Coke & Comics

NFL® Superpro #4

The Sanctioning
by Fabian Nicieza, Jose Delbo, and Mike DeCarlo

You know, the United Way and the NFL® work together to form a winning team!

Can’t let him make a big play from the opening kickoff!

This is ridiculous! But facing the 49ers offensive line was worse!

And now, let’s show America what teamwork’s all about!

The early 1990s was an explosion of creativity for Marvel Comics, introducing enduring new characters from Sleepwalker to Darkhawk, and revitalizing classic concepts with new versions of Fool Killer and Deathlok.

Some gems get obscured amongst the sheer volume of the decade’s creativity. Today, I want to talk about a character celebrating his 30th anniversary this year, the great superhero who sometimes is referred to simply as Superpro, but who is more properly known as NFL® Superpro!

You might have noticed the NFL® logo in the title and on his chest and his helmet…

Tales to Astonish #64

When Attuma Strikes!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: November 3, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
Edited by smilin’ Stan Lee
Written by laughin’ Leon Lazarus
Pencilled by capricious Carl Burgos
Inked by peerless Paul Reinman
Lettered by sparkling Sam Rosen
12 pages

Previous	#296	Next
X-Men #9	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #14
Tales to Astonish #63, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #64, Story B

You’re correct, reader, that we have not finished Tales to Astonish #63 yet. We will get there. Hulk is involved in one big story, while Giant-Man and Wasp have shorter adventures which take place weaved around their Avengers adventures. It’s a tricky thing to negotiate. We’re not going to finish this comic right now either. We’ll come back to the Hulk story another day.

We get something new here. Leon Lazarus is not a name we’ve seen before. It honestly sounds a little made up. An alliterative name like that often turns out to be an alias in these stories. Especially with a biblical last name like Lazarus, a word common in superhero stories to describe effects that raise the dead (e.g. the Lazarus Pit used by Batman’s foe Ra’s Al Ghul).

And Stan Lee claims no writing credit. He’s been the sole credited writer on everything for the last year or so. And even when there were other credited scripters, Stan Lee claimed credit for the “story” or “plot” or such. This is the very first time in any Marvel Age story that Stan did not claim story credit.

Of course, Stan’s name still goes first in the credits, as the editor.

So who is Leon Lazarus? What is his real name? Why did he decide to start writing for Marvel now?

X-Men #9

Enter, The Avengers!

Featuring: X-Men
Release: November 3, 1964
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Savagely written by: Stan Lee
Supremely drawn by: Jack Kirby
Superbly inked by: Chic Stone
Stoically lettered by: S. Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#295	Next
Avengers #12	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #64
X-Men #8	X-Men	X-Men #10

The cover promises the return of Professor X. He left the team in issue 7, leaving Cyclops in charge. We haven’t seen him since, except for a brief appearance in issue 8 where he and Cyclops have a telepathic chat. Anyway, now it’s issue 9 and we get the long-awaited return of Professor X.

Also, the X-Men meet the Avengers!

Of course, they fight.

Avengers #12

This Hostage Earth!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: November 10, 1964
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Written in the Marvel manner by smilin’ Stan Lee
Illustrated in the Marvel tradition by dazzlin’ Don Heck
Delineated in the Marvel style by darlin’ Dick Ayers
Lettered in the nick of time by swingin’ Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Journey Into Mystery #112, Story B	Reading order	X-Men #9
Avengers #11	Avengers	Avengers #13

Avengers. Mole Man. Let’s check it out.

Mole Man is plotting to conquer the world. Ants are the first to notice his schemes, and they warn Giant-Man who warns the Avengers who… don’t take the ants seriously.

Iron Man is rocking those roller skates!

The moral of the story is to take warnings from ants seriously.

