Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: December 3, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents A Stan Lee and Jack Kirby fabulous featurette! Inked by: Vince Colletta Lettered by: Artie Simek 5 pages
The story is credited to Stan and Jack without any breakdown of who did what.
Stan refers to this as the “biographies-in-depth” series. There’s not that much depth. This is the second chapter of Loki’s “biography” and the third character spotlighted after Heimdall and Balder.
Featuring: Thor Release: December 3, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents A tale told with gusto by: Stan Lee A drama drawn with grandeur by: Jack Kirby An idyll inked with gallantry by: Chic Stone A legend lettered with glee by: Artie Simek 16 pages
Jack opens the story with Odin and Thor leading Asgardian soldiers aboard a giant sky ship into battle against the “demon men” of Jotunheim.
And Stan basically apologizes for that, assuring readers that Thor will soon be on Earth fighting a super-villain that’s no match for him and pining over Jane.
Stan and Jack are not on the same page with the direction Thor stories should take. I’m with Jack.
While it’s true that Stan is basically joking, he carries on with it for two pages while neglecting to actually script or provide real narration for the epic battle he seems somewhat embarrassed by. He offers us only, “For Asgard– and freedom!”
Nice sentiments, but I’m not convinced that “freedom” is a key value in Asgard, where an absolute monarch has ruled for millennia according fickle whims that must be obeyed without question, while seeming to exist in a state of perpetual war with all their neighboring realms.
Featuring: Daredevil Release: December 3, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Written with the fabulously flawless fantasy of… Stan Lee Illustrated in the magnificently modern manner of… Wally Wood Lettered in the screamingly sophisticated style of… Sam Rosen 20 pages
A neat effect that’s unique to Daredevil is the little logo box. For the first few issues, it was just his logo in the top corner of the first page, not so different from what we see in other titles. Then the next couple issues added a close up of Daredevil’s face to the logo. Now Wood is varying the theme, showing a mini-picture of Daredevil leaping into action over the logo. We’ll get a new logo picture next issue.
I’d like to talk about super-villains vs. super-villain henchmen. Most of the villains we’ve met like to be in charge. They are their own boss and plan their own crimes. They sometimes team up, but then fight over who is in charge. Occasionally, independently minded super-villains can form a team and have someone be in charge, as with the Masters of Evil, led by Zemo.
The Enforcers are different. We met them when they were working for Big Man. Then later Green Goblin, then later Sandman. They don’t try to be top villains. They are for hire, and work for the big super-villains. Dr. Doom had a similar gang, the Terrible Trio. They’ve tried to strike it on their own as their own bosses, with limitedsuccess.
Of course, the Evil Mutants serve Magneto. He’s the big super-villain they take orders from.
Understand the two tiers of the super-villain hierarchy?
In this issue, we see Ox for the first time apart from his fellow Enforcers. But he’s still doing what he does, hiring himself out to super-villains. In this case he works for Mr. Fear.
Eel does something unique here. He was a super-villain in his own right, with his own plans and his own base of operations. He twicefought the Human Torch. But now he’s a henchman, working for the bigger super-villain, Mr. Fear. It’s something of a demotion for the Eel.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: November 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Adequate script: Stan Lee Satisfactory art: Jack Kirby Passable inking: Chic Stone Sufficient lettering: Artie Simek 20 pages
The page count in these books had been gradually dwindling. At first it was to make room for more letters pages or announcements, or the occasional pin-up. This is the third FF story in a row to clock in at 20 pages. Before that, they’d been 21 or 22; 23 pages even earlier. It doesn’t seem to be a fixed quantity. We still have the occasional 21-pager coming up, but 20 pages seems to be the new rule. Other titles have followed this pattern.
Comics have not gotten much more expensive over time. There were a dime in 1939 and a dime in 1961. In 1964, they’ve only increased to 12 cents. What’s changed is how many story pages you get for those pennies, often 70-80 pages for that dime in 1939. (These days Marvel comics tend to go for $3.99)
The comic returns us to State U, the alma mater of Reed and Ben. Reed is giving a guest lecture.
Where is State U? I assume it’s in New York somewhere. They seem to have brought a lot of luggage. They go galavanting all over the world and into space and into the depths of the ocean with far less.
Happy anniversary. To me. On April 6, 2019, I started my first blog. This. The goal was to have a place where I could record my notes on my read-through of the Marvel Universe in case anybody wanted to follow along.
One year ago today, I wrote this post to reflect on the first year of Coke & Comics. That’s where we were. Let’s see where we’ve gotten to.
In the first year, we covered the first 116 Marvel stories, from Fantastic Four #1, through Journey Into Mystery #98. I just published a post about the 298th Marvel story in our Reading order, the vastly underrated battle between Spider-Man and the Beetle in Amazing Spider-Man #21, from November 1964. Which means we’ve covered just over a year’s worth of stories in the last year. We may need to pick up the pace, as the number of titles will eventually explode.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: November 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Edited by: Stan Lee, and his magic typewriter. Script by: Don Rico, and his mystic fountain pen. Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, and his miraculous lead pencil. Lettered by: Sam Rosen, and his melancholy penpoint. 10 pages
Welcome to the 300th Marvel Age story! We’re almost 1% finished!
I think the periods that end each credit above are the first periods we have ever seen. Stan Lee holds to a pretty strict exclamation point-only policy. But then, Stan Lee didn’t write this.
