Receiving his own book after twelve issues of Marvel Mystery Comics appearances, The Human Torch and sidekick Toro are still drawn here by creator Carl Burgos. The problem: the stories are uniformly uninteresting and contrived concoctions geared towards the kiddies. Backup stories starring second stringers The Patriot, The Falcon, The Fiery Mask and Mandrake-ripoff Mantor the Magician aren't any better, making the book a chore to read. Only Bill Everett's vital Sub-Mariner stories keep the collection from being of use only to comics historians. The enterprise is worsened by Jamison Services' truly horrendous digital "reconstruction", resulting in distorted faces and embarrassing loss of detail - a final product with little relationship to what was originally published.
Reprints the first four 64-page Sub-Mariner comics from 1941. These
stories, frankly, aren't as compellingly written or drawn as Bill
Everett's first Subby stories. Spread thin, he was relying on assistants
by this point (and about to enter the military). They are, nevertheless, worth a gamble. The Angel is
the just okay backup strip. Jack Kirby's fantastic Angel cover for
Marvel Mystery Comics #12 whetted my appetite for more Kirby Angel
stories, but I don't think those ever happened (comics historians please
clarify).
The volume is filled out with filler pieces by Mickey
Spillane and Basil Wolverton (two creators not often mentioned in the
same sentence), historical notes by Roy Thomas and the various house ads
for all four issues, which appeared in other Marvel comics.
This book is oddly titled: it actually reprints Marvel Mystery Comics Nos. 5-8. At any rate, the origins of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Marvel Universe in general start in
this important book, wherein The Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch meet
and battle it out! Never before had two Marvel characters interacted in a
shared universe.
As with the previous volume, Bill Everett's
work on Sub-Mariner is the best in the book - it packs a punch, with the
mariner acting more like Osama bin Laden than a Marvel hero. Also great
is Steve Dahlman's art for the underrated Electro: the Marvel of the
Age series. Ferret: Mystery Detective has a ferretless story near the
end; his series would soon be supplanted by Terry Vance, boy detective.
The rest of the features are primitive, but fascinating as time
capsules, and The Angel was about to get a lot weirder in the next
volume.
Also features an introduction by Roy Thomas and contemporary ad reproductions.