Journey Into Mystery #112, Story B

The Coming of Loki!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: November 3, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Majestically written by: Stan Lee
Magnificently drawn by: Jack Kirby
Masterfully inked by: Vince Colletta
Magnanimously lettered by: Artie Simek
5 pages

Previous	#293	Next
Journey Into Mystery #112	Reading order	Avengers #12
Journey Into Mystery #112	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #113

We see this story described as the start of a new biography in-depth. There won’t be that much depth. What’s meant is that we have had sequences of this series devoted to Heimdall and Balder respectively. It’s now Loki’s turn to take the spotlight for the next few issues.

This story is set when Thor is a young child, and the universe as well is young. Odin is solidifying his rule and Asgard is at war with Jotunheim. Jotunheim is a land of giants and Laufey is their king. Odin seeks to end Laufey’s rule.

We have before met Frost Giants, Storm Giants, Rime Giants, and Mountain Giants. The inhabitants of Jotunheim are here just referred to as giants. Later comic stories will suggest Laufey is actually a Frost Giant, but he looks nothing like Ymir.

Odin is wielding what appears to be the uru hammer he would later give to Thor.

Journey Into Mystery #112

The Mighty Thor Battles the Incredible Hulk!

Featuring: Thor
Release: November 3, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
A Stan Lee-Jack Kirby Marvel Masterwork!
Inking by: Chic Stone
Lettering by: S. Rosen
16 pages

Previous	#292	Next
Avengers #11	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #112, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #111, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #112, Story B

Lee and Kirby seem to share top billing in the credits (Lee’s name first, of course) without breaking down who did what.

It’s interesting that they wanted Thor to battle the Hulk, but rather than have Thor battle the Hulk, they had Thor tell a story set in the past. Perhaps Hulk is too busy with the ongoing Leader Saga to be able to appear in Thor’s book. Stan is perhaps becoming aware his fans expect continuity and resorting to tricks not to break it.

Thor tells children a story when he sees them arguing over who is stronger: Thor or Hulk. Superhero fans have asked such questions for decades, and Stan had likely received more than a few letters asking the question. As he’s done before, he puts the fans’ queries–and the fans themselves– directly into the story.

I love the Hulk/Thor signs the kids made, and just how passionate and angry they all seem about this important question.

Thor’s tale is set in the middle of Avengers #3, expanding the story told then. Recall the Avengers battled Hulk and Sub-Mariner in Gibraltar.

Avengers #11

Spider-Man!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: October 8, 1964
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Spectacular story by: Stan Lee
Incomparable illustrations by: Don Heck
Dazzling delineation by: Chic Stone
Lachrymose lettering by: Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Tales of Suspense #62, Story B	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #112
Avengers #10	Avengers	Avengers #12

Don Heck is still the artist, but this time with inks by Chic Stone. I think it’s the first time we’ve seen the combo. Stone is easily my favorite Kirby inker so far; their pairing has that very classic pop art feel. Paired with Heck, they do a passable job, certainly better than the last two issues with Heck/Ayers.

But nobody, not even Kirby, can get Spider-Man right. The cover would seem to prove me a liar, as it’s Kirby’s best take on Spider-Man yet. But that’s likely because it’s mostly Ditko. Nick Caputo examines the question of who drew what on the cover on his blog Marvel Mysteries and Comics Minutiae.

I think Heck has been doing fine work on Iron Man. Avengers is a bit harder because it’s got so many characters. And we’ve reached the point where Stan is “writing” everything, which means he’s mostly relying on the artists to come up with the stories themselves. I think Heck is a good artist but just struggled with the weight of it all. It doesn’t help that he’s being constantly compared to Kirby and Ditko in this era.

Tales of Suspense #62, Story B

Break-Out in Cell Block 10!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: November 10, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
Pow! script: Stan Lee
Wham! art: Jack Kirby
Zowie! inking: Chic Stone
Ulp! lettering: Art Simek
10 pages

Previous	#290	Next
Tales of Suspense #62	Reading order	Avengers #11
Tales of Suspense #62	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #63

The title brings to mind the classic 1954 film, Riot in Cell Block 11. Perhaps an intentional homage?

