The Angel gets featured on the cover twice in a row! And both the Masked Raider AND the American Ace get left out of the list of featured series this time.
The Human Torch
The story starts with a nice presentation of all the major players this month. In addition to the Human Torch himself, we have Mr. Carson, owner of the Carson Explosive Company, his daughter Diane, and Mr. Ritton, an agent of the planet Mars. ...Mars, huh?
The story proper starts on the streamline train Comet, which is headed for Texas. In the salon, Mr. Carson and another passenger are trying to get one of those "new-fangled television sets" to work in order to get the news, but when they finally get the static to clear, they're met with a sight of horror. The screen shows New York City is crumbling under the attack of planes spurting electricity! Carson is shocked, but a laughing stranger soon comes over and tells him it's probably just a televised version of "Lawson Bell's" famous broadcast about martians some months ago... or "Orson Welles", as he was called in the real world. Carson apologizes and explains he's jittery from the recent news reports, then asks the stranger who he is. The stranger introduces himself as the Human Torch, and Carson finds it a pleasure to meet someone this famous. As the Torch explains he's just going to Texas to see the sights, Carson spots the same planes he saw on TV outside the window! The strange planes fly noiselessly over the train, then turn around and blow up the rails in front of it with electronic rays. The train is sent flying when it hits the split rays and lands on its side.
One of the weird planes lands next to the plane and two men in body suits come out, running for the train saying their orders are to get Carson alive. Maybe not the best idea to wreck a train then? The men spot Carson in the smoking car, pinned under some wreckage, and tell him they want the formula for his new trinitrotoluol (probably better known by its abbreviation "TNT"), but Carson tells them they'll never get it. Meanwhile the Torch comes to and sees the entire scene. He's pinned under some wreckage as well, but doesn't dare turn on his flame and burn free out of fear these martians might kill Carson if they see him. He manages to pull a hand free as one of the martians pull a knife on Carson, telling him the price for refusal is death, but before the martian can stab Carson a fireball thrown from the Torch's free hand hits the knife and melts it. Now discovered, the Torch burns himself free and rushes the martian, delivering a flaming punch to his face. He then spins around and kicks a fireball in the second martian's face.
Carson warns him the roof is collapsing, but the Torch simply waves his hands above his head and evaporates the entire thing. Carson tells him he's dying, his spine got broken in the crash, but that he's carrying the formula to the new explosive the men mentioned - one so powerful it can make a man control the world by force - in his pocket and wants the Torch to deliver it safely to his daughter Diane. The Torch melts Carson free, gets the formula and promises it'll never fall into wrong hands as Carson passes away, his last words being that he created the explosive for the mining industry, not for war. Just then the Torch hears a rumbling and looks outside, only to see a giant rock sliding down the nearby mountain, heading straight for the conductor, who's now exited the train. He leaps in front of the boulder and turns it into lava as it hits his body, saving the man. A woman comes running over screaming that her baby is caught inside the train where she can't reach it, and once again the Torch leaps to the rescue. He grabs a wet blanket and melts his way into the car, locates the baby, wraps it in the blanket and carries it to safety. After delivering it to the woman, he then runs off into the night to find Diane Carson and deliver the formula.
The next day he arrives in Galeton, Texas, where he puts out his flame and goes to Carson Nitro Company, where his strange outfit frightens the receptionist. He tells her they're unfortunately the only clothes he has and needs to see Diane Carson, but is told she's busy at the moment. Hearing an angry argument from Diane's office, he opens the door anyway and sees Diane telling a Mr. Ritton she doesn't have the formula, but would never give it to him even if she did. The Torch congratulates her on her spunk and tells Ritton to get out, then introduces himself to him by remotely lighting a cigarette in his mouth. Ritton leaves, but tells the Torch he'll pay a heavy price for interfering, and that nothing will stop him from getting the formula. After he's gone, Diane starts explaining to the Torch that he wants some formula that doesn't even exist, but the Torch stops her and tells her her father DID indeed develop a super TNT, and that he's here to deliver the formula to her. She asks how he got it and if anything happened to her father, and the Torch explains everything about the wreck.
The two head to the company lab to test the formula as Diane explains that they've thought of Ritton as crazy ever since he started speaking about martians two years ago. She doesn't know what he said about them, but given that the train was attacked by men from Mars, there might've been something to it. At the lab, she mixes the formula and tries igniting it, nearly wrecking the entire room with the explosion from just the pin point preparation she made. She echoes her father's sentiment that a person could control the world with it, explaining why Ritton wants it so badly, but doesn't get how the martians fit in. The Torch thinks they should test the formula further, and soon after he leaves the building in a glycerine truck loaded with two ounces of the explosive, heading for one of Carson's experimental fields. But as he passes a side road, another car comes up behind him and starts following him. It's the martians, and their car is equipped with a false hood they can fire forward like a projectile. The Torch realizes the explosives he's carrying will blow up his truck when that hood hits, so he quickly turns on his flame and cuts through the roof of the car, leaping to safety into a nearby creek as the truck blows up. The martians quickly bring a glass tube out of their car and one of them dives into the creek with it, placing it over the Torch before dragging it on land, where the two seal the tube, load it onto their car and drive off.
