Featuring: Marvel Boy
Release: August 24, 1950
Cover: December 1950
10 cents
Credits: Russ Heath
12 pages
No credits are given in the issue. The art is generally recognized as being by Russ Heath.
I was thinking of waiting a long time to introduce Marvel Boy. He’ll show up in the Marvel Age in the pages of What If…? in 1978. The following year, a new hero named Quasar will be introduced, a character modeled partly after Marvel Boy. But it’s going to be a long time before I get to those comics. We’re still in 1963, after all.
And Marvel Boy is a significant superhero. Introduced in 1950 at a time when the company was starting to shy away from superheroes. Plus, his very name will have some significance to the company. Marvel Boy.
So let’s read his origin now, on the pretense that we’ve just been introduced to Marvel Girl.
The origin is a pretty good one, though if you squint a bit, you’ll see some resemblance to Superman’s origin. Marvel Boy’s father, Professor Matthew Grayson, was an early atomic scientist, able to build an atomic rocket in 1934. (Hey… maybe this allows us to add 5 years to Xavier’s age if people were experimenting with atomic power as early as 1934). When his wife and daughter are killed by Nazis, he retreats to space with his son, ending up on the planet Uranus, and discovering an advanced utopian society.
His son Bob grew to the age of 17 on Uranus, developing the speed, strength, intelligence and telepathic abilities of Uranians. His father is sending him back to earth to become a superhero.
He also gets special bracelets, with a jewel that gives off blinding light. The only catch is that Earth’s atmosphere is no longer habitable for his Uranian physique, so he must take a pill every 24 hours, or else die.
His first mission on earth concerns a new continent that has emerged in the South Atlantic. They specifically give the coordinates as 50,5, presumably meaning 50°S,5°W. Count Varron, a man with no nation, has claimed the continent as his own: Varronland.
But the continent was previously inhabited by Fish People, who had sunk below the sea with the continent, and evolved to live under water.
Oddly, they claim the continent sunk 1200 years ago. That’s pretty recent for geological events, and represents some fast evolution of the Fish People. You would think somebody would have noticed a new continent 1200 years ago. But I guess the Polynesians were exploring the Pacific and the Vikings were exploring the North Atlantic. So perhaps a South Atlantic continent could have been missed. But to sink and rise so fast? New islands do pop up that quickly, but whole continents?
They also keep calling this new continent the seventh continent. But my count puts it at 8. Maybe they count Eurasia as one continent? Or the Americas? A bit of googling tells me there is more than one accepted way to count continents, so I guess they’re not wrong.
The story of the Fish People and their lost continent bears great resemblance to the story of Atlantis, now the underground kingdom that had been ruled by Kala. Perhaps there is some connection.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes vol. 1.
Some of the scans are taken from a partial reprint in Marvel Super Action #4, 1977, which reprinted Marvel Boy’s origin, but not the Lost World parts of the story.
You can also find the story in the Marvel Boy: The Uranian collection, or the Agents of Atlas collection.
Characters:
- Count Varron
- Professor Matthew Grayson
- Bob Grayson/Marvel Boy
- Protus
- Faftal
Minor characters:
- Denga (Professor Grayson’s Uranian assistant)
- Dicasto (One of Varron’s pirates)
Story notes:
- Professor Grayson disappeared in 1934. Professor at Van Dyke University. Wife and daughter killed by Nazis. Bob Grayson atomic scientist in 1934, expert in Uranium. Used expertise to build rocket to take himself and infant son to moon. Accidentally landed on Uranus, where they found a paradise made by the peaceful and intelligent Uranians.
- Bob Grayson was raised on Uranus, and so has a high IQ and telepathic powers. He is now 17. He can run faster and fight harder than a man, and is much smarter than any person. But the atmosphere of earth could kill him if he doesn’t take a pill every 24 hours. Jewel on his bracelet gives off a blinding light
- Flying saucer can fly from Uranus to earth in hours. Powered by inexhaustible hydrogen-uranium compound.
- Count Varron born in Bosnia, and was denied citizenship by Russia, Turkey, Hungary, and Germany. So he is a citizen of no nation. Thus he claims the new continent Varronland as his own.
- Continent sunk 1200 years ago. Its people adapted to life under sea, and seem to be called Fish People.
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