human torch – Coke ⊕ Comics

Fantastic Four #60

The Peril and The Power!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: March 1967
12 cents
Dazzlingly depicted by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inking by: Joe Sinnott
Lettering by: Sam Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#635	Next
Fantastic Four #59	Reading order	X-Men #27
Fantastic Four #59	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #61

I… never felt… pain.. like this… before..! ..Never knew anything… could hurt… so much… But… can’t let go… can’t knuckle down…! All I got is… my strength..! If I let that fail me… there’s nothin’ left…! Nothin’..! Fight it, Ben… fight it!! Fight… ya ugly , good-fer-nothin’ orange-skinned meathead… fight..! What’s a little bit… of pain… to a big beautiful slob… like you..!

Black Bolt has spoken, and his voice had the power to destroy the Negative Zone surrounding the Great Refuge. And now he along with the Royal Family and Court of the Inhumans venture forth into the wider world. Meanwhile, Dr. Doom continues to wield the cosmic power of the Silver Surfer.

As noted, I’m here for Doom on a surfboard. That’s what this story is about to me. And this is the best image of that yet.

The Human Torch tries to take on Dr. Doom by himself. It won’t go well.

Fantastic Four #59

Doomsday

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: November 10, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
A Stan Lee * Jack Kirby modern day masterwork!
Delineation by: Joe Sinnott
Lettering by: Artie Simek
20 pages

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Fantastic Four #58	Reading order	Fantastic Four #60
Fantastic Four #58	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #60

But now– with an entire planet looming before us– what do we do? Where do we go? Is the human race yet ready for us–??

The title of this comic is Doomsday. That’s also the name of an upcoming superhero movie.

Dr. Doom has the powers of the Silver Surfer and may be unbeatable. However, Ben disagrees, at least out loud.

Like ol’ Stretcho would say– as long as a guy still has a brain– and some backbone– he aint never beaten ‘less he wants’a be!

Mr. Fantastic coordinates with all nations on Earth, suggesting differences must be put aside against the threat of Doom.

Fantastic Four #58

The Dismal Dregs of Defeat!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: October 11, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
A Stan Lee * Jack Kirby powerhouse production
Inked by: Joe Sinnott
Lettered by: Artie Simek
20 pages

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Fantastic Four #57	Reading order	Fantastic Four #59
Fantastic Four #57	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #59

“Hah! The once-mighty Silver Surfer! Now, barely able to move a muscle since your new master has stripped you of your power!”
“Master? Galactus had been– my master! You– are but– a flea!”

Dr. Doom’s head appears in the air. I appreciate that Reed just thinks it’s a random pattern from the electrical storm. Smartest man in the world.

But then the pattern randomly looks like Dr. Doom again, and Reed begins to do the math on the odds of that.

Fantastic Four #57

Enter… Dr. Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: September 8, 1966
Cover: December 1966
12 cents
Panoramically produced by: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Inking: Joe Sinnott
Lettering: Artie Simek
20 pages

Previous	#632	Next
Sgt. Fury #36	Reading order	Fantastic Four #58
Fantastic Four #56	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #58

It is you I wish to learn about! For power has ever been my god– And, in all the universe, there can be no greater truth than– knowledge is power!

One thing we’ve seen going back to issue 36 is a tighter continuity amongst a larger cast. These aren’t isolated adventures anymore, but part of a larger whole. I mention issue 36 because it introduced the Frightful Four. The character of Medusa led us to the Inhumans, who have essentially become supporting characters on this title, as we check in with them often. The FF have had three battles against the Frightful Four, but now Sandman and Wizard are attempting a prison break.

After the Inhumans saga, we met the Silver Surfer, who has also become a supporting cast member in essence.

Sandman is an interesting character, as he was created to be a Spider-Man villain but at this point seems to have been adopted by the Fantastic Four. Which leads me to a question. Is Sandman a Jack Kirby creation?

Sandman was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko. But I believe Ditko has been quoted that he got occasional help on Spider-Man’s villains from Jack. And I wonder if that refers to the Sandman.

