Featuring: Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandoes Release: May 2, 1963 Cover: July 1963 12 cents Script: Stan Lee Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 23 pages
I read this story in Sgt. Fury Epic Collection vol. 1: The Howling Commandoes. Scans are taken from a reprint in Sgt. Fury #95 from 1972.
The story opens at a Nazi u-boat port in occupied France.
Does 1300 appear to be soon?
The plan is to create a diversion so that Nazis don’t notice a destroyer coming in to destroy the port. I have one concern with the plan. Sgt. Fury notes the destroyer is coming at 1300. The narration tells us it’s currently dark out. The implication is that it’s nighttime, presumably no later than 0400 or so. Are they supposed to create a 9-hour long diversion? Even if it’s just a dark morning, we’re still looking at 0800 at latest, well before it seems an appropriate time to start the diversion.
Featuring: Thor Release: May 2, 1963 Cover: July 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: R. Berns Art: J. Sinnott 13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Thor vol. 1.
Robert Bernstein has become a more frequent scripter of late. And Joe Sinnott has basically become the regular Thor penciller over Kirby, who only returns to the title intermittently. In general, Sinnott will not do a lot of full art for Marvel. But he spends decades as one of their most reliable finishers.
I think the above cover reference is the first time I’ve seen them use the phrase “Marvel Age of Comics”. But as I’m often reading reprints, I may be missing some internal notes. Anyways, that’s what I’ve been calling these tales, differentiating them from the comics the company published in decades prior, the “Marvel Age”. Now, the cover suggests they are just ushering it in. I’ve been describing comics thusly going back to Fantastic Four #1 two years earlier. Before the word “Marvel” was really anywhere to be seen. When there was just a discreet “MC” on the covers. This is part of a new marketing push. A similar phrase will show up on other covers and in house ads over the next month or so.
Still no particular evidence Thor ties in with any of these other stories. Not until the Avengers form. And again, we see everybody acting like Thor is the only superhero out there. When a missile loses control, everyone on earth seems to agree Thor must be tracked down. Nobody seems to consider contacting Iron Man or the Fantastic Four.
Maybe people are also trying to reach Iron Man, and we just don’t see it.
In their first encounter, Loki hypnotized Thor pretty easily. This time he has a much more convoluted plot. He manipulates a complicated series of events to ultimately get Thor to turn his head so his hammer hits him in the chromosomatic gland. And getting hit in that particular gland hard enough changes one from good to evil. Of course, Odin resolves the situation by hitting him again in the same spot.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: April 9, 1963 Cover: July 1963 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Art: Steve Ditko 5 pages
The cover focuses on the epic battle between Human Torch and the team of Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete. It makes no mention of any backup stories, not the space adventure that follows it, nor this story shoved into the back.
It’s only 5 pages long. Just like the sci/fi tale that preceded it. A story of a bad man with a problem who encounters some mystical force and gets his comeuppance– recall for example the stories we’ve read with Odin, Merlin, or Medusa.
It seems like not really one of our superhero stories; it’s just like these weird tales that have populated these anthologies for years, and have continued to populate the end of these anthologies which all now begin with a superhero story.
Looks like we’ll meet again.
Now, one of those weird tales did grow into something more in the superhero era. The Man in the Ant Hill used his shrinking formula again–now with a costume and a superhero name–to become Ant-Man.
There is one thing differentiates this story about a mystic from other weird tales. A small note at the end that tells us this character will return.
Seems fitting. After all, the comic is Strange Tales. What is so strange about Human Torch stories? Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic, seems a much more natural fit to headline such a comic.
It does note he’s a different kind of super-hero.
Some argue that Dr. Strange is not a superhero, that he comes from a different archetype, an older one. The wizard; or the mage. But Stan Lee describes him as a “super-hero” right there on page 1. So that’s good enough for me to call the character a superhero.
Dr. Strange is the creation of Steve Ditko and Stan Lee, but really probably almost entirely Steve Ditko. Let’s see what we’ve got in his inaugural appearance.
Cool gloves. Mustache. Amulet. A cool design on the door window. Astral projection. Some unfortunate Asian stereotypes. The evil Nightmare from the dimension of dreams.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: April 9, 1963 Cover: July 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: R. Berns Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Don Heck 13 pages
I read this story in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus vol. 1.
If there’s one thing I associate with Kirby (and there’s a lot more than one), it’s stylish headpieces on women.
That outfit seems pure Kirby.
Beyond that and maybe some of the machinery, the issue mostly reminds me of Heck’s art. I’m guessing Kirby’s art is really pretty loose design and layout, leaving a lot of the details, particular facial details, to Heck’s finishing. Just a guess.
Anthony Stark leaves costume behind, figuring it will be safe. This is called foreshadowing.
The world beneath the surface seems pretty crowded. I guess there’s lots of room down there, enough for a few underworld kingdoms. Kala is the third ruler of a subsurface kingdom we have met, after Moleman and Tyrannus. She won’t be the last. Let’s see who Thor fights next month…
What do I do now? I’ve never been beaten before! But this time my spider powers were not enough! Is this the end of Spider-Man?
I read this story in Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection vol. 1: Great Power.
I’m going to go ahead and confess that I don’t know what the title of this comic is. I often don’t. Many times, the title is in quotes to make it clear. Even though what’s in quotes is often preceded by the name of the title hero with a “versus” or a “battles” after.
For example, Fantastic Four #15 had the opening text: “The Fantastic Four Battle… The Mad Thinker and His Awesome Android!” With the latter part in a much bigger font. Online sources vary.
