The Flame is one of those public domain Golden Age superheroes who have repeatedly deemed worthy of revival for reasons that remain obscure to me. His civilian identity was Gary Preston, one of those Americans who picked up their powers in a Tibetan lamasery as well as that rarest of things, a “fire type” (to use Pokemon nomenclature) superhero who was substantively different from The Human Torch. Like, in spite of the fact he was insanely powerful he still felt the need to pack, um, heat, in the form of a sidearm, a miniature flamethrower. Maybe it’s the fact he was an early entry in the superhero derby, or the snazzy outfit, or the fact he was created by Will Eisner and Lou Fine; I honestly don’t know.

But the people at Ajax Farell clearly thought they had money in the bank when they revived him in 1954 (along with such other Fox stalwarts as Samson and Phantom Lady). This Flame was one Kip Adams, a chemist who possessed superhuman strength and having no flame powers he had absolutely no reason to call himself ”The Flame”. Plus while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with his original outfit Ajax Farell gave him a completely generic suit that looks like it was cobbled together from three or four different superhero costumes. The only thing that says “The Flame” about it is the inexplicable torch chest Sigil/insignia. The story and art are in this incarnation are perfectly prosaic, but generally they look and read better than his Golden Age adventures.