Marvel Mystery Comics #90
The Giant of the Alps
The Swiss Alps are terrorized by a massive giant named Borkor, the creation of Professor Grimm. The two attack a ski lodge where the Human Torch and Sun Girl happen to be vacationing, and steals the safe. The Torch realizes the massive giant takes orders from Professor Grimm and flames on. Before he can attack Grimm, Borkor grabs the Torch, the giant's massive hands snuffing out his flames and knocking him out. As Grimm orders his giant back to his lab, Sun Girl follows after them.
Inside his cave hideout, Professor Grimm has Borkor smash open the safe to collect the money inside. He then takes the unconscious Torch outside and buries him alive in the snow to die. Sun Girl arrives just in time to dig her partner out. With the Torch revived, the pair hold back until Grimm leaves his cave to obtain more chemicals and Borkor is asleep. Searching through the lab they find Grimm's notes and learn that Borkor is really an infant that Grimm stole from a hospital to test his new experimental growth serum on. The experiment being so successful that Borkor grew to giant size. Using the notes, the Torch and Sun Girl develop an antidote and inject it into Borkor. Suddenly Borkor awakens and grabs Sun Girl taking her prisoner and flees into town with the Torch following behind.
By this point, Professor Grimm is having a hard time purchasing the chemicals he needs for his further experiments. He rushes outside when he sees Borkor on another rampage. The Torch frees Sun Girl and they both confront Grimm explaining what they had done. With the antidote untested Grimm rushes after his creation, but is crushed to death by a tree knocked over by Borkor's passing. Suddenly, Borkor reverts back to his original size. With the baby back to normal, the Torch and Sun Girl locate the baby's parents and the family are reunited.
recurring characers
Human Torch, Sun Girl
war-cry of the jungle
When a party of American explorers, including Betty Dean, go missing along the Orinoco River in Venezuela, the Sub-Mariner and Namora go out looking for them. They find that the explorers have been captured by a tribe of Carib savages. While the pair begin plotting to save the explorers, Betty and the others are informed by the leader of the Carib's that they are going to be sacrificed to their gods. Betty, not wanting to die, tries to make a break for it but is soon captured again.
The Sub-Mariner then attacks the Caribians, but is knocked out by a war hammer. Witnessing this, Namora comes up with a plan to rescue the captives when she spots several unguarded war canoes. She fills them with dummies that look like savages and sends them down river making the Caribians believe that they are being invaded by a rival tribe. This comes just as the Sub-Mariner and Betty Dean are trying to fight off the tribes leader who is attempting to behead them.
When the entire tribe mounts their ships to attack the "invaders", Namora unblocks a rock dam and causes a massive flood that sweeps the army away. She then sneaks to shore and kills the leader of the tribe, freeing Namor and the others. Boarding their boats, they flee the scene but are attacked by the final remaining tribal warship. Namor and Namora dive back into the water and capsize the boat and then escort Betty and the others back to their rescue ship.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner, Namora, Betty Dean
unmasked
One day at the office of Mark Mason, Louise Grant looks in on her employer and sees that he is troubled over something and wishes she could reveal her secret identity to him. Mark's thoughts are also on the Blonde Phantom, Louise's alter-ego. He decides that the best way to get the Blonde Phantom to pay more attention to him is if he somehow learned her secret identity and hatches a plan.
He calls Louise into his office and tells her to put a classified ad in the newspaper asking the Blonde Phantom to meet him at the Main Street Warehouse for a supposed hold up. Louise puts out the message, intending to go as the Blonde Phantom, unaware that it is all a hoax to learn the true identity of her alter-ego.
That night, Blonde Phantom appears at the warehouse and begins lurking around for intruders when someone attacks her. She struggles with the man and they go tumbling down a flight of stairs. At the bottom, the Blonde Phantom realizes that it is really Mark Mason. Before she can act, Mark rips off her mask revealing to him that she is Louise Grant. However, instead of realizing his secretary is also the masked heroine, Mark believes that Louise was merely posing as her alter-ego.
