baxter building – Coke & Comics

Fantastic Four #41

The Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grimm!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: May 11, 1965
Cover: August 1965
12 cents
Story by: Stan Lee, who has never lost his touch!
Art by: Jack Kirby, who has never lost his magic!
Inking by: Vince Colletta, who has never lost his flair!
Lettering by: Sam Rosen, who has never lost Artie Simek!
20 pages

Previous	#372	Next
Avengers #18	Reading order	Fantastic Four #42
Fantastic Four #40	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #42

You did this to me, Richards!! You turned me into somethin’ so ugly that they can only call me… a Thing!

I appreciate that they use Ben’s real name in the title, rather than his superhero name. It adds a certain something, though I suspect Stan did it for alliterative purposes: brutal, betrayal, Ben.

Notice this picks up right where the last issue left off, so no time has passed. Yet we’ve read 7 other comics in the meantime. The idea is all this stuff is happening close to concurrently.

Ben had been turned human again, but Reed felt they needed him to be super strong again to defeat Dr. Doom, so without permission, Reed fired a ray to turn him back into the Thing.

Ben is justifiably angry and quitting the Fantastic Four.

Journey Into Mystery #116

The Trial of the Gods!

Featuring: Thor
Release: March 4, 1965
Cover: May 1965
12 cents
Written by imperial Stan Lee
Illustrated by impregnable Jack Kirby
Inked by implacable Vince Colletta
Lettered by impossible Artie Simek
16 pages

Previous	#340	Next
Daredevil #7	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #115, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B

Colletta graduates from inking the backup stories to the main Thor feature. He will be the Thor artist for a very long time to come. For better or worse. In fact, he will ink the next 52 consecutive Thor stories, and a good many of the next 50 after that over the course of an 8-year run.

We’ll reserve commentary on the his style for now. Let’s spend a few issues taking in this new art style before we try to see how we think Colletta compares to Chic Stone.

Another compelling Thor title. “The Trial of the Gods!”

We’ve known the phrase since we read Avengers #16, which was actually published a week after this, but took place earlier. At least, Thor’s appearance in the story took place before this issue.

Kirby seemed to use the same concept for cover and first page.

I’ve never really understood Odin and never will. Everybody seems to agree he is wise, but his wisdom must be too much for my mortal intelligence to grasp. Thor claims Loki kidnapped Jane to Asgard; Loki claims Thor brought Jane to Asgard because he loves her. Who is lying? The God of Thunder or the God of Lies?

Only one way to find out, says Odin. The Trial of the Gods!

The Avengers #1

The Coming of the Avengers!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

Previous	#94	Next
Marvel Boy #1	PRELUDE
X-Men #1	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #48
	Avengers	Avengers #2

I pity the guy who tries to beat us!

We reach the 100th story in our Marvel reading. Quite the milestone. And what a story it is. Coincidentally, the 100th Marvel Universe story, by my count, is Avengers #1. Did I plan it that way? No. Well, at least not exactly. Six different comics came out this very same day, and it was mostly up to me what order to read them in. The 100th story could just as easily have been X-Men #1 if I’d wanted. But I made that #99. Because.

[Big asterisk on the last paragraph. I have since edited my own reading order to make this story an unexciting story #94. But it was #100 when I first posted it. Now that honor goes to Journey Into Mystery #97]

And what a day for comics. The first Fantastic Four annual had Namor find his people and declare war on the surface world. That’s cool. Sgt. Fury met Reed Richards for the first time. That’s cool. The X-Men were introduced! We read the worst story yet as Thor battled Merlin. That’s… less cool. But overall an exciting day.

Including this. Really, what it’s all been building up to. Why I’ve been intermixing Thor and Iron Man stories, acting like they’re somehow connected even though they clearly haven’t been. This is the heart of it all. Five heroes we’ve been reading about team up. Also, the Fantastic Four show up for good measure.

And, as we’ve discussed, my first comic ever was an Avengers comic. So I’m excited to have reached this milestone.

I just wish it were a better comic.

Fantastic Four #18

A Skrull Walks Among Us!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: June 11, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
21 pages

It’s perhaps cheating that I’ve seen so many later renderings of Super-Skrull, but hindsight being the new year, that’s not a great image of Super-Skrull on the cover. It suggests only that he has Human Torch powers. No hint that he has the powers of the entire Fantastic Four (well, no visual hint. I guess the text tells you). He should be rocky and flaming and stretching and invisible. My two cents. Though he’s also never rocky in the issue, just strong. But he should be rocky.

At this point, the earth has been invaded by about a dozen alien races this year. All of whom have given up and withdrawn entire fleets at the slightest hint of possible resistance. The Skrulls are the first to return, to try again after their ignoble defeat.

Their plan is to make an agent powerful enough to stop the Fantastic Four, reasoning it was the FF who defeated them before. But the Fantastic Four did not defeat the Skrulls, at least not with their powers. The Skrulls were scared off by pictures of monsters in comic books. So really, they should make an agent powerful enough to fight all the monsters that scared them away.

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.

Fantastic Four #9

The End of the Fantastic Four!/Sub-Mariner Gives the Orders!/The Fury of Mr. Fantastic/The Flame of Battle/Vengeace is Ours!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: September 4, 1962
Cover: December 1962
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
23 pages

I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

As with the Thor story which premiered the same day, this features full credits. In fact, the credits are more complete than the Thor story, as they spotlight the lettering of Artie Simek. The coloring of Stan Goldberg is still omitted, and anyways lost in the reproductions I am looking at.

This is a pretty famous story. For decades to come, when people refer to how Stan Lee changed superheroes, they’ll point to things like Spider-Man being unpopular or the Fantastic Four having money problems. But for 8 issues, the FF seemed pretty wealthy. Here, we learn Reed lost all his money in a stock market crash, and the FF are bankrupt and having to sell everything and disband. They even sell the pogo plane!

Fantastic Four #6

Captives of the Deadly Duo!/When Super-Menaces Unite/When Friends Fall Out!/Trapped!/The End… Or the Beginning?
Release: June 12, 1962
Cover: September 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
24 pages

I read this in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. The table of contents credits Dick Ayers as the inker. The original comic just credits Lee and Kirby.

All posts regarding Fantastic Four comics featuring Namor are henceforth dedicated to my mother.

The plot of the story concerns Dr. Doom and Prince Namor the Submariner joining forces. It’s not clear if their duo has a name, and anyway the alliance won’t last long. Dr. Doom refers to them as the Diabolical Duo, which is what the cover calls them. So perhaps that’s official. But the story title calls them the Deadly Duo.

Notably, these are the first recurring nemeses for the FF, uniting the villains of the two previous issues.