Featuring: Iron Man Release: April 9, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Presented by: Stan Lee and Don Heck Lettered by S. Rosen 5 pages
This is pushing the line between what I’d call a story and what I’d call a special feature at the end of a story. It’s long enough and told in a comics format, so I decided to give it its own entry, but I could have included it at the end of the last one.
This feature fits in where the science fiction tale would normally have gone, but those are done now.
The first page shows some of Iron Man’s major villains:
Black Widow
Mysterious Melter
Mandarin
Scarecrow
Mr. Doll
Crimson Dynamo
Gargantus
Jack Frost
It’s not an exhaustive list. I don’t see:
Wong-Chu
Kala and the Netherworlders
Dr. Strange
Red Barbarian
The Actor
The Mad Pharaoh
One villain is unnamed, and I don’t recognize him.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: April 9, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Written by: Friendly Stan Lee Illustrated by: Faithful Don Heck Lettered by: Fearless Art Simek 13 pages
For the second issue in a row, a comic I own in original form, because it was too hard to find the Watcher story in the back any other way.
The title is, “No one escapes the Mandarin!” Iron Man is currently a prisoner. Willing to bet money someone will escape the Mandarin by issue’s end. (In fact, someone will escape the Mandarin by page 3.)
I need everybody to agree on a couple points. Iron Man is a captive. He is tied up just like he was at the end of last issue. That’s the first point. The second is that he is wearing a different helmet than he was a moment ago. There is a clear lack of bolts down the face. Somebody explain.
Featuring: Watcher Release: March 10, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Story plot by: Stan Lee Script + Art by: Larry Lieber Inking: Chic Stone Lettering: Art Simek 5 pages
As I mentioned in the last post, this is the first comic in our reading I actually own an original copy of. This story is the reason I have it. I had the Iron Man story already in the Essential Iron Man and Iron Man Omnibus. But at the time, nearly 20 years ago, I couldn’t find the Watcher story anywhere else. So I tracked down the original comic, shelling out several dollars for it, maybe as much as 7 or 8. Definitely more than the 12 cents it should have cost.
The Watcher is unusually passionate at the moment. I think of him as more reserved. Here, he plans to stick to his oath, but it torments him.
That makes me think this tale is set in very ancient times. The modern Watcher is a little more accepting of his role, and this tale takes place in his youth, when he struggled a bit more with his oath.
As I’ve expressed before, the Watcher’s conclusions about morality are wrong. It’s better to act. That said, they fascinate me. Especially stories like this that attempt to explore the morality of his oath.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: March 10, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Written (in his magic Marvel manner) by: Stan lee Drawn (in his famous flashing fashion) by: Don Heck Lettered (in his smooth subtle style) by: Art Simek 13 pages
We reach a personal milestone for me in this reading. Up to this point, every story I’ve read, I’ve used some form of reprint, often a collection from one of their reprint lines like Marvel Masterworks, sometimes a later comic that happens to reprint the old story.
This comic I own. Cover barely hanging on, brown at the edges, but this is mine. That cover? That’s a scan of my copy. Most of the other covers have been taken from the GCD.
So that’s pretty exciting.
Now for the bad news. The Mandarin returns. Iron Man’s lamest villain yet (despite some stiff competition) is back for round 2.
Iron Man gets a new helmet. The face mask no longer protrudes out, making his head a smoother shape, and there are visible bolts along the mask. I get the bolts along where the facemask meets the helmet, but not sure what the ones down the middle are doing. They won’t be around long. In fact, they’ll disappear mid-story suddenly without any plausible explanation.
It’s a pretty weird look, frankly. It will be better when that middle line of bolts goes away.
Featuring: Avengers Release: May 5, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Written by the inspired typewriter of: Stan Lee Drawn by the enchanted pencil of: Jack Kirby Inked by the gifted brush of: Chic Stone Lettered by the scratch pen of: S. Rosen 23 pages
As if it wasn’t hard enough trying to figure out how to fit the Avengers’ solo adventures around this title, issue 5 ended with an urgent call from the Teen Brigade to go on a mission unrelated to the Lava Men adventure they just had, which itself was unrelated to the Hulk adventure that started that issue. Leaving almost no space for solo adventures.
Here, the narration informs us they are still on the way to New York to respond to the urgent call, but needed to refuel in Chicago.
Between New York and Chicago, Iron Man and Giant-Man have gotten new costumes, and Wasp has a new hairdo and headpiece.
Captain America meanwhile has new glove magnets and miniature transistors installed in his shield that allow him to control its motion.
Iron Man designed the shield transistors. He is apparently an engineering genius on par with Tony Stark, the man nobody has ever seen him with, despite being Stark’s bodyguard.
And then Thor gives Captain America his mail. Wait? What? I thought this was a refueling stop in Chicago. Where did they get the mail? Where are they?
Not many details in the scene. Some equipment makes it look like a lab. Cap is sitting on a chair, so they seem to not be on a plane or at a refueling station.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: May 5, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Not a bad story by: Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee Passable art by: Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers Inked by: Geo. Bell Lettered by: S. Rosen 22 pages
I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t we just read Sgt. Fury #7 pretty recently? Yes. But isn’t Sgt. Fury bimonthly? Yes. Wait. This comic is from May. You were just reading March comics. Yes. You haven’t even finished March yet. We haven’t read the March Iron Man story. True. I know you’re mostly going in publishing order, but sometimes move things around for story reasons. I do. But that doesn’t make any sense here, right? You only move things around when comics tie into each other, and Sgt. Fury is set in WWII. How can it tie in directly with any superhero comics?
