Marvel Mystery Comics #46
The Glass Tube of Death
The Human Torch and Toro are contacted by the secretary to the president and told that they are being awarded a citation in Washington D.C. Their arrival coincides with a Nazi plot orchestrated by the evil Moonface to plant bombs in the sewers beneath key government and military buildings in the area. The bombs would be set off by a control panel or by causing a short circuit in the electrical grid. Fearing that the Human Torch may interfere with his plans, Moonface sends one of his minions to eliminate the hero by running him down in a utility truck.
When this fails, the Human Torch and Toro capture the crook and attempt to question him, but he is shot dead by Moonface. When the heroes attempt to capture him, he flees into the sewers and gets away. Checking the dead body, the Torch finds a business card for the auto garage that Moonface and his men are using for their secret headquarters. Going there, they walk right into Moonface's trap, falling through a trap floor into a glass cylinder filled with compressed air. The heroes are unable to use their flames or risk the cylinder exploding and killing them. Moonface then tells the heroes his plot before increasing the compression in order to crush the heroes to death. The Torch decides to risk using his flame to ignite his finger tip and melt through the cylinder. The hole this causes lets enough air out to cause only a stunning blast.
Getting their bearings, the Torch and Toro round up the Nazi spies. When Moonface pulls himself out of the rubble he finds that the control panel to his explosives had been destroyed in the blast and attempts to cause a short circuit. The Torch goes to stop him, and upon realizing his mission is a failure, Moonface instead touches the two live wires electrocuting himself to death.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Toro, Nazis
Dead Men Don't Talk
An American supply ship leaving port in South America suddenly catches fire below deck. Despite the soldiers efforts to stop the blaze, it ignites the ammunition in storage causing a massive explosion that kills all on board and sinks the ship.
When the story hits the newspapers, the Sub-Mariner hears about it and pays a visit Naval command and learns that this is the fourth ship that has been sunk coming out of Pasta Guerrera. The Sub-Mariner decides to pay a visit to the South American port town to find out what is going on. There he meets with the captain of the next ship leaving port with supplies. He notes that the sailors are getting friendly with a Professor Jerg. The captain explains that Jerg is a botanist from Amsterdam who invites sailors over to his home for supper in gratitude for the war effort.
Suspicious of this, the Sub-Mariner follows Jerg back to his home. There he learns that Jerg is really a Nazi spy who convinces the sailors he invites over to transport plants aboard the ship. The plants really have incendiary devices inside that cause the fires that sink the ships. Namor crashes in on the spies, but is knocked out from behind and chained up in the dungeon below the house to be dealt with later. After Jerg convinces the sailors over for dinner to ship his plants to Europe, he and his men go down and beat the Sub-Mariner. Believing Namor to be dead, they make the mistake of dumping his body in the ocean as the water revives the hero and renews his strength. Namor then swims to the supply ship and removes the plants before they can ignite the ammunition stores aboard, saving the entire crew.
Diving back into the water, Namor swims back to Pasta Guerrera where he easily gets the drop on Jerg and his men, beating them into submission and locking them up in their own dungeon to await arrest from the military authorities.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner, Nazis
Case of the War Paint Fires
Terry Vance and Deadline Dawson are on site to witness a freak fire that has started at the Acme Tool Works. As firefighters rush to the scene, they run to the local paper to report the story, as it is yet another fire in as many weeks. There the editor charges Deadline with the task of finding out who or what is causing the fires.
Later, Deadline and Terry meet with the superintendent of Acme Tool Works and learn that their most recently hired employee was Thomas Miller their night watchman. When they got to interview Miller, he denies being involved in anything. As they are leaving, Dr. Watson shows them something that he pilfered from Miller's home: a note written in German. Getting it translated by Terry's German teacher, she tells them that it is asking Miller to meet at an undisclosed location that Friday.
When they go back to Miller's house, they find that he is gone. They then begin asking questions at the other plants where there have been fires and learn that Miller had also been employed at each one as well, working as a night watchman and then quitting shortly thereafter. With enough evidence, they go back to the Acme Tool Works to question Miller again to learn that he has not shown up for the past two days.
With no other traces, Terry and Deadline decide to spend the next day relaxing at the beach. There, they are surprised when they are awoken by Dr. Watson who has spotted Miller rendezvousing with a group of Nazi spies. They watch as the spies change clothes and hide weapons and money in the beach and leave. Realizing that the Nazis are using Miller to help smuggle themselves into the country the pair take the smuggled money and then alert the FBI. They return to the beach with some FBI agents who then take the weapons as well. They then wait for Miller and the other spies to return in the night. Terry, Deadline and the FBI agents get the drop on the spies and Terry and Dr. Watson both personally knock out Miller to turn over to the authorities.
