Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: January 3, 1964 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Written by: Ex-Sergeant Stan Lee, U.S. Army Illustrated by: Ex-infantryman Jack Kirby, U.S. Army Inked by: Geo. Bell Lettering: Art Simek 23 pages
The cover claims this story is based on a little known incident of the North African campaign. There’s a lot going on in this comic, plenty rooted partially in history, so I can’t pinpoint what incident the cover is referring to.
Rommel was a celebrated Nazi general and field marshal of their army in World War II. He did lead Axis forces in the North African campaign. His nickname was “the Desert Fox”. And he was involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: January 3, 1964 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Jack Kirby Inked by: Paul Reinman Lettered by: Art Simek 5 pages
Anybody else feel like this title would be more dramatic without the quotation marks, which seem to imply that death is not actually coming for Thor.
This completes a trilogy of stories of the Boyhood of Thor. The focus has been on his attempts to earn the right to wield Odin’s magic hammer. We learn from the title that Thor is now 18, a little older than in the last adventures. This is the tale of how Thor finally lifts his magic uru hammer.
Featuring: Thor Release: January 3, 1964 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Cunningly conceived by: Stan Lee Daringly drawn by: Jack Kirby Ingeniously inked by: Chic Stone Lovingly lettered by: Art Simek 13 pages
Well. It’s 1964. Welcome.
But not for Thor. He’s trapped in the 23rd century.
This is our first exposure to Chic Stone. He’s been working in comics since the 1930s, including on Marvel’s own Blonde Phantom, but has spent the last several years doing art direction for assorted magazines. He recently returned to doing occasional jobs in comics, and now has found his way to back Marvel. I think he and Kirby make a good team.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: December 2, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Drawn by: Jack Kirby Inked by: G. Bell Lettered by: Art Simek 5 pages
Forces of Evil are set to attack Asgard, but Heimdall stands vigilant. However, Loki has created a hole in Asgard’s defenses and somehow kept it secret from even Heimdall. He tricks Thor into thinking he discovered this gap, and suggests that Thor guard it. This leads to the young Thor having to battle the Forces of Evil alone.
Featuring: Thor Release: December 2, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Drawn by: Jack Kirby Inked by: G. Bell Lettered by: S. Rosen 13 pages
We are one week late reading this comic because it begins a two-part battle against Tomorrow Man. How this comic fits in with Thor’s appearances in Avengers is pretty complicated, and we’ll be addressing that in a later post.
I’ll remind readers that the Avengers really do have some urgent business to get back to. Both Hulk and Namor remain at large. It should also be noted that Giant-Man recently fractured his ankle, but seems better now.
Jack Kirby is back and here to stay. Perhaps he’ll be able to turn around what up to this point has been one of the worst comics. Perhaps not, as he was there for the earliest issues of Thor and they were still of low quality. But Stan Lee was also farming out the writing to a variety of people. Now, for the first time, Stan and Jack will be the team on this book, just like on Fantastic Four and Sgt. Fury. They’ve also reached the point in their working relationship where their “coplotting” of the stories likely involves Stan less and less. Kirby will be taking greater control of the storytelling going forward. We’ll see how it goes.
Now that Lee is scripting, there is a detectable difference in Thor’s speech patterns. Under other writers, he had slowly evolved from talking like he was Don to talking like he was Thor. Now, there’s a certain haughty regality to the language. Words like “naught”.
Featuring: Watcher Release: December 9, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Story plot: Stan Lee Script and art: Larry Lieber Inking: G. Bell Lettering: S. Rosen 5 pages
In general, these science fiction tales are a poor fit for the Marvel Universe. They do better as standalone stories. Within the context of the Marvel Universe, a scientist wouldn’t be desperately trying to prove there are advanced alien civilizations out there… we already know that because dozens have invaded Earth.
We know the Watcher is part of the Marvel Universe, and he claims to be telling us a story of the future. But perhaps it is not the future of our Marvel heroes. Perhaps it is another future, maybe even our own. It is set in the far-off 21st century.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: December 9, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan (When does he sleep?) Lee Illustrated by: Don (When does he eat?) Heck Lettered by: Art (When will he learn to spell?) Simek 13 pages
Stan notes we are probably wondering how a Scarecrow can cause Iron Man any trouble. I was wondering exactly that, Stan. In fact, I often wonder why most of Iron Man’s villains cause him any trouble. This issue will not answer the question. Iron Man strikes me as far more powerful than you make him out to be.
We get a somewhat interesting origin for a super-villain. It begins with Iron Man making a joke that he’s glad the performer is not a criminal, which inspires the performer to be a criminal. All he needs now is to steal a Scarecrow costume from a costume shop and some trained crows from a colleague.
Those who engage in humor know it to be an art form not free from consequence; we maintain that the rewards, though subtle, are worth the risk.
Featuring: Spider-Man Release: December 9, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Written by: Smiling Stan Lee Illustrated by: Swinging Steve Ditko Lettered by: Sparkling Sam Rosen 22 pages
Warning that spoilers follow. You may not want to read this post until you go read the comic and learn the shocking identity of the Big Man! Otherwise it will be revealed unceremoniously in my character listing.
Once again, we see clever credits. Several comics released this month had them.
The Enforcers remind me somewhat of Dr. Doom’s henchmen we met in last month’s Fantastic Four. But the Enforcers are the better team of henchmen and will prove more enduring. In fact, Big Man is the “big” villain of this issue, with the Enforcers his henchmen. But the Enforcers will become the more famous villains.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: December 9, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Written by: Magical Stan Lee Drawn by: Mystical Steve Ditko Lettered by: Mysterious Sam Rosen 8 pages
As we noted in the last post, this issue represents the first time Dr. Strange has appeared on the cover of a comic. He’s allotted a small horizontal strip at the bottom of the cover. He’s on his way to becoming a star.
We again see Dr. Strange’s adventures no longer bear the “Master of Black Magic” subtitle. In fact, I think the stories will soon stop using the phrase “black magic” completely, even though the first several issues mentioned it constantly.
We also get some “clever credits”. It seems to be Stan’s new thing. We just saw it in our last Fantastic Four story (released the same day) and we’ll see it again in other stories out this month.
Featuring: Human Torch Release: December 9, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Art: Dick Ayers Lettering: S. Rosen 13 pages
What? Is that Dr. Strange on the cover of a comic? Not just buried in the back of the comic somewhere where they hope nobody will notice?
Congratulations to Dr. Strange on his first cover appearance. 8 issues after his introduction.
This marks the fourth battle between Human Torch and Wizard. Perhaps this solidifies the Wizard as his “archfoe”.
The Wizard of these stories hasn’t quite been the character I know from my own youth. A key difference gets resolved this issue. While in prison, Wizard was given the necessary equipment to build an anti-gravity power unit that allows him to fly. I definitely think of flying as being a key Wizard trait.