They drive to a nearby roundhouse, where their "earth-friend Mr. Ritton" is waiting for them. They tell him they got him the Torch as he ordered, and that they now want him to fulfill his deal of the agreement - giving them the TNT formula. Ritton tells them the key to that formula is Diane, so the martians set off to capture her as well. They drive into town and spot her walking around, then quickly nab her, pull her into their car, and drive her back to Ritton at the roundhouse. Ritton tells her he doesn't want the formula for himself, but for Mars - the planet is threatened by another heavenly body and they need to use the TNT to destroy it and save the planet. Ritton tried telling the US government about this two years ago, but they only laughed at him. He then used his "super-radio" to tell the planet as a whole, but still everyone just laughed, so now he wants revenge for that insult. He shows Diane he has had the Torch placed into an electric chair with a giant glass helmet on his head, and when she still refuses to give him the formula, he has the martians chain her to the rails. The martian leader, captain Ott, is disgusted by Ritton's actions, but still does as he says since they need the formula, and a gloating Ritton says he's struck a bargain with the martians: Once he's got the formula, Mars will invade Earth and he'll be made emperor of the United States. "It's a good thing you martians are poor scientists", he says.
Ritton climbs into a locomotive and prepares to run Diane over, but the Torch suddenly melts his way out of the electric chair and dives in front of Diane, melting the rails and preventing the locomotive from reaching her. The Torch is still wearing the glass helmet that's hooked up to the electric chair, so Ritton tells captain Ott to turn the chair on and kill the Torch. Ott manages to flick the switch as the Torch tears into the martians, but as the Torch feels the electricity flowing into his head through the helmet, he simply touches it with his hands and melts the entire thing off. He then frees Diane by pointing at her chains and melting them off with perfect precision. Ritton runs for the fire safety system, a sprinkler-like system that sprays sand rather than water, and activates it hoping it'll stop the Torch, but he just uses his fire to melt the sand into hot mud/lava as it hits him. Ritton jumps into a streamliner to escape, but the Torch knows the tracks he's riding are going to circle around a nearby mountain before heading back the other way, so he makes a giant leap to the top of the mountain and dives down the other side, just managing to intercept Ritton's train and land on top of it as it drives by. He then melts a hole in the roof and jumps in to confront Ritton.
Before the two can do anything, however, they hear the whistle of another train on the same track, headed straight for them. Ritton panics and jumps out of the train before they crash, but the Torch stays on board, systematically melting each wall of the train until only the wheels are left. He leaps off the wheels as he melts those as well, allowing the other train to continue safely down the track, the streamliner now completely evaporated. "That's one way to prevent a train wreck". He then finds Ritton lying in a pool of his own blood and picks him up. He takes Ritton with him and returns to the roundhouse, where Ott explain that everything Ritton said was true. They are indeed from Mars, and Ritton was their last hope - after their wars on Mars hundreds of years ago their knowledge of explosives dwindled and they now know nothing about them. They confirm that they'd have invaded Earth and made Ritton emperor if he had got them the formula, even though they hated the idea of doing so, and that they only wrecked the Comet and killed Carson because "the Great One" from Mars told them to obey Ritton as if he was the Great One.
Ott tells Diane that while she could help their planet, he doesn't wish to use force, so he must now return to Mars as a failure. They take off in their ship as the Torch returns, having dropped Ritton off at the hospital and called the police about him. He tells Diane he checked with the TV station that the martian attack on New York they saw WAS indeed just a movie, and Diane tells him the martians just took off, but that she believes they were telling the truth about Mars being about to get wrecked by another planet. She feels bad for not helping them and thinks it might be for the best if they just took the explosive off Earth so people could no longer seek its power for selfish purposes. Torch asks for permission to bring the martians back down, and once he gets it from Diane, he turns on his flame, whispers into his hand and throws a fireball into the sky. The fireball explodes in front of the martian ship and forms a message written in fire: "Turn back! We'll help you! - The Torch". And with that, the story ends happily as the martian ship turns around and comes back to take the explosive off Earth forever. Next month, another Human Torch picture action story.
