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Marvel Database

Alright you skunks! - Get off'a Cap, or I'll start spraying bullets at the pack of you!

Bucky (Bucky Barnes)

Appearing in "The Menace of Dr. Grimm!"

Reprint of the 4th story from
Captain America Comics #4
(originally printed as Horror Hospital)

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Doctor Grimm (First appearance; dies)
  • Chuck (First appearance)
  • Unnamed Thug (First appearance)
  • Lomm (First appearance)
  • Igan (First appearance; dies)
  • Gorro (First appearance; dies)

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "The Menace of Dr. Grimm!"

Reprint of the 4th story from
Captain America Comics #4
(originally printed as Horror Hospital)
While on leave from Camp Lehigh, Steve Rogers and James Barnes decide to take in a movie. They happen upon the theater just as it is being robbed by a gang of crooks and go after them as Captain America and Bucky. However while they are apprehending the crooks Bucky is injured. Changing back to their civilian identities, Steve Rogers rushes James to the closest doctor. This happens to be the office run by Doctor Grimm and his hospital of deformed patients and suspicious looking aides.

James is to stay for a few days to recover from his injuries and as the days continue, the strange happenings around the hospital -- including the disappearance of his nurse prompts James to write a letter asking Steve to investigate as Captain America. Dr. Grimm happens upon James as he is writing the letter and decides to let it go out so that he may capture Captain America. Getting the letter, Steve deserts his sentry duty and has one of his colleagues bring the letter to Betty Ross while he goes off as Captain America to Grimm's hospital. When Captain America arrives at the hospital, Grimm is waiting for him and traps him in a glass enclosure. Grimm tells the Captain that he needs human blood in order to keep his experiment, a creature named Gorro, alive.

Shortly thereafter, Betty Ross arrives at the hospital posing as a woman seeking to take up the vacant job as a nurse and she is brought into the lab where Captain America and Bucky are held prisoner and they are all introduced to Gorro, a massive creature. As Captain America struggles with the monster, Bucky manages to pry a gun free from Dr. Grimm's hands and use it to shoot the monster to death. When Cap fights it out with Dr. Grimm their struggle causes Grimm to fall off a balcony to his death. With his threat over, Captain America thanks Betty for her help and leaves.

When Steve and James return to camp after Sgt. Duffy is not happy to see that they have once more deserted their posts and assigns them to K.P. Duty again.

Appearing in "The Case of the Fake Money Fiends"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Captain America Comics #4

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Gang of Counterfeiters
    • Unnamed Leader
    • Numerous unnamed mobsters (Impersonates Ghosts)

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "The Case of the Fake Money Fiends"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Captain America Comics #4
Hearing of counterfeiting and strange goings on in the town of Hillsdale from a fellow soldier, Steve Rogers and James Barnes decide to investigate as Captain America and Bucky. Breaking inside the so called haunted house in the area they are attacked by mysterious robed figures and find that they are far from ghosts but live men.

Investigating further, they find a bunch of counterfeiters in the basement and they have Betty Ross as their prisoner. The duo beat the crooks into submission and free Betty from her bonds. Betty tells them that this isn't the whole operation and that their leader -- an ex-government employee who was fired for stealing -- is still on the loose. The next day, Steve goes AWOL from marching duty to pose as an easily duped farmer to try and find the counterfeiters. When he exchanges money with a shady character he follows after them learning of the gang's hideout.

That night Captain America and Bucky crash in on the crooks and easily take them out of commission. While the newspapers hail Captain America and Bucky as heroes, Steve Rogers and James Barnes are given K.P. Duty for abandoning their posts.

Appearing in "Chapter 1 - The Thing Called... It! / Chapter 2 - "It" Lives!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Strange Tales #82

Featured Characters:

  • It (First appearance) (Possesses the body of Professor Heinrich Munch)

Antagonists:

  • Professor Heinrich Munch (Apparent death)

Other Characters:

  • Fedor Slovkov (Mentioned)
  • Carl (Named only)
  • Numerous unnamed villagers

Races and Species:

Locations:

Synopsis for "Chapter 1 - The Thing Called... It! / Chapter 2 - "It" Lives!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Strange Tales #82
A European mad scientist in a castle creates a monster to destroy a rival, but fails to animate the creature, and so disposes of it in the quicksand bog below the window. The quicksand supplies the missing ingredient and the creature returns to its creator, but it has been given a sense of morality with its life, and so refuses the evil request to kill. The scientist attempts to blow it up but instead falls to his death from the ramparts. The creature vows it would live a just life if it could have a human body and a bolt from the heavens transfers its life essence into the body of its creator.
Strange Tales Vol 1 82 001

