awesome android – Coke & Comics

Tales of Suspense #72

Hoorah for the Conquering Hero!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: September 9, 1965
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Don Heck
Inker: Mickey Demeo
Letterer: Artie Simek
12 pages

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	PRELUDE	Weird Science #20
Avengers #22	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #22
Tales of Suspense #71, Story B	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #72, Story B

The nation asks– no, it demands to know the true identity of one of its greatest heroes! We must learn– Who is Iron Man?

Let’s start with a bit of an apology to Iron Man. His character was introduced in Tales of Suspense #39, released December 10, 1962. So we just passed his 60th birthday and failed to mark the occasion with appropriate fanfare. Happy belated 60th, Iron Man.

Iron Man returns to America and cheering crowds, having triumphed over Titanium Man. But the victory was costly, as Happy now hovers on the edge of death.

Reporters seem eager to get the scoop on Iron Man’s true identity. I don’t really think it’s that hard if you want to do any amount of investigating.

Nobody ever seems concerned how casually Iron Man walks into Stark’s office and makes himself at home.

Avengers #22

The Road Back

Featuring: Avengers
Release: September 2, 1965
Cover: November 1965
12 cents
Star-studded story by: Stan Lee!
Peerless pencilling by: Don Heck!
Dazzling delineation by: Wally Wood!
Lonesome lettering by: Artie Simek!
20 pages

Previous	#430	Next
Avengers #21	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #72
Avengers #21	Avengers	Avengers #23

I was chosen to be– keeper of the flame! But now– the torch has– gone out!

Captain America is certain there is somebody behind Power Man. Since he knows nothing about Power Man, I’m not sure where that certainty comes from.

The Avengers have been ordered to disband by the city. That’s enough for most of the team, but not for Captain America. He thinks they stand for something bigger than obeying laws.

This leads the Avengers to fight amongst themselves. They do this a lot. But this time, the fight dissolves the team.

Fantastic Four Annual 3

Bedlam at the Baxter Building!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 1, 1965
Cover: 1965
25 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Vince Colletta
Lettered by: Artie Simek
23 pages

Previous	#400!	Next
	POSTLUDE	Marvel: Heroes & Legends #1
Journey Into Mystery #123, Story B	Reading order	X-Men #14
Fantastic Four Annual 2, Story C	Fantastic Four Annual	Fantastic Four Annual 4

I now pronounce you man and wife! You may kiss your bride!

It’s the wedding of the century. Today’s the day. Half the Marvels have been invited! And the rest of them are turning up anyway!

This issue represents by far the largest gathering of heroes and villains yet, forever binding these disparate characters into a universe.

This issue represents the idea that there is no status quo, that these characters are at their best when they change and grow. Forward momentum is an essential ingredient to storytelling. Genuine, non-illusionary, change.

This is the most significant moment in the early Marvel Universe.

I think I’d have come up with a better title than “Bedlam at the Baxter Building”.

I wish Chic Stone or Joe Sinnott had been the inker. A few months too late to have Stone and one month too early to have Sinnott. Also, Colletta is uniquely suited to a long special issue with many characters because he’s famously expedient.

I appreciate that the headline takes for granted the public knows who Reed and Sue are without the need for surnames or superhero identities. The cover does the same for its audience.

Pretty cool this worked out to be the 400th story in our reading order. Currently on track to also have the 500th story be a particularly special issue of Fantastic Four as well. When we read Avengers #1, it was the 100th story, but then I went and retroactively mucked with the ordering.

Fantastic Four #28

We have to fight the X-Men!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee (The leader!)
Drawn by: Jack Kirby (The king!)
Inked by: Chic Stone (The master!)
Lettered by: Art Simek (The letterer!)
22 pages

Stan’s been doing “clever credits” for a while now, giving all sorts of nicknames to the creators. This one happens to be Kirby’s most famous nickname. He is generally known today as Jack “King” Kirby. This is the first time we’ve seen the “king” nickname in our reading. Can’t confirm whether it’s been used anywhere else before. This project began 20 years into Jack’s rather prolific career.

We turn now to the story, where the Fantastic Four and X-Men meet for the first time. (Well, Human Torch and Iceman had already met…)

We begin with a statue of Thing that has been sculpted by the brilliant Alicia, working by touch alone.

Fantastic Four Annual 1

Sub-Mariner Versus The Human Race!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: 1963
25 cents <– whoa!
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
37 pages

We just read no less than 5 Sub-Mariner stories from the ’40s and ’50s to have some context for this giant-sized Fantastic Four/Sub-Mariner epic we are about to read. At 37 pages, this is the longest story we have yet read. And at 25 cents, this and the Strange Tales annual are the most expensive comics we’ve come across by a factor of 2.

When Sub-Mariner returned in Fantastic Four #4, he learned that his kingdom had been destroyed and his people were missing. He’s been searching for them ever since. Until now.

Is it the longest ever? Or might Stan be exaggerating?

Quite the opening couple pages. The bold imagination on display is Kirby at his best. But we haven’t seen that much of his true potential yet in these stories. He’s just been getting warmed up.

The Fantastic Four decide to take a vacation along with Alicia. Reed’s suggestion is to take a cruise to where some sea monsters have been sighted.

Fantastic Four #15

The Mad Thinker and His Awesome Android!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: March 12, 1963
Cover: June 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
20 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1

In general, the desire to be king of the city’s gangs is an uninteresting motivation. The FF villains are better when they think bigger than the Thinker seems to be thinking here. The lack of a good supervillain plot cheapens the new villain out of the box. Nonetheless, the Thinker (sometimes called the Mad Thinker) will become a major FF adversary.