Nick Peron

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Marvel Mystery Comics #91

Trapped by Dizzy Daze

Credits

At Spiffany's Jewellery store, the world's largest emerald is put on display in what is boasted as a burglar proof set up. However, the gadget themed criminal Dizzy Daze manages to steal it with his trick cane and escape with his helicopter hat. With a series of successful crimes under his belt, Daze attracts the attention of the Human Torch and Sun Girl who decide to get involved in stopping him.

Meanwhile, Dizzy Daze and his henchmen plot their next crime and it suddenly occurs to Dizzy that he will eliminate the Human Torch and Sun Girl. Out in his auto-gyro, Dizzy flies a banner challenging the Torch attracting his attention. When approaching the gyro, the Torch has water dropped on him dousing his flames and the two are captured by Dizzy Daze. Dizzy then drops Sun Girl out of the ship, keeping her suspended in the air with a specially made magnet. He then issues the Torch an ultimatum: sell back the emerald to Spiffany's for a million dollars or Sun Girl will be dropped to her death.

The Torch has no choice and flies to Spiffany's where he convinces the owner to draft up a check for a million dollars and returns it to the ship. There, the Torch double-crosses Dizzy by burning the check after it has been delivered. Dizzy then sends Sun Girl falling to the Earth, but the Torch manages to save her. He then flies back to the ship where Dizzy once more tries to douse the Torch's flames but they are burning to hot to go out. The Torch then destroys the airship, sending Dizzy and his men falling into a nearby lake where they are apprehended and turned over to the authorities.


recurring characters

Human Torch, Sun Girl


terror at sea

Betty Dean and Namora are taking a vacation aboard a cruise ship where Betty is working on her true crime novel "Crime and Punishment", they are unaware that they are being watched by criminal Mike Roden and his gang who follow them back to their room. They overhear Betty talk about a mystery she is writing about in her book that is about the disappearance of confidence man Harry Seller. Roden and his men round up the women and explain the Seller is Captain Forest, the commander of their cruise ship. They call Forest down to the women's cabin where Roden explains to Forest who he really is and that years ago he was stricken with amnesia. Unable to believe it, Forest is struck over the head restoring his original persona.

Roden and his men then get Mike to assist them in robbing the passengers on the ship. as they carry out their task they are unaware that the Sub-Mariner is approaching in a boat, having made plans to meet up with the girls when their ship passed into Miami. Namor arrives just as Roden and his men are about to escape in a life boat and attacks them. He clashes with Harry Seller, landing a solid blow to the head while Roden and his men escape. With Mike's Captain Forest persona returning, the Sub-Mariner frees Betty and Namora and the two Atlanteans go after Roden and his men. They wreck his life boat and with the aid of local fishermen round them up for the authorities. Forest is willing to pay his debt to society for his past crimes however he soon learns that all his offences as Harry Seller were minor and the charges had since been dropped.


recurring characters

Sub-Mariner, Namora, Betty Dean


the statue that came to life

At the offices of Beauty Magazine, publisher Whitney Hammond asks his editor Venus out for lunch. Venus agrees however when she goes out into the main office she finds Della Mason heckling another office girl named Lucy for crying on the job. Concerned for the girl's well being, Venus decides to go to lunch with her instead and Della sweeps in and goes out with Whitney.

At lunch, Venus learns that Lucy's fiancée has broken off their engagement to obsess over a statue of the goddess Juno at the art gallery. Promising to see what she can do to help the troubled couple, Venus sends Lucy home with Dick the office elevator boy. At the museum, Venus finds Frank Foster marvelling over a statue of Juno. Overhearing Frank's wish to meet Juno for real, Venus returns to her kingdom of Olympus on Planet Venus. There she has Apollo bring her to Juno who she finds in a feud with Leda for trying to seduce Jupiter. Venus orders Juno back to Earth and follow her orders.

