PRELUDE: Human Torch #5

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: October 8, 1941
Cover: Fall 1941
10 cents
60 pages (!)

The comic gives no credits. I’ll point you to the GCD, which notes work from Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Jack D’Arcy, Hank Chapman, Mike Roy, Harry Sahle and George Kapitan. That’s… a lot of names. I will make no attempt to untangle who did what.

Counting to 5

Let’s get the confusing part out of the way. We are looking at Human Torch #5, with a cover date of Fall 1941.

The previous issue of Human Torch was… Human Torch #5, with a cover date of Summer 1941. Why? I have no idea. I think somebody counted wrong.

The issue before had said #3 on the cover and table of contents, but #4 on the inside legal text. A magnifying glass may help confirm that. The point is, that was issue #4 despite evidence to the contrary.

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I’m looking for the comic where Sub-Mariner and Human Torch fight each other. In the other Human Torch #5, they team up against the Nazis in a prose story by Stan Lee, entitled: “The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner Battle the Nazi Super Shell of Death!”

That’s not what I’m looking for. I want the one where Sub-Mariner goes evil.

The Stan Lee story where they team up does note some animosity between reluctant allies. Stan describes Sub-Mariner as Torch’s “friendly enemy” and ends the story with them quarreling. But they are working together to help the British forces battle Nazis.

Note that it was July when this was released. The US government position toward the war in Europe remains neutrality.

Also note this was an early Stan Lee story, released just a few months after his first-ever story.

But that’s not the story we’re reading. We’re reading the other Human Torch #5.

The reading order

Why are we reading this 1941 story now?

Well, that’s a good question. There were reasons to read it before now and there are reasons to wait to read it and there are reasons to read it now. We took the first FF/Namor battle as an excuse to read Namor’s first appearance and the first Johnny Storm/Namor solo battle as an excuse to read the first Human Torch/Sub-Mariner battle. This issue is another famous clash of the two titans. We are reading it after yet another FF/Namor fight, where it makes as much sense as anywhere.

It’s good that we waited to read this until we met Angel, who appears in this story.

It’s unfortunate that I’m choosing to read this before we’ve introduced Patriot, Toro, or Ka-Zar, who also appear in this story.

The main motivation for not waiting to meet the others is that I’m eager to finally read Marvels #1, but I really wanted to read this first. In particular, we’re about to read Avengers #6, which is what the beginning of Marvels #2 is based on.

Background on what we missed: Human Torch now has a partner, a teenager named Toro with similar flaming powers. Patriot is… another superhero, like all the rest. Ka-Zar is kind of like Tarzan, but actually a totally original concept, they swear.

The comic alternately spells his name “Kazar” or “Ka-Zar”. We’ll stick with “Ka-Zar”. Like Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, and Angel, Ka-Zar was introduced (to the comics world) in Marvel Comics #1. But we’re waiting to read that story to coincide with the introduction of the modern Ka-Zar.

All caught up? Good.

Finally… the story

Let’s talk about Human Torch #5 (the second one). Clocking in at 60 pages, this is the longest story we’ve read yet.

It begins with a pretty awesome splash page. The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse are represented by: Sub-Mariner, Hitler, Mussolini, and Death.

The next panels are no less cool. And while the ominous text refers specifically to the events of this comic, it also fittingly describes America in 1941. “Peace still lies over the land. But for how long? How long when the ominous shadow of Mars lurks in the sky?”

And what do we see in the sky? Literally the shadow of the god of war spread across three panels, each panel a different American scene: “sleepy villages, busy factories, sunswept beaches”. Just some killer panel design there.

This leads us to a dinner scene in New York. A small gathering of superheroes is bidding goodbye to their reporter friend Casey, off to cover the war for the Consolidated Press. This is Casey’s third appearance. He’d shown up in two previous Patriot stories, introduced in Human Torch #4. (That’s two issues before this one.) Patriot is also a reporter in his secret identity as Jeff Mace.

This is the first time we see him meeting the others, but it’s clear they’d all established a friendship behind the scenes. Namor is not present at the gathering, but Torch speaks of him as though he is part of the circle of friends. Namor and Casey are also friends, and Torch offers a toast to Namor.

Namor comes across a Nazi/Soviet sea battle, and breaks it up. But then finds that these sea battles have devastated his undersea kingdom. This will not be the first or last time that the actions of the surface dwellers have brought devastation to Namor’s people. He always reacts the same way.

This comic really went all out on its poetic prose. Look to the downed RAF plane, “its pilot still poised for the flight that carried him into eternity!”

Namor’s people had lived in Antarctic seas before being scattered by human destruction. We here see there’s more to them. There are many related races which populate the oceans. Rathia is an exile from Baltic seas. Namor’s people look vaguely shrimp-like. Other undersea peoples resemble walruses; others even odder-looking. Namor calls all these kindgoms together for a war council.

The war council agrees that Namor shall lead them and that their goal shall be to end the surface war. That had already been Namor’s goal since pretty early in his series.

Rathia starts to become his Lady Macbeth, slowly convincing him his goals should not just be about ending the war, but ruling the surface world.

