Reading the Marvel Universe – Page 57

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #9

An epic battle between two Marvel superstars!

The Battle of the Comic Century!
Featuring: Human Torch vs. Sub-Mariner
Release: May 17, 1940
Cover: July 1940
10 cents
Credits: Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and John Compton
22 pages

It’s not quite clear how Everett and Burgos split up the art duties. I’m sure they both pulled their weight, though most of the issue reminds me of Everett’s work.

John Compton is most likely on hand to assist with scripting. I don’t know my Golden Age creators well, so can’t tell you much about John Compton. And Google at a glance doesn’t know much more than me.

One thing to note about the very fancy title page is the phrase, “Marvel Comics Presents”. Almost seems anachronistic, as the company wasn’t yet called Marvel Comics (it still isn’t necessarily, even in 1963; every cover has that “MC” on it, but the word Marvel isn’t evident). Though it was the name of the first issue of this series, before the word “Mystery” was inserted. But it’s a very prescient phrase.

As I reflect, that title is a bit hard to parse. “The Battle of the Comic Century”. “Comic Century”. I might think they mean that this is the battle of the century told in comic form, or perhaps that this is the battle of the century, at least within comics. But it doesn’t really say either of these things. Perhaps they mean that the 20th century is the century of comics. Or perhaps that of the current century the comics are depicting, this is the great battle.

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #8, Story B

Still not the big battle I was promised…

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: April 24, 1940
Cover: June 1940
10 cents
Credits: Carl Burgos
12 pages

The Human Torch has many nicknames for Namor: “water bug”, “water beetle”, “water rat”. Namor calls him “fire bug”. You can tell they’re not going to get along.

I really think that repairs can wait, Torch…

This story is a bit disappointing, as one may have expected it to continue the last one. It does not. It instead tells the events of the last two stories from the Torch’s point of view. But Torch is the less interesting character, and Burgos is the less talented artist.

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #8

The Marvel Universe starts to take shape as two of its greatest champions meet in battle.

The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner meet!!!
Featuring: Sub-Mariner
Release: April 24, 1940
Cover: June 1940
10 cents
Story and art: Bill Everett (uncredited)
10 pages

Hard to believe something as significant as Human Torch meeting Sub-Mariner didn’t even get top billing on the cover. I guess Angel battling some monster was more exciting.

Usually, Bill Everett’s signature appears on the first page of each Sub-Mariner story, but I’m not finding it here.

“…for having attempted to electrocute him after he had promised to lend his powers to his cause…” I guess you can see why he might be miffed.

It really all begins here. Eight months after the respective debuts of Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, the characters meet in conflict. The Marvel Comics series becomes more than independent stories in an anthology. The seeds of a universe sprout. So it is that 23 years later, Sub-Mariner can battle the Fantastic Four with a new Human Torch, while that same Fantastic Four battle Hulk and Spider-Man in other stories. So it is that 80 years later, a movie studio can throw dozens of superheroes up on the big screen in a epic big-budget battle.

I think this is one of the most significant pages in Marvel history.

The highlight of the story, the reason we’re here, is short. The final 2 pages of a 10-page story tell of the meeting between Human Torch and Namor. The Torch quickly gains the upper hand and Namor retreats.

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #7, Story C

The surface world will feel Namor’s vengeful wrath.

Featuring: Sub-Mariner
Release: March 20, 1940
Cover: May 1940
10 cents
Credits: Bill Everett
10 pages

While The Human Torch stories have been very episodic, the Sub-Mariner stories have formed one continuing saga. Thus there’s no way to jump into them without feeling like we’re missing something. Nonetheless, I’m not looking to review every Golden Age Sub-Mariner story here. Just a couple to give us some context for the Marvel Age stories we are reading.

In this blog, we last saw Namor beginning a war against the surface world for crimes against his people. He’s cooled off and befriended Policewoman Betty Dean. He grew concerned about the war ravaging the surface world, and decided to take part. Sometimes, he seemed sympathetic to the Allied cause and sometimes merely to the cause of peace. He decided to try his hand at being a superhero, to convince the surface world of his good intentions.

He made a deal with the police commissioner to do some good works, but the commissioner still insisted he stand trial for his crimes. The jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Well, the electric chair did not kill him… it just made him angry. So his war against the surface will begin anew. That’s where this issue opens.

Namor informs his Emperor of his plans to destroy the entire continent after conquering New York. The Emperor offers the entire Sub-Mariner army, but Namor says he can handle it himself for now, as his vendetta is personal.

The relationship between Namor and the Emperor still isn’t clear. If Namor is a Prince, there must be some…

PRELUDE: Marvel Mystery Comics #7

Sets the stage for the first Marvel Universe crossover!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: March 20, 1940
Cover: May 1940
10 cents
Credits: Carl Burgos
11 pages

After a pretty complex first adventure, Human Torch has settled into the routine of being a fairly standard superhero. Each issue has had its own adventure where the Torch foils some plot. He’s adopted the identity of Jim Hammond in civilian form, and made friends with a police officer named Johnson.

The one oddity comes from the beginning of Marvel Mystery Comics #2. A newspaper article tells us that the Torch burned down Horton’s home, killing him. We hadn’t seen anything like that in the previous issue. But the Torch defends–rather than denies–the killing.

A note to quell any confusion. Human Torch and Sub-Mariner were introduced in Marvel Comics #1. That series has continued, but it was renamed to “Marvel Mystery Comics” beginning with issue #2. Each issue has featured both a Human Torch and Sub-Mariner story, among others. Other regular features include Angel, Masked Raider, and Ka-Zar.

