Strange Tales #103
Prisoner of the 5th Dimension!
When newly built houses in the area have been found to sink into their foundations, Reed Richards sends Johnny to go and investigate. What Johnny stumbles upon is somebody from the 5th Dimension, who has been involved in these incidents. When Johnny learns the truth, he finds himself suddenly transported to the Fifth Dimension.
In the 5th Dimension, Johnny is taken before Zemu a dictator who rules the dimension and plots to take over Earth, and he discovers that the area where the houses were being built is where they materialize when they travel to Earth's dimension. Put in a wet prison to prevent his flame powers, Johnny is freed by Valeria who is the daughter of Phineas, who used to be the ruler before Zemu overthrew his rule.
With the help of the Human Torch, the people of the 5th Dimension are able to overthrow Xemu and retake their realm. After Johnny returns home, he has trouble focusing on his study because his thoughts keep on turning to Valeria.
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Valeria, Phineas, Zemu
Continuity Notes
This story states that Johnny's public identity is secret. This was a pretense that the Torch put up for himself as revealed in Human Torch (vol. 2) #1 Johnny did this to cover his bruised ego when nobody in Glenville initially believed he was the Human Torch. The Fantastic Four publicly revealed themselves just prior to Fantastic Four #3 as explained in Fantastic Four #543. Strange Tales #106 reveals that everyone knew about Johnny's "double identity" and were just humoring him.
Johnny doesn't follow up on his romantic interest in Valeria until years later in Fantastic Four #160-163, however, it never went anywhere.
In this story, the realm that Johnny visits is referred to as the 5th Dimension. However, as clarified in Blockbusters of the Marvel Universe #1, the “5th Dimension” is actually a parallel universe designated Reality-6212.
