Marvel Genesis

This Month in Marvel: June 1964

2012-02-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

We're now into June of 1964. And you know what that means: Another look at Stan's "Special Announcements" page, wherein he tantalized readers with all the new offerings that were coming out! This one comes from The Fantastic Four #30:

As always, thanks for these scans go out to Barry Pearl, author of The Essential Marvel Age Reference Project. Am I going to keep plugging his book every time I post the new "This Month in Marvel" page? I sure am! It's just that good.

165: The Amazing Spider-Man #15

2012-02-13T10:15:00.000-06:00

The Amazing Spider-Man #15
May 12, 1964

With this issue we see the introduction of Kraven the Hunter, and at the risk of sounding repetitive: The hits keep coming! Seriously, it's nothing short of astounding how the pairing of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko on The Amazing Spider-Man has created classic villain after classic villain - foes who would be seen again and again and again, precisely because they work so well - with hardly a clunker in the bunch. (The sole exception would seem to be The Living Brain from #8.) Compare this, on the other hand, to the indisputable hotbed of creativity that was Lee and Kirby's The Fantastic Four, but which nonetheless featured occasional bozos like The Miracle Man and Kurrgo, Master of Planet X (amongst genuinely great creations like Dr. Doom and the Skrulls). But then, I suppose we could write off The Living Brain, MM and Kurrgo as all fading relics of Marvel's earlier age; after all, even hokey supervillains like The Mad Thinker or The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes would be back time after time, in large part because they fit the requirements of the new Marvel supervillain so very well.

So they're not even trying to hide their source of inspiration.
In fact, one thing that makes Kraven so great, as a character, is the directness of Ditko's visual design: With a single glance, from the leopard-skin leggings to the lion-head vest, you already have an idea who this guy is - and the cover splash sobriquet, "Kraven, the Hunter!", clears up any ambiguity. The villain who is a ruthless hunter of men is, of course, a classic literary trope, most famously in Richard Cornell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game". It's a fascinating approach, because for once Spidey isn't being targeted so the villain can make a name for himself, or because Spidey got in the way of his crime, or for revenge - but just because he can. Which makes the villain legitimately scary, in a very serial-killer way.

Later stories would reveal that these two are far more
connected than this first meeting would have us believe!
And if that's not enough: The Chameleon's back! In fact, he's the one who's hired Kraven and put Spider-Man in his sights. Note the subtlety with which Stan and Steve are forging these connections between characters; instead of just making up Random Reason #18 for new-character Kraven to go after Spider-Man, as per usual, they use a preexisting piece of the canon, making Spidey's world seem bigger and more organic. Oddly, although the Chameleon hires Kraven because he's back in town and wants to prevent Spidey interrupting his criminal ways ... this master of disguise won't actually show up again in these pages for another six years. Guess he learned his lesson! (For a while, at least.)

The very first mention of someone who will
become quite a force in Peter's life.
As new villains go, Kraven's quite a success! Rather than being something as simple as a flying thief, he's got several powers and abilities that make him quite a challenging foe: He's an expert at tracking his prey, for instance, and a master of hand-to-hand combat. One secret potion gives him his enormous strength, and another is used to incapacitate Parker for a full day, giving our hero nausea and the shakes. And he's got mechanical aids too, like his special manacles that not only clamp the arm and leg together, but incorporate a ringing bell in case the prey tries to escape. He's a well-thought-out baddie, and Lee & Ditko know it - which is why he'll be back not in some number of months, as you'd expect, but rather in just a few weeks...!

Does anyone else find that last bit of dialogue out of character for Spidey?
Could Stan have thought he was penning a narrative caption box?

164: Fantastic Four #29

2012-02-06T12:33:00.002-06:00

Fantastic Four #29
May 12, 1964

You may argue with me if you'd like, but I propose that Fantastic Four #29, "It Started on Yancy Street!", boasts one of the most striking, most compelling covers of the Silver Age. Just look at it: Our fantastic foursome crossing an empty cityscape (Johnny, tensed, looking off to his left at ... something), their shadows long and lean and reaching toward the reader, with the ghostly figure of the enigmatic Watcher towering over the nighttime sky, filled with far-off planets and space clouds and starbursts. It's a cover that tells remarkably little about what's inside, but does so by conveying a real sense of mystery and foreboding.

Fleeing isn't the reaction we normally expect from our intrepid adventurers!
With such a great cover, then, as well as its equally intriguing title, it's a shame that the story inside is such a disappointment. The villain of the piece turns out to be the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes - and how implausible is it that our heroes don't immediately know who their foe is as soon as they're attacked by three super-powered apes they've fought once before? Bereft of any new motivation for the character, Stan Lee falls back on his oft-used trope of "wanting revenge solely for being beaten before"; never an interesting reason, even at the best of times. In fact, in every way the tale seems a rehash of their first appearance in issue #13, right down to the return to Earth's moon and the resolution being facilitated in part by the Watcher (who's still not interfering at all, honest you guys, seriously).

This early instance of Kirby's photo-collage is too dark to be really
successful, but surely prefigures further innovation to come.
The funny thing is that the idea inside is executed well - it's just not very original. (Which thus prompts reflection: Is this, then, better or worse than a good idea done bland?) Kirby's art is in top-form - including one of his rare, at this point in time, photo-collage efforts - and the Red Ghost's scheme to capture the FF and take them to the site of his prior lunar defeat is impressively planned, on a level of that which we'd expect from the Mad Thinker. I'm tempted to say "Imagine if this kind of creativity had been applied to an idea that was fresh, new and exciting!" - but on further reflection, I don't have to; we have most of the other issues of Lee and Kirby's FF to deliver on that.

Does anyone else think that last panel was Stan playfully commenting on the art?
Still, despite the story's flaws (which also include a meandering pace whereby the action doesn't really begin until page 6), there are nevertheless a number of great moments to be seen within. The story does, as promised, open on Yancy Street, and the sight of the Four running away from a bunch of hidden pranksters is richly funny. When they return to the Baxter Building, The Thing and his girlfriend Alicia get a short scene in which each of them starts to break up with the other - convinced they're only being dated out of pity - before they realize they're both being sweetly dumb. And the climax of the story takes place within the Watcher's home on the moon, where the design and household accoutrements really do convey a sense of wonder and alien-ness that's only fitting for a being so removed.

I love Marvel's occasional pop-psychedelia.
Very "sixties", and very cool!

163: Strange Tales #123

2012-01-30T08:00:00.055-06:00

Strange Tales #123
May 12, 1964

Now, just take a look at that cover! Some covers are more worthy of comment than others - some are more dynamic, while others deadly dull - but this one has more going on than a quick glance might suspect. For one thing, note that the design (through no real intention, I'm sure) hints at the evenly-split double feature status which all the anthology books will soon be moving to, as recently discussed. Not only that, but the cover also takes full advantage of the guest-stars in each tale within, advertising four heroes for the price for one! What kid, the thinking must have been, could possibly resist?

Good grief! Is every guy who invents his own super-suit
inviolably destined to first fall down in it?
Inside we see the introduction of the Beetle and - you know what? In his first few panels there's a sense of real potential! After all, he's not yet another in a long line of super-geniuses, or petty thieves with access to high-tech gear, but rather a factory mechanic who's just spectacularly skilled at engineering. A bit of a change, to be sure, and a nicely realistic one - right up until he dons his new villainous getup. And falls down. Even the heroes can't take his outfit seriously, as Johnny immediately shrugs, "Maybe he's an insect lover! Well, let's get it over with!!" And yet the goofy bug-man inadvertently helps to inject a welcome amount of humor into the story, aided further by the addition of the Thing. These two elements combined actually make the strip more enjoyable than it's been for - well, if we're being honest, most of its existence - and that isn't lost on Lee; from here on out it's no longer a Torch solo series, but rather will be a Torch/Thing buddy book to the end.

Aw, just look at that li'l guy! Isn't he cute?
The real item of interest, though, isn't some new goofy bad guy, but rather the fact that this story is illustrated by Carl Burgos: the man who created the very first Human Torch way back in 1939's Marvel Comics #1. WOW! For those old enough to remember back that far - and this would certainly have included Stan & Jack - it had to have been a real treat to see how the Golden Age legend rendered the new, then-modern version of his original fiery hero. As a bonus, we also get Carl's portrayal of the 1964 New York World's Fair, as the site of this story's climax! And rather timely too, as the expo would have opened to the public only a few weeks before the issue hit the stands. In fact, given that the story had to have been done some months prior to that, does this mean that Burgos perhaps had a chance to tour the grounds before the fair's official opening?

And this Golden Age Great even gets honored with an in-story
cameo (abeit one he had to draw himself). Prety nice!
Meanwhile, in the Doctor Strange backup strip, we're treated to the villainy of Loki! And yet, surprisingly (or perhaps not?), it's an underwhelming affair. Loki has, of course, appeared outside of Thor's home in Journey into Mystery before - notably, it was his own mislaid plot that created the Avengers in the first place - but the inclusion of both him and Thor marks the first real introduction of superhero elements to what had previously been an almost entirely mystical-based strip. It's not really bad, per se, but it does seem strangely out of place, and the results jar rather than gel. Fortunately, this ill-judged mixing of genres will rarely reoccur - for some time, at least.

Well-drawn it may be, but still and all: In the end,
it's little more than a standard superhero slugfest.

162: Tales of Suspense #56

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Tales of Suspense #56
May 12, 1964

This issue sees the introduction of the Unicorn - and, although he'll never go on to become a major foe, he's still one of those villains so darn goofy in concept and design that you wonder how he ever came back at all. I mean, he wears a suit with a power-beam mounted on his forehead - so, sure, why not name him after a mythical creature from European folklore (and one with a quizzical connection to virginity, at that)? This naming is made even more inexplicable when it's revealed that the character hails from Soviet Russia, and that the suit was designed by the Crimson Dynamo before his defection to the West. Although I suppose we could speculate that the suit was perhaps named after the Russian myth of the Indrik...?

Um. Nobody wants to see Emo Tony.
On the more human side of things, the cover hints at a closer look into the psyche of Tony Stark, and this is revealed as a re-emphasis on his mortality, poignantly held in check during Iron Man's origin story, but oddly underplayed ever since. The doubled-edged sword of this premise - that the chestplate he wears represents not just his enormous strength, but also his greatest weakness - is a powerful one; strange, then, that it's been overlooked for so long. In virtually all of the Iron Man stories that have touched on it since, this vulnerability - Tony Stark's need to recharge his chest battery at regular intervals, in order to keep his very heart beating - has always been presented as little more than a lighthearted "Whoops!" moment, rather than something more akin to "My God - I lost track of time and nearly died!"

"Black light tracker"? I think this is another case of
what we can generously deem "Marvel science".
In this issue, as well as the two following, Iron Man's feature is upgraded to 18 pages again, and so it's worth taking a moment to talk about format. As we've previously discussed, Marvel's various anthology books - Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, Journey into Mystery and Strange Tales - all began life in the 1950s as comic books that featured multiple stories per issue, all of them unconnected from any other, and each story finite unto itself; no continuing stories with returning heroes there! Stan's early innovation, not long after the introduction of the Fantastic Four, was to place an ongoing superhero feature as the lead story in each one of these mags, so we got Thor in JIM, the Human Torch in Strange Tales, Ant-Man in TtA and Iron Man in ToS. At first the lead feature continued to be rounded out by unconnected tales as of old, but then the backup strips started, featuring the Wasp, the Watcher, Doctor Strange and "Tales of Asgard". With most of these, there was still just enough space left for one of the "filler" strips - perhaps burning off purchased, yet-unused inventory? - but as of now, they're done and used up. From this point forward, all of the superhero-related titles contain only superhero features (barring a couple of one-page text stories still trickling out over the next few months). The anthology titles will further concretize in the next few months into the double-feature books that will define the next period, but there's no denying it: Truly, the Marvel Age of Comics has taken hold!

Did you ever think you'd see the Watcher in love?
No, neither did anyone else.
Along similar lines, this title's backup strip, "Tales of the Watcher", has only a few months left to live. (Don't worry; it'll get another brief run in '68.) Interestingly, just as the last couple Wasp backups have focused more on the character in question rather than just using her as a framing device, so too do these last few Watcher tales take a greater interest in the enigmatic alien himself, as evidenced from the titles alone: "The Watcher's Sacrifice", "The Watcher's Power", and "The Watcher Must Die!" And why not? If they're going to (temporarily) take the character off the table, they may as well go out swinging!

The Watcher seems to have an oddly flimsy
interpretation of "non-interference".

161: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #8

2012-01-18T15:25:00.001-06:00

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #8
May 5, 1964

Well, this is a first! When Stan needed to come up with a retroactive arch-nemesis for Captain America in Avengers #6, he created Dr. Zemo. (The "Baron" title would come later.) And what better way to show how long this villain has been around than by showing us his beginnings in World War II? You've got to admit that's a pretty cool idea - and even better, both this and the Avengers issue came out on the stands during the very same week of May 5, 1964! That said, despite being the focus of the Howlers' mission this time out, he doesn't actually appear in the story until the last five pages. Fortunately, that doesn't impinge on the issue's success in the slightest, and it's a highly enjoyable tale.

Zemo's missing his distinctive pink hood; clearly, this adventure
must predate that terrible glue catastrophe.
But there are actually two reasons why this is something of a milestone issue, because the Howling Commandos gain a new member! You may recall that in issue #4, "Lord Ha-Ha's Last Laugh", the Howlers lost one of their own, "Junior" Juniper - a genuinely shocking occurrence for the time. While stationed in England, however, they're joined by British soldier Percival "Percy" Pinkerton, who initially is mocked by other soldiers for his more erudite speech and manners - quite different from the generally gruff, working-class American troops we've seen thus far - but who quickly dispels such doubts with his ability to take down his attackers in no time flat, and otherwise prove himself on the field of battle.

Introducing Percy.
You want controversy? We've got controversy! See, back in 2002, Stan Lee turned some heads when he revealed that he had always written Percy as gay. The times being what they were, and specifically in an artform under the strict scrutiny of the Comics Code Authority, Lee could never make it explicit - or even mildly hinted at, for that matter - but this was (Stan claims) his intention; simply a hidden aspect of Percy's character that informed Stan's writing. And yet, if this was in fact the case, then it was certainly a closely-guarded secret, one that Stan didn't even reveal to Sgt. Fury stalwart Dick Ayers. So what's the answer? Was Stan just making something up in that interview to get attention? Possibly. On the other hand, the Howling Commandos are such an unfamed piece of Marvel lore - absolutely unknown to pretty much every "person on the street" you might wish to ask - that it would be an extremely odd thing to invent. As with so many questions we have about the Silver Age, it's something we may never discover a definitive answer to ... but it's an idea worth keeping in mind, and continuing to wonder about, as we read future issues.

Whoa! Don't get this guy angry.
Having co-created a damn fine war comic with Stan, Jack Kirby has now left the battlefied, and will return briefly only a couple of times hereafter. A significant factor might be that, starting with this issue, the comic is going monthly! (Was that perhaps more than Jack could give, while juggling his other responsibilities?) Instead, stepping into the breach, as alluded to above, is penciller Dick Ayers. The transition isn't a seamless one - the change in art styles is a bit jarring, at first - but we can assume any wrinkles will be ironed out pretty fast; after all, barring the occasional fill-in, Ayers remain on the series for the remainder of its run, pencilling in total nearly one hundred issues over the next several years! Not a bad record, especially for someone who seems to be close to Jack in terms of enormous output; after all, at this time he's currently drawing the lead features in Strange Tales and Tales to Astonish, as well as the adventures of Two Gun Kid! Like I said: Not bad, not bad at all....

This is one of three explosions depicted in the story, all of them
uncluttered by narration or dialogue. It really helps sell the terror of war.

160: Tales to Astonish #58

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Tales to Astonish #58
May 5, 1964

Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne are busy at Hank's lab, when their Avengers teammate Captain America drops on in. And isn't it notable that such a thing's not even an event anymore, so much as something he can just do to casually hand out a mission to them? Said mission requires them to hop a plane to Africa, where the (archaically stereotyped) native population is being menaced by a gargantuan being calling itself "Colossus". Oddly enough, this isn't the same creature as from the Wasp's tale only five issues back - despite both of them being such central figures as to lend their shared name to each story's title. Strange that Stan would have chosen such an identical name after so short a time; was his famously shoddy memory so sieve-like even then?

Aww - how sweet. Even when he's saving their lives,
he still has time to condescend!
And yet, despite the reappearance of certain identical elements, in other ways there are clearly changes afoot. For one thing, Giant-Man revamps his size-changing ability so as to obviate its previous need for pill-popping, becoming now able to trigger the change mentally, via his cybernetic helmet. And in the debut outing of what will in time become something of a character-defining trait, the Wasp changes her uniform for the very first time! (In this case, the adjustment is comparatively mild; future costume changes will be much less so.) Finally, in what's clearly intended to be a thoughtful gift, Pym also reveals that he's revamped her abilities so that he can mentally change her size at will too, and not just his own! - but note that he doesn't design it so that she can change her own size mentally. Indeed, what appears at first glance to be a nice surprise takes on a more troubling tone upon further perusal; after all, by implementing this new design, he's essentially taking away her agency of change and keeping it for his own use and approval. Might we catalogue this as another subconscious step in his growing paranoia?

Somehow, I doubt this is an accurate portrayal of Africa circa 1964.
But at the same time as we see additions and expansions in our heroes' repertoires, the tale also takes pains to set specific limitations. When Giant-Man and the Wasp reach the 30-foot-tall Colossus, Hank decides to try matching the creature in height, despite not having attempted this size before. He's able to do so, but just barely and briefly; having stretched his mass so thin, he finds he's so weak he nearly passes out. Once he recovers, he realizes that he should never try growing taller than twelve feet ever again - answering, perhaps, certain reader questions on the fact? In the end, though, the Colossus is revealed as the member of an invading race, who is eventually scared into fleeing Earth - making the whole thing a pretty blatant retread of their equally globe-trotting adventure from TtA #46, "...When Cyclops Walks the Earth". (Also: Colossus? Cyclops? I suppose we should count ourselves lucky that Hank & Jan don't next find themselves tasked to Siberia to fight a giant wolverine.)

Of course they've got a trophy room! How else would their friends
know they defeated such villains as El Toro and the Hijacker?
Meanwhile, in the backup story the Wasp finds herself pitted against their old bunny-wielding menace from two whole months ago, The Magician! Finding herself lured downtown by the promise of a line of clothing inspired by her superheroic look, the entirety of the battle therefore takes place in a department store - even allowing her a whimsical moment behind the wheel of a tiny car from the toy department, as the Ant-Man famously did in his fantastic encounter with the Scarlet Beetle! Though flawed, it's undeniably a fun 7-page story, and one that gives the enjoyment of showing Jan fully on her own. Sadly, this is the last solo adventure we'll see from her for some time ... but that's only because Very Big Changes are coming to this title! Kicking off, in fact, next month....

Snagged by an escalator. Small wonder he never again showed
his face - not out of fear, but embarrassment!

159: Journey into Mystery #106

2012-01-06T12:32:00.000-06:00

Journey into Mystery #106
May 5, 1964

Happy New Year! Now let's get back to Thor: Picking up from last issue, we return to the danger of Thor separated from his hammer, and thus quickly transformed back into Don Blake (due to the enchantment which turns the god back into his mortal guise after 60 seconds). Unfortunately, this issue turns out to be just more of the same, with Don having to trick the villains into getting the object back to him, and then finding a way to transform into Thor without their knowledge. Again. Really, it's just a naked retread of the action from last ish, which is a shame; last month's cliffhanger may have been an effective one, but Stan & Jack don't seem to have had any new idea to carry on from after. I suppose it just goes to show that not every story is worthy of being broken into two installments!

When I see scenes like this one, I wonder about the poor contractor
who has to redo the entire floor. It's not just gonna meld back together!
Correspondingly, there's actually very little human drama in the story at all, despite the revolutionary mix of superhero action and human drama being the foundation of Marvel's early success. The tale really is just a series of separations and recaptures - Thor from his hammer; the villains from Thor - until the very end, when Blake returns to his medical practice to find Jane enrapt by television news coverage of the fight. But since Blake had tricked the villains into thinking that he'd betray Thor to them - rather publicly, at that - Jane calls him a coward and angrily runs out. Note that this parallels rather nicely Jane's supposed betrayal of Thor in Hyde's own two-part origin story, which was the event that caused Odin to declare her unworthy of his son in the first place! However, there's no indication in the narrative that Stan is aware of this parallel or that it's at all intentional; instead, it's likely just a happy accident in the midst of his rapid-fire plotting.

Something tells me there might be a design flaw in that paint machine.
Does it paint just one side of the building? How does it know what not to paint? Etc.
Meanwhile, "Tales of Asgard" turns its focus to another of the divine cast: Balder the Brave. In a post-battle rehash, Odin demands to know why Balder fell behind when the rest of their forces pursued the deadly Storm Giants. But when Balder defends himself by saying that he stopped to help a baby bird that had fallen from his nest, Odin is seriously not amused and sentences Balder to death on the execution fields. And yet the first arrow shot at Balder is snatched from the air by a hawk, while a subsequent spear is blocked by the fast-moving shoots of a nearby plant. Finally, when Thor raises his hammer to smite his friend, Odin stops his hand - claiming that he himself had summoned the hawk and the plant, and that the proceedings had been designed to test Balder's bravery as well as his gentleness.

Look at the feathering on Balder's back, and the
stippling effect on his leggings. Impressive!
Additionally, this "Tales of Asgard" segment merits a note on the art. These have all been pencilled by Kirby, but so far the inking has been by whomever was seemingly available: George Roussous, Paul Reinman, Don Heck, and Chic Stone have all taken part. And, although more expert inking connoisseurs than I might be inclined to disagree, none of them have really let their inking styles come to the fore, instead being willingly subsumed by the style of the great Jack Kirby - all bold strokes and deep blacks. Here, though, Kirby is inked by Vince Colletta - a controversial figure, to be sure - and the inks on "ToA" look incredibly distinctive for the first time, with a light scratchiness that evokes some of Don Heck's pencilled art, yet overlaid onto the powerful figures as drawn by Jack. It's a bit of a marriage of opposites, and one I wouldn't have expected - yet I can't deny that the combination, for me at least, really works! Fortunately, the rotating cast of inkers looks as if it will cease, and within a year Vince will be inking the lead story as well.

