MARVEL (TIMELY COMICS) JANUARY 1942 STORIES

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.

Story 5: The Ambulance Racketeers

Hero: Jack Frost (Isabrot)

Villain: Mike Dolan

Synopsis: Mike Dolan and his gang are trying to intimidate another hospital into buying ambulances from them. When the hospital refuses, Dolan and his men set sections of the hospital on fire. Stan Lee’s Jack Frost uses his powers to put out all the fires, save anyone in danger and chases Dolan and company into the night. In the end, Jack Frost takes down Dolan and all of his thugs.

Story 6: Oress’s Horrible Plan

Hero: The Vagabond (Pat Murphy)

Villain: Oress

Synopsis: Organized crime figure Oress the Horrible engineers a blackout in the city of Middleton. He and his men loot the city but policeman Pat Murphy dons his Vagabond costume and takes down every gangster, then kills Oress in battle. NOTE: The Vagabond’s gimmick as a kind of heroic hobo made him one of Marvel/ Timely’s dumbest heroes ever. 

DARING MYSTERY COMICS Vol 1 #8

Story 1: V for Victory

Hero: Citizen V (John Watkins) 

Villains: Nazi troops

Synopsis: In Citizen V’s origin story, we see that he is British Lt. John Watkins. Presumed dead after one of his missions, the British government gets him to agree to let his family think he really is dead so he can undertake a special mission. As the costumed superhero called Citizen V, he lives and operates among the Resistance movements on the Continent, helping them fight the Nazis and coordinating action with his superiors back in England.

Story 2: Terror Reigns on the High Seas

Hero: The Fin (Peter Noble) 

Villains: Barracuda and his Nazi troops

Synopsis: Barracuda, a Nazi submarine commander, has been preying on ships all over the Atlantic Ocean and killing any survivors of those ships. At long last, the Fin uses his underwater powers and his harpoon-gun to forcibly enter Barracuda’s sub.

He proceeds to defeat all of the Kriegsmarine troops and Barracuda himself. He then forces the sub to surface and turns the crew over to the Allied Navies.

Story 3: Death Rides the Airwaves

Hero: The Thunderer (Jerry Carstairs) 

Villains: Gore and his men

Synopsis: When a mad dwarf scientist called Gore devises a way to murder people via their radios, our heroic FCC Agent (?) Jerry Carstairs dons his Thunderer costume and high-tech gizmos and takes action.

It turns out Gore likes to kill people because he resents how dwarves like him get treated. In the end the Thunderer beats Gore and his gang and destroys their HQ.

Story 4: Mahomad, the Sinister Spiritualist 

Heroine: The Silver Scorpion (Betty Barstow)

Villains: Mahomad and his men

Synopsis: A white conman named Eddie Lorey poses as a medium called Mahomad and with his men he carries out phony spiritualist con jobs and armed robberies of his wealthy clients. Betty Barstow becomes the Silver Scorpion and investigates. She exposes Lorey and defeats him and all his goons in combat.

Story 5: The Thirty-First Century Blitzkrieg

Hero: Captain Daring

Villains: Evil Clones

Synopsis: In 3050 A.D. Captain Daring and the rest of the world are celebrating the previous issue’s final defeat of the subterranean race which had conquered the world. In the midst of the celebrating, odd aircraft attack Washington DC and Captain Daring leads airborne forces against the invading fleet. During the battle he gets taken captive and brought face to face with the ones behind the invasion – clones of Hitler, Goring and Goebbels. They have been in suspended animation for centuries waiting for the right moment to awaken and take over the Earth. This cliffhanger was never resolved because the Captain Daring series was canceled.

Story 6: Hypnotized Ghosts

Hero: Blue Diamond (Elton Morrow)

Villains: Dr. Eric Karlin and his Zombies

Synopsis: Anthropologist Elton Morrow becomes Blue Diamond when Washington DC gets overrun by a looting mob of obedient, bloodless zombies (NOT ghosts) made from fresh corpses by Nazi scientist Dr. Eric Karlin. Blue Diamond manages to beat the zombie army and causes Karlin to fall into a vat of acid in his lab.