Marvel Mystery Comics (1939 series) #4

The Human Torch — scientific marvel and master of all flame — drives toward a New York City placed under martial law by the mysterious destruction of the "Green Flame." He has been summoned by a wire from his friend Johnson. Arriving on a deserted Broadway, the Torch — traveling under the alias Jim Hamond — is stopped by police demanding registration papers. A goblin-like green figure suddenly floats toward the group; the Torch ignites his body and crashes into the creature, discovering it is ice-cold. He applies heat until the charred figure goes limp. The surviving green men flee back to their master while the police, disbelieving the Torch's identity and suspecting him of murdering Hamond, open fire. The Torch deflects the tracer bullets with his flaming arms and soars away over the skyscrapers.

He douses his flame and slips to Johnson's tenement in the slums, where he meets Maizie, an undercover agent. She explains that Dr. Manyac — a chemist and killer with a mania for destruction — invented the super-cold green flame: a chemical coating so frigid it can shatter concrete and the people inside buildings. Manyac is extorting the city and state; if they refuse to pay, he will spread the green flame over the slums and then move on to wealthier neighborhoods like Park Avenue. A radio bulletin interrupts: Inspector Reiss has named the Torch as a murder suspect. Undeterred, the Torch agrees to help.

Manyac, now confirmed the Human Torch is real, orders his green-coated men to begin their attack on the slum buildings. Two buildings collapse. The Torch drops into the midst of the green men blazing, scattering them with balls of hot flame, while Reiss arrives on the scene. The Torch melts away debris to rescue a trapped tenant, then spots Manyac capturing Maizie — who had been operating as a double agent for Manyac — and forcing her into his car. The Torch lands on the car's hood and begins melting the engine. Manyac draws a gun, but Maizie grabs his hand, causing him to release the wheel; the car swerves into a fire hydrant and a geyser of water douses the Torch's flame. Manyac drags Maizie away as a shield, gun to her head. The Torch feigns compliance, then curves a precise ball of flame around Maizie and into Manyac before he can fire. Manyac goes down. Johnson and Reiss arrive; the Torch hands Manyac over and proves his identity by extinguishing his flame and revealing himself as Hamond. Reiss apologizes, and the Torch tells him to forget it.

Butch the Giant

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

In the criminal district known as Devil's Playground, a gang member called Weasel attempts to quit working for mob boss Rickie. Rickie tells him there is only one way to leave and orders his number-two man, Brink, to handle it. Brink arrives with a contact who brings along an enormous, near-superhuman creature he calls 'Butch'. Weasel draws his gun in terror but the bullets ricochet off Butch's body; with a single swipe of his arm Butch sends Weasel crashing through a fifth-floor window to his death. Brink tries to recruit Butch into the mob, but Rickie objects — the creature is too conspicuous. Seizing the moment, Brink has Rickie killed off-panel and promotes himself to boss, then puts Butch to work.

Within days, terror grips the city. Butch tears open bank vaults, robs jewelry stores, and tramples anyone in his way, vanishing into the shadows without leaving a trace. Every available man is armed and sent out in groups to hunt him down. One cold, foggy night Butch appears and a barrage of machine guns, rifles, and grenades proves useless — bullets only anger him and he crumbles men like splinters. At the slaughter's peak, the Angel arrives on the scene and dives straight for Butch's neck. The creature tears him loose and dashes him to the sidewalk, but the Angel rises and wades back in, striking with such speed that Butch cannot land a grip. Unable to catch the fast-moving figure, Butch flees into the darkness, leaving a trail of destruction the police can follow. Meanwhile, back at Devil's Playground, Brink promises the assembled underworld five million dollars a day and their cut — if they back him.

Butch crashes back through the door, rattled. A police raid descends on the street; Brink scatters his men but Butch stands rooted as the Angel leaps through the window directly at him. Butch hurls a heavy chair; the Angel catches it and sends it crashing back into Butch's face. Butch charges with full force, but the Angel sidesteps and Butch's own momentum carries him through the wall, through the building, and down into the subway below, where he stops moving. The police swarm the bewildered mob in the street. The Angel slips away into the alley. The police chief wonders who was responsible for bringing down the monster; as the men look up, they glimpse the Angel leaping from the torn building into the shadows. The Angel delivers a parting line to the unseen Brink — that there will always be someone on the side of the law to top him — before vanishing.

