Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Strange Tales #104 (Human Torch)
Issue(s): Strange Tales #104 (Human Torch story only)
Cover Date: Jan 63
Title: "The Human Torch meets Paste-Pot Pete!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Plot
Larry Lieber - Script
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Dick Ayers - Inker
Review/plot:
The Human Torch fights... hahahahahaha!
He fights... HAHAHAHAHAH!
Heheheheee, he's got a bucket...
Hoooooboy!
Quality Rating: A+
Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Paste Pot Pete
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: Human Torch #4
Inbound References (4): showCharacters Appearing: Human Torch, Paste Pot Pete 1963 / Box 1 / Silver Age Previous:
Journey Into Mystery #85-92Up:
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Hulk #5
Comments
A+?? Really?!
My favorite part was when, years later, they actually have him realize just how stupid his name is, and he tries to change his name to "THE TRAPSTER", and half the people he meets just call him Pete anyway, pissing him off.
Though I'm starting to notice a disturbing trend. Johnny is apparently already directly responsible for pissing off half of the eventual Frightful Four. Adding in his encounter with Sandman about 11 issues from now, and Medusa's about the only one who wasn't pissed at HIM rather than the FF as a whole when they decided to team up against them.
Add that to Namor, and... man, Johnny's more trouble than he's worth, isn't he?
Pete's ridiculous but that's what makes him so much fun. I think this is one of the better Torch solo stories so I agree with the grade.
Honestly, his first costume looks more like a "Angry Artist", or a "Scary Sculptor", or even a "Wacky Window-washer" than a "Paste-Pot Pete" to me.
Excuse the language but I have always thought Stan had gotten the name from some old crude jokes about a character named Piss-Pot Pete.
For what it's worth, Brian Cronin agrees with you. I find it hard to imagine any other possible origin for such an odd name. I remember being confused as a young man when I first heard someone use the phrase "he doesn't have a pot to piss in." It's an expression that's disappeared as modern plumbing has become the norm, thank God.
I sometimes cite this story as an example to my non-comic reading friends that not all of Stan's early ideas were necessarily inspired. Fun story nonetheless.
There's a pretty good bit in a Dan Slott Spider-Man/Human Torch story where Spidey's hysterical laughing over Pete's name is shown as the motivation for his changing his name shortly thereafter. I think that story was supposed to have been set not long before FF # 36.
