USA Comics #9
Puppets of Death
James Barnes is ordered to deliver the mail by Sgt. Duffy on the double. When Barnes rushes off to do his chore, he trips on a rock and spills the mail on the ground. Recovering the mail he finds one envelope addressed to Major Hudson of military intelligence had opened, James replaces the letter and tells Steve Rogers about it later when he has finished his chore. Steve finds the letter interesting as Hudson is a "free agent" counter-espionage agent like they are.
That night a robed man breaks into the base and sneaks into the military intelligence building. There he blasts open the safe and steals its contents. As he flees he is spotted by Captain America and Bucky who chase after him. Although the man gives them a good fight, Cap easily defeats him and gets him a choke hold. When Cap releases the man to talk about his mission, he attempts to escape again. However the spy falls off a cliff and falls to his death. Searching the area, they find part of a note with Major Johnson's name on it. Realizing that the spies must be attempting to eliminate the major, the two heroes go seeking out the major at his home. They are told by the housekeeper that Johnson has gone out to a night club but she is not sure which. With this minimal piece of information Steve and Bucky begin searching the cities night spots for the Major.
The major is within the Black Cat night club to see the nights performance by expert of puppetry, the Great Varda. Varda, puts on his puppet show -- a reenactment of William Tell shooting an arrow at an apple on his sons head. During the performance, Johnson feels a sudden stabbing pain in his chest that quickly goes away. Thinking nothing of the incident, he leaves the club after the performance and his exit is missed by mere moments by Steve and Bucky who are told that he had just left.
When they finally catch up with Johnson, he collapses dead by what a doctor believes to be highly communicable disease and orders the two heroes into quarantine. Upon learning that this is one of many cases that have hit the Black Cat club. Later when Johnson's grave is robbed, Cap and Bucky make a connection to Varda, remembering that when Johnson died he made a "v" shape with his fingers. When checking the grave of another victim, they find that his coffin is empty.
Captain America decides to expose Varda for what he truly is. In his civilian guise, he visits the Black Cat Club and sends a note to Varda telling the spy that he is aware of his game. Varda, naturally puts on his performance, and Steve is struck by one of the poison arrows. When Steve suddenly drops dead, Bucky is upset at the death of his mentor and after a quick funeral Cap is laid to rest. Soon, some men come and rob Cap's grave of it's body. Bucky, seeking to get vengeance for Cap's supposed death follows after them.
Watching from the window above, Bucky is surprised to see Cap get revived. Varda reveals to Captain America that the key defense officials and scientist have been drugged with a substance that simulates death by Dengu fever, allowing them to steal the bodies and revive them and gain valuable knowledge to assist in the war. Bucky crashes in to rescue Cap, but the two heroes are captured. Wishing to execute the two heroes in a fashion befitting of his talents, Varda has them strung up to reenact the William Tell story, only with more fatal results for Bucky. However, Cap manages to strike Varda with the arrow instead and breaks free, and with the help of Bucky and the freed Johnson manage to subdue the rest of the spies.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Sgt. Duffy, Nazis
Death Rides the Rails
Adolf Hitler has called four of his best generals to meet with him and they are soon depart by train. As they ride to their destination, they catch a German named Louis Frankel who has smuggled explosives aboard the train to try and eliminate the high ranking Nazi officials. They prepare to execute him, but Frankel is rescued by the Destroyer who has disguised himself as one of the Nazi soldiers and jammed their rifles. Fleeing outside to the top of one of the passenger cars, the Destroyer reveals himself to Frankel and the two begin working together to stop the Nazi generals from reaching their destination.
To this end, they disconnect the passenger car from the main engine and when the guards come out of the car to investigate the Destroyer guns them down. After successfully capturing the four generals, the Destroyer sends them into the firing line of Nazi reinforcements that arrive on the scene. As the Destroyer had hoped, the trigger happy Nazis end up shooting their own commanding officers dead. While the Nazis are distracted, the Destroyer and Frenkel flee up the railroad to the idling train and take it over and use it to flee the scene. Later in a secret hideout, they listen to radio reports from Nazi Germany that tell of the generals demise. As usual the Nazi propaganda machine tells a different story of the General's humiliating demise: That they were instead killed in a R.A.F. bombing. Even though they are not given credit for their mission the Destroyer and Frenkel get a good laugh.
Recurring Characters
Destroyer, Nazis
Continuity Notes
Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3, this appearance of the Destroyer is attributed to Kevin Marlow.
Signal for Death
Captain Johnson and his men are returning to their aircraft carrier in the waters outside New Guinea after some shore leave when they spot what appear to be natives hovering near the American ship in a fishing boat. Upon closer inspection, Johnson realizes that they are really Japanese agents in disguise and that they are doing something to the side of the boat. Johnson and his men attack the Japanese spies. However, before they can find out what the Japanese were up to, one of them pulls the pin from a grenade forcing the Americans to jump overboard while the grenade explodes killing all the Japanese soldiers and eliminating anyone who could tell them what they are up to.
