Featuring: Iron Man Release: January 10, 1967 Cover: April 1967 12 cents Stan Lee and Gene Colan Inked by: Fearless Frank Giacoia Lettered by: Adorable Artie Simek 12 pages
Stark had his factory evacuated for his experiments, so fortunately nobody else was inside when Mole Man sank it beneath the ground. Except maybe some unconscious Commie spies we seem to have forgotten about. And it turns out Pepper had snuck back in because she was worried about Tony.
“You little fool!” says Iron Man. “I’ve now got a female’s safety to worry about!”
“At least your make-up isn’t smudged!” he adds reassuringly.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