For the second time this month, and the second time in our entire Marvel Age reading, Stan Lee claims no story credit for the issue. His name still comes first, but he takes credit for editing. The only other time we’ve seen this is with Tales to Astonish #64, published just a week earlier, and scripted by Leon Lazarus.
Rumor is that publisher Martin Goodman was concerned of the power Lee held by being the sole writer on these increasingly successful titles, and instructed Lee to diversify the writing staff. However, neither Rico nor Lazarus became regular writers. So if that was Goodman’s intent, he was not successful.
We’ve met Don Rico twice before, though he used the alias of N. Korok, when he worked on Tales of Suspense #52–53 and helped introduce Black Widow. The first time we saw him work with Stan, Stan credited himself with “story” and Rico with “plot”. I don’t know the difference either.
This is Rico’s final scripting assignment for Marvel, a company he’s worked for off and on for 25 years at this point. It’s pretty close to his last comics work. He’d basically already left comics behind for prose writing at this point. A couple miscellaneous pieces in the 70s, including the art for a short Captain America story.
Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: November 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee (as if you didn’t know!) Pencilling by: Dick Ayers (as if anyone cares!) Inking by: Frankie Ray (as if it matters) Lettering by: Art Simek (as if things aren’t bad enough!) 12 pages
Dr. Doom’s loser henchmen return, and Lee is still convinced that’s more interesting to spotlight than whatever Dr. Strange is up to this issue. At least Stan acknowledges Dr. Strange’s existence with a caption on the cover.
The loser henchmen now have a name. They are the Terrible Trio. They even have a cool logo design, where their name appears to be shaking.
It will be 15 years before a writer thinks they’re worth bringing back.
Frank Giacoia returns as inker. We met him last issue, where he used the pen name “Frank Ray”. Now he’s settled into the more informal “Frankie Ray”, which he will be better known as.
Featuring: Spider-Man Release: November 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Deliciously written by: Stan Lee Deliriously illustrated by: Steve Ditko Delightfully lettered by: S. Rosen 20 pages
What a beautiful cover. One of my favorites yet. Definitely my favorite Spider-Man cover so far. I like the way Ditko contorts Spider-Man in the air. It’s never straightforward, and decades of artists have tried to imitate his many posings. It’s just such a nice rendering of Spider-Man, who’s always at his best when at least somewhat upside down.
Ditko’s got the Beetle lurking off in the corner, just to show there is a villain. He keeps the focus on the actually visually interesting characters.
And then the opening splash page is basically an alternative cover, this one showing Spider-Man directly in combat with the Beetle, again with Spidey’s body flying through the air in his inimitable style.
This is one of the most underrated Spider-Man stories of all time. You’ll easily notice my Best We’ve Read page has more than its share of Spider-Man stories, as they are simply head and shoulders above all the other Marvel comics of this era. The highest rated Spidey stories won’t surprise people who love Spider-Man stories. I’ve spent a lot of time reading people’s opinions on Spider-Man stories, looking at lists of the best Spider-Man stories. His origin and the Sinister Six story, those are everybody’s favorite. While you may hear less of it, for those in the know, the End of Spider-Man story is spoken of with sufficient reverence. As is his unmasking by Dr. Octopus and first battles against Doc Ock, Vulture, and Electro. I’ve heard people cite the Scorpion battle and even the Green Goblin battle as their favorite stories.
But I never hear anybody talk about how great Spider-Man’s first battle against the Beetle is. Let’s correct that.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: November 10, 1964 Cover: January 1965 12 cents Written with the explosive power of a live grenade by: Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee Drawn with the savage impact of a block-buster by: Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers Inked with the smashing force of a Sherman tank by: Geo. Bell Lettered with a brand new bottle of India ink by: Artie Simek 20 pages
We’ve met Baron Strucker twicebefore. Fury’s only recurring foe at this point. But now he’s got his own team of commandos backing him up, the Blitzkrieg Squad.
The idea of the Blitzkrieg Squad is that each is specifically chosen to be a match for a commando. The brawler matches Dugan; the charmer, Manelli; the musician, Gabe; the mechanic, Izzy; the horseman, Reb; the aristrocrat, Percy.
I was a bit confused by the word “Junker” in the context and had to look it up. It refers to a Prussian noble, not somebody who trades in scraps.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: November 3, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Edited by smilin’ Stan Lee Written by laughin’ Leon Lazarus Pencilled by capricious Carl Burgos Inked by peerless Paul Reinman Lettered by sparkling Sam Rosen 12 pages
You’re correct, reader, that we have not finished Tales to Astonish #63 yet. We will get there. Hulk is involved in one big story, while Giant-Man and Wasp have shorter adventures which take place weaved around their Avengers adventures. It’s a tricky thing to negotiate. We’re not going to finish this comic right now either. We’ll come back to the Hulk story another day.
We get something new here. Leon Lazarus is not a name we’ve seen before. It honestly sounds a little made up. An alliterative name like that often turns out to be an alias in these stories. Especially with a biblical last name like Lazarus, a word common in superhero stories to describe effects that raise the dead (e.g. the Lazarus Pit used by Batman’s foe Ra’s Al Ghul).
And Stan Lee claims no writing credit. He’s been the sole credited writer on everything for the last year or so. And even when there were other credited scripters, Stan Lee claimed credit for the “story” or “plot” or such. This is the very first time in any Marvel Age story that Stan did not claim story credit.
Of course, Stan’s name still goes first in the credits, as the editor.
So who is Leon Lazarus? What is his real name? Why did he decide to start writing for Marvel now?
