INVADERS #25

"THE POWER AND THE PANZERS!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Artists: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Colorist: George Roussos | Letterer: John Costanza
Consulting Editor: Archie Goodwin

What's this? Didn't we just look at issue 23 last week?? Did we skip an issue?! No, Frantic Ones, you didn't miss a thing. Apparently INVADERS #24 was entirely and completely a reprint of a Golden Age story, without even a new framing sequence to explain it! Chalk up another casualty to the Dreaded Deadline Doom, I guess. We now rejoin our Scarlet Scarab epic, already in progress...

The Plot: The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner battle Scarlet Scarab near the pyramids, while Captain America, Spitfire, and Union Jack aid British forces against the German advance on Cairo. Sacrlet Scarab wins his battle and moves along to the front line, where he seeks audience with the Nazi general leading the charge. When the battle briefly stops, Cap and the others go in search of Namor and the Torch.

Scarlet Scarab offers to fight for the Nazis if they will leave Egypt when the battle is done. When the Germans agree, the Scarab charges out to battle the reunited Invaders. But when he spots the German general about to execute an old Egyptian man for defying the Reich, the Scarab turns on his new allies. With the Invaders fighting alongside the Scarab, the Nazis are driver into retreat. In the aftermath, the Scarab departs, declaring himself neither friend nor foe of the Invaders.

Meanwhile Bucky arrives in California with the injured Toro, seeking Doctor Sabuki -- but is shocked to learn that the doctor has been sent to a Japanese internment camp.

INVADERS #23

"THE SCARAB OF THE NILE!"
Writer & Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators & Illuminators: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Colorist: George Roussos | Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Consulting Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Captain America, Bucky, Namor, and the Human Torch stand by in a hospital waiting room as Toro undergoes surgery. The surgeon soon appears, stating that Toro is stabilized but still has a bullet near his heart. Only one doctor is proficient enough to remove the bullet: Sam Sabuki of California. Namor volunteers his flagship to ferry Toro quickly to the U.S.A., but Spitfire arrives just then to announce that the Invaders have a new mission. Bucky volunteers to take Toro in the flagship while the rest of the team goes with Spitfire, and the Torch ultimately agrees.

The Invaders are dispatched to British-occupied Egypt and deal with a terror group called the Sons of the Scarab, who are wreaking havoc there even as the German General, Rommel, advances toward Cairo. The group, joined by Union Jack, arrives in Egypt soon after, where they are immediately ambushed by the Sons of the Scarab. The villains escape, and the Invaders meet up with their liaison officer, Major Harrison, and an Egyptian civilian archaeologist, Doctor Faoul. The British believe that the Sons of the Scarab are hiding out in the pyramids, and they want the Invaders, advised by Faoul, to ferret them out. While Captain America, Union Jack, and Spitfire head to the front line to aid the British against Rommel's forces, the Human Torch and Namor go with Faoul to the pyramids.

The Torch and Namor dig their way into a hudden chamber, where a mysterious ruby scarab waits. Faoul grabs it, revealing, beneath his clothes, ancient Egyptian garb that marks him as a Son of the Scarab. The ruby gifts Faoul with incredible powers, as he brags to the heroes that his not simply a member of the Sons -- he is their leader. He holds his own against the duo and then takes off to assist the Nazis in driving the British from Egypt. Meanwhile, Captain America and the others struggle to hold the line againt Rommel's advance.

INVADERS #22

"THE FIRE THAT DIED!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Artists: Jim Mooney & Frank Springer
Colorist: Phil Rachelson | Letterer: John Costanza
Consulting Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: The Invaders board the British vessel Forester, which ferries them back to England in order to get medical attention for Toro. On the way, the Human Torch tells his friends the true origin of his young ward.

Continuity Notes: The Torch says that he met Toro in 1940's HUMAN TORCH #1, "nearly two years" before the events of this issue. The story the public knows is that the Torch met Toro when he was part of an act in a circus, and adopted him as a crime-fighting partner after his parents were killed in a train accident. The Torch fills in some blanks, however: Toro is actually the son of Fred Raymond, lab assistant to the Torch's creator, Professor Horton. Raymond is a specialist on asbestos, and has contracted a terminal disease due to his work with the substance. But this doesn't stop him from marrying his sweetheart, Nora, who is also dying due to exposure to radium.

The couple welcomes a child soon after their wedding, but are shortly accosted by the Human Torch's enemy, Asbestos Lady, who wants Raymond to work for her. The Torch saves them and learns from the couple that Toro is a mutant, with flame-based powers. The Torch decides to keep an eye on the Raymonds, but fails to protect them from the train accident, which -- unknown the general public -- was staged by Asbestos Lady. Toro is adoped by the circus fire-eaters, and his survival of the crash soon becomes public knowledge. Asbestos Lady and the Human Torch both go to the circus for him, and Toro's powers awaken as he helps the Torch defeat Asbestos Lady.

