Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1965-05-01 00:20:13 |
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Strange Tales #133 (Human Torch)
Issue(s): Strange Tales #133 (Human Torch story only)
Cover Date: Jun 65
Title: "The terrible toys!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Bob Powell - Penciler
Mike Esposito - Inker
Review/plot:
The Puppet Master has survived the brain-blast he received in his last issue and is now operating alone again (we similarly saw the Mad Thinker working without the Puppet Master recently). He's gone through some changes, however. The first is plastic surgery.
The Puppet Master also disguises his voice by using "abnormally low tones". Since no one comments on his deep voice, i like to imagine that the Puppet Master normally talks in a very high whiny pitched voice, so for once he sounds like a regular guy.
He's also got two new powers. The first is to freeze living creatures into mannequins.
And the second is the ability to build and control non-living toys.
This actually is not a new power; in his first appearance the Puppet Master was shown riding a flying horse "puppet" and mentally controlling a robot.
The Puppet Master has gotten himself situated in the basement of a department store, and he lures Ben and Johnny there while they're unwillingly visiting the store on a date with their girlfriends.
His new mannequin is sufficiently bizarre, but the boys manage to escape the death trap through teamwork (the sort of teamwork where the Thing has to take a lot of punishment while the Torch rests).
Ultimately the Puppet Master is accidentally pushed into his chemical ray and turned into a mannequin.
It has to be said that while Dorrie Evans is always very disapproving when the Human Torch uses his powers, she never has anything mean or fearful to say about the Thing.
It's also interesting that the Puppet Master says, "As for Alicia, my step daughter, she must suffer the same fate because she cast her lot with them, rather than me!". Normally the Puppet Master's goal is to get rid of the Thing so that Alicia will return to him; it's unusual (i think) for him to want to hurt her too.
When it's all over, the boys don't even tell their dates what was going on. That's especially odd considering Alicia's relationship with the Puppet Master; doesn't she deserve to know that her stepfather was a) alive b) causing trouble again and c) seemingly now turned into a mannequin for all time? Instead Ben and Johnny just return to their dates like nothing happened.
The story begins in medias res and then backtracks all the way to the beginning, which starts us with a bit of a mystery (although since we're invited to guess, the Puppet Master is clearly the top choice).
Quality Rating: D+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Strange Tales #132-134 take place between FF #37-38. See the Considerations note on FF #37 for more. I unfortunately have FF #37-38 in a single reprint, so i've placed these issues immediately afterward.
References:
- The Puppet Master makes a passing reference to the fact that he nearly died in Strange Tales #126. "Luckily, I survived my last battle with the Torch and the Thing." This is in contrast to previous elaborate descriptions of how villains escaped certain death in prior issues, such as the description of how the Puppet Master escaped death-by-octopus from Fantastic Four #14 in Strange Tales #116.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: Essential Human Torch
| Previous: Strange Tales #132 (Human Torch) | Up: Main 1965 / Box 2 / Silver Age | Next: Strange Tales #134 (Human Torch & Thing) |
Comments
The idea that the Puppet Master genuinely cared about Alicia wasn't really introduced until Marvel Team-Up 6, which you might want to keep in mind when you eventually get to that issue- Marvel Team-Up 6 really created the modern relationship between Alicia and the Puppet Master.
I'm guessing Stan added the plastic surgery remark to cover for Powell's Puppet Master being rather off-model.
Other than a tiny cameo 8 years later in FF, this is the last we ever see of Dorrie. She and Johnny broke up for good off panel.
Actually, Dorrie recently made a reappearance, in the final issue of the last FANTASTIC FOUR series.
I'm guessing Stan added the plastic surgery remark to cover for Powell's Puppet Master being rather off-model.
Mark, Puppet Master not being recognized by Ben and Johnny is a big part of the plot so I think it's reasonable to assume Powell was told to alter his look when Stan gave him the plot. Where the idea to make him look like Uncle Fester came from is anybody's guess. Anyway, it's a terrible story in every respect. If it wasn't for the Dr. Strange backups I would put it below Tales to Astonish at this point.
I think that the Puppet Master was just putting on weight because in Tales to Astonish he was quite fat. By the time he reappeared in the FF after that he was thin again.