Strange Tales #107

Human Torch battles Sub-Mariner for no particular reason!

Face-to-Face with Prince Namor, the Mighty Sub-Mariner
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: January 10, 1963
Cover: April 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1.

Dick Ayers is again the main artist. Kirby will be back next issue, but they will trade art duties for the remainder of the series. This is the pattern we have been seeing. Kirby is still around and will sometimes provide the art for the series he pioneered, but will be rotating with other artists. Heck has Ant-Man and Ayers has Human Torch.

This fairly useless series continues. The Fantastic Four series hasn’t once yet acknowledged anything about this series’ existence, including Sue and Johnny’s home in Glenville. In contrast, this series references lots of things about the Fantastic Four. The whole team has a cameo in this issue and there are references to the FF battles against Namor. You can tell which series is the ugly stepchild.

As the story–such as it is–begins, we find the three adult FF members had a meeting while Johnny was in school. They were taking notes on next month’s adventure, while Sue typed them up. It’s a bit odd, as most FF adventures are their responses to crises. It’s not clear what they’d be planning a month in advance.

Nice to see that even Sue had a role in the meeting…

The current issue of Fantastic Four came out a week earlier. We haven’t read it yet, because issue 14 picks up where it leaves off, so I’m reading it last this month. That adventure is a trip to the moon. Which does take some planning; however, in the issue itself, the trip is a surprise to the rest of the team. Only Reed had been planning it and had been planning not to take the others. So they must be referring to something else.

Tales of Suspense #40

The armor makes him a superhero and keeps his heart beating.

Iron Man Versus Gargantus!
Featuring: Iron Man
Release: January 10, 1963
Cover: April 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: J. Kirby
Inking: D. Heck
13 pages

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

Most of the credits only get first initials, perhaps to fit on a line. The letterer John Duffy doesn’t even get an initial, referred to as “Duffi”. Heck was the primary artist on the first issue of Iron Man, though building off some initial character work by Kirby. Here, Heck is credited with inking over Kirby. But to my eye, this issue mostly reminds me more of Heck than Kirby.

The script is credited to “R. Berns”. The first time we’ve seen that name. In fact, I think it’s the first writing credits given to anybody except for Stan or his brother Larry. The scripter is Robert Bernstein, who used the pseudonym “R. Berns” for all of his Marvel work, as he was mostly known for his DC superhero work at the time. He’d been working in comics for at least 17 years at this point, and had worked with Lee before on western and war stories. But he’d spent the last 4 years working in superhero comics at DC, famously reviving Aquaman for the Silver Age, and adding Aqualad and Aquagirl to the cast (working with Ramona Fradon). His Superboy stories (with George Papp) introduced the menace of General Zod and other Kryptonian criminals imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, concepts that would make it into the 1978 Superman film and the 2013 reboot. And he transformed Congo Bill into Congorilla (alongside Howard Sherman). An impressive pedigree to join our crew.

We saw 18 months of superhero comics made almost entirely by 3 people. It wasn’t sustainable as the number of heroes continued to grow, so we’ve seen an infusion of new writers and artists in the last month, some filling in, some here to stay.

Tales to Astonish #42

A man spreads lies and fear to a crowd of people who soak it up.

The Voice of Doom!
Featuring: Ant-Man
Release: January 3, 1963
Cover: April 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

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

This is Don Heck’s second issue of Ant-Man. The art duties will be a mix of Heck and Kirby going forward.

An accident at an atomic lab sends some charged particles into Jason Cragg’s microphone that imbue him with the power to make people follow his every command. We have seen other radiation-based anomalies–notably the effects of a bite from an irradiated spider and being caught in the blast of a gamma bomb–and we will see many more.

There is perhaps some political commentary in this issue. An orator speaks and sways the crowd with demagoguery and fear-mongering. Ant-Man tries to point out the orator offers no evidence, but his cries are lost on deaf ears. Perhaps the creators were thinking of some 1960s politicians when writing this. It certain applies seems to describe a 2019 politician or two.

Incredible Hulk #6

Steve Ditko fills in for Hulk’s final issue.

The Incredible Hulk vs The Metal Master
Featuring: Hulk
Release: January 3, 1963
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
24 pages

I read this story in Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1.

All good things must come to an end. Turns out things like this series also come to an end.

The great Steve Ditko takes over for Jack Kirby for the first full-length Hulk story since the second issue, and what is also the final issue of Incredible Hulk. Though no hint of that ending can be found in the cover or the letters pages. There simply isn’t an issue 7.

This Ditko guy draws a pretty good Hulk.

Perhaps it’s for the best. The first issue was one of the best comics we’ve read and showed so much potential. A dark psychological sci-fi drama, with elements of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. That potential was squandered on constant tweaks to the character, a series that had the feeling of throwing things at the wall until something stuck, then giving up when nothing stuck. It will take Steve Ditko to reshape the character into a more enduring form, but he won’t get a chance to do that now, as the series is being cancelled.

Journey Into Mystery #90

5th alien invasion. 2nd by shape-changing aliens. But who’s counting?

Trapped by the Carbon-Copy Man!
Featuring: Thor
Release: January 3, 1963
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Al Hartley
13 pages

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

As has been the theme of recent posts, Jack Kirby seems to be on a bit of a break, letting Al Hartley fill in on this Thor story. As far as I can tell, this is Hartley’s only credit for Marvel superheroes. He’d been working with Stan Lee for at least 14 years at this point, in a variety of genres. Most notably, he’d been working on Marvel’s Patsy Walker since 1958. He’s quoted as saying he was more comfortable in the humor and teen drama genres than the superhero genre.