Chris Coke

PRELUDE: Human Torch #2

Introducing Toro, the Flaming Kid

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: September 25, 1940
Cover: Fall 1940
10 cents
By Carl Burgos
19 pages

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Marvel Mystery Comics #4	PRELUDE	Marvel Mystery Comics #17
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

Looks like I’ve found a miniature Human Torch!

After appearing in 13 issues of Marvel Mystery Comics, Human Torch gets his own self-titled magazine.

This is the first issue. Except that it’s Human Torch #2.

The numbering seems to continue from the otherwise unrelated Red Raven Comics #1.

I’m not an expert on why comics were so against first issues back in the day. I’ve heard it was a way of dodging some postal fees for starting a new periodical to distributed. I’ve also heard marketing at the time thought people wouldn’t buy first issues of titles because they were “unproven”. Marvel marketing in the 2000s would feel the opposite, and started restarting titles with a new #1 every year or so, feeling that first issues sell better than later issues.

Maybe market comics based on their content and just number things sensibly.

Some modern online sources refer to this issue as Human Torch #1, so it gets a bit confusing. Some online sources call the series Human Torch Comics. aligning the GCD, which says it’s titled simply The Human Torch.

The numbering of this series only gets more confusing from here. We’ll discuss the numbering and title confusion in more detail in a later post.

Let’s talk Batman for a moment. One of the most enduringly popular superheroes of all time. (After Spider-Man, of course.) But what made Batman so popular? In concept, he wasn’t that different from the Shadow or the Phantom or characters going back to Zorro. In fact, he was rather similar to the Black Bat. What did Batman have that these characters didn’t that gave him such staying power?

Perhaps it’s aspects of his look designed by Bill Finger, the cool gloves or cowl, the cape that flowed in the wind to look like wings. But that’s not my theory.

The thing that made Batman unique? The thing that made Batman great? The thing that made Batman endure?

I claim it’s Robin. Introduced a year into Batman’s adventures, Batman gained a kid sidekick. And it’s Batman and Robin that was the unique concept, that was popular and enduring.

Robin would be well-imitated.

Toro is the first significant imitation of Robin, introduced about 6 months after. A few months later, Marvel would introduce Captain America and Bucky. Some months later, DC would introduce Green Arrow and Speedy, and Sandman would get his partner Sandy.

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #4

The Human Torch

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: December 20, 1939
Cover: February 1940
10 cents
By: Carl Burgos
12 pages

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Marvel Mystery Comics #2	PRELUDE	Human Torch #2
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

“What’s your name?”
“–Er–Hamond–Jim Hamond”

We’ve now read the first two Human Torch stories. At this point, he’s going around stopping bad guys and stuff like a typical superhero. The third issue does confirm that Professor Horton is dead.

We’ll jump ahead to the close of the 1930s for the fourth story, as it adds something significant to his mythos, give or take an M.

The Human Torch is described as “the master of all flame”, which will be a common slogan for the character.

Johnson, Human Torch’s friend from the second issue, recommended the Torch come up with a civilian name and keep his identity secret. So the Torch calls himself Jim Hamond.

The Torch has some imitators, these green flames.

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #2

The Human Torch

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: October 13, 1939
Cover: December 1939
10 cents
By Carl Burgos
16 pages

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	PRELUDE	Marvel Mystery Comics #4
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

“I say, it was an awful crime for the Torch to burn up Horton’s home and kill him!”
“Perhaps it was his own fault, ma’am– He saw the possibilities of making a fortune for himself… obviously the Torch didn’t approve!”

When we first began this blog with Fantastic Four #1, we met Johnny Storm, and noted he was not Marvel’s first character named Human Torch, and so read the story of Marvel’s very first superhero in Marvel Comics #1.

We later saw the battles of the Human Torch and Namor in Marvel Mystery Comics #7 and Human Torch #5. The latter includes Human Torch’s sidekick Toro. We read some Young Allies stories, which also featured Toro, though we haven’t been properly introduced to him.

Now it’s time to do a good read-through of some of the early Human Torch stories. I’ve tried to pick out 10 key stories.

For its second issue, the title of this inaugural magazine is being expanded from simply Marvel Comics to Marvel Mystery Comics. Human Torch graced the first issue’s cover, but this issue it will go to one of the book’s other stars, the Angel.

