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Marvel 616 Review – Strange Tales #111 (A Story)

Strange Tales #111 (A story) Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, Artists: Dick Ayers, Jack Kirby
Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, Artists: Dick Ayers, Jack Kirby

Well, we’ve come to it. The first appearance of the unforgettable villain, Asbestos Man.

According to Wikipedia asbestos is “a group of naturally occurring, toxic, carcinogenic, and fibrous silicate minerals.”

In 1963 when Strange Tales #111 debuted, asbestos was seen as a nearly miraculous substance. It was fire resistant and in America it was promptly used in everything in the building process from cement to paint. It was not widely known at the time that asbestos also has very negative effects such as causing lung cancer, mesothelioma (a cancer of the lung lining), and asbestosis (lung scarring). Buildings built in the 1980s and earlier often used the stuff for insulation as well. In other words, asbestos was everywhere. It wasn’t until 2024 that the EPA finalized a ban of the substance.

So, it seems ridiculous to have made a character named Asbestos Man. But at the time it totally made sense. It was a revolutionary and modern material thought to reduce the number of deaths from fire. What if there was a man who could master this material? Who better to be a villain for our hot headed hero Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch?

In walks Asbestos Man in our Marvel 616 story. Who is this guy and what is his deal?

The first page is a teaser panel showing Asbestos Man fighting Johnny Storm. The press around them are in disbelief as Asbestos Man has the upper hand. The narrator asks, “Will the Asbestos Man ring down the curtain on the brilliant career of the teen-age torch?”

Even Johnny himself thinks, “… nothing, even my most intense flame, affects him in the least! It looks like I’m beaten at last!”

Seems pretty dire. So how did we get here? Well the story proper starts by introducing us to Professor Orson Kasloff walking down the street deep in thought. This guy is up to no good.

Why would a scientific genius need to contact the underworld? We’ll find out in a moment. The professor sees a commotion in the street and wants to find out what all the fuss is about. It seems The Human Torch has just stopped some jewel thieves. Kasloff sees him in action and realizes the power of fire is too much for the common criminal.

At the same time, Blackie Barker “of the underworld” is watching on wishing there was some way to get rid of our hero. He’s the mastermind of this little robbery but he escapes without Torch knowing he was involved.

At this point Kasloff decides to “review the past” giving us a glimpse into his troubles. He’s a brilliant and valued chemist but he doesn’t think he’s being paid what he is worth. He’s big mad that his company profits from his ideas while paying him a mere pittance.

I think a lot of us can relate to this problem but it seems to me filing some patents or asking for a raise might be the way to go here. Instead, Kasloff decides he’s only going to work for himself. That’s also a fine option if you want to go into business for yourself. Kasloff even has a product that might sell. He’s invented a liquid solvent that can melt steel and iron upon contact. Rather than sell that, Kasloff thinks about using it to melt the company safe. I don’t know how much is in the safe but I bet it’s less than he would get for selling his formula.

Naturally, Kasloff decides his best answer is to become a criminal.

Kasloff thinks of other criminal ideas he could pull off too. He thinks he can invent a pen that can mimic any signature as a perfect forgery. He also thinks he could make a machine that will reproduce any bill, bond, or legal paper, making perfect counterfeits.

Personally, I think between the forgery and counterfeit he could stop there. I mean if you can literally print your own money and not get caught, why do you need to do anything else? But Kasloff is just full of ideas. He thinks about ways to raid Fort Knox and plunder world treasures.

We then come back to current day where Kasloff makes his first attempt at crime. He does try to rob the company he works for. But an alarm sounds and he escapes just in time.

Say what you will about Kasloff, he knows his limitations. Although he is a scientific genius he has no experience in crime. He concocts a plan. He goes to the city slums and tells shady looking people in bars (Blackie Barker himself in fact) that he is, “…looking for a member of the underworld to take into partner-ship…” That goes about as well as you’d expect.

Once Kasloff sees The Torch, he has an idea. Defeat the superhero and the criminals will come to him. To implement the plan he first buys a literal castle far from any other habitation, yet in a rural area close to town. It’s a bargain because everyone thinks it’s haunted.

