Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #42
“The Battle of Okinawa”
April 1945. The Commandos have been preparing for their role in the amphibious assault on Okinawa and go into battle yet again, but Fury trusts Izzy Cohen when he says he’s better from previous injuries and it turns out not to be true. In battle Izzy is critically injured, the Commandos have to choose between their mission and keeping him alive0.
Plot: Scott Casper
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Dick Ayers
Inks: John Tartaglione
The Mighty Thor #140
“The Growing Man!”
Following the defeat of the Rock Trolls, Thor is commended for his role in the victory. After the celebration ceremonies are over, Odin retires to the Pool of Peace for rest and relaxation. There he is visited by a troubled Thor who asks permission to return to Earth, as he fears for the Earth in his absence.
This proves to be a prophetic concern as, back on Earth, an archaeologist has discovered a strange doll that has been buried for 100,000 years, but is made from advanced technology. Stranger still, the doll suddenly begins to grow. When the archaeologist shows his discovery to his colleagues they attempt to test its composition, but the doll begins growing even faster and wrecks its way out of the building. As it goes, the archaeologists dub it the Growing Man.
By now, Odin has returned Thor to Earth and Thor is Dr. Donald Blake again. He thinks about how Sif had wanted to come with him to see Earth, but Thor was still pining for Jane Foster, who came back to Earth without him. Suddenly, he is contacted by the police. Since it is known that Blake has some connection with Thor, they called him to see if Thor can come stop the Growing Man. Thor takes up the challenge and flies through the city to see the now large robot leaving a trail of destruction behind him. Hitting the robot only makes it grow bigger and stronger, though, allowing it to do even more damage. Soon, the robot is 30’ tall. Thor summons a tornado and uses it to lift the Growing Man out of the city and hurl him out into the ocean, where they can tussle without endangering the city further. Thor dives into the ocean after it to finish it off, but finds it is 40’ tall now and even stronger!
Their fight is interrupted when the Growing Man begins to shrink and fly quickly out of the ocean. Thor follows and finds the Growing Man is now once more a doll -- in the hand of Kang the Conqueror! Kang gloats from within his time sphere that this test run of the Growing Man has been sufficient for his needs, but before he can escape into the time steam his ship is hit by lightning summoned by Thor. The time ship goes spinning into time, out of control.
Script: Scott Casper
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Vince Colletta
Avengers #40
“Suddenly…the Sub-Mariner!”
The Scarlet Witch is still weak from last month’s adventure, so she and Quicksilver are on reserve status for now. Meanwhile, Black Widow steals an experimental jet from General Ross. Also meanwhile, the Sub-Mariner attacks a submarine destroying underwater wildlife, then decides to attack the base it came from. The Avengers receive a call from Captain America, warning them about the Cosmic Cube which was lost at sea near that base and needs to be found and secured. Short on active members, Goliath, Wasp, and Hawkeye bring Hercules along, and then get in a battle with Sub-Mariner, where Hercules unwittingly mentions the cube to him. The Sub-Mariner flees, returns with the cube he has just found, and the battle starts again. Namor is beaten again however, when he loses contact with the cube, and it is lost down a crack in the ground which seals itself after. Some time later, the Mole Man finds the cube, but throws it away, dismissing it for a useless bauble.
Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Don Heck
Inks: Wally Wood
Daredevil #28
“Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Ultroids”
Pretending to be his own brother Mike Murdock, Matt acts like a jerk and ruins a date between Foggy and Karen. Feeling guilty afterwards, Matt resolves to ditch the terrible idea of the Mike persona. Matt is still thinking about it the next day at Columbia University, where he’s giving a guest lecture to a class about the law and superheroes.
Meanwhile, two professors on campus meet to discuss what one of them just smuggled back from Europe. In two crates are two inert ultroid robots, complete with their weapons. One professor becomes jealous while examining the weapons and kills the first professor (with a head blow) so he can take possession of all this. But he is frustrated when the weapons don’t work. Pointing one at the robots, though, activates them and they take their weapons back. They are unable to contact Ixar, who they were separated from before the Avengers left Earth with it four months ago (Avengers #36). The ultroids can’t contact the others, so they resolve to take over a nearby radio tower on campus so they can boost their signal.
The resulting chaos draws Matt’s attention and, as Daredevil, he intervenes when students are threatened by the robots. After a lot of dodging and failing to hurt them, he gets lucky and manages to make them shoot each other. During the fight, Matt also happens to encounter the killer professor and figures out his involvement, stopping him from leaving the scene.
Script: Denny O’Neil
Pencils: John Romita
Inks: Bill Everett
X-Men #32
“Beware the Juggernaut, My Son!”
In their civilian guises, the X-Men are celebrating Bobby's 18th birthday at the Coffee a Go-Go. Bernard the Poet tries to cut in with Zelda, but Bobby pushes him aside and the couples begin dancing. Scott and Jean dance, and out everything comes about their feelings for each other. Candy Southern shows up, but Warren can only think about what the Professor asked of him. Hank is absorbed in a book.
At the Mansion, the Professor checks in on the Juggernaut, a comatose prisoner in the mansion’s basement since his defeat. Recalling how his step-brother got his powers from the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, the Professor wonders if he can restore Cain back to normal or if he will have to be forced to kill him instead.
While back at the Coffee a Go-Go, the X-Men's party is crashed when six members of Hell’s Angels burst in and start causing trouble. Unable to slip away and change into their X-Men costumes or blow their cover as mutants, the X-Men secretly use their powers and easily subdue their attackers who are then turned over to the police.
Meanwhile at the mansion, the Professor straps the Juggernaut into a device that he hopes will drain the energies from his stepbrother Cain. But soon the experiment is interrupted by an outside mental force that disrupts the machine and causes an explosion. Xavier is knocked unconscious and Cain awakens. Enraged, Cain attacks his stepbrother…
The X-Men return to the mansion and Cerebro goes off, but it has been reprogrammed and recognizes them as the intruders. And then the power goes out just as they hear heavy footfalls approaching. They intercept the Juggernaut leaving, but he just brushes them off. Everyone is injured, except for Marvel Girl, who skipped out of the fight early to go check on the Professor -- only to find him dead.
Jean revives the others and Hank says he overheard Cain say he was heading for Europe. The X-Men are determined now to track him down and get revenge, even though they don’t know how to stop him without the Professor.
Plot: Roy Thomas
Script: Denny O’Neil
Pencils: Alex Toth
Inks: Joe Sinnott
