Coke ⊕ Comics

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

“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.