Burnin' for You - Thoughts on The Torch Limited Series 1-8

The Torch - collects The Torch #s 1-8 (2010)(covers by Alex Ross)
Alex Ross/Mike Carey/Jim Krueger-Patrick Berkenkotter

Doug: If you're like me, you occasionally wile away some time searching the graphic novels and trade collections on sites like Amazon.com. A couple of years ago I stumbled across a trade that collected a series that piqued my interest. I saw this before I'd agreed to surrender my principles and embrace the Brubaker/Epting Captain America material. Going back to the Bronze Age, I've always been an Original Human Torch fan. Despite the art, I generally liked the Invaders mag, and got a big kick out of the Torch's role in the "Celestial Madonna" arc in the Avengers. I'll admit it -- despite what John Byrne did to the Vision in the pages of West Coast Avengers, I was excited for the return of the Torch. And unlike Gwen Stacy or James Buchanan Barnes, the Torch's revival was one that made sense. Well, made sense if he wasn't the Vision... Thank goodness for the sensibilities of Kurt Busiek's Avengers Forever in helping us get through the trauma. Anyway, to bring my mind back, on Easter Sunday I was in Indiana visiting our younger son. Before I left town to come back home, I'd noticed that the LCS was actually open. Since the proprietor always has a killer selection of trades/hardcovers at half off MSRP, I stopped in. Success! I scored the second volume hardcover of the Spider-Man newspaper strips, the tpb for "Batman: Year Two", and today's subject. All for $32. Happy Easter, indeed.

Doug: How about some background on this project, from Newsarama.com --

Alex Ross will team with writer Mike Carey for a Human Torch limited series which will return this Golden Age hero to prominence in the modern Marvel Universe. (NOTE: I'd argue that it's Tom Raymond, Toro, who is actually the protagonist of this story. -Doug)

According to Marvel and Dynamite, Ross conceived of the series, and will be co-plotting with Carey and providing covers. The eight-issue miniseries is slated to begin in September (2009). An interior artist was not named.

The miniseries, which will be packaged by Dynamite Entertainment (like the soon-to-conclude Avengers/Invaders limited series), is part of Marvel’s year-long 70th anniversary celebration. It’s only fitting for the original Torch to get a spotlight, as the character first appeared in 1939’s Marvel Comics #1, as an android created by Dr. Phineas Horton.

Ross’ path has intersected with that of the Torch in a couple of notable projects over the course of his career, first off, teamed with Kurt Busiek in Marvels #0, where the Torch narrated his own creation and origin in a haunting tale; and more recently, in the above-mentioned Avengers/Invaders, where the original Marvel hero (along with his sidekick Toro) found himself in the modern Marvel Universe, along with other members of the original Invaders. 

In the modern Marvel Universe, the original Human Torch (who took on the name “Jim Hammond” after returning to the modern era in the pages of West Coast Avengers) is “dead” – well, as dead as an android can be, having exploded while saving his teammates in New Invaders. Aside from his appearance in Avengers/Invaders, one of the Torch’s last appearances was as a memorial statue at The Initiative’s Camp Hammond, with the inscription: JIM HAMMOND, THE FIRST OF THE MARVELS: He showed us that heroes can be made. In Avengers: The Initiative #23, the statue was torn down by a mob after SHIELD and Tony Stark fell from grace, and Norman Osborn took over the camp (Accessed 30 March 2016).

Doug: Let me just add an editorial comment that aside from my acceptance of the returns of Bucky Barnes, the Original Human Torch, and Toro (we'll get to that in a minute), I cannot abide the fact that Norman Osborn again exists in the flesh. I know... hypocrite. Sue me.

Doug: The last appearance of Toro before the events of the Avengers/Invaders limited series was way back in 1969 in the pages of Sub-Mariner #14 and was presented by Roy Thomas, Marie Severin, and Mike Esposito. Here's the gist of that tale, in (you guessed it) a 100-Word Review: 

Namor emerges from the Pacific Ocean, only to be attacked by the Original Human Torch. The Torch is under the control of the Mad Thinker, which Namor quickly deduces. We find that the Thinker is allied with the Puppet Master and Egghead in a bid to conquer the world by negating all mechanical and electrical apparatus. The Torch frees himself from the Thinker’s control, but in an effort to foil the master plan, we find that the Torch is really Toro, brainwashed to think he was the Torch. The Thinker tries to kill Namor, but Toro gives the ultimate sacrifice.

