This is where it all begins. Marvel Comics #1 was one of the first Golden age comics I ever read and I have a fair bit of nostalgia for it, though I'll try to not let it impact this post too much.
Timely's very first comic book was a fairly typical action-adventure anthology, similar to what other publishers were putting out at the time. These type of books would start off with a colorful, often Superman-inspired hero that would often be showcased on the cover, then continue with a variety of other action heroes. Each book would have around 7-8 different comics, usually but not always starring heroes that would keep appearing in new adventures every month, which meant kids would keep picking up each subsequent issue to read more about their favorite heroes. In addition to the lead feature, which was usually a super hero, a typical action-adventure anthology would usually include heroes taken from the following list: Detectives, western heroes, Buck Rogers-inspired sci-fi heroes, Tarzan-inspired jungle heroes, magicians, sports heroes, aviators, spies, explorer-adventurer types, newshounds, soldiers and historical swashbucklers/knights/Robin Hood types. There wasn't all that much variety within these rough archetypes; the characters tended to have little in the way of actual personality and most of them lacked any kind of unique hook, so it was mostly the strength of their individual stories that made people prefer one generic detective over another.
Marvel Comics #1 promises us "Action, mystery and adventure" and tells us this month will give us "The Human Torch", "The Angel", "Submariner" and "Masked Raider", as well as "12 pages of jungle adventure" featuring "Ka-Zar the Great", the only name here readers may have already been familiar with. Ka-Zar was a Tarzan clone that had appeared in a couple pulp stories at the time, so name dropping him on the cover to potentially attract some of his fans makes sense. The cover itself doesn't feature Ka-Zar, though: Instead, we see some strange, demonic fire creature melt its way into a vault, as some poor guy is futilely trying to defend himself against this monster with a gun. It definitely looks more like the cover of a horror comic than a super hero one, but not only is this scene a fairly accurate depiction of a scene that actually takes place in the lead story, the fire demon is actually the story's hero, while the poor dude with the gun is the villain. Absolutely not the idea you get from the cover itself.
Let's give the actual book a look, then:
Now I'll Tell One!
The first feature in the book is this small collection of one-panel gags. Timely didn't do this type of filler all that often, and what little they did typically wasn't panel gags, which is probably a good thing considering the overall quality of this page. None of these five jokes are good, and some make no sense to me whatsoever. In order:
*Two workers peek out of a manhole, with one of them saying "I used 'ta live in a penthouse". I'm not sure what the joke here is supposed to be... he used to be high above ground and now he's below ground? I dunno.
*A grinning, bald worker at "Acme Sand" says "ten years ago I hated dis job because the sand got into my hair". Not funny.
*A toddler tells a nurse he insists upon getting his breakfast (a bottle) in bed. The joke is that babies are always fed in bed, I assume, but I don't think that was even the case back then. Even if it was, this isn't very funny.
*During a boxing match, one of the boxers takes a photo of the other's incoming punch, saying "Oboy, what a shot!". I'm honestly not seeing what the joke here is beyond the situation being utterly bizarre.
*A prisoner sits in his cell with a birthday cake, grumbling about how nobody came to his party. Probably the best joke here, but it's still pretty sorry stuff.
Not the best start to the issue.
The Human Torch
Our story opens at the laboratory of a Professor Horton, where the professor has called in some "gentlemen of the press" to present a difficult problem in his latest discovery. As they all know, he has been working on creating a synthetic man - "an exact replica of a human being", but once he finished he found that he had surpassed anything any scientist had ever done - something even he feared. He takes them to an air-tight glass cage he keeps his creation, which he's dubbed "The Human Torch", in, then explains that due to "something having gone wrong with his figurings somewhere", his robot bursts into flame upon contact with oxygen. He lets some air into the cage to demonstrate, and as the synthetic man catches fire, one of the journalists immediately tells Horton to destroy his creation before some madman can "grasp its principles and hurl it against our civilization".
Horton refuses, saying destroying the Torch won't solve anything, so the journalists walk off to write articles warning the public about how potentially dangerous the Torch can be, and within the hour, newsboys are on the street with extras about Horton's invention. As Horton reads the paper, he gets a phone call from the Scientists' Guild, which wants to see his creation. He invites them over, and they send three men over that evening to investigate the Torch due to the newspaper articles having aroused the public. Horton gives them a demonstration as they attempt use a pyrometer to measure the Torch's heat, but the flame turns out to be too hot to measure. As Horton confirms he has no control over the flame whatsoever, the lead scientist says he unfortunately has no choice but to agree with the papers. The Torch is too dangerous and must be destroyed. Horton objects, saying he might be able to stumble over a device to control and master the Torch, and the lead scientist proposes an alternate solution: Entombing the Torch in a concrete block, where he'll pose no danger to anyone, but which he can be dug out of if Horton finds a solution to the flame problem. Horton thinks this is a great idea, and the next day a mold for the concrete is constructed. Horton then seals the Torch into a steel tube in front of witnesses before the tube is lifted up by a crane and dumped into the wet cement, where it sinks down, possibly sealed forever. This is all presented surprisingly realistically for the time - none of the characters involved have any sort of hidden agendas or act particularly out of line. Instead, it's just a number of people understandably worried about the Torch (with even Horton admitting he's afraid of it) that eventually arrive at a solution they all think is fair. This wasn't common at the time.
