Featuring: Medusa
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script + Art: Larry Lieber
Inking: Paul Reinman
5 pages
Wet met Medusa in Tales to Astonish #32. As with all these mythological characters, it is unclear if all the stories that appear are supposed to connect. The CMRO includes many Medusa appearances in its order, including several appearances that predate where we started our reading. I hope to cover USA Comics #6 eventually in a “prelude” post, but after we first meet Captain America in the present stories.
For example, this comic notes Medusa was slain by Perseus, suggesting she is not the same character we met in the modern day. On the other hand, the Perseus story was related by a teacher, who is perhaps just wrong about Medusa’s fate.
Either way, we learn Medusa is a member of an alien race called the Gorgons, who are now ready to invade earth once again.
As we’ve seen, earth gets invaded by aliens a lot. Pretty much all these aliens are in the habit of sending a scouting party, one that calls off the invasion at the slightest hint of resistance. In the most infamous case, aliens were scared off by comic books. Here, the Gorgons give up when two people are able to resist their stoning-gaze. They still clearly have advanced technology if they are capable of interstellar travel. Earth probably is helpless before them even if people don’t immediately turn to stone at their gaze. But why were those two humans able to resist the gaze of the Gorgons? That’s the episode’s clever twist. Which I’ll go ahead and spoil, as this comic is hard to find.
The scans found online are from a reprint in Fantasy Masterpieces #8.
Rating: ★★½, 45/100
Significance: ☆☆☆☆☆
Characters:
- Medusa
- Perseus
Minor characters:
- John (intended victim of Gorgons)
Story notes:
- Gorgons have new leader
- Gorgons last visited earth centuries ago
Next: X-Men #1
Previous: Journey Into Mystery #96
