Marvel Mystery Comics #85
Murders From the Past
The Human Torch and Toro are spending a quiet evening in but it is quickly interrupted by a woman calling herself Cleopatra who believes that someone is going to murder her friend Nathan Hale. The Torch believes that this is a crank when the woman explains that Hale is named after the historical American patriot and that he group have been receiving threatening letters -- also dismissed as cranks -- but that she legitimately believes there is danger. The Human Torch and Toro decide to check it out and find Nathan Hale hanging from a noose in his apartment. The Torch leaves Toro behind while he looks around for the killer, confronting the Turtle and his men as they are fleeing out of the back of the apartment building. The Torch confronts them, but as he is fighting the Turtle's men, the Turtle turns on the lawn sprinklers dousing the heroes flame. The Turtle shoots at the Torch, but only creases his brow, knocking him out. The Turtle and his men then flee the scene. Meanwhile, upstairs the Toro begins to wonder what is taking the Torch so long when somebody sneaks up behind him and smashes a vase over the boy's head. When Toro comes around, Cleopatra has just arrived and they both are shocked to find that someone has taken Hale's body.
Deciding that Cleopatra has a lot of explaining to do, Toro grabs the girl and drags her outside to find the Torch. They find Toro's mentor as he is coming around and they decide to take Cleopatra to the police station for questioning. There she explains that she is part of the "Famous Names Club", and that all the members are named after famous people. Suddenly there is a call to the police station by another member named Abraham Lincoln who fears somebody will shoot him. The Torch and Toro rush to the scene but they are too late to stop the Turtle and his men from shooting Lincoln dead. They chase the killers out into the streets, but the exhaust from their getaway car has been treated with a fire retarding chemical that douses the heroes flames and knock the heroes out. The Turtle and his men then tie them up and toss them into a nearby river. Weighted down, the Torch revives first and cuts his ties on a planking nail and frees Toro. They then swim to the surface where Toro is revived.
They rush to Cleopatra's at the police station and learn that the only other surviving member of the club is Julius Caesar. When they press her for a possible motive to kill the members of the club, she explains that the surviving member of the club is entitled to the money placed in a mutual investment corporation. The Torch and Toro rush off to Caesar's home where they learn that Caesar has gone to the Hall of Statuary, one of his favourite retreats. They follow him there and are there to stop the Turtle and his gang from murdering Julius. The Torch then forces the Turtle to tell them that his employer is waiting the getaway car outside. Rushing out there the Torch captures the mastermind of the murder plot, revealing him to be Nathan Hale, who faked his own death. Turning over Hale to the police, the Torch explains the killers plot, which including poisoning Cleopatra with a hypodermic needle.
recurring characters
Human Torch, Toro
Blackbeard, Scourge of the Seas
In Southern Florida, the Sub-Mariner and Namora seek shelter on a deserted island to get shelter from the tropical storm. As they do so they spot a lightship out near islands that are uninhabited. They soon realize that the ship is moving in order to trick a cargo ship into sailing into some rocks, causing it to swim. As they swim to the rescue of the passengers another ship piloted by Blackbeard and his crew approaches. Blackbeard orders his men to kill the survivors. As Namor and Namora swims toward the ship, Namor is struck in the back of the head by a pipe thrown by one of Blackbeard's men and sinks to the bottom of the ocean. When Namor comes around he finds that a pair of divers have lowered themselves to search the recently sunken ship. He is soon joined by Namora who informs him that Betty Dean was aboard the vessel that was sunk, but that Namora took her to safety.
Laying low, the two Atlanteans watch as the divers recover some boxes from the ship and return to Blackbeard's vessel. Sneaking aboard, they overhear as Blackbeard rejoices over their theft of priceless jewels. Before dealing with this crime, the Sub-Mariner decides they should go back to shore and check on Betty. Finding that she is all right, the trio devise a plot to capture Blackbeard and his men. Swimming Betty out to sea, they have her pretend that she is in trouble, prompting Blackbeard's men to pull her aboard the ship. Blackbeard is amazed that Betty survived out at sea so long and orders her to be placed in the engineers cabin. Betty, having feigned being unconscious, later sneaks out when the guard falls asleep. She then grabs the box of jewels and hides them in Blackbeard's room while he sleeps and returns to sleep.
The next morning Betty is woken up and brought to Blackbeard who demands to know how much she knows about his operation. She explains that she knows everything, and that she knows where the Cullihan Diamond was hidden aboard the ship that Blackbeard sunk. Playing into Blackbeard's greed, she gets him to agree to spare her life is she tells him where to "find" the diamond. Blackbeard then dives down into the water to try and recover the diamond instead of members of his crew. When the crew suspects that they are being double crossed, Betty plays dumb and convinces them to check the stolen cargo. They search the ship and find the diamonds hidden in Blackbeard's room and suspect that he is trying to swindle them out of their share of the gems. In retaliation, the crew cut Blackbeard's air hose and leave him to suffocate in the water. Taking this momentary distraction, Betty dives overboard and is brought to shore by Namora. There she tells the Sub-Mariner what's going on. Namor swims to the sunken ship and recovers Blackbeard before he can drown and brings him to shore. With Blackbeard trapped in his diving suit and left in Betty and Namora's custody, Namor then swims back to the ship.