Ditko’s first Spider-Man super-villains were: Chameleon, Vulture, Dr. Octopus, Lizard… and Sandman. Who stands out in the group. Spider-Man has an excellent rogues gallery, and Stan and the other artists have brought many of them around to threaten other heroes… but Kirby has shown no interest in using any of them in his comics… except for Sandman, who is essentially a regular Fantastic Four character at this point.

I don’t know any of this. I’m just speculating out loud. But at this point, Sandman has been adopted by the FF as a villain… and I wonder if Jack Kirby created him?

Fantastic Four Annual 4

The Torch that Was!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: August 2, 1966
Cover: November, 1966
25 cents
Conceived and created by: Stan Lee (scenarist) & Jack Kirby (illustrator)
Inked and lettered by: Joe Sinnott (Delineator) & Sam Rosen (Calligrapher)
Recited and ignited by: Irving Forbush (part-time non-entity)
19 pages

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Human Torch #38, Story D	PRELUDE
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	X-Men #25
Fantastic Four Annual 3	Fantastic Four Annual	Fantastic Four Annual 5

The Original Human Torch! Reborn– only to die again!

We began our Marvel reading with Fantastic Four #1, released in August 1961. But Marvel had 22 years of history predating that comic. What is the relationship between those older comics and the modern 1960s ones? We’ve seen some impacts.

PRELUDE: Human Torch #38, Story D

Flame On!

Featuring: The Human Torch
Release: June 2, 1954
Cover: August 1954
10 cents
Dick Ayers
6 pages

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Young Men #24	PRELUDE
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

What you need is confidence in yourself and your abilities, Captain! From now on, I’m going to be right behind you to help you thru the rough spots until you gain that confidence!

After his triumphant return in September 1953, we come to June 1954, when it was decided Human Torch stories still weren’t selling enough. We’d read his return in Young Men. About 6 months later, they tried bringing back Human Torch’s old series.

They started with Human Torch #36, as the last one from 1949 had been #35. Never mind that they had already given the numbering to Love Tales.

Human Torch #38 is the final issue again.

There are three Human Torch stories and a Namor story. In the first Torch story, a mad scientist is tricked by Reds into sucking all the air out of the world in order to make his crippled daughter queen of the new world. In the second, the Torch and Toro rescue a general and his daughter from Korea.

Let’s read the final story from the final Human Torch comic.

All the Human Torch stories in his self-titled comic’s return have been by Dick Ayers, who we know well from our Marvel Age reading, particularly for his work on Sgt. Fury.

Ayers’ signature appears. The GCD credits Hank Chapman with the script and Ernie Bache with inks.

All the stories in this issue are narrated by Toro, and presented as though he is telling us of a past Human Torch adventure.

The title of the story is “Flame On!”, which is plainly the Human Torch’s catchphrase now. Johnny Storm will steal that catchphrase, along with the name and visage of the Human Torch.

PRELUDE: Young Men #24

The Return of… The Human Torch

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: September 11, 1953
Cover: December 1953
10 cents
9 pages

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Marvel Mystery Comics #92	PRELUDE	Human Torch #38, Story D
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

…And that’s why I came here… from my grave!

The Human Torch returns!

Carl Burgos is on hand for the cover and draws the figure of the Human Torch on the opening page, but Russ Heath does most of the art for the issue. Notice Heath gives the Torch eyes and a mouth. Roy Thomas speculates that Heath had drawn the Torch on the first page, but an editor, perhaps Stan Lee, wasn’t happy and covered it with a Burgos drawing.

You can definitely see the difference as Heath gives the Human Torch weird eyes and a creepy smile instead of the blank face.

Burgos will return for the next 3 appearances of Human Torch in the pages of Young Men.

Young Men, there’s no need to feel down…

The GCD credits the script to Hank Chapman.

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #92

The Birth of the Torch

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: February 16, 1949
Cover: June 1949
10 cents
14 pages

Previous		Next
All-Winners Comics #19	PRELUDE	Young Men #24
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

The Academy then publicly reinstated Horton, and recognized his greatest achievement, the Human Torch!

