| Issue | #4 (3) |
| Published | Spring 1941 |
| Frequency | quarterly |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 68 |
| Editing | Joe Simon |
| Notes | HUMAN TORCH published quarterly by Timely Comics, Inc. at Meriden, Conn. Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at Meriden, Conn. under the Act of March 3, 1897. Copyright 1941 by Timely Comics, Inc. 330 W. 42nd St. N. Y., N. Y. Volume 1, No. 4. Spring issue. Printed in U.S.A. Single copies 10c; Yearly subscription 40c The statement of ownership lists Martin Goodman as Editor. It is believed that during this period (from Red Raven #1 until the successful debut of Captain America Comics) that Joe Simon was working as an editor on a freelance basis. Therefore he would not have held the official title. This is consistent with Simon's known work editing/packaging Red Raven #1, Daring Mystery #6 and other issues but also stating that he was not made the editor of the entire Timely line of comics until after Captain America proved successful (as stated in his book The Comic Book Makers). |
| Characters | Human Torch; Toro; Sub-Mariner |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Alex Schomburg |
| Inks | Alex Schomburg |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Characters | Captain America; Bucky; Red Skull (villain) |
| Synopsis | Ad for Captain America Comics #3, showing first few pages the the first story, "The Return of the Red Skull." |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Joe Simon; Jack Kirby |
| Pencils | Joe Simon; Jack Kirby |
| Inks | Joe Simon; Jack Kirby; Al Gabriel |
| Notes | Found on the inside front cover. Sequence and credits added by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Characters | Human Torch; Toro; Blackjack (villain) |
| Synopsis | Torch drops in to see the Police Commissioner, at his request, to solve the case of noted criminals who disappear from their usual haunts and cannot be found again. Suddenly, Toro bursts in and informs them that the father of his friend, Jimmy Wilson, recently paroled from prison, has disappeared without a trace after going to New York to see about a job. They fly to Jimmy's home, where suddenly a Policeman arrives and tells the family that the father is dead. Torch & Toro go over to the morgue and check out the body....and Torch discovers the man has been murdered. So Torch decides to use Toro as bait to ferret out the true villains involved. Toro will start committing illegal acts while the Torch just ignores the situation. It gets so bad that the Police Commissioner demands the Torch to resign from the department. But the bait has worked as Toro is visited in his waterfront dive by one of the criminals involved, who wants Toro to join his club of crooks, who steal valuable items, but can't be arrested for what they do. Toro goes with the thug and Torch follows from high overhead to a creepy old house, which Torch burns into, but finds no one. Suddenly he is attacked by another gangster, who is quickly captured, but who suddenly drops dead! Torch searchess the house and finds a compact radio sending set, which blows up in his face, and the house along with it. Meanwhile, Toro has been captured and is being flown overseas, and he is to be used to blackmail the Torch into inaction. Torch, knowing this, re-searches the remains of the house and discovers a clue, and then uses a radio transmitter into fooling the thugs to reveal their true location. Torch finds the ship and attacks it.....however, he is captured and held hostage himself until Toro finds a way to free him. Torch quickly captures the crew of the ship Toro is on and then seeks out the boss, a man named Blackjack. Blackjack hurls a vial of nitrogen at the Master of Flame, extinguishing his flame and blinding him. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Carl Burgos (signed) |
| Pencils | Carl Burgos (layouts) (signed) |
| Inks | Harry Sahle (finishes) |
| Notes | Revised artistic credits by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). Inker credit formerly given as Carl Burgos. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Characters | Captain America; The Angel; Sub-Mariner; Human Torch & Toro; Hurricane |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | various |
| Inks | various |
| Notes | Sequence added by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). Perhaps it's common knowledge, but it might help someone (as it did me when I went looking for All-Aces Comics #1) to note this comic doesn't exist: The summer of 1941 was busy for the Timely staff. Goodman's books were turning a profit, and he told Joe Simon to come up with another book. It was originally going to be called All-Aces Comics, and would include characters who were proven winners for Timely - Captain America, the Sub-Mariner, the Torch, and so on; Goodman most likely was inspired by the sales figures of All-Star Comics from All-American, which featured Hawkman, the Flash, the Spectre, and other stars of the National line (Goodman was not to be inspired by the idea of All-Star Comics centerpiece, the Justice Society of America, for some years). from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7160/Timely4.htm by Jess Nevins |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Characters | Human Torch; Toro; Blackjack (villain) |
