#10:
“Getting
Caught Up!”
WHAT HAS COME BEFORE: Aided by the enigmatic Golden Age heroes, Human Torch and Toro were
able to overcome Dr. Faustus and his henchmen—the original Moonstone, and the
Captain America from the 1950s. After turning Moonstone over to the
authorities, and puting 1950’s Captain America and the woman masquerading as
Ann Raymond under the care of Doc Samson, Human Torch, Toro, and the Golden Age
heroes make their way to Toro’s house....
“Thomas!” Ann Raymond exclaims, her hands folded on her hips, as she pulls open the door. As she does so, she sees Toro, the Human Torch, Challenger, Silver Scorpion, Captain Wonder, Fiery Mask, and Tim. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for...” Ann finally stops long enough to realize that there are other people at the door with Toro, and she quickly changes her tone, stepping back and bidding the other heroes to enter.
“Thomas?” the Torch asks, smiling slightly, and shaking his head.
“Ah, domestic bliss,” Tim says, smiling widely, as he pats Challenger on the back. “Just imagine—this is you in a few months.” Challenger makes no reply, but Silver Scorpion turns around quickly, giving him an icy stare in response.
As the others walk into the den, Ann grabs Toro by the arm, as she closes the door. “Where have you been, Thomas?”
“The question is where have you been, Ann?” Toro replies, looking at her sternly. “I couldn’t find you, and it really had me worried. I thought someone named Dr. Faustus had you captured. I finally got through to Mrs. Amstead, and she told me she just saw you pull up in the yard from shopping.”*
[*Which
is how Toro found out that his wife and daughter were out shopping, as we found
out last issue.]
“What are you talking about, Thomas?” she asks, still obviously irritated. “I thought we settled this super-hero business years ago. Are you saying that you thought I was captured by one of your old villains?”
“One of Cap’s actually,” Toro replies.
“Cute,” Ann snaps back. “And now we’ve got that happening all over again. I don’t suppose you learned your lesson from the Mad Thinker fiasco several years ago?”*
[*Ann is referring to Mad Thinker
hypnotizing Toro and sending him to fight Namor, in Sub-Mariner #14.]
“None of us were happy about that, Ann,” Toro returns. “When we settled down to raise a family, I told you that was the most important thing in my life. I didn’t know that the Mad Thinker—or anyone else would find me, but they did. I certainly didn’t ask for that. That’s why I faked my death,* so no more madmen would seek me out for some mad scheme, or endanger my family. I’ll explain the details later, but right now we have company.”
[*As revealed in #6.]
“Thomas,” Ann says, catching up to Toro, who is walking into the den with his friends. “I’m sorry. It’s just that...well, I was scared.”
“It’s all right,” Toro returns, trying not to get into another argument with her, particularly in front of the others. As he walks into the room, he sees that the heroes have scattered in the room. Challenger and Silver Scorpion are looking at a reporduction of a Picasso piece. Captain Wonder is looking at a bust of Beethoven on the second shelf of a bookcase. Human Torch is directly behind him, surveying the book collection that his former partner has amassed. Fiery Mask is seated on the sectional sofa, watching the television screen with great interest. And, seated next to him is Tim, who is looking at some family pictures on a end table beside the sectional.
“Hmmm,” Tim thinks to himself, looking at a picture of two women, one a red-head and the other a brunette. “Toro forgot to mention that he had a couple of daughters.”
“Sorry about the delay, guys,” Toro says, walking into the room, approaching the Challenger and Silver Scorpion, both of whom have removed their masks. Challenger’s blond hair is parted on the right side, and he runs his palm through his hair, as he shakes his head.
“It’s okay, Toro,” Challenger replies. “I know we’ve got a lot to get caught up on. It’s just good to see some familiar sights from before we went into suspended animation.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Silver Scorpion agrees. Then, she turns to Ann, smiling. “Hey, honey,” she comments. “Where can a girl get a pair of nylons around here? They’re not restricting them again are they?”
“Uh, no,” Ann can’t help but smile herself. She was a little young to be worried about such things during the war, when there was a mandatory limit imposed on such things, but she remembers all too well how her mother—and especially her rather feisty Aunt Amanda went on mad rants about that...even years later. “No, you can get them wherever—and whenever—you want these days.”
