Reading the Marvel Universe – Page 54

Strange Tales #112

The Living Bomb!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: June 11, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: Joe Carter
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

Script is by Joe Carter. Carter… Hmmm… I’ve read a lot of comics, but not sure I know the name. Let’s google. Ah, it’s a pen name. No biggie. So is “Stan Lee”. His real name is apparently Jerry Siegel. Ah, apparently he wrote some comics under his own name. Let’s check his bibliography and see if anything sounds familiar.

Wonder what this Joe Carter guy has worked on before? Probably something super.

This seems to be his first Marvel work, but he’d done some stuff for DC (and probably wants to hide that he’s freelancing for Marvel). Often collaborated with Joe Shuster. He co-created Dr. Occult. That’s cool. Oh, and Slam Bradley. I like Slam. And some new members for the Legion of Superheroes like Bouncing Boy and Matter-Eater Lad. That’s quite the resume for this “Jerry Siegel” fella. Almost seems like slumming to work on a lowly Human Torch story for a creator of Slam Bradley. You’d think he’d be rolling in dough from royalties for all the characters he helped create for DC. He created a bunch more characters too, but I think those are the most notable ones.

Fantastic Four #18

A Skrull Walks Among Us!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: June 11, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
21 pages

It’s perhaps cheating that I’ve seen so many later renderings of Super-Skrull, but hindsight being the new year, that’s not a great image of Super-Skrull on the cover. It suggests only that he has Human Torch powers. No hint that he has the powers of the entire Fantastic Four (well, no visual hint. I guess the text tells you). He should be rocky and flaming and stretching and invisible. My two cents. Though he’s also never rocky in the issue, just strong. But he should be rocky.

At this point, the earth has been invaded by about a dozen alien races this year. All of whom have given up and withdrawn entire fleets at the slightest hint of possible resistance. The Skrulls are the first to return, to try again after their ignoble defeat.

Their plan is to make an agent powerful enough to stop the Fantastic Four, reasoning it was the FF who defeated them before. But the Fantastic Four did not defeat the Skrulls, at least not with their powers. The Skrulls were scared off by pictures of monsters in comic books. So really, they should make an agent powerful enough to fight all the monsters that scared them away.

Amazing Spider-Man #4

Nothing can stop… the Sandman!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: June 11, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
By: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
21 pages

Previous	#85	Next
Tales of Suspense #45	Reading order	Fantastic Four #18
Amazing Spider-Man #3	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #5

You teen-agers are all alike– You think the world owes you a living! Now go out and get me some shots of Spider-Man, and don’t come back till you do!

The covers so far have mostly been single images. Here, the cover is itself a comic. It’s not a common artistic choice, perhaps because it forces the images to be smaller. But it effectively shows off the range of Sandman’s powers.

Lee and Ditko share the credits for this issue with a simple “By”, rather than breaking up who did the story and who did the art.

In 4 issues, this series has introduced:

Chameleon
Vulture
Tinkerer
Dr. Octopus
Sandman

That’s 5 enduring villains, and at least 3 iconic ones.

Reading the Marvel Universe in the new year

Welcome back. Happy new year. Happy new decade.

This blog is primarily dedicated to reading Marvel’s entire comic book universe, starting in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1.

The menu can direct you to some of the key posts to help understand this venture, but it’s worth pausing to reacquaint ourselves.

Perhaps most important page is the Resources page. This attempts to enumerate the many websites upon which I depend to gain enough information about comic books to even attempt such a feat as this blog.

I have a post entitled Why Read the Marvel Universe?, which is a good place to begin. It attempts to explain what the Marvel Universe means to me and why I think this project is worth doing.

As we meet a new significant character, I update Our Cast So Far.

If you want to get right to the meat of it, the Reading Order post contains links to every comic we’ve discussed, and hints about what’s coming next.

We begin in 1961, and I hope to get into the 1980s one day. Anything pre-1961 or post-1991 is certainly out of the scope of this blog, but I occasionally find comics from these eras worth touching on as they relate to other comics. For example, Johnny Storm becomes the modern Human Torch in 1961, but occasionally peeking at the adventures of the original Human Torch gives some context. Sub-Mariner is a character who debuted in 1939, but returned after a 7-year hiatus to have more adventures in the modern Marvel Universe. The “PRELUDE” posts cover these pre-1961 stories I find relevant. If we look ahead at any post-1991 comics, we label them “POSTLUDE”, as with our peek at the 1993 comic, Marvels #0, which gives a new perspective on the origin of the original Human Torch.

We paused this effort just about a month ago, with Tales of Suspense #45, our 89th entry, featuring Iron Man in battle with Jack Frost.

I took some personal time to travel for the holidays and to be extremely jet-lagged upon my return to work. And with the year and decade wrapping up, I made my first blog posts on other topics, discussing my favorite comics of the decade, as well as my take on the decade’s best science fiction films.

But now I’m ready to get back to work. So please join me as we look in on the 90th story from the Marvel Universe, in which the Amazing Spider-Man meets the Sandman!

Tales of Suspense #45

The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: June 11, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Don Heck
18 pages

We meet a new villain, Jack Frost. His special suit covers himself in ice and he can freeze people. He isn’t the first ice-themed super character and won’t be the last. Though off the top of my head, I am not thinking of any earlier examples within Marvel. Over at DC, we met Captain Cold in Showcase #8 (1957) and Mr. Zero in Batman #121 (1959).

