Featuring: Hulk Release: April 1, 1975 Cover: July 1975 25 cents Len Wein writer/editor Herbe Trimpe & Joe Staton illustrators Glynis Oliver Wein colorist Arty Simek letterer 18 pages
Why? Why is there so much Hulk does not understand? All Hulk wants is a place where Hulk can find peace… a place Hulk can call… home! Why is Hulk forever lost? Where is Hulk? Where–? Nowhere! Hulk is always nowhere!
After a hiatus of a half-decade, the X-Men have returned, now with an all new team, including Wolverine, who we just met when he battled Hulk a few issues back. Of course, Len Wein was the writer on both titles, making for a smooth crossover.
We recall that in Hulk #187, Hulk tagged along on a SHIELD mission to Siberia to rescue Glenn Talbot, only to find him brain-swapped with a Soviet agent. The Gremlin erased the Soviet agent from his mind, so Ross and Quartermain only brought back a mindless husk. As they left, SHIELD destroyed the Gremlin’s Siberian base with Hulk still inside fighting the Droog monster. Presumably Hulk is now dead.
Except as we see on page 1, Hulk unexpectedly survived the destruction.
Featuring: Ghost Rider Release: December 1, 1966 Cover: February 1967 12 cents Edited by… Stan Lee Written by… Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas Plotted and drawn by… Dick Ayers Inked by… Vince Colletta Lettered by… J. Verpooten 17 pages
Magazine Enterprises is long since defunct. So nobody owns the character of Ghost Rider we met in Tim Holt #11. The co-creator Dick Ayers is now a Marvel regular, so Marvel takes the character and has Ayers revive him.
Of course this means Marvel, now owned by Disney, owns the character of Ghost Rider and will for all time.
Ayers would attempt to return to his character in the ’90s, adding some new covers to the old stories, but they had to call him the “Haunted Horseman”, as they had no rights to the name. Because of the world we live in (or at least the country I live in) and laws built to serve corporations and not artists.
Gary Friedrich is a mostly new name to us. This is his first Marvel work. He’s in his early ’20s. He started at Charlton and we saw his work with Steve Ditko on Blue Beetle over there. He’ll become a prolific writer over the decades.
Gary has no relation to Mike Friedrich, who will be starting work at DC soon.
The letterer John Verpooten is also new to us. He’s just started as a regular at Marvel, working on staff. He’s here for behind-the-scenes stuff, and we’ll start seeing him occasionally as a letterer, and soon enough as an inker. He’ll spend a decade with Marvel until his untimely death in 1977 at the age of 37.
Giving Ayers a plotting credit is part of a general trend we are seeing of recognizing artists for their plotting contributions.
Though Thomas would much later claim that credit was false, and the plotting was entirely done by Friedrich and himself.
While the name and likeness are lifted directly from Ayers’ 40s hero, this is a different character with a different origin. The original Ghost Rider was Rex Fury. This issue introduces Carter Slade.
When the Calico Kid went to his doom in the swirling, surging waters of the Devil’s Sink, Badman Bart Lasher laughed an evil laugh… then out of the realm of death came– the Ghost Rider!
Last week I thought it would be a funny April Fool’s joke to read a Marvel comic from 1975 at random when we are still in 1967. Now I think we should read a non-Marvel comic from 1949 and call it part of our Marvel reading. But this time I’m serious.
Magazine Enterprises was a comic publisher from the 1940s and ’50s. This series features Tim Holt, “Cowboy star of the movies”. Tim Holt was a popular actor of the era, who starred in a number of cowboy films: Robbers of the Range, The Bandit Trail, Riding the Wind, etc. And had some roles in acclaimed films like Treasure of the Sierra Madre or My Darling Clementine.
Several movies costarred Richard Martin as Chito Rafferty, in the role of the sidekick to Holt’s character.
The comic features Tim Holt as himself, but not as himself the 1940s actor, but as Tim Holt the 19th century western hero. Chito is his sidekick.
As noted above, this comic was not published by Marvel and Tim Holt has nothing to do with Marvel. Yet here it is in our Marvel reading.
The second story in this particular issue will have some connection to Marvel. The artist is Dick Ayers, who has been drawing Sgt. Fury as well as several of Marvel’s western comics, so there’s already a connection.
And some readers may recognise the name Ghost Rider. We’ll talk more about the connections to Marvel soon. For the moment let’s read this story.
I don’t see a date on the cover. Dick Ayers has signed the issue. The GCD credits the script to Ray Krank based on an interview with Ayers from 2001.
Back East, I remember reading about a fictitious gun-fighter named the Two-Gun Kid! I don’t know whatever happened to him, but I think I’ll borrow the name!
We see the signatures for Lee, Kirby, and Ayers. The GCD credits the coloring to Stan Goldberg, and the letters to Artie Simek.
We just met Marvel’s original Two-Gun Kid, Clay Harder from 1948. In 1962, Marvel introduced the new Two-Gun Kid. Marvel had been reviving the idea of superheroes with the Fantastic Four and Hulk. And just two months earlier introduced Thor, Spider-Man, and Ant-Man.
Stan and Jack bring the sensibility that had been working for them on the superhero titles to the western genre as they reimagne the Two-Gun Kid. For example, this new one will have a mask and secret identity.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: November 10, 1966 Cover: January 1867 12 cents Editing– Stan Lee Script– Roy Thomas Art– Dick Ayers Inking– John Tartaglione Lettering– Bob Agnew Technical advisor this ish– Morrie (Super-samurai) Kuramoto 20 pages
I think you fellas must have me confused with the rats that bombed Pearl Harbor! Personally, I’ve never been west of San Francisco!
