Human Torch (Marvel Mystery Comics, 1940)
After one year at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan, Carl Burgos joined the Harry Chesler shop in 1938. He spent most of 1938 and 1939 writing and drawing features like 'Iron Skull' and 'Stoney Dawson' for the Centaur group. Burgos moved to Lloyd Jacquet's Funnies Inc. studio, and together with Bill Everett began working on Timely's Marvel Comics. While Everett created the 'Sub-Mariner' strip, Burgos created the flaming android known as the 'Human Torch'. The fiery character caught on and was appearing in his own book by autumn 1940. Other characters drawn by Burgos were 'The White Streak' in Novelty Press' Target Comics and 'The Thunderer' in Timely's Daring Mystery Comics. Carl Burgos left 'Human Torch' and comics in 1942, when his military service in the Army-Air Corps began.
The Human Torch (November 1940)
After the War, Burgos had an occasional reappearance in color comics, but spent most of the next 25 years in advertising art. He freelanced in illustrating many covers for Atlas's jungle and war comics, and served as an inker for Syd Shores and Mike Sekowsky. He also worked on a short-lived revival of his classic superhero in the comic book Young Men. During the 1950s, Burgos also contributed to the Atlas humor comics Crazy, Wild, and Riot, the western title Annie Oakley, and the science fiction/horror titles Astonishing, Journey Into Unknown Worlds, Strange Stories of Suspense and Strange Tales of the Unusual.
In the 1960s, he created a short-lived character called 'Captain Marvel' for M. F. Enterprises. In the first half of the 1970s he was an an editor for Fass' Eerie Publications line of horror comic magazines, including Horror Tales, Weird, Tales from the Tomb, Tales of Voodoo, Terror Tales, Weird, and Witches Tales. He then edited various magazines for Harris Publications before his death from colon cancer. He was inducted in the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1996.
Tales to Astonish #62