Let’s begin by noting this is not the most amazing story of all time. This is an awful series and nobody should read it. Least of all me.
This story drags on for 45 bloody pages. At least it’s not as bad as the last one we read. And it’s actually a much faster and smoother read than the first issue. Perhaps that’s Stan Lee’s scripting at work.
We noted last time how awful all the characters are, so we’ll just try to skip to the Red Skull stuff this time.
I’m including this story only because the continuity remains pretty tight, and I do want us to be able to untangle Red Skull’s contradictory appearances intelligently.
The Coming of Agent Zero/The Red Skull and the Graveyeard of Doom!/Voyage to No-Man’s Land/Trapped in Nazi-Land!/Outwitting the Bloodthirsty Tyrants!/Captain America and the Human Torch to the Rescue!!
Featuring: Young Allies Release: July 23, 1941 Cover: Summer 1941 10 cents 57 pages
The table of contents lists Joe Simon as “Art editor” and Jack Kirby as “Art director”, while recognizing Carl Burgos as the creator of Toro. No hints as to who actually wrote or drew the comic are given. The GCD credits Otto Binder, Charles Nicholas, and Syd Shores, noting Jack Kirby supplied art for some of the chapter-opening splash pages. The cover is by Jack Kirby and Syd Shores.
We also take the on-sale date from the GCD, which disagrees with the July 10 date given in Mike’s Amazing World, but also offers an explanation for the discrepancy.
An ad shows an earlier version of the cover (and gives the July 10 release date). Notice in the original cover, Stalin is one of the villains (along with Hitler, Tōjō, and Mussolini). This comic was released in July 1941. Between its original advertisement and publication, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, so Stalin was now a good guy, and couldn’t be depicted as evil in the comic. The USSR was now part of the Allied forces.
America remained neutral in the war, but you couldn’t tell by the comic books.
We read the introduction of the Young Allies, a painfully long 57-page adventure. Our motivation is that this is the third appearance of the Red Skull, who was presumed dead in an explosion in Captain America Comics #3.
This comic is pretty rough reading. The most infamous part of it is the character of Whitewash Jones, a painful stereotype of an African American child, whose portrayal somehow keeps getting worse as the issue progresses. Even leaving aside that racial sentiment has evolved in 80 years, the other kids are also pretty awful characters. Tubby, the obese child, is portrayed no better. Nor is Knuckles, the street-tough kid. Jefferson, the nerd, probably comes off the best.
The history of cartooning is built on caricature and exaggeration, but these four kids just push it into the absurd and unreadable.
Featuring: Marvels Release: November 9, 1993 Cover: January 1994 $5.95 Writer: Kurt Busiek Artist: Alex Ross Letters: Starkings w\ John Gauhsell Editor: Marcus McLaurin Assistant editor: Spencer Lamm Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco Cover design & logo: Joe Kaufman Interior Design: Comicraft 45 pages
When this is over, I’d said. When would that be? It would blow over. The world wouldn’t stay like this. It couldn’t. Could it?
The 4 (or so) issues comprising this series are pretty close to being the best comics I have ever read. They inspire the journey we are taking here, where we read through the entire Marvel Universe starting in 1961, and I want them to frame the journey we are taking.
Through a man named Phil Sheldon, an “ordinary” photojournalist, we see a holistic view of all these many interconnected stories of Marvels, cohesing into a single narrative, leading us to understand that this world is not our own, and helping us imagine what it might be like to live in that world.
The tagline reads: “Experience the Marvel Universe from a whole new perspective– yours.”
We read Marvels #0 pretty early in the project, right after meeting the original Human Torch, who we introduced after meeting the new Human Torch.
Marvels #1 deals with Marvel’s Golden Age, stories from the 1930s and 1940s. We are reading it now in our reading order because we have met enough Golden Age heroes to justify it. Really, it comes down to the big three: Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. But our reading about characters like Angel, Electro and Black Widow will also help us appreciate the details.
And if there’s one word that can describe this comic, it’s “detailed”. Sitting in a hotel room in Dresden with the intent of doing a deep dive into this issue, I have the original comic in my hand, but also the recent annotated edition which can serve as a guide. Plus some Golden Age and other reference material.
With all that in front of me, I would like to look very closely at this comic; consider those details, and try to do so without losing sight of the powerful emotional journey in front of us, one that will seem very familiar in the year 2020.
I think I’ve already gushed at sufficient length over the creators Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross in our recent Astro City discussion, so we’ll jump right into the story.
A Time of Marvels
The bystanders had seen the stories in the paper– seen them, chuckled and dismissed them. But it’s one thing to read about the impossible– and another to look it in the face.
The story opens in 1939 with reporters talking about the tensions in Europe. Phil Sheldon is an ambitious photojournalist looking for an assignment overseas. His fellow reporter–resembling a young J. Jonah Jameson down to a well-placed shadow beneath the nose where Jameson’s mustache will eventually be–muses that one day he will be the one running the Bugle. Phil is off to cover a press conference with a scientist who he expects to be a crackpot, one Phineas T. Horton.
