Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: the flame, victor fox

Fox's The Flame and the Dawn of the Atomic-Powered Menace, at Auction

A combination of superheroics, super-science and horror makes Fox Features Syndicate's The Flame one of the publisher's best characters.

Fox Features Syndicate founder Victor Fox was one of the most notorious publishers of the Golden Age of comic books — and that's saying something.  Through lawsuits over copying characters from other publishers, two bankruptcies, and tangling with the War Production Board over violating paper quotas, Fox was a man who wasn't afraid to get in the mud to achieve success.  Somehow through all that, he put out some excellent and historically important comic books by foundationally important writers and artists.  The Flame is an example of Fox Features Syndicate at its best. The Flame series itself is an excellent starting point towards collecting the character, and there's a CGC VG+ 4.5 copy of The Flame #1 (Fox, 1940) up for auction in the 2025 July 18 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase at Heritage Auctions.

Given Fox's reputation, it is often assumed that the Flame is little more than a Human Torch rip-off, but… yes and no.  The character first appeared in Wonderworld Comics #3, months in advance of the Human Torch's debut in Marvel Comics #1.  However, his Flame-based powers were limited to being able to sort of materialize himself within a flame in his initial appearances.  In Wonderworld Comics #11, a few months after the debut of the Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1, the Flame's origin is told for the first time.  It was a not uncommon type of saga in which he ends up in a Buddhist monastery as a child and learns ways of advanced science, magic, and physical combat — and most importantly, control over flame.  That control is seemingly demonstrated for the first time in Wonderworld Comics #14, where he exhibits one of his go-to moves of this period, shooting a stream of flame from his gun and then walking on that stream to get where he needs to go.  The next month,  The Flame #1 expands upon the origin from Wonderworld Comics #11 a little more, while bringing all of the flame-power elements used up to that time together.   Eventually, without further explanation in Wonderworld #22 and The Flame #4, he is shown being able to spontaneously burst into flame himself, which allows him to fly.

Throughout the character's lifespan, like many Fox characters the Flame combined superheroics, super-science, and sometimes horror to great effect.  The spectacular "Atomic Generator" story in The Flame #1 (reprinted from Wonderworld Comics #8) is a great example of the character at its best.  It dramatizes the impact that unleashing atomic energy would have on the world well in advance of such stories becoming commonplace in the wake of the first uses of the atomic bomb.

It can often be tough going to be a Fox collector. Virtually all of the line is tough to find, and the competition to get them is fierce. The early The Flame run is a good entry point to Fox, though, and there's a CGC VG+ 4.5 copy of The Flame #1 (Fox, 1940) up for auction in the 2025 July 18 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase at Heritage Auctions.

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