Strange Tales #111

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Story: H. Huntley
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1.

We again see the cover blurb “Marvel Comics Group ushers in the Marvel Age of Comics!” showing up on a few covers and house ads around this time. As with last issue, the cover includes no mention of the Dr. Strange story within.

The credits are mildly different than usual (besides that Ernie Hart, aka H.E. Huntley, left off his middle initial). Stan Lee usually credits the secondary writer with the “script” and himself with the plot or story. Here, he gives Hart story credit. I have no idea what he thinks the difference between “story” and “plot” is.

I think the Asbestos Man is the best villain we’ve met in the pages of these Human Torch stories (<– the faintest of praise). I like Professor Kasloff, how arrogant he seems, but also how refined. Arrogance is perhaps the defining trait of a supervillain.

I also appreciate how he comes to realize that, though he’s a brilliant scientist, he knows nothing about being a criminal.

Or perhaps Office Space.

MICHAEL
I wish we had never done this. What are we going to do? You know what I can't figure out? How is it that all these stupid, Neanderthal, Mafia guys can be so good at crime and smart guys like us can suck so badly at it?

SAMIR
We're new to it, though. If we had more experience -

It’s a pity Asbestos Man is almost certainly doomed to contract mesothelioma. He’s a genius, but not smart enough to figure out the dangers of an asbestos suit. In fairness to him, it was 1963, and the US asbestos and building industries had spent the last several decades seeking to suppress these facts.

We’ve seen some pretty out-there science thrown out in some of these stories. But the facts they insert about asbestos mostly check out. Chrysotile asbestos is a common form. Somebody did their chemistry homework to prepare for this story.

I had felt quite clever in deducing that Johnny and Sue lived in Connecticut. I knew they lived in a town called Glenville, and there was some narration referring to Johnny flying over Long Island on the way home. Glenville, Connecticut is right across the bay from Long Island and just 30 miles from Manhattan. Seemed a perfect fit given the clues. The Glenville in New York is way upstate near Albany.

But we have a new clue. We see part of the address on the letter and it clearly reads “Glenville, L.I., N.Y.”, suggesting Glenville is actually on Long Island. I can’t find that there is any such place in real life.

The issue also contains a text story and two other comic stories. One is a Dr. Strange story we’ll discuss in the next post. The other is a great science fiction tale by Lee and Lieber about a computer who takes over the world, only to be foiled by a monkey. This of course draws a lot from old prose sci/fi tales, but predates any movie I’ve seen about a computer going evil, including Alphaville, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Colossus: The Forbin Project...

Rating: ★★½, 48/100

Better than your average Torch story.

Characters:

• Johnny Storm/Human Torch
• Professor Orson Kasloff/Asbestos Man
• Blackie Barker
• Invisible Girl
• Mr. Fantastic
• Thing

Story notes:

• Professor Kasloff considers himself a scientific genius. Wants to use his gifts for crime, but doesn’t know how to contact the underworld.
• Human Torch captured jewel thieves at Oak and Madison.
• Blackie Barker, king of the underworld.
• Asbestos suit made from chrysotile, calcium, iron, and Kasloff’s own formula.
• Storms’ Address: Glenville, L.I., NY
• Kasloff at Old Castle on Thorn Road.
• Asbestos Man weapon: Nitrogen net.
• Asbestos Man has plans to rob Star National Bank.

#81 story in reading order
Next: Strange Tales #111, Story C
Previous: Sgt. Fury #2