“This will take some adjusting for all of us,” Captain Wonder says, looking over at the Torch. “I guess it’s easier when you stick around the whole time and see the changes as they occur?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Human Torch replies. “I was in a similiar situation to what you went through—and I still want to talk to you some more about that. I was briefly revived in the 50’s*, and again briefly revived to battle Johnny Storm,** but I’ve been mainly out of commission until I was revived again, and fought with the West Coast Avengers for a while.*** Needless to say, none of those time allowed me to really stay up with things, and I’ve been playing catch-up myself ever since.”
[*In Young
Men #23.]
[**In Fantastic
Four Annual #4, of course.]
[As of
West Coast Avengers #50.]
“We don’t even have a place to stay,” Tim comments, putting down the picture in his hand, and turning around on the sofa to face the others, leaning against the back of the sofa, propping his arm against the headrest. “Unless you count that place in the desert Challenger set up before the end of the war.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Human Torch replies, looking over at Tim, and then back at Challenger. “We can secure you a place to stay. That’s the easy part.”
“I’m very interested to see technological advances,” Challenger adds. Silver Scorpion rolls her eyes, knowing what’s to come. “I’m certain that there have been a number of changes in science in the time we were in suspended animation, and I want to spend some time getting caught up on that.”
“One thing that baffles me,” Toro says, facing Challenger. Silver Scorpion and Ann disappear down the hallway, leading to the kitchen. “I remember hearing about some of you dying...Challenger, for instance, after the war.”
“There were all kinds of crazy reports during the war!” Captain Wonder tosses in, shaking his head at the absurdity of some of the things he remembers hearing at the time. “I remember one time, there was a story of the Patriot roughing up some strikers. I met the Patriot, and asked him about that. He said that it was a Nazi agent masquerading as him to stir up sympathy for the Nazi cause. I thought it was pretty weird, myself, when I originally heard about it. After meeting Patriot, I have no problem believing that it couldn’t have been him.”
“There were rumors of a lot of deaths during the war, too,” Tim adds, getting up from the sofa, and walking over to where the others are talking. “And all kinds of other weird things. Remember some of the wild stories that came out about you during the war, Challenger? One newspaper reporter even called you a ‘sociopath’ or something.”
“Well, I have a theory about that as well,” Challenger replies thoughtfully, “based on what I’ve heard from Captain America and others about run-ins they’ve had.”
“It’ll have to wait for a while,” Silver Scorpion says, entering the room once again with Ann. Both are carrying trays with cold drinks. “I’ve got ice tea for everybody.”
“Oh, great!” Tim exclaims, leaping across the floor. As he does so, he gets a scolding look from Toro that goes unnoticed. “I guess it’s been more than 50 years since my last glass of ice tea!”
“I’m surprised you haven’t dried up and blown away yet,” Fiery Mask replies jokingly, as he gets up from his seat, shaking his head at the events on the television screen. “Isn’t there any station that plays something sane?!” he thinks to himself, getting to his feet, and walking over to join the others.
“You know,” Toro says, looking over at Tim. “I’ve always wondered why you didn’t just call yourself Wonder Boy, being Captain Wonder’s sidekick and everything?”
“Well, I thought about it,” Tim says, sipping his tea. “But, there was already somebody who had the name—and besides, I figured if it was good enough for Bucky to use my name, it was good enough for me.”
“I guess I can’t argue with that,” Toro says, nodding his head in agreement. “Did you ever meet Bucky?”
“Not to speak to him, no,” Tim replies. “And I was kind of disappointed by that. I always admired Bucky. He seemed like a good guy.”
“Oh, he was,” Toro agrees, a smile crossing his face for a moment, as his mind harkens back to fond memories. “He and I started out arguing, everything from who was going to date who to who was going to lead the Young Allies*, but that didn’t last very long. And we became best friends early in the war.”
[*This
started in Young Allies #1 and lasted through much of that brief
series.]
“Was?” Tim asks, nearly dropping his drink from the stunned shock on his face. “You don’t mean...?”
“Afraid so,” Toro answers, nodding his head, his face transforming, as he remembers a far darker day in his life. “He was killed by Baron Zemo. I’ll never forget the day I found out about it. I tried to fight crime a while after that, but I think finding out about Bucky really took the wind out of my sails. It never really seemed the same after that. I stopped not too long after the war. I came back with the Torch for a while in the 50’s, and even went on a mission or two with a new group of heroes called the Avengers*, but it wasn’t the same.”
[*See
Avengers 1958 #7-8 for one such occasion.]
Tim falls silent, he looks over at Toro, then at his glass. He raises the glass to his lips, and looks at the ice floating in the glass for a few moments, then drinks some tea. Every time he thinks he has something to say, he realizes how stupid he would sound, and so says nothing.
