All-Winners #1

Gay Blade of Terror!

Society screwball Johnny Revere is at a party entertaining people with his sword swallowing skills, as his girlfriend Gloria discusses their upcoming marriage with some of the other girls. Later, Johnny meets with his lawyer who informs him that his mother's estate has gone bankrupt and asks when he is going to stop recklessly spending. Johnny refuses to give up his opulent lifestyle and having stolen before, decides to develop the costumed identity of the Gay Blade, to use his skills with a sword for his own criminal gain.

As the Gay Blade goes into the night to, the Human Torch and Toro arrive at the home of their friend Mrs. Delmar, having come on vacation to enjoy the upcoming ice carnival. As the two heroes retire for the night, the Gay Blade breaks into the mansion, disabling the outside burglar alarm. However, as he cracks the safe inside he sets off a secondary alarm awakening the Torch and Toro. They flame on and search the house, finding the Gay Blade as he attempts to flee. However, as they fight the Gay Blade, he manages to trip them up. In order to avoid lighting the place on fire, the two douse their flames, but the Gay Blade flees when Mrs. Delmar enters the room with a gun. Having not seen the Gay Blade, she presumes that the two heroes were responsible for setting off the alarm. However, they show her that the real thief fled out the window. When they rush to it they spot a helicopter flying away from the scene of the crime.

The Gay Blade lands his craft near his home spotting that Gloria has stopped by his house to visit him. Quickly removing his costume he meets her and tells her that he was out for a walk in order to solidify a plausible alibi. She tells Johnny that there was a robbery at her aunt’s house and the two ride up to go and see. There they meet the Torch and Toro who remark how the thief used various swords and knives to break into the mansion and remark at how impossible it seems. Johnny, cannot help but gloat that he could do it himself and Gloria informs them that Johnny is an expert swordsman, but Johnny quickly rescinds his comments, telling them that he probably is not as good as the thief.

However, this makes the Torch suspicious and later he and Toro begin investigating Johnny Revere's background, and note that he is engaged to Gloria, Mrs. Delmar's niece. As their prime suspect, the Torch and Toro begin watching Johnny's activities, but the thief notices that he is being watched and decides to come up with a way of eliminating the two heroes. The following morning when the Torch wakes up to shave he notices that someone had changed his regular razors with ones that have been tipped with poison. The Torch and Toro then begin plotting a trap to capture the Gay Blade.

They approach Gloria, who is to be the queen of the ice carnival and have her agree to their plan. They have her decked out in a crown that is worth fifteen thousand dollars. Reading this in the newspaper, the Gay Blade is determined to steal the crown and has developed special skate blades that allow him to skate across telephone poles. When he attempts to steal the crown the Torch and Toro easily capture and unmask the Gay Blade.

Recurring Characters

• Human Torch

• Toro

Murder At Marlin Mansion"

The Sub-Mariner swims ashore of the Marlin Estate on a case for Joan Ambler and sees a help-wanted sign for the orchard on the property. He spots two workers leaving the property and talks to them, they inform him that the property is haunted by the ghost of Raymond Marlin the property owner who was apparently murdered by his own nephew Ted Marlin, who confessed to it. Namor looks over the note that he got from Joan Ambler who has asked Namor to come investigate the death of Raymond, as she believes her boyfriend Ted was not responsible for the murder.

The Sub-Mariner swims to the location where Joan has agreed to meet him and gets into her car. She explains that following the death of Raymond Marlin, Ted instantly confessed to the murder. She finds it strange since Ted and his uncle got along and is remarking about how Ted's cousin Bob is also an heir to the estate, but drowned... when a car suddenly swerves out and tries to run them off the road. Namor grabs the girl and dives into the nearby river as the car crashes. Realizing that the accident was deliberate, Namor spots a man coming to the edge of the cliff and attacks him. Before he can get any answers some more thugs attack, and while Namor is trying to deal with them he is knocked unconscious when he is struck over the head with a bolder. When he comes around he finds a note left by the gang informing him that they have Joan as their prisoner and that they will kill her if he continues to interfere with their plans.

The Sub-Mariner dives back into the water and begins thinking of a plot to save Joan and get to the bottom of the mystery. The following day, Namor disguises himself and takes up a job as an apple picker to see what he can learn on the Marlin estate. The Sub-Mariner becomes suspicious of Amos Briggs, the foreman on the property and when he slips away, Namor follows after him. Not far away he spots Briggs entering a secret passage way hidden in a tree stump. When he goes to investigate some goons recognize him and knock him into the nearby river with a rock. There he is sucked through a feed pipe filled with water laced with chloroform knocking the hero out. When he's pulled into an underground cavern there are men waiting to take him prisoner.

When Namor comes around he finds himself chained up in a juicing room with Joan. When Namor suspects that there must be some kind of smuggling operation happening on the property, Briggs confirms this and before they go to pick up their next shipment, he tells them that they are going to be tossed into the apple juicer. Left to die by the juicing machine, Namor quickly grabs a sack and tosses at the pumping machine that pulled him out of the water. The cavern floods spilling water in the juicing room which revitalises Namor's strength and he frees himself and Joan. Leaving out of the secret passage way in the tree stump, the Sub-Mariner spots the boat bringing in the smuggled cargo. Swimming up to it he learns that they "cargo" are escaped Nazi war criminals who are being smuggled into the country.