This is definitely the best Torch story yet. The Torch not only melting, but evaporating both boulders and entire trains in an instant really demonstrates how powerful he is and makes for some pretty cool scenes. The villains are also decently deep for the time, with the martians hating Ritton and his methods and only going along with his plans because they see no other solution. And while it's not outright spelled out, it's implied Ritton genuinely wanted to help at first, and only came up with the idea of having Mars invade and make him emperor after he got ridiculed and written off as crazy when he initially tried to get them help. If anything, Diane is the one coming off as unreasonable for refusing to hand over the formula even after things get explained to her. There's even a nice anti-war message at the end, where the Torch and Diane agree the explosive is so powerful it's better the martians just take it off Earth - only a few years later, stories about new, dangerous weapons tend to end with them safely in the hands of the US government. You have to wonder why Ritton thought it was a good idea to take a guy that can light his body fire and melt metal out of a tube of water and then chain him to a chair, though. Even the comic treats it as obvious he can just melt his way free.
The Angel
"Voodoo drums of sacrifice beat louder and more vigorously every second but a few miles from the great city of New York..." And in New York, a girl is walking home when a car suddenly drives up on the sidewalk in front of her and men in gowns and hoods jump out to grab her. The girl screams for help, but the men quickly gag her and push her into the car, saying the "Sacred One" will be pleased. But the girl's screams were not in vain! The Angel has heard them and comes streaking across the rooftops, then jumps to the street in front of the car. He charges the car, but the men just run him down and drive off. They take him for dead, but he comes to a few moments later and heads for his own car, then takes off to the north, guessing the men went in the direction of the voodoo drums he's heard.
As he drives around the highways north of New York, scanning them for the car, he eventually spots it turning into an old abandoned road. He follows, but the men spot his car and speed up. The car with the hooded men soon turns off the road and heads for an old stone mansion surrounded by huge stone walls. As the car drives under the arch in the wall, the driver hits a lever and a trap door opens under the archway. The Angel hits the brakes, but it's too late, and he drives straight into the pit, falling deep below the mansion. The driver orders the trap door raised again and the girl brought to the Sacred One as she curses him for having killed her rescuer. The girl is then dragged into the mansion and to a room filled with weird looking people dancing to the beat of voodoo drums. She's brought before a throne and pushed to her knees, being told to bow before the Sacred One. She looks up at the man on the throne and screams in horror, calling him "hideous". The bearded man, who doesn't really look that abnormally ugly, tells his subjects to get the girl prepared for the sacrifice to the fire-god, and several haggy women grab her and carry her into another room as she realizes she's going to get burned alive.
Meanwhile, below the mansion, the Angel clings to the wet, slippery wall, presumably having jumped out of his car and caught on to the wall as he fell. He searches for a way out and eventually finds a tunnel when he pushes a stone. Running through it, he arrives in a room where he's met by a hooded figure with a hatchet. The man throws the hatchet at him, but he steps aside, grabs in in mid air, then throws it back, hitting his robe right next to his neck and pinning him to the wall. He then threatens to kill the man if he won't say where the girl is, and the man replies she's in the sacrifice room upstairs. The Angel instantly runs for the stairs. At the top, he finds another hooded guard, but punches him out before he has a chance to move. But the next door is locked, so the Angel has no choice but to use the windows. He gets outside and starts climbing the very handy ivy on the walls that lead straight to the window in the sacrifice room.
In the sacrifice room, the girl, now dressed in a skimpy outfit resembling a bathing suit, is brought to the altar as the drums beat more vigorously than ever. The Sacred One orders her tied to the stand and the fires prepared, but as his subjects tie the girl to the nearby stand, a cold wind blows from the windows above and the shadow of an angel falls across the altar. Here we actually also get to see the Angel making this shadow by lifting the sides of his cape in a specific position. The drums stop beating and the crowd looks upward in horror, but the Sacred One sees the Angel is just a human and turns his eyes towards his. The Angel realizes the Sacred One is a hypnotist and is trying to get him under control, so he quickly leaps towards him. The Sacred One grabs a nearby spear and orders the fire lit, but the Angel hits him in the face before he can do anything with the spear, then picks him up and throws him across the altar before charging the men about to light the fire.
He punches his way through the crowd as he makes it to the girl and tears her bonds with his bare hands, then picks her up. The Sacred One pulls a nearby rope, telling the Angel he'll be sent down "into the slimy waters below". The Angel feels the floor open below him and makes a desperate leap, just barely managing to land safely on the side of the gap. He now stands right before the Sacred One, who grabs a torch and throws at the Angel. The Angel springs aside, then sets the girl down and turns towards the man. The Sacred One refuses to believe the Angel can be human and makes a run for it, but ends up running right into the open trapdoor. The sight makes the hypnotized crowd close in about the altar, and the Angel, afraid of what they'll do, once again grabs the girl, then runs across the altar, leaps to the handily placed chandelier and swings across the crowd, landing behind them. He takes the girl through the exit and sets her down, noticing the crowd isn't following them. The girl looks into the room and sees the crowd moving onto the altar, where it starts getting smaller and smaller, but the Angel pulls her away and tells her not to look. As he closes the door, he takes a final look inside and sees something that turns him cold: an empty altar. As he leads the frightened girl away from the mansion, he comforts her by saying it's all ended - it will never happen again. Don't miss the next thrilling episode of The Angel in the next issue!