This is even more confusing because the arrangement of the different pieces make the order unclear.
Possible titles:
Doctor Octopus
Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus
The Strangest Foe of All Time… Doctor Octopus
Spider-Man Versus the Stranges Foe of All Time… Doctor Octopus
The internet generally doesn’t agree on which of the above makes sense. For my part, I’m trusting the table of contents in the collection I’m reading this in.
The title page describes Doctor Octopus as “the only enemy ever to defeat Spider-Man!” Not sure that’s accurate. Vulture and Tinkerer both handed Spider-Man initial defeats last issue before Spider-Man was able to come back and win in round 2. Which is basically what’s going to happen in this issue.
Featuring: Ant-Man and Wasp Release: April 2, 1963 Cover: June 1963 12 cents 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.
With the return of Egghead, Ant-Man gets his first recurring villain. We’ve only seen so many recurring villains, with many new (but often forgettable) ones cropping up. Fantastic Four recurring villains so far are: Namor, Dr. Doom and Puppet Master. Thor of course keeps fighting Loki. Human Torch has now fought Paste-Pot Pete twice and Wizard thrice. And I think that’s it. So far, no recurring foes for Spider-Man, Iron Man, or Hulk (unless you count the US military).
They dedicate 2 pages the recapping the last battle with Egghead. At this point, the writers have mostly seemed to pay little attention to details, continuity, or consistency. Yet here they stick pretty close to the actual story in the recap, including some dialogue. Mostly new art and script, but a very close retelling.
Yeah, yeah. We already read all this.
Remember that in the 1960s, comics weren’t yet published online. You had to find them at a local vendor, so it was possible to miss an issue. This recap would help keep readers of that era up to speed if this happened.
We now have a new status quo. Ant-Man and Wasp are teammates. She thinks they should date. He is stuffy. They are both eager to battle evil and such. Wasp is sometimes overeager to prove herself. Even though she’s the one who can fly. While he… catapults.
Featuring: Thor Release: April 2, 1963 Cover: June 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: R. Berns Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.
Another Cold War story, but this one tying itself closely to current events, seeming to be set during the Sino-Indian War.
Thor takes quite the interest in particular geopolitical concerns.
This allows us to align the comic’s timeline with our own. The Sino-Indian War mainly took place October-November 1962, about 6 months before this comic came out. And since it takes some number of months to go from concept to the comic being finished, printed, distributed and appearing on stands, they were drawing from pretty current events.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: March 12, 1963 Cover: June 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.
I also have it reprinted in Marvel Collector’s Item Classics #5 from 1966, and include scans from that reprint below.
Robert Bernstein has been scripting more and more Marvel books. We just saw him in our last Human Torch entry and his name is showing up on Ant-Man and Wasp stories.
As we’ve discussed before, the comic treats Stark’s military work as entirely noble, as opposed to the more nuanced take the movie would have decades later. It’s about changing attitudes. But this comic really seems to push it. Stark invents a disintegrator ray, and notes among its applications that it could destroy a metropolis. Surely we recognize that as a purely evil application? That’s not much better than building a nuclear bomb.
We all get this is evil, right?
Hulk’s origin had a subtle swipe at weapon-building, given that Dr. Banner was a victim of his own bomb. But it’s not clear to me how intentional that was on the part of Lee or Kirby. Or whether it’s interpretation that comes from reading the comic through a modern lens.
Featuring: Human Torch Release: March 12, 1963 Cover: June 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: R. Berns Art: Jack Kirby Inks: Dick Ayers 13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1.
The Sorceror is a hermit who is mean to kids who trespass on his property. In return, Johnny is extremely mean to him. I thought Johnny was being quite the bully to a harmless hermit who just wants to be left alone.
Now who’s abusing his power?
Torch tells him: “You can’t have it both ways. If you want freedom of movement, others must have it as well!” But that hardly makes sense. In context, Torch is saying: “If you want to leave your own property, you have to let others onto it.”
Anyways, the Sorceror is not harmless. He’s actually a sorceror and has found Pandora’s Box. Which contains a bunch of evils, also called imps. We meet some of them: Flood, Hatred, Forgetfulness, Sleepiness, Paralysis, Cold, Disease, Foolishness, Laziness, Fire, Fear. They range from human traits to natural disasters.
We learn a bit of Greek myth, how Pandora released the evils but Circe put them back. Not clear what connection Circe will have to the Eternal named Sersi we will eventually meet.
Always a woman. Eating that apple. Opening that box.
In the last post, we spoke about characters getting ruined by having lame ambitions. The Sorceror has access to all the evils of the world. And what does he want to do with it? Rob a bank. Boring.
Have better ambition!
Has it been 2 years already?
The most interesting thing in this story to me is that Johnny notes it’s 1963. He had noted in an issue of Fantastic Four that it was 1962, suggesting at least a year has passed. I am fascinated by trying to track how much time has passed and am looking for clues. But I must be careful reading too much into a single line of dialogue stating the year. As writers will almost always claim their story is happening in the current year, whether or not that makes sense.. But Reed is already in his ’40s by 1961 when we meet him. So he only has so many decades of superheroing left in him.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆, 39/100
Characters:
Johnny Storm/Human Torch
The Sorcerer
Flood
Ben Grimm/Thing
Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
Sue Storm/Invisible Girl
Pandora
Circe
Hatred
Forgetfullness
Sleepiness
Paralysis
Cold
Disease
Foolishness
Laziness
Fire
Fear
Story Notes:
Johnny notes it’s now 1963
The box contains hundreds of imps
In end, Sorcerer frozen with fear from Imp of Fear
