This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at Timely Comics (later Marvel Comics) stories in January 1942.
CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS Vol 1 #10 (Jan 1942)
Story 1: Spy Ambush
Villain: Countess Mara
Synopsis: Privates Steve Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes are part of the security for the transport of a new secret weapon. Nazi operative Countess Mara (below right) and her henchmen ambush them and make off with the weapon.
Our heroes don their costumes and as Captain America and Bucky they find Mara’s lair and defeat all her Nazi troops and her booby-traps. Then Cap defeats the countess and her purse’s weaponry – grenades, a gas-gun and a regular gun.
Story 2: Hotel of Horror
Villain: Net-Man
Synopsis: In New York City for a Defense Fund Drive, Cap and Bucky check into the Hotel Zargon. The hotel is secretly a base for Nazi spies led by a supervillain called Net-Man, whose weapons are all manner of nets and knives. (Think of an early version of the Trapster.) Cap and Bucky survive the sneak attacks and take on all the spies in the place. Most die in a resulting fire but Net-Man is captured.
Story 3: The Phantom Hound of Cardiff Manor
Villain: The Phantom Hound
Synopsis: In England with other American troops getting ready for deployment, Privates Rogers and Barnes become Captain America and Bucky to look into murders at Cardiff Manor. They ultimately defeat the man-sized Hound committing the killings and learn it is a maniac in a costume.
Story 4: A Sinister Scoop
Hero: Headline Hunter (Jerry Hunter)
Villains: Nazis
Synopsis: Stan Lee’s character Jerry “Headline” Hunter, an American reporter working for the London Star, wants to get a scoop about the ongoing war. He tries to interview intelligence agent Reginald Whitney but winds up having to save him from a reporter who is really Nazi spy Wilhelm von Logar. Hunter saves Whitney and gets a big scoop for his paper.
Story 5: The Skyscraper Plot
Hero: Hurricane (Harry Kane)
Villain: Lionel van Devanter
Synopsis: Harry becomes Hurricane to defeat New York City gangsters who are sabotaging the construction of a skyscraper to prevent the company from completing it on time. Our hero totals all of the thugs to save the day.
Story 6: Beware the Man Who Could Forecast Doom
Hero: Father Time (Larry Scott)
Villains: Nazi agents
Synopsis: Father Time becomes aware that Nazi agent Kurt Hausner and his comrades are running a fortune telling scam that enables them to murder American military and governmental officials via time-released poison. The costumed hero ultimately puts a stop to it and busts up the spy ring.
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS Vol 1 #27
Story 1: The Flaming Arrow Murders
Heroes: The Human Torch (Golden Age) and Toro
Villains: The Saint and Nazis
Synopsis: A Nazi villain calling himself the Saint uses flaming arrows, explosives and other weapons to kill defense manufacturers and steal the secret plans for the weapons they design. The Human Torch and Toro defeat all of the bad guys.
Story 2: The Fox’s Smuggling Racket
Hero: Sub-Mariner (Prince Namor)
Villain: The Fox
Synopsis: In the Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Washington State, the Sub-Mariner clashes with a malformed mutant villain called the Fox. He runs a massive fur smuggling operation underwater from Alaska to Seattle.
NOTE: Alaska was not yet a state in 1942, so by smuggling the furs the Fox was saving a lot of money. Namor fights it out with the Fox’s souped-up supersub plus the villain’s army of thugs and the villain himself. Sub-Mariner triumphs over all of them.
Story 3: A Business Meeting in Hell
Hero: The Vision (Aarkus) Golden Age
Villains: Hades, Inc.
Synopsis: A coven of demons calling themselves Hades, Inc. begin preying on Arbor City and launch a new “Final Solution” to kill Jewish people. The interdimensional alien superhero Aarkus (called the Vision by the Earth’s media) becomes aware of this and uses his powers to drive the coven back down into Hell.
Story 4: Death to Spies
Hero: The Patriot (Jeff Mace)
Villains: Ginaldo the Assassin and Suoka
Synopsis: The Patriot’s old foe Ginaldo, a sword-wielding Filipino traitor, tries to kill a U.S. Naval Intelligence officer before he can warn Washington DC about Imperial Japan’s plans to seize the Philippines. Our hero outfights and kills Ginaldo and Suoka, his Japanese boss.
Story 5: Death Rings the Bell
Hero: Angel (Golden Age) – Tom Hallaway
Villain: The Phantom of the Bell Tower
Synopsis: Angel takes on a deformed, super-strong mutant called the Phantom of the Bell Tower. The Phantom lurks in a skyscraper bell tower where he plays an organ like the Phantom of the Opera and rings the bell like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The Phantom has been killing his rich family members who made him an outcast, but Angel manages to defeat him.
Story 6: Fighting for the Free French
Hero: Ka-Zar (Golden Age) – David Rand
Villains: Nazi soldiers
Synopsis: In French Equatorial Africa, Ka-Zar helps Free French soldiers defeat a large detachment of Nazi soldiers. The Kriegsmarines are all killed and their offshore submarine destroyed.
USA COMICS Vol 1 #3
Story 1: The Magic Crystal of Death
Hero: Captain Terror (Dan Kane)
Villain: Gargoyle Gypsy and other Nazis
Synopsis: Dan Kane becomes Captain Terror to stop a Nazi supervillain called the Gargoyle Gypsy and his men from stealing a new American invention which can turn airplanes invisible. Naturally our hero wins out.
Story 2: The Headless Horseman
Hero: Major Liberty (Prof. John Liberty)
Villain: The Headless Horseman
Synopsis: Professor John Liberty’s friend from his previous college gets killed by what seemed to be the Headless Horseman from Washington Irving’s story. He investigates as Major Liberty and learns that the killer Horseman is really a costumed villain using technological gimmicks. The Major ends the Horseman’s killing spree.
Story 3: The Monster Who Couldn’t Be Stopped
Hero: The Defender (Don Stevens)
Villain: Mango
Synopsis: A carnival strongman calling himself Mango transforms on nights of the full moon into a stronger, tusked and savage monster which needs to kill. The Defender clashes with Mango a few times before maneuvering him off a cliff to his death.
Story 4: The Deadly Pixies
Hero: Rockman (Daniel Rose)
Villains: Pixies
Synopsis: When subterranean Pixies begin abducting surface dwellers some national leaders ask Rockman, ruler of the underground kingdom Abysmia, to help. Rockman uses his powers and his high-tech drilling vehicle to invade the Pixies’ territory and stops them from preying on the surface world.
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