Human Torch Comics #3

Aug 1

Aug 1 Human Torch Comics #3

Toro's Parents-----Alive?

The head of a large spy ring reads about the Torch and Toro in the newspaper, and decides on a plan to eliminate the Torch. He heads out to the circus with his men and attempts to convince Toro that his parents are still alive. But when Torch intervenes, Toro pushes him away and decides to go with the men. They go to an apartment where a couple, dressed as his parents, put on an act to convince Toro of who they are, but Torch shows up, telling Toro that they are phonies. When he can provide no proof, Torch must leave and his "parents" tell Toro that they have arranged for him to join the Junior Ideal Club, a supposed patriotic organization. He leaves for his initiation, not realizing the Torch is following and has learned of the devilish plans they have in store for the lad. Torch steals the plans and tracks down Toro and tells him that he can prove the organization is unpatriotic. In the ensuing moments, it seems that Torch has killed Toro's father and the Police claim Torch blew up a munitions works. Torch and one of the fifth columnists are arrested and taken to jail, but Torch escapes. He discovers that Toro has been taken out to sea by the group behind the scheme, and before he can locate the young boy, the spies shoot a torpedo at the Police boat, and it explodes, apparently killing the Torch.

The Torch is sinking beneath the surface after the horrible torpedo explosion, but slowly revives and tries to find the missing liner without success. Aboard ship, Toro learns that his "parents" have been condemned as traitors and sentenced to death. Toro agrees to help free them as the Torch finally locates the ship, boards it and disguises himself as a crew member. He discovers the ship is smuggling gold out of the U.S., so he burns a message into one gold brick and addresses it to Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner. The Captain of the ship, meanwhile, has wired explosives to detonate and blow the ship and crew to smithereens. Toro sees this from shore, but now has been made a "prince" by other spy members.....all of which has been seen by the Torch from hiding, so the Torch decides to destroy all weaponry in the munition works Toro has been taken to. Torch heads out for Hiccup Palace to take on Herr Medals, Hiccup & Benny Musclein, who have captured Toro and have placed him in a giant rocket-cannon and blasted him off into space. Toro regains consciousness inside the rocket as Torch follows the ship over New York City. Unfortunately, the rocket shoots a brown mist at the Torch, putting out his flame and Toro rescues him. Toro finally realizes that he has "been had" by the Nazis, so he helps Torch destroy the rocket flotilla aimed at New York.

Continuity Notes

Human Torch, Toro, Nazis (Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goring), Benito Mussolini

Continuity Notes

Toro’s parents aren’t alive. As revealed in Invaders #22, they both died in a train crash caused by the Asbestos Lady. This is not implicitly stated here because the story in Invaders #22 was published decades later. One could assume that Toro assumes that his parents survived the crash, hence why he was fooled by the Nazi operatives posing as his parents.
This story was written during a period in which — for some reason — Timely Comics gave parody names to anything related to Nazi Germany or their allies. This was probably done to mock the Nazis. At any rate, readers should consider “Slaveland” a proxy for Nazi Germany, “Adolf Hiccup” as Adolf Hitler, “Herr Medal” as Hermann Goring, and “Benny Musclein” as Benito Mussolini.

Namor to the Rescue

As Sub-Mariner swims along, he notes the water getting warm and finds the molten gold bar that the Human Torch wrote a message on for him to find. Namor arranges to meet Betty Dean and show her the bar, and she tells him that the Torch and Toro were working on an espionage case down near the waterfront. Namor disguises himself as a crew member and goes aboard a ship to seek out a job. Discovering the crew to be German, he adopts a phony German accent, but is recognized by the ship's Captain and thrown into the brig. Sub-Mariner then has iron boots put on his feet and is tied to the mast so he can't escape. Then he is taken and tied to the wing of a plane, flown out over the ocean and dropped in. The Torch and Toro happen to see this and they rescue Namor, informing him of an enemy invasion coming. Namor leaves the pair to garner his forces to do battle, which they do the following day with devastating results....for the Germans! Namor returns back to base in time to hear a plea for him to come to Washington to meet with War Department personnel. He is then informed that another massive armada is poised to attack in 48 hours and could he help out again? Prince Namor says that, although he has lost many planes and personnel, he will help out as best he can. Amassing his forces once again, Namor meets and defeats the enemy forces and is cheered throughout the land.