User blog:M1shawhan/Marvel Mystery Comics Vol 1 4

This one is an odd mix. Apparently the writers thought they would be able to get away with more for the characters (like odd powers) without building on substantial stories.

Human Torch - Huh? So New York is overrun by a 'Green Flame' gang. They have some odd chemical covering them that makes their green flame burn cold. Odd. Torch also displays some interesting powers -- such as a yell that is supposed to put out flames?!? Anyway, after the Human Torch returns to New York and reveals himself, the cops think he killed his alter-ego "Jim Hammond". So he is battling bad guys, running from the cops and trying to save New York. All in a days work for the Torch.

The Angel - Cool bad guy in this one... Brute. Okay, so he is a big, dumb gangster who crashes through walls and almost acts like he's gonna cry when the Angel begins to win. Luckily, for all of us, he destroys a building while taking down the bad guys. Good going, Angel.

Sub-Mariner - The Sub-Mariner chooses sides and aligns himself with the Allied forces. He goes back to Antarctica and is given permission by the emperor to take all the military force with him to battle the Nazis and to "fix the war" all our governments caused. Political much, Namor? He saves an American couple and even tries to keep the enemy from being killed. Such a nice, creepy fish-man.

Masked Raider - Okay, I understood them this time, but it was still a boring read for me. Masked Raider gets the bad guys who are trying to steal the gold out from under Zeb and Luke. I guess that's all they did in the Old West.

Warning Enough - This was a creepy read. I suppose it was common for people to pick up hitchhikers back then, but to not talk and take them to your hometown after he puts a gun up to you... take him to some other town for cryin' out loud! Luckily, a friend in town picks up on some RANDOM signs that something is wrong and calls the cops. Moral lesson of this is if you pick up strangers, be sure to drive by that guy that sits out on the porch that you wave to everyday and DON'T wave this time... but only if you have a gun up to you.

Electro - I was actually thinking this would be a good one. It wasn't. Very disappointing. Rich man, builds a robot, hires 12 men to help him use this robot to fight crime. Starts out with a good plot. After one of the guys (known as #3) hears a gang talking about a kidnapped girl they have, he confronts them and has one of them take him outside town to the "Purple Slipper", their hideout. Then, #3 fights the gang by himself and gets the girl and gets shot while escaping. FINALLY, Electro is called in to save them both and quickly arrives (he runs at 100mph) and twirls the gang in the air until they pass out. Glad to see that there is a lead-in at the end of the story saying to look out for more of Electro in the next issue -- I think I would have passed on it back then.

Ka-Zar - Finally! De Kraft arrives back in the jungle. This is the battle of the century... too bad the racist comments thrown around in the African jungle seemed to blatantly be thrown in the mix of this story. Sure, it was not uncommon for people back then to throw around slurs left and right, but reading this, I actually was noting how much I was ashamed by the comments even in a comic book. Even though the "fat man" has it coming for killing Ka-Zar's dad and several of the natives that helped him journey in the jungle, Ka-Zar abstains from his revenge. He instead confronts the cohort that tagged along with De Kraft and... we'll find out WHAT next time.

Again, this issue was very different feel from the first issues (and we're only up to issue four.) If you can get past the stigmas of racial slang and overall bad writing in this issue, I am not sure I would read it again. That's how bad it was. Next? --M1shawhan 04:20, April 30, 2010 (UTC)