Marvel Mystery Comics #89

Jul 14

Jul 14 Marvel Mystery Comics #89

The Case of the Granite Bandit

The Human Torch and Sun Girl are telling a group of children of their latest adventure when a police car speeds up and asks them to join in an investigation of a bank robbery near by. At the scene of the crime they find that the security guard was encased in granite by the thieves and is being chiselled out of his prison. When the guard is free the two heroes learn that the man was trapped in liquid granite that hardened on contact. The Torch recalls that sometimes sculptors use liquid granite and wonders if their crook is a carver.

Meanwhile, at the studio of the Granite Bandit, his accomplice boasts about their haul when suddenly the Granite Bandit turns on him, encasing the mobster in granite. Meanwhile, the Human Torch and Sun Girl are investigating various sculptors in town and come to the home of a man named Corelli -- the Granite Bandit -- to question him. The Bandit invites them in and shows them a granite sculpture of the bank robbery earlier that day and then shows them a pair of coffins with granite statues of the two heroes. Before the Torch and Sun Girl can react they are dropped in a pit that is filled with liquid granite. Not wishing to kill the heroes right away, the Granite Bandit feeds them air hoses then leaves to commit his next crime confident that the Torch and Sun Girl are trapped.

The Granite Bandit goes on a crime spree with his gang, foiling the police at every turn. When he and his men finally return to their hideout the Torch and Sun Girl have freed themselves thanks to the Torch's flame powers. While the Torch and Sun Girl round up the Granite Bandit's men, the Granite Bandit manages to knock the Torch out with a statue of himself and escapes. When the Torch and Sun Girl return to police headquarters they decide to lure the Granite Bandit out by using his pride against him and broadcast over the radio that they are on a manhunt for him.

Hearing this the Granite Bandit goes out and hunts down the Torch and Sun Girl. When the two heroes split up, the Granite Bandit sneaks up on Sun Girl and encases her in granite then stashes her body in a out cropping on the court house. Later that evening the Torch returns to his home and wonders what happened to Sun Girl when he is attacked by the Granite Bandit. However the Granite Bandit fell for a trap, and he really encased a dummy in granite. The Torch then tackles the crook and steals his liquid granite sprayer and traps the Granite Bandit. Then threatening the criminal with his flame powers learns what happened to Sun Girl and has her freed.

Later, the Torch and Sun Girl meet up with the children they were talking to earlier and shows them the spoils of their latest case: The Granite Bandit trapped in his own weapon out on public display to be mocked by other children.

Recurring characters

Human Torch, Sun Girl

Decision...No Contest

Betty Dean meets up with the Sub-Mariner and convinces him to participate as a judge in the Bright Beach Bathing Beauty Contest. Namor gladly accepts thinking he will be judging women in swimwear but is shocked to find out that he is really judging babies. With the mothers pressuring him to make a decision, the children playing pranks on him, Namor out of his element he chooses a baby at random as the winner. This earns the ire of the losing mothers who chase him off the beach by hurling objects at him. Later when Namor returns to the surface of the water Betty tells him that it's safe to come out as all the mothers had left.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean

The Terrifying Ghosts from the Unknown

New York City is put in a state of panic when strange ghost-like alien creatures begin appearing all over the city. These intangible and nearly invisible invaders then begin constructing strange devices all over the city and cause enough of a panic to cause a series of accidents while people try to flee the scene. The panic continues despite officials telling people not to panic.

Soon Sun Girl gets a call from Professor Blair who asks her to come to his lab at once. Along the way she encounters one of the strange creatures. It solidifies and becomes tangible and Sun Girl attempts to attack it, but it soon resumes it's intangible state and escapes. Sun Girl then meets with Professor Blair who tells her that he invaders are from another dimension known as Uncara. He explains that his son Arthur managed to capture one of the creatures when it materialized on Earth and informed him that the Uncarian dictator Kain was planning to attack the Earth by causing massive devastation. Blair gives Sun Girl a device that will allow her to travel to Uncara and was gravely wounded and died.

Sun Girl agrees to go to Uncara and try to stop Kain's invasion of their world. Sun Girl activates the device and it breaches the dimensions transporting her to Uncara where she is quickly captured by Kain and his men. Sun Girl is then taken to Uncara City where she is made a "guest" of Kain and left in the care of his wife Cara. When Cara tries to take Sun Girl's life, the heroine easily bests Cara and learns that she attacked out of fear that Sun Girl would steal Kain. Learning that Cara does not wish to invade Earth, only wants Kain all to herself she agrees to help Sun Girl stop the invasion plan. After escaping Kain's citadel, Sun Girl goes to the Uncarian armory and destroys it with her Sun-Beam.

She then travels between dimensions and is horrified to find that Kain and his men have begin activating their prism bombs. Sun Girl tracks down Kain and his army and uses her Sun Beam to destroy their dimensional devices causing them to be shunted into the Earth dimension. Kain and his follows fall into New York Harbour and drown. Back on Earth, Sun Girl swims back to shore to find Professor Blair. Blair explains that the people of Earth refused to surrender and although Kain detonated some of his prism bombs, the cities effected were evacuated and there were no victims. Blair commends Sun Girl for saving the Earth.