Because Casey is his friend, he warns Casey away from his assignment in Russia, where he would be in danger from Namor’s attack. This warning is what brings Human Torch and Toro into the fray.

We see a battle on the Dniester River in Ukraine between the Soviets and the Nazis and Romanians. That may be ripped from very current headlines. I’m not sure how quickly comics were being put out back then. The Romanian army did successfully cross the Dniester on August 3, as part of the first step in the siege of Odessa. That an August headline could make it into an October comic seems pretty tight to me. But if not taken from the headline, I would call it quite the coincidence.

Now, I’m attempting to read about the siege of Odessa and I’m not seeing at what point a whirlpool generated by an attack from an undersea kingdom routed the Nazi charge. So it’s possible it’s not the same battle.

The whirlpool seems to kill everybody: German, Romanian, Ukranian, Russian… even Casey would have died had Human Torch not rescued him.

They have a fun scene where both the Germans and Soviets report on the battle. Their reports don’t agree and neither matches what we saw. I wonder how much the world has really changed.

Rathia continues his flirtations and manipulations. The narrator notes Namor and Rathia have become “friendlier”. I’m guessing that’s a euphemism. She compares Namor to Napoleon, which get his imagination going. He is starting to warm to the idea that the world would be better with him in charge.

Namor invites Human Torch and Toro to be his lieutenants in his new campaign of conquest. The Torch politely refuses.

Toro is taken prisoner and the Human Torch escapes. Human Torch is oddly trusting that Namor will save Toro’s life to use him as a hostage. Toro was drowning when the Torch last saw him.

It is then that we meet Ka-Zar. Fearing Namor will also attack Africa, Human Torch decides to warn Ka-Zar to prepare.

Casey releases Human Torch’s story, warning the world of Namor’s attack. The people of America generally don’t take it seriously and seem apathetic. Likely biting commentary on American attitudes during that moment in history. However, Patriot is able to convince President Roosevelt to take the issue of Namor seriously, as Human Torch convinces Prime Minister Churchill to do the same.

Human Torch attempts to bore a tunnel into Namor’s kingdom that the British Army can take, but Sub-Mariner discovers the plan and floods the tunnel. This ends the first part of our tale.

In Part II, we see Human Torch survived and is continuing to make his way to Namor.

Meanwhile, Namor is trying on outfits in his “room of many mirrors”. Namor may suffer from narcisstic tendencies. The new fashion obsession is a bit odd for a guy whose normal outfit is speedos.

This comic is all over the place, from brilliant to dumb to bizarre. In a pretty out-there comic, this Goering reference still manages to stand out. Who randomly brings up Goering in the context of noting Goering would be envious of their outfit? It’s like some type of Project Runway for dictators. It got me googling and sure enough, Goering was all about fashion. And evil. Fashion and evil. And the writers are mocking him with Namor’s new fashion obsession.

Namor and Torch agree to duel for the fate of the world. Namor does not play fair. He drugs the Human Torch, enthralling him.

After Human Torch proves his loyalty by destroying a British ship, Namor shows off his armada, including his battleships disguised as whales we’d previously seen in Sub-Mariner Comics #1.

We do see a mental struggle within Namor. There are better angels of his nature, but also worse ones. This time, he chooses wrong.

In addition to his genocidal actions, Namor is also somewhat sexist. “Back to the kitchen with you!” he shouts.

Wanting to leave no fascist unsatirized, we see Mussolini. He hears that Gibraltar has fallen and mistakenly thinks the Germans have conquered it. He orders the Italian fleet to the area in order to claim some credit for the victory.

Namor floods North Africa. Human Torch had warned Africa this would come… that is to say he warned a single white dude who lives in the jungle somewhere in Africa. That white dude built an ark to save as many animals as he could, and apparently no people. Why not try to save some people? Well, racism, of course.

Then, in a wild scene, Death shows up. We see Death running with the avalanche Human Torch caused and claiming people with his scythe. We then see him looking over Hitler’s shoulder. In another piece of rather good writing for an era not known for it, Hitler claims the final victory will be his. Death (unheard) notes the truth: “Oh, no, Adolph! The final victory shall be mine!”

Death is correct. He is always the only winner in war. Well, Death and the corporate executives who profit off war.

How does the Torch break free of Namor’s control? He sees an American flag and realizes what he’s doing, snapping out of Namor’s control. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide if that’s corny or touching. He seemed close to snapping out of it earlier when Toro was in danger; I think I’d have preferred something like that bringing him back. But it’s the flag that does it.

Part III. Human Torch must stop a glacier from consuming Canada and America; he is responsible for disrupting it. Sub-Mariner challenges him and they have a skirmish.

We see the image of Mars, god of war, whose shadow had opened the tale.

The swastika is called the “hateful emblem of a hateful regime”; Hitler a “mad dictator”; the regime described as the “Nazi terror”. History agrees with their assessment, but in 1941, US policy did not, and the public was somewhat mixed on the subject. These comics mince no words offering their opinions on what is right and just and what course of action America should be taking with respect to the Nazi regime. The comic creators are correct to do so. Always take a stand.