There, Namor finds that he entire crew is fighting among themselves and uses the commotion to sneak into the telegraph room and send out a message to the Coast Guard. Namor is caught by some of the men and knocked out and tied to a post aboard the deck as the crew continue to fight. Namora arrives and quickly cuts Namor free, allowing Namor to rush below deck and damage the ships engines so that the crew cannot flee when the Coast Guard arrive. They put up a fight against the government sailors, but the battle is soon won by the Coast Guard. Namor and Namora then turn Blackbeard over to the authorities as well. With the caper over and Betty getting a scoop, Namor and Namora return to the ocean.
Recurring characters
Sub-Mariner, Namora, Betty Dean
Final Reckoning
Louis Remiens thanks Miss America for rescuing him and tells her the James Iles and his wife had learned where Mary Varnheim had hidden the formula for the sun-ray: The Nacionalio Bank. Miss America rushes off to stop them from recovering the formula, leaving Louis behind.
Meanwhile, at the bank, Mary has arrived to recover the formula herself but finds her key missing. After proving her identity to the bank teller, they open her safety deposit box with a spare key to find its contents stolen. As she demands answers from the clerk, she gives her a description of the woman who claimed the box's contents. Just then, Miss America arrives and Mary attempts to flee, but the heroine manages to capture her and turn her over to the authorities, giving them instructions to turn her over to US espionage officers she called into the area.
Getting the description of the woman who claimed the sun-ray formula from the teller, Miss America then questions cab drivers if they given a ride to a woman who matches the description. One cab drivers recalls having such a passenger and tells Miss America to a residence on Bernadino Road. Miss America flies there and finds a sprawling mansion on the property and flies in for the approach. Inside, James Iles is turning over the sun formula to his employer, a man calling himself Mr. M. Miss America crashes the exchange and begins fighting off Mr. M's men, but she is knocked out from behind by Rex Herr who had also tracked down the sun ray formula.
Holding M and Iles at gun point, Rex Herr recovers the formula when suddenly US espionage agents storm the mansion and gun down Rex's men. Rex attempts to flee, but Miss America stops him with the help of Louis. Louis reveals that Mr. M is General Kesselwolfe, the Nazi soldier who was responsible for the murder of his family. When questioned, Kesselwolfe explains that he did not support the Nazis and was a Prussian loyalist, explaining that he was forced to fight for the Nazis during the war. He intended to use the sun ray to retake Germany and restore it to his vision. This causes a brief altercation between Kesselwolfe and Herr, but it is soon broken up and they are turned over to the authorities.
Back in the United States, Madeline Joyce meets with a government official who explains that the sun ray formula was developed by a Nazi scientist named Hans Ludwig who is currently seeking asylum in New York. He had passed the formula over to Varhneim to deliver to Kesselwolfe in Brazil, but Varnheim double crossed him intending to sell the formula to the highest bidder. With the sun ray formula recovered by the government, it has been locked away so it will not be used to imperil the human race.
recurring characters
Miss America, Ted Banning, Louis Remiens, Mary Varnheim, James Ilse, Rex Herr
The Dummy Is No Dummy
Mark Mason has succeeded in recovering the stolen Carvath Jewels with the help of the Blonde Phantom. As they read over the story in the newspaper, Blonde Phantom decides to depart, however Mark will have none of it. He convinces her to go out on a date with him to go out and see a performance of popular ventriloquist Omar at the La Vie Nightclub. She agrees to go to the show, which goes off as a complete success. After Omar and his Dummy finish their set a woman in the audience suddenly realizes that her necklace has been stolen. Spotting someone running back stage, Blonde Phantom chases after them. She finds only Omar backstage and she accuses him of stealing the woman's necklace, but Omar pleads that he is innocent and has a stage hand who can vouch that he was backstage the whole time.
Still suspicious, Blonde Phantom decides to interview Omar alone when he is alone in his dressing room. Later when she approaches the dressing room she hears Omar talking with someone about the robbery. Blonde Phantom bursts in and at first it seems that Omar is alone in the room, but suddenly his dummy attacks -- the Dummy really a midget in disguise. The Dummy knocks her out, and before they can figure out what to do with her there is a knock at the door. It is the chauffeur for Mrs. Calvert, a wealthy woman who is throwing a charity ball at her mansion and wishes Omar to perform there. The Dummy pipes up and tells them that they'll take the job. When the chauffeur leaves, they decide to lock the Blonde Phantom in a trunk to suffocate while they go to the charity and rob it.
Blonde Phantom revives and manages to break out of the trunk before she suffocates. Having overheard Omar and the Dummy take the invitation she borrows a police motorcycle and races to the Calvert estate. While inside the club, Mark Mason is looking around for the Blonde Phantom and the woman with the stolen necklace offers Mark $5000 to recover it. While at he Calvert residence, Omar and the Dummy put on their show. After the show, the Dummy attempts to steal Mrs. Calvert's necklace when she holds the Dummy. However, Blonde Phantom arrives and catches him in the act. As Omar tries to flee the police arrive and arrest him while the Blonde Phantom stop the Dummy and reveals that he is a midget in disguise. Recovering the stolen jewels, the police turn them over to Blonde Phantom who in turn gives them to Mark so he can collect his fee. Later, Mark is happy to have made $5000, but his secretary Louise Grant (secretly the Blonde Phantom herself) chastises him for accepting the money for a case that the Blonde Phantom helped crack.
Recurring Characters:
Blonde Phantom, Mark Mason
