Real Name: Thomas Norton

Identity/Class: Human (1950s era)

Occupation: None

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Captain, Milton (AKA Milty) (last name unrevealed; playmate)

Enemies: Elvira, Raymond (last names unrevealed)

Known Relatives: Unidentified parents (deceased), Elvira (aunt), Raymond (uncle)

Aliases: Tommy

Base of Operations: His Aunt Elvira and Uncle Raymond's home, somewhere in an unidentified American city

First Appearance: Mystic#11/1 (August, 1952)

Powers/Abilities: Appearing to be normal boy of perhaps six years of age, Tommy had no known paranormal abilities.

Tommy's deceased parents left him the sum of $50,000, which he was to inherit (presumably when he reached adulthood).

Despite the deaths of his parents, Tommy seemed to be a happy and well-adjusted boy, although he did spend a lot of time talking to his toy soldier--however, the toy soldier would later apparently save Tommy's life.

Height: 3' 6" (by approximation)
Weight: 50 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black

History:
(Mystic#11/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Tommy Norton is largely unrevealed, but after the deaths of his parents, his Aunt Elvira and Uncle Raymond became his legal guardians; Tommy went to live with them, and he brought along his favorite toy--the Captain, a tin soldier that held a cork-firing popgun.

   Tommy placed the Captain on his bedroom dresser, and he would spend hours talking to the toy soldier, which gave Raymond the "creeps". The greedy Elvira schemed to kill Tommy so she could be next in line to inherit the money that Tommy's parents had left the boy.

(Mystic#11/1) - One afternoon, as Tommy went out to play with his pal Milty, Elvira told Raymond she was determined to kill her nephew; the cowardly Raymond tried to dissuade Elvira, only to be physically abused by his domineering wife.

   Hours later, Tommy returned home for dinner--after he washed up, he spent some time talking to his beloved toy. Tommy was late to the dinner table, and he explained to his aunt and uncle that he had to report to the Captain. Elvira and Raymond scolded Tommy, telling the boy he should be ashamed of himself for talking to the toy as if it were a real person--Tommy insisted the Captain was a real person, and also his very best friend. As they all ate dinner, the hate-filled Elvira whispered to Raymond that they would kill Tommy that very night.

   When Tommy was ready for bed, he kissed his "loving" aunt and uncle good night and went up to his bedroom; afterwards, Elvira told Raymond that they would make Tommy's death look like an accident--she slapped her squeamish husband to make him stop trembling.

   While cold-blooded murder was being plotted downstairs, Tommy was up in his bedroom and talking to the Captain; as he crawled into bed, Tommy told the Captain to stand guard until he woke up.

   Downstairs, Elvira worked out the details for killing Tommy--they would hit him on the head with a fireplace poker, then put his body at the foot of the stairs and tell the police that the boy had fallen down. But the cowardly Raymond wanted no part of the murder; fed up with her spineless husband, Elvira struck Raymond on the head with the poker and killed him--now she would take care of killing Tommy herself, and she wouldn't have to share the $50,000 with anyone.

   Elvira climbed the stairs, silently opened the door, and tip-toed into the sleeping Tommy's darkened bedroom, with the poker held high; but before Elvira could strike, there came the reverberations of a single sound in the darkness: BANG!!

   The sound of the gunshot was heard by two police officers on the street below. Thirty seconds later, the policemen broke into Tommy Norton's bedroom, where they found one shocked, horrified boy, and one dead woman with an iron poker still clutched in her hand, apparently killed by a gunshot. The cops were mystified--who could've shot the woman?

   Eight minutes later, the medical examiner reached the scene of the crime, and he removed the bullet from Elvira's body so it could be traced back to the murder weapon; with the figure of Tommy's tin soldier behind him, the medical examiner told the policemen that the bullet that killed Elvira was made of cork... from a toy gun!

Comments: Created by Stan Lee (writer) and John Romita (artist).