There really is something of a Prince Valiant feel to these images, don't you think?

158: The X-Men #6

2011-12-09T16:05:00.000-06:00

The X-Men #6
May 5, 1964

Just a couple of months ago, the Sub-Mariner fought the Avengers, before returning to menace the Fantastic Four once again. And now, he (temporarily) teams up with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to face off against the X-Men. As Stan has already done with the Hulk, so too might he be intentionally keeping Subby in the reader's sights, certain that the time will come when he can spin the multifaceted character off into his own feature. It won't happen as soon as it will for the Hulk - another year and a half, as opposed to just a couple of months till the Hulk's new strip - but you can tell Stan is already planting the seeds...!

Dude's got some major anger management issues.
Also: Duck!!
On a similar note, Stan's not letting the readership forget about Magneto, as this is the fourth issue - out of a mere six - to feature the Master of Magnetism. And it's the third issue in a row to feature the Evil Bro's! Readers could be forgiven for wondering if Stan & Jack had fallen into a creative rut on this new title already, but that's not the case; rather, they've realized that Magneto and the Evil Mutants make for some fantastic foils against Professor X and his X-Men - and that with a truly rich cast of villains like this, it's worth spending some time on exploring who they are.

That is one seriously bad superpower:
Tie your shoelaces and you might detonate the car!
That said, this issue featuring the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants came out the same week as The Avengers #6, in which that team fought the Masters of Evil. Sense a theme? In the comments to that post, we talked about the preponderance of bad guys who freely refer to themselves in such a fashion, and why that might be. (As Barry put it, "Does anyone ever call themselves evil? These guys have very low self-esteem.") In the ensuing discussion, we agreed that it's simply part of the shorthand of the time, where Stan used names and descriptions that told you all you needed to know about a character or a group in as few words as possible. Yes, it came at the cost of subtlety, but when applied across the breadth of an entire issue, it contributed to an economy of storytelling. Compare this to the common complaint with many comics today, where the storytelling may be realistically subtle, yet distressingly takes six whole issues to tell a single story. A year later, you've not read twelve distinct stories - you've read TWO! Is there a "sweet spot" to be had, a compromise that could combine the narrative density of years past with the subtle storytelling skills of today? I believe there can be, yes - but to my continued frustration, it seems few modern creators are interested in exploring that.

And it seemed like they were getting on so well...!
To have some fun with nitpicking, there are definitely some developments in this issue that are laughable or otherwise just bizarre. Along with the "Evil" naming conventions already described, the cover shows Magneto attacking with our heroes with a magnet. And not just any magnet, but a ridiculously unsubtle horseshoe magnet. And early on, in his bid to track down the Sub-Mariner, Magneto settles himself into his throne and relaxes his mind, sending out his astral self to search the seven seas. Wait a minute, what? Magneto can astral project? How?! Professor X: Sure, that makes sense. And Doctor Strange: Of course! That entirely fits his mystical makeup. But what on earth does astral projection have to do with magnets?! I suspect this is something that later writers probably went back and explained, but right here, out of the blue, it seems like a case of Stan's occasional sloppiness in granting characters brand-new powers just because it makes the plot easier, like the Human Torch's trick of creating living, thinking duplicates which can operate with complete independence, or the Sub-Mariner's quickly-forgotten ability to mimic the abilities of the creatures of the sea. Fortunately, this isn't an error in judgment that Stan falls prey to very often - perhaps with an instinctive understanding that operating within the limits allows for far more drama than operating without - but that does make it all the more noticeable on the few occasions when he falters.

Say it again!
BAM! BAM! BAM!

157: The Avengers #6

2011-11-28T23:59:00.001-06:00

The Avengers #6
May 5, 1964

Introducing the Masters of Evil! Just as the Avengers were Marvel's first team assembled from pre-existing heroes, so too are the M.O.E. Marvel's first team of (mostly) pre-existing villains. And it's a pretty inspired thought! After all, since just about every hero on the Avengers has his own comic - why not take a villain from each and put them all together? Wham - instant crisis!

Baron Zemo in the Jungle.
Of course, the exception to this formula is their leader, Baron Zemo, since Captain America doesn't have his own mag - not yet anyway - and thus currently has no enemies to call upon. (The obvious choice might have been to bring back the Red Skull, who appeared in Cap's first issue back in 1940, but maybe Stan hadn't yet thought of that - or if he did, realized that the return of Cap's first supervillain should require its own story, when the time was right.) In any case, the solution that Stan hit upon was to create a brand-new villain, but one retrofitted into Captain America's past. In fact, it's made clear that Zemo is the bad guy they were fighting when Cap lost Bucky, right before he went into the deep freeze! And with his hand revealed in that tragic back story, an archenemy is instantly born.

The villains return.
Still, if there's one complaint we can voice about this new team of villainy, it's that it does seem thrown together somewhat at random. I mean, the Melter as the foe for Iron Man? Fine. Melting is about as opposite of hard iron as you can get, so he's conceptually a great foil. But the Black Knight fought Giant-Man and the Wasp just the once, and will only be really remembered in later decades, when at all, for his connection to the later Avenger by the same name. And the Radioactive Man - while a fine baddie, I suppose, and certainly emblematic of the nuclear terror of the times - isn't intrinsically a "Thor villain", in the same way that, say, Loki is. Fortunately, later incarnations of the team would be a bit more appropriately matched!

Only in the Silver Age, y'all!
Finally, a note on the new villain, Zemo. We get a bit of his origin, set twenty years earlier in World War II, when he was supposedly so hated a figure that he had to wear a hood everywhere he went. (Although you'd think he might have chosen a color less conspicuous, no?) But a chance conflict with Captain America accidentally smashed a nearby container of Zemo's dastardly new superglue - Adhesive X - and the hood has been stuck on his face ever since. As origin stories go, it's not bad - somewhat reminiscent of Superboy's accidental baldifying of a teenage Lex Luthor, maybe - but c'mon, glue? That was going to be the secret weapon to win the war? I was at that point musing, and thinking how funny it would be if they ever showed a connection between Baron Zemo, and that other gluemeister, Paste-Pot Pete ... and so was caught completely off-guard when I turned the page and saw, to my astonishment, that they DID! As someone the Avengers phone up to help them defeat Zemo's special adhesive, yes, but still: Two villains, one a war criminal and the other a petty thief, yet both of them connected ... by glue.

This has to have been the most welcome surprise cameo in all of 1964!

This Month in Marvel: May 1964

2011-11-14T08:51:00.001-06:00

Another month of Silver Age Marvel means another look at Stan's "Special Announcements" pages, as he crowed to the readers about all the other superhero delights Marvel would be putting out that month. As mentioned last time, Stan didn't just write up the blurbs once and then copy them into each new mag, but would instead write them from scratch, every time, for every book! Nutty, man. So, as a point of comparison, here are two separate examples of the "Special Announcements" from May 1964; the one above is from Amazing Spider-Man #15, while the one below is taken from The Fantastic Four #29. Compare and contrast!

As before, these scans come courtesy of Barry Pearl, author of The Essential Marvel Age Reference Project. Thanks, Barry!

156: Amazing Spider-Man #14

2011-11-10T14:08:00.000-06:00

Amazing Spider-Man #14
April 9, 1964

Here we have another impressively significant, key issue from the Silver Age - and isn't it amazing how many of those Stan & co. produced, in such an astoundingly short period of time? - with the first appearance of the character who would go on to become Spider-Man's greatest enemy. (Granted, the main and lasting reason for that notoriety wouldn't come about until years later, after Stan was no longer writing the title.) This first appearance particularly plays up the "Halloween goblin" aspect of his character; note not only the high-cheeked grin, but also the fact that he rides around not on the Goblin Glider - that would come later - but on a mechanical flying broomstick.

In his first appearance, the Goblin looks almost ... cute!
And yet the story itself is unmistakably silly. The Goblin wants to take down Spider-Man - so what does he do? What's the most evil and dastardly plan he can think of? Clearly, to approach a movie producer and claim he'll bring him Spider-Man, so the studio can film a story featuring them. WHAT? Spidey takes the pitch - hey, he could certainly use a film star's salary! - and they all fly out to the New Mexico desert. As the camera crew begins to set up, the Green Goblin and the Enforcers tell Spidey they should step away from the cameras to rehearse for a bit ... and that's when they attack in force. Without a doubt, this has to be one of the most convoluted plans for a villain that Stan's come up with yet!

Uh ... no. I don't think anyone was expecting that!
But as goofy as the setup may be, you certainly can't argue with Lee & Ditko packing as much action as possible into the pages - because we get a guest-appearance by the Hulk as well! (And is it truly just coincidence that both the villain and the guest-star are the same emerald shade? It's certainly never mentioned in the dialogue, as you'd expect.) We're just a couple of months away from the Hulk finally getting his shot at an ongoing feature once again, and Ditko will be Stan's partner there - for a while, at least. Was that plan already in place, and this outing was just to test their work on the creature once again, while reminding the readers that the Hulk was still extant? Or was it actually the other way round - with Ditko & Lee's work this issue providing the impetus to make them realize they could give the monster another go?

Hulking out.
So, all in all, the first appearance of the Green Goblin isn't the most impressive of debuts, and could easily have been forgotten - until the final few panels. Through some clever staging and dialogue, Stan & Steve shine a spotlight on the question of just who the goblin is, and as a result the readers' interest is suddenly piqued. We know now, of course - but as with so many of the successes in this era, they were just making it up as they went along (and the actual reveal would be famously controversial). Still, that smallest of decisions did give the readers a bit of a mystery with which to end the tale, and something for Lee & Ditko to follow up on ... and soon!

The mystery begins!
(Click to enlarge.)

155: Fantastic Four #28

2011-10-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

Fantastic Four #28
April 9, 1964

Hey, check that out! For the first time ever, we've got the Fantastic Four teaming up with the X-Men! And so soon after the two-part tale featuring the FF's adventure with the Avengers in #25-26. (Heck, there was only a single issue separating that story from this one!) By now, Stan's figured out that the best way to sell these new titles is through ample cross-promotion - and with the FF being the flagship title in his stable, that's clearly the book in which to do it.

Sue's almost right. It's actually the Avengers who fought the Space Phantom!
And speaking of success - you have to admit that's a great visual Jack Kirby's conjured up for the cover. Let's face it: the Awesome Android is a great visual period, and one that's far more eye-catching than that of the Thinker (despite the fact that the Android hardly appears). And Jack must have realized this too; after all, contrast the cover above to that which graced the Thinker's first appearance in Fantastic Four #15. There's simply no comparison!

Um. Wouldn't adding more clay just make the puppet look like the Blob?
Continuing to focus on the cover for a moment, it's not just the art that's a resounding success, as even the copy holds its weight. A potential reader wouldn't even have to look within to glean that the story inside must be an absolute pile-on: The Fantastic Four AND the X-Men, AND the Thinker and his Awesome Android ... AND the Puppet Master too??? Whew! And yet it's notable that the villains are exclusively FF baddies, and not (as would often feature in later team-up stories) a pair for each of them - like, for example, Magneto and Doctor Doom.

Usually in these face-offs, the two token females are matched up.
But here, Marvel Girl takes on the powerhouse that's The Thing! Nice.
The only downside to the issue is that the plot is rather, well, bunk. The Thinker has the Puppet Master mentally take control of Professor X, who directs his X-Men to fight the Fantastic Four. They fight them at the Baxter Building, then lure the FF to a lonely mesa and fight them there. At the end, the Beast manages to smash the Master's puppet, and the fracas is over (albeit with the villains escaping). Ho-hum. But in all honesty - the plot's not the important thing here. Instead, it's really all about the excitement of pitting two of Marvel's mightiest teams against one another, and seeing what happens. It may not be the most compelling story for either of them - but to any kids who picked this up off the stands, it gives enough of an intriguing glimpse of these characters to make them maybe pick up the next issues of not just one, but two, new comic mags...

Whoa! Trippy.

154: Strange Tales #122

2011-10-23T10:41:00.002-05:00

Strange Tales #122
April 9, 1964

Previously, it had been a bit of a surprise to see a story open with a reference to another book. Well, here it goes even further, as we start with a footnote to a previous story on the very cover! And if that's not enough, the story begins with a recap of that adventure; not the most striking way to kick off a story. What's worse, the recap doesn't end until the bottom of page 3! And, y'know, when you've only got 14 pages to tell your story in the first place, that's not a very economical approach. Did Stan realize too late there wasn't that much story in the Terrible Trio's return, and was just stalling for time?

Even Stan's aware of this story's excess.
Oddly enough, this story's over-reliance on the past isn't the only direction in which it looks, as the yarn unusually features not one but two instances of teases as to future tales. At the end of the recap detailling the Trio's original exile, we're once again shown the image of Doom flying off into unknown space. The next panel, however, goes on to say: "Now, before we resume our tale, for the benefit of those who wonder with the Fantastic Four whether Dr. Doom will ever return, we have this word ... He does return ... more dangerous than ever ... in the Fantastic Four Annual #2 'The secrets of Dr. Doom!'" And later, the final shot in the story is one of the Torch speaking directly to the reader, hawking the FF's next adventure in the pages of Fantastic Four #28. Stan's always been a natural salesman, yes - but usually this kind of promotion and cross-marketing has taken place via the house ads, or in the "Special Announcements" section of the letters pages. Putting them directly into the story itself might just be a step too far....

A somewhat rare occurrence of the Marvel characters breaking the fourth wall.
The Terrible Trio seems to possess the self-esteem of whipped dogs. At the end of their last fiasco, Dr. Doom tricked them - giving them not their promised pay of $5000 each, but instead a one-way ticket to another dimension. Having now escaped from their exile, though, their thoughts are surprisingly not on revenge for their betrayal, but rather on an overeager desire to impress Doom and regain his favor (once he returns himself, that is) by capturing the Fantastic Four, one at a time - starting with the Human Torch. And what, do they think, is to prevent Doom from turning on them again? The thought seemingly never occurs. Well, I suppose that, out of this makeshift foursome, Doom had been the brains of the group....

Note how Ditko's crazy interdimensional visuals morph
into the green design of Nightmare's garb. Snazzy!
Meanwhile, the Doctor Strange back-up story makes an odd misstep at its beginning, when the Doc falls asleep to find himself in a different dimension, being attacked by magicks and sources he can't predict. It soon turns out to be Nightmare, of course - and yet it seems odd that even this small bit of suspense at the identity of his attacker is telegraphed by the opening splash page of the story, which identifies Mr. Mare as the villain of the piece. You may recall that a similar predicament occurred in The Amazing Spider-Man #13, when the mystery of the crime-committing Spidey was spoiled by the cover appearance of the new villain. But there, it was understandable - because Mysterio has an incredibly eye-catching design, and his appearance on the cover might have sold more copies than not. Here, though, there's no excuse! And that's a shame, because although the story isn't a bad one, it's also not the most distinctive - and that bit of mystery at the beginning could have gone a long way towards imparting just a bit more flavor to the tale.

The haunting tone in Strange's closing speech is surprisingly effective....

153: Tales of Suspense #55

2011-10-11T09:32:00.000-05:00

Tales of Suspense #55
April 9, 1964

And so concludes the Mandarin two-parter we left Iron Man in last time. Regrettably, it turns out that most of the interesting bits were in the story's setup in part one; this really is just an action piece by comparison. Iron man manages to break free of the Mandarin's trap (of course) and then they fight for a bit - with M using disintegrator rays, illusions, tractor beams and more. Really, the most notable point is at the climax, when Tony smashes all of the villain's equipment before he leaves - America's stolen missiles reclaimed - and the Mandarin, thwarted, swears ever-lasting vengeance. Finally we see the beginning of the Mandarin's obsession, and the first few steps on his road to becoming Iron Man's "big bad".

I suppose this is comedy?
But wait, there's more! In addition to the 13-page feature story, this issue also boasts five pages of "insider info"! And this is significant, because it means that the 5-page filler stories in Tales of Suspense are no more; starting next month, Iron Man's page count will bump up to 18 pages! Well, at least for the next few issues, until the format of the magazine changes once again, and quite dramatically....

Um ... now that we know Stark's aware of the chemistry
between Happy & Pepper, this really is churlish behavior.
Unfortunately, the bonus feature this month is really just a lot of filler in its own right. The first page is just a splash, with a shot of Iron Man standing in front of various of his villains. This is followed by a two-page explanation of donning his armor - which would be more interesting if we hadn't already seen that very thing just a few issues ago. A one page "more info about" does actually give some better insights into the man and the machine, but the piece is then rounded off with a "Pepper Potts' Pin-up Page", showing nothing more than Potts posing for Happy Hogan on a beach. Unusually, the text itself acknowledges the change in her appearance: "When first introduced in "Tales of Suspense" Pepper had been a perky, pug-nosed, freckle-faced imp! But, after she realized how Tony Stark feels about glamorous females ... Pepper went to her beauty parlor and 'shot the works!' Today she's one of the most gorgeous females in comics or anywhere else!"

Notes on the machine.
(Click to enlarge.)
Meanwhile, the backup "Tales of the Watcher" is amusing. One day, while the Watcher is gazing at the Earth from his home on the moon (now identified as his temporary domicile, definitively clearing up a bit of confusion), a bug-eyed alien lands and explains his plan to steal the Earth's sun, needed to replace his homeworld's star which is now dying out. Aware of the Watcher's oath to not interfere, the alien happily answers all his incessant questions, knowing there's nothing the enigmatic being can do to stop him. As it turns out, however, the Watcher had realized that the alien had parked his craft on a bog (a bog?? On the moon??), and was delaying him just long enough for the ship to sink - taking with it the alien's sun-stealing apparatus, as well as all his communications. Desperate, the creature begs the Watcher for help, explaining that without his ship he can't call home for help, and will die when his limited air supply runs out - but the Watcher, unmercifully, reiterates that there's naught he can do ... but watch.

The Watcher pulls a filibuster.

152: Journey into Mystery #105

2011-09-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Journey into Mystery #105
April 2, 1964

This issue features the return of not one but two Thor villains - the menacing Mister Hyde and the ridiculous Cobra. And, you know, Thor's having had enough villains by this point that they can easily cross paths and lead to a bona fide Super-Villain Team-Up is a sort of marker as to how far this thunder god has come. Granted, it may not be as classic a pairing as that of Dr. Doom and the Sub-Mariner, but it's a start...!

Oh, the melodrama!
After the obligatory misunderstanding and battle that every superpowered meeting seems to lead to (and didn't we just see one of those?), the Cobra and Mister Hyde decide to join forces to take down the hero who's beaten them both. This is when Hyde shows the Cobra his latest invention - the ludicrously powerful "Time Reversal Ray". When fired at a person, the machine locks onto the target, tracks their movements backwards through time, and displays their tracked events for the wielder to see. The extent to which this could be exploited and misused seems almost limitless, and the only reason they don't discover Thor's secret identity is because as soon as Thor disappears from the scene (to be replaced by Donald Blake), the machine loses its lock. Still, it's such an unbalancingly powerful device that I'd have expected it to disappear after this story; to my surprise, however, it would reappear in one form or another a couple of times down the line.

Bizarre concept, yes. But it makes for a neat visual!
Continuing with the subplot of our hero's frustrated love for Jane Foster, Doctor Donald Blake decides that the only way he can win her heart is by giving up his identity of Thor (since Odin has specifically declared that Jane is unworthy of the love of a god). This is a compelling theme, and told right it would be the main thing we take away from the story. Unfortunately, what most sticks in mind are the couple of dumb loopholes that are used to get around the restrictions Stan has set up for the character. First, a captive Don Blake, separated from the cane that turns him into Thor, is able to trigger the transformation anyway - by getting the villains to tap his cane near him instead. (Okay, so ANYONE can turn him into Thor by tapping his cane? Really?) Of course, once Blake has turned into Thor and the cane has turned into his hammer, Thor is helped by the fact that no other mortals can lift or move the weapon, thus preventing anyone from taking it away from him. But not, as we find, anything - as we see when Hyde uses a machine of his own devising to nab Thor's hammer ... with magnets. If you can read these pages without eye-rolls and groans, you've thicker skin than I.

Heimdall on the Bridge.
Meanwhile, the "Tales of Asgard" backup strip gives us another tale of the mighty Heimdall, whose origin as the Asgardians' guardian we just saw last ish. In this story, entitled "When Heimdall Failed!", the King of the Storm Giants sends a Vanna - a fairy-like creature so tiny and insubstantial it can be neither seen nor heard - to spy on the denizens of the godly realm. And yet mighty Heimdall's senses are so attuned that he can tell something is amiss - that something has passed him by at his vigilant post - and so he rushes to the royal chambers where the creature has made its way. By invoking the Odinpower, Asgard's ruler is able to pluck the creature from the air and punish it accordingly, at which point Heimdall lays himself down to receive his own grave consequence for having let the winged sprite by. Instead, Odin congratulates him, pointing out not just his heightened sense but his commitment to sound the alarm, despite lacking evidence of any kind. By the vignette's end, Heimdall is standing watch on the Rainbow Bridge once again....

Heimdall praised.

151: Tales to Astonish #57

2011-09-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tales to Astonish #57
April 2, 1964

You can't say Stan didn't know when to hop on a trend. Once already in this week's releases - Daredevil #2 - Stan traded on the popularity of Spider-Man; now Tales to Astonish jumps on the bandwagon. Was Spidey's success really so meteoric that Stan felt justified aping or guesting the character in every mag needing a sales boost? Could be! (Although with the creatures being invoked here - ants, wasps and spiders - it's actually more surprising that such a team-up hasn't happened before now.)

The Wasp tests out her new stinger.
And yet the real milestone for this issue isn't the guest-star, but the continued evolution of Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, as Hank Pym unveils his newest creation: a weapon for her which consists of shooting bursts of compressed air. This "Wasp's Sting" isn't quite up to the bio-electric one Pym would later invent, but it's a start. More importantly, when coupled with the relatively recent addition of the Invisible Girl's invisible force fields - which can be shaped and directed offensively as well - this shows a commendable effort on Stan's part to gradually turn the Marvel women from passive spectators into strong, involved players in their own right.