In his origin, the Human Torch was a robot created by Professor Horton designed to be just like a human. A flaw in his design caused him to burst into flame. The press wanted Horton to destroy his creation. He instead reached a compromise with the scientific community to seal the Human Torch away until they could figure out how to control his flame. The Torch broke out, got duped by some mobsters, figured out he’d been duped and killed them. In the process, he was exposed to nitrogen, which gave him control over his own flame. He can turn it on or off at will, and even shoot fireballs. When he realized Horton also just hoped to profit off him, the Human Torch burned a hole in Horton’s ceiling and flew away.

Professor Horton kept a journal. We see snippets of it recounting the above events, including the Human Torch leaving him.

Fantastic Four #56

Klaw the Murderous Master of Sound!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 7, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Produced by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Delineated by: Joe Sinnot
Lettered by: Artie Simek
20 pages

Previous	#610	Next
	PRELUDE	Marvel Mystery Comics #2
Fantastic Four #55	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4
Fantastic Four #55	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #57

Our biggest problem seems to be keeping the somewhat disoriented Marvel Universe in some semblance of order! But, when you constantly mess around with space/time warps, and continuums, negatives zones, intra-cosmic deviationary fields, and universes beyond the reached of infinity, you’re apt to get a little bit confused! So bear with us, erudite one, for verily thou hast the seeming of a true believer!

Two notes about the credits. The first is that there are two Ts in Sinnott.

The second is that the credits will stop specifying Stan Lee as the writer, when Kirby is doing most of the writing. The compromise is the nebulous “produced by” credit. Ditko had fought for a similar credit in his comics before leaving.

Sue is upset that Reed is always working, and not spending enough time with his wife. Not the first time we’ve seen this complaint.

Reed has all kinds of fancy technology, including a visi-phone which connects to his lab. Wow. A visi-phone. Imagine being able to talk to someone remotely and see them at the same time!

Eh. I’d rather just send a text.

Fantastic Four #55

When Strikes the Silver Surfer!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 7, 1966
Cover: October 1966
12 cents
Scripted with a smile by: Stan (The Man) Lee
Pencilled with a passion by: Jack (King) Kirby
Delineated with a dignity by: Jovial Joe Sinnott
Lettered with a lilt by: Swingin’ Sammy Rosen
Applauded with Aplomb by: Honest Irving Forbush
20 pages

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Sgt. Fury #35	Reading order	Fantastic Four #56
Fantastic Four #54	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #56

I have seen men build… and destroy! I have seen this world, which could be paradise, reduced to a planet of greed, and fear, and hatred! I have seen humanity with its heritage betrayed!

When Galactus came to devour Earth, Silver Surfer was his herald. But Silver Surfer met Alicia Masters, and she convinced him that humanity was worth saving. So Silver Surfer betrayed his master. As punishment, Galactus took Silver Surfer’s space-time powers from him. This presumably means he cannot fly faster than light speed, so is practically confined to within a lightyear or so of Earth.

Thing hadn’t been happy that Alicia seemed so impressed by the Silver Surfer, and spent some time moping in the rain about it.

Johnny and Wyatt have been on their way to the Great Refuge of the Inhumans since they left Wakanda. Along the way, they came across Prester John and the Evil Eye, which Johnny thought might break the Negative Zone barrier around the Great Refuge. But that didn’t work out.

Shouldn’t Johnny and Wyatt be in school?

Reed still owes Sue a proper honeymoon. Though he has taken her to the Great Refuge and Wakanda. But I guess she wants somewhere just the two of them where they don’t battle evil. Women, eh.

Sgt. Fury #35

Berlin Breakout!

Berlin Breakout!
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: August 9, 1966
Cover: October 1966
12 cents
Edited by Stan Lee
Scripted by Roy Thomas
Drawn by Dick Ayers
Inked by John Tartaglione
Lettered by Sam Rosen
Picketed by Baron Strucker
20 pages

Previous	#608	Next
Sgt. Fury #34	Reading order	Fantastic Four #55
Sgt. Fury #34	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #36

I am not a traitor to my homeland! I want to save it… to free it from the tyranny of a madman like Adolf Hitler!

The Howlers are in custody in Berlin, set to be executed. Nick Fury intends to rescue them, but he’ll need help.

Part of that help will come from Fury’s good friend, Bull McGiveney. As well as Corporal Rickets Johnson from the Maulers. We learned his name two issues back, but now we get to put a face to it.

