Appearing in "Murders By Ghost Light"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Ruth Prentis (First appearance)
Villains:
- Gleaming Ghost (First appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
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Synopsis for "Murders By Ghost Light"
While swimming the southern shores, Namor hears a man crying for help. Coming to his rescue he heads to an island hospital to bring him to safety, despite the man's protests, meeting a Doctor Howards at shore who identifies the man as a patient. The patient is frightened because he claims to have seen the ghost of Dr. Grayson, the late doctor who used to own the hospital. Howards dismisses this as nothing more than a nightmare and assures the Sub-Mariner that his island is safe. Finding this suspicious, Namor feigns fainting to be admitted into the hospital as a patient.
As a patient, Namor learns that the other doctors on site are divisive about if the island is truly haunted or not. When being examined by Nurse Ruth Prentis, she realizes the Sub-Mariner is faking an illness. Namor confides in her his true identity and that he intends to solve the mystery of the supposed ghost, earning her trust and aid. That night, the supposed ghost of Dr. Grayson stalks the hospital and tosses a patient out a window to a bloody death. The commotion alerts Namor and Ruth who go to investigate, but they arrive too late to catch the ghost. Spying on them, the ghost decides to eliminate Namor and attempts to attack the Atlantean in his room. The Sub-Mariner is only pretending to sleep and manages to land a blow, sending the "ghost" fleeing. The ghost gets away by using an incendiary bomb, and when Namor tries to follow after his trail he finds only Dr. Smith and Dr. Howards and no trace of the ghost.
The following morning, Ruth tells Namor that a number of the patients have fled the hospital. Namor decides to pay close attention to Dr. Roster and overhears that the doctors are suspicious that he's faking his illness. With the help of Ruth, Namor manages to convince them that he is still ill. That night, the ghost attacks Dr. Roster, landing a blow to the head causing serious injury. Namor once again attempts to stop the supposed ghost, but the "ghost" jumps out a nearby window and manages to escape.
When Ruth and the other doctors burst into the room, Dr. Howards notes that Roster needs to be operated on immediately and they take him off to the operating room. Spotting something suspicious about Howards' hand, Namor and Ruth snoop through his room. There they find a rubber mask molded into the shape of Dr. Grayson's face, and phosphorescent paint. Realizing that Howards is really the "ghost" and that he is operating on Roster, they rush into the O.R. to stop him from killing the one man who manages to disturb his mask and see his true identity.
Namor and Ruth chase Howards into the basement of the hospital, where the mad doctor knocks Namor out with a wrench blow to the head. When Ruth tries to shoot him with a gun, Howards takes it from her and attempts to use it on the Sub-Mariner. Realizing that Ruth neglected to load it, Howards runs off and decides to burn the hospital to the ground. With the building going up in blazes Namor rescues the patients and sends Ruth off in a boat to get a fire crew, unaware that Howards is hiding out in the boat.
With no fire crew on site, Namor takes all the patients and remaining doctors aboard a boat and pulls it to shore. Checking with the authorities and learning that Ruth never showed up, Namor searches for her and finds her being held hostage by Howards. Namor easily subdues Howards, and learns that the whole plot was in revenge on the late Dr. Grayson for willing his hospital over to his nephew. He was hoping that in scaring enough people with his "ghost" Grayson's nephew would be forced to sell the hospital cheaply and he could buy it for himself. With Howards defeated, Namor ties him up and has Ruth take him to the authorities. Before departing, Ruth gives him a goodbye kiss leaving Namor to wonder if their paths would ever cross again.
Appearing in "The Horror That Walked"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Doctor Corbin (First appearance)
Villains:
- Horror That Walked (First appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
Locations:
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Synopsis for "The Horror That Walked"
Dr. Corbin has invented a massive artificial man, however he lacks the ability to create an artificial brain, requiring him to seek out a real one instead. Stumped, the scientist gets inspiration from hearing of the upcoming execution of a mobster named Dacio.
While at the prison, the gallows is being set up for Dacio's hanging, and at the site is the Sub-Mariner, the man who helped put Dacio away. Things become hairy at the execution when one of Dacio's men poses as a reporter and suddenly pulls out a tommy gun demanding that Dacio be released. The authorities are about to do so, when Namor stops the man and turns him over to the police. Dacio is then hanged shortly thereafter, his final words to the Sub-Mariner being "I'll be waiting for you in Hades!"
After the execution, Namor is on hand to see Dacio's dead body being handed over to Dr. Corbin for his experimentation. Namor finds this odd, but accepts it none the less, figuring that Dacio's brain could not harm anyone now that he's dead. Completing his artificial man, Corbin energizes its body and successfully manages to revive Dacio in his massive body. However, Dacio refuses to do Corbin's bidding and storms out of the scientists lab, seeking to use his new powerful body to resume his criminal career. His first order of business is springing his man Rocky who was arrested for attempting to stop his execution. Hearing of the break out, the Sub-Mariner tracks down Dacio and attacks him, only to be overpowered by the giant's strength. Dacio flees the scene when the police arrive with guns blazing. Realizing that the giant horror must be the work of Dr. Corbin, the Sub-Mariner pays the doctor a visit and learns the whole story. Corbin suggests that they simply wait, as Dacio's new body requires regular applications of new artificial skin in order to survive.