Appearing in a mortal guise, Juno is ordered to romance Frank who instantly falls for her. However, Frank finds that Juno is more trouble than he bargained for as she believes that any interaction Frank makes with another woman is reason to get jealous and a cat fight breaks out between Juno and a waitress. The dinner ends when the police show up to break things up. The pair run into Whitney Hammond and Della Mason along the way and Juno instantly becomes interested in Hammond instead, much to the annoyance Della. The sudden rejection makes Frank realize what he passed up with Lucy and rushes off to find her. Meanwhile, Venus rushes after Juno and returns her to Olympus before she can cause any more trouble.

When Venus returns to the office, she finds only Frank Foster who quickly forgets Lucy to try and romance Venus. Whitney walks into the office and catches him and kicks Frank out. Venus finds Lucy with Dick and tries to explain what happened and finds that Lucy and Dick have found love together. With things patched up with Whitney, Venus is amused to see that Frank Foster and Della Mason have also hooked up, believing that they both deserve each other.


recurring characters:

Venus, Whitney Hammond, Della Mason, Juno, Apollo


death waits a million years

At the Acme Warehouse scientist Professor Rangley tries to keep two crooks from breaking into his storage space, warning them that there is great danger involved. Thinking there are valuables inside, they shoot him in cold blood and are horrified by what they find inside.

Meanwhile, at the apartment of Betsy Ross, Betsy turns down Jeff's offer to go out and see the play "False Alarm" and suggests that they stay inside and listen to the performance on the radio. Their enjoyment is soon cut short when reports of a massive creature attacking the play. Changing into Captain America and Golden Girl, the pair go out to see what the commotion is all about and are shocked to see a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex attacking the theater. Cap and Golden Girl save those in the creatures path and try to prevent as much destruction as possible, but the creature rampages off elsewhere in the city. They lose the beast at the docks when it suddenly dives into the water, sinking a cruise ship in the process.

Unable to track down the creature and with the rescue efforts, they follow the Dinosaur's back trail back to the Acme Warehouse where they find the crooks who freed it were slaughtered by the monster. They find the professors notebook and learn that in 1938 he found an intact Tyrannosaurus egg in the Shoelee Tar Pit in Utah. They are suddenly attacked by the creature, it having returned to its regular home to find food. The military arrives and chases it away and Captain America and Golden Girl follow in pursuit. Learning that the creature has made its way to the George Washington Bridge and is headed for New Jersey, Cap deduces that the creature is trying to return to its birthplace in Utah. On the bridge, Cap and Golden Girl rescue bridge workers while the military attacks the creature. After the rescue, Cap notices the creature has been mortally wounded and he and Golden Girl follow it all the way back to Utah where it returns to the tar pit it was found in order to die.


recurring characters

Captain America, Golden Girl

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.


Planted evidence

Detective Skip McCoy comes across a diamond store robbery in progress and chases after the thief. Losing track of him he comes across a flower shop and asks the proprietor if he can look around. When he is shown the green house, Skip suddenly realizes where the diamonds are hidden and finds them inside a potted plant. Arresting the owner of the shop and bringing him in, Skip gets a confession. When asked how he knew what pot the diamonds were hidden in, Skip points out that the flower in that pot was the only one not pointing in the direction of the sun.


recurring characters

Detective Skip McCoy


alone with a killer

The Blonde Phantom and a police officer are on the pursuit of Strongo, a strong man from Bing Brothers Circus who just stole the evening payroll. When Strongo runs into a nearby building, the Blonde Phantom orders the office to wait outside while she deals with Strongo alone.

Strongo boasts his superior strength and acrobatic skills and believes that he can escape the Blonde Phantom. However the Phantom has skills of her own and easily trounces Strongo and beats him into submission and turns him over to the police. Months later when Strongo is released from prison, Blonde Phantom calls one of the Bing Brothers to check in on him, and is amused to learn that Strongo has gone straight and is so afraid of women he refuses to let any see his show.


recurring characters

  • Blonde Phantom