But Jack Frost is something of a footnote in the Marvel Universe. This is the first of 6 stories he’ll appear in, making him the most significant Iron Man villain we’ve met, but still not all that significant.

The bigger news is that Iron Man gets a supporting cast!

The writers must know that having a supporting cast is a good idea. This isn’t new. Superman has had Lois since his first issue. Jimmy and Perry followed eventually. Batman has had Alfred for a couple decades at this point. It’s just not a new concept. And it’s working really well for Spider-Man. Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson… they help make the book. But the other stories have mostly not bothered with the concept. Thing has Alicia and Thor has Jane, but that’s the extent of it so far.

Tales to Astonish #47

Music to Scream By

Featuring: Ant-Man and Wasp
Release: June 4, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: H.E. Huntley
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks:Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1.

After alternating between crediting himself with either “story” or “plot”, Stan has decided to cover his bases and give himself credit for “story plot”.

Ahem.

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord…

That David played, and it pleased the Lord…

But you don’t really care for music, do you?

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth…

The minor fall, the major lift…

The baffled king composing “Hallelujah”…

Hallelujah!

Journey Into Mystery #95

The Demon Duplicators!

Featuring: Thor
Release: June 4, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Joe Sinnott
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

In going through the results of a recent poll on favorite Marvel/DC characters, my friend Brian Cronin talked about the idea of a “MARVEL science” degrees for his entry on Beast. He notes that Beast is a MARVEL scientist, and

From Brian:

Marvel Universe science is a lot more diverse than regular science. You see, Hank eventually gained a PhD (done while the rest of the X-Men were vainly trying to complete their GEDs) in biophysics and genetics. However, he achieved these PhDs in MARVEL science, so this made him an expert in engineering, medicine, time travel (yes, time travel), etc. It is like how one of the most highly-developed robots of all time, Ultron, was built by Hank Pym, a biologist. It is because Hank is a MARVEL biologist. Very different than normal biology. It’s like “How would you best describe a cell membrane? Also, how would you build a device that could negate Magneto’s powers?” All in the same class!!!! And MARVEL scientists always have multiple doctorates by the time they’re 22. It’s a rule.

Now, we’ve seen a pretty clear counterexample to that. Dr. Pym turned down a request for help from Wasp’s father because it was outside his area of specialty. He claimed he was only an expert in “molecular cell transition” (i.e. making people shrink) and “cell specialization” (i.e. making people grow wings). As of where we are in our reading, he has not yet built any robots.

Dr. Don Blake is a surgeon and a very good one. Surgery is a hard thing to master. It takes a lot of time to study. It’s a demanding job, always being on call. He’s also always on call as a superhero.

Yet somehow he built an android in his spare time.

Tales of Suspense #44

The Mad Pharaoh!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

I read this story in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus vol. 1.

In June 1963, a Cleopatra film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton debuted.

One month earlier, perhaps in an attempt to ride a marketing tail, Iron Man meets Cleopatra!

While there are certainly lots of things Iron Man can do that may seem like sorcery to Cleopatra, having wheels is not one of them.

The comic does end with Iron Man attending the Cleopatra film premiere, to make this a very specific nod.

Now, Anthony Stark is already famously a ladies’ man. And a reporter earlier in the issue asks him about how he’d fare if he met her. It turns out very well. She is smitten with him despite never seeing his face. He wears bulky Iron Man armor the entire time.

Fantastic Four #17

Defeated by Dr. Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

We see the first of an effect that will be used again on Fantastic Four covers. Four panels on the cover. One for each member of the team. Perhaps with a centerpiece for the villain.

Alicia gets herself kidnapped by Dr. Doom. The girlfriend being held hostage is an old superhero trope going back to Lois Lane. We’ve seen it in the Marvel Universe already with Jane Foster.

We get a little insight into Doom’s mindset. He relates to the Thing, as both are grotesque. Yet, Thing has found love. Rather than causing him to reflect that maybe it’s okay to remove his mask, Doom still believes nobody can love him and vows revenge on all humanity. Notice that the art is going out of its way to not show us Doom’s face.

Fantastic Four #16

The Micro-World of Doctor Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: April 9, 1963
Cover: July 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

Astute readers are noting that this comic is from April of 1963 and recall that we’ve been reading comics from May of 1963. So what gives? Why is this one here in the reading order? Am I even paying attention to what I’m doing?

Well, issue 17 will pick up right where 16 leaves off, and the battle with Dr. Doom basically continues from one issue to the next. So I thought it would be good to read the two stories together.

One other chronology note. This issue also came out a month before Ant-Man’s appearance in Tales to Astonish #46. Which would leave me inclined to put that story after this two-part adventure. However, Ant-Man rides a flying ant in this. He first meets a flying ant in his own comic in issue 46. Prior to that, he always catapulted places. That suggests to me this story fits best after Tales to Astonish #46, despite the publication dates.

He catapults to the flying ants, which he uses like skis.

Now you’re wondering how Dr. Doom can be in this story when you recall him shrinking to nothingness. I, too, was convinced we would never see him again. But it turns out he didn’t shrink to nothingness but ended up in a micro-world populated by micro-people.

Well, I guess I was wrong when I thought he was gone for good.

It turns out sentient life is all around us. We know now the stars are populated by many aliens, some as close as Saturn. We’ve encountered–let’s see, carry the one and… 10 alien races in these superhero tales.

Plus other races live in neighboring dimensions, under the sea, beyond the Rainbow Bridge… and there are at least four underground kingdoms.

So we now add a micro-world kingdom to the list.