PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #92

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: February 16, 1949
Cover: June 1949
10 cents
14 pages

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All-Winners Comics #19	PRELUDE	Young Men #24
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The Academy then publicly reinstated Horton, and recognized his greatest achievement, the Human Torch!

The popularity of superheroes waned post World War II, and in 1949, Marvel was ready to give up on the genre completely. This final issue of Marvel Mystery Comics features the last Human Torch story, as well as a Captain America story.

The series will change its name to Marvel Tales and become a horror anthology.

Human Torch’s own series ended with Human Torch #35 two months earlier. In that story, Human Torch travels to Venus to deal with some interplanetary diplomacy. Given that we know his flame is powered by oxygen, it’s not clear how he made it all the way there.

In a few months, Sub-Mariner’s story will come to an end, and later that year Captain America would have his final adventure in Captain America’s Weird Tales before the book became a full horror anthology.

Human Torch was created by Professor Horton. He then turned on and killed his creator. Or did he? It was later revealed Horton was alive and working secretly for the US government. Any old conflict between Horton and the Torch seemed to be in the past. And the Torch later saved Horton’s niece Doris from foreign spies.

Now, we learn Professor Horton is dead. Again. We also learn I think for the first time his full name: Professor Albert Horton.

The Human Torch notes it’s been 10 years since he’s seen Horton. Either he’s rounding or something off. They were together in 1942, and certainly those stories take place after the US joined the war.

But this issue seems to not acknowledge those 1942 stories and wants to claim Human Torch hasn’t seen Horton since his first adventure in 1939.

We get a retelling of the Torch’s origin. Apparently thousand of readers have asked to hear the origin of the Human Torch. Why not just track down Marvel Comics #1?

And did these readers want to read the origin of the Human Torch only to then never read another Human Torch story again? Because that’s what they’re getting.

The origin of the Human Torch here comes from a newspaper article. So maybe that explains any discrepancies from the original stories. Perhaps the newspaper has its facts wrong.

It first notes Horton has been bedridden since 1939, when we know he was working for the government in 1942, and in seemingly fine health.

We’ll compare this retelling to the original and note discrepancies.

Right off the bat, the order of events is switched. Originally, Horton unveiled his creation to the press. And when they were unsupportive, he called the Scientists’ Guild for support.

This time, he first meets with scientists, this time from the Academy of Sciences, and then with the press.

We’ll try to consistently order the comparisons with the original from Marvel Comics #1 first and the retelling second.

The headlines this time come from the scientific community, and they describe Horton as mad for not destroying his dangerous creation, which Horton resents.

So then he meets with the press second to prove he’s not a mad scientist. By showing them the man made of fire he built.

But you can see the scenes play out similarly, just with the reporters and scientists reversed.

Both versions lead to the compromise of him burying rather than destroying the creation. In the original, he and the scientists come up with the plan together and they implement it the next day. In the new version, he first spent months trying to control the flame before deciding to bury the robot in concrete after collapsing from exhaustion.

The new version is more specific with dates, telling us the Torch was created in November 1939 and awakened on August 10, 1940. The burial took place between those dates in the spring, so the Torch spent something like 4 months buried.

In the original, the firefighters immediately recognize the Human Torch from the news. Now they mistake him at first for a man burning alive.

Then the sequence of events with the mobsters changes, and this leads to dramatic divergences. In both versions, the Torch jumps into a pool, and the mobsters see him. In the original, it happened to be the mobsters’ pool, and this gave the crook the idea to use the Human Torch for an insurance scheme. In the new version, the gang already had that idea and had gone to Horton’s to rough him up and gain control of the Human Torch. And they see the Torch jump into Horton’s pool. In the original, the mob boss was only ever called Sardo. We now learn his full name is Tony Sardo. His associate was originally called Red but is now called Al.

In the original, Horton had no connection to the gangsters. The Torch ran away from Horton, ran afoul of the gangsters, and then returned to Horton. This version intertwines their stories.

