In preparation for meeting Marvel’s Hercules, let’s meet Marvel’s first character with that name. Not the Olympian god but a forgettable superhero who bears his name. Recall that 1940s Marvel had more superheroes than anybody can name.
No credits are given. The Marvel Masterworks reprint credits story and art to Arnold Hicks.
Featuring: Two-Gun Kid Release: June 1, 1965 Cover: September 1965 12 cents Edited by: Stan Lee Written by: Al Hartley Pencilling by: Dick Ayers Inking by: Carl Hubbell Lettering by: Artie Simek 17 pages
We are reading Marvel’s superhero line, which they started back up in 1961. We’ve occasionally read stories older than 1961 that seem vaguely relevant, and refer to those as PRELUDE posts. We occasionally read stories long after 1961 and call those POSTLUDE posts. We will also be doing INTERLUDE posts, which we will read at the time they came out, but are disconnected from the normal superhero universe.
If you’ve been following along, this will be the first INTERLUDE post you’ve come across. But I’ve retroactively made a few other posts be INTERLUDE posts. Those stories featuring Medusa, Merlin, Odin, or Zeus that weren’t really properly connected to the superhero reading.
Superheroes are on the rise and starting to crowd out other genres, but Marvel is still publishing its romance and western comics. Marvel had a single western hero, the Masked Raider, way back in the beginning in Marvel Comics #1. But they’ve been regularly publishing westerns since 1948, starting with Annie Oakley and the Two-Gun Kid.
That’s the original Two-Gun Kid, mind you. Not to be confused with the character we are about to read about. The original Two-Gun Kid was Clay Harder.
In 1962, Lee and Kirby introduced a new hero with the same name, lawyer Matt Hawk.
Marvel’s other continuing western titles are Rawhide Kid, and Kid Colt: Outlaw.
Former western heroes include Wyatt Earp, Apache Kid, Outlaw Kid, Blaze Carson, Tex Morgan, and Tex Taylor.
One of Two-Gun Kid’s steadfast allies is Boom-Boom Brown, a former boxer turned blacksmith.
His most trusted ally of course is his horse Thunder.
Featuring: Daredevil Release: June 1, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Fundamental plot and script by Smilin’ Stan Lee Basic layouts and delineation by Wondrous Wally Wood Comprehensive pencilled graphics by Bouncy Bobby Powell Balloons, orders and blurbs by Sammy Rosen 20 pages
I can’t let them shoot me at sunrise! I hate getting up so early!
Wally Wood took over as artist on Daredevil with issue 5. In the coming issues, he introduced Daredevil’s iconic costume, some of his trademark weapons and moves, and told one of the greatest Marvel stories ever as Daredevil fought Sub-Mariner.
Now his short but impactful run is wrapping up. Because he did not get along with Stan Lee.
He was an industry veteran. He knew what the breakdown of responsibilities between artist and writer was. He knew he was doing a writer’s work on this comic, but only being paid as an artist.
The credits claim Stan Lee plotted this issue. Wally Wood would disagree. He admitted he and Stan did get together for plotting sessions to work out the stories together, but he described these sessions as them staring at each other in silence until Wood would suggest a plot. Which Stan then took credit for.
He’s not quitting just yet. We’ll see next issue he’ll get the credit and the pay for writing the issue, but that won’t become a regular practice. Wood will leave instead.
In some sense, Wood’s proper run on Daredevil is over, as this issue is really drawn by Bob Powell. Powell is a veteran artist as well, but one of the non-superstar artists we’ve been seeing on the weaker titles. Wood is credited with layouts and delineations, sketching out the story and character positions, but leaving it to Powell to draw the details.
Wood will be associated with the title for 2 more issues, but last issue was the final time we’ll really see Wood’s full artwork on Daredevil.
A short, but memorable run. His greatest contribution to early Marvel is probably to walk out the door. Marvel’s other superstar artists will do the same soon enough.
Sixty years ago today. Probably the most important date in the history of Marvel.
Dr. Henry Pym decided to use his shrinking formula once more and assume the identity of Ant-Man.
Dr. Donald Blake found a cane in a cave of Norway, which transformed into a magic hammer bearing the inscription: “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of… Thor!”
High school student Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and gained the powers of a Spider-Man. He sought to use these powers for selfish ends and sneered at an opportunity to help others. A karmic twist led to personal tragedy and taught him: “…in this world, with great power there must also come– great responsibility!”
Spider-Man is my single favorite fictional character ever. Happy 60th birthday, Peter.
With all respect to Thor and Ant-Man, I propose that June 5 is Spider-Man Day!
In fact, I met two Spider-Men at Glasgow Comic Con just yesterday.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: July 8, 1965 Cover: October 1965 12 cents Daringly written by Stan lee Dazzlingly drawn by Jack Kirby Dramatically inked by Vince Colletta Docily lettered by Artie Simek 20 pages
You thought you were the equal of the Fantastic Four– and nobody is!