Creepy ending, and one that's a good fit for a series where we still just have the main hero come out of nowhere to save the day, being just as mysterious to the reader as to the other characters. There's not too much story here, just the Angel fighting his way through a group of villains we're never really given an explanation who are, but the setting and atmosphere is cool and the ending just makes the enemies more creepy. Not bad at all.
Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner
"The Sub-Mariner, amphibious demon of the earth, bent on an inspired campaign against the white man - mainly American - who has all but obliterated his South Antarctic race. Revenge is his motive and evil is his intent. He has come to the United States on a scouting expedition, to map out an extensive military invasion by his own army of Sub-Mariners! He is now somewhere underwater in or around New York harbor. When he was last seen, he was struggling with two valiant policemen, one of whom he succeeded in drowning. He escaped, and now..."
Since the end of the last issue, the harbor police has blockaded both the Hudson and East River in an attempt to stop Namor, but it hasn't resulted in anything. The police chief notes that Namor seemed attracted to "this Drayson girl", the one he tried kidnapping last time, and suggests setting a trap with one of their policewomen. An "inspector Peterson" likes the idea and suggests Betty Dean, "an expert swimmer, easy on the eyes, and a darn good cop". Peterson has Betty called to his office, where he gives her her assignment: She will take over the battery beat and patrol in civilian clothes, and when the Sub-Mariner next strikes, she'll jump into the water and scream for help. If he tries saving her from drowning, she'll work from there. Betty tells her roommate Esther about her assignment, but worries about her chances, not seeing how someone like her can handle this maniac when the rest of the force has failed.
A week later, Betty has yet to spot Namor and starts wondering if he's gone back to wherever he came from. But just then, the Sub-Mariner, now referred to as "prince" Namor, surfaces 100 yards from the shore and swims towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Betty spots him and quickly strips out of her dress, then dives into the sea in her bathing suit and starts screaming for help. Namor notices her and hesitates for a moment, then swims to save her "for no apparent reason". Betty is unsure what to do next, but feigns unconsciousness and lets herself sink into the sea as Namor dives for her. Namor grabs her and is struck by her beauty, telling her she's too lovely to die, even though she IS an American. As he carries her to the surface, Betty pulls out her gun from her purse, then presses it towards Namor's head as she kicks free. Namor quickly knocks the gun from her hand, but is impressed by her courage and decides he wants her, so he grabs her hand and swims off into the sea with her.
Before they can get too far, Namor and Betty spot a plane fly towards a ship while dropping bombs. The explosions startle Namor and he decides to investigate, so he places Betty on a buoy and tells her to swim for the little island nearby once she's rested. He then starts swimming towards the ship when he spots a periscope heading in the same direction. He dives below the surface in time to see a long, shiny cylinder - a torpedo - cut across his path, so he grabs on to the tube, wrestles it into changing its course, then rides it back towards the sub that fired it. Letting go of the torpedo and letting it harmlessly continue into the mud, he grabs onto the sub's hull and locates the torpedo tube behind a hatch. Thinking that if the torpedo can exit the sub this way, he can enter it, he slips into the muzzle end of the tube.
The German crew in the sub hears noises in the torpedo tube, and the captain orders it opened. Namor and a flood of water both enter the sub, and Namor shuts the inner breech to prevent more water from entering. The captain orders the crew to attack the visitor, but Namor beats them all with little difficulty and forces them into a corner, where they surrender. Namor tells them to bring the sub to the surface and the terrified crew complies. Once the sub is on the surface, he climbs up the ladder and exits the conning tower, then mans the gun on the deck and starts firing shells at the bomber flying overhead, eventually hitting it and sending it into the sea. Next, he grabs the sub's periscope and twists it so it's no longer functional, then leaps from the sub and lets it flounder helplessly on the surface.
The ship has already been hit by some of the bombs and is sinking, but Namor dives for the stern of it, determined to save it if he can. Betty, meanwhile, has made it to the island Namor told her to swim to, where she watches the periscope-less Nazi sub crash onto the shore. As she walks over to investigate it, she sees the ship has started moving again, and a few moments later Namor pushes it onto the beach next to her. As she's wondering what's going on, Namor walks ashore and tells her to help him with the crew. He tells her the ship obviously got bombed, then brushes her off as she asks why it didn't sink, instead trying to get an explanation from one of the crew members. The man is dying, but manages to tell him than the ship was an unarmed British commercial transport freighter that got attacked by an enemy plane and submarine in neutral water.
