Reading the Marvel Universe – Page 39

Journey Into Mystery #106, Story B

The Brave

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.

Journey Into Mystery #106

The Thunder God Strikes Back!

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.

Journey Into Mystery #105, Story B

When Heimdall Failed!

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.

Journey Into Mystery #105

The Cobra and Mr. Hyde!

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.

Amazing Spider-Man #14

The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin

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.

Fantastic Four #28

We have to fight the X-Men!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee (The leader!)
Drawn by: Jack Kirby (The king!)
Inked by: Chic Stone (The master!)
Lettered by: Art Simek (The letterer!)
22 pages

Stan’s been doing “clever credits” for a while now, giving all sorts of nicknames to the creators. This one happens to be Kirby’s most famous nickname. He is generally known today as Jack “King” Kirby. This is the first time we’ve seen the “king” nickname in our reading. Can’t confirm whether it’s been used anywhere else before. This project began 20 years into Jack’s rather prolific career.

We turn now to the story, where the Fantastic Four and X-Men meet for the first time. (Well, Human Torch and Iceman had already met…)

We begin with a statue of Thing that has been sculpted by the brilliant Alicia, working by touch alone.

Strange Tales #122, Story B

The World Beyond

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written, with a touch of sorcery by: Stan Lee
Drawn, with a dash of necromancy by: Steve Ditko
Lettered, with a number 6 pen point by: Art Simek
9 pages

We finish up Strange Tales #122. A couple things to recall from last time. I actually own this comic. And Dr. Strange is now a corner box star.

Dr. Strange, exhausted from recent battles against supernatural evil, falls asleep without proper protective chants, which leaves him vulnerable to Nightmare. This is Dr. Strange’s third battle with Nightmare.

Strange Tales #122

3 Against the Torch!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Rapidly written by: Stan Lee
Speedily sketched by: Dick Ayers
Instantly inked by: Geo. Bell
Lazily lettered by: S. Rosen
14 pages

Move over, Johnny. Human Torch now has to share the corner box with Dr. Strange. Getting your face into the corner box is how you know you’ve made it.

And hey! I own this comic. That cover is scanned from my collection. I bought it not all that long ago for $15, which seemed a reasonable price. For those keeping count, this is #3 for comics I actually own in original form.

But now I want to return it. Because of blatant false advertising. The cover clearly says “Dr. Doom does not appear in this story.”

Yet, look here on page 1. Who is that? It’s Dr. Doom!

Turn the page, who do we see on page 3? Dr. Doom again!

In three different panels, no less!

Now, these panels are all flashback sequences to the last battle with Dr. Doom. Since it ended with Dr. Doom falling into space, it’s obvious we’ll never actually see him again. Wait… but the note informs us he will return in Fantastic Four Annual 2. How can that possibly be?

Daredevil #2

The Evil Menace of Electro!

Featuring: Daredevil
Release: April 2, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Joe Orlando
Inking: Vince Colletta
Lettering: S. Rosen
22 pages

The credits have two names that are new to us. Last issue was drawn by Bill Everett, who did an excellent job, but apparently also missed his deadline by a wide margin. Whatever happened, he was not invited back.

The artist is now Joe Orlando, who has been working in comics since the early ’50s, including occasional freelance work for Marvel. This is his first superhero work, previously drawing horror, western, and war comics, most notably for EC Comics. He worked in the comics field for many decades as artist, writer, and editor, most of that time with DC comics. As far as I can tell, this short stint on Daredevil is the last work he’ll ever do at Marvel.

Here’s a peek at some of the work he’d been doing in the previous 13 years.

Vault of Horror #9 (1951), Battle #47 (1956), Classics Illustrated #147 (1958), Mad #44 (1959)

Vince Colletta had been working as an artist for Marvel for about a decade, primarily on romance comics. He had recently moved toward inking. He will soon become a regular inker over Jack Kirby, and begin a very long run inking Thor. I believe this is also his first ever superhero work.

His work is not always loved by critics or his colleagues. He has a reputation for choosing professionalism over artistry. I see no evidence of this or any other flaw in this particular comic. I will caveat that I haven’t always the best eye for art, nor any particular talent for separating the contributions of the penciler from the inker when I look upon a page.

Here’s a sampling of his prior work.

Love Romances #44 (1954), Jungle Action #4 (1955), Love Diary #6 (1959), Kid Colt Outlaw #100 (over Kirby’s pencils, 1961)

Tales of Suspense #55, Story C

The Sun-Stealer!

Featuring: Watcher
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script + Art: Larry Lieber
Lettering: Art Simek
5 pages

The Watcher’s emotional state in the previous issue led me to conclude it was an ancient story of the Watcher’s youth. This story is clearly taking place closer to modern times, though still in the past. The Watcher has already set up shop on our moon, which he describes as his temporary domain; he will finally leave this home in Fantastic Four #13. The continents of Earth seem to be in their current position. He must already be an ancient being.

An alien plans to steal Earth’s sun to save his own world. The Watcher distracts him long enough to thwart his plans.