Another great cover, and showing off Kirby’s versatility. Last issue had a cover beautiful in its simplicity, focused on two men locked in combat. Now we see a lot of complexity, that intricate machinery Kirby is so famous for drawing, but where the complexity frames the emotion of a defeated Fantastic Four.
When we left off, the Frightful Four had brainwashed Ben and Johnny into joining them. Now it’s up to Reed and Sue to fight off 6 enemies and restore their teammates’ minds. The startling conclusion of a 3-part battle.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: June 8, 1965 Cover: September 1965 12 cents Produced by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Inking: V. Colletta Lettering: S. Rosen 20 pages
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: May 11, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee, who has never lost his touch! Art by: Jack Kirby, who has never lost his magic! Inking by: Vince Colletta, who has never lost his flair! Lettering by: Sam Rosen, who has never lost Artie Simek! 20 pages
You did this to me, Richards!! You turned me into somethin’ so ugly that they can only call me… a Thing!
I appreciate that they use Ben’s real name in the title, rather than his superhero name. It adds a certain something, though I suspect Stan did it for alliterative purposes: brutal, betrayal, Ben.
Notice this picks up right where the last issue left off, so no time has passed. Yet we’ve read 7 other comics in the meantime. The idea is all this stuff is happening close to concurrently.
Ben had been turned human again, but Reed felt they needed him to be super strong again to defeat Dr. Doom, so without permission, Reed fired a ray to turn him back into the Thing.
Ben is justifiably angry and quitting the Fantastic Four.
Featuring: Avengers Release: May 11, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Slyly written by: Stan Lee Smoothly drawn by: Don Heck Suavely inked by: Dick Ayers Superbly lettered by: Artie Simek Stoically read by: You (if you’ll ever turn the page…!) 20 pages
I thought our purpose was to battle crime! Why need we concern ourselves with international affairs?
Of all the stories in the early Marvel Universe, these Cold War stories are the worst across the board. The very worst are the Cold War stories set in Asia, as they tend to mix in racism with the blatant US government pro-war propaganda.
It’s awful because they are aimed at children, with the seeming intent to indoctrinate them into supporting the war in Vietnam or whatever else.
If you remove all the ways they are plainly awful jingoistic racist propaganda, they still tend to be prettyawfulnarratively. The closest thing to an exception is the recent Thor story, which did have an actual narrative about a conflict between brothers and a family divided because one brother joined the Viet Cong.
But maybe this story where the Avengers invade an Asian nation at random to battle their Communist leader and overthrow the government will be the exception.
Spoiler. It won’t be.
This story is interesting because it’s both forgettable and forgotten… at least mostly forgotten for about 55 years… until 2019 when someone decided it should be one of the foundational cornerstones of the entire history of the Marvel Universe.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos Release: May 11, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Smashing script: Stan Lee Awesome art: Dick Ayers Inspired inking: Frank Ray Luscious lettering: Artie Simek 20 pages
Mister, when it comes to being tough, us Commandos invented the word!! And we don’t need a ravin’ Fuehrer to remind us how good we are!! All we gotta do is pick up a history book!! Mebbe we don’t push our weight around like you Nazis do! But, mebbe it’s because we know we don’t haveta! We got all the muscle we need– when we need it! And the dictator don’t live who can push us around!! Waddaya think of us “inferior races” now? Answer me, ya creep!! And then answer all the innocent people, all over the world, that ya been tramplin’ on–!!
We just saw an eye-patched Colonel Fury take over the international spy agency, SHIELD in the 1960s. Let’s head back to the 1940s to see the adventures of Sgt. Fury with two good eyes.
The credits on these Sgt. Fury books have usually emphasized the creators’ status as former military. “Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee”, “Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers”, “Ex-Corp. Frank Ray”. In fact, I think they’ve done that in every one of the first 19 issues of this series, but seem to be done with the practice now. I wonder why. They’re not phasing it out; they’ll just never mention the military service of the creators again.
We see the return of Baron Strucker’s Blitzkrieg Squad, introduced in issue 14, the Nazi counterparts to the Howling Commandos.
That truck seems to have a target on it.
Unless somebody has a better explanation, I’m going to suggest the logo is the RAF roundel, simply miscolored here, and not indicative of the Target corporation. The Turkish Air Force roundels look like the Target logo, but no British ones that I can find.
A bit of poking fun at themselves here. Fury’s rival Bull McGiveney claims all Fury knows how to do is rip up shirts.
A torn chest-revealing shirt is basically Fury’s uniform.
Well, a hectic one. The first year where I forgot to mark the anniversary of this blog. On April 6, we celebrated our 3-year anniversary… except I completely forgot to celebrate.