Betty tells Namor he did a good job saving the ship and asks why he doesn't do more stuff like this, why he hates them so much. Namor tells her he hates her and the other white devils of the human race for persecuting and tormenting his people for years, just as they now kill each other in this war that's clearly going on. Betty tells him he's wrong - She and her fellow Americans aren't bloodthirsty, they're a kind, gentle, easy-going race that only want peace, law and order and only fight for that, only if aroused by injustice or intolerance on the part of their neighbors. Right. Namor thinks Betty seems honest and wonders if she might be right, then asks what she'd like him to do. She tells him there's a lot he can do for the world, and suggests he starts by doing something about the enemy flotilla and mine blockade southeast of there, admitting she has personal interest in this due to being of English descent. Namor laughs at her and tells her she's not very consistent since she just told him she was NOT bloodthirsty, but that he'll take care of this blockade since he likes her and it doesn't really matter to him which side he's on.
Namor swims off, and ten minutes later he arrives at the mine field Betty mentioned. Figuring it's a waste to just destroy the mines instead of using them on the enemy ships and submarines he swam under on his way there, he loosens a mine and pulls it with him. He locates an enemy destroyer and places the mine directly in its path, then rises to the surface and yells "Submarine!" in "the enemy's own language". The destroyer instantly starts moving and sails straight into the mine, getting blown to bits. Namor repeats the stunt with two more battleships as a nearby sub spots the explosions and submerges. Namor spots it and dives for its rudder and diving planes, figuring it will be a nice prize for "that courageous lady who made (him) see the light", evidence he's willing to admit he's wrong. He grabs the sub and swims off with it, but when the confused crew stops the motor to find out what's wrong, Namor rips the propellers from their shafts and leaves it there.
Having disabled the sub, Namor changes his mind and decides to give it to the allied navy rather than to Betty, then flies off into the air to find their nearest base, leaving the sub behind. He finds a base and tells them to warn their commander he's bringing in an enemy sub, then flies off as the shocked men on the base decide to contact their flagship and prepare for such an arrival, figuring this guy isn't one to joke about such things. Sub-chasers dash out to haze the sub in as the rest of the fleet forms a trap, and the Nazis are forced to surrender to the navy. Namor swims back to Betty, figuring this should be retribution for his mistakes, but wondering how to explain this to his mother and the elders of his tribe. But when he greets Betty and tells her he has to get back to his people now, she tells him they can't let him go. "There's work to be done here and in the North Sea, and on land too. Will you continue to help the Allies' cause?" What will be Namor's answer? Will he stay to assist the Allies in the great war, or does his thoughtful expression mean that he has something deeper up his sleeve? Watch for his answer in the next issue of Marvel Comics!
Of all the ways this plot could've gone, this one of the less interesting ones. Sure, it has Betty admitting she's telling Namor to attack the blockade for selfish reasons, and Namor does call her out for the hypocrisy in her "all Americans are peaceful" speech (which also needs to be read with the fact that it was written closely after Germany attacked Poland in mind), then openly states he just takes her side because he likes her. It also ends on a cliffhanger that makes it unclear what Namor thinks of all this. But it's still a story that continues the tale of a creature from an undersea race who's planning war on humanity with having him attack some Nazi planes, subs and ships after watching them attack an unarmed ship in neutral water and being told they're "the enemy". That's disappointing no matter how much you dislike Nazis. And it sure doesn't help that the war has just broken out in Europe and American comics outright using Nazis as villains is still pretty rare.
The Masked Raider
"Another episode in the mysterious "Masked" Raider's endeavor to bring law and justice to the west..." This one starts with a couple ranchers beating up some agents of a company that have been bothering them, wanting to buy their ranch. The ranchers chase the agents off and say they'll get the sheriff if they return, and one of the agents asks the other what's so important about this ranch anyway. His partner says there's oil in the ground and gold in the hills, and the two decide to just frame them and let the sheriff run them off the ranch. The two company agents, Brace and Dan, ride into Mesa Spring to call on the sheriff, and recognize him as Barny, their old crime partner back in Pecos. Barny tells them he's gone straight now ever since he was framed in Pecos and asks what they want, and they tell him that from now on, he'll see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing. Sheriff Barny isn't very happy about all this, but realizes he has no choice, and the two agents report to their boss, crooked land grabber Jed Sirrah, that the sheriff won't bother them any more.
Dan and Brace head to the hills above the valley ranches, where the stream that leads water to the area flows through. They dynamite a rock and dam up the stream, successfully cutting off the ranches' water supply. Down at the ranch, the ranchers from earlier, Jeb and Dan Barnes, hear the explosion and rush outside to investigate. They look up towards the hill and see the silhouette of a lone horseman - the Masked Raider - who had also heard the explosion and went into the hills to check it out. One of the workers at the ranch is ordered to go get the sheriff so they can form a posse, but just then the sheriff arrives and asks what's going on. The men tell him they've seen a masked man and the sheriff realizes it's the Masked Raider. A posse is formed, and led by the sheriff it sets out in search for the Raider. They haven't traveled far, however, when the Raider himself approaches them, telling them to put up their guns, he's there to talk. The sheriff recognizes him and the Raider says that makes things easier, then explains he's there to help, but the sheriff pulls out his gun and tells the Raider he's wanted, dead or alive. The Raider shoots the gun out of the sheriff's hand and says he'll be helping in spite of him.