So it is in the original that Sardo dives into the pool to place the Torch in a tube. Now, it’s Horton who dives into the pool. The new version better explains how the mobsters got the vacuum sealed tube.

In both versions, Sardo uses the Human Torch for a protection racket. Some small differences in how he made the initial threat.

In original, Sardo visits Mr. Harris of Acmen Warehouses, Inc. Now Sardo visits Mr. Green of Akmen Steel Company. (Acmen Warehouses also seemed to be involved with steel.) In the new version, he has an appointment.

Either way, the company refuses to pay, so Sardo lets the Torch loose in their warehouses.

That’s where the similarities end. In the original, Sardo went home. The Human Torch figured out he was a racketeer (clever for someone a day old) and went to kill him, and then went to Horton’s house, and killed him.

Here, there is a big altercation at the scene. Police, firefighters, Sardo, Al, and Horton all involved. Al shoots and seriously injures Horton, leaving him bedridden.

In both versions, the Torch gains control of his powers. Originally it’s nitrogen from Sardo’s. Here it’s carbon dioxide (the thing we all breathe out?) from the firefighters.

In the original, Human Torch kills both gangsters. Now they are arrested. Perhaps it’s this child psychologist who certifies the issue as kid-appropriate that’s to blame for the lack of death.

Human Torch notes he can fly because he’s lighter than air. Johnny Storm will also assume this is why he can fly.

There is one similar scene left. In both, Human Torch demonstrates his control by putting out a cigar in someone’s mouth. In the original, it was Horton’s. Here it’s Horton’s doctor.

The conflict between Horton and the Torch, and Torch’s subsequent murder of Horton is completely absent.

Horton is bedridden and the Human Torch becomes a crimefighter and never sees Horton again. In this telling, at least.

The ending blurb promises more about Human Torch and his past next issue… but there won’t be a next issue.

Rating: ★½, 25/100

It just retells an old story and makes unnecessary changes. Like a bad clip show. Hardly a fitting ending for Marvel’s first superhero.

Characters:

• Human Torch
• Professor Albert Horton
• Tony Sardo
• Al
• Mr. Green

Story notes:

• Editorial consultant: Jean Thompson, MD
• Torch arrives to find Professor Horton dead.
• Academy of Sciences finally recognized Horton with Logan Medal.
• Newspaper details: Horton died of heart attack. Horton bedridden since 1939.
• Professor Horton’s full name: Professor Albert Horton.
• November 1939, 4 men from Academy of Science meet Horton.
• Horton works to control the flame and collapses from the work. It’s doctor who suggests he “bury” the problem. He buries the Torch in the spring of 1940.
• New version notes the Torch escaped on August 10, 1940.
• Horton kidnapped to be convinced to help with Human Torch insurance racket.
• Horton’s a prisoner of the gangsters but the press blames him for their racket.
• The original had a pool cover trap the Torch before he was moved to the tube.
• Horton blames the publicity from the Academy of Sciences for attracting the gangsters.
• Ending massively changed. After burning warehouse, police and firefighters try to deal with Torch. Al shoots Horton, despite Sardo’s objections. Al then shoots the police Chief.
• In the original, no police altercation. Torch burned Sardo’s house, then a car red was hiding under. Here, they are still near the crime scene as Sardo and Al try to get away.
• In the original, Sardo had a vault under his mansion he hid in. This scene was the source of the famous cover of Marvel Comics #1, but is absent here.
• In the original, Torch gains control of his powers through some nitgrogen gas at Sardo’s. Here it’s a carbon dioxide spray from firefighters.
• In the original, Torch killed Sardo and Red. Here, Sardo and Al are arrested.
• Horton wounded and bedridden after shot.
• Horton died Dec. 28, 1848.
• Note from editors of Marvel Comics group.

Previous		Next
All-Winners Comics #19	PRELUDE	Young Men #24
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4