Peacemaker #5 (1967)

At his home in the Swiss Alps, Peacemaker is experimenting with a flame-proof glove and he tells his secretary Nora O'Rourke that he had designed the material for soldiers and firemen to use in case of a fire. Similarly, he created a new heat-proof Peacemaker helmet. Back in his office, he dictates a letter to Nora to send to his government about the chemical. Meanwhile in the United States, a stage magician called Mr. Blaze burns his other hand as well after doing a trick of eating fire. The doctor advises him to refrain from such activities, causing him to tell him to get out in anger. Suddenly, a news broadcaster reports about the diplomat-turned-scientist Christopher Smith having developed a fire-proof material, which he had sent to the United States Chemical Laboratory in the city. Hearing about this, Blaze becomes excited and desires to acquire it for his benefit. Going to the lab's mail room, Blaze uses a flash bomb on the guards and starts a fire, before stealing the fire-proof cloth and chemical. Back at his home, Smith becomes suspicious at how the cloth he sent could have been gutted in the lab fire, before telling Nora to send another sample. He then desires to complete his Absolute-Zero Generator. Mr. Blaze meanwhile learns about a village being destroyed by a volcano and believes it to be the perfect opportunity to test the stolen material. As Blaze arrives near the island which was the site of the destroyed village, the captain of the ship transporting him refuses to take him any further, as something was attacking people who came near the island. Blaze gets into a dinghy with as much equipment as possible and while rowing, tells the captain that some of it was still on-board. The captain decides to throw it in the water as he didn't want to stay there any longer, but his ship is soon struck by molten rock thrown by mysterious lavamen. Going to the shore, he tells the lavamen that he wants to become like them and wants to see where they lived. As they agree, he covers himself in Smith's fire-proof chemical he had stolen, in order to tolerate the heat. Going to the fiery home of the lavamen, Blaze tells them that the world will try to destroy them once they discover them and they must be ready to destroy it first. Meanwhile as an aircraft approaches the island to examine the destruction, it is struck by a molten rock from one of the lavamen, bewildering its occupants. Soon, Mr. Blaze develops the jet flame repeater, to allow the lavamen to fly, and tells them that they needed equipment from a ship, anchored at the site where the United States is going to conduct an underwater nuclear test. Smith, who is also on that ship, dons his Peacemaker disguise in order to be able to see the molecular disintegration from the blast up-close. While flying using his jetpack, Smith spots Mr. Blaze along with two lavamen. Confused at the sight, he is soon knocked out by a rock from one of the lavamen. As he regains consciousness above the Navy ship hijacked by Blaze and his forces, he guesses that he must be the one who stole his fire-proof cloth and formula. Blaze confirms his suspicions and declares his intentions to conquer the world with it. As a warplane of the United States Air Force approaches, Blaze has one of the lavamen destroy it, before returning to the island where they resided. Blaze tells Smith that he had kept him alive because he needs his cooperation, and if he refused, he would destroy Washington D.C. Smith is forced to agree to Blaze's demands to construct a powerful quadrisonic aircraft, equipped with atomic engines and weapons of the lavamen. Blaze however goes back on his promise to not use it to kill anyone after its completion, leading to Smith clashing with his forces. He however gets knocked out by the lavamen and is thrown in a volcanic fissure. As he falls to the depths, he activates his jetpack to fly through the tunnels, but realizes the heat is too great for him to survive. Using his Artificial-Zero generator gun freezes the lava for a moment, until the great heat causes it to melt again and create an explosion. Knowing that the aircraft he helped Blaze build is indestructible, he goes back to the Peace Palace. When he returns, Nora informs smith that an aircraft carrier in the Pacific is under attack by lavamen and a mysterious plane has destroyed four fighter jets in North America. Smith promises to do what he can and has his Artificial-Zero Generator units loaded on the U-X and rushes to reach the United States by flying over the Arctic. Meanwhile Mr. Blaze's aircraft proves impervious against the missiles fired by the United States military, due to the heat generated by it, and he prepares to destroy Washington with an incendiary cannon. Smith however remembers that the half-life of the fire-proof chemical he's covered in, is going to expire. This soon forces Blaze to eject out of the aircraft and Smith destroys it with his Artificial-Zero Generator. As Blaze is presumed dead, the lavamen return to their volcanic home and Smith seals its openings with the Artificial-Zero Generator.