The Raider escapes and the posse spend days searching for him before eventually turning back, finding the ranch the is already suffering from the lack of water. Dan and Brace show up and say their company has decided to give them another chance to sell, and the Barnes invite them in. The agents' new offer is less than half their original one, but the Barnes eventually conclude they have no choice but to sign the contract. Just then the Masked Raider bursts through the door, having followed the agents to the ranch and listened in on their conversation. He tells the ranchers not to sell. Dan reaches for a gun, but the Raider stops him with a few warning shots, then tells the agents to get out; the land is valuable and the Barnes aren't selling. The agents ride off as the angry Barnes tell the Raider the land is ruined and not at all valuable, and that they think he's responsible. The Raider tells them about the oil and gold in the area and the Barnes demand proof, so he says he'll get the some right away.
The Raider and the Barnes arrive in town, where Jed Sirrah has brought in the sheriff and explained the situation. He orders the sheriff to drive the ranchers off their land and then round up the masked man, but just then the Raider and the Barnes enter the room and tell everyone to reach. Jed orders his men to shoot, but an off-panel gunfight later, Jeb Barnes has a map showing the location of the oil and gold in his hand and tells Dan Barnes they can make the masked man a partner, but Dan Barnes says it's no use - the Masked Raider is already gone, he wouldn't let them share their wealth with him.
This is terrible. Not only is the plot poor, but it's so badly written it's hard to actually follow. It starts promising enough with the sheriff being forced to work with the villains, but that plot point goes nowhere. When the posse finds the Raider, the sheriff claims he's wanted dead or alive and it's incredibly unclear if this is actually true or just something the sheriff makes up on the spot to arrest him to protect Sirrah. Can he even do that? Did he even know Sirrah's men were behind the explosion?
It's never explained how the Raider learned the land is valuable. The outcome of the gunfight is unclear, but it seems everyone other than the Raider and the ranchers got killed, including the sheriff. And it doesn't help much that the story includes two people named Dan as well as both a Jeb and a Jed. Yeah, definitely the worst story I've read so far.
American Ace
As mentioned, the American Ace was originally created for the ill-fated Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly. That book contained 7 pages of story, the 6 first of which were reused for Marvel Mystery Comics #2, but curiously enough this issue doesn't use the 7th page. That 7th page had Wade survey the havoc around him, aghast at the death and destruction as he notes the planes have left, when he spots a girl sitting by a wall that looks about to collapse. He runs over and tells her she might want to move, but she doesn't reply. The wall falls towards her shortly later, so he pulls her away, saving her life... but she just asks him why he bothered. To be continued.
The start of the story in this issue is relatively similar, the main differences being that Perry wanders the streets when he spots the girl, and that the wall is already falling towards her when he sees her, so he pulls her away without trying to talk to her first. It also takes place across half a page instead of a full page.
The girl tells Perry her mother and father were killed in the raid and she has no idea how to break the news to her sister Marie, who lives on a farm sixty miles away. Wade offers to take her there in his plane and introduces himself, stating his job is to go around the world looking for minerals that contain ingredients that would benefit mankind - like radium. The two head for Perry's plane as the girl introduces herself as Jeanie, and they fly off to the country, eventually landing at the farm. There, they meet Jeanie's grandfather and her sister Marie. Her grandfather initially takes the plane as being the enemy, but Marie recognizes Jeanie and she introduces them to Perry. Jeanie breaks the sad news over dinner as Perry tells them to be brave and remember others have also lost people dear to them, and Marie reveals her husband John is currently fighting in the trenches.
Meanwhile, in Castile d'Or, queen Ursula reveals her ultimate goal is to conquer the entire world, which even her servant Josef thinks is madness. She warns him to watch his tongue, then hands him a poster with patriotic propaganda calling the people to fight the oppressors, telling him to duplicate it and hang it all over the country. As they see the posters, a fervor of patriotism sweeps over the countrymen and they rally behind queen Ursula, proclaiming themselves the strongest nation on Earth.