Appearing in "They Vanished Forever!"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Strange Tales #98

Featured Characters:

  • Thomas Clarke (Main story and flashback)

Supporting Characters:

  • William Reynolds

Antagonists:

  • Flying Dutchman Crew (Only in flashback)
    • Numerous unnamed members (Only in flashback)

Other Characters:

  • Captain William Reynolds' Crew
    • Numerous unnamed members
  • Davy Jones (Invoked) (Only in flashback)
  • Molly Browne Crew (Only in flashback)
    • Numerous unnamed members (Only in flashback)

Races and Species:

  • Humans (Main story and flashback)
  • Ghosts (Main story and flashback)

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • Captain Reynolds' Ship
  • Molly Browne (Main story and flashback) (Ship)
  • Flying Dutchman (Only in flashback) (Ship)

Synopsis for "They Vanished Forever!"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Strange Tales #98
An old ship captain and his crew find a seemingly-deserted ship. Upon boarding, they find one survivor who cannot remember what happened. The man is brought back to shore, but at an inquiry more questioning reveals nothing. Finally alone, it's revealed that the survivor is lying, and that the ship and crew encountered the legendary ship 'The Flying Dutchman', its ghost crew, and a hold of treasure. The man was the only one who did not loot the ship, and the rest of his crew-mates become ghosts, doomed to replace the original crew of The Flying Dutchman...

Appearing in "I Am The Beast Man!"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Tales to Astonish #12
(originally printed as My Nightmare Has No End!)

Featured Characters:

  • Unnamed Condemned Man (Swaps bodies with Beast Man)

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Numerous unnamed residents of Zendu (Only in flashback)

Races and Species:

  • Zendunians (First appearance)
  • Humans
  • Robots (Only in flashback)

Locations:

Synopsis for "I Am The Beast Man!"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Tales to Astonish #12
(originally printed as My Nightmare Has No End!)
Through a dream, a creature from another dimension convinces a human to trade bodies with him. When the transformation is completed, it tells him that on its planet it is so peaceful that there is unending boredom. Thinking it's tricked him, the creature awakes to find out that the man is in jail serving a life sentence.

Appearing in "Ivan the Terrible"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Captain America Comics #4

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Ivan the Terrible (Dream)
    • Ivan's Guards (Dream)
      • Numerous unnamed guards (Dream)

Other Characters:

  • Grisha (Dream)
  • Wazira (African King) (Dream)
  • Numerous denizens of King Ross's Kingdom (Dream)

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "Ivan the Terrible"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Captain America Comics #4
Bucky has a dream in which Betty Ross is the queen of Siberia and that Ivan the Terrible seeks to take control of the region. When she refuses, Captain America and Bucky -- prisoners of Ivan -- are brought before him. When the duo attempt to break free, they are taken prisoner and locked up in the dungeon next to Betty Ross. They break out of their jail cell and escape from Ivan's castle, taking Betty to her father the king who is hiding out in the nearby mountains. Cap and Bucky then return to Ivan's castle and fight their way back in. Captain America beats Ivan into submission and forces him to surrender the kingdom back over to Betty's father. Captain America and Bucky are then hailed as heroes. At this point, Bucky is awoken by Steve Rogers who sees that the boy is having a very animated dream. Awoken, Bucky tells Steve all about the dream battle Captain America had with Ivan the Terrible.

Notes

  • Subtle, and not so subtle, changes have been made to the Golden Age Captain America stories to meet the Comics Code.
    • Story I, Pg 6, Igan originally had one eye and a sharp piercing nose. He is altered to have two eyes and perhaps be a bit more human.
    • Story I, Pg. 11, Gorro's face is redrawn and in particular his fangs have been removed.
    • Story I, Page 12, Betty Ross was originally seen precariously over the balcony with Dr. Grimm and held over the villain's head. She has her feet firmly planted on the ground in the reprinted version.
    • Story VI, Pag 2, Ivan has his knife taken away and he does not appear to fatally stab his victim.
    • Story Vi, Pg. 6, Ivan has his Double Edged Axe removed from his hand. (Ironically the same panel with the Double Edged Axe is seen on the cover of this issue).

See Also

Links and References

References