Tag: timely

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #2

The Human Torch

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: October 13, 1939
Cover: December 1939
10 cents
By Carl Burgos
16 pages

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PRELUDEMarvel Mystery Comics #4
Fantastic Four #56Reading orderFantastic Four Annual 4

“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.

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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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POSTLUDEMarvels #0
Fantastic Four #1Reading orderFantastic Four #2
Anybody else thirsty?

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.

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