MARVEL COMICS
With this one folks you can't miss! In the course of this one issue emerge some of the most iconic characters ever to grace the pages of the realm of comics. The Human Torch, Namor, Ka-Zar and The Angel. All the greats of the Golden Age of Comics and I love them to death this has to be one of my favorite books from the golden age just barely besting Detective Comics #27 for the top spot mainly due to the length of the stories and how each one held my interest with nail biting suspense....guess it should have been called Tales of Suspense instead but hey they get to that later on in the silver age giving us Iron Man in the process.
Now Marvel Comics #1 all begins with the 1st story of the Original Human Torch and for those of you who are unfamiliar with golden age characters I'm not talking about the douche from the Fantastic Four Johnny Storm. I'm talking about Jim Hammond the guy who could kick his ass ten times over sure he's an android but it doesn't make him any less awesome. Well back to the story the Human torch is created by professor Horton as the 1st synthetic human only problem is that when ever he's exposed to the air he bursts into flames burning everything around him so they bury him in cement until a cure is found but unfortunately he's able to escape. He unintentionally harms dozens of people as he flees. Later he is taken advantage off by a mob boss whom he later kills cause he realizes that what he is doing is wrong and is cured of bursting into flames by liquid nitrogen in the ensuing fight. That's the 1st marvel story ever and how was it? I can safely say it was pretty great considering the time the only problem I have to say was some of the artwork inconsistency in the comic mostly things like hair color and what have you the other thing that annoyed me and this is more of a pet peeve than anything else is the 12 plus panels per page with artwork that small I find it makes the artist get sloppy and it becomes evident in this story.
Next up the Angel and again to those unfamiliar with golden age characters I'm not talking about the guy from the X-men this Angel was very similar to DC comics Batman save for the costume which was similar to Superman's in a lot of ways. Now in his comic debut he is systematically hunting down and killing mob bosses not arresting killing. What can I say he knows how to get the job done. Now this was probably my favorite story in the comic the artwork was good the story was every bit as intriguing as a Batman story and the character was just awesome proving once again you don't need powers if you can kick ass.
Namor or as I like to call him Aquaman if he was cool is next on the list. In his debut Namor is shown as a villain killing people without care and is every bit as smug as he is today his story is a short one but still a fun read. I have say Marvel had a far better writing staff during the golden age than DC they just kept turning out great stories sure it had a few misses but they can't all be bulls eyes can they? Now this is the 1st comic in my reviews to get the top hit for being all around good. I'm the Angry Comic Book Critic saying until next time (insert name and maniacal laugh)
Marvel Comics #1
CERTIFIED AWESOME!!!!