Kasloff gets to work and invents his own form of asbestos which he says is made from, “chrysotile, calcium, and iron.” He makes a whole suit of this stuff and includes a net and a shield which are also fire resistant. And we finally get our first full glimpse of Asbestos Man in his suit.

Kasloff may be a villain but he’s also impolite. He sends a letter to Johnny Storm and addresses it to “The cowardly Human Torch.” It’s a challenge to face off against the guy. Johnny is furious but he’s talked down by Reed and The Thing. But then those two go off to, “work on our tax report with Sue!” Johnny tries to burn the note but it doesn’t work and now the teenager is intrigued. He does his research and realizes that asbestos is, in fact, fireproof for all intents and purposes.

Asbestos Man then has the gall to call Johnny directly and challenge him to a fight. There’s no way he’s backing down now. Johnny is invited to the castle for a knock down drag out brawl in front of the press.

Johnny arrives and starts fighting. His fire stream can’t break past Asbestos Man’s shield. He tosses fire balls only to have them caught by the fireproof net. These get thrown right back at Johnny. The Kasloff drops Johnny through a trap door.

Just an aside here but there are so many times members of the Fantastic Four end up falling through trap doors. You’d think they’d be more cautious of where they step when they see giant levers in a room.

This trap door drops Johnny into a moat filled with water which extinguishes his flames. And the press now has pictures to prove the defeat. This really gets to Johnny and I don’t think I’ve seen a panel where he looks more dejected than this one.

The next day the other members of the FF offer to help Johnny but this is one fight he feels the need to win on his own. For his part, Kasloff breaks Blackie Barker’s gang out of prison. They go back to Kasloff’s castle. The gang is worried about being caught by The Torch but Kasloff assures them he has plenty of escape routes for them. The group starts to plan their next heist.

Being a good sister, Sue Storm reminds Johnny he was depending on his flame alone. That’s not going to work when someone is fireproof. Johnny realizes he can’t use a direct attack. He goes back for another round. This time he’s planning on using the things around Kasloff to defeat him.

He starts by melting the iron handle of Kasloff’s net. Johnny next melts a chandelier above Kasloff’s head making it drop on him. Kasloff throws some of his steel melting formula at The Torch but Johnny melts the bottle in mid air. Then The Torch melts the floor right under Asbestos Man’s feet. Finally Johnny creates enough flame around Kasloffs head to suck away the oxygen until the criminal gives up.

The story ends with the police capturing the criminal and Johnny saying, “Rember professor, you can never play with fire without… getting burned!“

Not to worry Johnny, you also can’t play with Asbestos without having some seriously negative health issues.

It’s certainly odd to read a story about a man whose powers are based off a substance we know to stay away from. But as far as the story goes it was fairly entertaining. I still can never quite wrap my head around why any member of the FF is dealing with crimes as mundane as burglary. And I still find it hard to figure out why some of these criminals don’t just sell some of this stuff they invent. The stories will get more sophisticated and we haven’t nearly seen the end of Asbestos Man.

This isn’t exactly a landmark issue for Marvel 616 but it does set up one of the main antagonists for our favorite teenager on fire. We’ll be checking back in on the whole Fantastic Four again soon. But for now it’s on to the next story.

Next up we’ll be catching up with the Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Stephen Strange in the pages of Strange Tales #111 (C story) where we will meet another new villain in the form of Baron Mordo!

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Marvel 616 Review – Strange Tales #110 [A Story]

Strange Tales #110 Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, Artist: Dick Ayers

Strange Tales #110 is a landmark issue in the history of Marvel 616. It establishes repeat villains teaming up against one of our heroes and contains the introduction of a new hero to the universe. Because there are two important stories here, I will be splitting my review of the issue up into two parts. This time I will be going over the A story, which features Johnny Storm in his most intense battle to date against not one but two of his mortal foes.

Villain team ups are pretty standard these days. They show up in comics constantly and there have even been a few movies and television shows where we’ve seen this happen. DC had perfected this type of story long before the Marvel 616 universe started to do it. But, it is always interesting when a hero we know has to go up against a new combination of evil characters. Johnny Storm, aka, The Human Torch has had his share of enemies both on his own and with his family The Fantastic Four. Two of the most dangerous for him were The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete. The Wizard uses all kinds of gadgets and tricks to trap the hero while Paste-Pot Pete has a special glue gun that proves surprisingly adept at trapping Johnny. Ridiculous names aside, these guys are dangerous.