Recurring Characters

Sun Girl

My Friend Gilly

Henry Enwhistle is an odd fellow who works on the docks and talks to his apparently imaginary friend John Jacob Gilligan, or "Gilly" for short. The locals find him odd but helpful none the less. When asked why he does not get a more profitable job out at sea, Henry explains that his friend Gilly hates the water. When he is asked by one of the local fishermen to work on the boats, he refuses on Gilly's advice. Taking a walk along the shore, Henry spots an abandoned house with the lights on and decides to get in for a closer look. Spying through one of the windows he spots Black Mike and his gang discussing their plans to rob the Mendel Company's payroll when it is being shipped. They overhear Henry talking to Gilly and they easily capture him. At first confused by the "Gilly" that Henry is talking to, Black Mike and his gang tell Henry that they are taking him on their caper and use him as bait to stop the Sub-Mariner from interfering with them.

They have Henry hide out and begin crying for help. When Namor hears him, he comes to Henry's rescue and is ambushed by Black Mike and his men who knock the Sub-Mariner out. They chain up the Sub-Mariner and take him and Henry out by row boat to their launch. Along the way Gilly expresses his dislike of water to Henry. While they pilot their sail boat toward the payroll ship, Namor and Henry are stowed below deck. Getting rained on Henry asks the guard to shut the roof hatch because Gilly is getting wet and doesn't like the water. The guard instead taunts Henry by taking a bucket and flicking water at him. Henry quickly grabs the bucket and uses the water to douse the Sub-Mariner, restoring his strength.

Namor breaks free from his bond and he and Henry easily knock out the gang and turn them over to the authorities. Later the captain of the ship congratulates Henry and Namor. He then offers Henry a job, and Henry takes it now that Gilly has decided that he likes the water. When Henry tells Namor that Gilly now likes the water he tells the Sub-Mariner that Gilly has offered his help to fight crooks in the future. Suddenly a voice out of nowhere says "That's right Henry!"

Recurring characters

Sub-Mariner

Benefit Show for Horror

Nails and his accomplice have been plotting to get revenge against the Blonde Phantom for previously sending them to jail. That afternoon at the office of private detective Mark Mason, his secretary Louise Grant is allowed to take the afternoon off. This plays out well for Louise as she is making a speech on behalf of an orphan's charity over the radio as the Blonde Phantom.

As a crowd gathers for her appearance, Louise changes into the Blonde Phantom in a nearby alley. Not far away, Nails and his cohort threaten to harm the brother of a young girl if she does not discredit the Blonde Phantom during the radio broadcast. Sure enough when the Blonde Phantom addresses the audience and tells them to donate generously, the little girl comes out on stage and interrupts the show. She tells the listening audience and the gathered crowd that the Blonde Phantom wants children to grow up to be criminals so she can capture them and increase her own fame. The public buys this claim and the public opinion about the Blonde Phantom instantly becomes a sour one, much to the joy of Nails.

Booed off the stage, Blonde Phantom pulls the little girl aside and learns what happened and the two goons are pointed out as they are fleeing the radio hall. Before they can escape in their getaway car, Blonde Phantom lets the air out of their tires. They then try to escape by cab, but the Blonde Phantom is the drive and roughs them up until they surrender. After rescuing the girl's brother, the Blonde Phantom then drags them back to the radio hall where they make an on air confession, clearing the Blonde Phantoms name, before they are turned over to the authorities. In a bus to the local prison Nails begins scheming another plan to get revenge against the Blonde Phantom and gets punched in the head by his accomplice for his troubles.|Synopsis6 = Nails and his accomplice have been plotting to get revenge against the Blonde Phantom for previously sending them to jail. That afternoon at the office of private detective Mark Mason, his secretary Louise Grant is allowed to take the afternoon off. This plays out well for Louise as she is making a speech on behalf of an orphan's charity over the radio as the Blonde Phantom.

Recurring characters

Blonde Phantom, Mark Mason

The Imp of the Violin

Captain America is sitting in on a practice session of his friend musician Vincent Varl who plays classical music from his Amati violin. However his promoters are not interested and tell him that he should start playing Jazz music in order to boost popularity. Vincent is reluctant to play Jazz music on his Amati due to his artistic integrity, but eventually caves.

However, later that night as he is practising the new music style something causes his notes to come out all wrong. Wondering why, Vincent is shocked when a tiny Imp comes out of his violin. The Imp informs him that he refuses to allow Vincent to play Jazz music in a classical Amati violin. The Imp tells him that he was in the workshop where the Amati was originally constructed in the 16th Century. Having fallen in love with its sound the Imp took possession of it and lived inside it before others of his kind could claim it for themselves.

When the Imp returns to his home, Vincent tries to tell his girlfriend who passess off the experience as nerves. Later, Vincent and Captain America pay a visit to a psychiatrist who tells Vincent that the Imp is likely a product of his subconscious, creating a hallucination to feed his doubts about playing Jazz music. Trying to appease the Imp, Vincent meets with his manager and asks to be able to play his music solo, the manager likes the idea of an Amati being played as part of a crooning number and accepts.

When Vincent puts on his show, the Imp attempts to sabotage it and is instantly distracted by the chorus girls who are dancing on stage. Still the music is altered and although both Vincent and Cap believe that he did poorly they are both surprised when his performance gets rave reviews for its "unique" sound. Even more impressive, the Imp has now grown to appreciate Jazz music -- if only for the chorus girls who dance than anything else. And so, Vincent embraces his new found fame putting on shows while the Imp tries to dance along with the ladies in his show.

recurring characters

Captain America

Continuity notes

Although this story intends for this to be Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, it is not. This is actually his successor, Jeff Mace. As revealed in Avengers #4, Captain America went missing in action circa 1945. As explained in What If? #4, Cap’s successors were selected to cover up the fact that Captain America went missing.