Coke ⊕ Comics

Tales of Suspense #87, Story B

Wanted: Captain America!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: March 1967
12 cents
Editing: Stan Lee
Script: Roy Thomas
Drawn by: Jack Sparling
Inked by: Joe Sinnott
Lettered by: Sam Rosen
Subway swept by: Honest Irv
10 pages

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Tales of Suspense #87	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #88
Tales of Suspense #87	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #88

You may have had hours of practice… but I’ve had years!

That’s quite a surprising line-up of creators. Lee and Kirby have been handling Captain America thus far. Kirby took a couple issues off last year, with fill-ins by Ayers or Romita. And Kirby isn’t done with the book, but it will be a few issues until we see him again, with Gil Kane taking over. Lee is only taking this one issue off.

Thomas is Lee’s standard backup at this point, so his name isn’t that surprising. Joe Sinnott is our favorite inker these days, so it’s good to see him.

But who is Jack Sparling? That’s a new name to us. He’s one of those guys that’s worked in comics since the 1940s, seemingly at every company but Marvel. This is his first Marvel work and he won’t become a regular.

Here’s a sampling of his work.

The Yorktown Younger Set, Calling All Girls #3, Parents’ Magazine Press, 1942
Hap Hopper, Sparkler Comics v2 #10, United Feature Syndicate, 1942
Nyoka the Jungle Girl, Master Comics #50, Fawcett, 1944
Claire Voyant, Keen Teens, M.E., 1945
Lovers Lane #2, Lev-Gleason, 1949
Texas Rangers, Action Comics #140, DC, 1950
Kid Lochinvar, Great Lover Romances #1, Toby, 1951
Warfront #1, Harvey, 1951
Masked Raider #1, Charlton, 1955
The Sword and the Dragon, Four Color #1118, Dell, 1960
Adventures into the Unknown #121, ACG, 1961
Immortal Man, Strange Adventures #177, DC, 1965

He’s at this time a fixture of DC’s horror books, while still drawing romance, war, or other comics for companies like Harvey and Dell.

Tales of Suspense #87

Crisis– At Earth’s Core!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: March 1967
12 cents
A Stan Lee ○ Gene Colan Super-powered spectacular!
Inked by: Frank Giacoia
Lettered by: Artie Simek
12 pages

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Avengers #37	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #87, Story B
Tales of Suspense #86, Story B	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #87, Story B

For the first time, man will be able to probe the deepest secrets at the very core of the planet he lives upon!

Tony Stark is experimenting with a dangerous nuclear-powered device that will enable subterranean exploration. It sounds boring.

Some Commie spies want it. They are no match for Iron Man.

Avengers #37

To Conquer a Colossus!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
Electrifying editing by Stan Lee
Scintillating scripting by Roy Thomas
Invigorating illustrating by Don Heck
Languishing lettering by Artie Simek
20 pages

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Avengers #36	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #87
Avengers #36	Avengers	Avengers #38

How must it feel to be the last of your kind– alone in a world where you don’t belong? Can it be even lonelier than to live forever behind the colorful mask of… Captain America?

Ixar’s Ultroids have defeated the Avengers and plan to absorb their powers.

We learn the Ultroid who had impersonated Scarlet Witch is named Ultrana.

Avengers #36

The Ultroids Attack!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: November 10, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Edited by: Stan (The Man) Lee
Scripted by: Roy (The Boy) Thomas
Drawn by: Don (The One) Heck
Lettered by: Sam (The Sham) Rosen
20 pages

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Sgt. Fury #39	Reading order	Avengers #37
Avengers #35	Avengers	Avengers #37

It was with a feeling of eagerness… almost of exhilaration… that I donned my crimson costume once again…

Stan the Man is by far Stan’s most common nickname at this point. I think this is our first time seeing Roy the Boy. I appreciate the rhyming scheme they have going on here, except… Don and One don’t rhyme. Maybe they do in the same way as eye and symmetry.

Who was the mystery figure who confronted Captain America at the end of last issue? It turns out to be the Scarlet Witch.

Or does it?

Rest in peace, Alex Guenther

Alex Guenther was a Brazilian comic artist, who passed away a couple weeks back at the age of 48. He leaves behind a wife and two sons.

His website contains a number of samples of his work. His characters were always expressive. And you can see he was an extremely versatile artist, suited to a number of genres. He could do anything.

