Made Men - I Call Him The Human Torch!

The first and foremost of the "Made Men" is Timely's The Human Torch. Debuting in the first issue of Marvel Comics (along with the Sub-Mariner of course) the Torch is an android created by Professor Horton. But he has a flaw, the artificial man bursts into flames on contact with the atmosphere and so after proving to be a menace is encased in concrete. But he breaks free and does in some villains and begins a career as a hero, a career which during the Golden Age paid little heed to his manufactured origins.

The Human Torch becomes a powerhouse for Timely, who alongside the Sub-Mariner and Captain America form the "Big Three" for the ferocious company, led by Martin Goodman who was more than eager to jump on any trend and suck the marrow out of it. When superheroes fell from favor, the Human Torch disappeared to be replaced by funny animals and bodacious models. When superheroes came back so did the Torch in the early Atom Age days. But it was when the character was totally revamped and made a true HUMAN Torch named Johnny Storm that the character found lasting power.

Eventually the original returned, though with  grumbling endurance, His brevity has been suggested to be because of the attempts by his creator Carl Burgos to gain some additional revenue from the character in court. But eventually "John Hammond" the Golden Age Human Torch does become a part of the Marvel mythology in an ongoing way, at first as part of the Vision's elaborate origin  and then later as himself.

But never has he been as compelling to my eye as when he was a monster, a creature beyond the control of man. His very existence the evidence of man's overreaching into the fabric of nature, a creature not at all unlike Frankenstein's.

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Decades 1940's - Golden Fury!

Marvel's Decades series has proven to be quite entertaining for me so far. I've gathered up all the volumes to date, though I admit that beyond the 80's my interest diminishes significantly. The first tome in this series Decades - Marvel In The '40s highlighted the Golden Age clashes of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner and his elemental opposite The Human Torch. Both these heroes debuted in Marvel Comics #1 (actually Namor technically was supposed to appear earlier) and during the Golden Age at least were the banner boys for Timely Comics. Alongside Captain America they formed Marvel's "Big Three". (Cap gets his limelight next time.) Given the natures of  Namor and the Torch it was almost inevitable that they discover conflict and they did again and again. Eventually they'd become allies, not only on the covers of scores of delicious covers by Alex Schomburg, but offically as members of the ill-fated All-Winners Squad. The two have quite a tempestuous relationship as the Sub-Mariner switches back and forth from defending mankind to invading the surface world from time to time. The battles between the Torch and Namor are not all of what Timely was about during the Golden Age of Comics, but those punch-outs do give a window into the era in a splendid manner.

Here are the covers of the comics from which the stories in this volume were taken.

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Fire Versus Water!

I don't know if it was some sort of master plan but I doubt it. However the chips fell, Marvel, then called Timely has two of the most famous and successful Golden Age comic book superheros in the Human Torch (who wasn't "Human") and the Sub-Mariner (who wasn't always a "hero"). Now in this new series of trades dubbed "Decades" we get a nifty batch of Subby's and Torch's earliest squabbles.

The idea that they existed in the same universe likely rocked the world of more than a few fans at the time. We are so used to expansive and elaborate continuities these days that the raucous early days of comics have a refreshing atmosphere of pure creation. Eventually the two would become partners alongside Captain America, the Whizzer and Miss America as part of the All-Winners Squad, but in these early encounters they'd rather fight than switch. Almost all the work here is by the two creators of these characters -- Bill Everett and Carl Burgos, although there is one story drawn by the infamous "Unknown". This one is sheer fun.

Here are the covers of the comics in the collection, though of course only the Sub-Mariner and Torch material is included.

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The Timely War!

Timely Comics sure lived up its name. The stories and yarns contained in Marvel Firsts: WWII Super Heroes are of the moment, if that moment is the late 30's and early 40's. Marvel (or Timely if you will) bursts onto the comics scene quite literally with Marvel Comcs #1 featuring a demonic looking rendition of the Human Torch. Included in that momentous debut was also the Sub-Mariner and lesser lights like The Angel, Ka-zar, Masked Rider and others. With these and other creations from the Loyd Jacquet studio which had such talents as Carl Burgos and Bill Everett,  With titles like Daring and Mystic Martin Goodman found a toehold in the burgeoning comic book market which had exploded when a certain gentleman from Krypton landed on Earth. Superheroes were the order of the day, but masked vigilantes with a decidedly pulp flavor. The aforementioned Angel was a spin on The Saint despite the bright blue costume, The Fiery Mask battled zombies in his lurid origin story, and Breeze Barton found a lost land hidden between dimensions.

The creativity was strong in many of these stories, but sometimes the craftsmanship was wanting. Primitive is one way to describe the artwork on strips like Blue Blaze and The Falcon, but fascinatingly incompetent might cover the work on The Patriot. The latter is a strip so lame in its presentation that it's no wonder anyone might imagine they could do comics. Alongside these efforts were truly stylistic offerings such as Flexo, the Fin, and Blazing Skull. The war is central to the stories here and heroes like The Destroyer, the Defender, and most famously Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America are products of that war. This volume is a raucous collection of stories which showcase heroes with simple moral codes and villains who are easy to spot due to the rank racism which infused itself in pop culture of the time. Young Allies even takes that unfortunate aspect and uses it to give us arguably Marvel 's most regrettable character, Whitewash Jones. But I'm a guy who reads stuff in its context, or tries to, and seen as historical documents of a kind, these fast-paced yarns are not only diverting but enlightening. Seeing how we were can help us all to be better.

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