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This second volume closes the Torch run in Strange Tales. It starts where Vol. 1 left off with Strange Tales #118 and ends with Strange Tales #134 which spanned from March of 1964 to July of 1965. The Torch shared this run in the title with Dr. Strange and his exit from the title would herald the appearance of Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD in the title. Both Strange and Fury have had their runs in Strange Tales collected in Masterworks collections, too.
Bruce Canwell writes the introduction and he just gives a play by play of the titles in here as well as those who worked on the title. Let’s speak of those who worked on this title. All save one issue in this collection was written by Stan Lee (Larry Ivie wrote #132) and the majority of these issues were drawn by Dick Ayer. Jack Kirby chipped in one issue (#120) as did the original Torch creator Carl Burgos (#123). Bob Powell finished up the Torch run in Strange Tales by working #’s 130-134.
Spoilers Ahead
-Strange Tales #118- The Torch must battle the recently escaped Wizard. Wizard debuts his anti-gravity discs in this issue and that would define him pretty much the rest of his career. Wizard needs time to work on more of this devices so he impersonates the Torch and imprisons Sue and Johnny and tells the rest of the FF he needs a break. Eventually the Torch breaks free and that spells the end of the Wizard.
-Strange Tales #119- The Rabble Rouser is using a device to turn people against the Torch which is actually one big Communist plot to kidnap a noted dignitary. The Torch eventually stops the Rabble Rouser. That was a good thing you could’ve done back then. When you had no real story or villain set, just create some Communist plot and it was sure to sell.
-Strange Tales #120- The Torch ends up on a cruise where Iceman happens to be. Iceman hits on Torch’s girlfriend, Doris Evans, but doesn’t know she was with the Torch. He’s a bit dejected but he can work out his frustration when some pirates try to pillage the ship he and the Torch are on. The two team-up and defeat the pirates. It’s interesting to see the cover date of May 1964 here. This issue hit the same time as X-Men #5 so this is really the 6th appearance of Iceman. This would also be the last time we get a Torch story that focused on just himself and the entire character of Johnny Storm and not just focusing on the Torch part.
-Strange Tales #121- Plantman comes back to try to defeat the Torch and after a first victory he is a bit overconfident. Of course, the Torch dispatches this lame foe by the end of the issue (with the help of Thing, of course).
-Strange Tales #122- Three henchmen that Doom hired in the pages of FF#22 return to try and defeat the FF one by one, starting with the Torch. Most of the story focuses on the origin of the terrible three and when it comes time to actually fighting, the Torch is subdued at first but escapes and defeats the three enemies.
-Strange Tales #123- The Beetle makes his first appearance as a guy who just wants to steal and has taken the guise of a Beetle to do this, complete with a costume and everything. However, I’ve never seen a purple and green beetle. The Thing teams up with the Torch and they battle the Beetle at the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows. It’s funny because I know the big unisphere since I live about 10 minutes away but at the time this was written, that was brand new. The Beetle is defeated, of course. This issue marks a big turn for the Torch in the pages of Strange Tales. It is no longer focused just on him because from here on out it is the Torch/Thing team-up book. As a result, we don’t see a lot of the great solo Torch moments like going to school and having the same problems regular teenagers do. This is also a departure because the cover had both Strange and Torch sharing equal billing instead of Strange being the smaller cover image.
-Strange Tales #124- Paste Pot Pete returns with a new costume (the one we’re more accustomed to). Pete captures the Thing to draw the Torch to him and I think you can guess what happens next.
-Strange Tales #125- The Torch and Thing learn that Namor is headed to land and so they prevent him from doing that by fighting him. The Torch, who single handedly defeated Namor last volume, cannot do the same with the Thing there and it is more of a stalemate. Of course, the Thing and Torch later learn that Reed asked Namor to show up to try and have a little peace talk. Now Namor won’t believe Reed and thinks Reed lured him into a trap.
-Strange Tales #126- The Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master team-up to try and take out the FF, or in this case the Thing and Torch. They are dispatched thanks to an invention of Reed that used Puppet Master’s mind control device against him by feeding back to him and knocking him out.
-Strange Tales #127- The Thing and Torch are pissed at Reed for being the leader and quit! Then they face a mysterious villain who is able to defeat them easily. You could see this ending a mile away. The mystery villain was Reed who just wanted to prove himself to Benjamin and Torch.
-Strange Tales #128- The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver go the FF to try and escape from Magneto and look for help. Of course, in true Marvel style, they fight before any words are spoken and the big misunderstanding sends the mutants back to Magneto.
-Strange Tales #129- The Terrible Trio return and capture the Torch and only the Thing can save him, which he does in three panels in flashback form. Weird choice of story-telling there.
-Strange Tales #130- Thing and Torch meet the Beatles! They are ready for the Beatle concert (especially Ben) but they miss it when they have to stop the criminals who stole the gate. I love how Stan would put current things in the comics, seeing as in this volume we had a reference to the World’s Fair, the Beatles, and the Mets losing. This was also the first issue where Doctor Strange got the larger portion of the cover.
-Strange Tales #131- The Mad Thinker returns with his unbeatable weapon, a ball. Yeah, he planned to defeat the FF with a ball. The ball does do some damage, especially to the dam that has just been built, but the Thing and Torch are able to stop the ball and stop the dam from causing a flood.
-Strange Tales #132- The Torch and the Thing are brought in to stop an evil NASA scientist from sabotaging one of the super magnets. The Thing and Torch both escape from perilous situations to stop the scientist and both are happy to see each other alive and away from certain doom. This is the only issue not written by Stan and it is pretty obvious. The style of Ivie was trying to mimic Stan but some of the dialogue seemed a bit off.
-Strange Tales #133- The Puppet Master returns with some plastic surgery to disguise himself and tries to tackle the Torch and Thing with mannequins that won’t break from his mental command. Despite this, the guy still manages to find a way to lose!
-Strange Tales #134- This final issue of the Torch in Strange Tales features a full front cover image of the Thing and Torch. Well, might as well go out on top. They are informed by the Watcher that Kang is in the past and wants to change time to make sure the FF never exist so does he go back and kill the parents of the FF? No, he goes to King Arthur’s age. So The Watcher, who vowed never to interfere, sends the Torch and the Thing into the past to defeat Kang. With Merlin’s help they are able to do that.
-The Bottom Line- The only extra’s we’re privy to for this issue are the covers of the Human Torch reprints that Marvel released back in the mid 70’s. I enjoyed these stories, especially since the Thing and Torch had a very unique friendship, but this volume misses a lot of the charm of the first volume. I really liked the Torch as the solo star and his trials and tribulations as a regular teen. It’s like the things you would read in those early Spidey tales where it wasn’t just about the super-hero but his problems as a regular guy trying to fit into the world. Once the Thing joined that was all gone and it just focused on their battles with super-villains. It was good, and I really enjoyed a lot of the odd-ball things in here (the Beatles, Flushing Meadows Park) but it just wasn’t as great as Volume 1 and it didn’t capture the essence of the Torch and his entire character. Mildly recommended.
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