Sgt. Fury #39

Into the Fortress of… Fear!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
Herculean editing by Stan Lee
Halcyon scripting by Roy Thomas
Heroic plotting and drawing by Dick Ayers
Heavenly inking by John Tartaglione
Homogenized lettering by Artie Simek
20 pages

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X-Men #29	Reading order	Avengers #36
Sgt. Fury #38	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #40

Oh well, like I always say, nobody lives forever!

There is a trend toward recognizing artists for their work in plotting. I think this is the first time we’ve seen Ayers get a plotting credit.

The Howlers are in the Bavarian Alps, infiltrating a Nazi stronghold known as the Fortress of Fear to stop a new superweapon called the Thunderer.

X-Men #29

When Titans Clash!

Featuring: X-Men
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
Stan Lee… editor
Roy Thomas… scripter
Werner Roth… artist
John Tartaglione… inker
Sam Rosen… letterer
Irving Forbush… skating instructor
20 pages

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Amazing Spider-Man #46	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #39
X-Men #28	X-Men	X-Men #30

Funny… it took an inhuman, emotionless thing like the Super-Adaptoid… to make me realize the true value of the emotion called… friendship!

We haven’t seen many seasons yet in our years of Marvel reading. But now it’s clearly winter. We’ll think at the end of the post about what that means for our continuity.

Jean is in town for the weekend from college. Going off to college seemed like a way of sidelining her from the series, but she’s managed to miss very few adventures.

We learn Warren is recovering from his accident.

And see Scott standing alone and aloof off to the side while his teammates enjoy themselves.

Amazing Spider-Man #46

The Sinister Shocker!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
A Stan Lee John Romita Spideriffic spectacular!
Lettered by: Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Daredevil #25	Reading order	X-Men #29
Amazing Spider-Man #45	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #47

I almost made a king-sized jackass out of myself! How could I have thought a teen-aged nobody like Parker could actually be Spider-Man!

Can Romita fill Ditko’s shoes on this title? Ditko created a number of iconic villains. Romita will have to do the same if he wants to compare. He’s already created the Rhino.

Now we meet the most shocking villain yet… the Shocker.

Daredevil #25

Enter: The Leap-Frog!

Featuring: Daredevil
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
A Stan Lee * Gene Colan epic extravaganza!
Inked by: Frank Giacoia
Lettered by: Art Simek
20 pages

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Tales to Astonish #89, Story B	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #46
Daredevil #24	Daredevil	Daredevil #26

We’re both lawyers, Matt! You know how thin that story sounds!

Where were we? Matt had the weirdest plan yet to protect his secret for Karen. Strong, strong emphasis on the word “yet” there. He thought he would put on a Daredevil costume in front of her and pretend to be pretending to be Daredevil to diffuse a hostage situation. Over the course of events, “Matt in disguise as Daredevil” disappears and the “real Daredevil” appears. And then finds himself transported to Europe and trapped there for a bit.

Fortunately that whole act seemed to basically have Karen fooled. But now Matt has disappeared along with Daredevil. And she opened a letter written to Matt from Spider-Man which said that Spidey knew Matt was Daredevil but would keep his secret.

Not very well, apparently.

Now, Matt is back from Europe and will need to scramble to explain his disappearance and protect his secret. He’ll need a plan even crazier than the last one.

Meanwhile, Leap-Frog is a new menace on par with Dr. Doom.

Tales to Astonish #89, Story B

…Then, There Shall Come a Stranger!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: December 8, 1966
Cover: March 1967
12 cents
Handled with Hulktitude by Stan (The Man) Lee and Gil (Sugar) Kane
Lettered by: Sam Rosen
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #89	Reading order	Daredevil #25
Tales to Astonish #89	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #90

For, it is my intention to cleanse the Earth… to purify this tortured planet… in the only way possible… Civilization… as you know it… must be obliterated! The works of man… indeed, man himself, must be all but wiped out! Only then… with the planet scourged clean… scourged of the seeds of evil… can a new day dawn! Then, these humans who have survived the coming holocaust, shall build a better world… under my command! But I sense your thought! You are concerned about the fate of the millions who must perish! That can be of no concern to me! Human life means nothing to the Stranger! If all the solar system must be destroyed to bring peace to the universe, I would not shed a single tear at its passing! For I am the Stranger! I walk ever alone!

Boomerang is dead. Bruce Banner lies unconscious.

The Stranger had previously collected Magneto and Toad for his zoo. Has he come for the Hulk? Not for his zoo, apparently.