Of course, the Torch didn't stay down in that cement block forever. One morning, after "everybody had forgotten about the fire-man", a terrifying blast "split the earth open", shattering Horton's windows in the process. The blast wakes Horton and he sees the tomb has been blown open. His initial assumption is that the Torch has been destroyed, since nothing could have survived such a blast, but he then hits on the possibility that the air-tight tube may have had a leak. He tries disregarding that possibility since he sealed the tube himself, but a narration box informs us there had indeed been one as we cut to the Torch running through the city, panicking over the fact that everything he touches turns to flame... including some poor guy he lights on fire as he runs past him. Someone calls the fire department and a fire truck is sent in, and as it rolls up next to the Torch, he actually turns around and admires the sound of the bell with childlike enthusiasm. It's an amusing moment that's very much a product of its time. The Torch is nice enough to just stand there as the firefighters get their hose attached to the fire hydrant and start spraying him with water. The Torch laughs as the pressure of the water just tickles him, creeping out the firefighters, but his flame starts to die down and one fireman runs off to get Horton. Unfortunately, the Torch ends up stepping on the hose and burning a hole in it, cutting off the water supply and making his fire blaze back up again as he runs off, wanting to get away before he causes more damage. He eventually spots a pool in a garden behind an iron gate and, hoping that will put out his flame, grips the iron bars in the gates and melts the metal itself away to get into the garden, then runs over to the pool and dives in, lighting the lawn on fire as he goes.
Inside the house, a guy named Sardo is reading a paper that's already covering the Torch's rampage as his henchdude Red points out that his lawn around the pool is on fire. Sardo immediately realizes what has happened and tells Red to "get the winter glass cover that fits the pool, draw the air out, then drain the water". Is this a thing? Sounds bizarre. Red does as told, then he and Sardo goes to inspect the now empty, air-tight sealed pool where the Torch is standing, no longer on fire. He's standing upright, so apparently this "exact replica of a human being" can function perfectly fine without needing to breathe. Sardo is happy to have the Torch there, while Red doesn't quite get why this is such a big deal, so Sardo tells him they have a million dollar racket and don't have to worry about the cops any more. As he puts it, they're now in the fire insurance business and their first customer will be "Acmen Warehouse", which deals in steel. Steel may not burn, but they now have the Human Torch with them, and he can melt steel - and they don't even have to worry about whether or not he wants to work for them, since he starts burning when he touches air anyway. Red still doesn't really get it, but still drives Sardo to see Mr. Harris, the president of Acmen, who Sardo tells quite upfront that he'll either sign up for his protection insurance or he won't have more steel in his warehouse. Harris doesn't like racketeers much and throws Sardo out, so an angry Sardo tells him he'll be sorry, then returns to Red and gets driven back to the mansion. There, they fill the pool with water again, then Sardo goes down in a diving suit and encloses the Torch in a giant glass tube he, like all of us, had lying around in his lab. The Torch is still fully conscious and under the impression Sardo is helping him, so he lets himself get put in the tube, then lifted out and loaded into a truck. It's now "the night" for some reason as the truck speeds to one of Harris' warehouses, where Sardo and his men unload the glass tube and carry it into the apparently unguarded building before Sardo tosses a weight at the tube, shattering it and freeing the Torch, telling him to burn the place to the ground. This was apparently Sardo's entire plan - threaten businesses dealing in fireproof wares, let the Torch lose on the first business that doesn't pay. Of course, he lost the Torch this way, so he can't exactly pull that stunt more than once, nor does he "no longer have to worry about the cops"... and he DOES have to worry about the Torch, who might not appreciate being used in this way, and who knows where he lives. Granted, he didn't tell Harris he was going to use fire, but he still made no money off this, so I can see how Red didn't get it. The plan makes very little sense.
As the Torch walks through the now burning warehouse, he tries to figure out why his apparent benefactor would bring him here and break the cover, eventually deducing he must be a racketeer. He decides he has to get out and "see" Sardo, and when the roof caves in, he has his way out. He takes a running start and manages a massive leap through the destroyed roof that surprises even him, as a narrator helpfully explains that "the blue and combined red flames made the Human Torch lighter than air". If you say so.
This was apparently just a long jump, not outright flight, and the Torch lands some blocks away, then starts running towards Sardo's house as scared citizens flee the scene. When he gets there, Sardo is rather naievely "taken by surprise" by the Torch's return, then runs into his house, closing the door. The Torch simply walks straight through the door, and a shocked Sardo decides to hide in his underground lab - "It's steel - it'll stop him". This is the guy who outright said the Torch could melt steel 3 pages earlier.