You are now listening to Anthill Radio!
The plot (such as it is) is serviceable, if uninspired - but then, in a tale featuring both a hero upgrade and a hero guest-star, that's not too surprising. Hank Pym's main bad guy (such as he is), Egghead, returns to cause mischief with his own ability to talk to the ants, convincing them that Spider-Man plans to attack Giant-Man and the Wasp! When Pym's antennae-adorned network passes along this message, he and Jan go on the offensive, and the obligatory super-hero battle ensues.

I assume this "natural enemies" joke was dropped the next time they met.
Or at least - I certainly hope so!
Finally, the Larry Lieber backup tale rounds off the issue - and this time, not with another story-within-a-story of "The Wonderful Wasp Tells a Tale!", but rather with a fully-embraced Wasp solo story! While the yarn is suitably miniature in scope - a story simply about Jan apprehending a jewel thief who tries to escape through the city sewers - the obstacles she encounters while Wasp-sized make it seem like one of the early Ant-Man stories, akin to Pym's battle against the Hijacker or the much-loved Scarlet Beetle battle. As a result, the Wasp spotlight story is actually quite refreshing and enjoyable, and makes one wish they'd started this feature a couple issues earlier! But as it turns out, next issue's backup story will also be her last....

The bumbling hero seems a staple of Larry Lieber stories, from what I can tell.
Or did that happen only in his Ant-Man tales?

150: Daredevil #2

2011-09-14T11:18:00.000-05:00

Daredevil #2
April 2, 1964

As previously discussed, the first issue of Daredevil was illustrated by Bill Everett - and, due to a variety of issues, took six months to complete. As a result, with issue #2 the art chores were taken over by Joe Orlando, a man who had worked for EC Comics in the 1950s, and would begin drawing for Warren Publishing's Creepy in late 1964, before beginning an editorial stint at DC Comics - where he would remain for the next 30 years. But it's these early EC and Creepy jobs that most concern us, as his illustrations show a scratchiness, and a slight weirdness, that made him the perfect fit for the stories from those particular publishers. One of the pleasant surprises in Daredevil #1 was the way Everett's art clearly did not attempt to ape Marvel's coalescing "house style", and I'm happy to report that element continues here.

Here's a panel where you can clearly see the appealing weirdness
of Joe Orlando's art. Check out Electro's creepy eyes!
The first issue made sure to give the readers a hero in the same vein as Spider-Man, and this second one continues that tack, featuring as its second villain (and first super-villain) Electro, a relatively recent addition to Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Clearly Stan was hoping to duplicate the kind of gold he struck with Spidey, but he might have hewn a little too closely here. Why, he even repeats the opening kick of "Hero nabs some crooks; thinks how easy crime-fighting has gotten; gets cocky and wishes for a real challenge" that he used in ASM #3!

So he fixes the busted door by pressing it together with enough force
that the door fuses back together? ...Okay then.
But that's not all! While the first issue was largely devoid of any of the shared-world elements that Stan had been layering into all these new titles, this story opens with a guest appearance by the Thing, soon joined by the rest of the Fantastic Four as well. They've come to Nelson and Murdock because they're signing a new lease on their Baxter Building headquarters and need a lawyer to look the place over first - and how marvelously inspired is that, to have such a pedestrian motive for bringing them across his path? Naturally, when Electro sees the news that the FF is flying to Washington DC for yet another fête, he decides to break into their headquarters to steal their equipment - and his clash with Daredevil is set.

I'm on a horse!
Ever since the blind sculptress Alicia Masters was first introduced to the Fantastic Four, readers have unceasingly asked why someone of Reed's genius could not find a way to cure her. The top-level answer is, of course, that what the infirmity brings to the strip (the poignant theme that Ben Grimm's inner nature is far more important than any outward appearance) is much too compelling to give up; and yet, the readership can be forgiven for wondering how these many high-tech marvels can reside in the same world as such continuing low-tech ailments. So it's notable that Stan endeavors to bring the question to the fore in DD's second outing, rather than trying to evade the topic altogether. The answer as provided is somewhat unsatisfying - Matt turns down even investigating a doctor's cure, worried that regaining his eyesight might remove his super-powers - but it's impressive to see that Stan is already anticipating the kinds of questions readers might have for this new hero.

The scene: stunning. The content: ludicrous!
(Click to enlarge.)

This Month in Marvel: April 1964

2011-09-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Before I resume these posts, I wanted to kick off a new mini-feature at this blog. As already seen, by this time Stan had taken to including a "Special Announcements" section in the letters pages, listing all of the comics coming out that month, and a short description of each. It's one of those brilliant yet obvious moves from the canny Stan - waiting until the readers had reached the end of the story, presumably wowed and delighted with the exciting tale they'd just read, then springing forth with the trained hawker's cry of: "But wait - there's MORE!" Out of the many factors contributing to Marvel's rise to dominance in these early years, this simple trick is one that's likely overlooked.

(Click to enlarge.)

Of course, you may notice that the column shown here doesn't list Marvel's flagship title amongst the offerings. That's because the excerpted example comes from the letters page of Fantastic Four #28 - and it would be rather silly, wouldn't it, to tell the readers about the comic they'd just finished reading? (Although, in a similar vein, I recently laughed upon discovering that 1979's Justice League of America #166 from DC Comics contained a full-page house ad ... for Justice League of America #166. Oh, how the readers must have boggled!)
I was surprised, though, when I stopped to compare the "Special Announcements" sections of various titles from the same month ... and discovered that the descriptions were different in each one! For instance, in FF #28, you can see that one of the blurbs reads as follows:
- DAREDEVIL #2 is on sale now - drawn by famous Joe Orlando, and featuring the thrilling battle between the man without fear and Electro, the awesome menace who almost defeated Spider-Man! Until D.D. gets his own letters page, we'd appreciate your sending your comments right here to the F.F.
while the one in Amazing Spider-Man #14 says:
- Well, although Big Bill Everett didn't have the time to continue drawing DAREDEVIL after the first issue, we were extremely lucky in getting an old friend, Jolly Joe Orlando to take over beginning with ish #2. (Now on sale). Joe's art is really in the Spider-Man style, and we hope you'll get the same kick out of it that you do out of Smilin' Stevie's. You may have seen Joe's delightful drawings many times in MAD Magazine, as well as in many old-time Marvel mags. As for Big Bill, we won't stop trying to lure him away from his present job in New England, and when we do, you can bet we'll have a new mag for him to do. And, by the way - Daredevil tackle's Spidey's old enemy, Electro, in the current ish, so it'll give you a chance to compare Spidey's fighting style with that of Marvel's newest star.
This was, frankly, stunning to me. The number of duties for which Stan was responsible, as both writer and editor, already beggars belief. But while these blurbs were obviously a great idea, wouldn't the smarter move have been to write out a description of each book once, then keep it by his desk for ease of copying into each mag's letter column? Isn't writing from scratch every time unnecessary, and akin to reinventing the wheel? The only thing that makes any sense to me is that Stan was such a prolific writer, and the words poured out of him with such speed and ease, that it literally made no difference: Coming up with the words each time really wasn't measurably faster, for Stan, than copying that which was already writ. There are so many reasons why Stan Lee forged such a legacy in the 1960s, and made such an enduring mark out of such small circumstance. This, then, is simply one reason more.
So: Going forward, I intend to kick off each new Marvel month with a scan of one of these pages, as a preview of what's to come. (And thanks once again to Barry Pearl, author of The Essential Marvel Age Reference Project, who has agreed to provide direct scans of these "Special Announcements" for this very purpose.) Observant readers may have already noticed the "This Month's Reading List" sidebar, which has graced the front page of this blog for the past few months and mirrors the same function; the difference there is that the comics in that box are listed in the order I plan to review them - so anyone who wishes to read the next comic in advance of the postings can do so.
Now let's get back to the comics!

Sidebar: The Essential Marvel Age Reference Project 1961-1977, by Barry Pearl

2011-08-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

If you're a regular reader of this blog, and specifically the oft-illuminating discussions that go on in the comments of each post, you might have noticed the name Barry Pearl attached to some of the most thorough and frequent thoughts. Like his longtime friend Nick Caputo, Barry grew up in 1960s New York City, which provides a specific utility to his insights; after all, he was absolutely the target demographic, being a school kid in this decidedly magical era, picking up his comic books at the newsstands and candy shops every week. He's never lost his love for early Marvel, and for the last few decades - no joke - he's been steadily compiling a book about those transformative comics: The Essential Marvel Age Reference Project 1961-1977. And it's finally out!
So: What's in this book? I'm glad you asked! Simply put, it's a stunningly rich and comprehensive look at the early years of Marvel, with a scope and scale never before attempted. For instance, after some background material on Marvel's Golden Age and setting the scene (the early 1960s), Barry delves into the seismic shift that 1961's Fantastic Four #1 delivered, then charts how this new kind of comic gradually affected all of Marvel's output through the rest of that decade, and into the 1970s. In fact, you might recognize that particular approach as similar to the remit of this very blog! There's a reason that readers such as Barry and Nick were drawn to the discussions that grow in these posts, after all. Great minds think alike!
And it's this contextual insight that I find the most fascinating, wherein Barry discusses growing up in that specific time and place. See, some of the most welcome additions that readers have brought to the comments in this blog are the moments when one of them (for instance) point out how a certain Iron Man story was influenced by a hotly-anticipated blockbuster film. Which might then segue into a discussion on how films were released back then. Or which public figures certain characters were based on. And these kinds of details are so valuable! Due to the reprint editions currently available, often in a variety of forms, anyone who wishes to can read the old comics that were so incredibly foundational to today's comic book industry - but the one thing those reprints can't deliver is the historical context in which these comics were published. In this book, thankfully, Barry provides that in spades.
But that's not all! As indicated by its title, this is first and foremost a reference book, and the amount of data he's compiled is truly staggering. Every issue of every comic has a listing - with cover dates, characters, and full creator credits. Additional charts show the entire Marvel output on a year-by-year, month-by-month basis, so you can see at a glance exactly what the House of Ideas was releasing in any given period. And, most impressive of all, character maps purport to list every appearance in every title of just about every character - in chronological order. If you're familiar with the Marvel resources available on the Internet, you might recognize this as similar in design to the awesome Marvel Chronology Project - but in this case, it's era-specific and, most usefully, doesn't require one to be online to access it. And unlike the community-created MCP, this gargantuan undertaking is largely the work of one author! As I said before: Staggering. (A full list of the features and contents is detailed here.)
Yet even with all that insight, all that context, all that data and more ... it's still not done. After all, Da Vinci famously said that "Art is never finished, only abandoned" - a thought that most artists can probably sympathize with, as they keep seeing opportunities for improvement in their works. In fact, Barry continues to tinker with the book. And this is good news! See, even though the book is more than complete - staggeringly more - he keeps refining it; keeps finding more and more additions that belong in this fantastically comprehensive study. For instance, when Barry sent me the then-current edition of his book last year, I was amazed at just how much it contained. And yet the newest edition now features extensive hyperlinks, audio snippets of interviews and theme songs, and video clips too. It's a full multimedia experience!
In conclusion: Hopefully you'll forgive me for this bald and overly-blatant plug - but with any luck I've been able to convey to you that this is a product I am absolutely excited by, and think is entirely suited to the tastes of the readers of this blog. After all, over 1000 pages of context, data, reference and reviews? At $35, that's a steal! No, I'm not a paid shill in any way; I really am just that bowled over by the enormity of the work that Barry has put in on this compendium over many, many years, and would love to see it reach as much of its intended audience as possible.

If you think that might be you - I strongly urge you to check it out!

Not Dead Yet

2011-08-11T09:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updating here. For the past several weeks, I was hit with the double-whammy of swamped under work AND sick from multiple causes. I'm just about recovered on that front, and have (mostly) dug myself out from under the other, so hopefully content should resume very soon...!

149: Tales of Suspense #54

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tales of Suspense #54
March 10, 1964

Here we see the return of the Mandarin, less than five issues after his debut. Perhaps Stan realized after the fact that the original tale's 13 pages was "too much in too little" - not nearly enough space to develop a character with so many facets - and wanted a chance to rectify that. Or perhaps Stan just saw in him the potential for an arch-nemesis to Iron Man, something he would become and which was much needed to spice up the still meandering strip. But whatever the case: He's back! And though the page count may remain the same, this time the story is a two-parter, continued in the next issue....

Well, that and killing the architect.
And the construction workers who built it.
That's the only way, for sure!
When writing about the Mandarin's debut, I noted that "there is something appropriate about Iron Man's archenemy being a product of the politics of the time, given that Iron Man himself came out of the Vietnam War." So in this issue it's doubly appropriate that before Iron Man tracks down the baddie in Red China, he first visits 'Nam to inspect the missiles his company has built for the US military (and specifically to find out why all of them are failing in action). It should be a momentous occasion, returning for the first time to the place where he nearly died and was instead reborn ... and yet, oddly, its significance as the site of his greatest creation isn't even mentioned. Fortunately, the country will be visited again in this very magazine in just seven months' time - yet, surprisingly, not by Iron Man...!

The Mandarin returns!
Now with all-new "Jumping Monkey" power!
Typically, what's perhaps the most intriguing development in this issue is something that takes just a few panels, and may have been little more than an afterthought to Stan. Before leaving town, Stark notices the growing tension between Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, and so sends Happy on an inspection tour of Stark's other facilities to keep him occupied - an inspection Stark himself admits Happy is unqualified to perform. Later, Tony privately faces the fact that he sent Happy away because he noticed the chemistry brewing between Happy and Pepper, and was jealous. While this is the first sign of Stan actually moving the love triangle from a passive one (Happy loves Pepper / Pepper loves Tony / Tony's unconcerned) to an active one, what's even more interesting is how this deepens Tony into a more complex character. It was daring enough in the first place for Stan to have made his new hero a figure of the military-industrial complex - an institution which a significant portion of his readership was already inclined to hate and distrust - yet with this move we see our hero doing something unambiguously selfish, abusing his position of power and status over his employees, and getting away with it! It's not glamorized, it's not defended, and Tony chastises himself for his weakness, but still: To a reader in the 1960s, seeing a hero do something that's clearly wrong (or, at the very least, "not right"), must have been a real shock.

What a fantastic closing image!
Meanwhile, in the backup tale... Man, I don't even know where to start! Okay, last issue we witnessed the origin of the Watchers, as they foolishly gave nuclear power to a society not yet advanced enough to use it responsibly, and in the wake of that world's destruction vowed never again to interfere with other races. An extreme reaction, but maybe it's justified, right? Well, in this second tale told in the aftermath of the first, the Watcher agonizes as he sees a radioactive space cloud (!) bearing down on an inhabited planet. Should he intervene? But no! He can't! What's he to do? He frets, and worries, and watches impotently ... until a nearby star suddenly goes nova and hurtles a dead planet into the path of the space cloud, the two dangers cancelling each other out in their mutual assured destruction. (By the way, that sound you just heard was my jaw shattering on the floor. As well as the story's credibility.) The lesson is clear: Had the Watcher interfered, the now-safe world would instead have been doomed. And yet, even beyond the nakedly contrived circumstances that so firmly yank us out of the story, the story fails in its goals by actually asking us to think about the idea at its heart: Are they seriously telling us that the lesson is "Don't get involved if you see someone in need of help"? That it's best to just let things take care of themselves? I mean, that's directly opposed to the moral - some might say comics' greatest moral - at the heart of the original Spider-Man tale: With great power comes great responsibility. Given the lesson here, what would have happened if Peter Parker had stopped the burglar that one, fateful night? Uncle Ben would have - well, gotten killed by a stray planetoid, I guess.

The Watcher invented "emo".
Not everyone knows this.

148: Amazing Spider-Man #13

2011-06-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

Amazing Spider-Man #13
March 10, 1964

As our story opens, we find someone committing crimes in the guise of Spider-Man! Obviously, we readers know it can't be him - but if not, then who? We might have wondered if it was the Chameleon, come back in disguise to get both rich and revenge - if, that is, the cover itself hadn't proclaimed the appearance of a new baddie inside. But though delaying the fact of a new villain's debut might have made for a more suspenseful story once purchased and in the readers' hands, allowing us time for countless conjectures, we also can't deny that Mysterio's design is incredibly eye-catching, and might certainly have sold more covers than not. A more suspenseful story is thus squarely at odds with the sales appeal of an eye-catching cover - and, as it turns out, it's not the only opposed elements to be found herein.

We all knew it was coming: Pete's finally cracking up.
And so, faced with eyewitness proof of this evil Spidey's crimes, Peter starts to wonder if he's losing his mind. Neat! Yes, others have dressed up in a Spider-Man suit before, but this one can climb buildings and shoot webs! So Peter decides to do the scientific thing and submit himself to diagnosis. But he does this by going in for a mental checkup from a psychiatrist - and in full costume, to boot! As the cover states, this is a development that no comics reader would ever have expected to see. But alas - we in fact don't, as Spidey has only begun to speak before realizing that in the course of such an exam he might accidentally divulge his secret identity. And so he ducks back out the doctor's window, only minutes after he'd popped in. What a tease!

Another of Ditko's great crowd shots. Characters in the foreground and back, from left to right,
with a full range of thoughts and reactions. It feels like a real New York street!
In the wake of Spider-Man's terrible turn, the enigmatic Mysterio appears, offering his services to catch Spider-Man and make him pay. And for a Marvel villain, it's not a bad plan: to first collect the loot from the robberies, then rake in acclaim for catching the alleged perp! Interestingly, readers of Steve Ditko's other ongoing feature might have rightly seen Mysterio, complete with swirling smoke and seemingly magical powers, as belonging to the same sorcerous archetype as Doctor Strange. Which is why it's so frustrating to see this possibility immediately undercut by Lee's script, which finds Spidey coming up with instant scientific explanations for everything Mysterio does. ("How does he keep his balance that way without falling? I'll bet his shoes are magnetized!" "The web is dissolving - vaporizing!! As though sprayed with a fine chemical mist, too small for the eye to see!") Mightn't the story have been more suspenseful were we allowed to think of the villain as a powerful wielder of magic and mysticism, and completely out of Spider-Man's league - at least until the later revelation? It's another case of "two steps forward, one step back", and it makes one wonder if the writing so at odds with the art is a sign of the eventual rift between Lee and Ditko showing its first conflict here.

Check the note on the blueprint of the eyes:
"Two way mirror idea" "Cannot see in - can see out"
Finally, a cute side note about this issue: As intended and as first received, this is the first appearance of Mysterio, yes? But it wouldn't stay that way forever! For 1981's Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #51 would reveal that Mysterio had been one of the "aliens" seen working for the Tinkerer in ASM #2, himself subject to an earlier retcon in ASM #160 from 1976, which established that the villain and the alien invaders were in fact just a bunch of crooks in disguise. The later revelations may not sit entirely well with the initial Tinkerer story as originally presented - but then again, given such ludicrous elements as the disguised alien's supposedly lifelike mask, the original story wasn't entirely flawless, either!

Like last issue's fight in the art studio, this time the action crashes into a movie set.
It may again be needless, but it's enjoyable and appreciated!

147: Fantastic Four #27

2011-06-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Fantastic Four #27
March 10, 1964

Guest-starring Doctor Strange - and the fury of the Sub-Mariner! When Sue Storm is kidnapped by Namor, the Torch decides to call on the master of the black arts for aid. Though Johnny has only heard vague rumors of the man, he gambles on their truth and leaves a message asking for help. And so we get not only the first story mixing Doctor Strange with the rest of the Marvel Universe, but also the first instance of Strange drawn by someone besides Ditko (not counting covers) - specifically, Marvel's other giant of this era, Jack Kirby! An interesting note is that although Strange helps the FF locate Sue and successfully spies on the Sub-Mariner, Strange and Namor don't actually meet. It's rather appropriate, since in eight years' time they both would form one half of the greatest "non-team" in comics!

Oddly enough, the scene doesn't bear much resemblance to his home as
portrayed in Strange Tales. Perhaps it lacks the claustrophobic intimacy of Ditko's pen?
This issue finally brings to a boil the love triangle between Reed, Sue and Subby that's been simmering since Namor's initial return in Fantastic Four #4. Early on, Reed declares to Ben & Johnny his intent to marry Sue; and yet, in typically ironic timing, this is exactly when the Sub-Mariner decides that he can't live any longer without her. Hence the abduction (a tried and true component of every love story, yes?). The effect this has upon Reed clashes marvellously with our usual conception of Mr. Fantastic as a stuffed shirt, interested in his lab and little else. His passions and his fury roar into life, and both Johnny and Ben are taken aback with their force. If this is Stan Lee addressing any reader complaints about the team's "dull" leader, it's certainly an effective reply!

You get the sense of two scared kids watching their father seriously freak out!
The only complaint with the romance subplot, really, is that readers might feel they've read it somewhere before. In fact, readers in 1964 would have seen it just last week! For isn't it remarkably similar to the most recent Giant-Man story, and the burgeoning romance of Hank and Jan? Think about it: At the start of the tale, Reed openly declares his love for Sue. Check. He's even bought a ring! Check. But before he can pop the question, chaos ensues, and at the end of the tale there's some measure of doubt in Reed & Sue's hearts about the true depths of the other's feelings - and the question goes unasked. Finally, finally: Check. Look, recycling stories is fine, and was done quite often in these early years of comics. But repeating one's stories in the very same month?! That's a new record, even for Stan! But at least the postponement of this resolution will be much, much shorter than that facing Hank and Jan - in fact, it will be only a year.

"Hey, Doc, we got a problem. Think you can help us out?""Sure thing, man. I'll just jump in the ocean and read the mind of a fish!"
On a lighter note, the story begins with Reed working in his lab, perfecting a new invention: The thought projector! As a device which allows a person to project their thoughts for all to see, it seems remarkably similar to certain powers we've seen Professor Xavier display during the first few issues of The X-Men. Could we perhaps conjecture that this might have something to do with the Torch's recent run-in with Iceman, and that a later report on the same might have got Reed to thinking about their leader, the mysterious Professor X? It could be, it could be ... and after all, the X-Men are set to guest-star in the very next ish!

