and find out what it's about.

Meanwhile, at Dr. Feerce's laboratory, the apparitions arrive and he puts them through his electro-chamber changing them back into ordinary human beings. This series of forced suicides being part of his master scheme. Namor suddenly smashes in and while he is momentarily weakened by gas, a pitcher of water restores his strength. Namor meets Dr. Feerce and demands to know what he has to do with the deaths of the wealthy men. Feerce tells him that he is working on peaceful technologies and that without any proof of any wrong doing Namor is trespassing and orders him to leave. With no other choice, Namor goes, and Dr. Feerce then orders his men to leave out the secret tunnel in case Namor is keeping watch on them.

However, Namor has found the secret tunnel and has hitched a ride on the back of the crooks car. When they begin tormenting a man named Lomax, Namor attacks. During the fight, one of the crooks throws poisoned darts at Namor, and they leave thinking the hero dead. However the dart hit Namor's belt buckle and he goes after the crooks. They report back to Dr. Feerce and tell him that they eliminated the Sub-Mariner, however Namor suddenly smashes in and beats them senseless. When he tries to nab Dr. Feerce, the criminal drops a cement block on the hero, knocking him out. When Namor revives he finds himself chained up and too weak to break free.

Dr. Feerce tells Namor that he is over 1000 years old and became increasingly long lived after a Chroma gas explosion in ancient Greece circa 970 AD. He then explains that he continued expanding his knowledge of science and just recently invented an Electronic Bomb, a bomb that explodes electrons, that will be more powerful than the atom bomb. He explains that the formula to make the bomb requires five rare materials that were found on the properties that he tricked the wealthy men into willing to him. With the bomb he intends to take over the whole world. With his plan laid out, he then decides to kill Namor by injecting the hero with poison. However, before he can inject the Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean and the authorities arrive having tracked the same lead that Namor did and Feerce and his men flee the scene. Searching around the area for Feerce's new hideout, Namor deduces that he is in a lighthouse which he'd use as a silo for his bomb. Namor quickly rushes in and knocks out Feerce and his men.

Later, Feerce is sentenced to death by a judge and is executed in the electric chair.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean

Vanishing Spies

Continued from last issue...

With Miss America knocked out in her dressing room, Elise Winters pulls out a gun on the Rex and the spies making off with the bracelet. The spies shoot her and then flee the scene. Miss America revives and breaks free from her bonds. She leaves Elise in the care of a young man and chases after the spies. She soon finds that the car she is after is being pursued by another and swoops in for a closer look. Suddenly, the other driver shoots the tires of the spies' car and it drives off a cliff.

As she lands she finds that the other car was being driven by Peter Carr. They both search the car driven by Rex and his men and find no bodies or bracelet inside. Miss America then disarms Peter and demands to know what he is doing there. He explains that he went to the Cafe Luxuria with Madeline Joyce and she left him alone to meet with Elise Winters backstage. A few minutes later he saw men, whom he recognized as the ones who attacked Madeline in her hotel previously and followed after them.

When Madeline questions him what he knows about the microfilm containing the plans to a sun-ray, he pleads ignorant. She then has Peter drive them five miles out of town and forces him out of the car while she drives back into town, leaving Peter to walk back alone, tossing him his gun to keep him safe. Miss America then rushes back to the Cafe Luxuria to see if Elise is okay, but the janitor tells her that she revived and fled. Elise has gone off to a private doctor and pays him dearly for medical treatment then rushes off with a plan to get the bracelet from Rex and sell it for a fortune.

Meanwhile, Miss America is searching through Elise's apartment for clues when suddenly a pair of men come knocking at her door.

This story is continued next issue...

Recurring Characters

Miss America, Peter Carr, Elsie Winters, Rex Herr

Death At the Wheel

At the Young Allies club house, Toro and Bucky assist Knuckles in building a soapbox racer for a soapbox derby, which is offering a college tuition for the winner. With the racer finished Kunckles takes it up the hill for a test run. There he runs into Warren Lewis who mocks Knuckles car for being made out of cheap material, while his is made out of the finest material money can buy. Despite this, Knuckles is able to beat Warren in a race. Afterword, Knuckles rubs it in his face and Warren offers him money to keep out of the race. Insulted, Knuckles punches Lewis out and tells him he intends to win the race fare and square.

That night, Warren pays some thugs to steal Knuckles soapbox racer from the Tubby's garage. However, the Young Allies hear the commotion and rush out and stop the crooks but they manage to escape. On race day, the Young Allies are lugging Knuckles racer up the hill when they are confronted by the gang once more. This time they snare Toro in an asbestos lined bag and kidnap the group except Knuckles who they knock down the hill and leave for dead. Reviving, Knuckles gets into his race and chases after them, speeding past a police car. He tells the officers what's going on and they follow after him. They quickly catch up with the gang and round them up with an assist from the other Young Allies.

Appearing at the race, Knuckles manages to win first place, and Warren's father, upon hearing about his poor sportsman ship punishes his son as Knuckles is being awarded the grand prize.

Recurring Characters

Young Allies (Bucky, Toro, Knuckles O’Toole, Tubby Tinkle)

Continuity Notes

This story presents Bucky as though he is the original, aka James Barnes. However, as per Avengers #4, Bucky went MIA with the original Captain America in 1945. As explained in What If? #4 the United States government covered this up by recruiting successors. The Bucky here is actually Fred Davis.
As revealed in Young Allies Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 it was revealed that all of the Timely era Young Allies stories are comic book adaptations of real missions of the Young Allies as propaganda to support the war effort. However, it is unclear what elements of this story are real and which are fabrications or exaggerations. The only fact that is clear is that the Young Allies are depicted as adolescents here when, in reality, they were in their early 20s.

The Case of the X-Ray Eyes

A gang of crooks break into a business in order to rob it's safe. When a man named Louis spots them, they take him prisoner so he will not alert the police. Louis warns them that they are wasting their explosives to blow open the safe as there is only two dollars and fifty cents in the safe. The crooks don't believe him, but when they blast it open he proves to be correct. Demanding how he could know, Louis tells them that after suffering a blow to the head he found that he was gifted with x-ray vision. Seeing that Louis would be useful tot heir criminal operations, they take force him to assist in their crimes.

After a series of robberies, the Angel decides to investigate and find out how the crooks are so good at their crimes. Tracking them to a robbery of a loan company the Angel goes after them. However, Louis x-ray vision alerts the gang of the Angel's arrival and they are ready for him. The gang knocks out the Angel and flee the scene with the loot leaving Louis behind. When the Angel revives, he finds Louis and explains how he was forced to help the gang. The Angel then gets Louis to help him capture them.

Louis then returns to the gangs hideout, telling them that he escaped the Angel and has taken a liking to crime. He is then told that they are going to rob the Capital Jewellers and tips off the Angel. When the gang cracks the safe they find the hero waiting inside. During the ensuing fight Louis is struck on the head, but the Angel defeats the crooks. After the police have taken the crooks away, Louis is relived to find that the blow to the head stripped him of his x-ray vision.