Featuring: Human Torch
Release: October 8, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Dick Ayers
Inked by : Geo. Bell
13 pages
Can’t say I care much for the Ayers/Roussos team on art. Not sure what they’re doing in their rendering of the Thing.
Stan gives an acknowledgement this issue that the story is inspired by an idea from Tommy and Jimmy Goodkind. These were the children of a friend of Stan’s, who lived in his neighborhood.
Puppet Master manipulates Johnny into hitting on Alicia, so that the Thing attacks him. Of course, Johnny is under mind control. Otherwise, he would never make a move on Thing’s girlfriend, not even if Thing was off-world at the time.
I feel like Puppet Master could easily destroy the Fantastic Four if he wanted to. His repeated defeats really seem like a stretch. This issue does clarify that he has stronger control if he’s in the proximity of his victims, justifying why he goes to the battle site.
As far as I can tell, there is no good reason for letting Puppet Master escape at the end. They could catch him if they wanted to. It feels like nobody brought their A-game to this fight.
Let’s take a look at this page. It has a layout we haven’t quite seen, with only two panels. It also has a narration block that’s far larger than usual. I’m not sure why Stan thought he had so much to say.
Rating: ★½, 28/100
Significance: ★★☆☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1. You can also find it in The Human Torch & The Thing: Strange Tales – The Complete Collection. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Puppet Master
- Human Torch
- Alicia
- Thing
- Reed Richards
- Sue Storm
Story notes:
- Explains how Puppet Master didn’t really die.
#132 story in reading order
Next: Strange Tales #116, Story B
Previous: Amazing Spider-Man #8, Story B