Back at the farm, Perry, who has spent a week there now, tells Jeanie he unfortunately has to leave Attainia. It's important that he continues his work, and "here they don't seem to be interested in anything that would benefit mankind - they are more or less concerned with the destruction of it". Perry takes off as Jeanie, Marie and their grandfather wave farewell, turning eastwards - but an enemy airplane patrol is overhead, and the leader spots Perry take off. He gives a signal and the entire patrol dive at Perry's plane, firing their guns. Perry tries dodging as best as he can, but his old plane is no match for the modern fighters. One of the enemy planes get on his tail and bullets rip through both Perry's plane and Perry himself. His plane goes into a spin and crashes straight into the farmhouse he had just left. The family run for the wreck and carry him out of it, and Perry later wakes up in a bed, the grandfather and a doctor assuring him he'll be all right despite the nasty wounds he got. And with a relieved Jeanie sitting by his bed, he tells her he'll have to get well fast - he's got a job on his hands, an important job! "An important job!!! - Next month!!! Perry Wade the American Ace: Follow his adventures every month in Marvel Comics! Don't miss an issue!!!"
This is good. The action itself in the airplane sequence isn't all that well drawn and a bit hard to follow, but it still manages to be dramatic, and the story itself, despite still just setting up future material, does a good job presenting the horror of war. The focus here is on manipulative leaders, the effect of propaganda and the death of innocents, not heroic soldiers. This is also likely why Martin Goodman pulled the plug on the strip, not wanting it in his book anymore. His reasons are typically summed up as "the strip was too political", which isn't exactly untrue. But that's why I like it and feel sad to see it gone.
So despite the promises at the end, Perry Wade would not return next month. Instead, he popped up about a year later in Centaur Publication's Amazing Mystery Funnies #24, September 1940, under the name Lieutenant Lank. Amazing Mystery Funnies #24 was the last issue of that series, but Lieutentant Lank would then go on to make another appearance in Centaur's The Arrow #2, November 1940. This appears to be the stories intended for Marvel Mystery Comics #4 and #5, but curiously enough, it's the story from The Arrow #2 that picks up where this one ended. It has some rewrites attempting to hide the fact - Perry has been renamed Lank, the grandfather has become "Lank's friend, the Bavanian consul in wartorn Attainia" and the farmhouse is now his consulate - but while some replacement dialogue is clearly inserted in some of the speech bubbles, Perry/Lank still says "My job - my important job! Here's where it starts!" upon hearing a radio announcement of a bombing raid. That story ends with Perry/Lank capturing an enemy bomber, which he uses against the enemy in the Amazing Mystery Funnies #24 story, a story that starts with Queen Ursula receiving word that one man is "slowly, but surely, demoralizing their army! The men quake at the mention of his name!". It's possible there were more stories meant to go between the one from The Arrow #2 and this one, but the one in The Arrow #2 was definitely meant for Marvel Mystery Comics #4.
Siegfried Suicide
Together with his men, top-sergeant Bill Stern, American soldier of fortune, has been trying to smash a hole in the Siegfried Line for weeks without success. Now they make another attempt. Bill and his men climb over their sandbags and creep towards their target, eventually getting spotted by the Boche and fired upon. But they continue on, disregarding the danger and the death scream from their fellow soldier that just got a piece of shrapnel in his stomach. Bill and twenty others throw themselves into a shell hole, and one of the Frenchmen tell Bill the rest of the squad is dead from crossfire. And angry Bill starts creeping forward, telling the "frogs" to stay behind so more won't get killed. Eventually the Germans stop firing, figuring the enemy is all dead, and Bill continues on.
He eventually reaches the first fort and sneaks around it, searching for a door or window. He finds none, but upon hearing a gloating German voice inside talk about how the allies will soon be done for, he decides to put his baseball skills to use and toss a grenade through an observation slit. The grenade hits the mark and Bill can tell from the screams that everyone inside are dead or injured. He takes out his whistle and signals his allies, who come storming to take out that section of the Siegfried Line before the Germans can send for backup. The attack is successful, and English and French cries fill the night as the Germans succeed. And it's all thanks to Bill, who's single-handedly did what thousands of others failed to do. Because he's an American.
The Sub-Mariner story had Namor call out Betty for stuff that was less ridiculous than the final paragraph of this short story. Even at the time I can't imagine this wouldn't make some older readers roll their eyes. The rest of it honestly isn't that bad, it's a decent enough depiction of a lone soldier on a risky maneuver. I've read worse. But man, that final paragraph.
Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great, from the famous character created by Bob Byrd: Third Episode
The adaptation of Byrd's novel continues, this time covering chapters 13 through 15.
One day, a caravan led by a white man crosses the mountains and rocky gorges to the east of Ka-Zar's jungle home. The man is Steve Hardy, noted big game hunter and wild animal collector, and he's just found the type of country that will let him get all the specimens he's made this long trip to get. He has his men set up camp at the edge of the jungle, then has them constructed cages and stockades, one strong enough to hold an elephant, the one animal he really wants.
