Author: Chris Coke

Interests include comic books, science fiction, whisky, and mathematics.

Tales to Astonish #27, Story A

The Man in the Ant Hill
Release: September 28, 1961
Cover: January, 1962
10 cents
Story: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
7 pages

I read this in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1. The story gives no credits, but the collection does. Some online sources break that down as crediting Stan with the plot and Larry with the scripting.

The opening splash pages serves as a title page and cover for the story.

Marvel stands on the precipice between its era of short sci/fi tales and its era of superheroes. This comic comes out the same day as Fantastic Four #2 and fits squarely in the former category, a short cautionary sci/fi tale about a mad scientist. Not clear what the theme is. Be careful of inventing stuff, I guess.

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Fantastic Four #2

The Fantastic Four Meet the Skrulls from Outer Space/Prisoner of the Skrulls/The Fantastic Four Fight Back!/The Fantastic Four… Captured!
Release: September 28, 1961
Cover: January, 1962
10 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: George Klein (Uncredited)
24 pages

I read this in Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1. The Table of Contents credits the issue to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; I don’t see any credits in the issue itself. Online sources cite George Klein as the inker.

Hey, it’s the Skrulls! They were just in that movie last month!

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POSTLUDE: Marvels #0

Release: June 14, 1994
Cover: August, 1994
$2.95
Credits: Alex Ross and Steve Darnall
12 pages

PreviousNext
Marvel Comics #1PRELUDE
Fantastic Four #1Reading orderFantastic Four #2

…on that day of my freedom in 1939, this world had its first confrontation with the fantastic. The golden age of miracles would begin, and in the years to come, the world would know the presence of the unnatural and extraordinary as part of reality.

To remind my readers, the goal here is to start with Fantastic Four #1, and read the Marvel Universe in order from that point forward. It may get confusing because this is my third post and I’m not yet at Fantastic Four #2. I first wanted to jump back in time with the first in an irregular series of “Prelude” posts to talk about the introduction of the original Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1. That inspired me to now jump far forward for the first of an even less regular series of “Postlude” posts, that pull in comics from the future.

Marvels is a 4-issue limited series published by Marvel in 1994. After the conclusion of the series, this was released, a behind-the-scenes “Issue Zero” which includes some concept artwork, commentary from the creators, and a story from the original pitch for Marvels, originally serialized in Marvel Age #130-133. It’s that story we consider here.

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PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1

The Human Torch
Release: August 31, 1939
Cover: October, 1939
Price: $0.10
Credits: Carl Burgos
16 pages

PreviousNext
POSTLUDEMarvels #0
Fantastic Four #1Reading orderFantastic Four #2
Anybody else thirsty?

My main goal is to read the Marvel Universe as a series of comics which began with Fantastic Four #1. But the company had 22 years of comics prior to that, some of which have bearing on the stories. I’ll occasionally peek at those. As we just met the new Human Torch, reading the origin of the original Human Torch seems relevant.

It’s a great cover. Well-remembered for being the first cover of the company that would eventually take on the comic’s name. I like how the melting steel and bullet just radiate heat.

This is a good science fiction tale. Plenty of good plot elements and character here. Professor Horton is a genius; he’s created a near-perfect synthetic man– but the man bursts uncontrollably into flame when exposed to oxygen; hence, the Human Torch. Horton is convinced to seal the Torch away until the condition can be cured. Time passes, and the Torch escapes. A mobster tries to control him for an extortion racket. But the plan backfires and the mobster dies in battle with the Torch. Through exposure to nitrogen, the Torch at last gains control of his flame and straightens things out with the police. He is ready to return to Professor Horton until we learn Horton also just wants to exploit him for profit. The Human Torch goes off to carve out his own destiny.

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Fantastic Four #1

The Fantastic Four!/The Fantastic Four Meet the Mole Man!/The Mole Man’s Secret!
Release: August 8, 1961
Cover: November, 1961
Price: $0.10
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: George Klein (uncredited)
25 pages

#1Next
PRELUDEMarvel Comics #1
Reading orderFantastic Four #2
Fantastic FourFantastic Four #2

And so was born “The Fantastic Four!!” And from that moment on, the world would never again be the same!!

Cover of Fantastic Four #1

I read this in Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1. The Table of Contents credits the issue to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, whose signatures appear in the issue. It claims the inker is unknown. Online sources cite George Klein as the inker.

Fantastic Four #1. Page 9. Panels 1-3.
What is their mission?

It’s clear to me why modern reboots and films of the FF has always been hard. There is a lot not explained here. Reed built that spaceship. Was it his? The government’s? Why did he steal it? Beating the Commies to space is an outdated motivation for many reasons in 2019. We’ve been to space. Commies no longer a threat. And what was the goal of the mission? They don’t say. Just to get to space? Yuri Gagaran did that in April, 1961. So was there more to their mission? Was Stan just not up on the news? The comic was out-of-date before it was published.

Photo of Yuri Gagarin
Hadn’t the Commies already been to space?
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Why read the Marvel Universe?

In 1989, I was in Walgreens and my mother suggested I pick out a comic book from the newsstand. Thirty years and some 40,000 comics later, she has had time to regret that moment. On that day, I began a hobby which has consumed a large amount of my life’s attention and energy.

The comic was Avengers #309. I think I picked it out because I recognized some of the characters from cartoons I had seen. Thor, Captain America, Sub-Mariner. Perhaps I recognized She-Hulk. The other two characters on the cover were new to me.

The issue begins in the middle of events. Our characters stand atop a giant crater. The top reads, “Stan Lee PRESENTS: The MIGHTY AVENGERS!” Then in bolder letters, “TO FIND OLYMPIA!” Olympia is written is this cool gold font.

The story doesn’t end with this comic any more than it begins. By the final page, Thor is the only Avenger left standing and facing off against Blastaar. We get a little blurb which reads, “Next: The end of the Eternals? The end of the Avengers? You must not miss… Death in Olympia! In 30 days!!” The word ‘Death’ is written in this cool blood-dripping font.

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Resources

Attempting to read every Marvel comic starting with Fantastic Four #1 is no easy task. What comics to include? What order to go in? What should I be looking out for? What to keep track of? What to write about?

I’d be lost without many great websites which paved the way.

An incomplete list of great resources for Marvel comic books and comics in general:

A couple others are doing similar things to what I’m doing here.

And of course you need more than just the factual resources above. You need commentary and discussion. Here’s where I found the best.

And a very special thanks to comics historian and indexer extraordinaire Kurt Mitchell for enlightening discussion and sharing his notes and draft indexes.

And thanks to the gang at Rita’s pub.

The heroic work above has put a whole universe of comics at my fingertips.