STRANGE TALES 123 (1964)
by Stan Lee & Carl Burgos
cover by Jack Kirby
Spider-Man fans might be interested in this one for the first appearance of the Beetle, but for comic book historians this is an incredibly rare opportunity to see Johnny Storm penciled by Carl Burgos, the creator of the Golden Age Human Torch.
The original Human Torch won’t be acknowledged on the pages of Fantastic Four until 1966, but it’s notable enough to be pointed out in the credits.
Which actually refer to the Golden Age Of Comics by that name, so now I wonder when the term was first used.
We begin with the Human Torch and the Thing going on a double date with Doris and Alicia (with the Torch making a rather funny remark about the Thing’s ridiculous disguise), and they happen to walk right past the base of a soon-to-be supervillain.
The Beetle will have a rather unusual career. He’ll be a Torch villain for a while, then settle as a Spider-Man villain for about thirty years, only to then join the Thunderbolts as MACH-1 to become an anti-hero first and a honest superhero later.
Not that you could really tell from this story, where he’s quite generic.
Though I have to admit that showing a little montage with the villain building his power armor is pretty entertaining.
The Beetle is spotted IMMEDIATELY (then again 1964 New York didn’t have all that many flying people) and runs into half of the Fantastic Four pretty much by accident.
The Beetle has always had a “working class supervillain” vibe, and it’s there from the start considering he has rather low targets.
One of his other characteristics (at least before his anti-hero phase) is the Beetle having the worst luck in the world and being considered a joke by the heroes… the Thing is more worried about his hamburgers than about the supervillain.
Also note Burgos is drawing the Silver Age Human Torch with his trademark Golden Age style: his face is completely covered by the flames.
It’s quite rare for Johnny to be drawn that way: typically you can distinguish between the two Torches depending on whether you can see the face or not.
It’s no surprise that Burgos is very good at drawing the Torch, but his Thing could use some work.
I always like it when the writers remember that the Torch can absorb heat just as well as he can create it. Although I have my doubts this was really necessary… would the Thing really be hurt by boiling soup?
You might think things aren’t going so well for the Beetle, but nope! Apparently this is all according to his master plan!
He’s also giving us a new entry for the Cancer Count: asbestos coated steel wings. Getting reeeally specific with that list.
Another advantage of having Burgos around: he gets creative with the Torch’s powers without going into the sheer absurdity of earlier issues.
Once the Thing catches up with the Torch, the Beetle has to resort to his trump card… hiding in the bushes.
Okay it’s actually pretty awesome that he can burrow underground with that speed, but that doesn’t make his exit strategy any less ridiculous.
That would ALMOST constitute a victory for him, but he has to do a new crime in front of a crowd the next day.
Ah yes, fire’s ultimate weakness: money! (WTF!?)
The Beetle’s armor is quite impressive, but it’s not particularly fast. So he has to come up with a distraction.
That was clever, although if you have to throw away the loot you kind of missed the point of stealing, Beetle.
He’s also forgotten one of the key lessons in supervillainy: don’t recycle your plans too quickly or the hero will catch up before the story ends.
Case in point:
And that’s how the Beetle gets captured! I kind of feel the Thing’s complain… he was rather useless in this story.
And so we end with a cameo from Stan Lee and Carl Burgos themselves!
Wait, what!?
Despite the upbeat ending, Burgos never got along with Stan. Probably something to do with Burgos filing a lawsuit for the ownership of the Human Torch.
This is the last time Burgos will draw the Human Torch; he only drew another 3 stories for Marvel (all starring Giant-Man) before leaving Marvel entirely.
Historical significance: 6/10
The Beetle isn’t exactly a household name, but he was a decent Spider-Man villain and received a bit of a popularity boost thanks to the Thunderbolts.
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
All things considered, the use of the Human Torch’s powers is very restrained considering the rest of this series.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
A pretty serviceable harmless little story. The Beetle fits perfectly in the “adorable loser” category: he keeps boasting about everything going according to plan despite the fact that every single time he BARELY avoids capture. It helps that he has a very distinctive design.
It goes without saying that Burgos really, REALLY knows how to draw the Human Torch. Too bad that his Thing is just awful (in his defense, the Thing is notoriously hard to draw).
I’m not sure Burgos had it in him to draw a regular series at this point, but I wouldn’t have minded seeing him a little more.
Cancer count: 21
Asbestos coated steel wings