Marvel Comics (1939 series) #1

on-sale: Aug 31, 1039
Carl Burgos

Marvel Comics (1939 series) #1 cover

Story Name:

The Human Torch


Synopsis

Marvel Comics (1939 series) #1 synopsis by Julio M2
Rating: 4 stars

Professor Horton has created a synthetic man he calls the Human Torch. The android ignites when in contact with air. Unable to control that, and following the advice of a Scientist Guild, Horton locks the robot inside a steel tube, buried in cement until he can figure a way to control the ignitions.

Weeks later, a minor leak in the sealed tube allowed air inside. The android turned into flames and escaped after a colossal explosion. Firefighters tried in vain to stop him. Finally, he secluded inside a swimming pool, in the residence of Tony Sardo, a criminal.

Believing he could use the Human Torch for profit, Sardo tricked him into destroying the warehouse of a business owner he blackmailed for protection. Furious, the Human Torch killed Sardo’s gang, and looked to end Sardo as well, but he got killed by his own hands.

During the altercation, the android learned to control his flames using nitrogen and saved Horton’s life. The authorities accepted the professor as the Human Torch custodian. But when the android learned Horton wanted to make money with him, too, he flew away.

--

Characters:

Human Torch
Plus: Phineas Horton (Professor Horton), Scientists Guild.


Story #2

The Angel

Writer/Penciler/Inker/Letterer: Paul Gustavson. Colorist: Unknown.

Synopsis

By Julio M2
Rating: 2.5 stars

A mafia group has a city under control and charges victims for protection. The police can find no witnesses to keep the crooks behind bars. A man called Dr. Lang advises the commissioner to ask a superhero called the Angel for help. That individual appears and visits the crooks, called the Six Big Men, one by one. He ends them for good.

At one point, some criminals captured the Angel. But a woman called Lil saved him. As the Angel progressed in his mission, he suspected the plot was thicker. He was right. After dealing with the last crook, the Angel discovered that Dr. Lang was the mafia leader and tricked the Angel to get rid of his associates so he would not split their criminal gains with them.

The Angel brings Dr. Lang and Lil, his assistant, to the police.

--

Characters:

Angel



Story #3

Namor the Sub-Mariner

Writer/Penciler/Inker/Letterer: Bill Everett. Colorist: Unknown.

Synopsis

By Julio M2
Rating: 3 stars

Two divers in early 20-century suits discover a young man swimming in the cold, deep waters near Antartica while researching a wrecked ship. He is Namor, the Sub-Mariner, who confuses the divers with robots and kills them. When a third diver alerts the danger to the crew, the S. S. Survivor boat departs, but Namor, with superhuman strength, throws the vessels against a rocky coast, destroying it.

Namor brings the two divers to his underwater city and shows them to a top official (note: Emperor Tha-Korr), learning they were both surface men. The official looks like an aquatic human. Namor’s mother (note: Princess Fen), who has light blue skin but looks human, congratulates him for starting a war of revenge upon humanity. Puzzled, Namor wonders why such a war should take place since his father, Commander Leonard McKenzie, a surface man, was a good person.

She tells Namor why their people want to attack humankind. Before he was born, ships neared their underwater city and using bombs meant for scientific purposes, destroyed buildings, killing many. But their armies were no match for men. They sent her to infiltrate them and disrupt them from the inside. It’s when she met Namor’s father. A gentle man, he protected and befriended her. The two fell in love and had Namor.

The Sub-Mariner’s skin is like the surface dwellers. He can stay outside of water for very long, has superhuman strength, durability and can fly. He can lead a counterattack to avenge at last the tragedies they suffered.

With his cousin Dorma, Namor swims to a shore and wrecks a light house, hoping to cause ships nearby to crash at night. He fights all who oppose him. Finally, he flies to an airplane, bringing Dorma with him. After dispatching the pilot, and placing her in his seat, he returns to the waters to resume his mission.

--

Characters:

Lady Dorma
Sub-Mariner
Plus: Emperor Tha-Korr, Fen (Princess Fen).


Story #4

The Masked Raider

Writer/Penciler/Inker: Al Anders. Colorist: Unknown. Letterer: Unknown.

Synopsis

By Julio M2
Rating: 4 stars

A powerful and corrupt rancher called Cal Brunder sends his gun-men to small ranchers. They scare them into selling their lands to Brunder at a cheap price. But one of them, Jim Gardley, soundly resists.

Falsely accused of stealing cattle, Gardley ends up in prison. Instead of waiting for a fixed trial, he escapes and prepares, for months, to get back at Brunder’s gang. During this time, he tamed a wild white horse called Lightning, and enhanced his firing speed and aim. To protect his identity, he covered his face with a bandana, calling himself the Masked Raider.

Meanwhile, Brunder’s men kill a small rancher and his wife. The sheriff, controlled by Brunder, disapproved such a violence. It’s when the Masked Rider showed up to make them pay! He gets them one by one, aided by townspeople, until they corner Cal Brunder, ending his firm grip on their town, Cactusville.