The Torch, realizing that this is a tough situation for both Toro and Tim, decides to change the subject. “Listen, Challenger,” Torch offers, “You mentioned that you were in suspended animation all of this time. How did that happen?”
“Well, we were tracking the Red Skull through Germany, trying to bring him to justice,” Challenger explains. “We finally ran across him in Berlin. The whole city was in tatters, reeling from the bombings and raedy to receive the American and Russian troops—I’m sure hoping that we got there first.”
“I remember that,” Toro comments. “In fact, Torch and I were in Berlin in the final days of the Third Reich.”
“So I heard,” Fiery Mask says. “In fact, I think this was shortly after you two paid Hitler a little visit—I assume that story is true, right?”
The Torch nods, and beckons for Challenger to finish telling his story. “Okay,” the Torch says, “As Toro said, we remember that time well. So, what happened?”
“We were tracking the Skull, and got sidetracked by fighting German soldiers,” Challenger continues. “We rushed into a bunker, where we could hear the sounds of combat. The Skull was fighting someone. Before we could find out who, an explosion, undoubtedly caused by an Allied bomber, laid waste to the bunker, trapping us under tons of rubble.”
“And the gas,” Captain Wonder adds, “Just before we lost consciousness, I could smell a gas of some sort filling the bunker.”
“That’s right,” Fiery Mask replies. “There was a slight odor of gas. I was getting ready to free us all from the rubble, but then I started to feel dizzy, and lost consciousness myself. It had to be the gas.”
“I know this sounds fantastic,” Challenger continues, “but that is the last thing we remember. We awoke buried under the streets of Berlin, and freed ourselves from the rubble, making it here.”
“Not so fantastic as you might imagine,” the Torch replies. “Captain America once told me of his final battle with the Skull, and it was just as you described it...although he didn’t tell me that you were there.”
“I guess he didn’t know,” Tim chimes in. “We didn’t see him either.”
“The Skull and Cap were fighting in that bunker, which explains the sounds of battle you heard,” Human Torch explains. “Their battle was ended by a bomb that separated them, and buried the Red Skull beneath the bunker—and apparently, you along with him.”*
[*As readers of Tales of Suspense #79 (July, 1966) already know.]
“But where was the Skull?” Fiery Mask asks. “What you’re saying makes sense, and it explains a lot of what we didn’t know, but when we got ourselves out of there, there was no sign of the Skull—or Captain America.”
“Cap didn’t get buried himself,” the Torch explains. “But the Skull did. He was later revived by AIM scientists.** It’s ironic, because they pulled up the Skull, never realizing that there were more people trapped in that bunker—namely, you.”
[**Also
in the aforementioned Tales of Suspense #79.]
“What about the gas?” Captain Wonder asks. “It has to be what put us into suspended animation. Did Cap explain about the gas?”
“Not in any great detail,” the Torch responds. “I don’t suppose there were any traces of it still there when you got out?”
“There had to be,” Challenger replies. “But, at the time, we didn’t realize that we had just awoken from suspended animation. When we made it to the streets of Berlin, we were quite surprised by the sight that greeted us.”
“I imagine,” Toro says, leaning against the wall. “That had to be a culture shock.”
“I would like to go back to Berlin and determine the components of that gas,” Challenger muses out loud.
“There will be time for that,” Fiery Mask says. “I just feel like I got finished putting together a 1000-piece puzzle. But, there are still missing pieces.”
‘What do you mean?” Silver Scorpion asks. “At lest we know now what happened to us...and the Skull too, I suppose. Somehow, I’m not surprised that he’s still around. He ‘died’ more than once during the war. I always figured that the devil wouldn’t keep him.”
“Who’s still around today, and what are they doing?” Fiery Mask explains. “That kind of thing. Those questions are things it will take some time to answer.”
“We can tap into the Avengers database for some of those answers,” the Torch replies.
“The Avengers,” Challenger muses. “You’ve mentioned them a few times now. This group has been around since 1958?”
Toro lets out a light laugh, then shakes his head. “No,” he explains. “Those are two different groups. The Torch has never met the 50’s incarnation, and I’ve never worked with the modern one.”
“I think I need a scorecard to keep up with all of these people!” Ann says. “It’s a good think you haven’t been active all this time, Thomas. I’d have to take notes to keep up with who’s who. I don’t know how you do it.”
“What I’d like to know, Thomas,” the Torch says, smiling at calling Toro by his given name because he knows it must annoy him, “is where is this family of yours. You said your wife was shopping with your daughter. How many kids do you have?”