The issue starts with a teaser page, like most of the early 616 universe does but this one has my favorite pre-read warning so far where we are told to be cautious if we have a heart condition before we read on.

The story then gets going with a few panels showing Johnny Storm making his way as The Human Torch through an obstacle course he has set up for himself. He is compared to a trained athlete but it is noted that if Johnny makes a mistake, he doesn’t lose a game, he could lose his life.

Johnny next hits his school books which at one point mentions wizards. This gets Johnny’s mind drifting and he starts to remember The Wizard who he faced off against in the past. He takes a look at his scrapbook and we get a flashback scene reminding us of the last time Johnny faced The Wizard. This is a pretty common technique in the earlier Marvel 616 stories because they could reuse old art and fill up pages at the same time with adding just a bit of narration.

And, of course, it’s not just The Wizard who gets this treatment. We next see Johnny reminisce about ol’ Paste-Pot Pete himself. For a guy with a paste gun he sure got close to getting rid of Johnny. He had The Human Torch strapped to a missile and everything.

At the end of his reminiscing, Johnny wonders where both The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete are now and what they are doing. It’s no surprise to the modern reader that we then find out, and it’s not good.

Paste-Pot Pete has returned to the country and he is clearly looking for revenge against The Human Torch. Pete realizes he alone is not enough to go against the super hero and he remembers how The Wizard nearly took Johnny out. The only problem? The Wizard is in solitary confinement at a place called Cortraz Penitentiary. And The Wizard still holds just as much of a grudge as Pete does.

Luckily for The Wizard, Paste-Pot Pete has some truly incredible paste. It’s so good, it can be used to make powerful binocular lenses.

Pete figures out the delivery schedule for the food supply trucks and hijacks it. Paste-Pot Pete makes his way into the jail and he is apparently a quick draw with the paste gun because none of the guards are fast enough to stop him. He then uses the same gun to glue onto The Wizard’s cell door and uses the, “reverse suction switch” on his gun to pull the door off.

Needless to say, The Wizard is all in on the plan to get our favorite hothead. The Wizard even has a little gas pellet he cooked up in prison that blows the gates open so the pair can make their escape.

But, like any good super villain team up, there is tension almost from the start. The Wizard basically starts giving Pete orders which he doesn’t take too kindly to. The plan is to first discredit and humiliate The Human Torch and then defeat him permanently.

Immediately they frame Johnny for being a spy. Reed and the rest of the FF call Johnny up to make sure he is okay. Johnny basically takes this the wrong way thinking his team thinks he can’t handle himself.

Johnny is ridiculed at school for being a traitor although some kids defend him. Not being one to take this sort of thing lightly, Johnny has a plan.

We switch perspectives back to the villains who read in the newspaper that one of the world’s richest men is going to arrive in town. The Wizard plans to wait until the man takes his nightly walk and then rob him. He’s also going to frame Johnny for this by wearing his asbestos suit, making it look like it’s Johnny in the dark.

Rest assured The Human Torch has this well in hand as it’s him who was walking down the street. He was just disguised.

The villains run back into their house where The Wizard has laid several traps for our hero. They get Johnny into a room which is basically a hall of mirrors. The Human Torch flounders for a bit as he tries to find a way out.

Johnny gives up momentarily and asks the bad guys what is next. They tell him they are going to flood the room with a fire extinguishing liquid The Wizard has invented. But first, Paste-Pot Pete pastes The Torch to the floor.

The villains then make the classic villain mistake of leaving the hero. Johnny thinks fast and makes a flame version of himself. He then burns the paste off of his feet to free himself. He then uses as much heat as he can to burn his way out through the ceiling of the room.

In another part of the house, the bad guys put their little contraption to work and watch what they think will be Johnny’s demise. But they soon notice that the figure disappears. This does give Johnny just enough time to recharge his power and come after the bad guys. Pete and The Wizard aren’t exactly friends but they both basically vow their revenge on Johnny as they are taken away by the police.