Toro, to the best information I could find, did not appear in any story that was not set in or referencing World War II until the revival of the Original Human Torch in 1989. From there, and it's difficult for me to testify as I didn't read any of the books that allegedly feature the character, Toro appeared or was at least referenced somewhat regularly. Then (and I'll let some fan from Wikipedia report):

Toro appears in the Avengers/Invaders maxi-series alongside his fellow Invaders when an incident takes them from the battlefields of WWII  to the present Marvel Universe, where they encounter both the New Avengers and Mighty Avengers and the Thunderbolts.^[4] An examination of him by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents reveals that Toro is a mutant. In Avengers/Invaders #12, Toro was revived from the dead by the Cosmic Cube thanks to a wish made by James "Bucky" Barnes, and met as he rises from his grave by the Golden Age Vision. Bucky was careful to manage the wish so Toro's revival does not upset the time stream, Toro only coming to life after the Invaders have returned to the past. Toro is the same age he was when he died.^[5]

And then someone had to go and do this (also from Wikipedia):

Following the Infinity story, when Terrigen Mists were scattered around the world, Toro was subjected to Terrigenesis and engulfed in a cocoon. Being unknowingly an Inhuman descendant, Toro was now theorized that his powers had been the consequence of his recessive Inhuman genes.^[9]

What the?!? Oh boy... I'm gonna leave that lay right there.

 

Doug: The Mad Thinker is the villain in The Torch mini-series, and I have to say this is one of those times where a writer catches lightning in a bottle. Called simply the Thinker (no "Mad", and no Awesome Android here), Alex Ross and Mike Carey chose to drop the "X will happen in 3.57 seconds" schtick and make him a truly formidable adversary. I felt when I was reading this story that the Thinker was a major player -- that he could actually pull off his scheme. His personality was perfect -- over-intelligent, haughty, rude, and overall malevolent. Obviously the character had a history with both the Original Human Torch (FF Annual #4) and Toro (see above), and this sort of forms a third and final act if you will. Yes... I think viewed through that lens it makes a really nice triptych of stories.

Doug: Here's the basic plot of the story --

1. The Thinker is hired by AIM to create a WMD -- a big WMD.
2. Tom Raymond, Toro, shepherded by the Golden Age Vision in a sort of Spectre role, thinks revival sucks -- especially when he sees his wife Ann with a new husband.
3. Toro decides the only thing worth doing would be killing the man who killed him -- the Thinker. But after the Vision spirits him to the Thinker's lab, Toro finds that his flame is immediately spent.
4. Toro is captured by the Thinker and "examined" -- tissue is extracted from various parts of his anatomy. The Thinker determines that Toro was exposed to "Horton cells" -- carbon/polymer strands of artificial "DNA" that Phineas Horton used in the creation of the Human Torch. This is a breakthrough for the Thinker's WMD creation.
5. The Thinker has the Torch's body exhumed from Arlington National Cemetery. He begins to cultivate the Horton cells he has isolated and restore the damages to the Torch's body. 
6. Toro learns that his mother was not an office assistant as he had known, but had worked closely with Phineas Horton in the years prior to the creation of the Torch. It is possible that the Horton cells were introduced to Tom's physiognomy by his mother's contact with the cells.We also learn that Toro's X-gene only gave him an immunity to fire; it was actual contact with the Torch that allowed Tom Raymond to ignite and become a flaming youth (KISS reference there, you know).
7. In a scene ripped from your favorite Frankenstein flick, the Thinker re-animates the Torch by positioning his body high in the sky, suspended from a metal post in the middle of a lightning storm. The Torch comes back to life, but has no mind of his own.
8. Using Compound D, his own variation on the Horton cells, the Thinker subverts the Torch's will and forces him to be his WMD, first ordering the Torch to attack and destroy a Scandinavian ship, and then later a gas main running beneath a village in Estonia. Both missions are successful, with property destruction and loss of life.
9. With the Torch reactivated, Toro's control of his own flame returns. The two torches indeed share a symbiotic relationship, as the Thinker hypothesized.
10. But what the Thinker had not counted was that the Torch's humanity derives from existing in the presence of human cells, human DNA -- specifically Tom Raymond's cells. The Torch's mind returned...

