Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: May 12, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan (Miracle Man) Lee Illustrated by: Steve (Marvel Man) Ditko Inked by: George (Mystical Man) Bell Lettered by: Art (Magical Man) Simek 9 pages
This is the most cover real estate Dr. Strange has yet gotten. A full vertical half of the page. Really moving up in the world.
Stan’s “clever credits” aren’t entirely original this time. He refers to himself as Miracle Man… but that was already a name he himself gave to a Fantastic Four villain. Marvelman is the British superhero who is not actionably copied from Captain Marvel.
For the entirety of the series, as well as of Amazing Spider-Man, Ditko has done all his own art. For the best. For the next three issues, George Roussos will be inking Ditko on Dr. Strange. It is a sad sight to see.
Stan the narrator often speaks directly to the audience, and he often apologizes to them. I haven’t taken note of any apologies prior to this, but it almost seems like he’s trying to apologize that Thor looks different from normal. Because Ditko’s style isn’t Kirby’s.
Featuring: Human Torch Release: May 12, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee (‘Nuff Said) Illustrated by: Carl Burgos (Who was the first to draw the Torch way back in the Golden Age of comics!) Inked by: Darlin’ Dick Ayers Lettered by: Smilin’ Sam Rosen 14 pages
Check out the split cover. That’s about to come into vogue. Equal cover real estate for both Human Torch and Dr. Strange. The idea won’t take off right away in this title, but we’ll soon see the split cover all over the place as more and more superheroes share titles.
There’s even a certain symmetry to the halves of the cover, what with the respective guest star boxes.
I find myself with an unusually large amount of things to say about the first page. Strap in.
“Nuff Said”. I’ve now read almost 3 years of Marvel comics without seeing that phrase. Now, I’m usually reading reprints, and thus missing ads and letter pages, where that phrase is more likely to show up. Brian Cronin notes Nuff Said first appeared in the letters page of Fantastic Four #19, almost a year earlier. I missed it. This is the first time I’ve seen it show up in the credits of a story or anywhere within a story. It is now recognized as one of Stan’s signature catch phrases.
Carl Burgos is the artist. That’s pretty cool. Because Burgos created the original Human Torch 25 years earlier; Johnny Storm borrowed his name, look, and powers. However, the credits don’t quite let us know that. Similar to Avengers #4, they acknowledge some contribution from Burgos without attributing the character to him. They call him the “first to draw the Torch”. He was the first to draw and write the character, and the entire concept is his. Marvel just bought his work. From a modern eye, this is irksome for a couple reasons. First, the language may be careful for legal reasons, as these companies like to make clear that the company created these characters and no people were involved. It also feeds into the notion that Stan has taken too much credit for himself over the years, allowing himself to get recognized as the creator of many characters, while often failing to acknowledge the actual creators. If you polled people today and asked who created the Human Torch, Stan Lee’s name would likely come up far more often than Carl Burgos’. Misleading credits like this do not help with that.
Featuring: X-Men Release: May 5, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Written: With the flair of Stan Lee Drawn: With the air of Jack Kirby Inked: With the care of Chic Stone Lettered: On a dare by S. Rosen 22 pages
Once again, we see that Namor and Hulk are the binding that holds this nascent Marvel Universe together. Most of the heroes haven’t met each other, but they’ve almost all met Hulk or Namor. (Daredevil hasn’t met either yet, but we’ve only read two issues; he’ll meet Namor soon.)
My confusion about what to call Magneto’s group remains. It’s becoming clearer that “Evil Mutants” is how Xavier and the narrator refer to them. It’s less clear what they would call themselves. They were called the “Brotherhood of Evil Mutants” on the cover, and in the title, of their first appearance; however, that name has never shown up in-story.
Featuring: Wasp Release: May 5, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Story plot: Stan Lee Script and art: Larry Lieber Lettering: S. Rosen 7 pages
The Magician escaped prison, so Wasp has to take his picture off her weird trophy wall of super-villains she has defeated. Considering the rate at which these villains seem to get out of prison, she must have to update that wall a lot.
Do we recognize all the villains on the wall? I see: Egghead, Black Knight, Magician, Human Top, the Creature from Kosmos, Porcupine. There are two pictures we can’t see. The wall is missing Cyclops, Trago, Living Eraser, El Toro, and Colossus. It’s possible we just can’t see the entire wall and those photos are off to the side. It’s also possible she was unable to get a picture of some of them. The Living Eraser lives in another dimension, so getting a photo may be hard.
Concerned for her safety, Hank phones Wasp to suggest she go to the lab. The lab is publicly known to be the headquarters of Giant-Man. I would argue that is the least safe place. What about his house in New Jersey? He apparently somehow has a secret identity.
Wasp refuses, as there is a new line of Wasp-themed fashion debuting at Benson’s department store.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: May 5, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Written completely by: Stan Lee Illustrated neatly by: Dick Ayers Inked discreetly by: P. Reinman Lettered sweetly by: Art Simek 16 pages
Wasp notes it’s skiing season. This note is very important for chronologists. I myself haven’t paid close attention to seasons, but experts in this field think very hard about the seasons, and how they relate to the school years of Peter Parker and Johnny Storm. The Official Marvel Index to the Avengers notes this story takes place in February, likely with references like the “skiing season” quote in mind.
It’s now been two issues since Hank bought that engagement ring, but he hasn’t mentioned it again. The relationship drama is now centered around the amount of time he spends in his lab, to the neglect of his girlfriend. She complains he has a test tube instead of a heart.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: May 5, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Written with passion by: Stan Lee Drawn with pageantry by: Jack Kirby Inked with power by: Vince Colletta Lettered with pride by: Art Simek 5 pages
We recently met Vince Colletta over in Daredevil. This issue begins Vince Colletta’s long relationship with Thor, spanning almost a decade. He will be the regular inker on “Tales of Asgard” from here on out, and soon graduate to the main title. He will be the inker for over 60 consecutive issues and remain a frequent inker on the title thereafter.
