STRANGE TALES 113 (1963)
written by Stan Lee & Jerry Siegel
pencils by Dick Ayers
cover by Jack Kirby
Ah yes, fire’s greatest weakness: plants.
We’ll get to Plantman soon enough, but this is also the debut of Johnny’s girlfriend, Dorrie Evans.
Who is INSUFFERABLE, constantly complaining about the Torch’s powers.
She is SO insistent, in fact, that I often wonder what on Earth he saw in her.
This comic actually DOES give us an explanation, and it’s a fascinating one.
There’s a lot to unpack here. Does Johnny secretly fear that he’s not really worthy of his powers and his fame? Is his bravado actually a mask for his insecurities?
Well this is a comic where her father’s gardener gets superpowers for his high-tech scissors thanks to a lightning bolt, so maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Yep. That is the secret origin of Plantman.
And yes, his power is to control plants by giving them orders.
The Torch IMMEDIATALY finds him, but don’t worry: he can order the plants to rain their dew. (WTF!?)
“Plants! My only weakness!”
Yeah okay Plantman is incredibly ridiculous, but I have to give him SOME credit: his costume could be a lot worse. He looks genuinely creepy!
Although… “most awesome thing I’ve ever seen”? In the Marvel Universe? REALLY!?
Okay, now it’s round two! Plantman has the advantage: he’s apparently immune to terrible puns.
And he can ORDER TREES TO JUMP.
SOMEHOW.
Just wait until Spider-Man hears about this. Not the Human Torch’s proudest moment.
Then finally at PAGE THIRTEEN the Torch realizes that HE CAN SHOOT FIRE!!!
You might expect THAT to be the way Plantman is defeated, but nope! He’s technically defeated BY HIS OWN PLANTS.
Just a reminder that the Human Torch is not one of the brightest superheroes around.
Historical significance: 7/10
Plantman does have several appearances, sometimes as a clumsy loser and less often as a legitimate threat. But the first appearance of Dorrie Evans is actually the most significant part: she’ll be Johnny’s girlfriend for almost the entire serial. Funnily enough, she NEVER appears on Fantastic Four in this period! She only has a cameo over ten years after she leaves Johnny.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Come on. You know why.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
Plantman is so ridiculous that he does have a bit of charm, so you can adapt parts of this in a light-hearted story. But most of it is just way too dumb to work.