The Human Torch Meets Paste-Pot Pete!
by
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
At the Glenville bank, Johnny Storm waits in line to cash a check while worrying that his secret identity will be exposed. Suddenly a man who appears to be wearing army fatigues, a big purple bowtie and a purple beret enters the bank. Wielding a gun attached to a metal pot in his other hand, he demands the bank to hand over all of its money. This is Paste-Pot Pete. He proclaims that paste is the superior weapon as he shoots a super powerful adhesive out of his gun, sticking the guard's gun in its holster. Unable to change because of his secret identity, Johnny makes his finger burn until it creates a flame clone of the Human Torch to chase the fleeing villain outside.
Outside of the bank, Paste-Pot Pete makes his escape. The Human Torch clone chases, but cannot attack since it is only a flame image created by Johnny Storm. The people seeing this start to think the Human Torch is a coward. Pete pastes the lot of them to the ground and takes off on a motorcycle, as the Human Torch image follows close behind. With everybody distracted, Johnny hides in an alley where he can finally ignite into the Human Torch.
The Human Torch follows the heatwave trail left behind by his fiery image to Paste-Pot Pete's abandoned motorcycle. While he gets his bearings, Pete uses a truck to barge into a U.S. missile base. Rendering the soldiers powerless with his glue, Pete plans to steal a new missile the army is testing and sell it to the highest bidder. As the army prepares to test launch said missile, Paste-Pot uses his glue to keep it grounded. Soldiers rush to stop him, but are beaten back by the villain's sticky, white adhesive as he leaves with the missile in his truck.
Finding his flaming image again, the Human Torch chases right after Paste-Pot Pete's truck. He shoots flaming spears down to stagger the vehicle. When that doesn't work, the Human Torch encricles the truck with a burning ditch in the ground. Paste-Pot Pete uses his paste gun to grab some nearby wood planks that he uses to safely drive over the ditch. As the Human Torch dive bombs the truck, his flame falters after using it for too long. Pete shoots his paste out at Johnny, trapping the lad to the missile's warhead.
Suddenly the missile blasts off. Paste-Pot Pete's paste has accidentally seeped inside the missile, triggering it to take off. The heat from the nose of the cone is absorbed by Johnny, giving him his flame back. He fears to fully flame on because his heat would cause the rocket to explode. As he did in the bank, Johnny ignites just a single finger to carefully burn the paste that is keeping him stuck without burning the missile itself. Succeeding at this, Johnny ignites and flies off before he can land in the ocean with the exploding missile.
The Human Torch returns to Paste-Pot Pete's truck, hurling fireballs at the villain. Utterly destroying the vehicle, the Human Torch does the same to Paste-Pot Pete's paste-pot. Too hot to hold the metal container, Pete drops it. The Torch creates a ring of flame to trap Pete. As he approaches the villain, Pete sees an airplane. Pete uses the remaining paste to shoot up at it to make his escape. His flame too weak again to chase Pete, the Human Torch goes to the plane's control tower to warn the pilot. As the pilot spots the man attached to his plane, Pete drops off into the ocean where a boat is waiting to take him out of the country. The Torch informs the military and the bank of what happened. He remains wary if Paste-Pot Pete should return.
Notes
The first appearance of Paste-Pot Pete who later becomes the Trapster and forms the Frightful Four with previous Human Torch rogue, The Wizard.
Characters
Human Torch - Still worried about his secret identity being revealed. The public is quick to turn on him.
Paste-Pot Pete - He has created a super paste and he knows how to use it.
Thoughts
At least the villain is not some random Commie again. This issue starts off convoluted, bringing up the whole secret identity thing and stays that way for awhile with his Human Torch fire image thing. I'm still not completely sure how it's supposed to work. The scenes of Paste-Pot Pete using his paste were done well for the most part. The thing with the wooden planks seems a bit clunky though. The best sequences are Johnny strapped to the rocket while tryng to get free and Paste-Pot Pete's initial attack on the bank was pretty effective. His choice of weapon is hard to take very seriously and could lead to some lewd jokes. His name is Pete and he sprays his white, sticky goo all over the place.
Rankings: There's not a lot redeeming this story. Some of the action sequences are good, but a lot of them are confusing with how Human Torch's flame is supposed to work. I like that Paste-Pot Pete gets away at the end. So I am putting it pretty low on the list. It's not quite as boring as I found Incredible Hulk #3, and Paste-Pot Pete is more memorable a foe than The Protector in TTA #37. I like the Mongu story a little more because at least it was funny seeing the little Commie coming out of the Mongu suit in Incredible Hulk #4b. So, this is my new #30.
- Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
- Fantastic Four #1
- Fantastic Four #4
- Incredible Hulk #1
- Fantastic Four #5
- Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
- Fantastic Four #6
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
- Fantastic Four #9
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #88
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
- Fantastic Four #2
- Fantastic Four #8
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
- Incredible Hulk #5a
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
- Incredible Hulk #4a
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
- Incredible Hulk #5b
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #38
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
- Fantastic Four #3
- Incredible Hulk #2
- Fantastic Four #7
- Incredible Hulk #4b
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #104
- Tales to Astonish #37
- Incredible Hulk #3
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101
Next Time: Doctor Doom returns from space with a new trick.
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