Human Torch, The
Entry updated 2 June 2026. Tagged: Character, Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1940-1949 [#2-#35], 1954 [#36-#38]). Initially Timely Comics, later Marvel Comics. 38 issues numbered #2-#38: the cover of #2 says "Fall Number"; #3 "Winter Number"; #4 is numbered 3 and there are two numbered '5', the first labelled "Summer Issue". Artists include Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Al Gabriele, Harry Sahle, Alex Schomburg, Allen Simon and Mike Sekowsky. Script writers include Carl Burgos, Bill Everett and Mickey Spillane. There were also a few inputs by Jack Binder and Otto Binder (see Eando Binder), whilst Stan Lee was editor from #20 (and possibly of some earlier issues). Initially 68 pages, eventually down to 36. Usually 3-6 long strips (but see next paragraph) and a short text story per issue, with occasional short strips as filler. Covers up to #25 have "also the Sub-Mariner" printed on them.
The Human Torch had no regular strips aside from The Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner: all others only made one or two appearances, though Sun Girl not only had one solo strip but was the Human Torch's sidekick for a few issues. Some early issues were arguably Graphic Novels with a single narrative divided into Human Torch and Sub-Mariner strips: for example, in the second #5 Namor returns to his kingdom to discover it nearly destroyed, a consequence of air and sea battles above (see World War Two); other undersea nations are similarly affected, so he decides they must unite and put an end to the surface war. Influenced by Rathia from a Baltic kingdom, this goes to his head and he decides to become dictator of the world. After battling the Human Torch – at one point enslaving him with Drugs – he comes to his senses. Another example is #8, where the two Superheroes eventually – when not arguing or fighting each other – defeat The Python, a German agent who appears to be a Mutant. On the whole, up until the last half-dozen issues, stories tend to be comparatively mundane save for the heroes themselves, with occasional exceptions. (The cover of #23 depicts the Human Torch battling a giant Robot but does not illustrate any story.) Sometimes serious topics are broached: slum clearance and replacement housing projects in one of #9's Human Torch strips, and the funding of cancer clinics (suggesting politicians would rather budget to build statues) in #23's Sub-Mariner tale.
The Human Torch first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (1939), which changed its name to Marvel Mystery Comics from #2; he was in all subsequent issues. The Torch is an Android who initially burst into flame on contact with oxygen, but learnt to control this ability (see Superpowers). In The Human Torch #2 (that is, the first issue) he gains a sidekick, Toro, an orphan adopted by a circus couple; immune to flames, he becomes a fire eater, but one day accidentally bursts into flames. The Torch teaches him how to use his powers. In #3 Toro is fooled into believing his parents are alive; they are German agents who want to use his powers to fuel a German Invasion. For #32-#35 Toro is temporarily replaced by Sun Girl, first seen in Sun Girl #1 (1948). Adventures include German cannons that fire melting bullets (#14); The White Vampire, who demands money from her victims – with those that refuse having vampire bats set on them (directed to their victims by scientific means), after she has first literally whipped the bats into a frenzy (#14).
