Chris Coke

Second Day of Classic Comics Christmas 2019

Spider-Man and The Man-Thing

See my initial post for the context. Suffice to say that I will be sharing my entries to the Classic Comics Forum tradition, “Twelve Days of Classic Comics Christmas“. This is a cross-post of my second entry representing #12 on my list of favorite comic book Crossovers.

11. Spider-Man and The Man-Thing
from Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 (1975)

by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito

Second Spidey entry. I really could have filled my list with Spider-Man. And a decent chunk of it with this stellar series. But I decided one from this series would have to do. Apologies to the excellent earlier issues where Spider-Man meets Shang-Chi, Doc Savage and Punisher. All contenders.

What do we have here. A lot of focus on character work. Conway uses his page count to shine a spotlight on everybody. It’s during the Clone Saga, so Gwen has mysteriously returned, and everybody is dealing with that. Gwen, Peter, Betty, MJ… we get the first hint of a characterization they will later go all in on for Mary Jane, for better or for worse. We see her on the edge of tears, but then quickly correcting when her Aunt comes in, and putting on a smile and talking about wanting to party. Defalco will later reveal that that’s all she was ever doing, and it will ring untrue.

Conway was more subtle in his treatment of MJ. Maturing her and bringing her and Peter together, while preserving her character.

We also get Curt Connors again turned into the Lizard and see this struggle through the eyes of his wife better than we have before.

We even get solid character work on one random character, a bankrupt chemist on the verge of suicide, whose fate is changed by an encounter with Man-Thing, and who emerges as the hero in the battle against the Lizard.

Not sure if we get good character work on the Man-Thing. You’d have to look closely into his eyes to see what he thinks of these events. All we know is he hears the Lizard’s call with other swamp creatures, and that he seems to respond to intense emotion.

First Day of Classic Comics Christmas 2019

Transformers and Spider-Man

See my initial post for the context. Suffice to say that I will be sharing my entries to the Classic Comics Forum tradition, “Twelve Days of Classic Comics Christmas“. This is a cross-post of my first entry, representing #12 on my list of favorite comic book Crossovers.

12. Transformers and Spider-Man
“Prisoner of War”
from Transformers #3 (Marvel, 1985)

by Jim Salicrup, Frank Springer, Kim DeMulder and Mike Esposito

I’ll start the countdown with a comic of purely personal significance. To the best of my fading memory, this is the first crossover comic I ever read. It is also the first Spider-Man comic I ever read. To learn how much I like Spider-Man, I recommend just looking at the rest of my coming Christmas list. Transformers was the first series I ever sat down to seriously collect as a new comic reader. By “seriously”, I think I tracked down issues #2-5 in back issues over the course of several months… I would get much better at collecting when I got older.

Side note: That I got #5 confused the heck out of young me given that it’s a 4-issue limited series. It confuses the heck out of old me, too.

Anyways, in this issue, after Peter Parker is sent on assignment to Photograph the Transformers, Spider-Man and the Autobot Gears team up to rescue a human from Megatron.

Speaking of confusing things, this comic came out during Secret Wars. So Spider-Man’s costume was not only different from the one I knew from episodes of the old ’60s cartoon I’d seen on VHS, but it seemed to be somewhat alive. I think I briefly thought this Spider-Man and the other one might be two different characters.

Was marketing the motivation for this crossover? Probably. Isn’t it usually?

But this comic formed a bridge of childhood hobbies. In my earlier years, I watched cartoons like Transformers. Entering the second decade of my life, I would get really into superhero comic books, with Spider-Man being easily my favorite.

This was also certainly my first encounter with Nick Fury and SHIELD. But since the comic only called him “Nicholas”, it would probably be a little later before I learned his name.

The CCF Classic Comics Christmas

My favorite community for the discussion of comic books online is the Classic Comics Forum.

And my favorite tradition housed there is the Twelve Days of Classic Comics Christmas. Which has just begun, as the 12 Days of Christmas have begun.

The forum has been around since 2014, but the tradition goes back to 2005. I’ve been a participant since 2006. Every year, there is a comic-related theme. And you choose your 12 favorite entries in that theme.

The theme this year is Your Twelve Favorite Comic Book Crossovers. The thread I linked to has all the fine print for the rules. In particular, this is not for big crossovers with teams or many characters. We’re focused especially on two-way crossovers between comic book titles or between comic book characters and external franchises.

As I am making my entries there, I will cross-post to this blog. So stay tuned to discover my Twelve Favorite Comic Book Crossovers.

In the meantime, consider registering an account and joining the community as CCF yourself. Then tell us what your favorite crossovers are.

Tales to Astonish #47

Music to Scream By

Featuring: Ant-Man and Wasp
Release: June 4, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: H.E. Huntley
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks:Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1.

After alternating between crediting himself with either “story” or “plot”, Stan has decided to cover his bases and give himself credit for “story plot”.

Ahem.

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord…

That David played, and it pleased the Lord…

But you don’t really care for music, do you?

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth…

The minor fall, the major lift…

The baffled king composing “Hallelujah”…

Hallelujah!

Journey Into Mystery #95

The Demon Duplicators!

Featuring: Thor
Release: June 4, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Joe Sinnott
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

In going through the results of a recent poll on favorite Marvel/DC characters, my friend Brian Cronin talked about the idea of a “MARVEL science” degrees for his entry on Beast. He notes that Beast is a MARVEL scientist, and

From Brian:

Marvel Universe science is a lot more diverse than regular science. You see, Hank eventually gained a PhD (done while the rest of the X-Men were vainly trying to complete their GEDs) in biophysics and genetics. However, he achieved these PhDs in MARVEL science, so this made him an expert in engineering, medicine, time travel (yes, time travel), etc. It is like how one of the most highly-developed robots of all time, Ultron, was built by Hank Pym, a biologist. It is because Hank is a MARVEL biologist. Very different than normal biology. It’s like “How would you best describe a cell membrane? Also, how would you build a device that could negate Magneto’s powers?” All in the same class!!!! And MARVEL scientists always have multiple doctorates by the time they’re 22. It’s a rule.