Boii-oii-oiinngg!

146: Strange Tales #121

2011-06-14T20:46:00.000-05:00

Strange Tales #121
March 10, 1964

The first page describes the Plantman's return as "One of the most fearsome foes the Torch has ever faced!", and ... really, could even the most wide-eyed kid in 1964 have seriously believed that? This is a character who was hokey in his inception, and has remained hokey ever since, and his continued appearance through the bulk of Marvel's history is as unlikely as it is ridiculous. Granted, his debut did imply a certain mental instability (even beyond that required for the typical super-villain), and that alone could largely account for his actions here. Any reasonably-minded person would have considered himself fortunate to have escaped the first time, and left his evil plans behind! Or at the very least find himself a new enemy to obsess over, because the outcome should be obvious: Fire and heat trump vegetation, every time.

Johnny Storm: All washed up.
But rather than leave the Torch to other, more evenly-matched bad guys, the Plantman targets him for revenge, tracking Johnny down at his Glenville home. Although the scene is played mostly for laughs (he uses his plants to throw a bucket of water on Johnny, then taunts Storm's inability to stop the Plantman's next crime), the most compelling element is the early insight, if only implied, of the dangers to be found in deliberately eschewing a secret ID. The stories which riff on that today are a much darker shade, with a hero's loved ones terrorized or worse - yet even here, with the goofy Plantman's goofy plants, the seed of such fears are still present on the page.

Y'know, when you're taken down by dew-covered acorns ...
it might be time to call it a day.
The backup story sees a return as well, as we once again face the menace of Baron Mordo! But while he'd quickly worn out his welcome by being used far too often at the start, his absence these past few months has made all the difference, and his reappearance is well received. And there are further signs of Ditko and Lee figuring out the strip when Mordo prevents Dr. Strange's astral image returning to his body - for we're told that if Strange cannot reunite with his physical form inside of 24 hours, he'll surely perish! The significance here is that for the first time we're finally starting to get some rules in place for the Doctor's magical travels and sorcerous powers, rather than have him solve every little crisis du jour with the latest bit of arcana ex machina. It makes Strange no longer as all-powerful as he'd seemed, and goes a way towards restoring a relatability and sense of danger, both of which had been of late fading fast.

"123 Underwear Lane. Hahahaha--!"
*click*
And yet in contrast to the great strides being made in some areas, there are still certain odds and ends which, while not too distracting, do seem a bit off. For it can't escape our notice that despite the Wax Museum being both story-titled and cover-featured ... it actually has very little to do with the plot. Did Stan, upon receiving the pages, latch onto that element as the tale's most distinctive and salable feature, regardless of its relative unimportance? Or, conversely, did the drawn story perhaps deviate markedly from the pitch - with Stan ballparking to Steve, "Hey! How 'bout a yarn where Doc Strange fights Baron Mordo in a Wax Museum?!", and then Ditko fulfilling the letter of the request, if not entirely the spirit?

In this context, "magic" seems to mean "we can make up whatever science we like."

145: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #7

2011-06-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #7
March 3, 1964

It's sad to say, but this is Kirby's last issue as regular penciller for the title. Against all odds, he & Stan have created a war comic that's a successful blend of action, humor and pathos - but now, it seems, it's time for him to move on. And so we ask: What prompted this? Was it dissatisfaction with the work? Did it not appeal to him as much as the bombastic and over-the-top cosmic stories starring characters like the Fantastic Four and Thor? Were his talents just being spread too thin? As it happens, the true answer may be that he was simply a victim of his & Stan's own success on the title - as, beginning with the very next issue, the comic will finally go monthly! And while Jack was a veritable speed demon on art, an additional monthly comic might have been more than even he could handle, in a way which a bimonthly one was not.

Fury strikes.
Oddly enough, this farewell story for Jack is one that doesn't play to his typical strengths of wall-to-wall action, but is at its heart a quieter, more cerebral story. One night, while Fury and his Howlers are on a mission with the French underground to destroy a strategic ammo dump, all hell breaks loose. Nick suddenly has an unexplained change of heart, yells that they have to stop, and strikes his accompanying superior officer to make his point. This, as the cover indicates, is all that's needed to get Fury court-martialed - but since a bomb struck the company amidst the chaos, leaving him concussed and with a case of amnesia, he can't remember why, and thus has no defense!

I like the creativity found in the visual storytelling above; remove all
the dialogue and you'd still have a scene that's distinctive and clear.
In an interesting move, this story thus becomes more a courtroom drama than the "stealth missions and gunfire" war comic we've come to expect. The departure is a welcome one, however, and is done with both distinction and subtlety. For instance, the prosecuting officer actually seems a decent guy, and although he believes Fury is guilty, he genuinely forgives Nick's emotional outbursts. Quite different from the underhanded prosecutors we often see cast in this role! The highlight of the issue, though, comes from the character witnesses called upon, who give us our very first glimpse of Nick's youth as a troubled young orphan in (we can surmise) the 1920s.

To no one's surprise, Fury was a scrapper even in his teens.
In fact, the only downside to the story comes in the resolution. As mentioned, Fury's case is made nearly impossible by the fact of his amnesia - a plot device eye-rollingly convenient even in the best of times. But, as the clock ticks closer to his conviction, and German air forces converge on the site of the court martial, we wonder: What did Nick know? How will it come out? Had the ammo stock the Howlers were to target been sabotaged by Allied forces, designed to destroy the Nazi fighters at the time of use? Will the natural progress of events show Nick to be vindicated, in the proverbial nick of time? Sadly, the answer is no. Instead, the court is caught in the blast of some German bombers, and Nick's poor head - jarred for a second time - dislodges the amnesia, providing him once more with the answer he needs. Y'know, once was convenient enough. Twice in the same story though? That's the kind of cheap ploy usually seen only in cartoons - and it has the unfortunate effect of reducing this otherwise compelling story to the level of one.

This unusually serious tale still manages the rare moment of comedy.

144: Journey into Mystery #104

2011-06-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Journey into Mystery #104
March 3, 1964

At the end of last issue, Thor redeclared his love for Jane, despite his father Odin's forbiddance. (Which is understandable; you never want your kid dating a girl from the wrong side of the Rainbow Bridge.) At his wit's end, he asks Loki for advice, despite all the bad news we've seen Thor's adopted brother bring about: proof that where Odin's sons are concerned, he really is blinded by love. Loki therefore suggests that Odin confront the problem directly, by leaving Asgard and travelling to Earth in person! Of course, it doesn't hurt his schemes that Odin then leaves Loki in charge....

Odin incognito.
So: Thor and Odin have been getting under each other's skins. Thor can't understand why Dad won't let him live his own life, while Odin is all "While you're under MY roof...!" about it. Who among us has never been there? A truly masterful schemer might have left this building friction to its own, and reaped the benefits of that failing relationship in the fullness of time. But Loki doesn't yet have that much subtlety to his machinations, and decides Odin's trip to Earth is his best opportunity to remove the All-Father permanently. To that end, he unleashes Odin's most fearsome enemies: Surtur the Fire Demon, whose ancient defeat we saw in Journey into Mystery #99, and Skagg the Storm Giant - although, based on the "ring of fire" Skagg is released from, Stan might have been thinking of Ymir instead. Details aside, this illustrates - for any readers who might have wondered - that the "Tales of Asgard" backup strips don't take place in a vacuum, and can in fact feed back into the main, present-day story. Stan and Jack are weaving a tighter, more cohesive whole out of the separate areas of Thor's life, and it makes for a stronger body of work in full.

Was that really the simplest way to address the situation? If so: WOW.
Fortunately, all is not lost, as watchful Heimdall hears of Loki's plans, and summons Balder the Brave to assist Thor and Odin on the earthly plane. And what a battle it is! Thor, Odin, and Heimdall on one side, with the titanic forces of Skagg and Surtur on the other - and the Earth caught between! But y'know, despite Odin's decrees that his son stop dating the Earth ladies, he really does have a soft spot for our race ... and so, in an effort to spare us the trauma and destruction that will surely ensure, he stops time and removes the entire human race to another dimension! The level of power this bespeaks is staggering, and the fact that it's done as an offhand gesture really makes us reassess our thoughts of this Asgardian god-king.

Perhaps Heimdall isn't taking the audition entirely seriously.
Meanwhile, in this issue's "Tales of Asgard" we get a bit of a change. The last series of backups had focused on the adventures of Thor as a young boy, culminating in his finally achieving the gift of his mighty hammer, Mjolnir. Now, we're told, begins a new set of biographical stories focusing on the other characters in the Asgardian mythos. And first up is mighty Heimdall, ever-vigilant guardian of the Rainbow Bridge! But for Heimdall to win that honor, he first has to prove that he's the best god for the job....

The starfield effect isn't present in the original artwork.
I don't care. I think this looks great!

143: Tales to Astonish #56

2011-06-02T09:55:00.000-05:00

Tales to Astonish #56
March 3, 1964

The cover proclaims: "At last Giant-Man has learned to use his great power of growth to its best advantage!" Is it unfair that those beginning words, "at last", are what I key into the strongest? Or, given the bumbling and bungling we've seen from him recently, is it entirely appropriate? Either way, any indication that Stan might have been noticing the problem is an encouraging one, and fortunately the cover pronouncement is not empty hyperbole. For the first time, this adventure sees Hank switch between his various sizes - ant-sized, giant-sized, and normal - at the drop of a hat, whenever the situation requires, and often back and forth in rapid succession. While the sight of a superhero rapidly popping pills (oh, alright, growth and shrinking "capsules") might seem a bit odd, the effect is nevertheless a display of competency that's quite unusual - for Hank Pym, at least.

This guy's gotta be a joke, right?
Tell me he's a joke.
Then again, if Pym had fallen flat against a villain as lame as this, the readership may have never forgiven him. You see, this time out Hank & Jan face the villainy of ... The Magician! Specifically, the kind you hire out to parties. No, I'm not kidding. Robbing his audience of their cash and jewels, he possesses no superpowers apart from the ridiculousness of Stan's Goofy Silver Age Writing. For instance, he can vanish objects by means of a suction-powered cane. He appears out of nowhere because he's lowered by a blimp - one which, since it's painted blue, is completely invisible against the sky. Etc. He'll be back very briefly in a couple of months, then never heard from again. It's not hard to see why.

Awww. That little Ant-Man looks so proud of himself!
Meanwhile, Hank & Jan's relationship shows signs of real progress, as Hank has gone out and bought an engagement ring. In typical sitcom fashion, however, Jan (fed up with Hank's lack of advances) drops a few hints about another suitor designed to make Pym jealous ... but instead he gets discouraged and talks himself out of it. By the end of the tale, they've admitted their feelings to each other, and hopes are high - and yet it will still be five more years until the two finally wed, and only then with supervillains, trickery and a bout of mental illness to boot.

I love how that ant keeps trying to signal Pym while he wallows.
"Quit moping, Hank! There's crime to fight!"
Finally, "The Wonderful Wasp Tells a Tale!" concludes with a story told not to orphans or wounded veterans, as before, but to Hank himself. Continuing the theme of marriage, her tale involves the laidback dude of a far-off world in love with a princess, and the feat he has to perform to win the blessing of the King who stands in their way. Cleverly, Janet uses the opportunity to pull a Scheherazade, suddenly stopping short of the conclusion ... until Hank takes her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. It may be no coincidence that this is the last installment of the Wasp's Wonderful Tales - though not the last Wasp backup strip...!

When the villains unleash their pet rabbits, you know they're serious.

142: The X-Men #5

2011-05-31T14:29:00.000-05:00

The X-Men #5
March 3, 1964

After the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants debuted last issue, they're back again. (And note how similar this is to the introduction of Doctor Doom, who also returned in the issue immediately following his first appearance. Stan & Jack are certainly sticking to a formula!) In fact, Stan seems so excited by these new foes that they won't be absent from the title until issue #8. But, oddly enough, that's not the only return this month! See that cover? See that goofy "flying Angel" placed strategically above the logo? That new bit of iconography debuted the previous issue too, perhaps with the idea of flight as the most visually instinctive signifier of mutation. In any case, this unusual symbology seems to have been incorporated as part of the logo now ... and, improbably, it will stick around!

Asteroid M. An idea so good, it will still
be an active part of the X-mythos five decades later.
We can conjecture that the Brotherhood's omnipresence these next few issues might have something to do with the danger in introducing any new team; after all, with a limited number of pages, the ability to introduce each new member in a way that's both effective and resonant is vastly reduced. (Recall that the X-Men themselves didn't really start to develop personalities until their third issue, and Stan has already taken pains to spotlight individual members such as Iceman and the Angel.) And in addition to again featuring the team as a whole, this issue highlights arguably the least member of the Evil Mutants, the sycophantic Toad. Seemingly possessed of no greater power than the ability to hop around, we might wonder if he was thus conceived as a dark reflection of Hank McCoy, the Beast, with his simple-mindedness an additional inversion of Hank's mighty intellect. And noteably, when a crowd watches the Toad engage in leaps and bounds which clearly mark him as Something Else, the first grumblings of fear and distrust begin to emerge. Perhaps Stan was finally beginning to figure what this book was about!

The new race war takes its first steps.
As the story opens, the parents of Marvel Girl pop by for a quick visit, passing through on their way to the 1964 World's Fair (which bore as its theme "Peace Through Understanding" - clearly relevant to the subtext at hand, yes?). When Jean Grey greets them at the door with a typically teenaged mix of affection and nervousness, and we see through her eyes these everyday parents visiting their beloved daughter at her (supposedly normal) boarding school, it strikes us that this is the first time it's seemed like a real school! Still, their quips as they leave do cause us to wonder if they're perhaps too easily accepting; not only did they change their mind about sending Jean to Xavier's after receiving a letter from Washington, D.C. strongly urging them to do so, but the fact that some of the school courses are labelled as TOP SECRET seems to impress them, rather than arouse any suspicion! Readers eager to reinterpret Xavier as a far more sinister force than was ever intended could find easy fodder in this scene, wondering if the professor gave subtle telepathic nudges to Mr. and Mrs. Grey in entrusting their daughter to his care. (And, to be fair, we've certainly seen such grey ethics from Charles already.) But in all fairness, any surprise we may feel at their blind acceptance is more a commentary on societal attitudes, and how they've so radically changed; fifty years ago, the average American may have just felt more inclined to implicitly trust their government, as opposed to the healthy skepticism in greater prevalence today.

Were the creepy implications of telepathy and mind control as apparent
to readers in the 1960s as they are today?
Finally, in evidence for the case of "Professor Xavier is a Jerk!", we get the resolution of last issue's bewildering cliffhanger. Upon the X-Men's return from this latest mission, which involved battling the Brotherhood on Asteroid M and retrieving their captive teammate Angel, they're greeted by Professor X - who, it turns out, didn't lose his powers after all! Instead, he tells them, he was just faking it to force them to get by on their own, as some sort of (potentially ill-advised) "final exam". So the good news is: They've graduated! But, er, they do so in the same issue in which Marvel have only just convinced us it can feel like a real school? Great timing, guys....

See, you can tell it's magnetically powered because of the--
Oh, never mind.

141: The Avengers #5

2011-05-26T13:18:00.000-05:00

The Avengers #5
March 3, 1964

Following the monumental FF/Hulk/Avengers brawl in Fantastic Four #25 & 26, the Avengers finally get a bit of a break in the action. It may be just a few moments of down time, but it does feel very nearly like the first time since they began! After all, in #1 the team came together, and #2 saw the Hulk leave their ranks after their very first case as a group. The third issue came out of the Hulk's immediately subsequent desire for revenge, while The Avengers' discovery of Captain America occurred on their way home from that battle - which led into their appearance in FF, which leads right back here. Whew! By the end of this tale, it really does feel like we've finally reached the culmination of a single story that's been in progress ever since the very first issue.

This opening scene refers to destruction that didn't even occur in their own book!
A few years earlier, this would have been unthinkable.
And Stan & Jack use that period of down time well. In particular, they deliver a larger glimpse of who we're presently most interested in: Captain America. We've seen the other members during quieter moments in their own titles, but the only time we've seen Cap apart from the Avengers thus far was upon his initial return, as he wandered New York City and wondered at the many changes wrought in his absence. So, faced with another brief space between world-shaking crises, what does Cap decide to do? He gathers together Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade, and teaches them the basics of acrobatics and fighting fitness. In just a few panels, Stan & Jack give us an understanding of Steve Rogers that would have felt completely in-character to anyone who had read his stories the first time around, or even those of us who have read his adventures in the last several decades: Given any opportunity, Cap's first instinct is to teach, to lead - and inspire. And with both the Teen Brigade and the readers, he succeeds!

The heavy hints at Rick Jones being a new Bucky for Cap continue.
So, since the initial character arc of the Hulk vs. the Avengers has finally wrapped (and not even in their own title!), it does seem a bit strange to find the green brute still turning up in these page. We might wonder: What's going on here? What's Stan's game? The most straightforward theory - besides just making it up as they go, of course - might find a clue in the fact that the Hulk has now guest-starred in more issues than his original comic lasted. Stan clearly saw the untapped potential in this character, and was perhaps keeping him in the public eye until he could grant the misunderstood monster his own regular feature once again. (Not much longer now!) In any case, after this unbroken string of appearances, the Hulk won't be seen again in these pages for several years to come.

Just Stan's way of reminding you who that big green guy really is.
This time out, though, the Hulk isn't the threat: It's the Lava Men. Yes, building on the Lava Man story from Journey into Mystery #97, we've now got a whole race of molten, underground dwellers. After all, one of the advantages to having a super-team composed mostly of characters who have their own solo adventures is that the villains of those individual characters are now fair game for all. (Recall that the Avengers were first brought together by Loki.) And while the Lava Men could have been bland, cookie-cutter bad guys, as seen here they've relatively complex motivations. The Lava Man who had previously faced Thor is the lone voice of dissent, surely showing a capacity to reflect and learn generally uncharacteristic of most baddies, and while the others are certainly endangering the surface world, they're clearly not evil - they're just trying to survive.

Impressively, Stan avoids the common mistake of making all members of a group
act as one unified mob. And dig that witch doctor's crazy look!

140: Tales of Suspense #53

2011-05-24T12:57:00.000-05:00

Tales of Suspense #53
February 11, 1964

"Script by N. Korok", I read, and ask: Who the heck's that?! Wikipedia informs me that it was the pen name of Don Rico, who first worked during comics' Golden Age, along with a 19-year-old Stan Lee. A website run by one of his children has more information available - but otherwise, data on this man seems somewhat scarce. For instance: In the 1950s, Don had been one of the main writers for the proto-Marvel line of Atlas Comics. So why did he return only to write this issue (and the last), and then a random Doctor Strange story nearly a year later? In fact, given that Stan had taken on full writing chores for all the feature heroes several months back, why are these stories once again scripted by someone else at all? Was Stan feeling a momentary time crunch? Or was Don (who by this period was making a living as a paperback novelist) in a financial pinch, suddenly needing some quick work, and so Stan tossed an easy job to an old colleague for a favor? Given that Don himself passed away in 1985, and taking into account Stan's famously shoddy memory, we may never know.

How does someone with an appearance so elegant
possibly remain in hiding so well?
The story itself sees the return of "Madame Natasha", the Black Widow. After the events of last issue, the Russian spy has been living in exile on American soil, watching for a chance to make up for her last mission's failure and thus ingratiate herself with her Soviet superiors. Fortunately, she sees this opportunity when Tony Stark invents a powerful antigravity ray whose applications seem unlimited! Through a mixture of trickery and the arrogance of Stark, she manages to steal it, but the Commie agents sent to "help" her bungle the operation, and the device - created through accident, and thus irreplaceable - is destroyed in the chaos. And yet at the end of the tale, the Widow has once again fled the scene; clearly, Stan Lee knew that they'd only scratched the surface of this femme fatale.

You heard it here first:
Commies Just Don't Dig Us.
As the cover tells us, this month's backup strip contains a real treat - the origin of the Watcher himself! Although Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish have had backup stories narrated by the Wasp and the Watcher, they've thus far been tales clearly uninvolved with Marvel's increasingly connected superhero world. As a result, this is the first time that the subject of one of these stories has dealt specifically with (what would come to be called) Marvel Universe material. And it won't be the last!

Even a Watcher knows the importance of good hygiene.
So how does the origin hold up, once told? After all, these 5-page stories are fine for short fables we're not going to spend much time thinking about, but what about when one details a character we've seen before, and will see again? Will such little space suffice? Surprisingly, the answer is a resounding yes! In the Watcher's first appearance, the character told the Fantastic Four that his race never involved themselves in the affairs of others, but neglected to explain why. The story behind his people's conviction is finally told here - and told so well that it's never since needed to be patched up, rebooted or retconned out of existence. Not bad for a mere 5-pager!

J'accuse!

139: Strange Tales #120

2011-05-19T11:48:00.000-05:00

Strange Tales #120
February 11, 1964

In this issue, the Torch meets the Iceman! (In fact, the opening page deems Iceman as "a frozen version of the Human Torch.") As you might expect, fire and ice go really well together, as did fire and water when the Torch took on the Sub-Mariner; having a hero with a power so elemental really does lend itself to these kinds of pairings. Even better: Whether an accident of scheduling, or through deliberate intent, this story sees a one-issue return of Jack Kirby on art!

Wait a minute. Did that little hooligan just take off his pants?
If you're paying attention, you'll note that this is the second time we've seen a side story featuring an X-Man on his own, following the Angel's face-off with Iron Man. Attempting to ascribe Stan's motivations some five decades after the fact is of course guesswork at best, but if this was by design then it was pretty smart of Stan to give Marvel's new X-team greater exposure, one member at a time. Such spotlight stories are useful because they allow the featured characters more time to shine on their own, and let us see how they operate and act apart from their team, developing their own individual personae separate from their roles in the group. In this case, it works well because Bobby Drake, as the youngest and least mature of the X-Men, is a perfect match for Johnny Storm, who fulfills the same function for the Fantastic Four.

