Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Dick Ayers
Lettered by: S. Rosen
There was very little to take from Fantastic Four #20, so we quickly find ourselves in the midst of Strange Tales #114. This issue is notable for three reasons. It's the first issue to only feature a Human Torch and a Doctor Strange story. It's the return of Jack Kirby to the Human Torch solo strip. And it's the first appearance of Captain America... sort of...
Testing the waters (something admitted at both the end of the story) to see if there was interest in the return of the most famous Timely Comics hero, this issue actually features our favourite Silver Age villain The Acrobat (aka Zante) dressing up as the Sentinel of Liberty as cover for his crime wave.
But before all of that begins, the car show at which 'Captain America' is due to appear is attacked by thieves, who steal a vintage car. Johnny's response is to bust out the flames, and Kirby nicely captures the mid-ignition moment. One assumes that Reed has made Johnny's shirt, pants and tank-top (sweater vest for the American readers) out of unstable molecules...
Check out our coverage of Strange Tales #114 on our twentieth episode: The (Pre-Emptive) Return of Captain America (Secret Wars II Continues In This Episode)
[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_20.mp3]