In #33 animals suddenly begin attacking people: the cause is identified as Rays emanating from Jupiter, and Scientists report they will soon begin affecting humans, forcing them to kill each other. The only person capable of reaching Jupiter is The Human Torch and after an unspecified period he arrives to find solid ground and Earth-like gravity (see Scientific Errors). The rays comes from the "red hot pool of peril", presumably the Great Red Spot, home to "the nomad creatures of madness" that need it to survive and who, hearing of Earth's plight, are unsympathetic: they and the pool are destroyed (Captain America guests in this story). Further adventures include objects and people suddenly becoming two-Dimensional and vanishing, including the Human Torch and Sun Girl; they have been collected for a "museum of three dimensional specimens" by aliens called Flatula (#34). Edwin A Abbott's Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884; rev 1884) is a likely influence. Plans for an "atomic hand blaster" are stolen and the Weapon made by Russian spies (see Cold War): hidden in a batch of toy versions, it is accidentally sent to a toy shop (#36). In the same issue the egg of a "sub-species of Tyrannosaurus Rex" is found, unfortunately at a nuclear test site; the next atomic explosion hatches it, with the young Dinosaur growing swiftly. To make matters worse, it "carries a terrible germ from the dawn of time" that is fatal to humanity (see Pandemic). In true Kaiju fashion it rampages through a City, but is drawn into the sea, where its limbs are burnt by the Human Torch, and it drowns. We learn in #37 that Vampires are an alien "criminal cult" dumped on our planet in the time of the dinosaurs, with Evolution causing them to become human-like during the day; now the aliens, discovering intelligent life has arisen on Earth, have apologetically come to take them away. Another story has a scientist from another Dimension trapped in ours, building androids (here called robots) in preparation for taking over our world. A friend of The Human Torch is particularly hostile to the robots, only to learn he is one himself: he shoots himself (see Suicide), with no mention here made of The Human Torch being an android. #38 has a scientist vacuum up the Earth's atmosphere because his daughter is wheelchair-bound and has been treated unkindly; she protests and, attempting to stop her father, finds she can walk.
Namor the Sub-Mariner had first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (1939) and then in all but the last issue of Marvel Mystery Comics. Here he is a friend of the USA (in his early days he had been hostile), using his people's "ariel submarines" to raise a sabotaged battleship out of the water (#2). #5 (first version) sees the Sub-Mariner fight Nazi Zombies and, in another tale, being joined by The Human Torch to take down an enormous gun built by the Germans as part of their planned invasion of Britain. Other adventures include a haunted house murder mystery (#9) and the Japanese using a Zeppelin to create tornados (see Airships; Weather Control) (#15). He does not appear in #33-#35; in #37 he and his friend Namora meet human divers who appear to be surviving at great depths and without breathing equipment, but when brought to the surface are revealed to be long dead: the sub-mariner posits either he and Namora had a vision of the afterlife (see Eschatology) or were suffering the rapture of the depths. #38 finds him fighting "octopus men".
#2 has The Falcon – first appearance Daring Mystery Comics #5 (1940) – an Assistant District Attorney who decided to also fight crime as a superhero; he has no superpowers, but carries a pistol. This was the last of his three appearances in the Golden Age of comics. The Fiery Mask – first appearance Daring Mystery Comics #1 (1940) – had gained superpowers (including heat, "electrically charged eyes" and strength) from a Mad Scientist's Invention; this was the last of his four Golden Age appearances, fighting bloodless humans created by another mad scientist who seeks to build a "mechanical stomach" (see Medicine). Microman had only this one Golden Age appearance: a child drinks a scientist's formula and shrinks to become smaller than a nickel (see Great and Small); eventually the scientist notices him and gives him the antidote. Another one-off was the fez-wearing Mantor the Magician who used his Magic powers for good. #4 (3 on the cover) introduces The Patriot, who would also appear in the next issue before becoming a Marvel Mystery Comics regular from #21; he has a costume but no superpowers and here stops fifth columnists known as "Yellowshirts" from taking over the USA. In #5 (first version) he defeats a Nazi who has found a musical note that can disintegrate bones (see Music). The Fantasy Jimmy Jupiter (see Marvel Mystery Comics) makes a solitary appearance in #10. As the Human Torch's sidekick (see above), Sun Girl had little to do, but in her own strip (#34) deals with alien robots from the planet Autan, sent by their leader – a giant head with an enormous exposed brain – to steal Earth's gold; she kills him with her Sunbeam Ray Gun.
Though sharing the same superhero name, similar abilities and both being part of Marvel Comics, the android Jim Hammond Human Torch (created by Carl Burgos) is a different character to the Johnny Storm Human Torch, who is human and a member of the Fantastic Four – though clearly Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were inspired by the former when creating the latter. Indeed, in Fantastic Four #4 Storm discovers the Amnesiac Namor the Sub-Mariner, with whom the Jim Hammond Torch was closely associated (memory restored, Namor returns to his kingdom to find it destroyed by nuclear tests and vows revenge). [SP]
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