With her secret identity preserved thanks to Mark's ignorance, Louise tells Mark that she posed as the Blonde Phantom out of jealousy and manages to score a date with Mark.
recurring characters
Blonde Phantom, Mark Mason
Vengeance of the space monster
Weeks ago, Professor Lowe and his assistants Elmo Vandal, and Roger Reed were developing a magnet-machine that would allow them to pull objects to Earth from outer space. Soon after starting with the project, Roger meets Lowe's daughter Inez and the two begin a relationship. They also invite Sun Girl to come to the lab to oversee their experiments. Soon their device grabs hold of a strange meteor. When observing it through the telescope Elmo is suddenly temporarily blinded by a flash of light, and soon takes on an obsession with brining the object to Earth.
Eventually, the men become absorbed in their work and Inez believes that she is being neglected. Sun Girl promises her that she will talk to Roger and get him to pay more attention to her. After Inez leaves, the giant meteor is pulled down to Earth by Elmo. They are surprised to find that it contains a creature inside that has enthralled Elmo under its power. When Roger tries to shoot the creatures tentacle, Sun Girl comes to his rescue. However, Sun Girl is knocked out by the creature, and Elmo takes Roger hostage telling him that the Space Monster intends to take over the world.
Growing worried over Roger and Elmo's experiment, Inez soon returns with her father to the scene and finds Sun Girl just as she is reviving. When Roger tries to warn them of the Space Monster's plan, Elmo shoots him in the back. As Sun Girl knocks out Elmo, Roger tells Inez to use the machine to send the Space Monster back to Earth then dies. The creature grabs Elmo just as Inez activates the machine, intending to send Elmo to his death for murdering her love. Sun Girl tries to stop Inez from going through with it but is held back at gunpoint. Sun Girl eventually lunges at Inez, knocking her aside, but she is too late to stop the machine from sending the Space Monster back out into space as they find that Inez had destroyed the machinery. As Sun Girl peers into the telescope she sees the Space Monster being hurtled away into space with Elmo trapped inside it's meteor body.
recurring characters
Sun Girl
death mask dance
After his class, Jeff Mace notices one of his students Bob Wills is bothered by something and recalls that his marks are slipping. Bob explains that he is depressed over a girl. Jeff recalls that Bob was dating Jessica Hermann, another student whose marks are beginning to slip and wonders what the trouble could be.
At the costume shop owned by Jessica's father, Jessica is trying on masks with her new boyfriend Lefty Spence. Lefty's insistent in calling Jessica's father "pop" infuriates the old man, and the pair eventually go out on a date. Soon after their departure, Jeff pays a visit to Mr. Hermann and learns who Jessica has been dating and his bad feeling about Spence. Outside, Bob is walking down the street and is depressed further when he sees Jessica out with Lefty.
Lefty takes Jessica along with him as he goes to put pressure on a local business man who owes his employer money. Jessica thinks that Lefty was a little harsh, but he tells her not to worry about it. Jeff later witnesses Bob running into Jessica. However when Lefty catches them together he attacks Bob. This prompts Jeff to change into Captain America and get into the middle of the fight, breaking it up. However, Lefty gets a good sucker punch in knocking Cap out long enough for him and Jessica to flee the scene.
Driving to the home of the man who owes money, Lefty makes Jessica stay in the car while he goes in with a gun while wearing one of Mr. Hermann's masks. When the man refuses to pay, Lefty shoots him dead and has Jessica take him from the scene, forcing her to keep quiet about things. When they return home, they find Jeff having coffee with Mr. Hermann and Jeff notices when Jessica puts the mask back and decides to take it. Later, he reads about the murder of the waiter and decides to get answers from a local stool pigeon, learning that Lefty was the killer.
Meanwhile, Lefty and Jessica are going to a costume party and Lefty has Mr. Hermann make him a skull mask for his skeleton costume. Hermann warns Lefty that the mask might shrink. When they go to the costume party, Jessica decides she wants to go to the police but Lefty tries to convince her otherwise. However, his mask soon begins to get tight. Soon Captain America arrives on the scene just in time to watch Lefty suffocate as the mask constricts to his head, cutting off his air.
Although Jessica is upset by this, she soon patches things up with Bob and they begin dating again, much to the joy of Mr. Hermann and Jeff.
recurring characters
Captain America
Continuity Notes
Although this story intends for this to be Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, it is not. This is actually his successor, Jeff Mace. As revealed in Avengers #4, Captain America went missing in action circa 1945. As explained in What If? #4, Cap’s successors were selected to cover up the fact that Captain America went missing.