In the meantime, Dacio has reunited with his gang and begins using his superhuman strength and massive body to scare off all the other mobs, giving him and his gang a monopoly of crime in the area. However, soon Dacio and his men notice that his body seems to be withering away. Not able to eat, Dacio figures that only Corbin knows how to revive him and pays the doctor a visit. Attacked by the Sub-Mariner, Dacio once again knocks out the hero and then revitalizes himself with more artificial flesh. He then forces Corbin to provide him with the formula, and uses violence to get it out of the doctor.
The Sub-Mariner revives and resumes his battle with Dacio, knocking the man-monster out into the water nearby Corbin's home. There the Sub-Mariner learns that Dacio can't swim and won't go anywhere where the water goes over his head. Using a rusted anchor, Namor knocks Dacio out and drags him out into the deep and drowns him to death. By the time he pulls the remains of Dacio's new body (now only a skeleton as the artificial flesh melted away in the water) the authorities arrive on the scene. Later, Corbin thanks Namor for his help and tells the hero that he plans on ceasing his attempts to create an artificial body. Namor tells him not to give up, just to stay away from using the brains of criminals in the future.
Appearing in "Death's Merry-Go-Round"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Crane (First appearance; dies)
- Smith (First appearance; dies)
- Dutton (First appearance)
Villains:
- Goom (First appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
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Synopsis for "Death's Merry-Go-Round"
In his civilian guise, the Angel is waiting for a subway train at Times Square when he and the crowd hear insane laughter followed by a man being thrown in front of the oncoming train. Finding the death suspicious, the Angels follows the authorities back to the morgue and listens in on their conversation. He learns that the victim is Mr. Crane, co-owner of Dutton & Co. a drug manufacturer whose slogan is "laugh at pain". Finding this death even more suspicious the Angel decides to check his crime files. Looking through them, he finds a newspaper story about a stock embezzlement scheme that saw Dutton & Co's head accountant Robert Goom sent to prison five years ago. Goom was on record as saying that he was being railroaded and that all the owners were involved, leaving the Angel to believe that Goom (now free) is the likely suspect.
Dawning his civilian guise, the Angel pays a visit to Dutton & Co's main office to see Mr. Smith, another owner of the company. He is refused to see Smith, who is too busy to talk. While the Angel is being led out of the building, Goom (a dwarf) sneaks into Smith's office through the window and drags him up to the roof of the building. Hearing Smith's screams, the Angel changes into his costume and goes to his rescue. Attempting to stop Goom from carrying Smith up to the top of the giant neon sign atop the Dutton & Co building, the Angel is knocked out preventing him from stopping Goom from hanging Smith and escaping.
Rushing home, the Angel calls Mr. Dutton himself but learns that he had not been home for a number of days and that he might be at the Rounders Club. Paying a visit to the club, he learns from the bell-girl that Dutton was seen being led out by a dwarf. She recalls that the dwarf had a massive head and wore a size 9 hat and that his custom made hat was made by the D.L. Bennett Company. Paying a visit to the company, the Angel learns that the hats were bought by a "William Jones" and is given the address of the man who purchased them.
Arriving at Goom's mansion, he is refused to enter the home by Goom's butler and has the door slammed in his face when he hears the same laughter he heard at the two previous murder scenes. Changing into his costume again, the Angel then climbs up some vines that were growing up the side of Goom's estate to gain access to the mansion. He briefly clashes with Goom while forcing his way in. Goom lures him into a room set up like a prison wing and the Angel soon finds himself trapped behind bars. He also finds Dutton in his cell, who has been kept prisoner for days and tortured. Goom tells them that he wanted Dutton to suffer living in a prison cell as he did for railroading him into jail years ago.
He then dumps Dutton and the Angel into his "Prison Cell Merry-Go-Round", a cage that spins at great speed. While the two men are being spun around, Goom taunts them by offering one of Dutton & Co's painkillers. This proves to be Goom's undoing as he gets close enough to the cage for the Angel to grab him. Wedging the madman's massive head between the bars, the Angel removes his keys and frees himself from the cell. Knocking out Goom's butler, the Angel stops the spinning cage and forces Goom to write a full confession. He then locks Dutton, Goom and his butler in the cage while he seeks out the authorities. Goom tells the Angel that he is satisfied going back to jail knowing that Dutton was going with him, however the Angel points out that Goom won't enjoy it for too long as he would be executed for his crimes this time around.