Chris Coke

Strange Tales #153, Story B

Alone, Against the Mindless Ones!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: November 10, 1966
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Stupefying story by: Spellbinding Stan Lee!
Inconceivable illustration by: Mystical Marie Severin!
Legendary lettering by: Sardonic Sammy Rosen!
10 pages

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Strange Tales #153	Reading order	Strange Tales #154
Strange Tales #153	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #154

I must endure their blows… regardless of the pain… By the Omnipotent Oshtur, I shall not fail… I shall not fall!

After Ditko left, Bill Everett became the regular artist on Dr. Strange for the next half dozen issues. And I was unimpressed. But I do really like Bill Everett. Last post, I rattled off Sub-Mariner, Venus, and Daredevil. All great works by him.

We get a new artist. Marie Severin. We haven’t seen her work yet. We saw her coloring when we read an old tangentially related EC comic. We saw an issue of Nick Fury illustrated by John Severin. Some possible connection, there. Siblings, perhaps.

But she’s actually been with Marvel for the entirety of our reading, just one of those unsung heroes behind the scenes, working on the production of the comics, sometimes as a colorist, perhaps lending a hand to some bits of art here or there.

Strange Tales #153

The Hiding Place!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: November 10, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
Seldom-equalled editing by Stan Lee
Seldom-surpassed scripting by Roy Thomas
Seldom-lacking layouts by Jack Kirby
Seldom-rivaled rendering by Jim Steranko
Seldom-legible lettering by Artie Simek
12 pages

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Strange Tales #152, Story B	Reading order	Strange Tales #153, Story B
Strange Tales #152, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #153, Story B

The hour of Hydra has come at last– And nothing that the human race can do will cease our relentless march toward world domination!

Steranko takes on the cover solo, and does an impressive job. He probably won’t need Kirby’s handholding much longer.

Inside, it’s still the Kirby/Steranko art team, with the art seeming more and more Steranko each issue. What’s changed is the writer. Thomas has been the regular on X-Men and Sgt. Fury and occasionally filled in elsewhere. This is in that fill-in category. He won’t be a regular writer on this series.

We open in the barbershop. Not clear the status of it after the attack by AIM. Is it still a SHIELD base? Is it still secret?

We recognize the two agents working in the barbershop, but still haven’t learned their names.

Strange Tales #152, Story B

Into the Dimension of Death!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: October 11, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Truly hath Stan Lee authored yon awesome epic–
Verily hath Bill Everett such scenes depicted–
And, finally didst Artie Simek the lettering incribe!
10 pages

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Strange Tales #152	Reading order	Strange Tales #153
Strange Tales #152	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #153

I sense– a female!

I’d say this issue picks up where the last issue left off, but nothing happened last issue. Except that Clea was captured by Umar after a recap of the last 40 issues.

Everett’s depiction of Dark Dimension is fine, maybe even good. Maybe I’m just in a bad mood since Ditko left and am being unfair to Everett. I do appreciate Everett for his work on Sub-Mariner, Venus, and Daredevil… just not here.

Strange Tales #152

The Power of SHIELD!

The Power of SHIELD!
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD!
Release: October 11, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Script: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Layouts: Jolly Jack Kirby
Artwork: Jaunty Jim Steranko
Lettering: Adorable Artie Simek
12 pages

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Strange Tales #151, Story B	Reading order	Strange Tales #152, Story B
Strange Tales #151, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #152, Story B

So long as men such as you exist– men who are dedicated not merely to the cause of nationalism– but to international freedom– to global justice– so long will the lamp of liberty continue to burn bright– until men of good will, everywhere, put down their arms and come forth to reason together!

Once again, Kirby is on layouts with Steranko on art, but the character work looks more like Steranko this issue than last, perhaps suggesting looser layouts from Kirby.

Worth noting this will be Stan Lee’s final work on Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. He remains the editor, of course.

Last issue, Nick had escaped Hydra, but was unwittingly piloting their Overkill Horn. We pick up there this issue. Sitwell is in charge of SHIELD, and manages to destroy the Horn, fearing he has killed Fury in doing so. But Nick gets free.

Strange Tales #151, Story B

Umar Strikes!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: September 8, 1966
Cover: December 1966
12 cents
Script by Stan Lee, defender of the faith!
Art by Bill Everett, keeper of the flame!
Lettering by Artie Simek, printer of the word!
10 pages

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Strange Tales #151	Reading order	Strange Tales #152
Strange Tales #151	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #152

By the Demons of Darkness! By the oath I now speak! Umar commands– reveal what I seek!

At the end of last issue, we briefly met Dormammu’s sister Umar.