The Result of the Most Famous Battle in Comic Magazines Featuring: Human Torch and Sub-Mariner Release: June 15, 1940 Cover: August 1940 10 cents Credits: Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and John Compton 1 page
No credits appear on the page. The art reminds me most of Burgos’ style. I borrowed the credits from the previous issue; the GCD agrees.
The finale of the epic is a single page. A single page.
That’s it?!?
Betty Dean finally gets her way and convinces Torch and Namor to call a truce. It makes sense for the fight to end in a draw, to disappoint neither set of fans. But letting Namor go is entirely unsatisfying. He crashed a train, flooded a tunnel. Who knows how many people died on his rampage?
The Battle of the Comic Century! Featuring: Human Torch vs. Sub-Mariner Release: May 17, 1940 Cover: July 1940 10 cents Credits: Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and John Compton 22 pages
It’s not quite clear how Everett and Burgos split up the art duties. I’m sure they both pulled their weight, though most of the issue reminds me of Everett’s work.
Very classy title page
John Compton is most likely on hand to assist with scripting. I don’t know my Golden Age creators well, so can’t tell you much about John Compton. And Google at a glance doesn’t know much more than me.
One thing to note about the very fancy title page is the phrase, “Marvel Comics Presents”. Almost seems anachronistic, as the company wasn’t yet called Marvel Comics (it still isn’t necessarily, even in 1963; every cover has that “MC” on it, but the word Marvel isn’t evident). Though it was the name of the first issue of this series, before the word “Mystery” was inserted. But it’s a very prescient phrase.
As I reflect, that title is a bit hard to parse. “The Battle of the Comic Century”. “Comic Century”. I might think they mean that this is the battle of the century told in comic form, or perhaps that this is the battle of the century, at least within comics. But it doesn’t really say either of these things. Perhaps they mean that the 20th century is the century of comics. Or perhaps that of the current century the comics are depicting, this is the great battle.
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: April 24, 1940
Cover: June 1940
10 cents
Credits: Carl Burgos
12 pages
The Human Torch has many nicknames for Namor: “water bug”, “water beetle”, “water rat”. Namor calls him “fire bug”. You can tell they’re not going to get along.
I really think that repairs can wait, Torch…
This story is a bit disappointing, as one may have expected it to continue the last one. It does not. It instead tells the events of the last two stories from the Torch’s point of view. But Torch is the less interesting character, and Burgos is the less talented artist.
The Marvel Universe starts to take shape as two of its greatest champions meet in battle.
The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner meet!!! Featuring: Sub-Mariner Release: April 24, 1940 Cover: June 1940 10 cents Story and art: Bill Everett (uncredited) 10 pages
Hard to believe something as significant as Human Torch meeting Sub-Mariner didn’t even get top billing on the cover. I guess Angel battling some monster was more exciting.
Usually, Bill Everett’s signature appears on the first page of each Sub-Mariner story, but I’m not finding it here.
“…for having attempted to electrocute him after he had promised to lend his powers to his cause…” I guess you can see why he might be miffed.
It really all begins here. Eight months after the respective debuts of Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, the characters meet in conflict. The Marvel Comics series becomes more than independent stories in an anthology. The seeds of a universe sprout. So it is that 23 years later, Sub-Mariner can battle the Fantastic Four with a new Human Torch, while that same Fantastic Four battle Hulk and Spider-Man in other stories. So it is that 80 years later, a movie studio can throw dozens of superheroes up on the big screen in a epic big-budget battle.
I think this is one of the most significant pages in Marvel history.
The highlight of the story, the reason we’re here, is short. The final 2 pages of a 10-page story tell of the meeting between Human Torch and Namor. The Torch quickly gains the upper hand and Namor retreats.
Sets the stage for the first Marvel Universe crossover!
Featuring: Human Torch Release: March 20, 1940 Cover: May 1940 10 cents Credits: Carl Burgos 11 pages
After a pretty complex first adventure, Human Torch has settled into the routine of being a fairly standard superhero. Each issue has had its own adventure where the Torch foils some plot. He’s adopted the identity of Jim Hamond in civilian form, and made friends with a fellow named Johnson.
The one oddity comes from the beginning of Marvel Mystery Comics #2. A newspaper article tells us that the Torch burned down Horton’s home, killing him. We hadn’t seen anything like that in the previous issue. But the Torch defends–rather than denies–the killing.
The Torch did what?
A note to quell any confusion. Human Torch and Sub-Mariner were introduced in Marvel Comics #1. That series has continued, but it was renamed to “Marvel Mystery Comics” beginning with issue #2. Each issue has featured both a Human Torch and Sub-Mariner story, among others. Other regular features include Angel, Masked Raider, and Ka-Zar.
