Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 114. Who is Johnny Storm, AKA Human Torch, in Marvel Comics?1

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Ep. 114. Who is Johnny Storm, AKA Human Torch, in Marvel Comics?1 · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

• 0:17
  Hey guys, it's Megan with vigilante vibes.
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  And today I am coming to you with another character
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  breakdown. And again, it will pertain to
• 0:24
  the Fantastic Four first steps. And today it is my favorite
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  member of Marvel's First family, Johnny Storm AKA Human Torch,
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  AKA the person, the character who's played by Joseph Quinn in
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  the upcoming movie. So let's just dive in.
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  Johnny Storm was brought to life by writer Stan Lee and artist
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  Jack Kirby as a modern take on the original Human Torch, an
• 0:47
  Android character created by Carl Burgos back in 1939 for
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  Timely Comics. He made his debut in The
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  Fantastic Four number one, as all the other characters did,
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  and that's in The Fantastic Four, which came out in November
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  1961 as one of the founding members of the superhero team.
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  Teenager Johnny Storm and his older sister Sue moved in with
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  their aunt after their mom died in a car crash and their dad
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  ended up in jail for manslaughter.
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  Eventually, they crossed crossed paths with a genius scientist,
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  Reed Richards, and joined him on a secret space mission to test
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  out one of his theories during the flight of the group.
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  Johnny Sue Reed and their pilot Ben Grimm.
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  I also have a breakdown of Ben Grimm as a character, so just
• 1:32
  check out my channel for that. Got hit by cosmic rays and crash
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  landed back on Earth. After the crash, Jonny realized
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  that he was heating up fast, like really really fast.
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  And to his shock, he burst into flames which would shock anyone.
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  And if it doesn't shock you, you might be dead inside.
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  But thanks to the cosmic rays, the fire did not hurt him.
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  Instead, he can control it and use it in all sorts of ways.
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  The others had powers too, and together they formed the
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  superhero team known as the Fantastic Four.
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  Johnny took on the name The Human Torch, paying tribute to
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  the World War 2 era hero who originally had the title.
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  Johnny Storm can light up his whole body in flames, literally
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  turning into a Human Torch, and has crazy control over the fire
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  he creates. He doesn't get burned by the
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  heat himself, and he can crank it up or dial it back down
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  depending on the situation. He can even turn off the flames
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  on certain parts of his body like his hands or his face, so
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  he can safely touch people or handle things without setting
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  them on fire. When he pushes his powers to the
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  Max, he can hit a super destructive Nova level of heat.
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  He can also throw or shoot fire in all kinds of ways, quick
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  bursts, steady streams, wide waves, even flamy ropes.
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  On top of that he can fly by using his flames to lift himself
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  and stay airborne. All of this takes focus though.
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  If he gets knocked out the flames vanish and like any fire
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  he needs air to keep it going so water or lack of oxygen can shut
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  him down pretty quick. Johnny Storm's confident, loud,
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  and good looking nature has drawn people to him since his
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  teen years, especially the ladies, but no bond in his life
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  is stronger than the 1 he has with the sister Sue.
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  She basically raised him after his parents were out of the
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  picture, and while they had their share of ups and downs,
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  they'd do anything for each other, even risk their lives.
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  His best friend by far is Ben Grimm, AKA The Thing.
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  The two bicker like kids and constantly mess with each other,
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  but beneath all the teasing, they're basically brothers.
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  They know each other inside and out.
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  Reed Richards also plays a brotherly role in Johnny's life,
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  though their connection isn't quite as tight as Johnny's bond
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  with Ben. Ben is the brother and Reed
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  Richards is just the brother-in-law, so it it sticks
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  very well it very much to that kind of dynamic when it comes to
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  romance. Johnny's had more than a few
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  girlfriends, but only two really stood out as true companions,
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  Crystal of the Inhumans and Elijah the Scroll.
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  He's been through a lot with both, and over time, the
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  romantic sparks turn into real friendship and mutual respect.
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  As for guy friends, Spider Man ranks near the top.
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  They're close in age, share the same kind of bold energy and
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  offbeat humor. Johnny gets along with most of
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  Earth's superheroes, but many tend to keep a bit of a
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  distance, not just because of his firepowers, but also because
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  of his very big personality. Fantastic Four has made a lot of
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  enemies over the years, but none bigger than Doctor Doom.
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  Doom mainly hates Reed Richards, but since Johnny is a part of
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  Reed's inner circle, he gets caught in the crossfire very
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  often. That said, Doom rarely takes
• 5:01
  Johnny seriously as a real threat.
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  Johnny on the other hand does not trust Doom for a second and
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  never have hesitates to bring the heat whenever the Latverian
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  ruler makes a move. Unlike some other superheroes,
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  the Human Torch doesn't have a long list of personal arc
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  enemies. He's had some solo run insurance
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  with villains like the Trapster, the Wizard, and Hydra Man, but
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  nothing super long term. And even though Johnny once
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  helped Neymour the submarine or get his memory back after a case
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  of amnesia, Neymour still isn't a fan being part of the
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  Fantastic Four and the whole fire versus water thing pretty
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  much guarantees they'll always be at odds.
