The Blue Blaze

The Blue Blaze rises from a lime pit outside of a castle in the Balkan mountains, drawn by a terrible evil there. This is the headquarters of the Trustees of Hate, a group seeking to destabilize the long standing peace between the nations of Borisa and Gratzia. When the Blue Blaze attempts to fight his way in, he is confronted by the Trustee's agent Lara who convinces the Blaze to follow her. She drives him out to Borisa where she shows that the Trustees have a hate ray and demonstrates it by using it on one of Borisa's greatest speakers, making him go into an anti-Gratzia triad, in the hopes of sewing conflict between the two countries.

With the extent of their power shown, Lara takes Blue Blaze back to the Trustees castle to be eliminated by their leader Dr. Vortex. When he arrives there, the Blue Blaze battles the Trustees however they out number him and easily knock him out when Dr. Vortex destroys his lab. When he revives he finds himself chained to a wall. Tricking Vortex into allowing him a final cigarette, he pulls out not an ordinary lighter, but his blue blaze device. This allows him to break free.

Then, he grabs Dr. Vortex and dives into the lime pool, slaying the mad scientist. Without their inventor, the Trustees cannot rebuild their hate ray device and soon the outburst in Borisa is dismissed as minor hysteria and the two countries renew their peaceful relationship.

Recurring Characters

Blue Blaze

Hercules

As Hercules performs in his circus, the tent is suddenly struck by an earthquake that causes the main support beam of the tent to snap. Hercules rushes to keep the tent up and help people escape without getting hurt. Later while out exploring with a friend, they witness a machine invented by the evil Lemo burrow out of the ground. Realizing that this was the cause of the earlier earthquake, Hercules vows to stop Lemo's plans to take over the world with his earthquake device.

Following the crook back to his base, Hercules's superior size allows him to get past the defenses and traps, including attack dogs and armed guards. However when Lemo attacks the hero with his earthquake gun, Hercules is knocked out. Restraining the hero inside his home, Lemo attempts to experiment on him, however Hercules revives and tries to break free. Fearful of the hero, Lemo rushes outside to his earthquake device and uses it to destroy his mansion hoping to kill Hercules.

Hercules survives the attempt on his life and he goes after Lemo who has gone on a rampage in the city. Hiding in the sewers, Hercules pops out of a manhole and destroys Lemo's tank, killing Lemo as well. When he is thanked by the authorities, Hercules tells him that he was only looking to help others.

Recurring Characters

Hercules

Thin Man

Bruce Dickson is climbing Mount Kalpurthia in the Himalayans when a blizzard hits making him seek cover. Finding a cave, he is surprised to find that it is actually a tunnel. On the other side, the exhausted Dickson finds a perfect utopia before passing out. When he awakens he is greeted by the ruler of Kalahia, and sees that their people have the ability to become thin. Welcomed as their guest and found to be noble to know their secrets, Dickson is welcomed by the Council of Elders. After being shown the wonders of Kalahian society, Bruce asks if he can return to the outside world and use his newfound powers to protect the human race from those who would do evil.

The Council of Elders refuse at first, however when Bruce shows them video footage of mobsters gunning down taxi cabs, he convinces them the noble purpose and the need for him in the outside world. The Elders agree to allow him, and the leaders daughter Olalla to accompany him to the outside world. Building a Stratoplane using Kalahian technology, Bruce (now called the Thin Man) and Olalla head back to the United States.

There they track down the leader of the rackets pressuring taxi drives to pay protection money: Clip Walton. Using his powers to sneak into Walton's home the Thin Man is knocked out and is taken to be disposed of. However the Thin Man, with the help of Olalla in the Stratoplane gun down Waltons men and return to capture Walton. Easily knocking Walton out, the Thin Man leaves the crook for the police commissioner to find the next morning along with evidence proving that he was responsible for the rash of violence.

Recurring Characters

Thin Man

Continuity Notes

• This is the only Golden Age appearance of the Thin Man. He is not seen again until Marvel Premiere #29

Flexo

Professor Winston has sought the aid of the Williams brothers to recover a special formula that has been stolen by agents of the country Teutonia. Winston explains that the formula could have great medical benefits, such as curing Cancer however it has destructive properties as well. The Williams brothers agree to help recover the formula with the help of their robot Flexo.

The brothers fly into the nation of Teutonia, but their plane is shot down by the military. The pair survive thanks to the aid of Flexo. Utilizing the robots strength, they break into a government building and attempt to recover the plans, only to be caught by soldiers. They are taken before the dictator of Teutonia who orders them to be executed by firing squad.

Before they can be executed, Flexo is summoned and rescues them, learning that the dictator is heading toward Leitsborg with the plans, they rush after him and smash his armored car, recovering the plans and escaping back to America.

Recurring Characters

Flexo, Joel Williams, Joshua Williams

Continuity Notes

• This is the last Golden Age appearance of Flexo. He isn’t referenced again until Agents of Atlas #4 and he resurfaces in Marvels Zombie Destroy! #1-5.

