(September 1974)

Marvel, 1974 Series
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Volume
1
Price
0.25 USD
Pages
36
Indicia Frequency
bi-monthly
On-sale Date
1974-06-25
Publisher's Age Guidelines
Approved by the Comics Code Authority
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
Marvel Comics Group
Brand
Marvel Comics Group [entire top banner]
Editing
Roy Thomas (editor)

Issue Notes

On-sale date from 1974 Periodicals, Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

Flaming First Issue! (Table of Contents)

Human Torch / cover / 1 page (report information)

Script
Roy Thomas
Pencils
John Romita
Inks
Joe Sinnott
Colors
?
Letters
Gaspar Saladino

First Line of Dialogue or Text
Get back in your history-books, android!
Genre
superhero
Characters
Human Torch [Jim Hammond]; Human Torch [Johnny Storm]
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Symbolic cover; scene does not appear in the comic, but suggestive of Torch-Torch battle from Fantastic Four Annual #4 (November 1966). Cover pencil credits from Nick Caputo (April 5, 2004). Pencil originally credited to Sal Buscema. Sinnott inks per Nick Caputo, Feb 2011. Former indexer listed John Romita.

Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Table of Contents: 1)

Human Torch / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee (Plot); Larry Lieber (Script)
Pencils
Jack Kirby; John Buscema (see notes)
Inks
Dick Ayers; Joe Sinnott (see notes)
Colors
?
Letters
Artie Simek
Editing
Stan Lee (Original Editor)

Genre
superhero
Characters
Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; Invisible Girl [Sue Storm] (cameo); Thing [Ben Grimm] (cameo); Mr. Fantastic [Reed Richards] (cameo); Destroyer [Charles Stanton] (Intro)
Synopsis
In Glenville, Johnny lives with his sister Sue. While she's known as a member of the Fantastic Four, he tries to keep a low profile. We get to see the house, much of which is chemically fire-resistant, and equipped with various crime-fighting equipment. But even in the suburbs danger lurks, as someone called The Destroyer is hell-bent on wrecking a local amusement park nearing completion.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Part 1 of 2. Contains diagram of Sue and Johnny's house and a very brief recap of the Fantastic Four's origin. Page 3 cut, last panel of page 2 replaced by a Fantastic Four stat by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. On splash page, "Starring...America's Favorite Superhero:" replaced with "Johnny Storm." Plot, script and art credits added for reprint; original had no credits. splash slightly reformatted with new intro and page numbers removed for this reprint.

Part 2: "The Flaming Fury Strikes Back!!" (Table of Contents: 2)

Human Torch / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee (Plot); Larry Lieber (Script)
Pencils
Jack Kirby
Inks
Dick Ayers
Colors
?
Letters
Artie Simek
Editing
Stan Lee (Original Editor)

Genre
superhero
Characters
Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; Thing [Ben Grimm]; Destroyer [Charles Stanton]
Synopsis
Ben shows up, but Johnny refuses help, saying it's his fight. After another encounter with The Destroyer, Johnny gets a hunch when he realizes the targets so far have been the roller coaster and the parachute jump. Atop the coaster, he looks out to sea and spots a Commie sub! The Destroyer turns out to be Charles Stanton, publisher of the town's newspaper, who'd been smuggling info to the Reds until the building of the amusement park increased the risk that the submarine might be seen.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Part 2 of 2. Destroyer no relation to the Stan Lee character from Mystic Comics #6 (October 1941), the Lee-Kirby character from Journey Into Mystery #118 (July 1965) or the Jim Starlin character from Iron Man #55 (February 1973).

Horror Hotel! (Table of Contents: 3)

Human Torch / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script
Don Rico
Pencils
Bill Walton
Inks
Al Gabriele ?
Colors
?
Letters
?
Editing
Stan Lee (original editor)

Job Number
3338
Genre
superhero
Characters
Human Torch [Jim Hammond]; Mercer
Synopsis
A hotel is terrorized by a "man-killing beast," sending tenants fleeing. But when The Torch investigates, it seems almost no one has actually seen the monster. The "monster" turns out to be the work of a revenge-crazed madman who'd been fired by the hotel for thievery.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

The Human Torch created by Carl Burgos (1939). New introduction and outro by Roy Thomas. Job Number from the Atlas Tales website.

Rico script and Walton pencils per original pencil stats sold at Heritage Auctions in 2019.

This reprint is either heavily reinked, or was traced from an original. Background elements are missing, or inked as black blobs, losing a lot of detail. It was completely recolored, and the lettering and word balloons are different.

Editing
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. Flaming First Issue!
    Human Torch
  2. 1. Johnny Storm, the Human Torch
    Human Torch
  3. 2. Part 2: "The Flaming Fury Strikes Back!!"
    Human Torch
  4. 3. Horror Hotel!
    Human Torch
This issue was modified by, among others
  • Ray Bottorff Jr
  • Nick Caputo
  • Steve Coates
  • Robert K. S. Croy, Sr.
  • Katy Hayhurst
  • Dan Kocher
  • Andrew Krieg
  • Henry R. Kujawa
  • Darrel McCann
  • Ramon Schenk
  • Jim Stangas
  • Jim Van Dore