Coke ⊕ Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #6

Face-to-face with the Lizard!

Featuring: Spider-man
Release: August 8, 1963
Cover: November 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Steve Ditko
21 pages

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Fantastic Four #20	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #47
Amazing Spider-Man #5	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #7

I’ll get that masked menace if it’s the last thing I do!

Six issues in, and we meet Spidey’s fifth iconic villain. We’re only short one because he fought Dr. Doom last issue.

We learn newspapers around the nation are printing stories about the Lizard menacing the Flordia Everglades. I imagine the headlines read something like: “Florida Man sees human lizard in swamp.” Of course, not the Daily Bugle headline. That focuses on Spider-Man.

Notice that Spider-Man is also lowering the payment with his web.

The Lizard is a great villain. His character has a lot in common with the Hulk, except it’s much better. They both draw from the Jekyll/Hyde trope. Unlike the Hulk, which never settled on anything in the comic, the Lizard as a character is very clear. Dr. Connors is a good guy. When he first transforms into the Lizard, he has his own mind, but feels it slipping fast. Soon, the Lizard personality is entirely in control. The Lizard has plans to lead an army of reptiles to conquer the earth and destroy all humans. Once cured, he is back to being a decent man.

Strange Tales #114, Story B

The Return of the Omnipotent Baron Mordo!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: August 8, 1963
Cover: November 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Steve Ditko
5 pages

After a 2-issue hiatus, we see the return of Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic! A note explains he returned because of enthusiastic fan response in the letters.

A thing that bothered me the last time I read through Dr. Strange stories is that, in contrast to the Spider-Man stories, less villains are being introduced. In his third appearance, he is fighting Mordo for the second time. In a couple issues, he’ll again fight Nightmare. In contrast, Spider-Man comics are introducing great villains in each issue.

I have come to terms with this, though. It gives the series a less episodic feel than the Spider-Man comics. Dr. Strange really does have a couple of key adversaries most of the series will be dedicated to, and thus feels like a more cohesive saga.

Strange Tales #114

Captain America

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: August 8, 1963
Cover: November 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Dick Ayers
18 pages

Why did we choose now to review the origin of Captain America? Because Captain America is returning. “From out of the Golden Age of Comics”, the cover says. Not sure if we’ve yet seen that term in our reading. The era we are reading has been dubbed the Marvel Age.

Weird that he’d choose the Antique Auto Show of Glenville, Long Island to make his return after a decade-long absence.

Captain America and Human Torch get into a fight. Superheroes often do that when they meet.

PRELUDE: Captain America Comics #1

Meet Captain America

Featuring: Captain America
Release: December 20, 1940
Cover: March 1941
10 cents
By: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
8 pages

Here he comes. (Here comes the Captain)
Ladies and Gentleman! (Here comes the Captain)
The moment you’ve been waiting for! (Here comes the Captain)
The pride of Camp Lehigh! (Here comes the Captain)
Steve Rogers!

The 1940s had more Marvel superheroes than I could name. We’ve looked at some of the miscellaneous ones like the Angel. Some would be brought back for small roles by later writers. Many would lend their name to later characters. Despite the vast numbers of them, there is a “big three”. We’ve discussed two of them at length.

Jim Hammond, the Human Torch, would lend his name, likeness, and powers to a new character, Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four. Namor the Sub-Mariner would return in the pages of Fantastic Four, often as an adversary.

There is a third big one we have left out until now. But it’s time.

I’m not certain that what we are looking at up above isn’t the best comic book cover ever. To appreciate it, you must look at the date of release. December 20, 1940. It was completed prior to that date; thus, it was completed over a year before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. America’s official position toward the wars of Europe and Asia at the time was neutrality, as codified in various neutrality acts based by Congress over the previous 5 years. And yet, here was a hero garbed in the American flag punching Adolf Hitler in the face.

Jack Kirby is obviously a name we’ve seen a lot in our reading, as he created the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Avengers, etcetera. Before that, he defined the romance genre within comics. And long before that, he created Captain America. Born Jacob Kurtzburg, the son of Austrian-Jewish immigrants, he was 23 when Captain America #1 reached the stands. Two and a half years later, he would join the US Army and go fight Hitler’s forces in Europe himself.

Joe Simon, born Hymie Simon, was a few years older than Kirby, also the son of immigrants, of Russian-Jewish heritage. He joined the Coast Guard for the war and spent the war years in America. Simon and Kirby would be partners for 15 years and together shape American comics as we know them.

Fantastic Four #20

The Mysterious Molecule Man!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: August 8, 1963
Cover: November 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Dick Ayers
22 pages

“This proves that some form of life must exist in outer space!”

Reed.

You’ve fought the Skrulls twice. You’ve traveled to Planet X, and transported its population to another planet. You’ve met the Impossible Man and the Watcher. You’re about to meet the Watcher again this issue. You’ve seen the ruins of a lost civilization on the moon.

Plus, if you’ve been paying attention, you would have noted earth has been recently invaded by several other alien races, from the Toad Men to the Stone Men from Saturn.