--

Characters:

Masked Raider
Plus: Lightning (horse).


Story #5

Jungle Terror: A Complete Adventure Story

Writer: Unknown. Penciler/Inker: Art Pinajian. Colorist: Unknown. Letterer: Unknown.

Synopsis

By Julio M2
Rating: 3.5 stars

Worried about professor Roberts who hasn’t returned from his trip to the Amazon jungle, his friend Ken Masters and Roberts’ nephew, Tim, fly to find him. Roberts went in search of a special diamond rumored to be in that jungle. But a gang, lead by a criminal called John Crafton, follows the rescuers; they plan to steal the diamond from them.

Masters crash lands on the jungle after his plane malfunctioned. Fortunately, neither he nor Tim got injured. But they’re captured by natives and taken prisoners. Crafton’s plane lands soon after and natives corner them too.

When Masters and Tim enter the prison hut, they find professor Roberts. Natives locked him when they learned he was after their diamond. The tribe planned to kill them soon. Fortunately, the hut had a hidden entrance to a tunnel. Escaping through it, they reached a cavern with thousands of diamonds. But Crafton and his man were there, too, after escaping the natives in similar circumstances.

Natives arrive and kill both criminals. Masters uses Crafton’s pistol to hold the natives at bay, and the three barely escape alive in Crafton’s airplane.

Finally, Masters shows his rescuers a diamond he grabbed during the altercate.

--

Characters:

Ken Masters, Professor John Roberts, Tim Roberts.


Story #6

Ka-Zar the Great

Writer/Penciler/Inker: Ben Thompson. Colorist: Unknown. Letterer: Unknown.

Synopsis

By Julio M2
Rating: 4 stars

John Rand, a diamond field owner, was flying to Cairo with his wife Constance and their 3-year-old son David when the airplane malfunctioned. Crash landing in the Belgium Congo, Constance broke her leg. Unfortunately, no rescue planes found them, her condition worsen and died. John set to return to civilization with young David. But during a severe storm, John got hit on the head, affecting his brain, now considering the jungle as his valid home.

Time passed, and both got used to living in the savage environment. David had a mysterious talent for befriending animals. He learned to communicate with them. The jungle leader, an adult lion called Zar, watched the boy with respect. One day, Zar fell in quicksand, and David rescued him. The lion’s respect for David only grew.

John and David stumbled upon a pair of black natives and a white man of dubious morals. He was after emeralds. When John asked them to leave, the man, named Paul De Kraft, shot him but missed. David hit De Kraft in the arm with an arrow.

Revengefully, De Kraft returned, burned their hut, and shot John, this time with good aim, while David was inspecting their tent. When David returned and seemed will follow his dad’s misfortune, Zar, the lion, attacked and killed the natives. De Kraft escaped.

After burying his father, David gets invited by Zar to live in his cavern. He forms a pact with the boy, from that day on, he will be known as Ka-Zar, which means, the brother of Zar, the mighty lion!

--

Characters:

Ka-Zar
Plus: Chaka (gorilla), N'Jaga (leopard), Sha (lioness), Trajah (elephant), Zar (lion).



> Marvel Comics (1939 series) comic book info and issue index


 

Review / Commentaries


Marvel Comics (1939 series) #1 Review by (December 15, 2024)

This is the very 1st comic published by Timely Publications, the former name of Marvel Comics. Interestingly enough, the book was called “Marvel Comics”.

It was a full color, 68-page comic, with a price tag of 10 cents. It had six comic stories, one text story and a cartoon (humor) page. 

All comic stories feature new characters, except for the last one, with Ka-Zar the Great, a jungle man (like Tarzan), his lion, Zar, and Trajah, his elephant. This original Ka-Zar (not to be confused with Kevin Plunder, the Ka-Zar of our days) appeared three years earlier, in 1936, in a pulp magazine published by Timely’s owner and director, Martin Goodman.

The first comic story features an android created by Professor Horton, a savvy elder. Because of an unknown defect, the android turns into flames when in contact with air, thus getting dubbed the Human Torch. Later, this android takes Jim Hammond as his name. (Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four will become the Human Torch we know of now, two decades later). History considers this original Human Torch as the first Marvel Comics character.

Three other main characters debuted here: the Angel (Tom Halloway, a Walt-Disney look-a-like dressed like a Superman who murdered criminals), the Masked Raider (Jim Gardley, a valiant gunslinger), and the Sub-Mariner (Namor, a mighty half-man half-Atlantean amphibious anti-hero), the only one who basically lasted to these days.

The art is alright with many panels per page, a common practice in those days. Different creators, who most times also wrote the story.

Finally, the “Jungle Terror“ comic story is the only one without continuity. A very 1930s styled one, since some characters visit the Amazon jungle dressed in suits (!) This story has the best art in the comic.

A humble yet strong beginning for the House of Ideas.




Elektra


This comic is in the following collection:
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Collecting MARVEL COMICS #1 and MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #2-12
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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos
Unknown
Frank Paul (Cover Penciler)
Frank Paul (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Carl Burgos.
Editor: Martin Goodman.



Thor

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