Marvel Comics 1: Ugh.....I really hate revisiting the Marvel Comics 1-4 Masterwork, but since I own the other two MC MW, I couldn't justify buying the Omnibus too. Truly, the appalling reproduction and ghastly, hideous and grotesque coloring makes this volume, by far, the Masterworks' Most Shameful Moment. Why oh why can't this go BTP in a good edition?

Human Torch: I like the eccentric shapes to the panels. p. 4: the graphic of the Torch, rampaging through the city, is a great one. I kind of wish it had been a full-page splash. In particular, you know you're in a pre-Code comic from the passerby bursting into flame. Whoops! It's interesting that Burgos uses a robot to be his Human Torch. It's also interesting that the robot feels more of a conscience than ANY of the humans, Horton included. Why does Sardo's swimming pool have a device that removes the air as well s draining the water? What exactly would one use that for, when it's not being used to imprison a combustible robot? For that matter, why does a mobster with a protection racket have an underground lab? The plot here seems like a one trick pony, since it's not clear how Sardo intends to recapture the Torch in order to threaten anyone else...or is he just confident that one demonstration is all he needs to get people into line? The Torch, even with his concern about burning innocent people and property, does seem a little screwy with his maniacal laughter throughout. I do like the way he turns on Horton too once he displays greed of his own---even after Horton has taken responsibility for the Torch.

The Angel. The strict grid layout sure feels dull after the dynamic layout of the Torch story. The Angel is depicted here as a ruthless vigilante. p. 3: I am trying and failing to imagine how one would get into the back of a speeding car without the driver noticing it. Dr. Lang features some arch-hypocrisy as an anti-crime organizer who ends up being the Big Boss, complete with a seductive moll who's a little too helpful. The ending is darned abrupt and almost feels like a panel was glued in from another page.

Sub-Mariner. Or, considering the brown water in the Masterwork, the Sewage-Mariner. He too is quickly presented as a killer from the very beginning, with his mother Fen and the fish-headed king (does he have a name?) egging him on. We also get a firm time setting here, with Fen meeting Leonard Mackenzie in 1920, and Namor presumably being born a year or two later, depending on how much time has passed (it doesn't seem like much) before Fen returns to her people. More Pre-Code fun in the express use of sexuality for purposes of espionage, making Fen an aquatic Mata Hari. For that matter, there's the potential controversy of interracial marriage (if not inter-species). And look, Lady Dorma is here already too. The finale feels rushed here too; Namor just abandons Dorma in the plane? Do we have any indication she has the first idea how to fly, or more importantly, land, a plane? Well, Namor can't be bothered with that.

The various backups run the gamut of genres, hoping to see something stick. We start with a western, with the Masked Raider. The hero being framed by the big landowner makes this feel like a retread of a Gene Autry movie, but I guess the target audiences for both were probably the same kids. Both the sheriff and the gang members seem overwhelmed by the notion that the Raider is wearing a mask. Very odd.

Jungle Terror: Don't like the Old West? Try a jungle adventure. The Professor shouldn't have gone off by himself....so Ken Masters and the Professor's nephew promptly go off by themselves to look for him, with no visible planning of any kind. p.4: Why on earth is there a trap door underneath a grass hut? At the end, our "heroes" seem awfully proud of themselves for robbing the locals of a single diamond.

The text story, Burning Rubber, was obviously written by someone who doesn't have the first idea of car racing. For starters, I don't think a checkered flag has ever been used to disqualify or remove a racer. No editing was involved either, since there is talk of selling the gas feeder gadger to a "motor magnet." Wouldn't a magnate have more money?

The "famous character Ka-Zar" jumps from the pulps to the comics, having made his first appearance three years earlier in another of Goodman's comics. I had been under the impression that the GA Ka-Zar was the same dude as the SA one, but since they have different names and origins I have to conclude they're not. It's awfully text-heavy (indicating its pulpy origins?) and full of exposition. Daddy Rand is quite the mental case, insisting that home is where Mom is buried. Arch-villain De Kraft is introduced, and he's suitably nasty, in his pursuit first of the emeralds and then of just killing Ka-Zar. Apparently having a spear thrown into his back does not disturb Ka-Zar to any significant extent. It's certainly convenient of Zar the lion to intervene; the arc of his rewarding David Rand's help recalls the fable of Androcles and the Lion.

I have to rest my eyes for a while before I can look at the second issue of this disgusting mess of a book. I am looking forward to Daring Mystery 1.