Doug: I don't want to give anything else away, because I'd really like to encourage you to seek out this trade or the actual comics. The outline above covers most of the first three issues. If you are like Karen and I and felt that Brubaker's Winter Soldier epic was well handled, then you are going to enjoy this story. I thought the characters were handled with a reverence, such that the creators had a story to tell that involved the present. That these dead creatures should be resurrected was handled in a manner that did not require me to suspend my disbelief past what I'd usually expect. The comic book science was "sold" to me in a straightforward way, and I never doubted for an instant that in the Marvel Universe these things could happen. And let's face it -- anything involving the Cosmic Cube (used to resurrect Toro) is basically magic anyway.

Doug: The eight issues go on to include the Sub-Mariner and some Atlanteans, the Fantastic Four (there's a great team-up where we actually get to see three Torches in action!), Nazis, and a setting in the last few issues that echoes Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tour. de. Force.

Doug: Lastly, I've included below some samples of the interior art. Whenever I see that Alex Ross is doing covers for a project, I immediately want to see the interiors to see if they are up to the standards of the outer package. In this case I think you'll find that Patrick Berkenkotter is every bit as able to handle these characters as Steve Epting was to show us Bucky's return. Like I did when I first sat down to read the Captain America: Winter Soldier collection, I read this baby cover-to-cover in one sitting. It was a page turner, and I felt satisfied when I got to the end of it. It was just as much fun on the re-read for the writing of this review. Go ye forth, then, and seek! Find this tome! And then let me know if you also had a good time.

How to Make Comic Covers the Marvel Way

Karen: I recently had the good fortune to chat with Scott Edelman, well-known former Marvel staffer in the 70s, who not only was involved in a wide number of projects during his time at the House of Ideas, but also has become a virtual historian on that time period. Luckily for all of us, Scott kept a number of memos and art and has been publishing them on his blog, www.scottedelman.com. Scott told me that he had a story related to the cover of the most recent Back Issue magazine (#86, on sale here), which featured art from Giant-Size Marvel Triple Action #1. 

Karen: It seems that Stan Lee had sent out a memo regarding this cover,  finding it dull, and describing ways it and other Marvel covers should be changed to make them more exciting to the readers. Please hop on over to Scott's page linked here to see Stan's memos and learn the whole story  (and check out the rest of his blog while you're there -it's a treasure trove!). I think it shows just how much Stan cared about doing things right -I mean, the Marvel way! Below you can see the cover rough and the areas Stan marked up, as well as the final cover and how it changed (note Giant-Man's more aggressive expression).

Doug: Man, that's a subtle change, isn't it? I guess it does punch it up a bit, but much like I had some qualms about editing the cover submissions of Big John Buscema, Johnny "Ring-a-ding" Romita would also seem to be above that. Guess not. To the best that my eyeballs can discern, the facial expression on Goliath is the only change that was made. Stan knew what he wanted, and of course could provide the rationale to support his preferences.

Karen: Hawkeye's expression is very slightly altered but you'd have to see it up close. There's also that blurb on the right-hand side about "More Madcap mayhem" which Stan had suggested. They did not, however, incorporate his suggestion of "Avengers Assemble!" on the left-hand side of the cover. You can see he pencilled this in on the rough cover.

Doug: The cover I think of most often when our conversations turn to comic book covers that were amended or rejected is the cover to X-Men #56 by Neal Adams and Tom Palmer. Below left is the rejected version and to the right is the famous published cover.