Now, we’ve seen a pretty clear counterexample to that. Dr. Pym turned down a request for help from Wasp’s father because it was outside his area of specialty. He claimed he was only an expert in “molecular cell transition” (i.e. making people shrink) and “cell specialization” (i.e. making people grow wings). As of where we are in our reading, he has not yet built any robots.

Dr. Don Blake is a surgeon and a very good one. Surgery is a hard thing to master. It takes a lot of time to study. It’s a demanding job, always being on call. He’s also always on call as a superhero.

Yet somehow he built an android in his spare time.

Tales of Suspense #44

The Mad Pharaoh!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

I read this story in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus vol. 1.

In June 1963, a Cleopatra film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton debuted.

One month earlier, perhaps in an attempt to ride a marketing tail, Iron Man meets Cleopatra!

While there are certainly lots of things Iron Man can do that may seem like sorcery to Cleopatra, having wheels is not one of them.

The comic does end with Iron Man attending the Cleopatra film premiere, to make this a very specific nod.

Now, Anthony Stark is already famously a ladies’ man. And a reporter earlier in the issue asks him about how he’d fare if he met her. It turns out very well. She is smitten with him despite never seeing his face. He wears bulky Iron Man armor the entire time.

Fantastic Four #17

Defeated by Dr. Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

We see the first of an effect that will be used again on Fantastic Four covers. Four panels on the cover. One for each member of the team. Perhaps with a centerpiece for the villain.

Alicia gets herself kidnapped by Dr. Doom. The girlfriend being held hostage is an old superhero trope going back to Lois Lane. We’ve seen it in the Marvel Universe already with Jane Foster.

We get a little insight into Doom’s mindset. He relates to the Thing, as both are grotesque. Yet, Thing has found love. Rather than causing him to reflect that maybe it’s okay to remove his mask, Doom still believes nobody can love him and vows revenge on all humanity. Notice that the art is going out of its way to not show us Doom’s face.

Fantastic Four #16

The Micro-World of Doctor Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: April 9, 1963
Cover: July 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

Astute readers are noting that this comic is from April of 1963 and recall that we’ve been reading comics from May of 1963. So what gives? Why is this one here in the reading order? Am I even paying attention to what I’m doing?

Well, issue 17 will pick up right where 16 leaves off, and the battle with Dr. Doom basically continues from one issue to the next. So I thought it would be good to read the two stories together.

One other chronology note. This issue also came out a month before Ant-Man’s appearance in Tales to Astonish #46. Which would leave me inclined to put that story after this two-part adventure. However, Ant-Man rides a flying ant in this. He first meets a flying ant in his own comic in issue 46. Prior to that, he always catapulted places. That suggests to me this story fits best after Tales to Astonish #46, despite the publication dates.

He catapults to the flying ants, which he uses like skis.

Now you’re wondering how Dr. Doom can be in this story when you recall him shrinking to nothingness. I, too, was convinced we would never see him again. But it turns out he didn’t shrink to nothingness but ended up in a micro-world populated by micro-people.

Well, I guess I was wrong when I thought he was gone for good.

It turns out sentient life is all around us. We know now the stars are populated by many aliens, some as close as Saturn. We’ve encountered–let’s see, carry the one and… 10 alien races in these superhero tales.

Plus other races live in neighboring dimensions, under the sea, beyond the Rainbow Bridge… and there are at least four underground kingdoms.

So we now add a micro-world kingdom to the list.

Tales to Astonish #46

..When Cyclops Walks the Earth

Featuring: Ant-Man and Wasp
Release: May 2, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: H.E. Huntley
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1.

We have met Cyclopes twice before. (Yes, I had to google how to make “Cyclops” plural.) It is not clear what connection if any this character has to those two. Dr. Pym notes that according to myth, there was a whole race of Cyclopes, who came from Thrace. Of course, this turns out to not be a real Cyclops, but a robot sent by alien invaders (basically identical to the Gargantus story). Perhaps the others we have met were real Cyclopes. Or perhaps all were sent by the same alien invaders.

This comic is most notable for introducing flying ants to Ant-Man. Riding a flying ant is a better way for him to keep up with Wasp than his catapult. It’s not clear it’s technically the introduction, as Ant-Man appears with flying ants in Fantastic Four #16, which was released a month earlier than this issue, but which I’ve decided to read after this one. Mainly because here he really seems to be meeting flying ants, whereas there he acts like riding flying ants is just something he does.

Strange Tales #111, Story C

Face-to-face with the Magic of Baron Mordo!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
5 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange vol. 1.

Another Dr. Strange story. Again a mere 5 pages. Again no hint on the cover that this tale is within. The cover focuses entirely on Human Torch and the Asbestos Man. The issue also contains a short text story, a sci/fi tale about a computer taking over the world, and this at the end.

The final panel this time lets us know Dr. Strange will not be returning next issue, but rather in “a future issue”. That’s likely Marvel hedging their bets, waiting to see sales numbers or look at letters and fan response before committing to more Dr. Strange stories.

Dr. Strange doesn’t show up until page 3. When we get a better shot of that cool window we discussed last issue. Well, not the same window, as that was on a door. But the same pattern.

That said, this issue is setting up for future tales: Dr. Strange now has an archnemesis. As Loki is to Thor, Mordo will be to Dr. Strange. Because the fan response will be strong and the character will return. Might even get his own movies one day.