Nick Peron

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Young Allies Comics #7

Meet the Ambassador of Terror

Credits

A Nazi spy named the Ambassador of Terror poisons a number of American good-will ambassadors that are travelling to the South American nation of Bonara in order to disrupt the a treaty to export rubber from the country. Shortly after, in New York, the Young Allies participate and win in a scrap collecting contest to donate to the war effort. They are presented their award is to be given to them by Ambassador Barnes, but he is killed by a knife thrown by the Ambassador of Terror. With all the ambassadors death, the Young Allies decide to travel to Washington D.C. where they get an audience with President Roosevelt to tell him what happened. To their surprised, the President decides to send the boys to act as Americans ambassadors to Bonara.

When the boys arrive there, the president of Bonara is initially insulted that the United States would send children on a goodwill mission. However, when Bucky explains that they felt it was their civic duty to do what they can for their country, the president changes his mind and accepts the boys with open arms. The people of Bonara then throw a massive parade in the boys honor. When the Ambassador of Evil hears of this, he vows that six children will not prevent him from achieving his goals.

At a party being thrown for the Young Allies, the president goes missing prompting his daughter to ask Bucky and the others for help. The Young Allies find a secret passageway when Whitewash Jones smashes a spider on the wall. Following the secret tunnel they find the Ambassador of Evil torturing the president. After a brief fight, Toro rounds up some of the spies but the Ambassador escapes. The president thanks the boys for their aid and the celebrations continue. However, the Ambassador attempts to mar them by tossing a bomb at the boys, but it is quickly tossed aside. Toro, Knuckles and Jeff chase after the Ambassador, but walk over a trap floor and are captured.

Meanwhile, Bucky, Tubby and Whitewash return to the plane and wait for the others to get back so that they can fly back to the United States. They are forced onto the plane by gun point by the American secretary that accompanied them who reveals himself to be none other than the Ambassador of Terror.

The spy takes them to a tribe of South American natives that worship a fire god and has them placed on stakes to be burned alive. Meanwhile, Toro and the others break free and ride a rail car to that leads them to the village of natives. Seeing Toro's flame powers, the natives believe that he is their fire god and turn against the Ambassador of Evil. As the Young Allies free their captured friends, the natives toss the Ambassador into a large flaming pit where he is burned alive. With the threat over, the boys fly home.

Recurring Characters

Young Allies (Bucky, Toro, Knuckles O’Toole, Jeff Vandergill, Tubby Tinkle, Whitewash Jones), Nazis

Tommy Tyme

Tommy Tyme is playing hooky from school to take in some fishing when he comes across a strange bottle in the water. Rubbing it, a genie pops out and grants the boy a single wish. Hard pressed to come up with what he likes most, Tommy is nabbed by a truancy officer. The genie then asks the boy what he dislikes the most, to which Tommy responds that it is school he dislikes. The genie then gives him the Clock of the Ages, and tells the boy that whenever school bores him the clock will aid him.

Back in class, Tommy is quizzed by his teacher on the history of Robin Hood. Caught with a question he didn't study for, Tommy pulls out the Clock of the Ages and it suddenly transports him back in time to Sherwood Forest during the time of Robin Hood. There, Tommy meets the legendary hero and his Merry Men. Seeing their troubles with the kings men, Tommy uses his sling shot to send them away. Impressed by this strange new weapon, Robin Hood accepts Tommy into his camp. There Tommy shows them how to make sling shots and then suggests that they begin wearing green so that they are better camouflaged in the forest. These plans work out, and Tommy begins to realize that he may have been the one responsible for helping Robin Hood becoming the legend that he is in his own time.

When an archery contest is created to lure Robin Hood into a trap, Tommy accompanies him. When Robin fails to split an arrow in half with his next shot, Tommy lends a helping hand with his B.B. Gun splitting the arrow with one of his bullets. When the kings men attempt to apprehend Robin, Tommy uses his B.B. Gun to fend off the knights while they fled into the forest. There, Tommy hears a ringing noise and finds himself transported back to his own time just moments before he left and is able to answer his teachers question.

Recurring Characters

Tommy Tyme, Merry Men (Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tack, Alan A’Hale)

Continuity Notes

  • Although this is the first appearance of Robin Hood in a Marvel comic book, the identity of this character is murky. Knights of Pendragon #1 states that Robin Hood was a normal man who was endowed with the Pendragon Spirit. He appeared to be a normal man when Hawkeye was sent back in time to the 13th Century and met Robin Hood in Incredible Hulk #284. Conversely, Thunderstrike #18, it was revealed that the Asgardian known as Fandral posed as Robin Hood in the 14th Century. Is the Robin Hood who appeared here a normal guy or was he really Fandral in disguise? There are no clear answers. My speculation is that the Robin Hood of the 13th Century was a normal guy and Fandral only took up the identity as a disguise after Robin Hood had died.

The Scratch of Death

Chinese fighter pilot Ching Wing is the lone survivor of his squad as he flies over the Pacific. Along the way he radios his girlfriend Ling Toy so that she can track his progress. He suddenly sees some new Japanese trap on Shoto Island but is seemingly shot down. Listening to this broadcast is not only Ling Toy, but the Young Allies as well as Hirohito in Japan.

Furious that someone had stumbled upon his plan, the Emperor of Japan calls for his agent the Serpent -- who could kill with the scratch of a fingernail -- to go out and eliminate Ling Toy before she can tell the authorities in the United States what she had learned. When Ling Toy arrives at an American police station, she finds that the Serpent has taken the place of the desk officer and he attempts to eliminate her. However, the Young Allies burst in and fight off the Serpent and his men and help Ling Toy flee the scene.

They rush to an airfield where Ling Toy decides to fly to China herself to warn the Chinese military of what Ching had learned, the Young Allies accompany her on the flight. Along the way, they are dogged by a plane piloted by the Serpent and his men. They are shot down in the air over a portion of Japan occupied by the Japanese. The Young Allies and Ling Toy manage to parachute safely to the ground and flee their attackers. They soon come across a massive complex where Chinese slave workers are being forced to build a massive tunnel.

Posing as workers, the Young Allies follow the tunnel and are surprised to find it leads into the flower garden of Hirohito himself. The boys decide to humiliate the Japanese leader while he naps by having Jeff trade glasses. Pretending to be Japanese children, the Allies then humiliate Hirohito with various pranks before giving him his glasses back and fleeing the scene. Getting on a boat, the Young Allies manage to sail away thanks to Toro starting a massive fire in Tokyo.

They sail back to Shoto Island where they find Ching Wing alive and well, and he joins them in their travels. They find the center of point of the tunnel and fight their way inside. Following it to the opposite end they are surprised it leads to the waters outside Pearl Harbor, and then realize that the tunnel must go further to the mainland of the United States. Bucky send Toro, Ching Wing and Ling Toy back toward Shoto Island to destroy the tunnel from that side while he and the others race to the American end and destroy it there.

Taking a car, Bucky and the others speed past the Serpent and the others but stop to fight him and plant their bomb. They then race to the surface, and just as Toro catches up to them (his part of the mission complete) an explosion destroys the tunnel flooding it. The Serpent and his men end up drowning in the flood ending their threat. With the battle over, the Young Allies are met by Captain America and the Human Torch who had heard intelligence reports of the tunnel and came to warn them only to find out that the boys had handled the problem already.

Recurring Characters

Young Allies (Bucky, Toro, Knuckles O’Toole, Jeff Vandergill, Tubby Tinkle, Whitewash Jones), Imperial Japan (Emperor Hirohito), Captain America, Human Torch