The kids at school are once again fans of The Human Torch and Johnny complains he missed so much schoolwork because of needing to fight the bad guys. And this is where the story ends.

While this may not have been overly groundbreaking it was a fun story and it showcased how even minor villains teaming up against a Marvel hero could make things much more difficult. Over the years, The Fantastic Four and The Human Torch alone will be dealing with plenty of villains getting together.

If this was the only story in this issue relevant to Marvel 616 it might only be mildly interesting. Yet this issue has something else worth noting.

Next up on the reading list we’ll be reading about the introduction of the sorcerer supreme himself as we see Dr. Strange in Strange Tales #110 [C story]!

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Marvel 616 Review – Strange Tales #109

Strange Tales Issue 109, Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee & Robert Bernstein, Art: Jack Kirby

What would you do if you had the power of Pandora’s box? If you’re anything like The Sorcerer in Strange Tales #109, you’ll probably run around trying to steal stuff and attacking The Human Torch. The issue gets a bit weird as it dives into magic which is a newer threat for Johnny Storm.

The issue starts with a teaser page showing our hero threatened by a giant tidal wave. A man in a green robe is telling Torch that “Flood is the evil I’ve selected to destroy you!”

So, who is this guy and why does he have it out for ol’ flame head? Basically, it’s a kids get off my lawn story but let’s take a look at it anyway.

The story starts back at the Baxter building where three of the Fantastic Four are all gathered. Johnny flies in through the window and The Thing scolds Johnny for skipping school. But, of course, Johnny has done no such thing. His teachers are just having a conference so he got out early. Johnny was basically bored and missing his family so decided to drop on by. He complains a bit about school and then notices a map in the room and rightly realizes the rest of the team are planning a mission. Johnny wants to join but is told no because it has to happen the next day when Johnny is in school.

We don’t get any real information about the mission, other than the FF plans to “…make life a little tougher for the commies!” Which, yeah sounds about right for these comics at that time. Johnny complains about how boring it is being a full time student at boring Glenville. As Johnny flies off we get a rare glimpse of how Ben Grim actually feels about Johnny. He says he loves the hot-head like a brother.

On his way out, Torch sees a fire in a building and uses his powers to suck in all the flames and saves the people in the upper floors. Then he sees a flash flood which has washed out some train tracks. Luckily for the passengers, Johnny is able to convert the flood water into steam and the train passes by safely.

Yeah, sometimes the powers of The Human Torch are kind of silly and so are the random dangers he flies by. But his powers, especially at this time, are a bit flexible anyway.

The next disturbance Torch hears is some commotion at a place where he knows an “eccentric old hermit known as The Sorcerer lives!”

So what’s the big trouble about? Well, this dude is literally trying to get kids off of his lawn. But this time, with dogs. Dogs which are leashed I should mention. As far as I can tell, this guy isn’t actually breaking any kind of law, even if he is being rather unpleasant.

Not quite sure who voted The Human Torch the head of the neighborhood watch, but he decides to take things into his own hands. He puts a leash of flames around the dogs and basically yells at The Sorcerer for scaring the kids. Johnny tells the guy to put his dogs away or Johnny will take them to the dog pound. The Sorcerer puts the dogs away and asks Johnny to tell the kids to stay away from him and give him privacy. Johnny asks if The Sorcerer knows what he’s called around the neighborhood. The dude says yes and the name is well earned because he has studied black magic for years. Johnny then tells the guy if he wants privacy so bad, he’ll give it to him with a wall of flame around his house. The Sorcerer points out he won’t be able to come and go if there is a wall of flame there. Johnny responds he can’t have it both ways, “If you want freedom of movement, others must have it as well!” The Sorcerer gives in but tells Johnny he won’t forget it.

At this point, let’s sum up here. I’m not one to be on the side of a wealthy property owner or anything but in the last few minutes a guy who lives on private property tried to get kids off his lawn, with pets he legally owns and properly kennels, was called an eccentric by a super powered human, nearly had his dogs burnt by said super human, had his lawn burned by fire and was then told he had to let people just come onto his property. I think rather than threaten this guy, perhaps Johnny should have looked up real estate egress laws because, yeah, now this guy is going to go full villain.