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Angel
(Tom Halloway)

Antagonists
Buth the giant.

The Sub-Mariner Goes to War

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

Picking up directly from the previous installment, Namor bids farewell to policewoman Betty Dean on the beach, telling her he must return to the Antarctic to organize his people. As he swims south, he resolves to assemble his army of Sub-Mariners and end the war himself by destroying anyone who interferes with civilian food or medical supply, regardless of which nation is responsible. Arriving at an outpost, he is greeted by Petrod and makes his way to the Palace of Ice — an anchored iceberg whose peak serves as a fortress — where the Emperor and the Court of Three receive him. Namor reports that his experience in New York has shown him the error of his anti-white-race views, and petitions the Emperor to let him act as a privateer against the warring nations. The Emperor grants him the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy.

Within a week, Namor has assembled hundreds of aerial-submarines — steam-gun-equipped craft propelled by compressed alcohol and water that can operate both in the air and underwater. Meanwhile, over the North Atlantic, an enemy airplane-carrier intercepts a transport clipper escorted by two pursuit ships, launching a torpedo-plane and two light bombers that destroy the convoy. From the sea, Namor's aerial-sub fleet erupts and strikes back, enveloping the giant bombers in scalding steam. One torpedo-bomber fires back, but its missiles bounce off the repellent metal of Namor's ships. The enemy bombers are driven into the sea. Namor telepathically orders his fleet back to the wreck site, where an aerial-sub lashes itself to the sinking clipper's fuselage and transfers the cargo before pushing the stricken plane level and keeping it afloat — just as an enemy submarine surfaces to finish the job. Namor's Sub-Mariners swarm underwater and rip off the hostile sub's hatches, deck gun, conning tower, periscope, and wireless. The sub keels over into the mud.

Inspecting the salvaged clipper's cockpit, Namor finds a newspaper reporting that a neutral American freighter has been seized by an enemy as contraband, its crew of thirty-eight held in fear. Deciding his conscience gives him no choice, he dispatches his flagship crew to another aerial-sub and flies solo across the ocean toward Denmark, searching the coastline for two weeks until he finds the freighter at night in a secluded bay, guarded by two enemy submarines. He strips to woolen trunks, boards the freighter unseen, and overhears two American prisoners — the mate Tim and his fiancée Barbara, daughter of the ship's skipper — lamenting their captivity under a prize crew. Namor steps forward and offers to free them all. Tim is skeptical, citing the surrounding minefield, but Barbara persuades him to listen. Namor's plan: the American crew will swim one by one to the port-side submarine, overpower the watch, take the sub, and return. The plan succeeds — the Americans make short work of the prize crew below — but the surviving prize crew on deck rushes back aboard and a battle breaks out. Namor telepathically summons Admiral Naka, who orders his underwater Sub-Mariners to pull the minefield's mines below the level of the ship's keel. Namor then tips the starboard submarine into the enemy's port-side sub with a torpedo, destroying it. With both submarines gone and his aerial-subs threading the now-cleared minefield, Namor commands the freighter's captain to sail due west for Scotland and dives from the bridge into the black ocean below, leaving the bewildered captain to wonder what just happened.

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Sub-Mariner
(Namor)

Plus: Betty Dean (Betty Dean Prentiss), Emperor Tha-Korr.

Antagonists
Nazis.

The Claim Jumpers

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

Old-timer Zeb and his partner Luke have struck gold. Zeb rides for town at breakneck pace to file the claim and have the ore assayed at the recording office, warning Luke to keep quiet about it. Two men overhear Zeb's boast at a watering stop and, knowing his weakness for gambling, plan to fleece the claim out of him before he can leave town. Their leader, Buck, tells them to let Zeb file first and then win it from him at the tables. Zeb files successfully with clerk Ben and gets confirmation of a rich deposit, but refuses to share any details with the curious strangers. Buck loses patience; as Zeb passes an alley on the way out, the gang jumps and badly beats him, stealing the claim papers. They leave him for dead and head for Luke back at the diggings.