One night, Ka-Zar is awoken by the trumpeting of an elephant and finds Trajah standing nearby. Trajah tells him Ka-Zar's brothers have taken Tuta, a female of his herd, and Ka-Zar realizes that by "brothers" he means other men... other "Oman". Possibly even Fat Face. He decides to go with Trajah and rides off on him, finally fulfilling his childhood dream. After two days of traveling, they reach a great plain, where Trajah trumpets and the both hear Tuta answer. On the plain, Ka-Zar sees many strange beasts he's never seen before, like the giraffe, as well as Hardy's camp, where he spots Tuta in a pen with her feet roped to the round. He returns to Trajah and tells him Tuta is indeed going to get freed, but they'll have to wait until night. Trajah keeps trumpeting and the sounds eventually brings Hardy out of his tent. Ka-Zar watches him gently reply to Trajah that Tuta unfortunately can't join him, there's a new home waiting for her in a zoo, and deduces this man is unlike De Kraft - he seems to mean no genuine harm, so Ka-Zar won't hurt him.
When night falls, Ka-Zar sneaks into the camp, notes that everyone is asleep, then starts opening cages, freeing monkeys, Quog the wild hog, a stork and a leopard. The leopard springs for Hardy's tent, but stops and leaves when Ka-Zar commands it to. Finally Ka-Zar goes to free Tuta, but on his way he notices one of the natives that had been sleeping under a tree had woken up. He leaps into a tree and watches the native, and as the black spots the empty cages, Ka-Zar springs at him, knocks him to the ground, then uses vines to bind and gag him. Next, he hurries to the stockade and opens the gate, cuts the ropes that tied Tuta's legs to the ground, and leads her into the jungle as the native watches in terror, thinking Ka-Zar must be a jungle god.
Hardy wakes with a start early the next morning, feeling something is wrong, and eventually realizing it's the lack of chattering from the monkeys. He goes outside his tent and finds the stockade open and the elephant gone, as his gun boy comes running to tell him all the cages are empty too. Hardy spots the tied-up native and frees him, and the native tells him the great white god of the jungle came there that night. Hardy refuses to believe him, but the native sticks to his story and Hardy admits the situation is strange, the elephant was clearly freed by someone with a knife. The gun boy thinks they should go home, but Hardy refuses, thinking some mad hermit was behind this. He calls the natives together for a new hunt, saying he came a long distance to get animals, and the natives, while still muttering about a jungle god, reluctantly come with him. One of his scouts soon spot a baby rhino and its mother, and Hardy orders the gun boy to shoot the mother so they can capture the calf, admitting he hates doing this. Ka-Zar watches them and fires an arrow into the gun boy's back, just deep enough to wound but not kill. Hardy tells the black the arrow was fired by a human, but he insists it was the jungle good, and Hardy is incapable of stopping the natives from mutineering. The natives return to camp and start packing up, and Hardy has no choice but to go along with it, cursing the fact that all his work was wasted.
A satisfied Ka-Zar watches from nearby, then runs off towards his home to tell Zar. On the way, he spots a lake, and dives in for a swim, leaving his weapons behind. But from the tall grass, the eyes of N'Jaga the leopard watches him. He hates Ka-Zar for the gunshot wound his father inflicted on him all those years ago and wants revenge, and now that he sees Ka-Zar swimming, he forms a plan: He'll crouch on a limb and wait for Ka-Zar to swim by. When Ka-Zar does so, N'Jaga leaps at him without a sound, but digs his claws into Ka-Zar's back rather than attacking his face. The two sink together like a stone, and Ka-Zar knows his only salvation lies in staying under water. N'Jaga is eventually unable to stand the pressure and swims back to the surface, where he climbs out of the lake, confident Ka-Zar is dead. But a short distance away, hidden by a rock, Ka-Zar regains his senses and vows to never again be caught without his knife. "Although Ka-Zar was now on his way home for a much needed rest, his plans were soon to be changed. In Cairo the villainous De Kraft planned another trip to the jungle! Next month: Return of the Oman! Another thrilling jungle adventure! Don't miss it!"
This is actually considerably different from the novel, introducing Hardy to the reader at the start of the story and adding multiple new scenes towards the end. In the novel, Ka-Zar is never spotted when he sneaks into the camp and the natives force Hardy to leave after they discover what has happened, saying the animals were spirited away by the jungle god and the same will happen to them if they stay longer. The new material isn't bad, and it's nice to see this thing try to be more than a straight adaptation, but the way it has Hardy scream and insult the natives is rather at odds with how Byrd deliberately presents him as DeKraft's complete opposite, explaining why Ka-Zar considers him a good person and doesn't want to hurt him. The adaptation of chapter 15, with the N'Jaga battle, is unfortunately the same kind of poorly done simplification that has defined this series so far, and which misses the point of a lot of scenes. If you look at this as a standalone comic rather than part of a novel, those two pages also feel very pointlessly tacked on, since they have little to do with the rest. But the Ka-Zar comic is at least trying now.
As a whole
Sub-Mariner is terribly disappointing, but Ka-Zar is getting better, the Torch has his best story yet and both Angel and American Ace are as solid as always. It's a fairly decent issue.
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