Contrasting his work with, say, Chic Stone, we see more hatchings to represent shadow and shape than we have been seeing, yet less crispness. The features are often softer and less defined. I’ve seen it described as “atmospheric”.
The next two chapters of “Tales of Asgard” will focus on Balder. Let’s review his history.
Featuring: Thor Release: May 5, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Written fairly well by: Stan Lee Drawn not too badly by: Jack Kirby Inked kinda nice by: Chic Stone Lettered pretty fair by: Art Simek 18 pages
This issue picks up less than 60 seconds after the last issue ended. Cobra has stolen Thor’s hammer with a machine and Thor is about to revert to Don Blake.
I can’t believe we have another 18 pages of Thor fighting Cobra and Mr. Hyde.
This idea of spreading a story over multiple issues is becoming a thing. We made it through over a year of stories without it ever happening. Not only were stories resolved in an issue, but they were usually resolved within a dozen pages, leaving room for other stories. It takes a hefty 36 pages to conclude this battle. The famous origin of Spider-Man took only 11.
The first hint of change was the Fantastic Four battle with Dr. Doom taking place over Fantastic Four #16–17. But even that was really two distinct stories; the first just ended with Doom’s escape, so they had another Doom story right after. Amazing Spider-Man #11–12 is a similar flavor; each issue tells a complete story, but Dr. Octopus remains the villain across the issues. We’ve had the one big story, the Hulk story in Fantastic Four #25–26, which itself tied into plot threads from Avengers #2-5. But that was epic enough to justify its length. Giant-Man and Wasp inaugurated the pointless two-parter with their battle against the Human Top. Thor’s title has gone all in on the idea, as his battles with both Mr. Hyde and Tomorrow Man took two issues for no particular reason. Iron Man recently followed suit with his battle against Mandarin, also stretched over two issues.
The multi-part story will soon become the rule rather than the exception, including two giant upcoming epics. These multi-part arcs make deciding on a reading order difficult. In general, I’ve been trying to go month by month, but I’d also like to keep these multi-part stories together, which is going to require some shifting around.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: April 2, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Jack Kirby Inking: Geo Bell Lettering: Art Simek 5 pages
Recall that last issue, we learned the origin of Heimdall. This issue we get another Heimdall tale, before the spotlight shifts to Balder starting next issue.
Nedra hatches a plot with Brimer, King of the Storm Giants, to invade Asgard, even under Heimdall’s watch. Nothing can escape his sight or hearing, but the air creatures known as the Vanna can be neither seen nor heard.
Nonetheless, Heimdall senses the approaching Vanna and lashes out. He misses and is uncertain whether to trust his own instincts.
Featuring: Thor Release: April 2, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Written by: Happy Stan Lee Drawn by: Healthy Jack Kirby Inked by: Husky Chic Stone Lettered by: Hasty Art Simek 18 pages
I really am excited that Kirby is the regular on Thor, especially when paired with a great inker like Chic Stone. I remain hopeful that the quality of the “Tales of Asgard” backups will soon be reflected in the main stories, turning around what has been Marvel’s worst title so far. Enchantress and Executioner were two good additions to the rogues gallery. And last issue we got a taste of mythic armageddon. Far more interesting than Thor fighting mobsters. I like the direction they’re going. I hope they keep it u–
Oh. Huh. Cobra and Mr. Hyde, eh.
Sigh. Ah well. Teach me to get my hopes up.
Because there are no longer sci/fi backup tales, the entire issue is dedicated to Thor. Which means they have to drag this story over 18 pages. And then they make it a two-parter! 36 pages of Cobra and Mr. Hyde.
The Avengers show up. The costumes they are wearing could be clues to where this story places amidst the Avengers comics and other titles… except they provide inconsistent evidence.
Featuring: Spider-Man Release: April 9, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Writen by: Stan Lee (The poor man’s Shakespeare) Illustrated by: Steve Ditko (The poor man’s Da Vinci) Lettered by: Art Simek (The poor man’s rich man) 22 pages
There are things to like about this comic. The new villain is pretty goofy, perfect for a one-off issue of frivolity. Bring back the Enforcers and throw in the Hulk, and you have a recipe for a fun time.
But look to this first panel. It’s very interesting. A great panel, actually. You see the villain’s mask in the foreground and the shadowed villain in the background. Spider-Man has had a few unmasking scenes of late. Electro turned out to be someone he’d never heard of. Big Man turned out to be Peter’s colleague, Fred Foswell. This opening panel suggests we will get another dramatic unmasking… except we won’t.
They will save the unmasking for a later issue. Spider-Man actually fails to decisively defeat this goofy villain. Which suggests the Green Goblin will return. A bad idea. The character might be fun for one issue, but not as a recurring villain. Especially when Spider-Man aready has such a robust rogues gallery of far more interesting characters: Chameleon, Vulture, Tinkerer, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Lizard, Living Brain, Electro, Big Man, Enforcers, and Mysterio.
The second panel is a line that’s rather amusing with the benefit of hindsight. “I made the controls simple enough that there’s no chance of fatal error.” If you’ve read further in Amazing Spider-Man, you know he will redesign his flying device and forget that particular design principle. I had suggested this panel to my friend Brian for his Past Was Close Behind series.
The Green Goblin refers to his device as a “flying broomstick”, keeping to a magic/fairy tale theme.
