Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: December 9, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Lovingly written by: Stan Lee Tenderly drawn by: Jack Kirby Heroically inked by: Geo. Bell Neatly lettered by: S. Rosen 23 pages
The most notable thing about this comic is the credits. “Lovingly written”, “Tenderly drawn”,… Stan is starting to insert a little creativity into that box. This will become a pretty regular thing for him. It begins here. The closest we’ve seen to any embellishment before was in the “Tales of Asgard” story from Journey Into Mystery #99, which was “Presented with pride…”.
The Fantastic Four pose for a photoshoot with Life Magazine. We’ll get to see Alex Ross’s rendering of a Life cover when we get to Marvels #2.
Featuring: Wasp Release: December 2, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Story plot: Stan Lee Script + Art: L.D. Lieber Inking: D. Heck Lettering: R. Holloway 5 pages
Once again, we get a Wasp story where she narrates another story. This time, she tells her story to Hank before heading to the Veterans hospital.
It concerns a warlord named Mingo (perhaps inspired by Ming from Flash Gordon). An atheistic conqueror, he takes advantage of his targets’ religious beliefs, easily defeating a people who don’t believe in fighting at night and another who can’t fight soldiers wearing sacred animal garb.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: December 2, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Story by: Daring Stan Lee Art by: Dazzling Dick Ayers Lettering by: Dynamic S. Rosen 18 pages
Porcupine is only Dr. Pym’s second recurring villain. Egghead was the first.
Giant-Man’s costume seems to be undergoing frequent slight alterations. I’m not sure what’s going on with the black suspenders. They may be adjustable. Whatever is going on, this issue they seem to form an “x” on his back.
Featuring: Watcher Release: November 12, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Story plot: Stan Lee Script + art: Larry Lieber Inking: S. Brodsky Lettering: Art Simek 5 pages
The Watcher tells a tale of the distant future, the 21st century.
Wilbur Weems is a shy space pilot, teased by everybody for his general wimpiness. Having no friends or family or much of anything, he volunteers for an apparent suicide mission to investigate a cosmic dust cloud.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: November 12, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Don Heck Lettered by: Ray Holloway 13 pages
So there’s this idea of an archfoe. Not every superhero needs one, but most have one. For Superman, it’s Lex Luthor. Batman has an extensive rogues gallery, but Joker stands out amongst them as his archfoe. We have not yet met Green Goblin, but many consider him Spider-Man’s archfoe. That’s likely why he was the villain in the first Spider-Man film. Those people, including the filmmakers, are wrong. We have met Spider-Man’s archfoe. It’s Dr. Octopus.
Thor has fought Loki in almost every issue. Magneto showed up in X-Men #1 and will be showing up a lot more. The Fantastic Four have fought Dr. Doom in a full quarter of their issues.
For Human Torch, it seems to be the Wizard. For Ant-Man/Giant-Man, it’s a little less clear. I tend to point to Egghead, others to the Human Top.
In this issue, Iron Man meets the Mandarin. He’ll be showing up again in a few issues. And conventional wisdom suggests Mandarin is Iron Man’s archfoe. I have no idea why conventional wisdom suggests that. I just don’t understand and never have.
Mandarin is a “yellow peril” villain, part of a long tradition of villains, with the most eminent one being Fu Manchu. Within Marvel, they had the Yellow Claw back in the 1950s. We’ll visit his old stories when he reemerges in the modern era. Today, by modern standards, this tradition of villains is considered racist. They are stereotypes of Asian people, which feed and draw from the prejudice that many Americans feel toward the people of various Asian countries. This prejudice is rooted partly in government propaganda, going back to the war against Japan, and continuing with the Cold War against Communist China, with this xenophobia enduring to the present day.
Featuring: Electro Release: December 20, 1939 (estimated) Cover: February 1940 10 cents By: Dahl 8 pages
The comic is signed “Dahl”. This refers to creator Steve Dahlman.
We just met Spider-Man’s new nemesis, Electro. Electro is the third Marvel character with that name. The second was a 1950s foe of Captain America. We’ll read his story in the near future with some other Captain America stories. The original is this robot.
Featuring: Spider-Man Release: November 12, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Steve Ditko Lettered by: Art Simek 22 pages
We’ve had some great superhero battles in these pages. Put Spider-Man’s wits and abilities to the test against great foes. We get a new foe this issue.
But this issue also gets to the core of what Spider-Man is really about: balance.
His first appearance ended with the famous phrase about responsibility. That suggested he had a responsibility to use his powers to stop criminals and such. But this comic underscores other responsibilities. His aunt is sick and he has a responsibility to her. He also has financial responsibilities. He’s also a student, responsible for his studies. But what of his social responsibilities? What does he owe the kids in his class toward attempting to be friends with them? What about responsibilities to his romantic life? He’s also a photojournalist, and has a responsibility to journalistic integrity. He has a lot of responsibilities. How to balance them all? That’s the main theme of this series, and this issue is the best microcosm yet.
In fact, Stan’s opening hype seems pretty accurate to me for once. I’ll go ahead and call that my review.
There’s a lot going on in this issue, as my preamble may have implied. Let’s dive in.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: November 12, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Steve Ditko Lettered by: S. Rosen 8 pages
All the original Dr. Strange stories, except for the origin story, bore the subtitle “Master of Black Magic”. He was Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic. It’s gone now. In this comic, he’s just Dr. Strange. That tagline will never return. However, the narrator remembers it, possibly for the last time.
We get some nice clear exterior shots of Dr. Strange’s house. Before Mordo sends it to another dimension. Note the distinctive window.
I quite like this shot of Dr. Strange, shrouded in shadow, walking down the street with an aura of mystery about.
Featuring: Human Torch Release: November 12, 1964 Cover: February, 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Dick Ayers Lettered by: Art Simek 14 pages
Hey, look. Dr. Strange has become popular enough that the cover mentions his name in a little text box.
Johnny plans to “streak to the prison”. That could easily be misinterpreted.
The Eel was released from prison having served his sentence. Let’s think that through. He stole Project X. I’m certain that would qualify as felony theft. Even with good behavior, that should carry a minimum 10 months in prison. That is to say, Johnny should have been able to finish a school year in the time the Eel should have been in prison. It’s not exactly clear how old Johnny is, but I’d taken him to be 17 and a senior in high school. Too much younger and you really have to wonder what Reed was doing taking him into space in a stolen experimental spacecraft. They were explicit that one new school year had begun between the start of the Fantastic Four series and the start of this series. And we know he has a driver’s license. I also take Spider-Man to be a senior in high school, though they’re not explicit about that either.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: November 12, 1963 Cover: Februrary 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Jack Kirby Inked by: George Bell 23 pages
We open with a dinosaur running loose. Ben refers to Reed as “Stretch”. This nickname will stick.
We get some drama with the team. Reed is being too bossy, so they try to pick a new leader. It doesn’t go well. Reeds turns out to be the only fit leader on the team. After all, Johnny is a teenager. Ben loses his temper so easily. And Sue is a woman.
The last issue promised the Four would face off against four super-villains this issue. Turns out they meant one super-villain and three henchmen. At least by my count.