Johnny doesn’t really think the guy has black magic so feels pretty safe leaving and taking the kids back to their home. But what Johnny does not know is that The Sorcerer is about to discover Pandora’s box. You know, the one from the myth where basically all bad things were let out into the world? Yeah that one. Which seems weird because if we believe the myth, the stuff in the box couldn’t be put back so how would owning it help? The only thing left inside was supposedly hope and we already have that too so, I think Pandora’s box is just a box at this point. Also, if we believe the myth it was a jar not a box but whatever.

Ah, but see, these are comics we’re reading so they have a ready excuse. The Sorcerer explains (to himself), “But what other experts on Greek legend don’t know is the Circe, the greatest sorceress of ancient times, used her fantastic magic to force all the evils to return to the box…” Circe then seals the box with a magic incantation. So there you have it, perfectly logically explained and we’re good to continue with the story.

If we are to believe The Sorcerer he got that very box “…unwittingly sent to him in a crate full of Greek artifacts by an expert from Athens!” If it was sent unwittingly, then this expert was not much of an expert. Or maybe they were looking for a jar not a box instead?

Anyway, The Sorcerer continues studying ancient texts and vowing revenge on The Human Torch. He also points out he can unleash and recapture all of the imps which are in the box through his magic.

Two weeks later he shows up at a bank holding a box. He is not taken seriously at first when he demands money from the bank and the security guards want to take him in to have his mental health checked. They don’t put it quite that nicely.

But the Sorcerer is prepared and unleashes the evil of hatred. Before you know it, everyone in the bank is fighting with one another over trivial stuff. The Sorcerer uses the opportunity to grab as much cash as he can and strolls out of the bank. He then recalls the imp of hatred and lets out the imp of… forgetfulness. I guess that’s a kind of evil in some cases? Anyway, it causes everyone there to forget what just happened. Johnny goes to investigate and realizes the people there are not lying, they’ve been manipulated somehow.

The Sorcerer goes on a bit of a crime spree, stealing jewels with the imp of… sleepiness, stealing art from a museum with the imp of… paralysis, and furs with the imp of… cold. And he covers his tracks in the same way after each one.

One night in Glenville the police hold a meeting where Johnny is present and one of the officers says it seems like the crook is some sort of wizard which makes Johnny think of The Sorcerer. The Human Torch rushes off to find the bad guy sorting his ill gotten gains. The Torch has the advantage of surprise but The Sorcerer unleashes disease from the box to sicken Johnny. This works for a moment until Johnny heats himself up enough to burn off any germs. So, instead The Sorcerer lets out the evil of a tidal wave like we were teased in the beginning.

Sure enough, Johnny is soaked and his flame goes out. The cops show up but The Sorcerer unleashes foolishness on the cops. But there are still more cops who are not affected yet and they fire shots at The Sorcerer. Good thing for him magic can apparently ignore the rules of physics completely because The Sorcerer unleashes… laziness… to slow down the bullets. Yeah, not kidding.

Johnny stalls for time by asking about the box, hoping he can dry out enough to flame on. And, as The Sorcerer thinks he has Johnny defeated, Johnny asks if he can choose the manner of his own death. The Sorcerer agrees and unleashes fire which, of course, only powers up our hero. Johnny grabs the box from The Sorcerer and welds it shut, saying he is going to take it to the ocean so it can’t be found again.

The Sorcerer is terrified when Johnny gets back. This is because, just before Johnny left, the imp of fear poked out of the box in the direction of The Sorcerer. This guy is probably going to be permanently scared of everything.

The last panel is Johnny reuniting with the rest of the FF who seem to have heard about Johnny’s exploits and all is well again.

There are a few interesting things about this issue. One, it firmly establishes magic as being a real and regular thing in the world of 616, thus truly paving the way for Dr. Strange to show up soon. Second, it separates Johnny Storm from the FF a bit so there is the possibility of splitting this group up into different adventures at any time.

Also, while I certainly don’t condone the behavior of The Sorcerer once he has Pandora’s box, Johnny sure seems bossy to random people in the neighborhood in this issue. This certainly doesn’t mean Johnny is bad or evil in any way but it would be easy to see how a super powered person could intimidate the heck out of someone for, you know, wanting kids not to hang around their lawn or whatever.

