7:30 AM
Brad
Cover Date: March 1963
Plot Overview: Carl Zante arrives at the Human Torch's house and asks Sue to see him. Johnny finally arrives and is shocked to find out that his secret identity hasn't really been a secret for all of this time. Zante has a proposal for the Torch. He wants the Torch to team with him because Reed is just taking advantage of the Torch. Zante offers to give the Torch half of the reward money and half the glory if they team together. Johnny tells Zante that he'll talk to Reed about it and see what happens. Zante of course is tricking the Torch and just wants to use him to commit crimes.
The Torch arrives at the Baxter Building and of course his demands start trouble with the Thing. Reed settles them down and explains that all of the money the Fantastic Four makes goes to research. He also explains that they share the glory equally. Johnny gets made at this answer and decides to join Zante.
Sue begs Johnny to reconsider as he unveils his new costume. Johnny pays her no mind as Zante arrives. Zante explains that there is someone trapped in a bank vault and the Torch needs to rescue them. The Torch takes off and easily burns through the vault. He's surprised to find no one is there and Zante reveals that it was all a trick. Zante sprays the Torch down with liquid asbestos and then shoots him with a gun.
Zante grabs the money and escapes. He gets in his car and the Thing stops him. Sue and Reed help to apprehend him. The Torch arrives on the scene and reveals that Zante only shot him in the arm. Zante makes his escape but the Torch chases him down. Johnny finally uses his intense heat to trap Zante in the pavement. The issue ends with Johnny putting on his Fantastic Four costume and heading off into the sunset with the FF.
My Take: I really liked this issue. I liked how they revealed that Johnny's secret identity was really a sham. I thought that aspect of the book was really ridiculous and I'm glad they got rid of it so soon. I liked the amount of continuity in this book. Zante brought up a couple of fights from the Fantastic Four comic and mentioned how Johnny saved the day. Overall, Zante's approach to Johnny was really well written and believable to me.
There was a decent amount of action in this issue. There were a couple of pages of it and you don't even get that in a full length Fantastic Four comic sometimes. The Acrobat is a little ridiculous as a character but I think they used him well. He didn't do anything that was really unbelievable to me or anything.
This issue also further developed the relationships between the Fantastic Four members. I would actually say that they felt more like the FF that I'm familiar with in this issue. The Thing also seemed to be much more of a wise cracker than an angry monster in this issue. I like when they add Sue to these issues. You don't get to see the brother/sister dynamic as much in the main FF book because they're so busy with the Reed and Namor stuff. So it's nice to see them focus on her from a different angle here.
The art for this issue was really good. Dick Ayers drew the issue this time. He doesn't get the hype that a Kirby/Ditko/Romita gets but he's a solid hand in these issues.
This book is still a surprise to me. I felt like the Torch issues were going to be hard to get through. I was really waiting for Dr. Strange to show up to make these worthwhile. But this book has been a ton of fun with the Human Torch. It never fails to be a fun read for me. I look forward to doing more issues of Strange Tales.
I'd give this ***1/4 out of *****.
Notes: This is the first appearance of Carl Zante also know as the Acrobat. He's a very minor character in the Marvel Universe but he's well known as a trivia question. The Acrobat famously poses as Captain America a few months before Cap returns in the near future. That's the Acrobat's claim to fame as a character.
Next Issue: Fantastic Four #13
Posted in: Acrobat,Human Torch,Reed Richards,Strange Tales,Sue Richards,Thing
0 comments:
Post a Comment