The statue of Hitler remains standing amidst the flood. Today in Germany, statues of Hitler are no longer in display in the streets. This is because history recognizes him as a villain, not a hero. You don’t have statues celebrating the bad guys.

The destruction continues. The Rock of Gibraltar collapses. The Mediterranean is sucked dry.

And we come to the centerpiece moment: Namor’s flooding of Manhattan. The waves stretches from the Battery to the Bronx. (That’s 15 miles, basically all of Manhattan.) Broadway, Times Square, the Empire State Building, the George Washington Bridge… Many people had evacuated to safety in tunnels with diving helmets, but many had not.

The Statue of Liberty remains standing.

Like the previous Namor/Torch battle, this one ends way too quickly. For 56 pages, we just get pure mayhem and destruction. A global war between all humanity and the Sub-Mariners. Armies wiped out. Nations flooded. And then there’s 4 pages left and it just kind of ends.

Namor surrenders, blames Rathia for everything. Somehow Namor gets forgiven for everything. He and Human Torch go back to being friends. Human Torch even saves his life from Rathia. Somehow it’s agreed that only Rathia should stand trial for Namor’s actions.

Toro remains missing. That alone should leave Human Torch angry at Namor. It’s Namor who almost killed Toro. But Namor reassures him everything will be okay and they go off to find Toro together. I find the ending to be quite the head-scratcher. It seems like they ran out of pages and didn’t want to burden other comics with cleaning up the mess this issue made.

The comic doesn’t dwell on the death toll, but it must be massive. Entire nations were flooded. Casualties must be in the tens of millions, at least. Next issue, Human Torch and Namor are just back to fighting Nazis like nothing happened.

Namor literally murdered millions of people, but pulled the classic “a girl talked me into it” defense. And it worked.

This is a pretty fantastic and crazy story that fizzles by the end. It goes from mind-blowingly brilliant to mind-blowingly dumb in very few pages.

There’s a very famous X-Men story, the Dark Phoenix Saga. They occasionally adapt it into a bad movie. In the story, Jean Grey goes crazy and turns evil, becoming Dark Phoenix. Amongst her crimes, she destroyed an entire alien world. The writers had planned an ending where she basically is snapped out of it, and becomes good again. The editor overruled them. He said her crimes were too great, and that the story needed consequences, that the story needed to end with her death. Looking to this story where Namor committed mass murder and then got forgiven because he was doing it all under a woman’s influence… I think the Dark Phoenix editor may have had the right idea.

The Human Torch also caused a lot of destruction and quite the death toll this issue. He also gets forgiven rather easily, as Namor had drugged him.

Rating: ★★★★☆, 71/100

I read this story in Timely’s Greatest Omnibus: The Golden Age Human Torch by Carl Burgos.

You can also find it in Timely’s Greatest Omnibus: The Golden Age Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett – The Pre-War Years.

Characters:

• Sub-Mariner
• Hitler
• Mussolini
• Death
• Human Torch
• Mars
• Angel
• Patriot
• Toro
• Casey
• Fen
• Rathia
• Stalin
• Ka-Zar
• President Roosevelt
• Prime Minister Churchill
• Dr. Nostromas

Story notes:

• Previous appearancs of Casey: Human Torch #4 and Marvel Mystery Comics #21.
• Casey off to Europe to cover war for Consolidated Press.
• Sea-battles have wrecked Namor’s kingdom.
• Underground shelter for Sub-Mariners compared to London tunnels.
• Casey assaults a Soviet soldier to steal his uniform and papers in order to get a story.
• Nazi and Romanian troops are battling Soviets at Dniester River in Ukraine.
• Human Torch warns Ka-zar of the coming attack and suggests he build an ark; Ka-zar works with elephants and apes to build an ark.
• Patriot warns Roosevelt to take Casey’s story about Namor’s plans seriously. Roosevelt prepares for war.
• Senator Beeler objects to Roosevelt’s war preparations; there was no Beeler in the Senate at the time in real life.
• Torch taken prisoner by Namor; Torch’s prison cell is flooded; Torch fed meals that contain will-sapping drug.
• Human Torch destroys a British munitions ship.
• Undersea army: radio-equipped panzer divisions; devil fish; suicide squad camouflaged as sharks; thousands of flood-causing machines…
• Steel whale: 70000 tons; carries a crew of 3000 officers and men; armament of 20 18-inch guns…
• Toro threatens to drown himself rather than stay a prisoner.
• Toro escapes, ends up washed up on British coast. Casey finds him in hospital.
• Whale ships attack Gibraltar; British garrison surrenders.
• Whale fleet destroys Italian submarine fleet, then takes over Mediterranean from British fleet.
• Namor unleashes tidal wave on Africa. Northen Africa flooded, including Morocco, Libya, Egypt…
• Human Torch sends glacier crashing toward Russia.
• Stalin addresses soldiers from the Red Citadel.
• Berlin flooded; octopi attack.
• Rock of Gibraltar falls; Mediterranen sucked dry.
• Namor sinks America’s Atlantic Fleet.
• Rathia alone tried for Namor’s crimes.
• Toro remains missing.

Next post: POSTLUDE: Marvels #1
Next in order: Sgt. Fury #8
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