Young Men #27

No One Can Stop the Hypnotist

The Human Torch and Toro rescue some kidnapped women but finds that they are in a trance, speaking of a seeing the face of death. When they question the kidnappers one of them mentions someone called the Hypnotist, who appears to them as the face of death. However, before they can explain anymore the two men suddenly drop dead. The Torch and Toro take the women to get medical help and then leave to inform Chief Wilson of what they have uncovered.

Meanwhile, the face of the Hypnotist appears before Betty Wilson as she sleeps on a couch. The Hypnotist then tries to hypnotize her but the Torch and Toro arrive and the face of death vanishes. In his office Chief Wilson is going over a case file on a man named Cory Doone when suddenly the lights go out and the face of the Hypnotist appears and orders the Chief to burn the Doone file. However the Torch and Toro enter the office just in time to stop him. When the chief snaps out of it they go over the file, and learn that Cory Doone has some connection to the Hypnotist and that he is mobilizing crime organizations for a massive attack on February 1st to take down the government. When looking at the photo of Doone, the Torch finds his face familiar.

The two heroes pay a visit to Doone's home to find that he has lions roaming the property. They flame on and frighten the beasts away and burn their ways through the mansion walls. Inside they find books of black magic and a sarcophagus belonging to Dara the high priest of evil and the Egyptian god of night. The face on the sarcophagus is the exact likeness of Doone. Spotting Doone, they follow after him into a trap door but find themselves caught in a room with the walls closing in. They flame on to try and burn free by the Hypnotist's face of death appears and orders them to fall asleep. Toro succumbs to the hypnosis, but the Torch resists long enough to burn themselves free.

Spotting Doone escaping in a helicopter, they follow after him as Doone goes from India, to Africa, Italy meeting with criminal organizations to prepare them for the big day. In Italy the Torch and Toro attack, but Doone manages to escape. Knowing where Doone might be heading, the pair fly back to New York where they meet with Chief Wilson and learn that Betty has been kidnapped. He warns the Chief about the Hypnotists plans and goes back to his house. There they find criminals waiting for them, but the Torch and Toro fight through and burst their way into Doone's hideout. They confront Doone who reveals he is the hypnotist and Dara, practitioner of the black arts. He reveals that he needs to drink the blood of young women to maintain his immortality, however the two heroes constant attacks on him have drained too much of his energies and the Hypnotist crumbles to dust before their very eyes, ending his threat.

Recurring Characters

• Human Torch

• Toro

• Chief Wilson

• Betty Wilson

The Return of the Red Skull

Captain America and Bucky have caught the Red Skull and his minions trying to break into a US government facility. While Cap and Bucky manage to fight off the Red Skull's goons, the Red Skull himself manages to escape.

Resuming their civilian identities of Steve Rogers and Bucky return to the military base where they have been stationed. For months they are vigilant to try and find the Red Skull. As Captain America and Bucky they stop many spy cells but are no where close to finding where the Red Skull is. Watching television one night they get tune into a special report asking Captain America and Bucky meet a man with vital information regarding the nations security on Oxbridge Rd.

The pair go and meet with the man who asks the two heroes to follow him. He takes them to a house filled with medieval torture devices. There the man reveals himself to be the Red Skull in disguise. The Skull unleashes his men on the two heroes and they are quickly overpowered. They are then tied to a rack and tortured, the Red Skull demanding that Captain America reveal the location of defense plans. To Bucky's surprise, Captain America gives in and promises to show them the location of the nations defence plans.

They all take a truck and drive out to where these plans happen to be as per Captain America's directions. However, Captain America tricks them into driving down a blind curve and into a wall. Cap and Bucky bail out of the truck just in the nick of time. Captain America and Bucky then make short work of the survivors and find what appears to be the dead body of the Red Skull. With their worst enemy apparently dead Cap and Bucky head off to inform the FBI.

Recurring Characters

• Captain America

• Bucky

• Red Skull

Continuity Notes

• Although this story refers to Captain America and Bucky as Steve Rogers and James Barnes here, as per Captain America #153, these appearances are actually attributed to William Burnside and Jack Monroe.

• Likewise, this Red Skull is not Johanne Schmidt but Albert Malik, as explained in Captain America #155. Although Malik appears to perish here, he survived appearing in pre-modern age flashbacks in Captain America Annual #13 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.

The Treasure of Captain Derelict

Reading an entertainment magazine, the Sub-Mariner learns of an gigantic aqua-show that is being in a specially made auditorium 12 miles out at sea. Finding the idea fascinating, the Sub-Mariner decides to go and offer his services. Meeting with the organizers of the show, a man named Willie Roese and his assistant Estelle. Willie is more than happy to hire on the Sub-Mariner for his show. Estelle warns him that they might have trouble with the Sub-Mariner, especially considering the job they have taken on for "Mr. Big". Willie ignores the warning and hires on the Sub-Mariner anyway.

Getting into costume, Namor goes looks around the set and is surprised to find his cousin Namora has also been hired on the show. She confesses that she decided to get the job because she received a tip about Roese, that he was up to something in the area. Later that night, Namora shows Namor what she means: A ship off in the distance. The pair dive into the water and see that it has pumps being lowered into an old sunken pirate ship, a seventeenth century Frenchman.

Down below the two are surprised to find the ghosts of the pirates who lived below the ship. They meet Cap'N Derelict who tells them that the men in the ship above are trying to get the gold that is in the ship but they have been removing the pumps in order to hamper their efforts. Namor and Namora decide to go up to the pump ship to learn what Roese is up to. Aboard the vessel they overhear Roese and Estelle speaking with Mr. Big, and how they are sending divers down to get the gold during the aqua show. Suspecting he knows who Mr. Big is, the Sub-Mariner and Namora return to the ghost pirates and asks them to help them expose Mr. Big.

The Sub-Mariner and Namora return to the aqua show and on show time, instead of diving into the pool in the auditorium, they jump into the ocean and speed toward the sunken pirate ship. There they tie up all the divers in their gear. Above the water, Mr. Big becomes impatient and tries to dive down and recover the gold himself. The ghost pirates give the gold to him, literally, by dumping the treasure on Mr. Big, the weight of the coins pin Mr. Big to the floor of the ship long enough for Namor and Namora to take him custody. They also capture Willie, revealing that Mr. Big is really a communist agent named Ivansky, whom had hired Willie to help him recover the gold to help finance communist activities.

Recurring Characters

• Sub-Mariner

• Namora