Recurring Characters
Terry Vance, Doctor Watson, Deadline Dawson, Nazis
Incident in Poland
During the invasion of Poland, shortly after the fall of Warsaw, Baron and Baroness Pavlek watch as Nazi forces rush to their estate. The Baron is horrified to find that his brother Felix has joined the Nazis and had assisted in the invasion of Warsaw.
When the Baron denounces his brother, Felix decides to teach him a lesson and forces the Baron and his wife to the basement. There they start a fire in a pit and threaten to roll the Baroness into the flames, forcing the Baron to watch his wife burn.
However the Vision materializes out of the smoke and faces against the Nazis. The Vision tosses a number of the soldiers into the flames. Felix Pavlek attempts to kill the Vision by tossing a grenade at him, stunning the hero. Felix orders his men to toss the hero into the flames, but instead of burning alive the Vision disappears in the smoke. When the Baron and his wife attempt to escape Felix tries to shoot them.
However, the Vision returns causing the room to fill with smoke obscuring the Nazis aim and ability to see. Leading the Pavlek's out of their home, the Vision then lures the rest of the Nazis into the fire that they started burning them alive.
Recurring Characters
Vision, Nazis
Continuity Notes
This story states that it takes place during the Nazi invasion of Poland circa 1939. This predates the Vision’s first appearance on Earth in Marvel Mystery Comics #13, which is confirmed to have taken place mid-1940 according to Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12. There is no official explanation for this inconsistency. One possible explanation is that, as revealed in Avengers/Invaders, the Vision’s people also act as caretakers/guide Cosmic Cubes, which are often manipulated by the will of others. Since the power of these Cubes transcend time and space, it could be very possible that the collective will of enough individuals could have sent the Vision back in time prior to his first appearance on Earth to try and prevent the invasion of Poland.
Barnyard Valley
Jimmy Jupiter goes to visit his uncle Walter's farm and plays with his cousin Willy. Spotting one of the pigs, Jimmy decides to chase it and trips over his own feet. He is helped up by the pig who introduces himself as Pete Porker and offers to be friends. He takes Jimmy to Barnyard Valley where there are other talking animals.
There, Jimmy sees the Bulldog Guard fend off attacking Germs with ultra violet lights and then is brought to the King and Queen of Barnyard Valley. When Jimmy uses the word "Jeeperes" he upsets the royals and learns that they community is terrorized by a creature called the Jeeper. When the creature attacks Jimmy is surprised to see that it is a sentient tractor.
Knowing how to stop it, Jimmy climbs up onto the back of the rampaging farm vehicle and turns off its engine. Jimmy is hailed as a hero and is carried off in celebration. Jimmy suddenly comes around and finds that it is his relatives that are carrying him. As Jimmy rests up he has learned a valuable lesson: Never chase farm animals.
Recurring Characters
Jimmy Jupiter
Blackout Kidnapping
The Angel is dispatched to London to meet with Lord Carteret and get some secret information to take back to the American Embassy. The hero travels to England under the alias of Mr. Dare and after landing at the airport is greeted by a man who gives him a note from Carteret. The note tells the Angel to meet him at a certain address that night.
Going there, the Angel proceeds with caution as the entire house is blacked out. Sure enough when he opens the door, shots are fired confirming his suspicion that he is walking into a trap. Pretending to be shot, the Angel plays possum until his attackers come out to check his body. He gets the drop on them, but the attackers manage to escape. The Angel decides to investigate the house and finds no clues.
The Angel then ruses to Lord Carteret's home where he only finds his daughter in residence. She tells him that her father went missing during the most recent air raid blackout, leaving the Angel to deduce that Carteret had been kidnapped. The girl tells the Angel that she is not alone, that her butler lives in the house as well but is out, and that she fears that the kidnappers might come after her next in order to force her father to talk. Unknown to them, the butler is in league with the spies and is now in the basement. Fiske, the leader of the villains, sends the butler upstairs to listen in on the conversation.
The butler complies but is caught in the act, however when Lord Carteret screams from the basement, the Angel rushes down to investigate. As he does so the butler strikes him from behind knocking him out. The Angel comes to and finds himself tied up in the basement along with Lord Carteret. When Fiske enters the room he demands Carteret to tell his secret or risk his daughter being tortured.
When air raid sirens begin to sound, Lord Carteret's insane brother frightens off and goes upstairs to terrorize the young Penny Carteret. Left alone, the Angel breaks free from his bonds and follows the maniac upstairs and stops him from throwing Penny off the roof. After knocking him out, the Angel spots a Nazi bomber passing by and jumps off the roof with Penny. They land safely from the blast, however it destroys the Carteret home. Searching the wreckage, they find that all the villains were killed, however Lord Carteret managed to survive due to the fact that the blast did not reach the cellar.
With the danger over, the Lord Carteret tells the Angel that French, Dutch, Belgian, and Norwegian undergrounds are preparing for an invasion and will be ready in a month. Angel promises to pass this information along to the United States government.
Recurring Characters
Angel
