Strange Tales #109

 "Are you mad, Sorcerer? The box is only a Greek myth!"

It's amusingly ironic to see Johnny Storm muse about quitting school here, as he gave a speech to the students of Peter Parker's school in Amazing Spider-Man #3, the last issue in the order, to stay in school and never give up. It's only a small inconsistency, but perhaps it can also be seen as a sign of how inferior this issue is to that one.

There's no need to say much about this issue's one-off, one note villain, the Sorcerer, who lives in a mansion and so surely must have wealth, yet is basically treated by a tramp by all and sundry. He finds Pandora's Box, and uses this legendary artifact to... rob banks. Is that all? Let us move swiftly on.

For this issue, skippable though it is, raises a few interesting points. For one, do I misremember or is this the first time the Torch says "flame off"? For another, five hours of homework at night? Really?!!! Oh, and "Holy heatwaves"? The Torch is using the adjective "holy" like this a lot, three years before the advent of a certain television programme relating to the Distinguished Competition.

Then we have Johnny ruefully describing himself as "Mr. Bookworm 1963" which opens the can of worms that is "Marvel Time"- these characters will persist for decades without aging, yet Marvel titles are tied to the early '60s, whether by explicit references to the year, Mr. Fantastic and the Thing being stated flat out to be veterans of the Second World War, or Thor fighting in the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The Torch will be in his 80s in 2026, the other characters older, in the case of reed surely well over one hundred years old...

Then we have the first explicit reference to Greek mythology being true in the proto-Marvel Universe, beyond a brief reference to Medusa. And "Circe"... is this later to turn out to be Sersi, the Eternal...? And Pandora's Box, I note, is lying at the bottom of the sea, a dangling plot thread...

The story may be forgettable. But there's stuff here for the enquiring/nerdy mind.