Marvel Comics #1, October 1939 [published 31 Aug 39]

“Now I’ll Tell One!” – not funny; the joke that comes closest to being amusing is “I insist upon getting my breakfast in bed!”

“The Human Torch” – I didn’t care for Burgos work in the ’40s and ’60s but he did some good work in the ’50s. There is some interesting perspective in this story (as in perspective drawing). Pools have glass covers? Do all gangsters keep large glass tubes on their estates? The Human Torch has had no interaction with human society but he knows what a racketeer is! “Liquidar” is not a word in English, but is the Spanish word for “Liquidate” (of course). The Fire Chief carries a gun. The Torch feels no obligation towards Prof. Horton, his creator; to me, I would think there would be at least some gratitude. For me, this is one of the weakest stories in this issue.

“The Angel” (The Saint) – So much for the Rule of Law. Page 2: having 2 different men in green suits was a bit confusing. Cold-blooded murder is not beyond the Angel. The plot to this story is interesting; I like the angle of the mysterious woman; but I don’t like the idea of vigilante murder.

“The Sub-Mariner” – The first 8 pages of this story were first published in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly. I like the gray tone-work on this strip; it creates a nice, moody effect. “Domma” appears to be “Open” in Namor’s native language. The Emperor talks Shakespearean a la big daddy Odin. Even at her advanced age, Princess Fen is one hot number. The Princess remembers surface people as being cruel. The little green box at the bottom of page 8 marks where this tale originally ended. Dorma is introduced in this tale. Namor seems to know a lot about surface-dwellers; I can only presume he was taught by his Mother. This is the best story in the volume; it sure makes me want to learn more about Prince Namor.

“The Masked Raider” (The Lone Ranger) – The jail-break gimmick on pages 2-3 has been done a ga-zillion times. This is much better than the Human Torch story. It has good pacing. And if you look beyond the fact that this guy couldn’t ink comic book art, I can tell there’s good artwork on this strip.

“Jungle Terror” (non-series) – We’re heading for the Amazon jungle! A simple little tale, full of adventure stories clichés perhaps, but not for the time. Pretty good figure drawing, and the pacing of the story wasn’t bad. But why have two jungle stories in one volume?

“Burning Rubber” (text story) – The plot is okay, but I don’t think it’s well written. The pacing is horrible.

“Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great” (Tarzan) – Ka-Zar had previously appeared in three issues of the eponymous pulp. These first few stories are adapted from the first issue. The artwork on this initial episode is pretty good. Although I’m sure the story is derivative I still enjoyed it.

Anarchy and Chaos are the natural state of the human race. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And Chaos must always ultimately triumph.
Last Edited By: Joseph William Marek Dec 25 12 6:43 AM. Edited 1 times.