Given how weird and cool Dormammu looked, it’s disappointing to see his sister look just like a human woman. You can try to explain it off as these beings having amorphous forms or such. But it mostly seems like a failure of creativity and design.

Strange Tales #151

Overkil!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: September 8, 1966
Cover: December 1966
12 cents
Script: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Layouts: Jolly Jack Kirby
Illustrations: Jaunty Jim Steranko
Lettering: Adorable Artie Simek
Hood laundering: Irate Irving Forbush
12 pages

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Tales of Suspense #85, Story B	Reading order	Strange Tales #151, Story B
Strange Tales #150, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #151, Story B

So you’re the guys who’re gonna take over the world, huh?

A new name in the credits. Who is this Jim Steranko on the art over Kirby’s layouts?

He had apparently dabbled in comics briefly in 1957, but I have no examples of that. His first work came out for Harvey just three months earlier. He co-created several adventure heroes for them like Spyman. And perhaps contributed to varying degrees to the stories.

Per The Comics Journal, some of this work such as in Double Dare Adventures is illustrated by Steranko.

Either way, he’s new to comics. This is a pretty big assignment for a rookie. Let’s see if he makes anything of himself.

Tales of Suspense #85, Story B

The Blitzkrieg of Batroc!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: September 8, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
A Stan Lee Jack Kirby premium presentation
Inimitable inking by: Frank Giacoia
Laborious lettering by: Sam Rosen
10 pages

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Strange Tales #150	Reading order	Strange Tales #151
Tales of Suspense #85	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #86

Indeed, eet shall be for zee last time, mon ami…! For none may strike Batroc in such a manner… wizout paying zee price!

“This must be the place,” thinks Cap, anticipating David Byrne.

In Tales of Suspense #76, Captain America defeated Batroc, but a SHIELD agent on assignment succumbed to poison and was hospitalized. We didn’t learn her name. She reminded Cap of a woman he’d known in World War II, a woman whose name we also didn’t learn.

Strange Tales #150

Hydra Lives!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: August 9, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Script… Stan Lee
Layouts… Jack Kirby
Pencils… John Buscema
Inks… Frank Giacoia
Letterings… Sam Rosen
Ear plugs… Irving Forbush
12 pages

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X-Men #26	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #85, Story B
Strange Tales #149, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #150, Story B

‘Cut off a limb, and two more shall takes its place!’ We were right… Hydra still lives!

We read the second half of this issue already. Last issue really ended the AIM stuff, and this issue begins the return of Hydra arc, so I wanted that cutoff. But the Dr. Strange stories cut a bit differently, as this issue ends the Kaluu arc and next issue properly begins the Umar arc.

Kirby is on hand for the layouts, but the main art credit goes to John Buscema. We spoke of him at length with his return to Marvel in Tales to Astonish #85, published one week prior to this. And we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.

We begin with Nick in a strange contraption performing a dangerous test. So dangerous, he won’t let anyone else do it. It’s a prototype Overkill Horn. They are concerned an enemy has a real one.

Perhaps a Super-Overkill Horn. Adding the word Super in front of something already called the Overkill Horn seems like, well, overkill.

X-Men #26

Holocaust!

Featuring: X-Men
Release: September 1, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Editing.. Stan Lee
Script.. Roy Thomas
Art… Werner Roth
Inks.. Dick Ayers
Lettering… Sam Rosen
Mayan headdresses… Irving Forbush
20 pages

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X-Men #25	Reading order	Strange Tales #150
X-Men #25	X-Men	X-Men #27

I hate to sound like a poor man’s Hawkeye, but I can’t seem to stop myself! Why should Jean prefer Scott over me?

Last issue, the gem-hunter El Tigre found a pendant which transformed him into the Mayan feathered-serpent god Kukulcán. He now has the power of the sun. Which sounds pretty powerful.

This seems to be basically what happened to Don Blake. He found a mystic artifact and now finds himself the avatar for a god.

X-Men #25

The Power and the Pendant!

Featuring: X-Men
Release: August 2, 1966
Cover: October 1966
12 cents
Edited by: Stan Lee
Scripted by: Roy Thomas
Illustrated by: Werner Roth
Inked by: Dick Ayers
Lettered by: Sam Rosen
Imitated by: Brand Echh
20 pages

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Fantastic Four Annual 4	Reading order	X-Men #26
X-Men #24	X-Men	X-Men #26

Come back an’ fight, ya crummy mutant!

At some point, we are faced with the question, are all these heroes interchangeable, or are their distinctions amongst the titles, making some stories more suitable for one title than another.

There are hints here of what I think the X-Men are about. Moments.