So let’s do it now. I’d normally start with an overview, but I did something like that back in March, after I took an unplanned 2+ month hiatus, and made a We’re Back post.
That post gave a walk through of the blog, and I don’t want to repeat myself. So I’ll note a couple changes since March.
First I’ll note that our Best We’ve Read page has expanded from 50 to 100 Marvel Universe entries, spotlighting our posts on the best Marvel stories of the era. This allowed a lot more variety. The top 50 is very dominated by Steve Ditko, particularly Spider-Man stories. The top 100 spotlights a greater diversity of characters, including Iron Man and Ant-Man.
Somehow, even with a hundred entries, still no Human Torch stories made the cut. That’s a head scratcher, there.
Trying a new thing I call “Reading Topical Comics”. The idea is that people seem particularly interested in things that tie into current media. But I’ve struggled to figure out how to tap into that. I started by doing expansive posts that walked through every comic reference I could find in a show. They were extremely popular, but also too much work. Now I’m trying to just pick up a relevant comic and read through it and make some notes. For the recent Dr. Strange film, we read through a comic about America Chavez. And for the Morbius film, we read through an entry about Morbius himself.
I didn’t love how either turned out, and still haven’t gotten out as many entries as I’d hoped (still no Moon Knight post, for example), so am still tweaking the format. We’ll see how it goes.
My blog numbers had been doing well as long as I was making regular posts, but my recent 3-month hiatus led to a drop in readership. I think people got out of the habit of checking the page regularly. Now that I’m back to regular posts, it’s picking up rapidly, but still not to where it was a year ago. No more vacations, I guess.
Monetization. I do this blog as a hobby, not for money. It costs a fairly trivial amount of money to keep the site running, but a very large amount of time. In an attempt to recoup a bit, I’d included links to Amazon of comics I talked about. That really wasn’t making much money, and I decided I don’t feel quite right advertising for Amazon, so I’m stopping that practice.
If you’d like to support this page, you are free to donate at Buy Me a Coffee. Find the coffee cup icon in the bottom corner, or the “Buy me a Coke” button at the side.
For the anniversary, we actually got to read a really good Spider-Man comic, a fine end to year 3. We’d ended the previous year with an also-excellent Spider-Man comic.
Unfortunately that’s only 68 entries for the year, not an impressive rate. (68 in my main Marvel Universe reading; there were some 40 other posts.)
Starting to get a realistic sense of the rate I’m putting these out. My guidepost for the effort is the Marvels series. I’m hoping to cover the ground of Marvels #2-4 with this format, which takes us from the Wedding of Reed and Sue, through the Coming of Galactus, through the Death of Gwen Stacy from 1973. That will take well over 5 years unless I really pick up the pace.
Once we reach 1973, we’ll probably pause and see how I old I am and where my life is, and then go from there.
What kind of year has it been?
A year of love found as Mr. Fantastic finally proposed to the Invisible Woman. A year of love lost as Nick Fury’s girlfriend Pam was tragically killed. A year of love confused as Peter had not yet met the lovely Mary Jane Watson, but Betty and Liz have, which is not helping with Betty’s jealousy complex.
A year of final battles. The Stranger carries Magneto off to deep space, forever ending his threat, I assume. Zemo dies in battle with Captain America, and Bucky’s death is avenged.
A year of endings. The Human Torch/Thing stories mercifully came to a close. Giant-Man and Wasp decided to retire from superheroing and their series came to an end as well. Iron Man decided to also take a leave of absence from the Avengers, and Thor was called off to the Trial of the Gods, leaving Captain America as the last Avenger.
A year of reform. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch renounced their evil ways. Hawkeye vowed to reform after Black Widow was injured and perhaps killed by her Soviet masters.
A year of new beginnings as those three reformed villains formed a new team of Avengers, led by Captain America. Namor was also offered a chance to join the Avengers, but refused, as he remains at war with the surface.
The X-Men traveled to a hidden Antarctic jungle where dinosaurs still roamed, and met its lord, Ka-Zar, with his trusty pet, Zabu.
An outmatched Daredevil (in a spiffy new suit) stood valiantly against Namor.
We have unresolved plot threads. Thor’s hammer is broken from battle with the Destroyer, and he remains unaware the Avengers had disbanded; and he still needs to get the Norn Stones to Odin to prove Loki cheated in the Trial of the Gods. The year ended with the Fantastic Four still lost at sea, their powers faded. (Because this post is a bit late, we now know they got their powers back after an epic battle with Dr. Doom.) The wedding remains imminent. The X-Men are still recovering from injuries sustained in battle with the Juggernaut. The schemes of the Leader continue to plague Hulk. In old Tales of Asgard, Thor and his allies continue their quest to learn why the Odinsword is cracked.
