Featuring: Human Torch
Release: January 10, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Dick Ayers
Lettered by: S. Rosen
13 pages
No picture this time, but at least the covers are now consistently mentioning that Dr. Strange exists.
The title of this story is, “The Torch Goes Wild!” Not quite sure what that leads me to expect. Maybe Johnny will take his top off, show a little skin.
Our more observant readers might be wondering if we completely forgot about Avengers #4. We did not. For various reasons about story flow and chronology and such, we will be waiting a bit to read it. I promise a future post that explains all these decisions in excruciating detail.
Our story begins with Johnny having a bad day. Perhaps the Rabble Rouser is to blame.
The Rabble Rouser bears some resemblance to Hate-Monger, and also has echoes of Ant-Man’s foe, the Voice, as well as Ted Braddock, the radio host who hated the Torch.
He turns the crowds against the Torch, leading the City Council to outlaw Johnny’s fire powers. He also turns the crowd against foreigners “using the age-old trick of half-truths and distortions”. Rabble Rouser has a mesmerizer wand that saps people’s wills. Just as with Hate Monger’s H-Ray, history and recent events suggest such gadgetry is superfluous. It turns out that Rabble Rouser is a Red agent. Huh. So the con man making inflammatory speeches and spreading xenophobic hatred is backed by Russia.
An odd bit is that Rabble Rouser has a sub-surface vehicle. It’s a smaller version of the sub-surface vehicle Hate-Monger used. Rabble Rouser even explicitly compares the vehicles. That suggests some connection. But that wouldn’t make a lot of sense. The Hate-Monger was Adolf Hitler. Anti-Communism was one of the key tenets of his Naziism. It’s hard to imagine Hitler suddenly in league with the Soviet Union.
It turns out Doris only dated that other boy to make Johnny jealous. They’re back together now. That will be a common plan employed by the women in these titles. It will often backfire.
Spider-Man shows up. Notably, Johnny calls Spider-Man “Web-Head”, which becomes a popular nickname for Spider-Man. I thought this might have been the first time, but Brian Cronin reliably informs me Torch used the nickname in Amazing Spider-Man #8.
From a chronology perspective, I think Spider-Man’s appearance fits best prior to Amazing Spider-Man #11. If we put it between 11 and 12, then Spider-Man would still be stressing out about Dr. Octopus being on the loose, and I don’t get that vibe here.
Rating: ★★½, 45/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Human Torch vol. 2. You can also find it in The Human Torch & The Thing: Strange Tales – The Complete Collection. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Human Torch/Johnny Storm
- Doris Evans
- Mr. Fantastic
- Thing
- Invisible Girl
- Rabble Rouser
- Spider-Man
- Prince Nagamo
Story notes:
- Gossip columns: Doris jilted Johnny for another guy; hootball coach rejected him; rest of FF took vacation without him; Spider-Man making good headlines; Rabble Rouser causing trouble.
- Rabble Rouser has a will-sapping wand, his mesmerizer wand.
- Torch calls Spider-Man “Web-Head”; second time he has used that nickname
- City council passed ordinance that Torch could not flame on.
- Torch heading for New Jersey; people hope he leaves New York.
- Rabble Rouser dreams of being another Castro; a position of power in a puppet nation.
- Rabble Rouser against foreign aid.
- Rabble Rouser turns crowd against visiting Prince Nagamo.
- Rabble Rouser has smaller version of sub-surface vehicle used by Hate-Monger.
- Torch destroys mesmerizer wand.
- Doris only dated other boy to make Johnny jealous; they are back together.
#165 story in reading order
Next: Strange Tales #119, Story B
Previous: X-Men #4