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  While still in high school, Johnny Storm started to really
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  get into being a part of the Fantastic Four.
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  When he wasn't out saving the world, he spent his time fixing
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  up cars and hanging out with his girlfriend Dori Evans.
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  Early on, he helped restore Neymour the Submariner's memory
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  by tossing him into the ocean and also had a run in with the
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  young Spider Man. Around the same time, tragedy
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  struck when Johnny's dad gave his life to protect him and
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  Sioux. Johnny played a huge role when
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  Galactus first showed up to devour Earth.
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  With help from the Watcher, he snuck aboard Galactus's ship and
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  brought back the Ultimate Nullifier, the only weapon that
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  could stop the cosmic giant. After finishing high school and
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  starting college, Johnny fell hard for Crystal of the
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  Inhumans. She even took Sue's place on the
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  team for a bit, but things didn't work out between them
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  thanks to the constant drama between their families and her
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  obligations to the Inhumans. Later, Johnny dated Frankie
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  Wray, who overcame her fear of fire and became a herald of
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  Galactus herself. After returning to Earth from
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  the big cosmic battle known as the Secret War, you may have
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  heard of it, Johnny started dating Alicia Masters, that
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  Alicia Masters, Ben Grin's Alicia Masters, who turned out
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  to actually be a scroll named Elijah, pretending to be her.
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  He eventually married Elijah, not knowing the truth.
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  The heartbreak came at a time when he was already struggling
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  emotionally, especially after a young fan who idolized him died
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  while trying to imitate his powers, which feels like such a
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  current problem. I feel like kids today do dumb
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  stuff like that, but that's neither here nor there.
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  Once the truth about Elijah came out, Johnny ended things and
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  tried to return to college. Later, an older version of Reed
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  and Sue's son Franklin showed up from the future and recruited
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  him into a new team called the Fantastic Force.
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  Not long after, he and the other heroes lived alternate lives on
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  Counter Earth for a year. When he returned, Johnny
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  explored a bunch of new paths, acting, firefighting, even
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  managing the Fantastic Force finances while still being the
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  Human Torch. Though public opinion about him
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  swung wildly. At one point, he and Sue swapped
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  powers to save the planet. He also Brisley became a Herald
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  of Galactus, gaining the Power Cosmic.
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  During the Superhero Civil War Johnny started out supporting
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  the Superhuman Registration Act, but later joined Sioux and
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  Captain America's Secret Avengers to fight against it.
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  After the dust settled, Johnny and Ben welcomed Black Panther
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  and Storm into the team while Reed and Sue stepped away.
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  He also patched things up with Elijah and they ended in good
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  terms. Later, during a big crisis in
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  the Negative Zone, Johnny was thought to be dead and the team
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  replaced him with Spider Man, but he survived and came back
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  stronger and more mature. He joined The Avengers Unity
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  Squad during another breakup of the Fantastic Four, inherited
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  Reed and Sue's fortune, and had flings with both Rogue and
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  Medusa. Eventually, he got caught up in
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  Doctor Doom's attempt to become a God on Battle World.
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  When Battle World fell and Doom was defeated by Reed, Johnny
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  returned to a revived Earth alongside Ben, but without Sue,
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  Reed and their kids believing they were gone, he and Ben
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  traveled across different universes using Reed's multi SEC
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  device. Eventually they reunited with
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  the whole team brought the Fantastic Four back together for
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  a fresh new chapter. So that is a brief breakdown of
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  who Johnny Storm is as a character.
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  He is a he is a loud, confident, cocky little thing and I love it
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  so so much. I'm very excited to see how
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  Joseph Quinn does it. From what I've seen so far, I
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  really I really dig what he's doing.
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  I liked Chris Evans portrayal of him but I felt like he was
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  trying too hard to be too loud as Johnny and not really.
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  He didn't put any enough focus on the heroing superpower part,
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  but not like I could do better so.
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  But I still liked him as Johnny Storm.
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  I'm just whatever. So like always, I do have some
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  comic books that I think you should check out so you can get
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  to know the Human Torch, Johnny Storm a little better since
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  we're going to be seeing a whole lot of him coming July.
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  Starting off Strange Tales 101 to 133 FF #232 it's a detective
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  story featuring the Human Torch. It's a lot of fun and not
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  something you'd typically relate with Johnny, but whatever.
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  Spider Man, Human Torch, Human Torch volume 1, Human Torch
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  volume to Marvel 2IN1, The Thing and the Human Torch Fantastic
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  460 through 66. So I hope you enjoyed this
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  breakdown of Johnny Storm. Please let me know in the
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  comments your thoughts and if I miss any comics that you think
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  we should check out to get to know him, please let me know.
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  I won't take offense, I'm not an expert, I just know what I like.
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  So with that being said, have a marvelous night.