Fire and water. Which one came first? In this intro to the first GA MM Roy Thomas admits that he doesn't know. Fact is that both Namor and Human Torch were packaged by Lloyd Jacquet, and that the first eight pages of the Sub-Mariner story were intended for Motion Picture Funnies Weekly. So most likely the first issue of MMC was being prepared in April-May of 1939, or thereabouts. What was happening around that time? Grapes of Wrath of was published in February 1939, and on April 20 the New York World's Fair was opened. (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/time/1939/1939fr.html) Outside the US Germany invades Czechoslovakia on March 15 and takes control of the country without any resistance. (On March 17 the Roosevelt administration issues a statement deploring the German takeover of Czechoslovakia as a threat to world peace.) The Spanish Civil War ended on April 1, and Italy invades Albania on April 7. Also, the war in China continues.

Given all this, it was kinda surprising to see nothing on the impending doom in the first two issues of MMC. Instead, we some reworkings of familiar pulp themes (Angel, Ka-Zar obviously, and a few Western series). I guess Jacquet (and Goodman) didn't want to experiment too much in their new comic book venture? Except Human Torch feels kinda strange and then
Namor is just completely wild and unhinged. So maybe they wanted to mix the new with the familiar? Or maybe they had no idea what they were doing..

Human Torch is an interesting concept, especially when even his creator turns out to be a greedy bastard. Too bad Burgos was such a clumsy draftsman at this point... Yet, the concept of a flaming robot was so good that Goodman felt Human Torch should be on the cover of the first MMC... (drawn by the pulp artist Frank R. Paul).

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Paul Gustavson's Angel was drawn much better, but also there the storytelling element was still sorely lacking. You can sorta tell that everyone is still learning their way.

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The real winner of these early MMCs is clearly Bill Everett and Sub-Mariner. While Everett's panels are relatively sparse, his drawings are simply gorgeous and he knows how to tell the story visually! And of course also here the concept of a flying fishman/wildman is sooo interesting and open to so many different interpretations, it is no wonder Namor is still around.

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I wonder what happened after the first two issues of the MMC, as after them the Nazi Germany is getting to be clearly identified as the enemy. I guess it is possible that Daring #1 and MMC #3 were prepared after September 1. Daring Mystery Comics was edited by Joe Simon. Too bad all the features are at best grade B, often also C and D...Well, Fiery Mask had some promise. This is 'Soldier of Fortune', though.

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Namor was the first Marvel/Timely heavyweight to battle Germans, and seems to give up his old, wicked ways at the same time! (Although it was somewhat strange that all this action seemed to take just outside the New York harbor...)

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Here's a pic of Carl Burgos, Martin Goodman and Lloyd Jacquet celebrating New Year's Eve 1940. Scanned from Blake Bell's Fire & Water (a book I recommend strongly).

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