We’ve certainly not seen the last of Johnny Storm, or of magic in the 616 but it’s a long way from being fully explored just yet.

Next time we’re getting small again with Ant-Man but he’s going to bring along a new player in the 616 as we first meet The Wasp in Tales to Astonish #44!

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Marvel 616 Review – Strange Tales #108 (A Story)

Strange Tales #108 Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers Robert Bernstein & Stan Lee, Artists Steve Ditko & Jack Kirby

While a lot of the rest of Marvel 616 has been chugging along, Johnny Storm in Strange Tales has had a bit of trouble finding an arch nemesis equal to his powers. He usually seems like he can just blow past these guys and if he really gets stuck, he can always call on the rest of the Fantastic Four to help out. So far, not many of the bad guys have really stood out, and neither does, The Painter. This is a bad guy who can paint anything in record speed and it will come to life.

The issue starts us off with The Painter drawing Johnny’s demise in an asbestos lined room fighting the other members of his team.

We next jump back in time to see a bunch of crooks having a rough time committing their crimes because Johnny is in town. Torch then stops a getaway car by melting the asphalt right under it. Not sure if Johnny is on the hook for the repairs but the bad guys are stopped. We see Johnny stop a bank robbery using smoke rings, and flame scissors to cut away the bags of loot. The police seem more than happy for the assists from Torch and everything is going his way. But Johnny knows this isn’t the end. He tells the cops, “Mark my words, right now some master criminal or evil genius is figuring out some so-called brilliant scheme to get rid of me! It’s happened before..”

Then, as you might expect we see a clip show worth of flashbacks of enemies Johnny has faced. He mentions The Wizard, The Destroyer, Paste-Pot Pete and Zemu, Despot of the 5th dimension. They’re all out of commission at this point but Johnny is still around. Johnny knows it’s just a matter of time before he’ll face a new villain.

Of course he is right and that’s where we see the criminal element come together. There is an organized crime leader named “Scar” Tobin and he is interrupted by, “Wilhelm Van Vile, the counter-feiter the Torch caught… but busted out of jail last week!”

This dude wants revenge and he has… a set of paints. He demonstrates his powers by drawing a three headed gorilla to intimidate the gangsters. He does this at lightning speed so they don’t even seem to have time to pull their guns. The painting comes to life and Wilhelm Van Vile is able to control it telepathically. The other bad guys try to stop him but The Painter just keeps painting stuff that stops them, including making one of their guns super heavy, and it crashes through the floor. Van Vile paints a magic carpet and he takes the gangsters along with him on it. This gives Van Vile the opportunity to narrate his origin story.

He was locked up first for making poor imitations of famous art and trying to sell them as originals and then he gets locked up again because he was making counterfeit bills but Johnny caught a mistake on the bills. He does have to turn into the Human Torch to get the job done and The Painter swears his revenge. The Painter then tells the tale of breaking out of prison and digging into a strange underground cavern. He finds a set of paints that look brand new but Van Vile is also aware of “ancient Egyptian picture-writing” and believes the pictures are saying the paints are magical. He also thinks these paints come from a group of aliens who traveled through space by using the paints. (What can I say, it’s a comic book. They have to have aliens or communists at this point right?) The Painter takes a chance and paints his way out of the cave.

We go back to the present where The Painter says he wants to be, “The King of Crime!” I do feel like parts of this issue are a precursor to the character who will become the The Kingpin. “Scare” Tobin kind of looks like him and this is the first real mention that there could be a “King of Crime” at all in 616.

We see The Painter toy with Torch for a bit. He draws a Fantasti-car and giant fire hydrants and he does manage to douse Torch. Johnny is safe but he definitely knows something is up. The Painter then makes some creatures at a carnival come to life. We get to see a couple of weird monster drawings from Jack Kirby which is always fun. Torch drives them into the sea and saves the day. Then The Painter draws a volcano of sand to stop Johnny but that doesn’t work either.

We finally come back to the point of the beginning of the story where The Painter draws Johnny losing a fight to his teammates. And we see him lose this fight. The crooks all hear on the radio this was the end of Johnny Storm and they are overjoyed and plan to take on the rest of the FF as soon as they can.

