Curse of Frankenstein

Captain America and Bucky answer a distress letter from Anna Frankenstein to come to her ancestral castle in Europe. They go unaware that someone has found Victor Frankenstein's long lost notes and have used it to create a new Frankenstein's monster. Arriving at the castle, they are not admitted into the castle, so Captain America climbs up one of the towers. He is attacked by the Frankenstein butler, but manages to fight free but gets caught at gun point by Dr. Frankenstein. Meanwhile, outside, Bucky is greeted by Anna Frankenstein and welcomed into the castle. They rush upstairs and find Dr. Frankenstein just as he is putting his gun away, not wishing to shoot the legendary Captain America.

Anna tells the two heroes that she had called them to investigate strange noises coming from one of the towers. Her father dismisses this as nothing but common noise and then offers Cap and Bucky to stay the night. While they are preparing for bed, Cap and Bucky are attacked by a Frankenstein's monster but the creature is forced to flee when the two heroes prove to be too much for it. When the monster disappears, Cap calls together the Frankenstein's and their working staff, including a blind German named Von Rottz, who offers to help them find the monster.

Leading the heroes through the castle, Von Rottz leads them directly to the monster who grabs Bucky and rushes to the parapet of the castle. There he tosses Bucky to his death, but Captain America swings out from a window and catches him. When they get back up to the parapet, they witness as the monster strangles Von Rottz to death and then grabs Anna and makes a hasty retreat. Captain America follows after them and manages to save Anna and lure the monster into a quicksand trap. Captain America then confronts Anna with the truth: That she is a Nazi sympathizer who worked with Von Rottz to create a new Frankenstein's Monster for the Nazis. Shamed by this revelation, Anna then throws herself into the quicksand pit and drowns herself.

Captain America returns to the Frankenstein home, and unable to tell the doctor that his daughter is a traitor, he leaves Frankenstein to believe he was unable to save her. Believing that his daughters death was the result of the family curse, the doctor then sets the castles laboratory on fire.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky

Hour of Doom

In neutral Switzerland, a prisoner exchange is in progress seeing the release of three captured Allied soldiers, two Americans and one Brit. As the mediator is examining the paperwork to insure that the men are who they say they are, the three prisoners to be released are secretly visited by the Destroyer who wants to pass along a message that he is doing okay.

However, as the three prisoners of war are led toward the car that will drive them to the airport, the Nazi commanding officer throws a switch that opens a trap door. They are suddenly jumped by three Nazi spies who are their exact doubles who hope to take their place and commit acts of sabotage upon their arrival in Britain.

The Destroyer attacks the impostors and has the three Allied soldiers take their place before the commanding officer returns to execute the Allies. The "spies" then present the Destroyer to the commanding officer who is happy to see that the Nazis constant opponent has been captured. He then orders the "Allies" executed, and when the three Nazi spies are gunned down, the Destroyer and the three Allied prisoners reveal the ruse and jump him. The Destroyer then helps the three Allied soldiers fight their way to the airport to their plane.

Before the plane takes off they offer to take the Destroyer with them, but he refuses, telling them he still has plenty of work to do before he returns home and sends them on their way.

Recurring Characters

Destroyer, Nazis

Continuity Notes

• Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3 the appearance of the Destroyer here can be attributed to Kevin Marlow.

Let's Play Detective

Andrew Baxter, a greatly hated man is sitting at home one night when he is attacked by two would be assassins. One shooting through a window and the other throwing a knife from behind. The next day in the papers, two people confess to his murder and Detective Mike Trapp and photographer Pepper Burns are called in to investigate.

Trapp interrogates the two supposed killers: Peter Tellson who threw the knife because he hated Baxter for ruining his fathers business, and Joe Crane the shooter who hated Baxter who stole one of his inventions and made a fortune on it.

However, Trapp examines the crime scene and finds a drinking glass with a hint of cyanide in it and deduces that his wife had poisoned him and had her arrested. When Pepper asks Trapp how he figured it out, he explains that Baxter was already dead when his would-be killers attacked him, the proof being that corpses don't bleed.

Recurring Characters

Mike Trapp, Pepper Burns

Ghost Pilot

Yet another fighter pilot battalion is decimated by some new Japanese artillery. Learning of this Jap Buster Johnson offers to fly onto the nearby island where the Japanese are stationed, steal one of their planes and return it to the destroyer to have its new cannons examined.

Flying to the island at night, Johnson places an explosive charge on his plane and heads into the Japanese base. There he jumps a lone sentry and begins searching for a Japanese bomber to steal. While he is marking the plane with white paint to insure that his allies know he is piloting the plane, Johnson is attacked by Japanese soldiers who knock him out. Realizing what Johnson was up to, the Japanese send one of their own men back to the American destroyer in the marked plane to launch a sneak attack.

Taken to the commanding officer at the base for questioning, Johnson realizes that the bomb on his plane has not yet gone off and fights his way to freedom, stealing one of the new cannons along the way. Stopping the bomb before it can go off, Johnson flies his plane back toward the destroyer and manages to destroy the Japanese bomber in a dog fight before it can attack the destroyer. Returning to base, Johnson explains what happened to his confused commanding officers and then presents them with the captured enemy weapon.

Recurring Characters

Jap Buster Johnson, Imperial Japan

The Bogus Kapitan

A Nazi spy posing as Captain Steele attempts to smuggle plans for an oil pipeline that will run oil to an American airfield and attempts to smuggle it off base. When he attempts to do so, he bumps into Sgt. Dix, making him drop his gun. Dix notes that the man called him a "Swine" and dropped a German Luger and realizes the man is a Nazi spy and follows after them on motorcycle.

Arriving at the Nazis secret hideout, Dix witnesses as they are about to execute the real Captain Steele and comes crashing through the building to rescue him. However he is overpowered and tied up as well. The Nazis leave the two Americans in the building as they set it ablaze and go to sabotage the oil pipeline. However, Dix and Steele manage to break free and follow the Nazis to the pipeline along Suicide Hill.

They ride through a testing range, and stop the Nazis in time, blowing up their getaway car with a grenade and knocking out the survivors and keeping them subdued until military brass can come and investigate the source of the grenade explosion.

Recurring Characters

Sargent Dix, Nazis