Human Top (Bruce Bravelle)

First appearance of the Human Top; Dick Briefer used the pseudonym "Dun Barr" for this story

The Human Top (or just the Top) is a fictional character, a Golden Age superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character appeared in two stories published by Timely Comics (the predecessor of Marvel Comics) in 1940 and 1942, and not since then. His real name is Bruce Bravelle.^[1] He is called "the Human Top" in the story titles but just "the Top" within the body of the stories.^[2]

He is not to be confused with two other Marvel Comics Human Tops, to whom he bears no relation: Davey Cannon, who first appeared in 1963 under the name Human Top but is better known as Whirlwind, and Kid Commandos/V-Battalion member David Mitchell who first appeared in 1978, also under the name Human Top.^[3]

Publication History

Bravelle appeared in a ten-page^[4] backstory ("The Origin of the Human Top") in the first (and only) edition of Red Raven Comics, cover-dated August 1940, with script and artwork by Dick Briefer. Critic Nathan Mahney characterized the story as "fairly crude and unappealing".^[5]

Bravelle's second (and, as of 2014, last) appearance was in the backstory "The Red Terror"^[6] in Tough Kid Squad, cover-dated March 1942.

The stories were reprinted in a few Marvel collections in later years.^[7]

Fictional character biography

Bruce Bravelle, a high-school graduate from the fictional town of Patriotville, South Carolina^[8] was a test subject for a scientist who was trying to find a way to nourish the human body with electrical currents instead of food. In the middle of one of the tests, a bolt of lightning struck^[9] the castle in which the experiment was being conducted, causing an opposing magnetic flow and giving Bravelle the ability to spin around at superhuman speed when he crosses his wrists or is exposed to electricity. He can fly, drill his way through walls, and deflect bullets. He can operate underwater and travel at a speed of up to 250 miles per hour (400 km/h). His bullet-deflecting and wall-drilling powers are created by the intense whirlwind which he generates when spinning.^[8]

In his first adventure (published in 1940), the Top thwarts some bank robbers, ultimately discovering that bank owner Horace Vanderveer (who had tried to frame the Top for the robbery)^[5] was behind the robbery and forcing him to confess.

In his second adventure (published in 1942), the Top fought and defeated a sinister criminal mastermind called the Red Terror. The Red Terror and his goons derail and rob a train and escape in a zeppelin. The Top tracks them to their hideout in an abandoned mine and kills them all as they attempt to escape.

Bravelle's subsequent activities and ultimate fate or current whereabouts are unknown.^[8]

Bravelle inhabits Earth-616, the main continuity in the Marvel Comics multiverse where most stories take place.

In his first appearance, the Top's costume is a bodysuit, mostly blue with red boots and some red trim, and a red emblem of a toy top on the chest and back. In his second appearance, his bodysuit is more colorful: red leggings, yellow shirt, blue tights, blue shoulder trim, wide large-buckled leather belt, but retaining the toy top emblem.

References

• Rovin, Jeff (1985). The Encyclopedia of Superheroes. Facts On File. ISBN 978-0816011681.