| Synopsis | With Blackjack having escaped, Torch corrals the crew and heads back to the United States. Toro questions Torch about how he know Jimmy's father had been murdered, and he explains that there was a small, red hypodermic needle mark between his fingers. Meanwhile, from a hidden room aboard ship, Blackjack radios some friends to launch a bombing attack on the ship itself to destroy the Torch. Torch flies to defend himself and the ship and destroys the planes....but during the fight, Toro, unable to flame on, is wounded, and Torch successfully cauterizes his wounds. He then warns the crew to sail on and remember what happened to the planes if they don't want the same thing to happen to them! Suddenly, the crew spots several battleships approaching, but fortunately they belong to the U.S. and are merely there to escort the ship in. Blackjack jumps overboards and escapes, but that is the least of Torch's worries. Toro has gone raving mad, so he taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital for treatment. With Toro now in good hands, the Torch feels he can leave to track down the rats responsible for the crisis, and succeeds in getting all but two of them. Torch returns to the hospital and finds out that Toro is doing well, but is still very weak. He makes the mistake of blurting out that two criminals remain at large, for when Torch leaves, Toro follows. However, Toro stops at Jimmy's house and enlists his aid tracking down Blackjack and his henchman, Davis, then returns to the hospital. Torch drops in the next day to visit Toro and brings Jimmy and other friends with him. Privately, Jimmy tells Toro that Davis will be at a ballgame he's playing in the next day, and Toro agrees to play on the team in order to capture Davis. Toro is pitching---literally fire balls at the batters, and notes Davis in the stands....and he throws one at him as well. Torch arrives and makes Davis talk and tell that Blackjack can be found at 15 South Bay Street. Toro is put back in the hospital to rest while the Torch goes after Blackjack. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Carl Burgos (signed) |
| Pencils | Carl Burgos [layouts] (signed) |
| Inks | Harry Sahle (finishes) |
| Notes | Revised inker credit by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). Credit formerly given to Carl Burgos. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Characters | I & O: The Patriot (Jeff Mace) |
| Synopsis | As a ghost writer for a big newspaper syndicate in Washington D.C., Jeff Mace had been assigned a year earlier to cover a strike at a munitions plant in Virginia. Many high ranking officials were also on their way to that plant as well to prevent a riot from occuring. It seems a Fifth Column group was responsible for the strike and they had two men posing as pilots of the airplane bringing Mace and the officials to Virginia. Mace noted that the two pilots had suddenly parachuted out of the plane and everyone scrambled for the controls. Mace switched to the Patriot and pulled the plane out of its death dive, discovering in the cockpit documents incriminating the two pilots in the Fifth Column plot. He lands the plane safely and fades away in the background once more as Jeff Mace, who then writes a story on the settlement of the strike. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Ray Gill (signed) |
| Pencils | Bill Everett (signed) |
| Inks | Bill Everett (signed) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Illustration credits added by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). The last third of page two is the statement of ownership. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Synopsis | Statement for "HUMAN TORCH COMICS, published quarterly at Meriden, Connecticut, for October 1st, 1940." |
| Script | Abraham Goodman; Maurice Coyne (notary) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Editing | Timely Publications (owner); Abraham Goodman (owner, publisher); Martin Goodman (editor, managing editor, business manager) |
| Notes | All addresses for Timely Publications and Martin and Abraham Goodman are given as 330 W. 42nd St., New York, N. Y. Note that by the time of this issue's printing, Timely Comics, Inc. had replaced Timely Publications in the indicia. |
| Characters | Sub-Mariner |
| Synopsis | In the cold arctic wastes of Alaska, a medium-sized town is being ravaged by an influenza outbreak. Doctors are frantic for a new serum that can battle the disease and wire Washington for a supply, which is soon being flown to the area. A storm threatens to turn the ship back and Sub-Mariner is asked to get the serum through by swimming an initial supply through. But the ice bests Prince Namor, who falls unconscious amid the great chunks of ice. Up above, planes searching for Namor encounter the storm and one crashes near Prince Namor, rousing him and allowing him to save the pilot from sure death. Other planes land and rescue them. Meanwhile, the small town is now being menaced by huge icebergs and Namor orders the planes to the town as quickly as possible to evacuate all residents. As Sub-Mariner nears the town, he sees a giant iceberg and blasts it to smithereens with a few bombs. This causes a fire and Namor takes care of that problem only to see the town now menaced by flood waters and freezing cold temperatures. He breaks through the ice to note that he is standing over the city's gasoline supply, which he ignites thereby warming up the town, melting the ice and allowing him to deliver the serum to the hospital. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Bill Everett (signed) |
| Pencils | Bill Everett (signed) |
| Inks | Bill Everett (signed) |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Characters | Sub-Mariner; Human Torch; Toro |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Alex Schomburg |
| Inks | Alex Schomburg |
| Notes | Ad for Marvel Mystery Comics #20. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |
| Characters | Patriot; Yellowshirts (Fifth Column group) |
| Synopsis | The chief of a subversive group, called the Yellowshirts, announces that the group is now powerful enough to take on the U.S. government and destroy it, and the order goes out to do just that. As Jeff Mace walks along the streets with his girl, a building suddenly blows up and crumbles into dust before their eyes. Uniformed members of the Yellowshirts take to the streets, shooting Police and announcing their take-over. Mace changes to the Patriot and wades into them, crushes them and heads back to his newspaper office, which is now controlled by the subversive group. Patriot and the other news personnel make short work out of these Yellowshirts, then the Patriot heads uptown to take on the rest of the organization....head to head and defeats them. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Ray Gill |
| Pencils | George Mandel |
| Inks | George Mandel |
| Notes | Revised art credits by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). Pencil credit formerly given as Sid Greene and inker credit formerly given as Paul Reinman. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch (Marvel, 2005 series) #1 (2005) |