Doug: As we've mentioned in the past when discussing this cover, apparently Stan did not like that the logo was obscured by the hostage mutants. I'll go to my grave liking the rejected version better. You can see these covers, as well as 19 (!) other rejected X-Men covers by clicking here. If you jump over to Nic Caputo's blog, you can find a rejected Gene Colan DD cover, as well as another Silver Surfer cover from John Buscema that never saw the light of day.

Doug: I don't have any sort of inventory of these things myself, but I did ask Karen if it would be OK to do a gallery of published covers from the Marvel Comics Covers Artist Edition. She thought that would be great, since we love this topic. So feast your eyes on a dozen and a half such gems, from a wide range of Marvel luminaries. NOTE: Please keep in mind that the Artist Editions are huge books, so you're looking at photographs rather than scans. I wish it could be the other way... but no way.

Karen: I love seeing the rough versions! Thanks Doug. So here's a question for you all: what comes to mind when you think of a 'Marvel-style' cover?

 

 

 

Would You Rather...? Human Torch Fashions

Doug: Getting in tune with the rest of the team, or homage to Jim Hammond? How do you like your Human Torch? Personally, I was a big fan of the red uni. It definitely harkened back to another time, but also came in an era when Medusa never switched to the standard-issue, unstable molecule driven Fantastic Four costume.

Would you rather see the Human Torch in a red suit or blue suit?

True or False: No Character Retcon Was as Radical as Frank Miller's Daredevil.

Doug: Miller's Batman. Byrne's Superman. The Vision was the Original Human Torch. Retcon after retcon... But, did any of those totally redefine a character moving forward as did Frank Miller's "ninjafying" of the Daredevil mythos?

A Time of Marvels: Marvels 1

Marvels #1 (January 1994)
"A Time of Marvels"
Kurt Busiek-Alex Ross

Doug: What's this? A comic book review that's not in our "Arc of Triumph?" series? Yep -- we told you that in our revised "anything goes at any time" schedule we'd try to get back to doing our famous (shoot, world-renowned!) partner reviews. So here you go. And no, we didn't pick this just to rile the Alex Ross haters among our regulars... Although we'd lie if we didn't say we joked about it back in the planning meeting! We don't know how long it will take us to get through these four issues, but we can tell you we're looking forward to taking another look at this landmark series.

Doug: As I was getting myself mentally prepared for this write-up -- you know, brain calisthenics and such -- I was struck with the notion that this series may have been every bit a part of the 1990s and all that was wrong with it. I don't mean that in the sense that this was a sub-standard story (as much of the 90s was filled) or that the creators were "trendy". Instead, I was thinking about the format. You'll peek back to the top of the post and see the cover date was the very beginning of '94 and I'm wondering if this book was the first to sport a "premium" cover (not a variant, but a fancier material)? If you've never owned the periodical version of this story, you may not know that each issue featured a full-page painting by Ross (in today's case, of the Original Human Torch) layered over by an acetate cover that featured a black printed border with the appearance of die-cut lettering at the top. Of course numerous knock-offs ensued -- lots of painted books, and Marvel copied itself with the acetate overlays for a couple of issues in the big "Atlantis Attacks" annuals cross-over.

Karen: I'm using the hardback edition from 2008, which includes Marvels #0 as well as numerous sketches, promo art, and photo references. I nearly forgot about the goofy acetate covers! Before I started reading I tried to recall my mindset at this particular time. I was only buying comics occasionally, having a hard time getting back into regular series. Like many other people, my mind was completely blown by Alex Ross' art. I couldn't believe he was painting comics! The absolute realism of it all sucked me right in. And Kurt Busiek's history wrapped up in an everyman tale was handled masterfully.

Doug: I am reading from the trade paperback that has Giant-Man on the cover -- not sure of the year, but it also includes the Torch story from Marvels #0 (which I just love). Hey, how exciting was it when the Torch was spied in one of the early scenes of Captain America: The First Avenger? Anyway, I really don't remember how or why I bought the first issue, but I do recall meeting Alex Ross at a small comic show near O'Hare right after the first issue came out. In fact, he was giving away the promo poster for the series, which featured the cover of Marvels #2 (the Angel taking flight). I had a nice chat with him, and he autographed the poster; it still hangs on the wall of my comic room. I agree about Busiek's script -- there is just so much detail! No way this was done "Marvel method" -- Ross must have received exhaustive notes from Busiek. Of course, knowing Alex's appreciation for comics history, I am sure he had a mighty hand in the plot and execution of this story.

