12:01 PM
Brad
Plot Overview: Johnny's friends interrupt a Torch training session to tell him that Captain America will be appearing at the Glenville antique car show. Johnny is excited because he used to read comic books about Cap when he was younger.
Two men steal a car at the show and Johnny becomes the Human Torch. Also, Captain America jumps into action. Together they capture the crooks but Cap tells the Torch that he didn't need his help and flings mud at him. They begin to argue before the Torch takes off and Cap gets the credit for capturing the crooks.
Later, Johnny is upset about the situation while his girlfriend Doris Evans moons over Cap. This upsets the Torch and he accidentally Flames On. Doris chases him out of the house and the Torch goes on a sort of patrol.
Meanwhile, Cap breaks the two crooks out of jail and tells them to raise a real fuss. They take off in a car and eventually get captured by the Human Torch. They reveal that Cap was using them as a distraction so that he could rob the Glenville Bank.
The Torch arrives on the scene and Cap tries to escape in a rocket. The Torch destroys the rocket and Cap manages to escape with a parachute. Cap heads to a sporting goods store and uses a mop to put out the Torch's flames. He then handcuffs Johnny and makes his exit. A janitor helps dry off Johnny and he becomes the Torch to continue the chase.Cap manages to trap the Torch in an asbestos lined truck.
The Torch manages to escape the truck by using his heat to blow the truck apart. Cap is out of options at this point and surrenders to the Torch. The Torch unmasks to reveal the Acrobat. The Torch turns over the Acrobat to the authorities and then heads home. Johnny wonders what happened to the real Cap as his story comes to a close. The editor mentions that this was a test run for Captain America and asks the reader to reply if they want to see a return of the real Captain America.
Dr. Strange is called by a Sir. Clive Bentley. Bentley asks for the help of Strange and he agrees. Bentley reveals that he is indeed Baron Mordo. Strange arrives at the house and Mordo captures him with a special candle. The Ancient One offers to free Strange but he says that he must free himself to show that he has mastered the art of sorcery. Strange reaches out and lures a Victoria Bentley to the scene. She frees Strange and Mordo reappears. He says that Victoria has latent magical powers and tries to dominate the will of Strange so that he will kill her. Strange reveals that it was just a mental projection of himself and that he has just arrived on the scene. Strange and Mordo have a great battle on the astral plane and Mordo eventually flees. Victoria wants to learn the mystic arts but Strange says she must wait until Mordo is no longer a threat. The issue ends with the Ancient One telling Strange that Mordo is still stronger than he is.
Johnny Storm is still hanging out with the stick in the mud Doris Evans. I guess he's just a sucker for punishment. I wish that Sue got a little more screen time in these books. I think it would be interesting if they explored the brother-sister dynamic with the Storm family in this book more.
I think it's interesting that they used this issue as a barometer to see if the readers wanted to see Captain America back. He had previously failed in the brief 50s return so I guess they were a little gun shy about bringing him back a second time. At this point, 2 years in, I think it's obvious the super heroes have been really successful for Marvel so it's a little surprising that they wouldn't just bring him back. There's about a 4 month gap between this test run and Avengers #4 so the feedback must have been quick and very positive.
The Dr. Strange story was okay but you can't really do much with a 5 page story. They seem to be trying to figure out the character still as well.
The art for both stories was pretty good. They brought in Jack Kirby to draw Cap which was a really nice touch. Cap looked good in this issue and the action looked really great. This was a really well drawn issue. Even the Dr. Strange story was well done.
I give this issue *** out of *****.
Notes: This issue features the first appearance of Victoria Bentley. She's a minor footnote in Marvel history. This issue is more important for a quasi-return of Captain America. This issue usually gets mentioned in any sort of early Silver Age history of Marvel. The Captain America in this story ends up being an imposter but this was a test run to see if they were going to bring the real Cap back.
Next Issue: X-Men #2
Posted in: Acrobat,Ancient One,Baron Mordo,Doris Evans,Dr. Strange,Human Torch,Strange Tales,Sue Richards,Victoria Bentley
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