But The Human Torch suddenly shows up. Johnny burns up the the paintings and magic paints. Turns out Johnny had figured out who was doing this, waited until the bad guys were all asleep and painted a living picture of himself with the magic paints so he was never in any actual danger.

The Painter is baffled as to how Johnny figured this out but it turns out it was Van Vile’s own fault. He was careless in his paintings. He didn’t put nozzles on the fire hydrants, didn’t put any litter baskets in the beach scene, and didn’t even put a 4 on the uniforms of The Fantastic Four. So Johnny combed the area until he found The Painter.

The story ends kind of abruptly right there.

The story was pretty standard for the time but it is clear the creators are trying to find the right person to be the consistent bad guy for Johnny. He’s gone up against a few who will be completely forgotten but he’s also had a run in or two with some who will eventually become major players in 616 continuity. For now, it’s still kind of a bad guy of the week situation for this character.

Next up on the reading list, we’re actually staying on this issue for the D story. I thought it would be better to separate out the reviews, however because they are totally different stories. So next is Strange Tales #108 (D story)!

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Marvel 616 Comic Book Review – Strange Tales #104

Strange Tales Issue 104 Photo Credit: Marvel

Allow me to introduce to you the incredible supervillain Paste-Pot Pete! That’s right, he’s the only villain who chooses as his weapon of choice, a pot of paste and a paste gun that shoots out… paste.

Eventually this guy will become known as “The Trapster” but he starts his criminal career with paste. These kinds of stories are why I love Marvel. They have some of the strangest ideas and somehow a lot of them seem to work. In fact, Paste-Pot Pete actually comes fairly close to defeating The Human Torch on his first time out.

One thing you have to say for Paste-Pot Pete is he’s got a lot of flare. Our story starts in Glenville where Johnny Storm is going to school. He’s at the bank and very nearly writes The Human Torch on his deposit slip thus giving away his secret identity. As far as the Fantastic Four goes the idea of secret identities is kind of nebulous. Everyone pretty much knows where they live and that they were four space explorers who got their powers from cosmic rays. Even before the days of Google it wouldn’t have been that hard to put two and two together.

Leaving that aside, in comes Paste-Pot Pete who proudly announces “Meet Paste-Pot Pete… master criminal!” It’s quite an entrance even if you could argue shouting you’re a master criminal is not something a master criminal would do. Then he goes to town on the bankers and security guards. He’s gluing people to walls, gluing guns to guards hips, and rocking an amazing purple bow tie and beret paired with a green suit. It looks like he took some fashion tips from a combination of The Joker and an art student dropout.

Johnny is in the bank but he can’t just burst into flame without giving away who he is. So instead he sends a flame copy of himself to follow the crook. Pete races on out of there, gluing feet to the street as he goes. He even glues a group of police into their own cars so they can’t run out and get him.

Johnny is finally able to flame on and catch up to Pete but not before Pete has broken into a nearby missile base and defeated several armed and trained soldiers by shooting paste at them.

Pete’s there to grab the latest missile and sell it to the highest bidder. He literally captures the missile by shooting it with paste as soon as it is fired. I don’t know what his glue is made of but he mentions that it is super strong and will only last for an hour. Does that remind anyone else of a certain teenager who uses web fluid to swing around?

Pete does get a great line in at the missile base when he flees with the missile saying, “And anyone who tries to stop me will get a taste of paste!”

Of course, Johnny inevitably catches up to the crook. He first tries to shoot flame arrows at the tires of Pete’s truck but Pete’s reflexes are too good and he maneuvers out of the way.

Johnny’s next idea is to burn a ditch in front of the truck but again Pete is too fast for The Human Torch. This time Pete glues some nearby lumber and uses it as planks to get across. For Pete’s first time out, he’s doing really well. He has escaped one of the Fantastic Four three times already which is no easy feat. Johnny is about to just melt the truck as much as he can when he runs out of flame. As that happens, Pete glues Johnny to the missile he’s carting around.

