So, when I bought the previous issue of INVADERS from my local 7-11, it must have been on sale for some time, because before you knew it, the next issue showed up, sooner than the next issue of FANTASTIC FOUR. And again I bought it, at that same 7-11. It was clearly going to have a focus on the Human Torch, which was really my initial point of interest in the series.
INVADERS was, in some ways, the culmination of writer/editor Roy Thomas’ career at Marvel. For these were the versions of the characters that he had grown up loving as a fan and reader, and who, among others, sparked his interest in becoming a comic book professional. Roy was also a primary architect of what we now think of as the Marvel Universe. While Stan Lee placed most of the characters in Manhattan and would have stories interact between titles, it was really Roy who first embraced the idea of a cohesive continuity for Marvel, and who used the connections between the stories of the past as a springboard for the stories of the present. INVADERS was his love letter to the comics of his youth.
This issue was a good example of the kind of continuity springboarding that Roy would do, as he takes the opportunity to pull elements from a number of different older stories to craft an origin for Toro, the Human Torch’s sidekick. In previous issues, Toro had been wounded and was near death. As the Invaders are picked up from the crashed bomber they had escaped Germany in by the British navy, the Human Torch takes the opportunity to fill Spitfire in a bit on his ward’s history. He begins by recounting Toro’s first appearance, wherein the boy was working as a carnival fire-eater who spontaneously burst into flames when the Human Torch passed nearby. That was about the extent of Toro’s origin in the Golden Age–but in 1977, a bit more was needed.
The Torch and Spitfire trade notes on what was then known about Toro–including how his parents had been killed in a railroad accident, in the aftermath of which Toro was found holding a red-hot piece of metal, completely unharmed. From there, the Torch reveals new details–about how on one day before the war, he returned to the laboratory of his creator, Professor Horton, because he was lonely for companionship, being a life form unique in the world. This put Professor Horton in the mind of an old friend of his, Fred Raymond. Fred was ill as a result of his experiments with asbestos, as was his wife Nora, who herself had experimented with Radium. But they had a child between them, that for some reason they named Toro.
Enter at this point the Asbestos Lady, a masked criminal from the actual Golden Age of Comics. While her first appearance took place in 1947, Roy decided to back-date her origin, and so she was on a crime spree in 1940. In order to improve her asbestos-based weapons, she sought out the assistance of Fred Raymond and threatened them to attempt to secure their cooperation. But the Torch was on the trail of the Asbestos Lady, and he interceded and drove her off.
In the aftermath of the attack, the Torch learned from Fred about his son Toro’s imperiousness to fire and promised to keep an eye on him. But the Torch didn’t know that the Raymonds were dying–or that the Asbestos Lady would cause the train accident which hastened their demise. But he did realize who Toro was when he heard radio reports of his circus exploits. Unfortunately, so did the Asbestos Lady, who considered her revenge against the family incomplete.
The Torch found the Asbestos Lady on the way to the circus, and wound up trapped in a tanker truck full of water. But by superheating the air trapped in the tanker truck, he caused it to explode, freeing himself. Leaving the Asbestos lady stuck to the tarmac, he proceeded to the circus–where his superheated body sparked Toro’s own latent flaming powers It’s not really much better an origin than what we got in the 1940s, but there you have it. And at the moment, it does nothing to help preserve Toro’s life, as the boy hangs by a thread from his earlier wounds. But that’s a matter for the next issue, because this is where things are To Be Continued!
On the letters page, longtime fan Dwight R. Decker critiques Roy’s faulty German in preceding issues, in literally the only letter printed on the truncated page, the rest of the space given over to an ad for MS MARVEL: and a somewhat-random illustration of Master Man and Warrior Woman (who presumably had been speaking that awful German.)