The Black Widow

During her seance for the Wagler family, medium Claire Voyant is accused of being a hoax. Unaware that they are being watched by Satan himself, Claire suddenly blurts out a curse against the family. That night as the Waglers are returning home, they have a terrible car accident that kills the entire family except for their eldest son James. James blames Claire for his family's death and goes back to her home and shoots her dead. This is all according to the devil's plan, who recovers Claire's body and brings it down to Hell. There he revives her as the Black Widow, endowing her with super-natural powers so that she can be his agent in the land of the living, to slay the wicked that would do evil deeds.

Her firt task is to get revenge against James for killing her. She tracks James to the docks in New York where he is grieving over the loss of his family. Confronted with the woman he had killed moments ago, the fearful James attempts to flee, however the Black Widow catches up with him and touches his brow. Her touch kills him instantly and when a police officer arrives on the scene the Widow disappears. When the officer inspects the dead mans body he is shocked to find the mark of the Black Widow on his brow.

With her first mission a success, the Black Widow vows to her master Satan to eliminate all evil doers and send their souls to him.

Recurring Characters

Black Widow, “Satan”

Continuity Notes

• The Satan here is not any of the commonly known Hell Lords (Marduk Kurios, Mephisto, Satannish, etc.) In fact, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1 uses the name Satan in quotations, suggesting that this is a demon posing as the Satan.

• The origin of the Black Widow is refuted in the Twelve #8. It’s entirely possible that the origin depicted above is false. There is a precedent for it, among the members of “The Twelve” Fiery Mask had also lied about his origins as seen in issue #9 of that series. Another explanation could be taken from Young Allies Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 and All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #2 which reveal that Timely Comics was commissioned by the military to create comics about heroes that were enlisted in the war effort. Those stories were based on true events but had elements changed.

The Invisible Man

When actress Janet Wayne commits suicide, one of her fellow actresses begins claiming that somebody had driven her to suicide. This prompts Dr. Gade to invisibly follow after her to see if there is any merit to her claims. Sure enough a group of thugs come to warn her to keep quiet. When she refuses they knock her out to take her to their leader, a man known as Fatty.

Gade attempts to stop them, however when he makes himself visible, they easily over power him and tie him to a chair. Setting the room on fire, they leave the hero to die while they dispose of the actress. Using the flames to burn through his ropes, Gade follows after the mobsters invisibly.

Following them out to Fatty's yacht, he hears how they plan to toss the girl into shark infested waters, however Gade catches them off guard by sabotaging their boat and then knocking the crooks into the waters instead. Setting their yacht to explode, Gate boats the girl to safety, telling her that she can start her life again on a clean slate.

Recurring Characters

The Invisible Man

Continuity Notes

• This is the last Golden Age appearance of the Invisible Man. He will resurface again in All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #2

Merzah the Mystic

Merzah the magician is on a train with his aid Diane when he suddenly detects that there is trouble to be had. However before the train can be stopped it is derailed. Surviving the wreck, Merzah detects that the Japanese spy known as Matsu was responsible. Learning that Merzah was on the train, Matsu decides to eliminate the magician and calls together his men and then issues an open challenge to Merzah to face him.

Merzah and Diane are driven to the location by their driver Jose. There they are overpowered and taken prisoner and taken to a new location. Merzah communicates with Jose telepathically, leading him to Matsu's hideout where he attempts to silently free his friends. When Jose accidentally knocks over a vase, he alerts the spies of his presence and another fight breaks out. Leaving Diane to deal with the spies, Jose and Merzah go after Matsu, leading to a car chase that ends with Matsu getting his ties shot out by Merzah and getting into a fatal car accident. With Matsu dead and his spy ring smashed Merzah learns that they were attempting to steal the plans of a supposedly unsinkable boat.

Recurring Characters

Merzah the Mystic

Continuity Notes

• This is the last Golden Age appearance of Merzah. He will resurface again in All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #3

Dynamic Man

A series of strange robberies have been committed where only gold is stolen using a strange device. The FBI sends Curt Cowan to investigate, however after investigating the crime scene he decides to try and solve the mystery in his costumed identity of the Dynamic Man.

As it turns out the crooks are using a special magnet that attracts gold specifically. and their next target is Fort Knox. Having deduced this himself, the Dynamic Man begins flying into the air to look for traces of the device and witnesses as the crooks steal Fort Knox's gold with a zeppelin armed with a larger sized gold magnet.

Following the zeppelin back to the crooks hideout, the Dynamic Man attempts to subdue them, however he is caught off guard and is wrapped in non-conductive sheet that prevents him from generating his electrical powers. They then leave the hero to fly to London to rob the Bank of England. Ripping the non-conductive sheet, the Dynamic Man manages to free himself.

Learning of the thieves plot, he follows them to London where the crooks are already having troubles getting past the British military's air defense. The Dynamic Man then attacks, using his powers to ignite the zeppelins gases, causing a massive explosion destroying it and killing all aboard. With the thieves eliminated, the Dynamic Man returns the stolen gold to Fort Knox. Later he is commended by his superiors for a job well done.

Recurring Characters

Dynamic Man

Continuity Notes

• This is the last Golden Age appearance of the Dynamic Man. He will resurface in the Twelve limited series.