It Walks Erect!
Release: May 19, 1954
Cover: September, 1954
10 cents
Credits: Bob Powell
5 pages
I read this comic reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales #7, December 1974. Credits are not given.
Another hop back in time. Dr. Nagan isn’t actually called Gorilla Man here. That moniker will come later. But it seemed a worthy flashback so we can keep straight Marvel’s three gorilla men.
Continue reading “PRELUDE: Mystery Tales #21, Story E”Gorilla Man
Featuring: Gorilla Man
Release: November 20, 1953
Cover: March, 1954
10 cents
Credits: Robert Q. Sale
6 pages
I read this story in the Agents of Atlas collection.
Robert Q. Sale signed the issue as the artist. Not certain who wrote the words. I don’t know Sale. An internet search reveals little about him. He pencilled some 500 weird or war comics in the ’50s and ’60s, sometimes under the pen name Bob Q. Siege. He’s a very good artist, capturing vivid facial expressions, effectively evoking the nightmarish and kinetic mood.
Continue reading “PRELUDE: Men’s Adventures #26, Story D”The Human Torch
Release: August 31, 1939
Cover: October, 1939
Price: $0.10
Credits: Carl Burgos
16 pages
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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 by Frank R. Paul. 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.
The story is by Carl Burgos, the pen name for Max Finkelstein.
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.
Continue reading “PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1”
