Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
"HOT stuff. . . comin' through!" The HUMAN TORCH!
They keep making the same mistake.
Over and over and over again, they keep making it. 
Every time Marvel Comics attempts to fashion some salable sort of "spin-off" title from their successful Fantastic Four flagship... they always, always do so by making the character of The Thing the putative "star" of said title.
This is -- as I believe I may have just mentioned -- a mistake.
Now, please do not misunderstand: it just so happens that I genuinely like the character of "bashful, blue-eyed Benjamin J. Grimm." In fact, I like him bunches and bunches...
... but: he's not the perennial superstar-in-waiting of the Fantastic Four, either.
If one of the key elements in any comics character's ultimate sales success is (and I think this is demonstrable) what I like to refer to as Reader Envy Factor -- i.e., the ability of said character to evoke within a reader the subconscious sentiment: "... boyoboyoboy. Sure wish I could be like this guy [or gal]" -- then this may help serve to explain why such an otherwise popular character as the Thing has had not one, but TWO solo series' shot out from under his craggy hinder, over the years.
I mean... look at it this way: is anyone's life so unremittingly bleak and awful that they'd willingly swap places with a guy who looks as if he'd been (badly) constructed out of large, random chunks of asphalt, and has to be-bop around town in a big, blue diaper, f'chrissakes...?
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: the prosecution rests.
In the meantime, however: the aforementioned FANTASTIC FOUR comic boasts of another character... one of whom it may be fairly stated:
a.) is as visually dynamic as any within the boundaries of the Marvel Universe;
b.) enjoyed (albeit in a slightly different incarnation) one of the most popular and long-lived solo "runs" of the Golden Age of Comics; and --
c.) successfully headlined his own long-running Silver Age series, as well.
Only three Marvel Comics character fit the above bill of particulars: Captain America; Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner...
... and: The Human Torch.
STRANGE TALES was the name on the masthead of Johnny Storm's four-color "home-away-from-home," back in the Silver Age day.
In keeping with the patented Stan Lee approach towards marketing a financially
viable comics series -- namely: "Choose Your Intended Audience Demographic
and Pander, Pander, Pander" -- the Human Torch series played the
"'60's teen" connection for everything it was worth, and then some.
"Hot rods"; jukeboxes; bottled sodas; high school dating angst; and sibling
rivalry (in the form of Johnny Storm's "mother hen"-ish older sister, The
Invisible Girl) were the teen noir order of the day, with Lee's loopy
approximation of "teenage lingo" peppering the storytelling proceedings like
so many odd little linguistic land mines.
One of the nicest elements of the series was the Torch's tumultuous relationship with his chosen "Juliet": the flighty (and demanding) Doris Evans.
In a cute "twist" on the standard super- hero romance, Doris viewed her boyfriend's spandexed extracurricular activities as nothing less than a colossal source of ongoing embarrassment: an unsightly "personal habit" to be borne (depending on her mood, at any given moment) either with freezing stoicism, or else not at all.
It would be manifestly unfair, however -- even in light of its more studiedly "zany" particulars -- to mischaracterize the Torch's STRANGE TALES series as a sort of super-heroic version of an ARCHIE comic. (Not, he hastened to assure all and sundry, that there's anything wrong with ARCHIE comics, per se. So all of you militant ARCHIE fans out there can just refrain from the obligatory fusillade of angry e-mailings, all right? Sheeesh -- !)
Whereas the Human Torch solo stories were inarguably more "light- hearted" in both execution and intent than their more calculatedly operatic FANTASTIC FOUR counterparts... they were by no stretch of the imagination inferior amusements, for all of that.
"The Human Torch Meets Captain America" (STRANGE TALES #114) is an excellent case in point. [See cover reproduction, above]
A group of Johnny's school friends show him a blaring newspaper headline to the effect that that the legendary World War II super-hero Captain America -- long believed to have either retireed, or else perished outright -- is going to make his first public (re-)appearance in decades at a local antique car show (!!) later that afternoon. An obviously impressed Johnny ("I'll be there, all right! I wouldn't miss this for anything!") cuts short a regularly scheduled training session -- much to his big sister's obvious annoyance ("Teen-agers! They're all nuts!") -- to attend the event.