Sardo runs to his lab, which "walls are made of twelve inch battleship chromium steel plates", as the Torch burns his house to the ground searching for him. Sardo's men are still in there, having waited for Sardo to join them, but finally decide they have to escape without him. They and the Torch spot each other as they escape the house and he follows them as they run into the garden, most of them diving into the pool, while Red ducks under a car. The Torch leaps onto the car, melting it over Red "as if it was made of butter", and a narration box mentions he also turns the water in the pool to steam, scalding the gangsters there. Quite brutal.
With only Sardo still alive, the Torch returns to the house to search for him, eventually spotting a steel door he hadn't seen before. He places his hand on it and melts his way through, reaching Sardo's lab, where Sardo is hiding behind a "special door", mocking the Torch and saying he'll never get him in a million years. The Torch has absolutely no trouble simply walking straight through the door in a scene that inspired the cover to the book, and a panicking Sardo dons a gas mask and tries to get rid of the Torch with a "gas bomb", with the heat of the Torch "causing it to fizz before it can even touch" him. If the bomb going off in mid air meant it wasn't close enough to harm the Torch, I wonder why Sardo bothered with the mask. The Torch then mocks Sardo by picking up one of his bombs and melting it in his hand, which doesn't make it go off for some reason, as a now half crazed Sardo prepares to toss a tank of "liquidar" at him.
A fire truck arrives at the scene at that point with Horton on board, and as the firemen attempt to put out the fire in Sardo's house, Horton storms into the house, having spotted a tank of nitrogen he wants to get out of there before it explodes. The Torch, who has returned to the surface for some reason, spots the same tank and leaps at it, closing his arms around it and melting a hole for the gas to get out before it can cause an explosion... with Horton watching in amazement as the gas causes the Torch's fire to die out. The fire chief then sees the Torch is no longer on fire, pulls out a gun and shoots him in the head. The end.
Or not. The Torch's skin is still so hot the bullet just melts on impact, and a laughing Torch then runs back into the fire to finish off Sardo. Down in the lab, Sardo sees the approaching Torch is no longer and fire and wonders if it might have been put out by the nitro upstairs. Once the Torch catches fire again he's sure of it and grabs a nearby tank of nitro, offering it to the Torch if he'll let him go. A rather cruel Torch simply rips the tank from Sardo's hands and thanks him for it, then declares he'll never let him go. Sardo begs for his life, but the Torch simply says he should've thought of this before he used him for his racket, then starts tearing up Sardo's lab "with seemingly fiendish delight". Sardo eyes a chance and sneaks into a corner, grabbing a tank of sulphuric acid he throws at the Torch, but just like the bomb it explodes in mid air due to the Torch's heat, the resulting explosion being so great it kills Sardo. Torch grabs the tank of nitro and walks back to Horton, saying that the explosion he head was just "a rat (that) dealt out justice to himself".
The police show up and spot the Torch and Horton as the Torch walks back into the blaze to "experiment" with the nitro, the details of which the comic kind of just glosses over. After the experiments are over, however, the Torch now has complete control of his flames, not only being able to turn it on and off at will, but also being able to throw it like a ball. He leaves the house as the police chief calls for backup, then starts tailing the Torch as he walks away. The Torch, noticing he's being followed, starts running away, but is eventually stopped by a blockade. The officers are unable to approach the Torch due to the heat he gives off, but he tells them to wait and willingly turns off his own flame, apologizing for not knowing they were after him and going with them.
At police headquarters, the Torch is questioned about his actions, and while he explains Sardo's involvement in the warehouse fire, his excuse for burning down Sardo's estate is simply that "it was of (Sardo's) own doing", as Sardo set him free in the air. They also seemingly just ignore the fact that the Torch straight out murdered at least three people that were only trying to escape his rampage. Oh well. Horton tells the captain to leave the Torch in his custody and the captain goes along with that, saying the Torch would probably just burn down the jail if he didn't. Horton drives the Torch to his house as the Torch tells him he now has complete control of his flame, then demonstrates at the house by lighting Horton's cigar from a distance. Seeing an opportunity here, Horton exclaims they can make a fortune out of this, but the Torch refuses. With the words "No one will ever use me for selfish gain - or crime", he burns a hole in the ceiling and leaps out with a laugh as the final panel promises "another Human Torch picture-action story" next month.
This is a really solid story for the time, and considering its length and position at the start of the book, Timely clearly thought so as well. Sure, it has issues - Sardo's plan is nonsensical and he's ridiculously short-sighted to not realize the Torch would probably come after him, while all the random crap he has lying around is awfully convenient to the plot, but as a whole the story is full of energy and pretty damn exciting. The Torch is written as a genuine threat to the point you fear a lot more about Sardo's safety than his, but at the same time it makes it clear that the Torch never WANTS to cause any harm and is not only actively trying to put out his own flame, he's afraid of it himself.
Horton is also written as rather nuanced for the time. He's open about not wanting to destroy the Torch, he goes along with the plan to seal him away without any trickery, he shows genuine heroism when he runs into the fire to get the nitro tank away from it, he's willing to take responsibility for the Torch before he learns he can now control his flame... yet at the end of the story, he sees the potential for profit and wants to take it. And even here, he's open with the Torch about his intentions, seemingly just not accounting for the fact that the Torch might disagree. In this era of paper thin personalities, he just comes across as human.
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