Unlike the antagonism in the Torch's team-ups with Spidey,
Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake get along pretty well!
Meanwhile, the backup story featuring Doctor Strange is a real treat. As the tale opens, we see a crowd gathered around a TV reporter being filmed before he enters a reputedly haunted house, intent on staying the night. The Doctor decides to tag along, unseen, just to keep an eye on things and lend a hand if events take a dark turn - which, naturally, they do. If the plot sounds familiar to you, it may be because the story was likely inspired by the 1963 horror film The Haunting, which had opened in theaters just a few months before this story was commissioned. (You may recall that Stan has pulled this trick once or twice before.)

The scene is set with a mix of skeptic modernity and ancient dread.
I've mentioned before that I really enjoy seeing Doctor Strange in this kind of role, as a modest supernatural investigator rather than some sort of "cosmic protector". (So this being the third such story in a row is quite appreciated!) The secret of the haunted house is a genuinely surprising one, with a visual so compelling I nearly included it in this post - but in the end, I decided to avoid spoiling the plot twist for anyone who hasn't yet enjoyed the tale. Although only Strange knows the truth about the house, by the end of the story its effect is felt by all, only increasing the mystery surrounding this Doctor - who walks away from the crowd, alone in the night.

Let's agree: This guy sure knows how to make an exit!

138: Amazing Spider-Man #12

2011-05-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

Amazing Spider-Man #12
February 11, 1964

This issue sees Dr. Octopus once again, so soon after his release from prison and subsequent scheme last issue. And with this third story, he's now appeared more than any other villain. (The only other baddie to have returned thus far was the Vulture in #7.) To put this into proper context, by Fantastic Four #12 Doctor Doom had appeared three times; by the twelfth Thor story Loki had appeared five times. Were Lee & Ditko setting up Doc Ock to be Spidey's Doc Doom? After all, octopi have eight legs, as do spiders - something that's rarely commented upon with this particular hero-villain match-up. Then again, perhaps the idea was scuppered for this very reason; if they subtly reminded readers of the eight legs issue, might they face of flood of fan mail asking why doesn't Spider-Man have eight limbs? (For which readers would have to wait another seven years to see!)

Apparently Doc Ock rants aloud, even while hanging up the phone?
Hey, if it helps the plot...!
So: Octopus, PhD, returns to New York City, intent to revenge himself upon the hero who's bested him twice already. And his first plan of attack is to recapture Betty Brant - only just returned to the city herself - as bait. To which we can only say: Man, she's got some rotten luck! Seriously, it's a wonder she's not traumatized. After the momentous events of last issue, she took the brave move of getting back to work and attempting to get on with her life, hoping to leave the memory of all that had happened in the past. But instead, the villain who had just days earlier killed her brother is back in her life, and using her to call out the presence of Spider-Man as well - who Betty had already identified as something of a psychological trigger, and a terrible reminder of the chaos that led to her brother's death. Girl just can't catch a break!

There's really no need for this location but to give Ditko
something cool to draw. But I think that's reason enough!
This issue also contains a couple of firsts for the title, and for our hero. The earlier, and less momentous one, occurs early on, when Peter starts feeling a bit woozy and out of sorts. Despite his vaunted spider-strength, and the way that his abilities have corrected his eyesight and removed his need for eyeglasses, he's still vulnerable to becoming sick with a common virus, which is exactly what happens here. He's had to take down a super-villain while injured before - that occurred during that second Vulture appearance, in fact - but this is the first time he's had to face a baddie while ill. (And notice that this malady hits him the same week as Fantastic Four #26, in which Reed also began the issue battling a terrible sickness, if one of his own making. Perhaps there was something in the air!) In any case, it only serves to reinforce Spidey's everyman status, as "the hero who could be you"; this here, Lee & Ditko seem to be saying, sure ain't no Superman!

The unthinkable fast becomes a case of mistaken assumptions.
On the other hand, the other first that occurs in these pages is rather a major one, as the story - against all expectation - makes good on the unbelievable event advertised on the cover: Spider-Man is unmasked! In a stroke of genius, however, Lee & Ditko have laid out the story so that when the worst happens - it is actually unthinkable, and no one believes it! Since Peter has been battling the virus, his strength is gone, and his punches land ineffective; certainly not the same kind of blows that Octopus has faced before. So when Doc Ock beats him easily, and then unmasks him, the obvious conclusion is that he hasn't just beaten Spider-Man; rather, that foolish kid Peter Parker has simply dressed up in a Spider-Man costume in a misguided attempt to save Betty Brant. (Recall that Flash Thompson once dressed up as Spidey too.) It's a clever upending of the secret identity convention, and it comes with an unexpected after effect - for when word gets out at school that Peter Parker tried something so brave yet foolhardy, his schoolmate Liz Allan suddenly shows an interest never seen before! Maybe she'd misjudged this Parker kid....

The relationships aren't unchanged from the first issue; over time,
we see the characters grow and become different people.

137: Fantastic Four #26

2011-05-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Fantastic Four #26
February 11, 1964

Concluding the two-parter that began in last month's Hulk vs. Thing slugfest - and this time everybody else gets in on the action too. And it really is everybody, as this time out the Avengers are bona fide guest stars! Last issue they appeared only for the first few pages, setting up the continuation of the Hulk's story from Avengers #3, but after that the story belonged once more to the FF (and more specifically the Thing). This issue, though, delivers exactly what's promised on the cover, as the Fantastic Four meet the Avengers for the first time, and they have their very first official team-up! As a result, this comic really is something of a three-way feature starring the FF, the Avengers, and the Hulk, and all of them get what feels like equal time.

This may not be the most realistic of ploys ... but it sure is funny!
And the superhero thrills are in plenty supply. Not only do we get the requisite number of punches and brawls, but the FF - largely sidelined by the events of last issue - show the indomitable wills they possess, as half the team is forced to overcome rather serious injuries to offer the aid they know their city needs. Reed had been felled low by a malady caused by the improper handling of dangerous chemicals, while Johnny's brief contact with the Hulk had landed him in hospital as well. (Certainly no better way to show just how dangerous your antagonist is!) But upon waking, the first thought for both is concern at the thought of The Thing taking on the Hulk himself. Though in no state to fight, each one leaps up to lend his strength - sapped though it may be.

This dame just won't stop bugging him.
Meanwhile, the Hulk really is cast almost as villain. The destruction he leaves in his wake is fueled by nothing more than untrammeled rage, as he wants to take down his former teammates - wreak vengeance on Avengers - just because he feels that they wronged him. Compare this to any number of Human Torch baddies, such as the Wizard or Paste-Pot Pete, whose motivations quickly became little more than "beat the hero now because he beat me".

Look at these two pages.
You'd never guess it was from an issue of The Fantastic Four, would you?
Finally, a neat side detail that Stan and Jack include is the media coverage of the super-battle going on downtown. (After all, remember that this is the first time two super-teams had ever joined to vanquish a common foe; the sight of such powerhouses going at it could surely have seemed like the end days to those on the sidelines.) And the news reporters go to some ridiculous lengths to follow the story, first hanging off a rooftop to better gauge the action, then later taking a jeep into the war-torn battleground itself! Perhaps this was Stan's commentary on the real-life media and war correspondents - that the men and women who put themselves at risk to cover such stories really are the unsung heroes of our day.

And the readership was certain - and very quick - to agree!

136: Journey into Mystery #103

2011-05-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Journey into Mystery #103
February 4, 1964

Introducing the Enchantress and the Executioner! (And marvel at Stan's skill in introducing a pair who are effectively "Love and War", yet with powerful and alliterative monikers.) Sent to Earth by Odin to interrupt the budding romance between Don Blake and Jane Foster, this comic has absolutely become a soap opera - though still one told in action-hero plot beats. After all, the Enchantress may fulfill the role of temptress, but superhero readers still need someone for Thor to hit! The comic gets off to a slow start, but soon its 13 pages are fit to bursting with developments, including the plot twist at the end whereby the Executioner wins Thor's hammer, but is then unable to lift the prize. (This special ability was implied by Thor's debut story - "if he be worthy" and all that - then developed in the recent "Tales of Asgard" shorts, but this is the first time the requirement has been made explicit.) So Thor wins the day, and continues to love Jane. And Odin is livid...!

With visuals like that, there's no question as to what she's about!
Speaking of our new antagonists, it's worth taking a moment to talk about progenitors and descendants. These are the first Asgardians Stan & Jack have introduced who are not directly based on figures from Norse myth - but the Enchantress, though newly created, is very similar to the Norse goddess Freyja, who represented fertility, love and war. So why didn't Marvel simply use Freyja then, rather than an invented character? Keith J. Davidsen posits that Stan may have feared reprisal from the Comics Code Authority, in full power after the 1954 Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency which, under the purported guise of protecting the nation's children from unsavory influences, brought about crippling changes which nearly destroyed the comic book industry - and did, in fact, effectively end the output of several publishers. In such an environment, choosing to spotlight a verifiable figure from myth, one who was "sexually attractive and free with her favours", might have been seen as a move no less than suicidal. As John Grant writes in An Introduction to Viking Mythology, "To call Freya a fertility goddess is to euphemize: she was the goddess of sex...for her life...was one of unbridled promiscuity." As a result, Davidsen explains, "To introduce characters such as Freyr or Freyja, no matter how much their sexual prowess was diminished, could cause potential problems for Marvel Comics."

BAM! The sequence is enjoyably cartoonish.
The Executioner, on the other hand, is far less complicated - as you might expect from a bruiser, even an Asgardian one, whose main feature is that he carries an axe. Oddly, it's that axe which more commands our interest and calls into question any derivation! See, he doesn't just carry a regular axe, but rather one that's so sharp that it has unusual powers of its own - namely, being able to cut space itself, and cleave rifts into other dimensions. That's a genuinely interesting take for Stan to come up with, and one so specific that you wouldn't expect a similar character to pop up. Yet that's exactly what happened less than three years later, when Jim Shooter introduced Legion of Super-Heroes baddie The Persuader as one of the Fatal Five in Adventure Comics #352. Was this blatant copy an intentional swipe? Or simply a common case of having internalized a good idea which is then dredged up from one's subconscious while on a deadline? Whatever the answer, I think we can cut Shooter some slack; after all, at this point he had not only been writing comics for no more than six months - but was in fact only fourteen years old!

Thor and Gullin may beat around the bush -
but hopefully you won't be boared.
While the character of the Enchantress may have left her goddess inspiration behind, this issue's "Tales of Asgard" backup crams a truly staggering number of mythic characters and concepts into its scant five pages. It begins with Thor visiting the Asgardian Mountains to beseech Sindri, king of the dwarfs, to create for him a flying ship - one tiny enough to carry around, but which can grow to full size with a single thought. Cool! Using this means to travel to the dangerous land of Mirmir, Thor fights both the dragon Skord and the boar god Gullin - seriously, a boar god! - before finally reaching Mirmir's king, seated in his throne "behind the mystic fountain which feeds all the world's oceans". Fulfilling his mission, Thor gives to King Mirmir a branch from Yggdrasill, the tree of life, which the king uses to stir the mystic waters and spill them into the world below, where they water a pair of trees ... which come to life as the first humans! As with many of the Norse stories brought into Journey into Mystery, the stories are much more "loosely based on" (or, as Stan writes, "freely translated") rather than adhering to the source material with a strict fidelity. But then, the origins of many of these tales have been lost to the mists of time, while other parts were later whitewashed by the rise of the Christian world. In fact, one could argue that the very concept of Ragnarok, with its cycles of destruction and rebirth, implies that all stories which have happened before will one day happen again - even if the exact details may change.

Who doesn't love a good creation myth?

135: Tales to Astonish #55

2011-05-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tales to Astonish #55
February 4, 1964

Aw man - it's the mediocre return of the Human Top! (I do not greet this news with joy.) Sadly, the character is as nonthreatening as ever, and the story is almost exceptionally dumb. For instance, the Top escapes from his prison cell by spinning so fast ... that he can't be seen! Because that's a thing that happens. Fortunately, his next move shows some real planning: Tracking down Hank and Jan at their scientific lab, he manages to snag one of Giant-Man's growth pills - right off his capsule belt - and turns himself into a Giant Top! All this extra gigantism may be a tip of the hat to the added page count, as the feature story graduates from 13 pages up to 18, squeezing out the extra inventory story that would usually fall between the main story and the Wasp back-up. And this time, it's not just a one-off; from here on out, Tales to Astonish is done with those non-superhero shorts.

Plus, you've got a turnip head!
The comic does impress in one way, though - however briefly - when it finally addresses the Problem of Jan. When the character was first introduced, she was portrayed as flighty and a bit spoiled - and her subsequent appearances have been, at times, even worse. While the narrative is content to let the male super-hero solve all the mysteries, charge ahead in all the action, and essentially be the hero, the Wasp has until now rarely been more than comedic support, moon-eyed over Hank (and, occasionally, other eligible men) and generally complaining that he spends more time fighting crime than wooing her. So it's a startling move when Stan has Hank berate Jan for constantly choosing to perpetuate this facade of air-headed uselessness, rather than embracing the very real talents he knows her to possess. I honestly hadn't expected this fairly egregious problem to be addressed until much later, and I'm particularly impressed at the way in which Stan does so: All in one stroke, he makes the character a far stronger one than has been previously shown, reconciles this assertion with her past portrayal in a way that makes character sense, and has Pym profess that she is far more than a pretty face and legs to him - that her appeal, and their relationship, have far more to do with her mind and strength of character, and that she shouldn't be afraid to embrace those qualities. The plot in this story may be bog standard, but the character work done in these three panels is gladly welcome, and long overdue.

Maybe not a flawless fix - but a giant step in the right direction!
Yet despite the uneven quality of the story, there are unusual number of laughs to be had as we're treated to a notable resurgence of Goofy Silver Age Writing, of the sort not really seen since the Larry Lieber-scripted days. For instance, when Pym becomes Ant-Man, he needs a new capsule belt to replace the one that the Human Top stole. He has a spare, but it's normal-sized and thus far too large for his tinier form. So he spills some "fabric reducer" on it, which miraculously shrinks it down all the way to Ant-Man size! After that, he goes to chase after the Top and set things to right, but for some reason opts not to ride a flying ant bareback, as is his usual wont. No, this time he has two such insects tow him along in the back of his "cellophane air chariot"! (The FF have their sleek & shiny Fantasticar. Ant-Man's ride is made out of cellophane. Just sayin'.) And as for the final triumph? Let's just say it involves suddenly-industrious termites and leave it at that.

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Meanwhile, the story that Wasp tells in the backup is remarkable for the way in which it initially goes against expectation. After all, look at the four settings the Wasp has employed in these vignettes thus far: The future. Aliens. The future. Aliens ... in the future. So it's quite a change to see that this time out, the main character is a gypsy merchant in the untouched lands of Europe. Though possessing the secret of alchemy and able to turn gold into lead, the merchant prefers to live a modest life and simply doles out a few golden nuggets at a time to purchase his few living needs. Only when a greedy baron attempts to capture him and procure the secret for his own riches does the gypsy reveal his true face - literally - and abscond with the luckless royal to the stars, thanks to his cleverly-disguised spaceship. When a recent Doctor Strange story pulled this exact kind of genre shift, it brought the mood of richly-gathering gloom to a jarring halt. Since this is just a 5-page story though (less that if not counting the framing device), the effect is simply hilarious...!

Not pictured: the bit where the merchant's wooden caravan turns into a rocket.

134: Daredevil #1

2011-05-03T11:02:00.000-05:00

Daredevil #1
February 4, 1964

With this title, we now have the last of the original greats, the final piece of the puzzle, and the last major character to be introduced for quite some time. The anthology books like Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish will provide new homes for the likes of the Hulk, Captain America, and the Sub-Mariner (before they're granted their own titles), while new characters like Captain Marvel will similarly have trial runs in upcoming showcase books like Marvel Super Heroes before graduating to titles of their own. In any case, very few characters or concepts created after Daredevil will hang on for any real length of time. Did the concentrated brilliance seen in Marvel's first couple of years really just amount to the right people working together at the right time? Did Marvel's success and all that it entails (licensing, meetings, expansion, more meetings, diversification, even more meetings) naturally lead to less hands-on work from Stan, in both the actual writing as well as the canny management of talent, putting the right artists on the projects most suited to them? Or was the later dimming nothing more than the fade of a fickle and fleeting muse? Regardless of the answer: Marvel's best years may be yet to come, but nearly all of their best characters have now been brought to life. Were I tempted to wrap up this blog, having begun at the start with Fantastic Four #1, this would certainly make an appropriate bookend. Fortunately, I've still some life in me yet...!

The art here is definitely not the house style. The ultra-lithe forms and
exaggerated poses may not be to everyone's tastes, but I really like it!
Here's a bit of trivia for you: Did you know that Daredevil played a secret role in the formation of the Avengers? It's true! What's not so well known about this issue, and only recently came to light in the public eye, is that the comic was actually six months late. In Stan Lee's introduction to the first Marvel Masterworks collection of Daredevil, he recounts how he unexpectedly ran into Bill Everett, famed creator of Namor the Sub-Mariner, after trying to track down the legendary artist for years. When Stan offered him work and started spitballing his startling idea for a blind superhero, Everett (as Stan tells the story) became so instantly excited that he began sketching out ideas on the spot. "But Bill Everett," Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort recently divulged, "had both a day job and a drinking problem. And so production on DAREDEVIL #1 fell way behind." Mark Evanier had previously alluded to Everett's troubles and the effect they had on the book, but this is the first time, to my knowledge, that the resulting connection to The Avengers #1 has been detailed. (Read Brevoort's full statement for more.)

Young Matt Murdock gets an origin.
Although many of these early Marvels are new to me, I had previously read (at least) the first issue of most of the major characters, and thus could have sworn I'd read this comic at some point in my past. Having now done so, I can't believe I ever did, or else the fact of it would surely have stuck with me. Because this comic is nothing short of STELLAR! Bill Everett's art has an appealing scratchiness while also being incredibly detailed, and both his figures and panel compositions seem more akin to illustration work than comic art. Meanwhile, it seems that Stan is using every successful trick he's learned all in this one comic, as it features compelling characters, an exciting origin, surprisingly subtle foreshadowing (note how it's a blind man who young Matt Murdock pushes away from the oncoming truck), a myriad number of plot points, and a mature storytelling structure. This may be the most purely distilled example of the superhero formula since Spider-Man's origin; it may also be, out of 134 entries thus far, the most sophisticated comic I've read for this project BAR NONE. Honestly, if you've never had the chance to read this story - or are unsure, or can't recall if you ever have - then please take my advice here: DO IT!

A superhero who is blind, and navigates by radar?
Was Stan musing on what a "Bat-Man" might really be like?
The modern reader may be surprised to learn, upon reading this early tale, just how fun a character Daredevil really is! As Brevoort points out in the above link, DD really was intended as "another Spider-Man". As a result, despite the tragic elements in his origin, he's here depicted as more a wisecracking and swashbuckling hero, instead of a broody and tortured one. That darker portrayal only really solidified during Frank Miller's seminal run on the title in the 1980s, and was such a massive success that it became the definitive version from then on. There have been some occasionally impressive followups - the underrated run by Ann Nocenti & John Romita Jr soon after, or the justly-lauded Bendis & Maleev epic of the past decade - but it also can't be denied that after thirty years of Daredevil as a dark character living a glum and dark life of dark darkness ... the routine has become a bit tired. So I'm looking forward to the new Daredevil series which begins in July, by Mark Waid (a modern writer with classic sensibilities) and Paolo Rivera, supposedly returning to its roots and bringing a real sense of superhero fun back to Daredevil's world - something that's long overdue, I think. There aren't a lot of modern comics I get excited about these days ... but with any luck, that could definitely be one of them.

A Daredevil is born.

133: Tales of Suspense #52

2011-04-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tales of Suspense #52
January 10, 1964

Introducing the Black Widow! Yes, in this issue Marvel's premiere Russian super spy makes her debut, if in a rather understated form. Not yet a costumed action hero, here she appears as the quintessential femme fatale going by the name "Madame Natasha". It's hard to believe that the woman in this bit part would go on to become not just a major character, but an on-again off-again member of the Avengers - eventually becoming such a significant part of Marvel canon as to appear in the feature film Iron Man 2, as well as the upcoming film version of The Avengers. But then, perhaps Stan knew the character had boundless potential from the start; after all, this tale ends with notice that the Widow would return the following ish...!

It's amazing how the right outfit can make a girl forget she has no nose!
Speaking of returns, this issue sees the second appearance of the Crimson Dynamo, last seen in Tales of Suspense #46. But how, we ask, can Professor Vanko be menacing Iron Man on the cover once again? After all, at the end of that last outing he renounced Communism and defected to the US, swearing allegiance to his newly-chosen home. Well, as it turns out, the Soviets generally frowned on that sort of thing - so they send in the Black Widow and another agent, Boris, to eliminate Vanko, his employer Tony Stark, and Stark's bodyguard Iron Man. So the pair fly off to America, where they-- Wait a minute. Boris? And Natasha? Wow. You certainly can't accuse Stan of taking his material too seriously for the occasional joke!

It's a very different Vanko we see than the one who originally crept to our shores.
Surprisingly, this turns out to be a rather touching story, and it all comes down to Vanko. It would have been easy for Stan to gloss over the ex-villain's defection and portray him as nothing more than a regular scientist guy. But not so: Having "seen the light" about the treacheries of Communism, he is now, months later, shown to still be tearfully grateful to America (and Tony Stark) for giving him a second chance and a new life, and is committed to doing whatever he can to repay these gifts. With less care, such naked sincerity could seem mawkish or dull, but under Stan's pen - aided by the genuine expressions that Don Heck's linework evokes - we believe him, and care for him. When Vanko, at the climax of the story, vanquishes the enemy agent Boris (who had donned the Crimson Dynamo armor himself) even though it means giving up his own life, the sacrifice rings true. But even though it would take a few years, the threat of the Crimson Dynamo would return...!

