marvel comics – Coke & Comics

PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1, Story F

Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great

Featuring: Ka-Zar
Release: August 31, 1939
Cover: October 1939
10 cents
Credits: Ben Thompson
From the famous character created by: Bob Byrd
12 pages

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Tales to Astonish #66	Reading order	X-Men #10

“From the famous character created by Bob Byrd”… I don’t think Ka-Zar was actually yet famous.

Marvel Comics #1 is the comic that started it all. We’ve been slowly reading through its 68 pages. We read the first story, the introduction of the Human Torch, right in the beginning, to coincide with the introduction of the new Human Torch. We soon after read the Sub-Mariner story to prepare for Namor’s return to the modern Marvel Universe in Fantastic Four #4. We took X-Men #1 as an excuse to read the Angel story, despite there being no real connection between that Angel and the Angel of the X-Men.

What’s left to read? The inside front cover has some gags.

There’s a Western story that introduces the Masked Raider. I don’t know if we’ll find an excuse to read it.

There’s a one-off jungle story called “Jungle Terror”.

A one-off text story about racing called “Burning Rubber”.

And this, the story of Ka-Zar.

Unlike the other tales which are (more or less) original concepts, Ka-Zar is adapted from prose stories.

He was introduced in his own magazine, Ka-Zar #1 (1936), and written by none other than Martin Goodman (under the pen name Bob Byrd), who was also the publisher, and remains the publisher of Marvel in 1965.

We’ve already met Ka-Zar when we read Human Torch #5. We saw he rode an elephant and generally worked with the animals to defend Africa from Sub-Mariner’s war upon the Earth.

The character bears at least some similarity to the Tarzan character of Edgar Rice Burroughs (down to the letters in the name). He was neither the first nor the second nor the last character to bear such a resemblance.

Marvel Comics #1 retells the origin of Ka-Zar from the original prose story.

PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1, Story B

The Angel

Featuring: Angel
Release: August 31, 1939
Cover: October 1939
10 cents
Credits: Paul Gustavson
8 pages

We have already read two stories from this, the very first Marvel comic, appropriately titled “Marvel Comics”. The most important character to debut in this issue is Sub-Mariner, whose story would be revived in the modern era in the pages of Fantatic Four. Next is Human Torch, who would not be revived, but rather reimagined– a new character created with the name and likeness. Another story in this issue features Ka-Zar, who will also get reimagined for the modern age. We’ll read his story when we meet the new one.

That leaves two other features, neither of whom will be revived in the Marvel Age of comics. One is the Masked Raider. Not sure when I’ll find an excuse to read his story, but I will at some point, just to complete the issue.

The other we get to now, the story of the Angel. We’re reading it now on the flimsy pretense that we just met the new Angel, a member of the X-Men. Even though it’s obvious these characters have nothing in common but a name. Not even sure this character was on anybody’s mind when they were creating the new Angel.

PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1, Story C

The Sub-Mariner
Credits: Bill Everett
12 pages

I read this comic in Marvel Masterpieces Golden Age Marvel Comics vol. 1. My copy of the book is filled with printing errors: pages missing or repeated; and, the copy seems off. The colors and inks seem pretty blurred, compared to scans I’m finding online. The coloring wasn’t great in those days to begin with, so it’s hard to tell without seeing the comic what it actually looks like, as reproductions vary widely. It’s particularly tricky as Everett wanted to make the undersea scenes murky.

This story is the beginning of a serial and doesn’t reach a satisfying conclusion in and of itself. It concerns Namor of the race of Sub-Mariners, recently come of age. He learns from his mother Fen of the ravages done to their people by the experiments of the surface dwellers, (who the comic refers to as the “white men”) and leads a crusade against the surface. His first step is to destroy a lighthouse. We’ll have to tune in next issue to see more.

The surface world will never recover from the destruction of the lighthouse; they may as well surrender now.

It begins in a familiar fashion, from the viewpoints of ordinary sailors, leaving the Sub-Mariner as a mystery in the background. Namor will become the point-of-view character soon, but first we learn who he is in snatches, as the humans do. An undersea diver notices oddities, like evidence that somebody had recently been there, even though they are the only ship in the area. It’s a mystery to investigate, a deadly one as it will turn out. It’s a technique we’ve seen frequently in superhero films (plus many a movie before them). Famously, when Batman first dons the suit in Batman Begins, the movie shifts its point-of-view to that of criminals. They only know something strange is happening, that they see out of the corner of their eye and hear above them– and that their numbers are thinning. This comic gives us a similar scene with divers.

PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1

The Human Torch
Release: August 31, 1939
Cover: October, 1939
Price: $0.10
Credits: Carl Burgos
16 pages

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	POSTLUDE	Marvels #0
Fantastic Four #1	Reading order	Fantastic Four #2

My main goal is to read the Marvel Universe as a series of comics which began with Fantastic Four #1. But the company had 22 years of comics prior to that, some of which have bearing on the stories. I’ll occasionally peek at those. As we just met the new Human Torch, reading the origin of the original Human Torch seems relevant.

It’s a great cover. Well-remembered for being the first cover of the company that would eventually take on the comic’s name. I like how the melting steel and bullet just radiate heat.

This is a good science fiction tale. Plenty of good plot elements and character here. Professor Horton is a genius; he’s created a near-perfect synthetic man– but the man bursts uncontrollably into flame when exposed to oxygen; hence, the Human Torch. Horton is convinced to seal the Torch away until the condition can be cured. Time passes, and the Torch escapes. A mobster tries to control him for an extortion racket. But the plan backfires and the mobster dies in battle with the Torch. Through exposure to nitrogen, the Torch at last gains control of his flame and straightens things out with the police. He is ready to return to Professor Horton until we learn Horton also just wants to exploit him for profit. The Human Torch goes off to carve out his own destiny.