The popularity of superheroes waned post World War II, and in 1949, Marvel was ready to give up on the genre completely. This final issue of Marvel Mystery Comics features the last Human Torch story, as well as a Captain America story.

The series will change its name to Marvel Tales and become a horror anthology.

Human Torch’s own series ended with Human Torch #35 two months earlier. In that story, Human Torch travels to Venus to deal with some interplanetary diplomacy. Given that we know his flame is powered by oxygen, it’s not clear how he made it all the way there.

In a few months, Sub-Mariner’s story will come to an end, and later that year Captain America would have his final adventure in Captain America’s Weird Tales before the book became a full horror anthology.

Human Torch was created by Professor Horton. He then turned on and killed his creator. Or did he? It was later revealed Horton was alive and working secretly for the US government. Any old conflict between Horton and the Torch seemed to be in the past. And the Torch later saved Horton’s niece Doris from foreign spies.

Now, we learn Professor Horton is dead. Again. We also learn I think for the first time his full name: Professor Albert Horton.

The Human Torch notes it’s been 10 years since he’s seen Horton. Either he’s rounding or something off. They were together in 1942, and certainly those stories take place after the US joined the war.

But this issue seems to not acknowledge those 1942 stories and wants to claim Human Torch hasn’t seen Horton since his first adventure in 1939.

We get a retelling of the Torch’s origin. Apparently thousand of readers have asked to hear the origin of the Human Torch. Why not just track down Marvel Comics #1?

And did these readers want to read the origin of the Human Torch only to then never read another Human Torch story again? Because that’s what they’re getting.

PRELUDE: All-Winners Comics #19

The Crime of the Ages!

Featuring: All Winners Squad
Release: July 24, 1946
Cover: Fall 1946
10 cents
43 pages

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Human Torch #8	PRELUDE	Marvel Mystery Comics #92
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

Dictators! We’ve had enough of them! Atomic power must be used for peace, not war! It must be used to make life better for all people! The coming Atomic Age is not for one man– it is for the common man– for all mankind!

No credits are given. The GCD credits the writing to Batman/Green Lantern co-creator Bill Finger and some of the pencilling to Syd Shores. The Bill Finger credit comes from the writer’s own recollections in the 1960s, related to historian and “father of comic book fandom” Jerry Bails.

I’d been debating when to read this. We’ve done some overview read-throughs of Captain America and Sub-Mariner, and are in the middle of one for the Human Torch. The other main characters to appear in this issue are Miss America and the Whizzer, whom we haven’t met yet. And I don’t have a good reason to introduce them anytime soon. The best excuse will probably be their return in Giant-Size Avengers #1 from 1974, but this blog won’t be getting there anytime soon at the rate I’m going.

This would also pair well with the introduction of the Invaders, but that’s not until 1975.

So let’s read this now along with our Human Torch read-through. It’s an important comic in Marvel history. We’ll just try to figure out who Miss America and the Whizzer are as we go. Something something mongoose something.

Roy Thomas described this comic as “a great idea whose time had gone.”

PRELUDE: Human Torch #8

Human Torch vs. Sub-Mariner

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: June 26, 1942
Cover: Summer 1942
10 cents
52 pages

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Marvel Mystery Comics #31	PRELUDE	All-Winners Comics #19
Fantastic Four #56	Reading order	Fantastic Four Annual 4

You two big lugs oughta be ashamed of yourselves! Spies are all around, threatening our country! The Python is on the loose! Democracy is in danger– and you fight each other instead of fighting the common enemy!

No credits are given. The GCD discusses the research into who is behind this based on later interviews, recollections, art analysis, etc. They credit the writing to Mickey Spillane and Ray Gill. They credit the art to Allen Simon, Harry Sahle, Al Gabriele, and possibly Eddie Robinson, Carl Pfeufer, and others.

Mickey Spillane is best known for his graphicless novels featuring Mike Hammer.

Notably, Torch creator Carl Burgos, who told the first few years of Torch stories is not involved, because he’s off fighting in World War II.