A hero's end.
Meanwhile, this issue's "Tales of the Watcher" tells the story of an Earth in the 23rd century, a world finally without war but whose populace are now consumed with goals of greed and ambition. But noting the era cited, and having read this issue on the heels of the previous one, a thought occurs: Could this backup tale be conceivably set in the same world as the last, some two hundred years later? I know, I know; despite the continuing framing device of the Watcher, they're clearly unconnected vignettes not meant to be tied together. But, as a small game for ourselves, could they be? Amusingly enough, as far as these two tales go, the answer appears to be "yes!" After all, our contrast to the protagonist last time around was the brother who owned a thriving hovercar business and mocked his sibling for his idealistic dreams; it's not hard to see that kind of figure as the beginning of the societal trend portrayed here. And the aliens who come to Earth at the end of this tale seem to be humanity's first contact - which also matches up with the 21st century story of humanity unable to discover any other intelligent life in the cosmos. Granted, these tales would at the very least have to occur in some alternate reality that the Watcher's peeking in on (foreshadows of What If...?, perhaps?), as in the burgeoning Marvel U alien spacecrafts seem to drop from the sky every Monday morning.

Which begs the question: Was Tony Stark the moose or the squirrel?

132(ish): Tales of Suspense #51

2011-04-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

Tales of Suspense #51
December 9, 1963

Well, this is certainly embarrassing. The remit of this blog is to read all the Marvel comics of the 1960s - those originally established to be in their interconnected world, at least (so no Millie the Model or Rawhide Kid) - in the order which they were published. So I'm a bit red-faced to have realized that, after more than a hundred such entries, I missed one! Yes, somehow I managed to get through the comics from December 1963 without realizing that I'd left behind that month's adventure story starring Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man. Well, it was bound to happen at some point! So, that's fine: To catch up - and as a small experiment - this once I'll actually read two consecutive issues of the same comic back-to-back. Let's see how it goes!

See the bizarrely red faces on the left? That's in the original comic too.
Apparently the Marvel Masterworks team chose to preserve the mistake!
So, from the cover we see that the villain this time out is a new baddie by the name of the Scarecrow! Our initial impulse may be to wonder if this is the first time Marvel had knowingly swiped a villain published by their major competitor; as it turns out, this wasn't the case, as that foe had only appeared twice in Batman's early career - both times in the 1940s - and wouldn't be revived until 1967. As a result, I think we can safely chalk this up to a case of two writers in the same field coming up with a similar concept; nothing more. So how does this new Marvel character measure up to his fear-inducing predecessor? Well ... quite laughably, truth be told. See, this new guy is a novelty act who sees Iron man apprehend a crook in a crowded theater, and then aids the hero in capturing the thief - only to decide, upon reflection, that he'd much rather use his unusual talents to help himself rather than society. (So much for the Armored Avenger's ability to inspire, then.) And what are those talents, you may ask? No joke: He's a contortionist. With a side knowledge of escape artistry. Really? And yet when faced with the sight of a flying man in a mechanical marvel, he somehow thinks being real bendy places him in the same league! But he still needs a disguise, right? So, he grabs a scarecrow outfit, and then ... steals some trained crows from the neighboring act? To help him with his robberies? Again: Really?

I don't care what you say:
THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME.
Meanwhile, the backup story is another instalment of "Tales of the Watcher" - but, oddly enough, it contains one small detail that trips us up at the start. The opening caption begins: "On another world, light years from our Earth, there stands a strange structure..." But: "light years"? In the Watcher's first appearance in Fantastic Four #13, we meeet him upon the Blue Area of the Moon, and even get a glimpse into his extra-dimensional, mind-bending home located in the same. I've questioned before (out of curiousity, not criticism) the thought behind using characters from their superhero world as narrators of unconnected inventory stories, but this is the first time it's ever jarred; after all, it seems odd to use the Watcher's raison d'être as a framing device, but then get the continuity wrong. I mean, we can instantly conjecture answers - Is the edifice we saw on Earth's moon not his only base? Does he have various homes around the cosmos? - but for a character that Marvel have only recently introduced, it seems an odd mistake to have made. (Then again, it was scripted by Larry Lieber, who we can imagine did not commit to memory ever story written by his brother. And, y'know, it's only one line....)

Hey, it could have been worse.
It could have been "A Strange Tale of Astonishing Suspense into Mystery"!
As to the tale itself: Our main character is Paul, an idealist and dreamer who lives in the dazzlingly futuristic era of the 21st century! (Seriously, hovercars and all.) While his brother runs a successful business, Paul looks to the stars, certain that there must be intelligent life out there somewhere. Though he rockets into space in the hopes of discovery, mission after mission reveals only lower life-forms, and certainly no race as evolved as mankind. The twist ending is the revelation that the last planet Paul investigated was once home to an advanced civilization - until their progress was forever halted due to the perils of war, and a cobalt anti-matter bomb. Learn this lesson well! What's so astonishing here is the blatant prominence of the anti-war theme on display - and that it would be repeated in another of these backup stories, just as stridently, only a few weeks later!

Do you want YOUR storefront windows washed with a dramatic flair?
Just call 1-800-IRON-MAN today!

131: Amazing Spider-Man #11

2011-04-21T19:01:00.000-05:00

Amazing Spider-Man #11
January 10, 1964

In this action-packed issue, we've the return of Doctor Octopus! Captured in issue #3, he's out early on good behavior, and Peter's protestations to the warden fall on deaf ears; after all, they can't keep a criminal who's served his time. (Though we can sympathize with Spidey, his passionate plea to keep Ock locked because of what he might due is subtly disturbing.) But that's not the only return to be featured, for we also learn the secret that Betty Brant was hiding, and which so frightened her that she felt compelled to leave town. This may have been one of the earliest concrete character stories in the early Marvel U, as it was first hinted at in Amazing #9, developed the next month, and answered here: two issue of setup, then the payoff.

Top to bottom, left to right: That's a fair amount of action in one panel!
But note how cleanly and simply all that information is delivered.
And what a complex story it is! Betty, it turns out, has been doing what she can to aid her lawyer brother who has been coerced into helping mob man Blackie Gaxton. Blackie, in turn, has hired the newly-released Doctor Octopus to break him out of prison - which the demented Doc only agrees to in order to use the mob money to set himself up as New York's newest crime boss. Even the sideline characters are more than just background, for when Spidey crashes the party and chaos ensues, Gaxton's nameless henchmen decide to use the confusion as a smoke screen and flee with the cash themselves! It's an unusually tangled web in which Spidey finds himself - but with the talents of Lee & Ditko spearheading the proceedings, we're never confused. It may be a chaotic tale of crime gone awry, but it's carefully controlled chaos.

Tragedy strikes.
Out of all this chaos, however, comes a terrible aftermath. When Betty's brother is shot during the confusion, Betty lashes out at Spider-Man for his role in letting such a tragedy occur. Though she loves Peter, she rails at Spider-Man in her grief, full of rage and recrimination. (And note how this is clearly the inverse of our hero's relationship with Flash Thompson, who idolizes Spider-Man but looks down on lowly Parker.) Fortunately, Stan has the subtlety of pen to pull her back from such histrionics once she's calmed down, ensuring that she stays a real character and not a contrived caricature - but a layer of complexity has surely been added. Before the mayhem ensued, the lovesick Peter, overjoyed at having found Betty again, had resolved to confess to her his other identity. Now, he realizes that the merest mention of Spider-Man would only cause her fresh grief - and he knows he can never confide in her like that without imparting untold pain.

Snazzy new gear, Pete!
On a more trivial note, this issue sees the debut of one of Spidey's most well-known tools: the spider-tracer! It's not always emphasized in every story, but Peter's really something of a scientific genius, well beyond the innocuous "science nerd" portrayal his high-school self usually receives. After all, in his first appearance he created a brand-new chemical, his amazing web fluid - as well as the mechanical web shooters designed to propel them! And now, since he needs to follow a villain on the run, he designs a tracking device out of the blue. And all of this from a kid still in high school! The implication is that even if this awkward teenager who constantly struggles to fit in had never been bitten by a spider in some freak accident, he still would have made a name for himself. What amazing talents, the book seems to ask, might each of us have hidden inside?

Ditko's strength has always been his character work,
and in scenes like these he really excels.

130: Fantastic Four #25

2011-04-19T08:17:00.000-05:00

Fantastic Four #25
January 10, 1964

The Hulk Vs. The Thing! And so begins a rivalry that will build upon and carry down through the ages, as these two monstrous powerhouses lock in terrible combat for the first time. Oh, sure, the Hulk had first shown up in Fantastic Four #12, where he very briefly tangled with Ben Grimm and the rest of the FF, but this time the throwdown is squarely between the two. And, happily, this issue is everything that #12 wasn't: exciting, focused, and full of suspense. And lest the promise of such a slugfest leave any buyer still wavering: Look at that cover! Look at the carnage these two engines of destruction have left in their wake! It's so catastrophic that the city is collapsing! New York is burning!

Your teeth will rattle when these mighty mountains collide!
It's also with this issue that you really get the feel of a grand design from Stan, as the myriad and disparate threads seem to culminate in this one tale, leading us to wonder - and not for the first time - whether it's due to intent, or simply good timing. The story picks right up from the end of The Avengers #4, with the team returned from their overseas battle with Namor and the Hulk, and having absorbed the newly-revived Captain America into their ranks. (That issue also saw Rick Jones being grafted on as an Avengers supporting character, and that continues here as well.) Seeing these separate elements coming together gives the sense of one giant, continuing story being told across separate comic magazines, which would go on to become a staple at Marvel and other publishers ... but done so well, and for the first time, it must have been an exciting thing to see!

Bob Banner? Eh?
And make no mistake: A lot happens in this book. Heck, between the Hulk's story and the appearance of the Avengers themselves, the FF are almost guest-stars in their own comic! Normally, such a thing could be a bad move, signalling a lack of focus - but honestly, the story's so exciting that it just works. And the drama isn't confined to the Hulk, either, as halfway through the tale Reed falls prey to a mysterious malady caused by the improper handling of dangerous chemicals. The irony is that he was working yet again on a formula to cure the Thing of his misshapen form, still haunted by the guilt of how his own ambition had disfigured his friend - but when he presents the antidote to Ben Grimm, the rocky hero smashes it! He no longer seems to hate being The Thing as much as he once did, and now refuses to take any treatment that would permanently change him back to human. Partly he claims this is because of his girlfriend Alicia, and how she loves him for what he is - but we're also invited to wonder if, after two dozen adventures and brushes with the fantastic, he simply likes what he can do! It's certainly a different Ben Grimm than the cynical, brooding one we saw back in FF #1.

When the typically infallible Reed falls amidst such a high-stakes tale,
you know the battle will be rough.
In the above thoughts, I've used the word "exciting" exactly thrice to describe the events in these pages, and it's because the thrills, action and enthusiasm is undeniable. Even more staggering is the thought that this came out the same month as X-Men #4, featuring the first appearance of The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and the aforementioned - and massively important - Avengers #4. What kid, browsing these four-color packages of pop and spectacle on the stands, could have surmised how remembered these three comics would be? January 1964 must have been, yes, a truly exciting time to be reading Marvels - and what a way to kick off the year!

Tell the truth: With an image like that leaping out at you,
there's no way you'd miss the next issue!

129: Strange Tales #119

2011-04-14T23:51:00.000-05:00

Strange Tales #119
January 10, 1964

Featuring: The Rabble Rouser! And is there a one-off villain more emblematic of the 1960s than this? Yes, he's got the special ability to affect a group more than is completely normal (as did the Voice, as did the Hate-Monger), but what's being spotlighted here really is the surging tide of an angered crowd. The Sixties were a time of turbulence and change, as seen in the civil rights movement, race riots, anti-war protests and a growing discontent on the nation's college campuses. If Lee and Kirby were insightful - and we've evidence enough to indicate they were - then they may have seen, or at least glimpsed, the idea that all of these proponents for change had points of view worth listening to. And yet the anger and violence that could erupt, and often did, could be powerful - and frightening!

Spidey swings by for a simple two-panel appearance!
Too bad his help's not wanted....
So here's an oddity: In addition to his crowd-affecting gadget, the Rouser also gets from place to place by means of a "prototype sub-surface vehicle built to operate in New York's vast subway system." In fact, it's specified to be an improved model of the one used by the Hate Monger in Fantastic Four #21. This is odd for a couple of reasons: Firstly because aside from the detail of this being a newer version of that vehicle, the original version's owner isn't mentioned at all. Did Rabble inherit it? Were they two villains working on a unified plan? The otherwise-unnecessary mention would seem to imply something - once you stop to think how odd that mention is - but the text itself doesn't even hint at the idea. Which is doubly strange, because the end of FF #21 revealed the Hate-Monger to be Adolf Hitler himself (or a reasonable facsimile), who arguably took rabble rousing to its extreme. But if Stan is aware of the thematic connection, he doesn't acknowledge it.

Y'know, as he rants to himself he seems to get a madder look in his eyes than most.
Meanwhile, the Doctor Strange story in this issue may not be a timeless classic, but it's an interesting one nonetheless. Though the tale still has one foot firmly in its Strange Tales and Amazing Fantasy roots of being a short genre story told in broad strokes, we also see evidence of the humanism for which Ditko was especially known. For instance, as the narrative opens we see Doctor Strange's mystic home being breached by nothing more than a very human, very ordinary pair of thieves. One is reminded of the famous burglar who figured so prominently in Spider-Man's debut, mixing up high drama and realism there as Stan and Steve do again here.

Two hapless crooks who've cased the wrong house.
And -- is that a bust of Doctor Doom?!
But lest you think the ill-fated robbers are the beginning and end of this tale: Think again! The trouble begins in earnest when the mystical gem they snatch ends up snatching them - straight into the mists of the dreaded Purple Dimension! Following their trail, Doctor Strange finds himself in a strange world where denizens from countless worlds have been captured by fearsome soldiers under the direction of an all-powerful, tyrannical warlord. Once again, Lee and Ditko impress with their economic use of what is only eight pages; the story may not be the most memorable of Strange's early adventures, but you certainly can't say it's lacking!

What a great scene! Other-dimensional aliens, various slaves, that billowy smoke -
and Doctor Strange, high on the hill, glimpsed but in silhouette...

128: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #6

2011-04-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #6
January 3, 1964

Featuring the Desert Fox - General Rommel! Seriously. For the most part, the issues thus far have only used the setting of World War II as a general backdrop, using fictional analogues rather than historical persons, and generally avoiding famous names or conflicts. So when the Howlers receive a mission to take down Rommel's forces, it's almost as massive as being tasked to Hitler himself! Though the folks at the Marvel Wiki do point out that this makes the chronology a bit wonky, since D-Day (June 6, 1944) occurred at the end of issue #1, and Rommel was long gone from Africa by that point. (And this story can't be a flashback, as it opens with Fury on his way towards a date with Pamela Hawley.) We'll simply have to assume that the particular events of World War II took a slightly different course in the Marvel Universe than they did in our own....

Kids: Don't try this at home.
Since this is such an unusually important mission, the Commandos are sent through an extra bout of training maneuvers to ensure they're in tip-top shape. Unfortunately, it's during these exercises that Dino Manelli's 'chute fails to open during a drop! The Sarge manages to save him through nimble flying of his own, but Dino's rough landing still takes him out of commission. Instead the Howlers receive a new recruit by the name of Stonewell, an arrogant and standoffish soldier who is fluent in German and reacts with disgust upon meeting the Jewish Izzy Cohen and the African-American Gabriel Jones. Has a Nazi agent somehow infiltrated their ranks?! Nope - he's just your standard, garden-variety bigot.

The vastness of this sight, occurring at the top of a hill
(and a newly-turned page), is effectively jaw-dropping.
One of the noteable things about this story is its unusual realism - for just as every medical drama can't possibly end with the survival of the patient, so too would it be ludicrous for Fury's team to complete every mission. In this particular case, the idea of taking out Rommel had sounded unlikely enough - but when the General's forces finally come into view, the epic scale of their camp make it clear that it's not remotely possible! Fortunately, the Howlers' narrow escape is for the best, as US forces had been trying to catch up with them to call it off; turns out there's an assassination plot against Hitler in the works, and Rommel is one of their key men....

Note how unbothered Gabe is by Stonewell's contempt. In the struggles he's faced
in this terrible war, someone like that's just not worth his time.
And so, at the end of their ill-fated, frankly impossible and quickly aborted adventure, the unwelcome Stonewell takes his leave of the Howling Commandos. He and Izzy had been through a trial by fire at Rommel's camp, yet he still gives his erstwhile teammates the cold shoulder as he departs. It's a remarkably subtle bit of storytelling on Stan's part, as the character doesn't receive the dramatic turnaround in attitude we expect ("Forgive me, brave men -- I was wrong!!", etc.); yet neither does he perish in a blaze-of-glory sacrifice, unrepentant or redeemed. Instead, he heads back to whence he come - though there are signs that his attitudes may be softening by this stint, if only now by small degrees.

A surprisingly nuanced message: Racism and hate can be fought, and
progress made - but the changes to men's minds are gradual indeed.

127: Tales to Astonish #54

2011-04-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tales to Astonish #54
January 3, 1964

In this issue: Hank and Jan fight the Commies! Yes, again. They may not be showing up as de facto baddies nearly as often as they did two years - evidence of a slightly less-crimson Red Fear, or just the result of Stan creating more inventive and compelling villains? - but they're certainly never absent for long. Specifically, this is yet another tale where the villain is a barbaric Communist dictator, this time of the republic of Santo Rico. (Seriously, how many random fictitious countries can Stan create? We'll soon need a map!) The country in question, previously a peace-loving democracy, has elected their new vermillion leader in a landslide victory, eliciting more than a faint whiff of suspicion from international shores. As a result, Washington D.C. calls upon Ant-Man and the Wasp to investigate - and so, being proud and patriotic citizens, off they go!

And yet he always wonders about their anemic tourist trade....
So, the Red dictator in question? El Toro. Yes, "the bull". (And let's reflect too on the historical connection between bulls and the color red.) It's hard to say definitively whether or not he's actually got superpowers, as his only talent - aside from hysteria and megalomania - is his dramatic battering action. In other words, we may have just found the antecedent for 1980s Masters of the Universe toy Ram-Man. As you might expect, this villain was definitely a one-hit blunder ... until, astonishingly, he was brought back by writer Steve Englehart in a 1988 West Coast Avengers tale that united El Toro with other forgotten Ant-Man foes like Madame X, The Voice, and - I kid you not - the fantastic Scarlet Beetle.

Giant-Man hasn't been this much of a klutz since he first fought the Human Top!
Meanwhile, in the latest instalment of "The Wonderful Wasp Tells a Tale!", we're treated to a story of: "Conquest!" And it provides an interesting contrast with the lead story in Journey into Mystery #102, out on the stands that very same week. In that issue, the people of Zarrko's future era were all so happy and contented that they lost all sense of ambition or self-preservation, allowing for the uprise of their one bad seed. Here, the utopia creates the opposite problem: The populace is so cared for and sated that they've become complacent and now take their ruler, King Shann, for granted. Cognizant that his subjects are no longer awed by his majesty, Shann therefore concocts a plan to win back their admiration through the excitement of conquering a nearby world!

These citizens are revolting!
What follows in this remarkably tiny story is at once hokey and contrived (as any 5-pager is bound to be), yet with an underlying sensibility that's surprisingly mature in its subject matter. After all, Shann's world conquers their neighbor without too much trouble, and the soldiers we see do seem to be revitalized by the thrill of attack. However, the subjugated planet must of course be cared for after the war, and both Shann and his subjects are soon distressed to learn just how much of a drain such support is upon their economy. The dialogue may lack nuance, but the message is clear: War can invite glory and fame, but the reality of the after effects are lasting. The contrast between this story and JIM #102 is so astonishing because this was - like all the Wasp backup stories of this run - drawn and scripted by Larry Lieber, who in his previous scripting efforts often lacked compelling motivations; yet the bland (and frankly unbelievable) future of Zarrko was written by Stan, whose success in the genre has come about largely due to his talent for the same. So it's interesting that, this one week in January 1964, the brothers had a bit of a switch!

Note the design of his costume. Perhaps he became so despondent
he fled to another dimension and took a new name...?

126: Journey into Mystery #102

2011-04-05T12:17:00.000-05:00

Journey into Mystery #102
January 3, 1964

Concluding the return of Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man! And the verdict? Well, just that ... Zarrko's kind of lame. And the future he hails from is, sad to say, kind of dumb. Consider this: In Zarrko's future, some three hundred years hence, everyone is peaceful, contented, cared for and happy - except for this one evil dude. So, naturally, since they have no discontent and no aggressions, they therefore have no weapons or defenses to resist his conquest! The setting honestly seems like a cross between the smiling utopia of DC's Legion of Super-Heroes, and the robot-controlled future of Magnus Robot Fighter. Zarrko's first appearance had been nominally enjoyable, in part because it occurred so early in the Marvel canon; it worked as the kind of 1950s sci-fi story often seen in anthologies like Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery, yet upon further inspection of the details - those details increasingly a part of Stan's new superhero milieu - the constructed world simply doesn't hold up. It's no surprise that it would be another ten years before we'd see Zarrko again!

Welcome to ... the future!
Along with the utopian scene clashing with the growing realism of Marvel comics, the story is likewise dragged down by the poor use it makes of the space allotted. The lead Thor feature is afforded only thirteen pages for the conclusion of this tale, so you'd think the pressure would be on to use the space economically. And yet the cliffhanger doesn't actually resume and resolve until the bottom of page 3! Instead, the splash page is the "action shot of the story ahead" often used in tales of this era, followed by nearly two full pages of recap. One could argue that the Zarrko adventure required somewhat longer than a 13-page story to tell, and yet significantly less space than a full two-parter. Fortunately, starting with issue #105 the lead feature will finally graduate up to a more full-featured size (generally 18 pages), taking up all of the mag except for the continuing Tales of Asgard.

Get this: In the future, they have refrigerators you can fire like a gun!
I can't wait to live there. No leftovers will be safe!
Speaking of Tales of Asgard, this instalment is more significant than most - with as much added import as a 5-page story can deliver, at any rate - as young Thor finally completes the quest that's been in the background of these stories for the past few issues: that of finally earning the right to wield Mjolnir, his mighty hammer! Having accomplished such a feat, he seems far less a boy than before (even though the masthead still informs us he's but 18 years old), and that much closer to the man-god he will become.