“Yeah,” Tim adds. “I saw a picture with a younger girl, and an older one.
“Oh, that was Frankie Raye,” Toro replies. “She’s made a name for herself in outer space. She calls herself Nova now.”* Toro can feel Ann’s stare as he talks about their daughter, who they haven’t seen in some time.
[*That’s
right, Frankie Raye, alias Nova, is the daughter of Toro.]
“That’s funny,” Torch says, shaking his head. “I heard that there was a rumor out for a while that Professor Horton was her father. I thought that was really something, since he was an older man when he created me in the late 30’s.”
“Hmm,” Toro comments, rubbing his chin. “I never heard that one. Oh well, there are a lot of strange rumors running around, I guess.”
‘Hey, mom!” a young female’s voice echoes down the hallway. Soon, a young brunnette who looks to be in her late teens, comes into the room, wearing a new dress. “This doesn’t quite...” As she enters the room, though, she notices that Ann and her father are talking to a group of heroes. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know we had guests.”
“Well, hi,” Tim offers, stepping forward, and holding her hand gently. “My name’s Tim, and yours?”
Toro looks on with the eyes of a very protective father. “First, Frankie gets involved with Johnny Storm, and now this!” he thinks to himself, shaking his head. “That’s my daughter, Varina.” Toro says with a cold tone to his voice.
“A pleasure,” Tim replies, keeping his eyes on the lovely young brunette. “I’m starting to like this time better all the time.” With that, Varina lets out a light laugh, although it’s obvious that she’s overwhelmed with the prospect of having several costumed super-heroes in her den.
“Do you have anyone to carry on your legacy?” Captain Wonder asks.
“Well, Frankie was with the Fantastic Four for a while,” Toro replies. Seeing the quizical look in Captain Wonder’s eyes, Toro realizes again that probably none of them—with the exception of Human Torch—have any idea who the FF are. “They were the first group to form after a long period without any costumed heroes around,” he explains. “Anyway, now she’s literally flying around in outer space.”*
[*See
the Silver Surfer series for the exciting details!]
“Space?” Tim asks, tearing his attention away from Verina for a moment. “As in outer space?”
“Don’t be surprised,” Human Torch replies. “I made a few trips into outer space in the old days. It’s not like she’s the first one to do that.”
“I guess,” Tim responds, shrugging. “I wouldn’t mind it if someone let me know ahead of time and offered to take me along, though. I’ve always wondered what it was like.”
“Quite a bit different from those Flash Gordon comics you used to read, I’m sure,” Fiery Mask adds, smiling.
“Maybe we can get you on the next moon launch,” Ann says, deciding that she might as well join in the fun.
“The moon?” Tim says, unable to control his enthusiasm, as his face lights up with the wonder of youth. “Wow!”
FLAMING
FIREBALLS
After a bit of a dry spell, we have a letter to print—and
Russ wanted to make up for lost time by giving us a real doozy, taking it upon
himself to review the whole series to date. With that, take it away, Russ...
Human Torch #1-9
By Barry Reese and Jeff Melton
The summary: The original Human Torch, troubled by his status as a
mercenary with the Heroes for Hire, decides to set out on his own. The
first step in this is getting his flame powers back, which he does with the
help of Hank Pym. He relocates to Denver to be with Ann Raymond, widowed
wife of his dead sidekick Toro, and in the meantime, battles such diverse villains
as a new Killers, Inc., Immortus, Dr. Faustus, and a mysteriously resurrected
Toro. Meanwhile, a bunch of Golden Age heroes, waking from 50 years of
suspended animation, seek the Torch out as a familiar face in an unfamiliar
world.
The Hack speaks:
1) The Torch has long needed a personality shoehorned into him - Golden Age
books weren't the best for distinctive characterization, and the most we got
from his modern appearances - that I've seen anyway - was his "Flaming
Fireballs" exclamation and obvious pontificating on how the world has
changed while he was 'dead'. I'm happy to say that Barry and Jeff are
actually giving this father of superhero comics a personality, and not
necessarily a flat, squeaky-clean one, either.
2) I like the interaction between Torch and Namor in the first issue.
They're not the closest of friends (evidenced by Namor's calling him 'Hammond'
and being so quick to grow irritated with the man), but they have a lot of
mutual respect for each other. Barry got this across well.
3) I appreciate all the nods to the Golden Age that both writers
(especially Jeff) throw in here, particularly since I've never read any of
those Golden Age stories. I never even read an issue of Invaders, but I
still find myself intrigued by the GA remnants that keep popping up in this
book.