With the sun setting, the American battleship prepares to set sail for a secret rendezvous point where they will escort a fleet. When Johnson is walking on deck one of his fellow officers notices that his uniform is glowing. Recounting how he was knocked against the side of the aircraft carrier during the fight he realizes that the Japanese were painting the side of the ship with luminescent paint, rendering the vessel visible in the dark and making it an easy target.
Realizing the danger they are in, Johnson alerts his superiors and then takes a recon plan out and spots a Japanese destroyer heading their way. Gathering a fleet of American fighters, Johnson leads them to attack the Japanese warship, sinking the enemy vessel. On their way back to the ship, they soon spot six Japanese subs surfacing and heading toward their ship. However, the attack on the Japanese sub had attracted the attention of American destroyers who have come to the aircraft carrier's aid and help sink the Japanese subs, ending their threat and allowing Johnson and his crew to make their rendezvous point.
Recurring Characters
Jap Buster Johnson, Imperial Japan
The Winner and Still Champion
The true war story of Barney Ross, a boxer turned American soldier who comes to the aid of his fellow soldiers in the battle of Guadalcanal, where he holds off Japanese forces and protects his injured comrades until reinforcements arrive earning him the rank of Corporeal.
Man Behind the Tank
Sargent Dix gets a letter from the general informing him that he has become detached from any company and is now reporting directly to general headquarters. Meeting with the general, Dix is asked to investigate where missing gasoline rations have gone on the base as there is no evidence of smuggling.
Dix pays a visit to the miserly gas attendant named Blenheim who is incredibly stingy with giving soldiers gasoline, giving them just barely enough to complete their tasks. Although Blenheim appears to be incredibly anal retentive about war rationing Dix is still suspicious of the man and begins snooping around his garage. Inside, he finds a Jeep that has been modified to have an extra large gas tank leaving him to suspect that Blemheim is up to something.
Watching the soldier, Dix watches as Blemheim fills up his tank with an excessive amount of gasoline and drives off to points unknown. Following after him, he catches Blemheim -- really a Nazi spy -- about to siphon the additional gas into a massive tanker brought into the woods by other spies.
Dix piles into the spies with his fists flying and is aided by the timely arrival of two soldiers who were returning from duty who heard the fight. The spies are then rounded up and captured and sent off to the firing squad.
Recurring Characters
Sargent Dix, Nazis
Case of the Poisoned Stamp
Roddy Colt and one of his friends are out once more attempting to sell War Stamps to people door-to-door. When they happen upon the estate of old man Randolph they are rudely greeted by his nephew Clint Randolf who tells the boys to scram after buying a dollars worth of stamps.
Roddy tells his friend how old man Randolph is a millionaire and that his miserly nephew stands to inherit his fortune when the old man dies. The next morning, it turns out that old man Randolph had passed away in the night. Suspecting that Clint may have murdered his uncle, Roddy goes to the police but does not have adequate evidence to prove his suspicions.
Roddy decides to sneak into the Randolph mansion as the Secret Stamp in order to find clues but finds himself captured by the late Randolph's staff and Clint. Tied up in the attic while the lawyer deals out Clint his inheritance, the chauffeur watches over the Stamp. Telling the hero that his former employer died while licking his war stamps, he mockingly finishes his pasting jobs licking the remaining stamps yet to be put in the old man's scrap book. The chauffeur then drops dead, making the Stamp realize that the stamps had been poisoned. When another chauffeur enters the room he unties the Stamp to find out what happens.
Revealing the truth, Roddy rushes downstairs and stops the signing of the will and reveals that Clint is a Nazi sympathizer hoping to use his uncles fortune to funnel into spy activities. When Clint attempts to shoot the authorities when they arrive, the Secret Stamp stops him before he can kill anyone and is once more hailed as a hero.
Recurring Characters
Secret Stamp
Whizzer
The Whizzer is invited to see his friends latest invention, a new race call called the Silver Moonbeam. However, he notices that the man hired to performance maintenance on the car is really Slick Werner a man who is known as a phony in the racing business.
Suspecting that something shady is afoot, the Whizzer decides to watch the race. Slick meanwhile attempts to stop the Whizzer from interfering with the sabotage he had done on the Moonbeam in order capitalize on betting. They catch the hero off guard while he is in his home and knock him out, taking him hostage.
However, the Whizzer breaks free and rounds up Slick's gang and then races back out to the track where he captures Slick. Although the race is on and the Moonbeam is winning the race it is in danger of falling apart and causing a massive accident. The Whizzer prevents this from happening and insures that the Moonbeam crosses the finish line intact. Thanks to the Whizzer preventing an accident the Moonbeam manages to win first place in the race.
Recurring Characters
Whizzer