INVADERS #20 & #21

"THE BATTLE OF BERLIN!" | "THE BATTLE OF BERLIN! PART TWO!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Letterers: Tom Orzechowski (#20) & John Costanza (#21)
Colorists: Don Dickens (#20) & Sam Kato (#21) | Consulting Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: (Issue 20) As Union Jack battles the Nazis, the Invaders shake off the effects of their drugs and join the fray. But Toro is shot, sending the Human Torch into a frenzy. As soon as Master Man and Warrior Woman are married, Hitler sends them into the fight, running off with Captain America's shield. Hitler and his scientist, Colonel Dietrich, board a plane and fly off, unaware that Dyna-Mite has hitched a ride.

(Issue 21) Dyna-Mite reveals himself and takes out Hitler's guards, but the dictator bails out of the plane, which is actually being piloted by Lord Falsworth and his aide, Oskar, to evade capture. On the ground, the Invaders are on the defensive against the Nazi army, Master Man, and Warrior Woman. When the plane comes back around, they board it and fly out of Germany, barely making it back to the English Channel. There, the crashed heroes are rescued by a British patrol boat, as the Torch declares that Toro needs medical care.

INVADERS #19

"WAR COMES TO THE WILHELMSTRASSE"
Author/Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators/Innovators: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Goerge Roussos | Consulting Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Namor, the Human Torch, Toro, and Bucky, all captives of the Third Reich, are paraded through Berlin. Captain America and the Destroyer observe from hiding, until Bucky angers a Nazi guard. When the guard prepares to shoot Bucky, Cap leaps into action, and the Destroyer follows. But in the ensuing skirmish, the Destroyer is killed by a grenade blast, and Cap is captured.

The entire incident is observed from hiding by Lord Falsworth, Spitfire, Dyna-Mite, and their aide, Oskar. The quartet has come to Berlin seeking a way to restore Dyna-Mite to his normal size, and looking for Falsworth's son, Brian. When the group heads to the Nazi Institute of Science, they run across the scientist who altered Dyna-Mite and the other Crusaders, but he captures them with a trap door and some knockout gas.

The next morning, Spitfire stands alongside the other Invaders, all drugged to prevent escape, for execution. As Master Man and Warrior Woman stand before a minister to be publicly wed, Hitler orders a firing squad to finish the Invaders. But before the squad can carry out this command, Union Jack leaps into the scene.

INVADERS #18

"ENTER: THE MIGHTY DESTROYER!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: George Roussos

The Plot: Captain America, hurled from Hitler's fortress ramparts by Warrior Woman, plummets toward the ground -- but he manages to break his fall with his shield and is caught on the ground by a costumed mystery man. Meanwhile, Hitler orders that Master Man and Warrior Woman will be wed to sire a new race of superhumans. When Warrior Woman bristles at this, Hitler gives her time to think it over.

Three Nazi soldiers arrive to collect Captain America's body, but instead find themselves attacked by Cap and the man who saved him, the Mighty Destroyer. The duo defeats the soliders and then ducks into the Destroyer's cavern hideout, where he describes his origin to Cap. Meanwhile, Hitler orders the imprisoned Invaders loaded up for transport to Berlin, where they will be publicly executed.

At that moment, Spitfire, Lord Falsworth, and Dyna-Mite arrive secretly in Berlin and link up with Oskar, an old German friend of Falsworth's. Back at the fortress, Warrior Woman orders Private Biljo White executed -- but after she departs, Cap and the Destroyer rescue him, and then learn that the Invaders have already been taken away.

INVADERS #17

"THE MAKING OF WARRIOR WOMAN, 1942!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Colorist: George Roussos | Letterer: John Costanza

The Plot: Hitler and Master Man gloat over the imprisoned Invaders, then depart. Meanwhile, Private Biljo White is interrogated by the woman he once knew as Julia, but who now identifies herslef as Madame Ratzel. When Ratzel hypnotizes him, White tells her that he grew up with a man who is now a government scientist, and who told him that one of the key ingredients in the Super Soldier Serum is potassium.

Realizing this was the one ingredient Brain Drain lacked when he created Master Man, Ratzel quickly sets about creating a new serum. But she is interrupted by a Captain Schneider, who realizes she plans to test the serum on herself. Schneider tries to stop her, and in the ensuing struggle, Ratzel's machinery explodes. Schneider is killed, while Ratzel is empowered with superhuman strength.

The Invaders manage to free themselves and confront Hitler and Master Man on the ramparts of Hitler's fortress. But when Ratzel arrives, calling herself Kriegerfrau -- "Warrior Woman" -- the heroes once again fall. Captain America is hurled off the castle, and the rest of the team is recaptured.