At dusk, the Masked Raider approaches town on his white horse Lightning and hears Zeb's groans near the corral. He carries Zeb to a nearby shack and tends to him. When Zeb regains consciousness he is wary, but the Raider persuades him to tell his story. Alarmed that Buck's gang will now go after Luke, the Raider secures a horse for Zeb and they ride hard for the diggings. Back at the mine, Luke is already under siege — Buck and four men, sheltered in the rocks above the shack, snipe at him. Luke holds them off with a rifle. Buck tries a ruse, sending a man under a white flag to distract Luke, then flanking him from behind. Luke drops his gun and is captured. Buck demands Luke reveal the location of the strike, but Luke refuses. As Buck is about to escalate, a lookout spots riders approaching fast — it is the Raider. Buck's men recognize the name and want to flee, but Buck holds them.

The Masked Raider charges in and subdues Buck in close quarters, then hauls him back and hands him over to Luke and Zeb. Luke and Zeb offer to make the Raider their partner; he declines and rides off. As they watch him go, Zeb wonders aloud where he disappeared to.

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Masked Raider
(Jim Gardley)

Electro

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

Professor Philo Zog, mechanical wizard and electrical genius, has built Electro — an all-powerful robot controlled by remote electra-waves that transmit Zog's thoughts to a metal headpiece and then to Electro's mechanical brain. For a final field test at a deserted farm, Zog commands Electro to walk to the barn, snap a massive post in two, crash through a wall at a run, and return — all of which Electro executes instantly, reaching 100 miles per hour. Satisfied, Zog bundles the robot into his car and drives to New York, where he hires twelve hand-picked operatives through an employment agency. He equips each with a tiny wireless telephone and assigns them as private crime-fighters, with the power of Electro available at a moment's call through Zog himself or his valet Mr. Burke.

Operative No. 3, Dick Gardner, overhears two men in a Chinatown restaurant recruiting for a kidnapping. He trails them, wraps a scarf around his face, gets the drop on one, and forces the man to reveal that the boss is Hymie Pazetto — "The Weasel" — and that the gang is holding child actress Joyce Lovely at a deserted roadhouse outside of town. Dick drives the captive to the Purple Slipper roadhouse, peers through a keyhole to confirm Joyce and the gang are inside, then uses the captive's knock to get the door opened. He decks Pazetto, covers the room, and forces henchman Toby to tie up his own comrades before tying Toby himself. He collects Joyce and heads for his car — but Toby wriggles free and alerts the gang, and Dick is shot in the arm as he drives away. The car veers into a ditch; the gangsters recapture Dick and throw him in the cellar, keeping Joyce.

Before being disarmed Dick managed to use his wireless telephone. Zog despatches Electro down Highway 16 at over 100 miles per hour. Seeing the roadhouse through Electro's television-eye, Zog commands him to smash through a window. Electro scatters the gang across the room, shrugs off point-blank gunfire from Pazetto, renders all the gangsters unconscious, and then breaks open the cellar door to free Dick. Dick sends Electro back to Zog, drives Joyce to the city, and reunites her with her mother while the police take charge of the criminals. Dick returns to Zog's apartment and reports, dismissing his gunshot wound as a scratch. Zog declares this was comparatively easy work and that much harder tasks lie ahead for Electro.

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Electro
(Robot)

Plus: Philo Zog (Philo Zogolowski), The twelve Secret Operatives.

Antagonists
Weasel (Hymie Pazetto).

Quest for a Crime Boss

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

Ferret — well-known author and private investigator — is at his Greenwich Village home when a gunshot victim staggers to his doorstep and dies. He calls the Commissioner, who connects the death to a series of jewel robberies targeting nightclub patrons, and introduces Detective Prosser, who is heading the investigation. Ferret takes the dead man's book of Monte Carlo matches to the club, where the owner Prima claims not to recognize the victim. A man outside says he saw the victim leave the Monte Carlo drunk. Walking to Fifth Avenue, Ferret witnesses a woman robbed and thrown from a car. He hails a cab, chases the getaway vehicle, and closes in — but the gang has a second car waiting. Knuckles Johnson and his men ambush Ferret, shoot him — his bulletproof vest saves his life, though the impact knocks the wind out of him — and dump him off a pier into the river.