This 7-page story -- Death and Tommy Norton -- would be reprinted in Crypt of Shadows#7 (November, 1973).

Although the splash-panel featured Tommy being menaced by the skeletal robed figure of Death, this was only a symbolic illustration, and the entity of Death didn't actually appear in the story.

No explanation was given for how the Captain was able to fire the lethal cork bullet at Elvira, so perhaps it actually was Death working behind-the-scenes.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Tommy Norton has no known connections to:

Elvira and Raymond have no known connections to:

The Captain has no known connections to:

Elvira and Raymond

A married couple, the greedy Elvira was a domineering shrew of a woman, and Raymond was her milquetoast husband; when angered, Elvira would often physically abuse Raymond.

Elvira and Raymond became the guardians of Tommy Norton following the death of Tommy's parents (Elvira's sister had been Tommy's mother). Both disliked the boy, who would spend hours talking to his toy soldier. Elvira schemed to kill Tommy so she could get her hands on the $50,000 inheritance that his parents had left him, but Raymond was somewhat reluctant to take part in the crime.

After plotting to make Tommy's death look like an accident, Elvira planned to strike him on the head with a fireplace poker, then put the boy's body at the foot of the stairs. Raymond wanted no part in the murder, so the angered Elvira struck him on the head with the poker and killed him.

Elvira then went into the sleeping Tommy's bedroom, but before she could strike the boy, she was apparently shot and killed by Tommy's beloved toy soldier, the Captain.

--Mystic#11/1

Captain

A toy soldier more than twenty years old, the Captain was made of tin and stood perhaps 8 inches tall; the Captain held a wooden popgun that fired a cork projectile.

The Captain was the property of Tommy Norton, who kept the toy on his bedroom dresser; the boy loved his little toy soldier, and he considered the Captain to be his very best friend--Tommy would often spend hours talking to the Captain.

One night, while Tommy was sleeping, his Aunt Elvira was about to murder the boy; as she stood over his bed and prepared to strike Tommy with a fireplace poker, the Captain apparently shot and killed Elvira with his rifle's cork bullet (see comments).

--Mystic#11/1

unidentified medical examiner

After Elvira was shot and killed when she attempted to kill her nephew Tommy Norton, the medical examiner was called to the scene of the crime.

The medical examiner removed the bullet that killed Elvira so it could be traced back to the murder weapon.

As he stood in front of Tommy's armed toy soldier, the medical examiner revealed that the bullet was made of cork, and that it came from a toy gun.

--Mystic#11/1

images: (without ads)
Mystic#11/1, p1, pan1 (Main Image - Tommy Norton; the Captain on dresser (background))
Mystic#11/1, p2, pan4 (Headshot - Tommy Norton; Elvira watching and plotting from window of house)
Mystic#11/1, p3, pan1 (Tommy returns home after playing with Milty)
Mystic#11/1, p5, pan5 (Tommy prepares for bed, talks to the Captain (on dresser))
Mystic#11/1, p1, pan1 (Death)
Mystic#11/1, p2, pan1 (Elvira (left) talks with Raymond (right) about killing Tommy)
Mystic#11/1, p4, pan2 (Elvira (left) plots with Raymond (right) to kill Tommy)
Mystic#11/1, p6, pan4,5 (Elvira strikes Raymond with fireplace poker)
Mystic#11/1, p3, pan3 (Tommy talks to the Captain)
Mystic#11/1, p3, pan4 (Tommy talks to the Captain)
Mystic#11/1, p5, pan4 (Headshot - the Captain)
Mystic#11/1, p7, pan6 (policemen and Tommy (left), medical examiner (right) by body of Elvira)
Mystic#11/1, p7, pan7 (medical examiner reveals that Elvira was killed by a cork bullet; the Captain on dresser (background))

Appearances:
Mystic#11/1 (August, 1952) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John Romita Sr. (pencils and inks)

First Posted: 10/04/2018
Last updated: 10/04/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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