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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
The heroes have been defending America from German and Japanese spies, saboteurs, and invasions for a couple years now. But now America is at war, and the heroes are ready to take the fight to them.
This comic was released about 3 months after Pearl Harbor, about as soon as a story could react to it and get to print.
“Remember Pearl Harbor” reads the cover.
I will note that Burgos’ art isn’t especially racist. The script refers to the Japanese as “Japs” or “Jap-rats”, but that is probably an accurate capturing of how American soldiers referred to them at the time. What’s inexcusable and dehumanizing is the Al Gabriele art on the cover, with Japanese people depicted with yellow skin and sharp teeth.
Writing a letter to Marvel could win you a defense bond. These comics will start promoting defense bonds heavily as a way ordinary people can help with the war effort and show their patriotism.
“Are you ready to fight for Uncle Sam under any conditions?” “You know I am!”
We’ve now seen Namor and the Human Torch battletwice. But between those two encounters, they were sometimes on the same side. This is the story of their first team-up. Their first meeting since that first epic battle.
Usually, this title features a Human Torch story and a Sub-Mariner story. This issue combines them into a single double-length feature that both creators worked on together.
It’s not clear to me precisely which creator did what.
What unites them? Why, patriotism and love for America, of course.
After appearing in 13 issues of Marvel Mystery Comics, Human Torch gets his own self-titled magazine.
This is the first issue. Except that it’s Human Torch #2.
The numbering seems to continue from the otherwise unrelated Red Raven Comics #1.
I’m not an expert on why comics were so against first issues back in the day. I’ve heard it was a way of dodging some postal fees for starting a new periodical to distributed. I’ve also heard marketing at the time thought people wouldn’t buy first issues of titles because they were “unproven”. Marvel marketing in the 2000s would feel the opposite, and started restarting titles with a new #1 every year or so, feeling that first issues sell better than later issues.
Maybe market comics based on their content and just number things sensibly.
Some modern online sources refer to this issue as Human Torch #1, so it gets a bit confusing. Some online sources call the series Human Torch Comics. aligning the GCD, which says it’s titled simply The Human Torch.
The numbering of this series only gets more confusing from here. We’ll discuss the numbering and title confusion in more detail in a later post.
Let’s talk Batman for a moment. One of the most enduringly popular superheroes of all time. (After Spider-Man, of course.) But what made Batman so popular? In concept, he wasn’t that different from the Shadow or the Phantom or characters going back to Zorro. In fact, he was rather similar to the Black Bat. What did Batman have that these characters didn’t that gave him such staying power?
Perhaps it’s aspects of his look designed by Bill Finger, the cool gloves or cowl, the cape that flowed in the wind to look like wings. But that’s not my theory.
The thing that made Batman unique? The thing that made Batman great? The thing that made Batman endure?
I claim it’s Robin. Introduced a year into Batman’s adventures, Batman gained a kid sidekick. And it’s Batman and Robin that was the unique concept, that was popular and enduring.
Robin would be well-imitated.
Toro is the first significant imitation of Robin, introduced about 6 months after. A few months later, Marvel would introduce Captain America and Bucky. Some months later, DC would introduce Green Arrow and Speedy, and Sandman would get his partner Sandy.
We’ve now read the first two Human Torch stories. At this point, he’s going around stopping bad guys and stuff like a typical superhero. The third issue does confirm that Professor Horton is dead.
We’ll jump ahead to the close of the 1930s for the fourth story, as it adds something significant to his mythos, give or take an M.
The Human Torch is described as “the master of all flame”, which will be a common slogan for the character.
Johnson, Human Torch’s friend from the second issue, recommended the Torch come up with a civilian name and keep his identity secret. So the Torch calls himself Jim Hamond.
“I say, it was an awful crime for the Torch to burn up Horton’s home and kill him!” “Perhaps it was his own fault, ma’am– He saw the possibilities of making a fortune for himself… obviously the Torch didn’t approve!”
When we first began this blog with Fantastic Four #1, we met Johnny Storm, and noted he was not Marvel’s first character named Human Torch, and so read the story of Marvel’s very first superhero in Marvel Comics #1.
We later saw the battles of the Human Torch and Namor in Marvel Mystery Comics #7 and Human Torch #5. The latter includes Human Torch’s sidekick Toro. We read some Young Allies stories, which also featured Toro, though we haven’t been properly introduced to him.
Now it’s time to do a good read-through of some of the early Human Torch stories. I’ve tried to pick out 10 key stories.
For its second issue, the title of this inaugural magazine is being expanded from simply Marvel Comics to Marvel Mystery Comics. Human Torch graced the first issue’s cover, but this issue it will go to one of the book’s other stars, the Angel.
In his origin, the Human Torch was a robot created by Professor Horton designed to be just like a human. A flaw in his design caused him to burst into flame. The press wanted Horton to destroy his creation. He instead reached a compromise with the scientific community to seal the Human Torch away until they could figure out how to control his flame. The Torch broke out, got duped by some mobsters, figured out he’d been duped and killed them. In the process, he was exposed to nitrogen, which gave him control over his own flame. He can turn it on or off at will, and even shoot fireballs. When he realized Horton also just hoped to profit off him, the Human Torch burned a hole in Horton’s ceiling and flew away.
Professor Horton kept a journal. We see snippets of it recounting the above events, including the Human Torch leaving him.
