"Flame On!" Johnny Storm the Human Torch Appreciation

[Digifiend]

That issue was part of issue 8 of the American edition, with other stories as backups (the UK title was weekly).

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Strange Tales #105 Feb 1963
"The Return of the Wizard!"
In prison, the Wizard is allowed to work in the prison hospital due to his good behavior.
However this plays into the Wizard's plan as he collects a series of chemicals that allow him to melt a hole in his jail cell and escape from prison.

When he hears news of the Wizard's escape, Johnny wants to go after him but his sister Sue won't let him.
Johnny creates a duplicate Torch out of flame to trick his sister while he goes after his old foe.
Johnny is able to easily fight off the Wizard's weapons.
Realizing what Johnny has done, Sue goes after him and ends up getting captured by the Wizard, and Johnny is also captured shortly after.

The two work together and free themselves from the Wizard's trap and capture him, and take him back into custody.
Later Sue scolds Johnny for going off on his own.

Plot by Stan Lee, script by Larry Lieber, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Strange Tales #106 Mar 1963
"The Threat of the Torrid Twosome!" Guest starring the Fantastic Four.
After a training session, Johnny is visited by Carl Zante, the "world's greatest acrobat" to convince the Torch to join him.
Convincing him that he is the most valuable member of the Fantastic Four and that he could make a living working with the Acrobat, the two form a partnership as the Torrid Twosome.

Zante tricks the Torch into breaking into a bank vault telling him that somebody was trapped inside.
However, the Torch realizes the truth and when he doesn't want to go along with Zante to rob the bank, the Acrobat uses a hose to douse the Torch's flame.
However, as the Acrobat is escaping the bank he is confronted by the other members of the Fantastic Four.

The Torch recovers his flame powers and helps his fellow Fantastic Four members in capturing Zante and turning him over to the police.

Plot by Stan Lee, script by Larry Lieber, art by Dick Ayers.

[Hypestyle]

say-- why hasn't Hydro Man ever been set up as an arch-foe for Johnny?

[Digifiend]

Probably because Johnny's not had many solo stories since Hydro-Man's introduction. They were mostly in the silver age, Hydro-Man debuted in a 1981 issue of ASM.

[Dermie]

But pairing him off against Johnny IS the reason that Hydra-Man was originally recruited into the Frightful Four...and why he has been something of a mainstay on many rosters of the team since.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Strange Tales #107 Apr 1963
"The Master of Flame vs. the Monarch of the Sea!"
In this issue, the epic battle long demanded by comic fans!

The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner square off!


Plot by Stan Lee, script by Larry Lieber, art by Dick Ayers.

[PaxHouse]

You readers who been following AVENGERS: NO SURRENDER #369 should enjoy this Issue especially since the Debut of the MARVEL-2-IN-ONE Series; a certain question finally gets answered....!!

[Crimz]

Should Johnny's powers grow to the level of when he had the cosmic control rod?



I think it should and I hope Slott upgrades the team's powers. His Nova flame has been used so often that it's not very special anymore and doesn't stop the villains a lot of the time, so there needs to be some new things he can do with the power up. It would be really cool seeing Johnny doing some crazy stuff with his powers. Like his flames being different colours depending on the intensity of the heat which would be a nice visual representation.

Blue flames - These would be a stronger version of his flames and boost his powers in general, but especially his flight speed. The downside would be that it's hard to control so he only uses it in short bursts.

White flames/plasma - The strongest flames he can muster, it would be like him being covered in Nova level flames. Every aspect of his abilities on the level of when he had the cosmic control rod and he is immune to physical damage, but they come with immense downsides. He can't use it near of other people otherwise they will suffer severe burns and he can't maintain it for very long as it depletes his energy to dangerously low levels. After using it he can't flame on for a while so it's something to use only under the most dire of consequences.

I think these two flames would be cool to look at and the downsides means that he won't use them too often so that they won't replace his classic orange flames.

Visually when coated in blue flames they should look less 'wild' than his orange ones, like the flames on a Bunsen burner or stove.

(Here is the best visual representation I could find)



Notice that the orange flames are more erratic like when he is normally flamed on, while the blue are more focused. That's how they should look while he's coated blue flames, focused and calm.

His white flames/plasma form should be blindingly white with very few white flames coming off him as he is pure plasma.

TDLR: Johnny should get a boost in power to the level of when he had the cosmic control rod and it should be represented by two different flame "forms", blue and white.

[Ravin' Ray]

Blue flames - These would be a stronger version of his flames and boost his powers in general, but especially his flight speed. The downside would be that it's hard to control so he only uses it in short bursts.

That story where the FF briefly battled their alt future selves, future Johnny burned hotter with blue-white flames.

[Crimz]

That story where the FF briefly battled their alt future selves, future Johnny burned hotter with blue-white flames.

Cool, what run was that in? It would be cool for him to finally start getting that kind of power.

[Ravin' Ray]

Fantastic Four (1998-2012) #553
https://www.comixology.com/Fantastic...tal-comic/3232

[Crimz]

Thanks, McDuffie's run is on my list to read before the team comes back in August.

[Marvel Forever]

Strange Tales #105 is my favorite Strange Tales issue by far, but you left out my favorite page from that issue in your above postings, probably because only Sue was involved therein and not Johnny.

As to Marvel's treatment of Johnny Storm, he has been treated almost as badly as Ben Grimm. Our beloved Stan Lee never should have split up Johnny and Crystal. They belong together today as much as they did back in the 1960's and we can only hope that they yet get together and marry.

[Crimz]

Random Question: Is Johnny immune to all viruses and contagious things? Seeing as his temperature is higher than a normal person and he flames on, can he never get sick?

This is coming from 2-in-One where he says he doesn't have to bathe or brush his teeth as he just burns the bacteria away.