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.
But then a newspaper claims the Human Torch didn’t just burn a hole in the ceiling, but actually burned down Horton’s house and killed him. In his civilian guise, the Torch sees the paper, and doesn’t deny killing Horton, instead insisting Horton deserved it.
But Horton was still alive when last we saw him. We know because he had time to record in his journal that the Human Torch burned the hole in his ceiling. Did the Torch return to Horton to kill him later?
This seeming discrepancy had been recently pointed out to me by comics historian Dan Hagen of Great Caesar’s Ghost.
Notably the Torch doesn’t deny having killed Professor Horton, and he seems to think people would understand why he did it if they looked at things from his point of view.
When a race car catches on fire, the Human Torch becomes the prime suspect and is arrested. His fellow inmate Johnson will become a friend and ally. He gives Torch the name he needs to prove his innocence: Blackie Ross. 90% of all mobsters we’ve met have been named Blackie. The Torch escapes prison to clear his name.
Blackie has a henchman named Red. Last issue Sargo had a henchman named Red. They don’t look or sound like the same guy.
The best heroes leave their mark, like Zorro left his Z. For the Human Torch, it’s a flaming footprint that indicates he’s been there. We see it twice this issue.
It’s the second issue, and the Frankensteinesque science fiction premise of the first issue is already mostly gone, in favor of a Superman clone. He has super powers and fights crime. The fact that he’s a robot who is only some number of days old has no bearing on the story.
It’s worth noting that the Human Torch can’t fly. He runs really fast and jumps really high. It sometimes looks like he’s flying, like at the end of last issue when he left through the ceiling. But he’s really leaping.
The Torch had been with the police, and then suddenly he was gone faster than they could spot. Only the flaming footprint marked his presence.
It will take another 30 years, but Batman will eventually decide this trick of disappearing on the police is a good one to imitate.
As with the last issue, this comic also features adventures with Angel, Namor, Masked Raider, and Ka-Zar. This issue introduces American Ace.
I’d like to read a handful more Human Torch stories across the next 15 years. We’ll skip the next issue, in which the Torch takes on some crooks, and jump ahead to issue 4, when the Torch adopts a civilian identity, and then takes on some crooks.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 52/100
I read this story in Timely’s Greatest: The Golden Age Human Torch by Carl Burgos Omnibus.
Characters:
- Professor Horton
- Human Torch
- Johnson
- Blackie Ross
- Lola
Minor characters:
- Red
Story notes:
- Professor Horton’s journal recounts origin of Human Torch.
- Horton describes creation as a “robot”, but very near to a human.
- Horton thinks Torch misunderstood his intentions.
- Torch attending Tipton races.
- Woman reads in paper that the Human Torch burned Horton’s home and killed him. Torch does not deny it.
- The Human Torch is watching a race, when Car 7 us forced off the track and crashes. Torch turns on his flame to try to rescue the driver, but he’s already dead.
- Two more cars burst into flame, and Torch realizes it’s not an accident.
- The Human Torch thinks an airplane is responsible, but he gets blamed by the police.
- The Torch surrenders.
- In jail, Johnson a fellow inmate tells the Torch that Blackie Ross was responsible.
- Torch breaks out of jail.
- Bullets melt before they can hit him.
- Torch heads to Anita Classic race.
- Torch attacks plane. Pilot escapes.
- Red alerts Blackie he’s sighted the Human Torch.
- Blackie’s girl tells the Torch Ross hangs out at the Elite Garage. It’s a trap.
- Water tank traps the Torch.
- Torch dumped into boiling lime pit.
- Blackie’s next move is Birmingham Handicaps in Auson City.
- Blackie’s girl Lola makes him promise not to kill anymore.
- Torch escapes the pits.
- Torch confronts Blackie and gang at race track and accidentally sets fire to the stands. He won’t let people die on his account.
- Blackie’s men fight Torch in asbestos suits. They attack the torch with water then encase him in molten steel
- The Torch attacks the glass eye cover of the asbestos suit, blinding Blackie’s henchman.
- Johnson out of prison and working undercover with cops.
- Torch runs much faster than 110 mph.
- Torch saves Blackie from burning car in exchange for complete confession.
- Torch disappears faster than the police can see him.