Of course there’s some form of life in outer space!

Maybe I’m misinterpreting. Perhaps he’s not speaking of other worlds or moons or even spaceships, but within space itself.

Tales to Astonish #49

The Birth of Giant-Man!

Featuring: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Release: August 1, 1963
Cover: November 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Don Heck
18 pages

Ant-Man gets a new identity, and there’s a new little corner box to go with it.

The story is this. Ant-Man and Wasp joined a superhero team. Their teammates are Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor. All extremely powerful. Ant-Man is very small and controls ants. Perhaps this situation would have been tenable if Wasp didn’t keep commenting on how handsome Thor was. But she did. And Dr. Pym’s ego could not take this feeling of inferiority anymore. He needed to measure up.

So he thought and thought. He had a gas which shrunk him to ant-size. And a gas which allowed him to grow back to normal size. He had a routine. Reduce to ant-size. Grow to normal size. Now remember, he’s a genius. And it finally occurred to him: what if he skips a step in that cycle? What if he takes the growing gas when already normal-sized?

It worked! If he simply doesn’t take the reducing gas, he is no longer Ant-Man: he is now Giant-Man. And has strength that is at least closer to par with his Avengers teammates.

I have a science question about that, though. When he shrinks to ant-size, he retains human strength. They are very clear on that point. So he is the size of an ant but can punch as hard as an ordinary human. So why does his strength increase when he grows if it doesn’t decrease when it shrinks? Ah, never mind. I’m sure it would make sense if I knew science better.

Journey Into Mystery #97, Story C

Tales of… Asgard! Home of the Mighty Norse Gods

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: August 1, 1963
Cover: October 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: G. Bell
5 pages

The inks are by George Roussos, who often used the pseudonym George Bell. This is the first work of his we’ve seen.

The Thor series has not been very good. But I know there are good Thor comics. I even know there are good Thor comics made by Lee and Kirby. We just haven’t seen them yet. There’s been no real consistent artistic voice on the series, with a variety of artists and scripters taking a hand.

Thor is at his best when the stories explore the mythological. He’s generally better in Asgard than on Earth. Indeed, the best Thor story so far introduced Loki, and told the story of how he freed himself from the tree where Odin had imprisoned him. That was the only glimmer of greatness we’ve yet seen.

Here is the next glimmer. After the main tale and a Larry Lieber-helmed sci/fi tale, we get the first installment of a new series: Tales of Asgard. These stories will give Kirby a chance to flex his mythological cred.

Journey Into Mystery #97

The Lava Man

Featuring: Thor
Release: August 1, 1963
Cover: October 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Don Heck
13 pages

Kirby gets main drawing credit, but the faces (excepting the Lava Man) look more like Heck’s work to my eye. The action is very Kirby though.

Beneath the surface of the Earth, Mole Man rules an army of monsters. The immortal Tyrannus rules a kingdom of underworld natives. The kingdom of Atlantis had once sunk beneath the sea, and continued sinking beneath the world; when Iron Man visited, Kala was the ruler of Atlantis. We’re about to meet our fourth kingdom beneath the surface. Fortunately, the world is big enough for all of them.

Fantastic Four #19

Prisoners of the Pharaoh!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 9, 1963
Cover: October 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

This bears some resemblance to the Iron Man story where he traveled to Ancient Egypt to battle a time-traveling Pharaoh (Pharoah?). Of course, this is much better.

Mr. Fantastic deduces from some museum hieroglyphs that blindness had once been cured in Ancient Egypt. So the Fantastic Four return to the castle where they first met Dr. Doom, where we find his time machine has just been sitting there this whole time. They use the machine to travel to a time when Egypt was ruled by Rama-Tut, who came from the future. Similar to Zarrko, Rama-Tut has been bored with the peace of his time and craved adventure.

I feel like you should have gone back for this equipment before now…

Attempting to reflect on what future comics will do with this story hurts my brain. There will be contradictions and explanations. Rama-Tut will be connected to several other time-traveling characters. And they’ll further explore this moment in history to learn Apocalypse, Dr. Strange, and the Avengers are lurking around behind the scenes. We’ll spend no more time on such reflections until we need to.

Strange Tales #113

The Coming of the Plantman!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: July 9, 1963
Cover: October 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: Joe Carter
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

Once again, Superman creator Jerry Siegel takes on a Human Torch script under the pen name Joe Carter. His scripts seem a cut above what we are used to from Human Torch stories, but it’s a pretty low bar.

We have seen Johnny on many dates both in this title and the pages of Fantastic Four. It’s been a different girl each time. But this issue seems different. He has a date with Doris Evans, and he describes himself as her “flame”. Puns aside, this suggests something more serious than his usual dalliances. Perhaps it is because Dorrie plays a little hard to get. She is willing to go out with Johnny, but seems to dislike his Human Torch persona. She’s clearly dating him despite his celebrity. The fact that she is given a full name is another hint this one is special.