Captain America Comics #24 (reprinted in the Golden Age Captain America Marvel Masterworks v6 as well as the Golden Age Captain America Omnibus) has a full-page ad for the next issue, which reads: "From the author of 'The Girl in the Golden Atom,' one of the most sensational science fiction stories ever written--the editors of Captain America Comics have received the most amazing Captain America story ever to unfold before a mortal's startled eyes! Next month don't miss Captain America trapped in the 'Unknown World!'" The writer is Ray Cummings, who used the premise of his novel for this story. (Synopses transcribed from Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe.)
"The Princess of the Atom" - "At Birds' Nest Island, off Maine's coast, Steve and Bucky picnic with Frank Ferrule and his adopted sister Dianne, whom Frank's parents found as an infant. Later, the group returns to the mainland Ferrule home, but Dianne vanishes. further up the coast, four giants, hundreds of feet tall, wreak havoc, sinking ships and killing hundrerds. Cap and Bucky commandeer a plane and attack. With so many lives at stake, they have no recourse but to kill the giants via strafing and bombing. Cap and Bucky visit Frank, where a mysterious man warns them away from Birds' Nest Island. They nonetheless return and find two women only inches tall, Dianne and a younger woman, Ahlma, who identifies Dianne as a princess of Mita, a planet within an 'Atom World' on a meteorite fragment on Birds' Nest Island. Mita is threatened by Togaro, leader of a neigboring green-skinned race. For her safety, Dianne's parents, Mita's king and queen, sent her to Earth as an infant. The king and queen dead, Ahlma asks Dianne to return to Mita, where Togaro has stolen recently developed drugs to easily shrink and grow. Cap and Bucky realize the giants were Togaro's men and the mystery man Togaro himself. Unnoticed, a tiny Togaro climbs onto Cap and accompanies the group to Frank's father's lab, where they synthesize additional size-changing drugs. Togaro feeds some to a roach, which grows to giant size and attacks the group until they overwhelm and kill it. Spotting Togaro, Cap and Bucky shrink and pursue him into a wood particle's celular structure. A fight ensues, but when Togaro starts growing, Cap does the same and the fight moves back into the lab proper, where Togaro knocks Cap unconscious and flees. Cap and Bucky return to normal size, move the 'Atom World' meteorite fragment to the lab and hire local men Ezra and Foley to guard it. when a Mitan man, Alt, appears to report Togaro's forces are readying an attack, Cap, Buck, Dianne, Ahlma and Frank shrink to accompany him to the Atom World. Togaro's underling's raid the lab. Foley throws an acid bottle at them, but a drop falls into the fragment, where, to the shrunken humans it is a deadly flood."
The story continues in Captain America Comics #26, making it the only Golden Age Captain America story to extend over two issues.
"The Princess of the Atom, Part II" - "Faced with the acid flood, Cap grows large enough to carry his friends to safety, then, shrinking, joins them through the portal to the Atom world where they board Alt's space and size-change ship. Unnoticed, Unnoticed, a tiny Togaro hitches a rise on Bucky. As the ship travels, Torgo grows and takes the women hostage. Cap and Bucky shrink to sneak onto Togarowho ties Dianne and Ahlma to his belt, unaware of the heroes' presssence. When the ship lands on Mita, Togaro grows to immense size and heads for his mountainstonghold. Cap and Bucky untie the women, but only cap and Dianne escape. In Mita's city, they rejoin Frankand Alt. Togaro's size-changing ship, crewed by his men, arrives at Togaro's stronghold, where it grows gigantic. Noticing Dianne's absence, Torago declares Ahlma his servant but remian unaware of Bucky. His ship soon dwarfs Mita itself, which falls from orbit. Meanwhile, Cap, as a giant, places thousands of Mitans into Alt's ship, which barely escapes before the planet falls into its sun. Togaro captures Bucky and plans to conquer Earth. When Togaro's sghip lands near the portal, Bucky and Ahlma shrink and escape. the Mitan ship crashes on the portal-world; only cap, Dianne and Frank survive. They join Bucky and Ahlma, and make the return trip to Earth, but Togaro's three comrades, having stolen the meteorite 'containing' the Atom World, guard it in Frank's boathouse. the heroes evade detection and escape. Togaro's men enter Earth, becoming giants. Cap and Bucky fight wave after wave of giant warriors, repeatedly growing themselves to dwarf their opponents. Finaly only Torgo himself, now thousands of feet tall, remains. Cap grows to the same size. Togaro catches Cap in a wrestling hold, but cap breaks free and pummels him with blows, knocking him into a cliff. Apparently struck dead, Togaro shrinks into nothingness. Back to normal, Cap and Bucky bid farewell to Frank, Dianne and Ahlma."
I don't know about you, but that's a comic book I would love to read! Unfortunately, I have given up on Marvel ever publishing additional volumes of the Golden Age Captain America omnibus series. Is Mitra part of the microverse from which hail the Mircronauts and Psycho-Man? What about Jarella's world? (Given the Mitrans' green skin and system of government by royalty, I think this likely.) Perhaps this story has been "classified" (within the Marvel Universe) for national security or some other reason. At this point, the "declassification" of the "Unknown World" in our lifetime doesn't seem likely.
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