Bob Agnew is a new name to us. 99% of the comics we’ve read have been lettered by Sam Rosen or Artie Simek. The lettering here is by Agnew, in what is as best as I can tell his only Marvel work. His stint in comics seems to have been brief.
Morrie Kuramoto is credited with technical advising, with no more clarity offered as to what that entails. Kuramoto is Japanese-American who served the US in WWII, and this comic will introduce a Japanese-American soldier. The credit calls him a super-samurai, so it’s also possible he advised on the martial arts on display in this issue.
We’ve seen Kuramoto’s work occasionally as a letterer, under the pen name Sherigail.
Morrie Kuramoto was associated with Marvel on and off going back to 1946. He just joined back as a regular member of the Bullpen, and would be with Marvel continually for the next two decades. Morrie passed away in 1985 at the age of 64.
Featuring: X-Men Release: November 3, 1966 Cover: January 1967 12 cents Stan Lee editor Roy Thomas writer Werner Roth artist J. Tartaglione inker Artie Simek letterer Irving Forbush noise-maker 20 pages
How could these puny humans– who dwell among the smoke and noise that they call civilization– hope to appreciate such matchless beauty?
So my normal standard for making posts is to prepare the post one day, but not publish it the same day. I sleep on it and give it a last lookover before publication.
I’m skipping my usual standards today. Because today is St. Patrick’s Day. So I’m posting this without my usual extra day to edit. And from a pub. While some number of drinks in.
As seems appropriate.
This issue feels appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day because it introduces the character of the Banshee.
Who I think is Irish. Though they don’t say so. At least, I associate banshees with being Irish. Of course, I also associate banshees with being women, so shows what I know.
Release: November 3, 1966 Cover: January 1967 12 cents A Stan Lee * Gene Colan contemporary classic! Inked by: Frank Giacoia Lettered by: S. Rosen 20 pages
Starting this issue, Colan gets a credit like Romita got last month, and like Kirby and Ditko had been getting. Rather than just crediting him with art, the entire story is credited to the combo of Stan and Gene. This implicitly acknowledges Colan’s contributions to the writing. While still putting Stan’s name first.
On continuity, we haven’t travelled far into the future. Daredevil escaped Owl’s island while the Rhino was first being tried, and got into his tiff with the Tri-Man very soon after. That ended with him trapped in Europe with no money. And he’s still stuck. So this isn’t long after Amazing Spider-Man #43, perhaps still before Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3.
Featuring: Spider-Man Release: November 10, 1966 Cover: February 1967 12 cents A Stan (The Man) Lee — John (Ring-a-ding) Romita adventure in agonizing action Lettering – Sam Rosen Web-untangling – Irv Forbush 20 pages
When your two arms were helpless against me before, what did you expect to accomplish now?
In this story, Spider-Man fights the Lizard again. With one arm tied in front of his back.
Romita gets the same credit Stan had been giving Ditko and Kirby. Rather then merely crediting him with illustration, Lee gives them each co-credit for creating the entire story, acknowledging that Romita is doing much of the writing.
Featuring: Spider-Man Release: October 11, 1966 Cover: January 1967 12 cents Story: Smilin’ Stan Lee Illustration: Jazzy John Romita Lettering: Swingin’ Sam Rosen Luggage: Honest Irving Forbush 20 pages
Ditko and Lee created a number of great villains for Spider-Man: Chameleon, Vulture, Tinkerer, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Lizard, Living Brain, Electro, Big Man and the Enforcers, Mysterio, Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, Scorpion, the Spider Slayer, Molten Man, the Cat, Looter, Robot Master, a Guy Named Joe…
A temptation when writing a Spider-Man story is to have the premise: “Spider-Man fights _ again.”
Which is the worst idea for a Spider-Man story. In fact, two of Ditko’s weakest issues, written after he had basically given up on the series, involve Spider-Man fighting Kraven or Molten Man again.
That’s not to say these villains shouldn’t return. They should. But their return needs to tell a different story with them or move their own story forward.
That’s the big question. Is this story advancing the saga of this villain or bringing it in circles?
Dr. Octopus fought Spider-Man. When they fought again, it led to the death of Betty Brant’s brother and Spider-Man being unmasked. The villain returned but it was a new story. When they fought again, Dr. Octopus assembled six of Spider-Man’s most sinister foes to battle him. Again, a different story. Finally, they had their greatest battle with Dr. Octopus in the guise of the Master Planner. I heaped plenty of praise on that saga at the time. But suffice it to say, I think there was more of a premise to that story than “Spider-Man fights Dr. Octopus again.”
Spider-Man fought the Lizard, but then learned he was a good man Dr. Connors transformed by his own science experiments.
We saw that man again, cured of his Lizard ways, now acting as a scientific advisor to Spider-Man. We saw him again last issue in a similar capacity, advising against the Rhino. That time he idly wondered if the powers of the Lizard could be used against the Rhino. Spider-Man convinced him that thinking is dangerous.
So as we read stories where Spider-Man fights a classic villain again, I have a couple thought questions. Is the story moving the villain’s story forward? Is it telling a new story with the villain? Is there more to the premise than “Spider-Man fights _ again”?
I’m not objecting per se to Spider-Man fighting the Lizard again. Romita is an artist with a distinctive style from Ditko, so it’s fun to see his take on Ditko’s villains.
And the story will be good because Romita’s art is good and because he’ll do a good job with the side characters and soap opera. But will the story be good?