An attempt by some rather generic gunsels to heist one ofthe
classic cars during the show occasions Johnny's blazing into action as the Human
Torch. Thinking to impress his idol, Johnny is flabbergasted when the
star-spangled sentinel angrily berates him, instead. Stung, Johnny lobs a few desultory fireballs
in Cap's direction and flies off. The big sissy.
Well... as H.P. Lovecraft might have put it: one thing leads to another [*rimshot*], and Johnny soon discovers that the red-white-and-blue reprobate in question not only shows a marked inability to Work and Play Well With Others... but is also a thief, as well, using his "crime-busting" forays to cover up his own felonious pursuits!
There are several more scuffles 'twixt the two, with Cap handing the Torch his flaming head each and every time. At long last, however, Johnny manages to remember: "... oh... hey... yeah! I've got, like, super-powers, and stuff! D'OH -- !" and pretty much gives unto Cap one good, old-fashioned Kirby-esque butt-whippin', as a result.
Turns out, however (*whew*) that "Captain America" is not the Star-Spangled Sentinel at all... but, rather, the Torch's old spring-heeled sparring partner, The Acrobat, who'd figured that embarking on a crime spree while trading on the image (and goodwill concomitant) of a certified Idol of Millions would make for one sweet set-up, overall.
It made for quite the full twelve pages, it did.
One of the adolescent adventurer's most persistent ongoing problems, however, was in getting various costumed super- baddies to take him seriously as a worthwhile opponent, sans the counsel and accompaniment of his three elder teammates. An excellent example of this recurring headache was the Torch's initial encounter with the tough-talking "Flint Marko"... a.k.a., The Sandman.
After several years of successfully maintaining pole position within the pages of STRANGE TALES, the Torch found himself sharing his (previously) solo spot with fellow FANTASTIC FOUR alumni The Thing. While the team-up may have seemed a "natural" on paper -- the two characters enjoyed a well-established chemistry as the more pro-active members of said team -- the resultant stories were seldom as effective or enjoyable, overall, as the Torch's own solo efforts had been.
The basic reason for this, I think, was as follows: Johnny Storm had carved out for himself a neat little storytelling "niche" within the Marvel Universe... said niche being predicated (by and large) on thenotion that the aforementioned Mr. Storm was a teenager struggling to gain acceptance on his own, and (more importantly) upon his own TERMS.
The month-in, month-out presence of the gruff, avuncular Thing within the storytelling proceedings -- with his incessant cautionings to the effect of "take it easy, hotshot" and suchlike -- pretty much deep-sixed any chance of that particular dynamic being a "do"-able one, willing suspension of disbelief-wise. Either the Torch had to (as was most often the case) drop all the whimsical accouterments of teen frivolity within the succeeding tales, in order to make them "work"; or else --
-- well... a quick glance to your immediate right should amply demonstrate
the follies inherent in attempting to make the Thing act more like a big, overgrown
kid, himself. [See cover reproduction, above].
At thebeginning of this essay, I made mention of the original (Golden Age) Human Torch. It seems only fitting, then, that I end it on a similarly nostalgic refrain.
Within the pages of KING-SIZE FANTASTIC FOUR SPECIAL #4, Johnny Storm finally made the acquaintance of his '30's/'40's predecessor -- who is well and truly Cheesed Off To the Nth Degree that some (I'm sorry; a dark force greater than myself is forcing me to say it. I'm certain you've had days like this, as well) "Johnny- come-lately" has been having himself a high old time, gallivanting about with his code name and modus operandi. The two firebrands... discuss the matter, amongst themselves.
Johnny Storm discusses the original Torch's butt up and down
the street for him. Hard.
He's long since earned undisputed claim to the title.
It's well and truly past time he was granted a few of the perks that go along with it, as well.
I'm just sayin', is all.
THE KIRBY LEGACY
PAGE TWO: THE FANTASTIC FOUR (The "Kirby" Era)
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