Unfortunately for Pete his glue gets into the housing of the missile and triggers it to fire. Just when it looks like it’s curtains for Johnny he realizes the intense heat of the missile is enough to give him his flame back. He carefully cuts himself out of the glue by flaming on a single finger. Luckily the missile drops into the ocean so no one is harmed. (Although I suppose if Namor hears about it he’s not going to be happy)

Torch catches back up to Pete and this time does melt the truck. Pete gets out alive but Johnny is smart enough to target Paste-Pot Pete’s paste pot. (Try saying that five times fast) Pete is not out of tricks though. There is still paste in his paste gun even when he doesn’t have his pot. He fires glue at a passing airplane and hitches a ride.

While Johnny does recover all the stolen goods, Paste-Pot Pete manages to escape and rendezvous at a boat waiting for him in the ocean. And thus, Paste-Pot Pete enters the annals of Marvel history being one of the few villains who can actually get away from The Human Torch.

Believe it or not, Pete’s character in the future does get to be a lot more complex and interesting. This is a guy who knows how to plan and to be patient which gives him an advantage over other criminals.

I just love that there are characters like Pete in comic books. I would love to see this dude show up and just take on an Avenger or two in the MCU sometime. But until then, we’ll just have to wonder if Paste-Pot Pete is gone for good. (He’s not)

Next up on the reading list we’ll be checking up on Johnny and the rest of the first family of super heroes with Fantastic Four #10!

Posted on by slickdungeon · 2 Comments

Marvel 616 Comic Book Review – Strange Tales #102

Strange Tales Issue #102 Photo Credit: Marvel

Strange Tales #102 has several short features in it but the only one that matters in the Marvel 616 continuity is the one starring Johnny Storm fighting a villain called The Wizard.

The issue starts with a recap of what happened in the last issue when Johnny defeated a villain who was trying to destroy an amusement park. While he and his pals are reminiscing and marveling over the feats of The Human Torch, a man named The Wizard overhears them. He is an inventor and a showman, already world famous in his own right. He decides the only way he can really prove to the world he has the smartest brain on the planet is to defeat… The Human Torch? Yeah, you read that right.

I think every Marvel fan gives a bit of a groan when reading this. No disrespect to Johnny Storm but he’s not known for being brilliant. However, Reed Richards most certainly is. But this story stars Johnny so he gets the spotlight.

What’s The Wizard’s brilliant plan for trapping Johnny? Simple, he is going to build a machine that is supposed to dig to the center of the Earth. Then, he’s going to fake getting stuck, knowing a.) he actually built this machine with plenty of air so he’s not in any real danger and b.) The Human Torch is definitely going to come rescue him. After all of this, he’s going to invite Torch over to show off his super cool modern house. Then, while Torch is in the house he’s going to ask Torch to have his picture taken with some special cameras he invented. Those cameras are not cameras though, they’re actually water cannons which will douse Torch, but not his face so he can keep his secret identity, and then put him in an asbestos lined room so he can’t escape. Easy right? And does it work? You bet.

That is not all though, oh no. The Wizard has also built a suit which mimics Torch’s powers. He uses this suit to commit crimes in order to sink Torch’s reputation with the public. That also works. To top it all off he skywrites in flames, “Down with law and order” just to make the point really clear.

Here’s the thing though. As smart as The Wizard thinks he is, he’s not smart enough to realize Johnny can get hot enough to burn out of his prison. Johnny also knows how to defeat The Wizard so he makes a quick phone call. The Wizard lures Johnny back to his home where he holds photographs that will prove Torch’s innocence. For a smart dude, this guy is making a lot of really obvious mistakes. Torch tells him he has greater powers than The Wizard could imagine. At which point the photographs float out of The Wizard’s hands.

The Wizard is convinced Johnny does have some kind of otherworldly powers. Torch then calls the cops and saves the day. If you guessed the obvious then you have a smarter brain than The Wizard does. Of course, Johnny called Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Girl. And if you can’t even be bothered to know who is on the Fantastic Four can you actually be in the running to be a supervillain at all?

This really was one of the most ridiculous of the stories in the continuity so far but I suppose it gave Johnny Storm something to do for an afternoon.

Next on the reading list get your purple pants out because we’re going back to see the big green guy in Incredible Hulk #4!