Namor easily rounds up the smugglers and Nazis, but Briggs manages to escape. Questioning the captured thugs, they learn that cousin Bob is still alive. At the sheriff's office Briggs has come to the sheriff seeking protection. They have Ted tied up and a prisoner outside of a cell. Suddenly the Sub-Mariner arrives and easily beats Briggs and the crooked sheriff into submission. Defeated they confessed that they were using the Marlin estate to smuggle Nazis into the country. When Raymond Marlin discovered this they had Bob (who has a strong resemblance to Ted) murder Raymond. They were then going to have Ted hang for the murder and then resume operations at the estate. With the truth out, Bob, the sheriff and Biggs along with their entire operation are turned over to the police. Free and cleared of all crimes Ted and Joan thank Namor for his help as the hero once more dives into the sea.

Recurring Characters

• Sub-Mariner

• Nazis

Let's Play Detective

Underworld mouthpiece and lawyer Gabriel Halliday has been murdered and Detective Chip McCoy has been called on the job to investigate the case. Suddenly, Frankie Gardin, a recently paroled forgery artist arrives and claims that he was in Boston at the time of the murders and presents an envelope with a postmark on it to prove his claim. With two suspects, Gardin and Halliday's law partner Dan Kroll, McCoy deduces that Gardin is the real killer and arrests him. After getting a confession out of Gardin, McCoy reveals that he points out that Gardin slipped up by forging the post mark to read June 31, 1947, as June only has 30 days.

Recurring Characters

• Skip McCoy

Double Identity!

At the Lee School, Mr. Otto Drum is disappointed to find that the only student in class is Fred Davis. When he prompts to the boy to explain why there are so many absences, Fred explains that an outbreak of the Mumps has many of the students at the Lee School laid up at home. Drum scoffs at the Mumps as an infantile disease, however after finished his classes for the morning, Otto returns home and is horrified to find that his cheeks are puffed out and, in a twist of irony, has caught the Mumps himself.

Meanwhile, a criminal named Cheeks Chadwick is robbing a local soda shop. Spotting this, Fred changes into Bucky and stops the theft. Although he manages to round up Chadwick's goons, Cheeks manages to flee the scene. Returning to the Lee School where Jeff Mace has been called in to substitute for Mr. Drum who has not appeared for his three o'clock class. Drum, embarrassed by his Mumps is secretly leaving the school out of the back way. As he exits out the back door he runs into Cheeks Chadwick. The two look so familiar at first they both believe that they are looking into a mirror. However, when they realize the truth, Cheeks pulls out a gun and forces Drum to change clothes with him to throw off the cops. Sure enough when Drum is sent out into the streets in Chadwick's clothing he is chased by the police.

Hearing the commotion from outside, Jeff and Fred change into Captain America and Bucky and chase after "Cheeks Chadwick". However, their chase hits a dead end when they lose sight of "Chadwick", unaware that Drum had fled into the sewers and was following them back to his home to seek refuge. Captain America and Bucky return to the Lee School where they search the basement for clues and find Otto's hat. Remembering that he had gone missing they worry that he may be in trouble and head to his home.

Meanwhile, the real Cheeks Chadwick has succeeded in evading capture and spotting a store to steal from, he decides to use Drum to his advantage again. Using his papers to locate his home, Cheeks then pays a visit to Durm's home where he begins banging on the door. Drum refuses to answer, and Cheeks quickly hides in a storage closet in the hallway when Captain America and Bucky arrive. As they charge at Drum's door, Chadwick trips them causing the heroes to fall, knocking them out. When Drum opens the door to see what the commotion is all about, Chadwick holds him at gunpoint. When Captain America and Bucky revive they find themselves tied up in Drum's apartment and see to their shock that Chadwick and Drum resemble each other. Chadwick leaves the two heroes behind while he has Drum go out and draw away the police while he robs the women's store.

Left alone, Captain America and Bucky use one of Drum's model city designs (with a realistic saw mill that works) to cut through their bonds and escape. They stop the police from gunning down the innocent Otto Drumm and arrive just in time to stop Cheek Chadwick's robbery. As Captain America swiftly deals with Chadwick, Bucky laughs but he is suddenly stricken with the Mumps himself. Later after the caper is over, Fred is recovering in his room begging Jeff not to tell anyone that he has come down with the Mumps.

Recurring Characters

• Captain America

• Bucky

Continuity Notes

• Per What If? #4, the appearances of Captain America and Bucky here are attributed to Jeff Mace and Fred Davis.

Personal Appearance For Murder!

Louise Grant and Mark Mason are finally going out on a date. Mark spots a movie poster advertising a new film about the Blonde Phantom and wants to go see it, much to Louise's chagrin. Spotting some suspicious men as they purchase their tickets. Louise breaks away to "fix her hair" in the reflection of a shop window so she can get a better look at the men. She recognizes them as two crooks named Tooth-Pick Twilliger and Eight-Ball Olson who had escaped convicts who Mark had previously caught.

She quickly rushes off into the theatre to see what they are up to. Inside the theatre, Mark has also spotted Tooth-Pick and Eight-Ball and is preparing to deal with them should they start anything. In the darkness of the theatre, Louise spots the two thugs approaching Mark and changes into the Blonde Phantom. She calls out to Mark before they can shoot him, but they succeed in winging him with a bullet. As the crooks flee, Blonde Phantom rushes to Mark's aid blaming herself for Mark's injury.

Quickly thinking she rushes to the stage and announces to the audience that this is all a publicity stunt for a new Blonde Phantom movie and orders that nobody leave the theatre. Complying the ushers stop Tooth-Pick and Eight-Ball form leaving the premises. The Blonde Phantom then gives them chase and easily captures them for the authorities. The next day at the office of Mark Mason, Mark tells Louise how she missed out on the Blonde Phantom the night before, to which Louise calls her alter-ego an overrated ham.

Recurring Characters

• Blonde Phantom

• Mark Mason