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
I just took a look at Asbestos Lady ( Victoria “Vicky” Murdock )’s first appearance [ Captain America Comics#63 ( July 1947 ) Human Torch story “The Threat of the Asbestos Lady!” — see her profile at marvunapp.com ] and her origin: Watching her twin brother “Killer” Murdock get hanged after the Human Torch and Toro caught him and swearing revenge against them. Contacting “Killer” Murdock’s Enforcers-like pals ( Jacques, Smiley & Lifter ) to help her in her quest for revenge and showing them her asbestos costume ( They made fun of by asking if she was going to a costume party ). Her twin brother “Killer” Murdock ( a racketeer ) served in the military cause he brought back a Disintegrator gun from occupied Europe ( Germany ). I was hoping Asbestos Lady was more like the Sub-Mariner’s foe Doctor D. D. Dill [ Sub-Mariner Comics#31 ( April 1949 ) Sub-Mariner 1st story “the Man Who Grew!” — created a GROWTH SERUM and gave it to NAMOR who grew into a giant ( see comics.org & I have this story on my USB ) ] who only had this appearance BUT WAS AN OLD FOE OF NAMOR, only to find out that Roy Thomas pulled a Reaper [ Captain America Comics#22 ( January 1943 ) Captain America 3rd story “The Reaper ( The Man the Law Couldn’t Touch)! ] and moved her first appearance and altered her origin too ( Roy should have had her get away like she did in CAC#63 and had her behind the scenes as a criminal mastermind or villain so that his story matches up with CAC#63 and her reveal to Jacques, Smiley & Lifter be the first time anyone saw her in thar costume ). Wish I kept track ( if there were any –especial Torch foes ) of other old foes of Timely Comics heroes who only had one comic book appearance — other than Mr. E’s old foe The Vampire [ Daring Mystery Comics#2 ( February 1940 ) Mr. E story ].
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TIMELY HUMAN TORCH VILLAINS that could have taken ASBESTOS LADY’s place in TORO’s origin: Dr. Manyac [ Marvel Mystery Comics#4 ( February 1940 ) Human Torch story — Inspector Reiss, Clancy ( a policeman ), Pete Johnson ( NYPD ) & Maizie ( NYPD undercover policewoman ) vs. The Green Flames ( 5 of them, 1 killed but only 3 showed up for final fight ) ] and maybe J.B. ( Jane Bradley ) [ Marvel Mystery Comics#12 ( October 1940 ) Human Torch story – unnamed police captain, Ryan ( policeman ) vs. Cinelli ( a lawyer ), Slim — spreading Black Plague in tenements ( J.B. was behind the scenes in issue 11 ) ] — but Dr. Manyac would have the same or similar motive that Roy Thomas gave Asbestos Lady for being apart of Toro’s origin ( Who is not a mutant anymore but had a recessive Inhuman gene ). Also maybe Dr. Manyac could have gone after Fred Raymond for Professor Albert Horton’s secrets like the Nazis went after Dr. Anderson & Private Biljo White for their Super-Soldier Serum secrets? Some MARVEL writers like RE-NAMING CHARACTERS REAL NAMES ( Mr. E, Magneto & Doc Samson for example ) so why not CHANGE TORO’S LAST NAME to del Toro so that this is the origin of his stage name.
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The Parrot [ Marvel Mystery Comics#24 ( October 1941 ) Human Torch story ] the first page says the Torch sent him to prison ( before his first comic book appearance, but were there early encounters before then? ) — the Parrot escapes from STATE PRISON ( First appearance? Same prison mentioned in the first appearance of the Puppet Master, Professor Mendel Stromm & Dr. Nitro [ USA Comics#16 ( July 1945 ) Whizzer story ] ) after Culflam ( a member of an ancient fire-cult in Tibet ) taught him the secrets of fire immunity ( So he would have the same motive to look up Fred Raymond as Asbestos Lady ). Parrot used Green Knuckles ( generated freezing cold –could Dr. Manyac have created them? )
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Toro & Spider-Man are the only Marvel heroes that I know of that had their parents impersonated: Spies Goldy ( page 4 panel 1 named ) & John ( she called him that on page 11 panel 5 while in character as Toro’s mom, so that might of been Toro’s father’s Timely Comics first name ) [ Human Torch#3 ( Winter 1940-41 ) ] & replicoids Richard & Mary Parker [ The Amazing Spider-Man#363-373,388 (dead) ( June-late January 1992-1993, April 1994 ) created by the Chameleon ]. Yeah, I know Franklin Storm was impersonated by the Super-Skrull as the Invincible Man [ Fantastic Four#32 ( November 1964 ) ] but that was only 1 parent impersonated ( So both Toro & the modern Human Torch had 1 or more parents impersonated ).
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I should have said, Toro & Spider-Man are the only Marvel heroes who had their dead parents impersonated, since Franklin Storm was very much alive when the Super-Skrull impersonated him in his Invincible Man guise. Namor’s mother Princess Fen was dying amongst the ruins of Atlantis when the halfling Socus found her and took her to a place of evil and somehow transferred the spirit of Artys-Gran into the body of Fen, switching Fen’s spirit into Gran’s body [ Namor The Sub-Mariner#29 ( August 1992 – Artys-Gran as Fen ) & #39 ( June 1993 – as Artys-Gran — spirit switching told here, Fen’s body was magically rejuvenated over a lengthy period ) see marvunapp.com for profile ].
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Is replying to your own comment the internet version of talking to yourself? 😛
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