Not What They Seem!
Featuring: Wasp
Release: November 6, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script and art: Larry Lieber
Inking: G. Bell
5 pages
Wasp visits an orphanage to tell another sci/fi tale. The main plot about prisoners pursued by the Space Patrol doesn’t have too much going for it. But along the way, one convict lists some weird planets he was aware of. And those planets all represent some cool sci/fi ideas.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #52, Story B”The Black Knight Strikes!
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: November 6, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Dick Ayers
18 pages
This story is 18 pages. They’d been seeming to have trouble filling 13, but 18 will be the new norm. The 5-page difference is made up for by the lack of a science fiction backup, save the tale the Wasp tells. An era is soon coming to an end.
While I mostly think of him and appreciate him as an inker, I’d like to note that Dick Ayers is a pretty solid draftsman in this issue. I complained recently about his Strange Tales work with George Roussos. But, inking himself, he gives a very clean take on these characters.
We meet the new Black Knight, Professor Garrett. He’d been a spy busted by Giant-Man. He fled the country to his castle in the Balkans. (Yes, another super-villain with a castle; at least this one’s in a part of the world with lots of castles.) He used his science knowledge to genetically engineer a winged horse and build a lance that has all kinds of weapons attached.
In particular, his lance can melt metal. Since that’s the only power of the Melter, the Melter would feel pretty useless if the two ever teamed up.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #52”The Menace of Modred the Evil!
Featuring: Black Knight
Release: January 14, 1955
Cover: May 1955
10 cents
By: Stan Lee and Joe Maneely
10 pages
In the next post, we’ll be covering the battle of Giant-Man and the Wasp against a new super-villain, the Black Knight. That character will not be Marvel’s first or last Black Knight. The following iteration will be a superhero, and one of my all-time favorites.
We have already seen a version. A Merlin story in one of the fantasy backups, the ones we’ve mostly skipped, introduced a Black Knight that served Merlin, which turned out to be an empty suit of armor animated by magic. Merlin had created that Black Knight to combat the schemes of Sir Mogard.
We meet here Marvel’s original (with a caveat) Black Knight, Sir Percy of Scandia, recruited by Merlin to combat the schemes of Modred.
Beware of the Blob!
Featuring: X-Men
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Paul Reinman
24 pages
Before we start dissecting the bizarreness of this comic, I’d like to draw attention to the cool title font. Hat tip I presume goes to Art Simek.
I have a bit of difficulty assessing this issue. I can see two different stories: the one on the page, and the one Stan meant to write. In the story Stan meant to write, he failed miserably. I am confident he meant to portray Professor X and the X-Men as virtuous heroes. But any reasonable reading of the issue shows them to be the villains. That latter interpretation is interesting to me, but clearly not intentional.
This issue makes clear that Professor X and the X-Men have questionable ethics, though I don’t think Stan intended it that way. He just didn’t think it through. But later writers will look to stories like this as evidence that Professor X has a dark side.
Continue reading “The X-Men #3”At the Mercy of Baron Strucker
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee, U.S. Army
Illustrated by: Ex-Infantryman Jack Kirby, U.S. Army
Inked by: G. Bell
23 pages
Last issue gave us the death of a Howler. The series hasn’t forgotten that, and the opening of the issue shows Sgt. Fury processing the death of Junior Juniper in his own way.
They also haven’t forgotten about the girl Nick met last issue. We see the Sergeant and Lady Hawley on a date. She encourages more gentlemanly behavior on his part. They seem to be an item.
Continue reading “Sgt. Fury #5”The Storm Giants!
Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: P. Reinman
5 pages
We continue with the anniversary issue of Journey Into Mystery. There is the main Thor tale, then a prose story, a sci/fi tale, and this, a story from Thor’s childhood. We get an extra subtitle for the feature: “Tales of Asgard, Home of the Mighty Norse Gods!: The Boyhood of Thor”.
Up until this point, the series had focused on the earliest days of creation, with Odin as the main star, prior to the birth of Thor. We jump forward in time now to Thor’s childhood.
Continue reading “Journey Into Mystery #100, Story C”The Master Plan of Mr. Hyde!
Featuring: Thor
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Don Heck
13 pages
Congratulations to Journey Into Mystery on reaching 100 issues. The cover doesn’t see this milestone as something worth making a big deal out of. Nor does the story. This is just another Thor story, as far as I can tell.
For contrast, check out Superman #100 from almost a decade earlier. They seemed proud to reach 100.
Let’s celebrate the milestone by briefly reviewing the history of the title and peeking into its future.
Continue reading “Journey Into Mystery #100”Surtur the Fire Demon!
Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: October 1, 1963
Cover: December 1963
12 cents
Presented with pride by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
5 pages
As with previous issues, this tale of Asgard is short, terse, and very plot-dense. Odin battles trolls and Surtur the fire-god. By the end, the moon has been created, the Rainbow Bridge has been created, Odin has started Earth’s rotation, and Surtur has been imprisoned in Earth’s core.
Continue reading “Journey Into Mystery #99, Story C”The Mysterious Mr. Hyde!
Featuring: Thor
Release: October 1, 1963
Cover: December 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Don Heck
13 pages
Yes, we are jumping back in time a week. This begins a two-part story, so I wanted to get #99-100 together. The CMRO actually puts the Thor stories from each issue together, and then goes back to the “Tales of Asgard” stories from 99-100. I think I’m going to treat reading a whole issue at once as the more important consideration. Of course, I will eventually break that rule. So the plan is to read the whole of Journey Into Mystery #99 followed by the whole of #100, even though that inserts a Tales of Asgard story in the middle of Thor’s battle with Mr. Hyde.
Marvel’s already had a few characters inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hulk is the most famous one, but his character arc has so far been a rambling mess. Lizard did it well, though it made the character of Curt Connors far more sympathetic than Stevenson made Dr. Jekyll.
Now, we get an explicit reference with a villain named Mr. Hyde. Calvin Zabo is written as even less sympathetic than Dr. Jekyll. He is a straightforward super-villain who transforms himself into Mr. Hyde to commit crimes.
Continue reading “Journey Into Mystery #99”Return to the Nightmare World!
Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: October 8, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko
8 pages
Since when is 8 pages feature-length?
We see Dr. Strange and Nightmare go at it again. Nightmare is the ruler of the Dream Dimension. He has found a way to put some humans into an endless sleep, which will trap them as his prisoners.
This greatly reminds me of the 1988 DC comic, Sandman #1, by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg. That tells the story of Sandman, also ruler of the dream dimension, and the plot of the issue involves a very similar sleeping sickness.
