The Comic Book Longbox: Marvel Comics #1 (1939) Review

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing alright. Today I'm going to dig through the Comic Book Longbox and pick out a classic Golden Age comic from 1939, and it's not Detective Comics #27. Instead I'm going into Marvel's archive and checking out Marvel Comics #1 from when Marvel Comics was known as Timely Comics. This issue features the debut of the original Human Torch, Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and Ka-Zar the Great. So let's get into it!

I always forget that Marvel Comics existed before Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four in 1961. Mostly because with the exception of Namor, all of the characters featured in Marvel Comics #1 have been modified over the years so that they no longer resemble their 1939 versions. Plus this issue came out even before Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941. But that doesn't diminish the importance of this issue not only to Marvel Comics and it's long history, but also to the history of comic books and the comic book industry in general.

Like every comic book being published in 1939, this issue is an anthology book made up of many stories, covering a number of literary genres. And apart from the story about the Angel, there isn't actually what you would call a superhero story. The Human Torch story comes close, but Marvel didn't really do superheroes until Captain America debuted. And even then the majority of their Golden Age roster has been modified or eliminated completely or just been forgotten about.

I think my favourite stories would have to be the Human Torch one and the Masked Raider one. With the Human Torch story you have Marvel starting their trend of creating characters who are misunderstood and outcasts to be their heroes. Not everybody could be Superman, but that doesn't mean they can't be heroes in their own right. And I think Stan Lee and other people at Marvel recognized that. Which is why Spider-Man, the X-Men, Captain America, and the Hulk resonate with so many people. I've always said, and I will continue to do so, that DC Comics characters are who the audience/readership want to be while Marvel characters are who we are. And the fact that that was the case even back in 1939 is awesome. 

The Masked Raider is basically Marvel's version of the Lone Ranger, who also hides his identity with a mask, though the Lone Ranger's mask is a domino mask, which many Marvel and DC superheroes wear, while the Masked Raider wears a full face mask similar to what Spider-Man wears. Also, if you remove the 'a' in Raider it becomes Rider, so he's secretly Masked Rider, and Masked in Japan is Kamen, so he's Kamen Rider...I'm kidding of course, but you can see how easily us geeks can fall down certain rabbitholes even if we didn't intend to do so in the first place. 

The Ka-Zar story is interesting because this issue was published at a time where Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan books were still being published, and Bob Byrd, who originally created Ka-Zar for Kaz-Zar #1 (1936), which was a pulp magazine being published at the time, would've read the Tarzan books and watched the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller starring in the titular role. So it would make sense that Ka-Zar would've been inspired by Tarzan. Which is interesting.

Overall this is a pretty good first issue for a comic book series that started in 1939, around the time that Batman was debuting in Detective Comics and Superman was starting to appear in his own self-titled series, Superman (1939-1987). Even the artwork is pretty good. By the way I have the hardcover reprint edition that Marvel Comics put out in 1990 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the issue. Brad got it for me a few years ago while he was on a trip or something like that. I don't remember exactly where he got it, but I know I wasn't with him at the time. Aside from a couple of retrospective articles by comic book historian, Les Daniels, and former Marvel editor, Roy Thomas, this book is replicated in exact detail to how it was originally produced in 1939. Which is cool.

I think that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more posts and reviews. So until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.