 

Karen: There are so many things we could talk about here, just with the first issue. Of course, through-out the series we are peppered with cameos, of both celebrities and sort of displaced comic book characters. I just love getting to see a very young J. Jonah Jameson as a beat reporter back in 1939, already annoying everyone around him.

Doug: I am pretty certain that ol' JJJ is never named in this story. I can check again, but I made a conscious effort when reading this last week to see (because my memory told me that on previous readings he had not been identified). But of course we all know who he is. I thought it was a nice homage to Marvel in general to make Martin Goodman the publisher of the Daily Bugle. And Ross's depiction of Goodman was spot-on. I also enjoyed the cameos in this first issue, including Clark Kent and Lois Lane, and what looks to be a very young Billy Batson peddling newspapers. Those sorts of "Easter eggs" really made this a visual treat on top of your aforementioned praise of Ross's realistic paintings.

Karen: You're right, JJJ is never named as such, but that haircut, the mannerisms, little phrases ('when I run the Bugle') -it's pretty much obvious, and delicious. But Busiek makes him more than a caricature; JJJ earns his stripes, chasing down stories and facing the catastrophes these 'Marvels' bring. It actually provides some depth to his later hatred of Spider-Man and other super-heroes, if you consider he saw Namor nearly drown all of New York! Two other notable cameo appearances are Popeye (why?) and a young Nick Fury, not in the war yet. I like how Ross draws him with a shadow over his left eye. Another great Easter egg of a sort is Ross' homage to Edward Hopper's 'Nighthawks' painting when Sheldon and JJJ have a run-in with the Torch late one night.

Doug: Of course the story also had a few "weirdities", such as Namor prancing around in his birthday suit. I have a reprint of Marvel Comics #1 (which actually reprinted the Crown Prince's first appearance from Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly) and the Sub-Mariner was wearing his trademark trunks throughout. So in spite of a heaping helping of his naked butt, I did enjoy the way Ross drew his ankle wings. They were huge! And c'mon -- if they actually were going to be used for flight, they'd have to be larger than the way we've generally seen them depicted. The panel where the Torch engages Namor and they wrangle over a steel girder is a lot of fun, and I've always loved the 2-page spread of the tidal wave crashing onto New York with a tiny Human Torch streaking across the top of the image.

Karen: Yeah, naked Namor...I did a little research and came back empty handed, so to speak. I couldn't find anything from Ross that indicates why he chose to do that. I suppose the logical conclusion would be that someone living underwater wouldn't wear clothes. But it did surprise me when I first saw it. Interestingly, in the back of my book, hand-written next to some of the sketches for Namor it says 'Freddie Mercury' but I don't think he wound up looking much like Queen's lead singer in the finished product.

Doug: Busiek did a solid job of making Phil Sheldon an interesting protagonist. I think his point-of-view is very believable, as an ordinary man who has come through the Great Depression with a renewed optimism, yet distressed at the coming events in Europe. But the arrival of the "Marvels" makes him feel small, and insecure as a man. His worry about being able to protect his loved ones, and whether it is wise to even consider bringing children into such an unsettled future drew me in. But his reverence for Captain America was noteworthy. As remarked in the story, he was "one of ours", and that set him apart from the Torch and Namor. 

Karen: The American public, ever fickle. It was completely believable to me that the crowd was swayed by the newsreels to suddenly accept the Torch and Namor as "our" boys. And then Captain America come on the scene -so big and strong, perfect chin, wrapped in the red, white and blue -well, he was manufactured to be The American Hero. Don't get me wrong, from childhood to now, I've loved Cap and that sense of honor, justice, morality, all the qualities that made Steve Rogers a hero regardless of the Super-Soldier formula. But let's face it, he was a pre-fab hero, before there was even a Madison Ave marketing racket to push him out. 