I love that this one scene sums up Thor as endlessly noble, and sometime dense.
But placing the hammer in Thor's hands is not the only noteworthy claim in these five pages! In addition to that, we also get our first glimpse of a few more of the Asgardian cast, as Thor first consults the Fates on how he can free the captured Sif, sister to Balder (and later to be a rather important figure in his life). To do so, however, he must face the deathly touch of Hela, queen of the underworld! One thing you can't deny: Stan and Jack have really begun to realized the extent to which they can mine all the tales from Norse myth to really spruce up Thor's world.

In Sif's first appearance she appears helpless and meek, rather than the warrior
woman we will come to know. But Hela is already one creepy, forceful being!

125: The Avengers #4

2011-03-31T09:55:00.000-05:00

The Avengers #4
January 3, 1964

So here it is: The return of Captain America, in what may be the second most important comic in the Silver Age of Marvel (deferring only to Fantastic Four #1). After Namor fled the Avengers at the end of the last issue, he happens upon a group of Eskimos worshipping a frozen figure encased in a block of ice. Eager to lash out, Namor yells a lot and angrily throws the object of their attentions to the sea. Reaching warmer climes, the block of ice melts, and the figure is picked up by the Avengers in their ocean craft, homeward bound.

Witness one of the most famous moments in Marvel history.
As alluded to in an opening caption, Captain America was first created and drawn by Jack Kirby (alongside Joe Simon) in 1941, and Stan Lee's first writing in a comic was a 2-page text story from Captain America Comics #3 - so, as they say, the circle is complete! Stan had teased Cap's return a few months back in Strange Tales #114, in which Torch baddie The Acrobat posed as a returned Captain America. At the end of the tale, Stan told the readership to let Marvel know if they wanted Cap back for real - and respond they did!

Imagine how shocked he might feel had he returned today!
Apart from the singular prospect of reviving a truly iconic character in a new age (something which had been attempted once before in 1953, but failed to take hold), why else might Stan have thought this a good idea? What else, he might have asked, could Cap have to offer the book? Well, although the Avengers were a great assemblage of many of Marvel's solo heroes, and they both worked and clashed in a way similar to the Fantastic Four, they didn't have any obvious leader like the FF did in the person of Reed Richards. But Captain America, by simple virtue of his legend and strength of character, would surely be looked up to by all, making him a natural choice. With this one change, the Avengers could change from a somewhat random collection of heroes into an inspiring and actual team.

This scene never occurred in the original Captain America comics;
it's something Stan Lee grafted on specifically for his return.
But Stan wasn't content to return the character unchanged. No, Stan had the genius to bring what could have been a stodgy, straightforward figure as a layered character in the new Marvel mold: complex and flawed. Specifically, by revealing that Cap had Rip Van Winkled his way from the end of World War II to the current day - two decades' worth - Stan could cast Steve Rogers as both a beloved war hero and a fish-out-of-water, lost and confused by the modern 1960s world he saw around him. And if that weren't enough, by deciding that Bucky had been killed during their last WWII adventure, Stan gifted Cap with a bit of pathos and tragedy to haunt him from the past.

All this, and Rick Jones too! Stan certainly made sure you got your money's worth.

124: The X-Men #4

2011-03-29T16:26:00.000-05:00

The X-Men #4
January 3, 1964

Finally: The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Having gathered a few like-minded individuals, Magneto has assembled a true foil to the X-Men, and one of the major themes of the series can now be seen in this war of ideologies. The civil rights movement of the 1960s is an oft-cited point of comparison, with Professor Xavier - committed to the dream of racial integration - standing in for Martin Luther King, Jr., and Magneto representing the "by any means necessary" approach of Malcom X. Was the parallel an intentional metaphor, or accidental brilliance? Who can say? But it should be noted that MLK's famed "I Have a Dream" speech (audio here), its compelling rhetoric delivered on August 28, 1963, would have predated this issue by just a few months - and thus could very easily have been on the minds of Stan & Jack.

You can just tell that half of their meals end in a food fight.
In only his second appearance in the title, Magneto is clearly upping his game. In the very first issue he captured the military base at Cape Citadel, taking control of its rockets & missiles. Exactly how far he was willing to go was never explicitly spelled out, but that's a pretty ambitious move for one's opening gambit! This time out, perhaps realizing the usefulness of strength in numbers, he's enlisted several others to his cause - and then swiftly conquers the South American nation of Santo Marco, putting himself in charge of their army. This guy doesn't have small goals....

What was Magneto doing in a rustic European village anyway?
That may have been the first clue that later developments picked up on.
Although it took until issue #3 for Stan to figure out the compelling personalities for several of his X-Men, the new baddies introduced here are in many ways already concretized as the characters they would be known as for years to come. For instance, The Toad is already a sycophantic, groveling figure; always a servant in search of a master. And the illusionist Mastermind is a sleazy, amoral sort with little regard for others. (He would later play a significant role in 1980's classic "Dark Phoenix Saga", in which writer Chris Claremont deftly realized how much sleazier a character with mind-altering powers could become.)

We'll be seeing these mental battles much more in the future.
But this is a pretty good early appearance!
But the most important development, of course, is the introduction of the two reluctant members of Magneto's Brotherhood: Pietro and Wanda, otherwise known as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Wanda, as written here, is a bit too "damsel in distress"; her powers at this early stage simply create disasters, which she fearfully shrinks from. (She would develop into a much stronger character, though - and soon!) Pietro, on the other hand, is already massively arrogant and overly protective of his sister, yet with a trace of real nobility too. But what's not indicated - because, at the time, it wasn't intended - is the later revelation that Magneto is actually their father. The connection, heavily implied in 1979 (if not explicitly confirmed until 1983), was due in part to the physical similarities between father and son. But note that we wouldn't see Magneto without his helmet until a Neal Adams-illustrated story in 1969, which means that Quicksilver was not accidentally drawn similarly to Magneto. Rather, Mags would eventually be drawn to look like Pietro!

Wait - the Prof is powerless?! I guess we'll never see him in action again....

123: Fantastic Four #24

2011-03-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Fantastic Four #24
December 9, 1963

The threat this time out is the Infant Terrible (though this is just a name given it by the Four, as the alien creature never speaks). Reed explains to his teammates - and, by extension, the readers - that "The French have an expression called enfant terrible, Johnny! It means a child who does dreadful things!" The phrase's entry at dictionary.com expounds on this, stating that it also refers to "a person whose work, thought, or lifestyle is so unconventional or avant-garde as to appear revolutionary or shocking." (Which makes more sense as a term to have gained popular usage, rather than just another way of saying "naughty child".) See - comics can be educational! Amusingly, when the alien is next mentioned, in 1983's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, they needed a name to refer to the race - and, fittingly, chose "The Elan". I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that was a brainchild of the beloved and sadly-missed Mark Gruenwald, writer and super-editor extraordinaire; not only was he instrumental in the creation of the OHOTMU, but the joke fits his well-known clever wit.

This early scene gives a good indication of the trippy developments to come.
This is another tale of aliens coming to Earth, as with so many of this era - but unlike the bulk of them, it's not to spearhead an invading force. Instead, the title character is just a lost child who stumbles about causing surreal havoc in the course of amusing itself, such as the creation of a giant milk bottle floating in mid-air, an enormous spinning toy top, or robot soldiers which duplicate when hit (predating by a dozen years Madrox the Multiple Man). What's nice is that Stan and Jack don't try to keep this twist a surprise at the end, by which point the readership will have already figured it out; not only does the FF realize the alien creature's nature after their first encounter, but Stan and Jack feel no shame in telegraphing the story's unusual bent on the cover itself.

Reed conjectures on the terrible consequences if the kid is not sent to his room.
So if the twist of the alien being nothing more than an uncontrolled child is not the thrust of the story, then what is? Once again, it's Stan's innovation at asking himself how regular folk might react to news of the extraordinary. Specifically, as soon as the authorities broadcast Reed's theory of the alien as child - albeit one with ridiculously dangerous reality-altering abilities - a criminal boss gets it into his head to kidnap the creature and use him in their employ to break into armored trucks, turn small diamonds into gigantic ones, etc. Needless to say, it doesn't go as smoothly as they'd like. Reed, meanwhile, is concerned that at any moment the alien might turn his attention to the sun, with catastrophic consequences - but fortunately, his interstellar radio call to the child's parents pays off in time, as they swoop in at the last moment to reclaim their wayward tot.

Coming soon to a theater near you: Mob Funnies!
Although the story might not be the most thrilling adventure the FF have ever had, take another moment to marvel at the cover! The dramatic perspective gives the character a larger-than-life feel that fits his do-anything power, and the tableau of planets is a surprisingly effective invitation to a story of science fictional wonder. And if the story inside seems more a yarn of space wonder than we've seen in some time, there's good reason - for the fine folks at the Marvel Universe Appendix have pointed out that a similar story of a rampaging alien infant was first seen in Tales of Suspense, and another one just two years later in Amazing Adventures (the anthology comic that would eventually become Amazing Fantasy). As we've seen before, Stan never let a good idea go unrecycled!

Aw, man! So much trouble that Mom and Dad had to come pick him up?
I think it's safe to say that kid is totally grounded!

122: Amazing Spider-Man #10

2011-03-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Amazing Spider-Man #10
December 9, 1963

This issue sees Spidey face off against the mysterious Big Man. Though he might sound like a new villain for Giant Man, it's actually the intimidating name of a crime boss intent on bringing all the other New York mobsters under his control. His features hidden under a dapper suit and frightful mask, he exerts pressure via his three Enforcers who, though gimmicky (brute strength; quick reflexes & judo; mastery with a lasso), have no real superpowers. Though conceptually similar to Doctor Doom's recently-employed Terrible Trio, these baddies - and the Big Man himself - are simply gangsters; nothing more. In this way, the comic hearkens back to the Golden Age comics of the '30s and '40s, when powerful heroes like Superman and the Human Torch fought mob bosses, racketeers and other realistic villains far more often than fantastical, super-powered threats.

Big Man threatens.
But if it sounds like a bunch of regular guys are too slight a threat for a hero who has faced the likes of The Sandman and Doctor Octopus, worry not. Following Aunt May's operation last issue, her doctor tells Peter that she requires a blood transfusion to recover. He initially panics at the thought that a diagnosis of his blood might reveal his super powers, but forces himself to quell his fears and hope for the best. He's relieved to find that the tests reveal none of his secrets ... but having lost a good amount of his super-powered blood, he's thus left in a significantly weakened state which lasts for several days. That, of course, is when the Big Man strikes...!

Betty flees.
Meanwhile, Betty Brant's secret continues. Having hinted last issue at a dark something in her past, Peter now comes across one of the Big Man's mobsters pressuring Betty for money. At some point she had borrowed from a loan shark - for reasons she refuses to disclose - and when Peter begs her to confide in him, she tearfully flees town, leaving not just Peter but her job at the Daily Bugle as well. Parker is left dazed, wondering what secrets she could be hiding to push her to such a state. He - and we - will have to wait till next issue to find out!

Spidey vows.
Finally, the cover proclaims that this issue we "learn why J. Jonah Jameson really hates Spider-Man!" ("Secrets" really does seem to be the theme this time, doesn't it?) And y'know what? Not only is this not a case of false hyperbole, it turns out to be an answer so rich, and so fitting, that Jonah's revealing soliloquy - though only three panels long - has become one of the most famous scenes in Spider-Man history. One thing you've got to give Stan credit for is that he may not always remember to give his antagonists sufficient motivation - but when he does, it really resonates.

Jonah admits.

121: Strange Tales #118

2011-03-17T10:40:00.000-05:00

Strange Tales #118
December 9, 1963

This issue features the return of the Wizard, breaking out of prison after his last tussle with the Torch. (Although there's no mention of Paste-Pot Pete, whom the Wiz was captured alongside. Perhaps the Wizard would rather forget him? Not gonna happen!) And he's got a new trick this time, as he uses his genius to give himself an upgrade, creating the anti-gravity device which will become his staple from here onward. All those battles with Johnny must be having a terrible effect on him, however, because upon his escape he concludes firstly that the safest place to hide is not away from prying eyes, but rather in someone else's identity (kidnapping the person and disguising himself as the abducted) - and secondly that the best identity for him to step into is that of the Human Torch! Y'know, teammate of the smartest guy on the planet.

What sort of materials do these prison workshops provide?!
As is fast becoming the norm with the Human Torch stories, this is no longer just a solo tale. His sister Sue is kidnapped by the Wizard along with Johnny, and Ben & Reed track them down and help them to break out. Rather than a solo Human Torch yarn, this feature is increasingly becoming just a second venue for Fantastic Four stories, with the focus only nominally more on Johnny than the rest. So it makes sense that when the Wizard returns, it will be to face off against the entire FF (and, let's face it, he has always seemed more a foil for Reed than for Johnny) - and he'll be bringing some friends....

This man from Tales to Astonish #1 has a mode and manner that's familiar, even if his intent
and methods are not. Could this enigmatic investigator be a proto-Dr. Strange?
In our second tale, the townsfolk of a small Bavarian village have become possessed by some evil force, and Dr. Strange is sent to investigate it. And what a relief! After all, this is Strange's seventh story - yet it's only the first to feature neither Mordo nor Nightmare as the villain. As a result, it also becomes the first story seemingly set on fulfilling the promise implied by Doc's debut in which he was sought out by a man troubled by bad dreams: a mystic practitioner called upon in times of ephemeral or supernatural trouble, but not necessarily the star of such troubles himself. This interpretation of Strange views him almost as our anthology host to every new month's dark secrets (and recall the lore comparing him to Vincent Price, himself soon to be a famed host of mystery and horror), often found in stories akin to "I Know the Secret of the Poltergeist!", from Tales to Astonish #1, rather than as a brash superhero whose power is simply magic-based rather than founded in science. But given Marvel's ever-growing success with the superhero genre, it's not surprising that this is the bent the character would take, and these kinds of stories - with the Doc as an almost unknown, enigmatic character, little more than our guide to corners dark and creepy - would become increasingly rare, instead strengthening the focus even tighter on the battles between Doctor Strange and his various magical supervillains.

The creepy sense of dread grows slowly, encompassing the tale
with a feel of eerie phantasmagoria.
That said, while the story itself has much to recommend, it's not without its flaws. As mentioned, the good Doctor is summoned to Bavaria to solve the problem of the possessed villagers, themselves seemingly directed by a ghostly voice which emanates from a lonely peak in the Alps. So it's a bit of a disappointment when Strange tracks down the source of this evil and discovers it to be ... alien invaders. Specifically, green-skinned, bug-eyed monsters with little antennae and a sci-fi spaceship. And while they're specified as from another dimension, as opposed to bad guys from "outer space", it's clear that they have a lot more in common with the Skrulls than with, say, the other-dimensional Nightmare. And it's too bad, because apart from that it's a pretty perfect standalone story with many of the standard mystical elements: possession, a quiet and unassuming village, the disembodied evil inhabiting the eerie European crags (or so it first appears), and the foreboding mystic who arrives on the scene. Having this well-constructed tableau interrupted by the interior of a 1950s B-movie spaceship really does jar, and it's because sci-fi and magic have never been able to properly inhabit the same story without one genre or the other - or, more often, both - suffering from the attempt. After all, one is about technology and the understandable sciences, no matter how advanced, while the other is about the unknown and unknowable, the forces of the dark and the spaces inbetween. Trying to mix and match the two is understandably an appealing challenge, but it almost never, ever works out.

Remember that sense of unseen, ghostly dread? Yeah - gone now.

120: Tales to Astonish #53

2011-03-15T17:48:00.000-05:00

Tales to Astonish #53
December 2, 1963

Hey, check it out - the Porcupine's back! And I'm pleased to say that his weapons are even more ridiculous than before. You may recall that his gimmick is a suit designed to shoot out a number of special quills - including sleeping gas quills, a suction cup quill, a radar quill, a concussion ray quill, and a quill that shoots a flypaper pellet. (Seriously: a concussion ray quill? That doesn't even make sense!) Oddly enough, this "many gimmicks in one" trick seems to be a developing obsession of Stan's; in addition to the Imps from Pandora's Box, we were recently introduced to the Mandarin and his ten rings of power, even if their different uses have yet to be fully detailed. And we've not even seen Marvel's most famous example, Hawkeye the Marksman and his trick arrows - though that's not too far away!

Porky acting as a poor man's Spider-Man. A very, very poor man's, indeed!
Sadly, the Porcupine is not one of Stan's more complex villains, as his reason for targeting Pym in this story is nothing more than revenge for his previous defeat. But what he lacks in motivation he makes up for in ingenuity, as he quickly decides that the best way to sidle up to the hero is by infiltrating a Giant-Man & The Wasp fan club! (Recall that we'd already seen an example of superhero fandom two issues back.) So he shows up at the door of the local chapter, where the kids are surprised by his age - and kudos to Stan for realizing how odd such a thing would be! - and convinces the members that they should all dress up in costume as Giant-Man's various enemies, and then meet him. Thus providing himself plausible cover. It's a wonderfully inventive plot point, and makes the adventure incredibly entertaining.

The Human Turnip? It's nice to know Stan & co. have no problem poking fun at their own work!
The climax of the story comes about when the Porcupine - having incapacited Janet via the aforementioned flypaper - grapples with Giant-Man at close quarters, and deftly nabs Pym's growth pills. He at once pops several of them down his throat, reasoning that if one pill was enough to make Pym a Giant-Man, then many will make the Porcupine unstoppable! But, to his horror, Pym informs the villain that he'd actually grabbed the shrinking pills, and the Porcupine rapidly and inevitably shrinks out of sight. However, Stan's closing caption reads: "But those of you who are familiar with such things have a suspicion that somehow, in some way, the Porcupine may someday return ... more dangerous than ever! And, y'know something? You may be right!" It's almost as if during the writing he remembered that he'd once had Doctor Doom shrunk to nothingness, and had thus been forced to come up with a rather ingenious solution (in a story that coincidentally guest-starred Ant-Man). Would the readers remember as well...?

I wonder how many kids pulled out a magnifying glass to see if they could read his last line!
(Hint: You can't.)
Meanwhile, the Wasp's backup story this issue is "When Wakes the Colossus!", a sci-fi parable about an alien warlord who constructs a giant stone statue, via which he keeps control over the superstitious people he's conquered. (Essentially, it's a giant scarecrow, with the people as crows.) While the 5-page story is unusually engaging, and with a fairly surprising twist, it does show another odd penchant of Stan's: that of reusing character names. And I'm not referring to the future steel-skinned member of the X-Men; he wouldn't be introduced until 1975. Rather, I'm pointing out that the Giant-Man story to be seen in a not-too-distant issue #58, only five months away, will be titled "The Coming of the Colossus". And a stone giant by the same name had also appeared back in 1961; originally just the antagonist in a one-shot monster yarn, it would be brought back a dozen years later by writer Tony Isabella to headline a feature of its own as the richly-titled It! The Living Colossus.

You've got to admit - that's a pretty striking image!

119: Journey into Mystery #101

2011-03-10T10:38:00.000-06:00

Journey into Mystery #101
December 2, 1963

When our story begins, we find Thor doing his best impression of The Hulk. In a foul mood, he stomps through the city - heedless of the destruction left in his wake - and snarling that he just wants to be left alone. Regular folk flee from his temper tantrum; instead, his teammates Iron Man, Giant Man, and the Wasp are alerted to the predicament by Pym's army of ever-vigilant ants. The heroes aren't mentioned as such - in fact, the name "Avengers" is never used - but perhaps Stan felt safe in assuming that even if Thor's readers weren't also picking up The Avengers (of which only three bimonthly issues had yet appeared), they would at least be aware of Marvel's ever-growing superhero presence on the racks.

Once Thor starts acting like an adult, maybe Odin will treat him like an adult!
And what is Thor so angry about? Jane, of course. Specifically, Odin's refusal to let Thor marry her, convinced as he is (via grave misunderstanding) that she's simply not worthy of the love of a god. In fact, Odin is so incensed at Thor's adamant devotion - defying the wishes of his father, the All-Father - that, at Loki's whispered urgings, he strips Thor of fully half his power and might. At this, Thor finally stops to reflect (and mope), musing dejectedly on his heartbreaking dilemma.

Perhaps Loki just wants a spiffy, shiny jetpack? Maybe? No?
So of course it's when Thor is at his weakest that he's faced with the return of Zarrko, The Tomorrow Man, one of his very earliest enemies. (And what a striking cover to herald his return!) At the end of their first encounter Zarrko had lost his memory, but Loki magicks it back to take advantage of Thor's weakness. Despite the grandiose name, The Tomorrow Man is little more than an overly ambitious scientist guy from the future ... yet with the help of a giant robot he's able to bring down the lessened god, easily, and then blackmail Thor into returning to the 23rd century alongside him, there to execute his plans of conquest. The last thing we see is the two of them fading from the present, on their way to the future; how will Thor be able to fight back?

Thor alone, against the many invaders of Asgard.
Meanwhile, back in the present, March 2, 2011 saw the softcover collection of Tales of Asgard, a 300-page reprinting of all the Stan & Jack ToA backup stories. Though it's not the first time these stories have been collected, it is the first time they've been reprinted in their entirety, and on their own. Even more interesting is that for this reprint Marvel opted to try an experiment they've attempted a couple of times these past few years, though never so completely: that of recoloring the pages from scratch, using the limitless possibilities afforded by today's technology. To say that this is a divisive issue would be an understatement, as there are those who feel that such a change places the final product at too great a remove from its original form. (Then again, I've also heard the same said about the stellar remastering found in Marvel Masterworks, so it's certainly an argument of degrees.) Myself? I actually like this new coloring a lot! Yes, it's different from the original publication - but let's recall that what saw print was often represented by muddy or mis-aligned colors (due to poor printing technologies), in remarkably few hues (due to the limitations of the colors available), and often unfairly soaked up by the thin newsprint. Were today's technologies available back then, I do think Stan and Jack would have wanted art closer to what's seen in this new collection - and I do think the modern coloring gives Kirby's art an added dimension, beyond that which we already praise.

A three-panel sequence showing the comic as originally appeared; the remastered version published in Marvel Masterworks; and the recolored edition for the new Tales of Asgard collection.