4) The dialogue in Jeff Melton's first couple of issues was very stiff and
overly formal. I'm happy to say that he's starting to give each character
his own voice and attitude now (though I still have trouble telling Captain
Wonder and the Challenger apart... can't even remember which one of them is
romantically linked to the Silver Scorpion).
5) In his first 2 issues, Jeff used bold fonts to highlight stressed words
in the dialogue. He got some complaints about this, and seemed to drop
the technique. But I liked the visual effect, breaking up the monotony of
the words marching across the page. I've seen this done elsewhere at MV1
recently (tho I can't remember where) but I think Jeff puts the technique to much
more effective use.
6) I'm not sure where the story with the "fake" Ann Raymond is
going, but I'm frankly a little disappointed with it. It feels too easy,
like Jeff didn't want to deal with the inevitable love triangle between Toro,
Jim, and Ann. This is probably my only major disappointment with Jeff's
run.
7) The 1950's Captain America needs a new name. Calling him
"Cap" (with the quotation marks) gets a little old.
8) An interesting comic history tidbit that Jeff brought up was that Marvel
originally wanted to make Toro the father of Frankie Raye. John Byrne
apparently decided it should be Phineas Horton instead, but I like the idea of
Nova II being the daughter of the original Human Torch's sidekick. Hey,
Jeff, you want to "fix" this, just say the word. I'm writing
Silver Surfer, and it's cool with me.
The verdict: This one's a classic superhero book, taking a fresh solo look
at a character that - as one of the fathers of the superhero Golden Age -
deserves better treatment than he's gotten. It has a lot of cool twists
involving old, nearly forgotten characters. I'm especially looking
forward to how Jeff intends to deal with the Golden Age heroes (none of which
I've heard of before) who've awakened from suspended animation. If you're
interested in the Golden Age, but still like stories set in modern times, this
book is definitely worth a look.
Russ Anderson
Thanks for the detailed
review, Russ. I thought Barry
did a fine job of getting this series off and running, and it’s been an honor
to follow in his footsteps and write this classic character—as well as a few
others who have gotten the shaft over the years, IMO.
The Torch is generally a pretty good guy, and he has a
very human personality. That does entail anger and some more negative
characteristics as well, but they are true to his character. After all, in Marvel continuity (which I’m
using), Human Torch incincerated Hitler. I think that was a special
circumstance, though, and I don’t see him being that ruthless frequently, by
any means.
I’m glad you’re liking the characters more as the
writing progresses. As for the Golden Age characters, this issue gives a much
more natural focus on them, and we learn a lot more about them in this issue.
Hopefully, some of the readers were able to pick up on how they went into
suspended animation, and how this ties into Marvel continuity. I thought giving
them a history that paralleled that of the Red Skull made things more
interesting. I’m glad you liked the bold fonts, but most of the readers didn’t,
so I toned it down.
As for the “Ann Raymond” thing, it had to be corrected
because it didn’t fit the charcters involved, and it went against what we knew
about the characters from continuity. Roy Thomas threw them together the way he
did to further cement his story that killed Toro, but it made no sense. We know
that Toro had a family, and what happened to them? I thought adding a new
element to this woman claiming to be Toro’s wife added a new dimension. Sorry
it didn’t work for you. At any rate, Toro does have a family, as you saw in
this issue.
I’m not finished with 50’s Cap yet, and I do have some
things in store for him, including a more workable name. Stay tuned for that.
As for Frankie Raye and Toro, I like using the original Marvel plan better
myself. After all, Prof. Horton was a pretty old man in 1939. I think this is a
good way to tie the Golden Age in with the Silver Age, and I thought this was
another of Byrne’s screw-ups. In fact, I thought some of the things he did with
Frankie Raye were just plain weird, but that’s another story. Of course, I
decided to go with the original intentions for the character of Frankie Raye,
and I’m glad I have your support on that. I’m also glad that you plan to use
the character.
I’m glad you’re enjoying this title so far, and I hope
you stick around for future issues. I plan to have some fun with these
characters, and I hope you will too.
Incidentally, I’m not adverse to delving more deeply
into these Golden Age characters in future issues—or perhaps a mini-series. Let
me know what you think about that.
Russ Anderson, in case you didn’t know, currently
writes Silver Surfer for the Epic branch, and is doing a good job with the
character. If you’re a Surfer fan, you might want to check it out.
Jeff Melton