Strange Tales #114

Cover Date: November 1963

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.

My Take: The Human Torch story was really fun. I think the story had a nice little twist at the end even though it was obvious that it wasn't the real Captain America. The fight between Cap and the Torch was really fun. The Torch really made his life harder than it had to be in this issue. If he would've just stopped and thought a little more he probably could have beaten the Acrobat in a much easier fashion.

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

Strange Tales #106

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