WHY COLLECTORS WANT IT
first Marvel comic
- Human Torch (Jim Hammond) — introduction · origin
- The Angel (Thomas Halloway) — introduction
- Ka-Zar (David Rand) — introduction · origin
- Phineas T. Horton (inventor of the Human Torch) — introduction
- The Masked Raider (Jim Gardley) — introduction · origin
- Trajah (Elephant, from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
- Anthony Sardo (Marvel) — introduction
- Chaka (Ape, from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
- N'Jaga (Leopard, from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
- Paul de Kraft (from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
- Quog (Warthog, from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
- Sha (Lioness, from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
- Zar (Lion, from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
- Nono (Monkey, from Ka-Zar the Great) — introduction
Dates
- Cover date
- October 1939
- On sale
- August 31, 1939
- Pages
- 68
Editions and covers (2)
Copies of #1 are not all the same book. Here is how to tell each one apart.
- First PrintingSource ↗
- 2nd printing
Second Printing
Marked as a later printing on the cover or in the indicia.
This edition’s page
Creators
Stories
- Untitled · 16 pages
After the Scientists' Guild convinces inventor Horton to dispose of his new creation, a "human torch", a clever criminal figures out a way to use this creation for his own evil purposes.
- Untitled · 8 pages
The Angel is called in to handle a group known as the "Six Big Men" and their mysterious leader, who have taken over an entire city.
- Untitled · 12 pages
Prince Namor, having learned what the race of surface men once did to his undersea kingdom, vows, and is encouraged, to make war on the surface dwellers.
- Untitled · 8 pages
When Cal Brunder, who has been forcing small ranchers in Cactusville to sell out to him at his own price, sends his men to the ranch of Jim Gardley, and when he won't sell, he has a phony charge of rustling leveled against him.
- Jungle Terror: A Complete Adventure Story · 6 pages
Ken and Tim are worried about Professor Roberts, who went into the Amazon jungle three months earlier, trying to locate an Indian tribe that had in its possession a diamond with hypnotic powers.
- Burning Rubber · 2 pages
Bill has invented a new gas feeder for his race car and is testing it out at the risk of his own life.
- Untitled · 12 pages
A plane crashes in the jungle of the Belgian Congo, and a young boy named David watches his mother die, and later his father, at the hands of Paul De Kraft. The youngster, trained in survival tactics by his father, is later renamed Ka-Zar, brother of the mighty Zar, a lion whose life he once saved.
Characters
Reprinted in
Marvel Comics #1: 80th Anniversary Edition (2019), Marvel Comics #1 (1990), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics (2004), Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus (2009), Marvel Comics #1: 70th Anniversary Edition (2009), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics (2011), Wizard Ace Edition #16: Marvel Comics #1 (1997), Marvel Firsts: WWII Super Heroes (2013), Marvel Comics No. 1 Halloween Comic Fest 2014 (2014), Fantasy Masterpieces (1966), The American Comic Book (1985), Golden Age of Marvel (1997), Marvel Masterworks: The Sub-Mariner (2002), Marvel Milestones: Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Sub-Mariner & Hulk (2005), Sub-Mariner Comics 70th Anniversary Special (2009), Marvel 70th Anniversary (2009), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Human Torch by Carl Burgos Omnibus (2019), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett - The Pre-War Years Omnibus (2019), Fantastic Four (Penguin Classics Marvel Collection) (2023)