Story #2The Red Skull Strikes!
Writer: Stan Lee. Penciler: Jack Kirby. Inker: Chic Stone. Colorist: ?.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Steve and Bucky drop off
Major Croy at his apartment and the officer refuses further protection, ordering the duo back to base. That night, Croy receives a visit from the
Red Skull who sprays him with a gas that erases his memory, preventing him from completing his important defense project. The next day Steve and Bucky switch to their hero outfits and comb the Major’s neighborhood for clues. Bucky comes upon the Red Skull’s men robbing a bank and trails them to their hideout, where he is captured.
Captain America bursts in and subdues the gang, whose loot was to finance sabotage, but the Red Skull gets away. Some days later,
General Curtis and aircraft magnate
John Maxon arrive at the fort to observe the tests of Maxon’s new bomber. The plane has been sabotaged however and crashes, killing the pilots. Steve becomes suspicious of Maxon’s reaction, almost as if he had expected the crash. Paying a visit to the general later, Captain America and Bucky interrupt the Red Skull’s attack on the housekeeper. Cap unmasks the villain as John Maxon, or more accurately, a Nazi look-alike. The Skull’s henchmen open fire on the heroes, enabling him to escape. Cap and Bucky discover they were next on the Red Skull’s hit list and in turn, put the villain high on their list.