STRANGE TALES 105 (1963)
by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby
The return of the Wizard after his somewhat disappointing debut.
The Wizard is allowed to work in the prison’s hospital thanks to his good behavior, but that’s all he needs to come up with a super-acid that eats through the wall in seconds!
Luckily he’s smart enough to make an acid that doesn’t dissolve the bottle.
Hilariously, the guards notice the hole but not that the Wizard is standing right next to the door of his cell (WTF!?), so he can calmly leave the prison!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we just found the dumbest prison guards of any fictional universe.
The Wizard goes back to his high-tech house, where he barricades himself behind a force field that looks like plastic wrap.
The Wizard issues a challenge to the Human Torch, but his sister warns him that he shouldn’t simply chase the Wizard to satisfy his pride.
I was expecting Susan’s point to be “go after him because it’s the right thing to do, not because of your ego”. But no, her point is that superheroes shouldn’t do anything!
Johnny’s idea to get out of this is to create a flame duplicate to make her think he’s still home.
AND IT WORKS.
1960s Reed Richards is typically pretty horrible towards Susan, but I really can’t criticize him here.
The Wizard lets the Torch get through his barrier. Johnny shows him that he has a barrier on his own when the Wizard shoots a missile at him. (!!!)
The Wizard has another trap: give the Torch cancer.
Unless he’s forgotten that he can fly, but come on, he can’t be THAT stupid right?
Surprise: he’s not! It was actually another trap.
Meanwhile the Invisible Girl infiltrates the house, immediately triggering an alarm.
Uhm… yeah. The Wizard has a spray that simply turns off her powers. How come he never uses this thing when he’s part of the Frightful Four!?
Using the Invisible Girl as bait, the Wizard tricks the Torch to flame off and traps both.
That’s a pretty clever trap!
The bell is too high for her to reach (she doesn’t have her force field in this period).
So how does the Human Torch solve the problem, if the bomb will go off once he uses his powers?
By using his powers anyway!
But that’s not enough: the bomb will still go off in a few seconds, so the Torch disposes of it by creating a catapult made of fire.
Wait, WHAT!?
What is he now, Green Lantern!?
The Wizard is arrested, and after being utterly useless throughout the entire story Susan still has the guts to complain.
Easily the worst Susan Storm depiction I’ve read so far.
Historical significance: 0/10
The Wizard was apparently popular enough to be brought back so soon, but this isn’t very representative of his future appearances.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
You had me at the fire catapult, but Susan’s depiction is peak Silver Age.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
I’ll give it points for creativity, especially for the nerve gas trap necessitating an earlier trap, plus the bomb linked to a fire sensor was clever. Unfortunately everyone is one-dimensional and Susan is just unbearable. You can recycle some traps, but little else.
Cancer count: 7
Adding the asbestos dungeon