118: Tales of Suspense #50

2011-03-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Tales of Suspense #50
November 12, 1963

Introducing: The Mandarin! Yes, after enduring such throwaway baddies as The Red Barbarian, the Mad Pharaoh, and Mister Doll, we finally get Iron Man's Doctor Doom. Sadly, he's always been a problematic character as well. A "Yellow Peril" figure from Red China, he's a stereotype through and through: From the "Chinese mystic" caricature displayed on the cover, to the pointed beard and Fu Manchu mustache - itself named after the more famous stereotype who wore it - the racist overtones of these early appearances have dogged the character ever since, preventing his appearance in the Iron Man films of the last few years, and even prompting Tony Stark's current writer, Matt Fraction, to address these elements in interview before bringing the character back (in what proved to be a satisfyingly complex tale of terror). Although it should be said there is something appropriate about Iron Man's archenemy being a product of the politics of the time, given that Iron Man himself came out of the Vietnam War.

That thing you just heard? That was the sound of my jaw hitting the floor.
And yet, just as in Doctor Doom's first appearance, in this debut issue ... the Mandarin's not that great. Specifically, Stan just can't seem to settle on what, exactly, he wants the character to be. He's a despot feared by his government; he's a technological wizard; he wears ten "power rings", each one a different weapon (though we only really see one or two in action); and he's a martial arts master who can finish off an armored Iron Man with a single blow. These are all characteristics that could be layered onto the villain, if done gradually. But trying to cram all this into the few scenes which feature him? In a 13-page story, no less? In this first glimpse, it makes the character a bit of a mess. Fortunately, we know this won't remain the case....

Great ending: Stan & Heck set up the character conflicts for future stories, as well as
showing that the Mandarin may have been stalled, but he's surely not been defeated....
So, it's issue #50! How, we wonder, will Marvel celebrate this milestone achievement for the title? Well, by ... dropping Iron Man's story count from 18 pages back to 13 (as mentioned above), for the first time since issue #46. (Why?) In its place is an unrelated 5-page backup story, "Them!", of the sort that Tales to Astonish, along with the rest of Marvel's anthology books, looked to have been getting away from. Strange, that. But we'll let it go, because "Them!", a story in which a terrified man is fleeing from storybook characters come to life (which only he can see) has the funniest twist of all - when it turns out that he, too, was nothing but a fictional character! A character created by ... Larry Lieber.

And note that Larry both scripted and drew this story - so, sure enough, that's his
depiction of both himself and publisher Martin Goodman.
Meanwhile, the latest installment of "Tales of the Watcher" gives us "Journey's End!", a story about meek and timid Wilbur Weems, a space pilot in the far-off 21st century. Picked on and laughed at by his unwaveringly gorgeous peers in this futuristic society, he nevertheless volunteers for a dangerous, one-way mission that no one else will consider. The predictable twist, of course, is that instead of doom he receives great rewards, as the threat he was sent to investigate turns out to have been a test designed to attract the most brave. Though just a 5-page story, it's effectively pleasing to see the character make his resolute decision simply because it's the right thing to do. On the one hand, yes, it is simplistic (and we can debate whether or not the ending reward undermines the idea that hard decisions should be made on their own merits, and not for what we think we can gain), but it's worth remembering that these were stories written for kids, and read by kids, and the unfettered delivery of ideas like selflessness and self-sacrifice were - and still are - ones worth introducing.

Oh yeah, and the dust cloud also transformed him from a nerdy shlub into a muscled hunk.
A bit too much wish-fulfillment there?

117: Fantastic Four #23

2011-03-03T10:54:00.000-06:00

Fantastic Four #23
November 12, 1963

Right off the bat, we can see we've got another story starring the FF's main baddie, Doctor Doom. Okay, cool; we like him. But the cover doesn't sell much beyond that, and it's a point worth thinking on. Back in the day, when comic books were largely an impulse buy, the cover was considered the most immediate and striking tool in making that sale. (See, for instance, DC editor Julius Schwartz's thoughts on the matter.) At a glance, a kid perusing this on the rack might wonder, "What's different about this comic? How does this story differ from other Doom stories we've seen so far?" And, going from the cover, we just don't know.

After giving Sue far too little for far too long, they're making up for lost time. Her new powers
debuted just last month, and the story opens with her saving the day yet again!
Something else that's slightly inexplicable is the reintroduction of Doom's time machine, first seen in Doom's debut tale back in FF #5 - odd, because it doesn't actually figure in to the story in any meaningful way. I mean, it's cool, but after those first few pages, we're left wondering: Why? It's tempting to conjecture if they were actually setting the stage for a future story that would make use of the time platform, but that seems unlikely; not only does this go against the improvised, make-it-up-as-they-go feel that's characteristic of this early time of Marvel, but we also see that it only takes a few lines to mention the time machine and where it came from. So who know - maybe Stan and Jack just wanted to open with a crazed dinosaur run amok!

A what now?! Okay, this master trap isn't just nonsensical - it's trippy!
Could the bizarre worlds of Dr. Strange be an influence here?
This time, however, Doom's not attacking on his own. Instead, he bails out a trio of baddies and then uses his technology to amplify their natural traits, so that the suave con man has preternatural hearing (perfect for detecting someone who's invisible), the circus performer who's resistant to heat is made completely fireproof, and the strong man of the group has his physical power increased a dozenfold. Thus creating a foil for the Thing, the Torch and the Invisible Girl, this leaves Reed Richards for Doom himself - and we thus have, for the first time, a dark mirror to the Fantastic Four (though one that never again functions as a foursome, and will be forgotten the following year in favor of the FF's more famous villainous quartet). Of course, as soon as they've taken down the Four, Doom immediately betrays the others - which is dumb and premature, because when the FF escape, he's outnumbered four once again. You might think he'd avoid turning on his cohorts, after doing so to the Sub-Mariner in their first team-up scotched his plans. Then again, why should he have learned from his mistakes? Subby certainly didn't!

Even when they try to work out their differences, it ends up being a laugh!
Over the course of this tale, Reed is once again being an arrogant clod, barking orders and dismissing his friends. While you can understand why Stan might have leaned in this direction for easy conflict - and it's worth remembering that over at DC the heroes hardly bickered at all - it is beginning to feel as if we've seen Mr. Fantastic (and note the arrogance in the name alone!) offending his friends and teammates with his attitudes more often than offering warmth and support. Fed up, the other members consider that they're tired of Reed's position as leader of the group, and maybe it's time for someone else to take the reins. But then they all bicker about who it should be!

The Special Announcements section in the letters page
gives a good idea of what was going on at the time.
(click to enlarge)

116: Strange Tales #117

2011-03-01T08:00:00.001-06:00

Strange Tales #117
November 12, 1963

With this issue, we're now halfway through the Human Torch's run in Strange Tales, which seems rather astonishing: that, for the length it's already lasted, we still have again as much until it's done. As if that's not enough, the same can be said for Hank Pym, whose (Gi)Ant Man feature has only reached its own halfway mark in Tales to Astonish. When reading these stories alongside the other Marvel superheroes of the time, it seems clear that these strips weren't working, and the characters maybe just don't have enough complexity to really shine as solo stars. They certainly don't seem to generate the same amount of excitement and inspiration in its creators as, for instance, we see in The Fantastic Four or The Amazing Spider-Man - but Stan seems committed to them, and won't see fit to oust Pym and the Torch from their respective mags until the summer of '65.

First thing he does upon his release: Make his old aquarium into his new
criminal HQ. (No one ever called him a mastermind.)
But at least, with Stan so fully committed, they seem to be making better use of the FF in these stories. The early days of the Torch's solo adventures, which kept Johnny relegated to Glenville and seemed to only grudgingly acknowledge his life as part of the FF, are thankfully behind us. Instead, Reed and Sue appear in the background of the story naturally, as Johnny's supporting cast, in much the same way that Aunt May does in Spider-Man. They offer advice, ideas and support, neither treating Johnny as if he's the only one who can combat a threat nor belittling his importance. In fact, for the first time the relationship between this strip and its parent title seems to have found its stable footing. Will that newfound approach last...?

This ... this is just fantastic. I've no words, really.
As the story opens, Johnny hears that The Eel (whom he fought not long ago) is on the loose again, so off he flies to nab him. However, as soon as Johnny apprehends him on the edge of the prison environs, he's admonished by the Eel, the guards and prison warden alike. It turns out that the Eel has served his sentence, and is out early on good behavior! In fact, he calls the Human Torch himself a menace, and threatens to sue Johnny for assault and battery. The Torch, bewildered, finds himself at a loss: He knows the Eel must be up to no good, but until an actual crime is committed, he can't prove a thing! This self-aware commentary on the vigilantism of the superhero is only hinted at in these pages, but it's nice to know that such musings are at least tangentially on Stan's mind.

In reality, the old building's just nipped out for a drink. Don't wait up.
In the backup feature, Doctor Strange encounters "The Many Traps of Baron Mordo!" And, honestly, it's a bit of a disappointment. Partly this is due to the prosaic and uninspired plot - especially in comparison to last issue's highly inventive imagery in Nightmare's dream dimension - since the title of the story tells all you need to know, as Mordo uses his dark sorcery to trick and trap Doctor Strange, leaving himself free to launch an attack upon their aged and powerful mentor, the Ancient One. But the boredom also comes from the fact that, once again, it's Baron Mordo. I mean, come on: Over the course of Doctor Strange first six stories, he's faced a grand total of TWO enemies! Fortunately, this will finally start to change with the next issue....

Yes, "it is written". So there it is then!

115: Amazing Spider-Man #9

2011-02-24T13:26:00.000-06:00

Amazing Spider-Man #9
November 12, 1963

Oh no - Aunt May's sick! Yes, this issue features the first appearance of not only a classic Spidey villain, but also the classic trope that will become so well-known (and, in time, so overused) that it will eventually become one of the go-to items in any comprehensive parody. And understandably so, for it's an element of danger that can never really go anywhere or develop into anything more interesting than its own precipice: either Aunt May can stay bedridden for good (which is both depressing and boring), or she can get better (in which case the element goes away), or she can worsen and die (in which case the character goes away). Shockingly, all three methods have been tried at one point or another. But for now at least, it's a great reinforcement of the idea that there's only so much Peter can do, and much as it weighs on him, there are still some problems he can never fix for good.

The pained expression, the slumped posture, the darkened room:
Ditko's skilled art conveys the discouraging fear of the one enemy Peter can never defeat.
Meanwhile, the baddie for this story is Electro, the superpowered nom de guerre of Max Dillon. (And take a moment to roll those syllables - Max Dillon - over your tongue. He sounds bad already, doesn't he? Though much of Stan's dialogue may now seem overblown or antiquated, he still had the ear to come up with a great sounding name!) A guy with powers based in electricity seems such an obvious idea that it's frankly surprising it took Stan two years to come up with it - and, honestly, it's so straightforward that you'd expect the guy to pop up once or twice more, if at all, instead of becoming one of Spider-Man's most well-known foes. But part of the magic to be found in Lee & Ditko's Spider-Man can be seen in the fact that they were able to create characters that should have faded into obscurity like so many Tales to Astonish baddies, but instead became part of the enriching milieu of the book.

Even after all the costumed heroes and villains cropping up over the last two years,
the first response of the police is consistently one of amusement. Gotta love it!
So: Aunt May has become so ill that her continued health requires an expensive medical operation, costing a thousand dollars that Peter simply doesn't have. But an opportunity arises - as does a moral quandary - when J. Jonah Jameson offers exactly that amount for photographic evidence that the dastardly Electro is really Spider-Man in disguise. (Even the side characters point out how little sense this makes: Why would one masked figure hide as another?) So, even though Peter and the readers know that Electro is someone else entirely, he grits his teeth and fakes a series of pictures proving that very thing. No bones about it; he lies, deliberately and premeditated, swindling his employer to the benefit of himself and his family. Yes, it's for a good cause, but it's undeniable that he's compromised his ideals, and colors Spider-Man with darker shades than before: How fine the line between hero and villain? How slippery might become that slope? The comic books of the 1960s might simply have been too early to really follow that line of questioning towards its conclusion; forty years later, Bendis & Maleev's excellent run on Daredevil might be one of the best explorations of this meaty idea. Still, the theme has been planted - perhaps shocking, for its time - that the world is a gray and messy one, and sometimes, when caught in the jaws of dilemma, there might be no answer that's yet clear and pure.

Electro's big plan hits a small snag.
Nine issues in, we see that the relationships in the book are not static, but evolving: For instance, observe Flash Thompson, jock bully and thorn in Peter's side since day one, musing on the fact that Parker beat him in a boxing match last issue - something he never would have expected. Considering that there might be more to Peter than meets the eye, he decides to try talking to him as a regular guy for the first time, showing a capacity for self-reflection equally unexpected. (It doesn't take, of course, as Peter - overly stressed and in a particularly foul mood - shoves him off. Still, the attempt is notable.) Similarly, Betty Brant, who Peter successfully flirted with in issue #7, shows an admirable wellspring of strength - for when she hears about May's illness she heads to the hospital to visit, and in an effectively somber moment sits with Peter in silence in the hall outside May's room, offering her support against his helplessness and despair. But she also harbors a secret from her past....

Take heart, Pete: That day's just a couple months off!

114: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #5

2011-02-22T23:59:00.005-06:00

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #5
November 5, 1963

Last issue, "Junior" Juniper was killed in action, and this one opens with Fury laying into his men like a maddened bull, forcing them through training maneuvers with a fierceness that lives up to his name. They hate it, of course, but understand (and even commiserate) that it's because he's so torn up over Juniper's death, as they are too. Stan's a canny judge of character, after all, and he has enough of an understanding of human psychology that he can show someone raging in denial over a loss, without having to belabor the point.

The epic struggle with which Kirby portrays Dugan's climb - all part of training,
nothing more - delivers the extra comic punch.
But this issue is most noteworthy for the introduction of villain Baron Strucker, later to become Nick Fury's major archenemy. Strucker is the first WWII baddie we've seen who will later return in the modern times, the "Marvel Age" - but before that, he will be seen in this book again and again as an irritant thorn plaguing Nick and his crew. The first few issues of the comic have been enjoyable thus far, but perhaps Stan realized that to ensure its success he needed to put into place some continuing elements, like the character subplots and returning nemeses to be found in his superhero fare.

In future appearances, Strucker will become far more proactive in his designs.
Along those lines, we also see more of British Red Cross worker Pamela Hawley, who Fury met just last issue but is already described - in the narration, at least - as "the lovely light of his life." Aside from the Commandos themselves, the only recurring character to date has been that of their commanding officer, "Happy Sam" Sawyer. But here we get a second member of the supporting cast, and one from outside their ranks, at that - and her refined, cultured ways make her pairing with the brazen, uncouth Fury an interesting one.

As with last issue, we're shown how vitally important the perception of winning
was to each side - something harder to relate to today. Also, Fury gets reamed.
As mentioned, at the beginning of the story Sgt. Fury takes out his rage over Juniper's death on the Howlers, punishing them as much as himself. Later, he's disciplined by Captain Sawyer with a demotion, forced to march alongside the Commandos not as their leader but simply as one of the men, and he rightly fears retribution for their earlier treatment at his hands. But instead, aware as they are of the grief that's directed his actions, they take care of him and look out for him - which, in his typically stoic and repressed style, seems to just confound and annoy him even further. But make no mistake, these men love their Sarge as they do each other - and we can only imagine how losing one of their own makes this all the more sharp.

And yet seventy years later ... he's still around and fightin'!

113: Tales to Astonish #52

2011-02-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

Tales to Astonish #52
November 5, 1963

This issue features the first appearance of the Black Knight, a character concept recycled from Marvel's 1950s "Atlas Era", when the Knight had his own short-lived comic book and was essentially a medieval superhero, complete with secret identity. This new version would later be revealed to be a descendant of that first one, and would eventually pass the mantle to another blood relation, who would go on to become one of the Avengers for several years. It's an interesting case study, because DC has many so-called "legacy characters" - for instance, the Flash has a direct lineage from Jay Garrick in the Golden Age, to Barry Allen in the Silver Age, to Wally West in the modern - but Marvel generally doesn't, with the same character usually inhabiting the same superhero identity for the past fifty years. If one ignores Stan Lee's recycling of the Human Torch when he created the FF - since they've never drawn any real connection between the Golden Age character and Johnny Storm - then this could be Marvel's first!

In a completely shocking opening, we find Hank Pym being unusually competent!
Based on past history, we can expect one scene like this every few years.
Regarding our star characters, there's a bit of a breakthrough with Hank & Jan's relationship, though more casual readers might not notice the subtle change. When Janet first appeared, quickly declaring her love for Pym, he instantly rebuffed her: partly from mourning for his dead wife, partly from some unspecified age difference (he called her "a child"), and partly out of a sense of professionalism (claiming he only wants a partner, nothing more) - though note that these stories indicate an assumption that if a man and woman work closely together, they will naturally become an item as well. (When Jane Foster left Dr. Don Blake's employ to work for a rival doctor, the implication is because Blake won't return her feelings, and the new doctor will.) Clearly the writers have been going for a comedic pairing where the one is constantly fending off the advances of the other, as also typified in the duo of Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, yet the question has remained: How does Hank feel about Jan? Finally, in a life or death moment, Hank admits to himself the depths of those feelings. How soon this takes flight remains to be seen!

See, he's just a big softy at heart. All those moments of berating Jan for being a silly,
spoiled girl were just his adorable way of saying he loves her.
On the art side of things, we have Dick Ayers take over as the new artist, following Jack Kirby's brief return for the last three issues. Dick was Kirby's inker on the first Pym story, as well as the handful of tales at the start of his superhero career, and he inked Jack's Giant-Man story last issue as well. So it's very much a return to form, as well as a deft way of passing the torch in a way that won't be jarring to regular readers, and Dick will remain on art for most of the next eight issues.

To gain revenge on Pym, he creates a flying horse. Really? Or: Brilliant scientist
creates a flying horse; rides it simply as a vehicle for revenge. Again: Really?!
Meanwhile, in "The Wonderful Wasp Tells a Tale", Janet spins the latest yarn to the residents of an orphanage, as opposed to last issue's visit to a veterans' home. The twist ending is less interesting and inventive than the last, but that's okay; as slight as these 5-page stories are (and a page and a half of that taken up with the framing device), they can't really be too great or too bad, but simply stand as quick, enjoyable, harmless entertainments. Note, however, that with the feature story rating an expanded count of 18 pages, up from its usual 13, this Wasp story is the only backup strip in the issue. The unconnected filler stories may not yet be completely over, but they're on the way out....

Part of the reason the twist at the end fails may simply be that the possibilities conjectured
display more imagination and inventiveness than the actual ending showed. Oh well - next!

112: The X-Men #3

2011-02-15T16:46:00.000-06:00

The X-Men #3
November 5, 1963

The first two issues were notable for just how off-model the characters were, as Stan had not yet found their personalities. This time out, however, it's surprising to see just how many of them he's zeroed in on. Observe, for example, Scott Summers, the team leader constantly worried about his power's destructive abilities; this active, physical repression informs his psyche as well, and his ultra-serious tone stands in contrast to the clowning around of the other boys. Stan has also realized that Hank McCoy could be far more interesting if played against type - the powerhouse and the "big brain" rolled into one, rather than just a typical brute - and Warren Worthington, the Angel, is now clearly set up as the rich, flashy, glamorous one of the bunch (as suspected from last month's guest appearance). But there's still room for misstep: Professor X detects the activity of a brand-new mutant over a great distance, all on his own - no Cerebro yet - and in a horribly conceived internal monologue, he grapples with his unspoken love for Jean Grey. You know, his teenage student. Stan must have realized the hideous inappropriateness shortly after it went to press, because the entire subject seems to have been subsequently stamped "LET US NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN."

Ew! No! Stop it!
Meanwhile, the villain of the piece is The Blob, an immensely large man who can't be moved when he doesn't want to be, can't be hurt, and is incredibly strong. (Also, his true power may lie in being a jerk.) Before the X-Men approach him, he's content to be a cranky sideshow freak. However, once they tell him his abilities stem from being a mutant, he gets commensurately large delusions of grandeur, and declares himself king of the carnival - and soon, to be sure, the world. In other words, this is one occasion where the X-Men's intervention made things worse than if they'd simply left well enough alone!

I love these short sequences that end in a silent panel (aside from sound effects).
Stan certainly knows when to shut up and let the art speak for itself!
So. The X-Men track down the Blob and, despite his snotty attitude, they offer him membership into their ranks. (Did they have no standards of admission?) Laughing, he turns them down. They're shocked that anyone would decline an offer of entrance to their school, as if the very possibility never occurred to any of them - and further, the Professor pronounces that there's no way they can let the Blob leave with knowledge of who the X-Men really are. Cue the ominous music: The Prof therefore has to mindwipe him. Yes, just like last issue. Actually, by this point the Blob is attacking the school with the entire carny workforce, which means Xavier has to mindwipe an entire crowd! To our modern eyes, this casual manipulation of others' minds can't help but read as morally gray at best, and sickeningly scary at worst. Did the readers at the time not feel the same way? Stan certainly didn't; from the rest of the Professor's portrayal, it appears he really expected us to accept these actions simply because the Prof was The Man In Charge.

Even though the Marvel books are becoming known for the seriousness and realism
with which its characters are treated, there's still room enough for punctuated comic relief.
Interestingly, by this time we've seen the setting of carnivals and circuses a number of times, from The Ringmaster's circus to the one in which the Hulk recently hid. "Interesting" because the 1960s was perhaps the last heyday of such venues, before losing out to the growing competition of mass-produced entertainment such as movies, television, video games and more. But that glimpse into a bygone era is what I find so compelling! One of the most fascinating aspects of reading these old comics, especially in aggregate and in publication order, is how clearly they evoke the period of the time, whether the automatic respect of the patriarch, the motion pictures that captured the nation's consciousness, or the looks and fashions of everyday men and women. Taken together, they paint a detailed picture of the times - if you only know how to look.

Already, this is the Beast countless fans would know and love for years to come:
bold, daring, astonishingly smart, yet with a casual and easygoing wit. Success!