These opening credits left me with some fascinating questions. “Pow! Wham!” is forever associated with the medium of comics and the superhero genre, an association devotees of both often bemoan. People rightfully want to make clear that comics is a broad medium and not just superheroes and silliness. Others want to argue that the superhero genre is not children’s stuff, despite the fact that it evidently is.

I am not certain when this association between these sound effects and comics first took place. I believe the 1966 Batman television series really cemented it in the wider public consciousness. These onomatopoeic effects go back to the earliest days of the medium and we’ve seen plenty of sound effects in our reading. What is interesting here is that they are presented as a gag which presupposes the association of these words and superheroes, as well as the choice of words. “Pow” and “Wham”. These seem the sound effects most associated with superheroes (perhaps along with Biff! and Bam!), though I can’t say we’ve seen them any more than other sound effects in our reading.

Tales of Suspense #62

The Origin of the Mandarin!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: November 10, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
Brashly written by: Stan Lee
Boldly drawn by: Don Heck
Brazenly inked by: Dick Ayers
Bashfully lettered by: S. Rosen
12 pages

Previous	#289	Next
Tales of Suspense #61, Story B	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #62, Story B
Tales of Suspense #61, Story B	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #62, Story B

Now that the issue is dual-featured, with each feature of similar importance, they need to think of different ways to highlight two pictures on the cover. We’ve seen the Iron Man picture embedded in the Captain America picture, while consuming a large chunk of the real estate, forming the main art of the Cap picture into an ‘L’. We’ve seen 2 separate pictures placed onto the mat at odd angles like postcards dropped on a canvas. The most conventional format will be a split-screen, either horizontal or vertical. This one is basically a horizontal split, but with a slanted line. It feels like the Iron Man portion wastes the portion of the image where it has the space. The Cap portion has extra space on the left and puts Cap himself there. Iron Man is squeezed into the small space on the left, and the extra space on the right is devoted to landscape.

Apparently Marvel had received more than 500 requests for the origin of the Mandarin.

If you look to the Best we’ve read page, it will become obvious the origin stories tend to be my favorite comics. At present, I see a full quarter of the list are origin stories, including the top 3 entries. Conversely, almost every major origin we’ve read is represented. (Sorry to Ant-Man, Thor, and Watcher.) Therefore I’m excited whenever we get a new origin story… unless it’s Mandarin’s story.

Missing Wandavision? Read some comics

The stories that inspired the show

Sigh. This time last week I would have been tuning in to the latest episode of Wandavision. Alas, it has come to an end. Where to get my fill of Wanda and Vision now? Well, the answer is obvious. Comics!

I loved Wandavision very much. I spent the past several weeks pulling out comics from my boxes that Wandavision brought to mind. My nightstand has been a stack of Vision and Scarlet Witch comics constantly on the verge of tipping over. I thought it would be fun to share what I’ve been reading and more.

I’d like to give you an overview of the history of Vision and Scarlet Witch in the comics, point out some of the stories which seemed like direct influences on Wandavision, and make some recommendations of what you can read if you are craving more of Wanda and Vision.

The history of these characters can actually be quite convoluted. I’m not inclined to spare you any details.

HOWEVER, we will not be attempting to understand Wanda’s powers today. That… will have to wait for another day.

Due to its length, this post is broken into 5 pages:

Origins: The introduction of Wanda and Vision. (1939-70)
Love story: Wanda and Vision meet, fall in love, and get married. (1970-75)
Family: Wanda and Vision deal with their extended family, buy a house in the suburbs, and grow their family. (1976-86)
Things fall apart: Wanda and Vision find there is no happily ever after. Plus: Jimmy Woo, Monica Rambeau, and SWORD. (1989-2017)
Reading recommendations: Comics suggested for fans of Wandavision.

Pages: 12345