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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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.

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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 BReading orderJourney Into Mystery #112
Avengers #10AvengersAvengers #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.

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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

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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.

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Tales of Suspense #61, Story B

The Strength of the Sumo!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: October 8, 1964
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Stan Lee writer par excellence!
Jack Kirby illustrator without peer!
Chic Stone delineator extaordinaire!
Artie Simek letterer– what else?
10 pages

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Tales of Suspense #61Tales of SuspenseTales of Suspense #62

Captain America goes to Vietnam and fights a sumo wrestler. I usually associate sumo wrestling with Japan, and suspect that Stan and Jack just haven’t thought too hard about the differences between Vietnam and Japan. However, culture does spread in our modern world, and I can’t confirm Vietnam didn’t have any sumo wrestlers in the 1960s, so I’m going to give them a pass.

Captain America is fighting the Commies. This brings to mind his very brief 1954 return as “Captain America… Commie Smasher!” Of course, those stories are hard to reconcile with the modern Marvel Age continuity in which Captain America was frozen in ice from 1945 to 1963. How could he then have been fighting Commies in 1954?

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Sgt. Fury #13

Fighting Side-By-Side With… Captain America and Bucky!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: October 8, 1964
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Written and drawn by the Titanic Two: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inked by: Dick Ayers
Lettered by: A. Simek
23 pages

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Amazing Spider-Man #20Reading orderFantastic Four #34
Sgt. Fury #12Sgt. FurySgt. Fury #14

Jack Kirby returns for one final issue of Sgt. Fury, likely motivated by the choice of guest star. Under Kirby, this was one of Marvel’s best titles. It’s perhaps lost a step under Ayers, though remains one of the better series we are reading.

So far, one could almost question why we are reading this World War II series along with all the superhero ones. It is certainly the odd duck in my reading list. We have had two points of crossover so far. The Commandos teamed with a young Mr. Fantastic when he was Major Richards of the OSS, and we saw an older Colonel Fury team up with the Fantastic Four. This is the third point of crossover between Nick Fury and the superhero titles. There will be more.

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Tales of Suspense #60, Story B

The Army of Assassins Strikes!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: September 8, 1864
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: Art Simek
10 pages

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Last issue, Captain America fought a gang of generic villains in purple jumpsuits. This issue, the generic villains are wearing green jumpsuits and work for Zemo. “Army of Assassins” may be their official name, as it’s used repeatedly.

There really won’t be much in the way of a story here, so what value we find will have to be in dramatic expressions and posing, and of course in the high energy action on display. I suspect Kirby will come through.

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Avengers #10

The Avengers Break Up!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: September 8, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Story superbly written by: Stan Lee
Art adorably drawn by: Don Heck
Inked by darlin’ Dick Ayers
Lettered by stalwart Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Tales of Suspense #60, Story BReading orderJourney Into Mystery #110
Avengers #9AvengersAvengers #11

The issue’s title is “The Avengers Break Up”. Yet, at no point in the issue do the Avengers appear to break up. Instead, characters go to great lengths repeatedly to explain the title via the dialogue. “Now that Thor’s over there and Iron Man’s across the room, it’s basically like they’ve broken up.”

The Heck/Ayers art looks much as it did last issue, which I see as a negative. I’ll give them credit for a couple nice panels. A trippy one of Immortus and an easy-on-the-eyes Enchantress.

We get a weirdly sexist moment in an era filled with weirdly sexist moments. I don’t know if I’m ready to claim it’s the worst, but it’s up there. Iron Man recommends giving Rick Jones a uniform and making him an official Avenger. “…why don’t we make his membership in the Avengers official, as the Wasp’s is…”

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Tales to Astonish #62, Story B

Enter… The Chameleon!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: September 1, 1964
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Sensationally scripted by: Stan Lee
Dynamically drawn by: Steve Ditko
Impeccably inked by: George Bell
Lovingly lettered by: Sam Rosen
10 pages

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Even if he escapes this mess, the status quo is unsustainable. If Hulk might revert to Banner at any moment and has no control… he can’t keep that identity a secret.

In a recent issue of Amazing Spider-Man, we remarked the Enforcers were distinguished from other super-villains in that they were content to be lackeys, serving a major super-villain. Most of the super-villains are to arrogant to serve anybody, a plot point whenever two try to team up. The other “lackey” villains we’ve met are Dr. Doom’s Terrible Trio and Magneto’s Evil Mutants. The Terrible Trio tried to make the leap from lackeys to being their own bosses with limited success. Magneto’s mutants only serve him, while the Enforcers are clearly for-hire.

Chameleon is the first villain we see make the leap from super-villain to lackey. He’d teamed up twice with Kraven, but those seemed more like partnerships. Now, he works for the Leader. Chameleon has been getting around. Originally a Spider-Man foe, he recently fought the Avengers, and now faces off against Hulk.

More than the major crossovers, I like the cameos. I like that Captain America can just show up for a panel if the story calls for it. Makes the universe feel cohesive.

I’m loathe to call this the introduction of the Leader since we don’t see his face. I suspect Ditko hadn’t even finished designing him yet.

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Amazing Spider-Man #18

The End of Spider-Man!

Featuring: Spider-Man (for the moment)
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee, author of “The Fantastic Four”
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, illustrator of “Dr. Strange”
Lettered by: Sam Rosen, letterer of… “Patsy Walker”???
22 pages

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Check out that cover. Quite the contrast with pretty much every other superhero cover. The superhero is usually portrayed as tough, dramatically standing against the odds. In the worst case, the cover might show the villain winning, but the superhero remains defiant. This one has Spider-Man cowering and hiding from the villain.

In this story, Peter decides to quit being Spider-Man. He’s thought about it before, but he’s about to actually quit for the first time. It won’t be the last time, or even necessarily the most famous time. A similar story will get told and retold across decades of Spider-Man stories and even make its way into Spider-Man 2. (More directly, the film borrowed from Amazing Spider-Man #50, which borrowed from this issue.)

Note we’re reading this and the last issue together because they make a strong arc when read together. In terms of continuity, it has been weeks since the conclusion of the last issue, so it’s likely several other heroes’ adventures we’ve read occurred in the interim.

The story begins with everybody reacting to Spider-Man’s retreat: heroes, villains, people on the street… guy can’t run away from a single fight without everybody having an opinion. Ditko is great at people reacting to things.

Wasp notes that wasps and spiders are natural enemies. Always found that a weird thing to say. But she’s said it before and she’ll say it again; it’s an obsession of hers whenever the topic of Spider-man comes up.

This is an excellent comic for helping shape the nature of the relationship between Human Torch and Spider-Man. They’ve had some banter and conflict before, but also teamed up. A friendly rivalry. We saw how friendly last issue when Johnny attended the Spider-Man Fan Club meeting and then was quick to help Spider-Man against the Goblin. Now, he seems uncertain. He witnessed Spider-Man’s cowardice firsthand, but still wants to think better of his friend.

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Avengers #9

The coming of the… Wonder Man!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: October 1964
12 cents
Sensationally written by: Stan Lee
Superbly illustrated by: Don Heck
Selectively inked by: Dick Ayers
Sufficienty lettered by: Art Simek
21 pages

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Avengers #8AvengersAvengers #10

To ring in the new year, we get the debut of a promising new character with a solid design aesthetic: Wonder Man.

I have questioned characters whose logos are just letters, but at least the “W” here is nicely stylized.

That title is probably the last time he is ever referred to as “the Wonder Man”.

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