The other person is Eric, a German we met in Sgt. Fury #27. He’d been an aide to Goering, but defected to join the Allies. We didn’t get his surname then, but we now learn his full name is Eric Koenig.

Sgt. Fury #34

The Origin of the Howlers!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: July 7, 1966
Cover: September 1966
12 cents
The peerless editing of Stan Lee
The preciocious scripting of Roy Thomas
The power-packed pencilling of Dick Ayers
The pulse-pounding inking of John Tartaglione
The pussycat lettering of Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Sgt. Fury #33	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #35
Sgt. Fury #33	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #35

“I don’t like Hitler’s goose-steppers any more’n you do, but as long as he don’t attack America, it ain’t my war!”
“It’s everybody’s war, Mister… I just hope they realize it before it’s too late!”

Recall last issue the Howlers were separated from Nick Fury during a mission in Greece. He is back in England now without them.

With nothing to do but wait for G-2 to bring back word on the fate of the Commandos, Captain Sawyer reflects on how he first met Nick Fury, and the group’s beginnings.

Sgt. Fury #33

The Grandeur that was Greece..

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: June 9, 1966
Cover: August 1966
12 cents
Stan Lee, editor
Roy Thomas, writer
Dick Ayers, artist
John Tartaglione, inker
Sam Rosen, letterer
Irving Forbush, camp mascot
20 pages

Previous	#606	Next
Tales to Astonish #88, Story B	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #34
Sgt. Fury #32	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #34

My countrymen, the much-vaunted invincibility of our so-called Aryan conquerors is but a myth! They can be stopped… but only by a united front! Do not let petty jealousies divide you in this time of crisis!

Greece. You get the sense these stories are written by looking at a map of where the Howlers haven’t been yet.

We open with a fight between the Howlers and Maulers. A typical Tuesday.

Besides Sgt. McGiveney, we’ve not learned the names of any of the Maulers; we first met the group in issue 7. We now learn that one of them is named “Rickets” Johnson. It’s not clearly identified which one. Izzy claims he started the fight by slugging Rickets.

Tales to Astonish #88, Story B

The Boomerang and the Brute!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: November 3, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
Hulkamorous script by: Stan (The Man) Lee
Hulkitudinous art by: Gil (Sugar) Kane
Hulkifying lettering by: Sammy (Dozin’) Rosen
10 pages

Previous	#605	Next
Tales to Astonish #87, Story B	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #33
Tales to Astonish #88	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #89

The poor, lumbering brute! He was guilty only of being feared– and misunderstood!

Gil Kane is going to become a big name at Marvel. We’ve seen him once before on a Hulk story a dozen issues back under the alias of Scott Edward and we reviewed his career at the time.

It’s possible this is his first properly credited Marvel work.

He brings a distinctive style, a very different take on Hulk from that of John Buscema the past two issues.

It’s been 7 issues since Boomerang entered Hulk’s life. We finally see that saga reach a conclusion. It’s been a long road, and I summarize in painstaking detail that road below. These past 6 months have been the most interconnected the Marvel Universe has yet been. Perhaps fittingly we will soon see that the phrase “Marvel Universe” also debuted in that timespan.

At this point it seems like everybody knows Hulk’s secret identity. But the first person to learn it after Rick was the President of the United States, presumably President Johnson. And that is presumably President Johnson now interceding on Hulk’s behalf.

Unfortunately, Boomerang intervenes and drives Hulk to a rampage and another conflict with the military.

Tales to Astonish #87, Story B

The Humanoid and the Hero!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: October 11, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Story: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Art: Big John Buscema
Inks: Mighty Mickey D.
Lettering: Adorable Artie S.
10 pages

Previous	#604	Next
Tales to Astonish #87	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #88, Story B
Tales to Astonish #87	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #88

“Have you gone mad?”
“I hope so! It’s what I’m counting on!”

Every issue has a nickname for these creators. I claim the most enduring for Lee is Stan (The Man) Lee. Though I might guess that in our reading so far, Smilin’ Stan Lee is the most common nickname.

This is only John Buscema’s second month in his return to Marvel, and Stan has already found the nickname that will stick. Big John Buscema is the one I most associate with him.

Adorable Artie is also one of the more common ones. Stan loves his alliteration.

We left Hulk in Manhattan battling the Leader’s Hulk-Killer Humanoid. The Secret Empire is defeated. Boomerang is still up to stuff.