Well, there’s the rub. For reasons we’ll go into later, we are reading Avengers #6 two months early. And, as noted on the first page, this issue does tie into Avengers #6! Sort of, at least. They were released the same day and star the same villain, Dr. Zemo.
It makes for a pretty uncommon occurrence in comics, where fans like to track what a character’s first appearance is. Dr. Zemo has two. He was introduced on the same day in two different titles, two stories set twenty years apart. We’ll meet him here in Sgt. Fury, then see what he’s up to twenty years later menacing the Avengers.
It’s a pretty cool and unique quasi-crossover. In service of it, we’re reading Sgt. Fury #8 two months early.
Featuring: Marvels Release: November 9, 1993 Cover: January 1994 $5.95 Writer: Kurt Busiek Artist: Alex Ross Letters: Starkings w\ John Gauhsell Editor: Marcus McLaurin Assistant editor: Spencer Lamm Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco Cover design & logo: Joe Kaufman Interior Design: Comicraft 45 pages
When this is over, I’d said. When would that be? It would blow over. The world wouldn’t stay like this. It couldn’t. Could it?
The 4 (or so) issues comprising this series are pretty close to being the best comics I have ever read. They inspire the journey we are taking here, where we read through the entire Marvel Universe starting in 1961, and I want them to frame the journey we are taking.
Through a man named Phil Sheldon, an “ordinary” photojournalist, we see a holistic view of all these many interconnected stories of Marvels, cohesing into a single narrative, leading us to understand that this world is not our own, and helping us imagine what it might be like to live in that world.
The tagline reads: “Experience the Marvel Universe from a whole new perspective– yours.”
We read Marvels #0 pretty early in the project, right after meeting the original Human Torch, who we introduced after meeting the new Human Torch.
Marvels #1 deals with Marvel’s Golden Age, stories from the 1930s and 1940s. We are reading it now in our reading order because we have met enough Golden Age heroes to justify it. Really, it comes down to the big three: Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. But our reading about characters like Angel, Electro and Black Widow will also help us appreciate the details.
And if there’s one word that can describe this comic, it’s “detailed”. Sitting in a hotel room in Dresden with the intent of doing a deep dive into this issue, I have the original comic in my hand, but also the recent annotated edition which can serve as a guide. Plus some Golden Age and other reference material.
With all that in front of me, I would like to look very closely at this comic; consider those details, and try to do so without losing sight of the powerful emotional journey in front of us, one that will seem very familiar in the year 2020.
I think I’ve already gushed at sufficient length over the creators Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross in our recent Astro City discussion, so we’ll jump right into the story.
A Time of Marvels
The bystanders had seen the stories in the paper– seen them, chuckled and dismissed them. But it’s one thing to read about the impossible– and another to look it in the face.
The story opens in 1939 with reporters talking about the tensions in Europe. Phil Sheldon is an ambitious photojournalist looking for an assignment overseas. His fellow reporter–resembling a young J. Jonah Jameson down to a well-placed shadow beneath the nose where Jameson’s mustache will eventually be–muses that one day he will be the one running the Bugle. Phil is off to cover a press conference with a scientist who he expects to be a crackpot, one Phineas T. Horton.
The Human Torch Battles the Sub-Mariner as the World Faces Destruction!
Featuring: Human Torch Release: October 8, 1941 Cover: Fall 1941 10 cents 60 pages (!)
The comic gives no credits. I’ll point you to the GCD, which notes work from Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Jack D’Arcy, Hank Chapman, Mike Roy, Harry Sahle and George Kapitan. That’s… a lot of names. I will make no attempt to untangle who did what.
Counting to 5
Let’s get the confusing part out of the way. We are looking at Human Torch #5, with a cover date of Fall 1941.
The previous issue of Human Torch was… Human Torch #5, with a cover date of Summer 1941. Why? I have no idea. I think somebody counted wrong.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: March 10, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Author and illustrator extraordinary: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Inked by: Geo. Bell Lettered by: S. Rosen 23 pages
The opening of this story is somewhat different from the norm. A little… sexier.
To make the opening image more amusing, we learn it’s not an actual projection of Sue, but rather a projection of what happens to be on Reed’s mind at the moment. Sexy Sue, apparently.
We then get the issue’s big news. Reed is planning to go buy a ring in order to ask Sue to marry him. Giant-Man recently bought a ring for the same reason, but chickened out. Let’s see if Reed can do any better.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: March 10, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee, King of Suspense Drawn by: Steve Ditko, Master of the Macabre Lettered by: Art Simek, Prince of the Lettering Pen 9 pages
I’ll include the cover with this post, as this is the first time the Dr. Strange story is given a significant piece of cover real estate.
I confess to a little bit of Mordo-fatigue. A full half of the Dr. Strange stories have pitted him against Mordo. As I start the story, I do a bit of a “Mordo again” sigh/eye-roll. But it’s actually a pretty good comic, as they tend to be.