Doug: I think in Busiek playing up the hot/cold aspect of the crowd he was playing along with a trope Stan Lee had used throughout the Silver Age.

Doug: So you're saying Cap was a forerunner of the Monkees? 

 

Karen: Ha! You and I have been doing this so long, we're so in synch -I almost said "like the Monkees!" But yes, the way Cap is built up for the public, it's PR at least, propaganda at worst. Phil Sheldon's concern over both the war in Europe and the rise of the super-beings is understandable. But his decision  to delay marrying his girlfriend Doris -I don't know, maybe because I'm a woman, it all seemed rather foolish. The idea of having to "protect" her, and not being able to do that in the face of these new beings, diminishing him, making him unworthy -he really had an inferiority complex going on here! Not that it's an impossible reaction but it seemed a bit like he was running away to me.

Doug: I agree that Sheldon seemed off base with his line of thinking. Why wouldn't he feel better about protecting Doris if he had married her and could be around her more? You know, above you talked about how quickly the crowd turned, but Busiek does a nicely subtle job of showing really how their world turned. At the beginning of this first issue Sheldon remarked how they'd beaten the Depression and how everyone's spirits were up -- they were invincible. Yet just a few months later Hitler had become a serious focal point in all their lives, and the advent of the Marvels complicated life even more. I think Steve Martin's album "Let's Get Small" could have been a mantra. But hey -- if Phil hadn't decided to abandon Doris, we'd have not had the pleasure of being introduced to Willie Lumpkin!

Karen: I did smile when I saw Willie Lumpkin -or 'Bill.' And hey, Mickey Rooney was in the theater audience too.

Doug: Alex Ross flirted with racism just enough to really give some of the war scenes a bit of Golden Age authenticity. His depiction of the Japanese soldier bordered on caricature, but stopped short of crossing that line. Busiek did include the term "Japanazi", which again was a nice throwback to a different time.

Karen: Was "Japanazi" a term that people actually used back during the war years? I've often wondered if it was something made up in the comics... I don't know if I've seen it anywhere else. ...OK, I looked it up and apparently it was a term used on war posters of the time period (I saw a few, including one with Popeye), so I suppose it's legit.

Doug: I have all of the Fleischer Superman cartoons on DVD, and I think the term is used somewhere in those. But I could be misremembering (that's so Brian Williams...). So what did you think of that last scene -- the assault on the Nazi stronghold? Sort of made the Invaders look like the minor leagues!

Karen: It's a breath-taking scene! I love the high, overhead angle -I know we've talked about Ross overdoing it recently on some covers with the odd angles but this one really works for me. I could identify eight of the ten heroes but had trouble with two of them. The ones I recognized were Cap and Bucky (and this Bucky is quite obviously a kid, being carried by Cap the way he is), Namor, the Vision, the Destroyer, and the Black Widow (none of these three related to the later Marvel versions), the Blazing Skull, and the two Torches. From the reference section in the back of my book, I found the identities of the other two: the Thunderer and the Black Marvel. These are some pretty cool-looking cats. More appealing than most of the Liberty Legion! I know some of these characters have been brought into current or recent books, like the Skull and original Vision.

Doug: Yes, Ross's depiction of the very young James Buchanan Barnes does fly in the face of Ed Brubaker's thoughts on the character's age during the war. Personally, I always thought of him as Ross does. However, I fully accepted that he must have been closer to 16 in the Liberty Legion story that ran through Invaders #s 5-6 and Marvel Premiere #s 29-30. And in regard to the coolness of those Golden Age heroes: I have so tried to get into that material but it's just so difficult. The art and the stories are so crude as compared to the stuff we focus on (late 1960s-mid 1980s) that I just can't do it. I've several times been ready to pull the trigger on the Golden Age volume in the Marvel Firsts series but have always talked myself out of it.

Doug: In our next installment, we'll delve into Marvels #2 and the dawn of the Silver Age! No promises when that will be, but this has been fun getting back into the "what we do around here" of comic reviews.