Marvel Mystery Comics #26
The Parrot Strikes Back
The Human Torch accompanies the Parrot on his prison train to California in order to help a chemist who wishes to examine an inactive volcano for sulphur deposits. Using a plane the Parrot's henchmen help him escape by flying close to the train with a ladder extended towards it. The Parrot climbs the ladder and uses a small child as a hostage. While climbing the Parrot throws the young girl from the ladder forcing Toro to catch her. By the time the Torch is able to fly off and get back on the plane's trail it's lost among the clouds. The Parrot gone the Human Torch accompanies the chemist to the volcano and conducts the requested examination. The Parrot and his men follow him and plant dynamite in the volcano. When it goes off, dam water flows towards the volcano which the Torch diverts. The Parrot tries to get away in a car but the Torch burns his way in. The Parrot loses control of the car and crashes. The Torch is fine but he tells Toro that the Parrot is dead.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Toro, The Parrot
The Sub-Mariner Smashes a Nazi Uprising
Continued from last issue...
After smashing an alliance between the Lavorites from Venus and the Nazis in Florida, Namor the Sub-Mariner says farewell to Betty, Luther, and Lynne. He dives into the ocean and heads back home, he spots the Lavarite's queen Jarna and fights her into submission.
Namor learns from Jarna that the Nazis are building a secret underwater submarine base in the ocean. Jarna betrays Namor and he is captured by the Nazis. However, as Jarna and her allies check on his cell, they find Namor missing. Namor has smashed free and then destroys the Nazi base and their submarines, then alerts the American Navy of the base's location.
Confronting Jarna, Namor allows her to escape as the Navy blasts the Nazi base. As she swims away, she vows to get revenge against Namor.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner, Nazis, Queen Jarna, Betty Dean, Lynn Harris, Luther Robinson
Seeds of Doom
A strange meteor crashes on Earth and is found by scientist Rudolf Norsen. He examines the meteor and finds that there are strange alien seeds. Going back to the meteor crash site he is shocked to see that sentient alien plants have started growing out of the ground.
These mobile plants begin attacking locals attracting the attention of the Vision. The Vision kills one of these plants and tracks them to Norsen's farm. Learning that the strange seeds he planted are the cause of the death and destruction in town, Norsen then assists the Vision in destroying the plants.
Recurring Characters
Vision
The Witch Doctor's Potion
Continued from last issue...
Dragged from the wreck of the crashed Nazi plane, Ka-Zar is rescued by a local witch doctor who uses his potions to heal the hero. After healing Ka-Zar, the medicine man tells the hero the origins and traditions of his ancient craft.
Ka-Zar returns to the jungle and comes across the home of Kirk Hendrick a famous ivory hunter. Hendrick invites Ka-Zar into his home and offers to make him rich by helping hunt down elephants. Horrified, Ka-Zar refuses and is dropped into a pit of water and showered with spears. Escaping back into the jungle, Ka-Zar rallies Trajah and an army of elephants to storm the home. Ka-Zar engages Hendrick, but his men soon swarm around him.
This story is continued next issue...
Recurring Characters
Ka-Zar, Trajah
The Mystery of the Gold Mine Skeleton
While working on his story about a local mine that is supposedly haunted, Deadline Dawson asks Terry to look at it for him. Terry says it lacks realism and suggests that they go and investigate the mine for themselves.
Skiing to the mine, they go inside and are shocked to see a skeleton inside. Going deeper into the mine, they are chased out by a pack of hungry wolves. Suspecting that there is more to the story than meets the eye, they return back to the mine. They challenge whoever sent out the wolves to come out of the mine or they will blast it shut. To their shock, someone blasts the mountainside and causes an avalanche that causes them to be forced back into the cave.
Holding back the wolves inside with a flare, Terry spots a man up on the hill who starts shooting at him. Forced to shoot back, Terry strikes the man with a precise shot from a rifle and he falls down to their level. Terry confronts the dying man and learns that he is Roy Ramsey, co-owner of the mine and killed his partner and created the ghost story to keep people away but started to go mad in the process.
Recurring Characters
Terry Vance, Deadline Dawson
The Patriot Smashes the Japanese Spy Ring
A Japanese agent names Suoka hires a Filipino assassin named Ginaldo to eliminate Lieutenant Curtis who had just returned to the United States with a report on Japanese activities in the Philippines. At that time, Jeff Mace, Mary Morgan, and Jack Casey are on the scene to try to get the scoop.
When Ginaldo arrives to murder Curtis, Jeff slips away and changes into the Patriot to stop the attack. During the attack Ginaldo is winged by a bullet but his pain threshold does not slow him down. The Patriot attacks and manages to disarm Ginaldo of his sword, but the killer is not ready to give up the fight and begins a fist fight with the hero.
This story is continued next issue...
Recurring Characters
Patriot, Jack Casey, Mary Morgan, Imperial Japan, Ginaldo
The Case of the Armless Tiger Man
A Nazi operative called the Armless Tiger Man has been hired to wreck American defense plants. After being paid for a job, the Armless Tiger Man murders his employer to eliminate a potential informant that might expose him in the future.
When the Angel reads about the murder in the newspaper he decides to investigate. Going to Larry's Tavern - the last place the man was last seen alive - the Angel learns that the murdered man had met with a strange individual who ordered Chateau Quim wine, a beverage that has been difficult to obtain due to the war in Europe.
Going to a local wholesaler of liquor, the Angel learns that the only other location that sells the rare vintage is the Hotel Metropole. Going there for dinner, the Angel learns that the same strange cloaked patron has a room in the hotel. Paying the man a visit by disguising himself as a waiter, he is attacked by the Armless Tiger Man who recognizes the Angel. During their initial attack, Armless Tiger Man manages to escape and heads onward to his next mission.
The Angel searches the man's room and finds advertisements about local defense plants and uses them to learn the location of his next attack. Going to the factory, the Angel fights Armless Tiger Man and subdues him. With Tiger Man's defeat, the Angel learns that his foe was a German factory worker who lost his arms in a workplace accident. Coming to hate all machinery in the process, he trained his body to peak efficiency and began wrecking factories in Germany. Discovered by the Nazi Gestapo, they decided to use his talents and hatred of machines to attack American interests by sending him to the United States.
After hearing Tiger Man's story, the Angel turns the Nazi agent over to the authorities.
Recurring Characters
Angel, Nazis, Armless Tiger Man