Ferret swims ashore, calls in a favor from a contact named Matty to get Johnson's address, and stakes out the apartment until 2 a.m. — exhausted, he dozes in a chair inside, only to be nearly coshed by one of Johnson's men returning home. He stays alive by keeping still. The following day he recognizes the robbery victim as actress Lynn Froehm and visits her dressing room after her show. Prosser is already there. Ferret has pieced together a pattern: every robbery victim visited either the Monte Carlo or a doctor the same night. He names the suspect as either Prima or a physician called Doc Wagner. When Prosser pushes to make an immediate arrest, Ferret refuses — he wants evidence and proposes a trap using Lynn as a decoy.

Night after night Lynn travels from club to club in a hired car, wearing fake jewelry. Ferret waits anxiously; Lynn arrives an hour late, and her driver reports that someone coshed him and took Lynn and the car. Ferret deduces the culprit: leaving the dying man on his doorstep was the first clue — the gang needed to be certain he was too far gone to talk, and only a physician would know that. He also recalls that Doc Wagner was expelled from the Medical Association. Ferret races to the Monte Carlo, spots a secret door behind the bar, crashes through it, and finds Wagner holding Lynn at gunpoint. The police, right behind Ferret, flood in and arrest Wagner and his accomplices.

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Ferret
(Leslie Lenrow)

Antagonists
Doc Wagner, Knuckles Johnson.

Fourth Episode: Return of the Oman

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

Renegade emerald hunter Paul De Kraft — the man who killed Ka-Zar's father — returns to the Belgian Congo, bringing fellow renegade Ed Kivlin along purely as a financial backer, and secretly planning to murder him once the emeralds are found. De Kraft deceives their native porters about the destination until the party is too deep in the jungle to turn back, then reveals they are heading for the Congo. The porters are furious but stranded. After two months of march the party reaches the emerald-laden stream in Ka-Zar's territory. Both De Kraft and Kivlin privately resolve to kill the other and take the stones alone. De Kraft lashes the natives mercilessly to speed up the scooping work; that night both men sleep with their guns under their pillows, each suspicious of the other.

Ka-Zar learns of the intruders when Zar the lion's worried roar reaches him. Meeting Zar near their shared cave, Ka-Zar also hears from Chaka, leader of the apes, that one of his tribe has already been killed. Ka-Zar races to his old home clearing where De Kraft is camped. A sentry fires at him in the twilight but Ka-Zar dodges, and returns an arrow that kills the man. The native porters cry out that the jungle god has come; a spokesman approaches De Kraft to demand they be allowed to leave. De Kraft shoots at the spokesman to quash the uprising, and the two white men attribute the arrow to a wild Congo tribesman — though the physical evidence troubles them.

Ka-Zar returns to his jungle home to find a great assembly of beasts: even N'Jaga the leopard, Sinessa the snake, and Kru the vulture have gathered. N'Jaga argues for killing Ka-Zar along with the Oman, but Ka-Zar boldly confronts the leopard. Zar and his mate Sha dash to Ka-Zar's side, followed by Trajah the elephant. Outnumbered, N'Jaga backs down and slinks into the jungle. Ka-Zar addresses the gathered beasts: the Oman's thunder sticks make a direct assault fatal, but he will summon them when the time comes for collective vengeance.

The next morning Ka-Zar watches the camp again. The native porters pan the stream under the whip. Ka-Zar bellows a lion's roar from a treetop; the terrified porters scatter and De Kraft fires wildly. Satisfied that he can keep the operation disrupted, Ka-Zar resolves to drive off De Kraft's allies first and then deal with Fat Face directly. The following day Kivlin slips away alone up the stream to search for more emeralds. Ka-Zar intercepts him just as Zar appears on the path. Kivlin raises his rifle; Ka-Zar drops from a tree, knocks him down, and warns him that killing the lion means death. He spares Kivlin's life on the condition that he and his black brothers leave. Shaking, Kivlin bolts back to camp.

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Ka-Zar
(David Rand)

Plus: Chaka (gorilla), N'Jaga (leopard), Sha (lioness), Trajah (elephant), Zar (lion).

Antagonists
Ed Kivlin, Paul De Kraft (Fat Face).