chronology note – Coke & Comics

Avengers #5

The Invasion of the Lava Men!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: March 3, 1964
Cover: May 1964
12 cents
An epic tale told with high drama and heroic dignity by: Stan Lee
Illustrated with deep sincerity and dazzling beauty by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Paul Reinman
Lettered by: S. Rosen
23 pages

Rick Jones gets his name on the cover and on the opening page alongside the book’s actual stars. He i fact is given billing over Giant-Man and Wasp in both places. His placement suggests he comes with Captain America, as though they are partners.

This tale is getting closer to what I feel like a traditional Avengers tale should be. There should be some menace to the world, a threat so great that no single hero can stand against it. Mostly so far, they’ve just fought Hulk over and over again. And he just wants to be left alone.

In this issue, the Lava Men invade Earth. When last we met them, they were referred to as Lava People; not sure how the unneeded gendering crept in.

Almost what I’m looking for. Only two problems. The first is that the Lava Men/People invaded before and Thor stopped them all by himself. So it’s not clear they’re an Avengers-worthy threat. The second is that in addition to fighting the Lava Men, the Avengers also all attack Hulk again. They really should just give the guy a break. This is now their fifth battle with the Hulk, and they all end in a stalemate.

Tales to Astonish #56

The Coming of the Magician!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: March 3, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Dick Ayers
18 pages

The story leaves out the letterer credit for some reason. The GCD notes it’s Sam Rosen.

They spend a page detailing how Giant-Man’s ring transport method works. It really might be the dumbest thing in this series.

Giant-Man’s costume has been undergoing a gradual evolution. Ayers has been drawing him with these thick black suspenders, while everybody else has favorited light vertical stripes, as on the cover. They will eventually converge on the black suspenders look. Ayers adjusts them slightly in this issue. They had always been vertical like suspenders on the front, but now Ayers has them in a V-shape, meeting at his belt. I’d like to use costumes as a clue for how these issues fit around the Avengers issues, but Giant-Man must be changing back and forth.

Wasp also gets a new look this issue. This is also unhelpful to chronology considerations as this look never shows up in the Avengers comic. She has a new hairdo and new headpiece to show it off. In Avengers #5, she appears to have her old hairdo and headpiece. By Avengers #6, she is wearing a whole new costume. It will be hard to reconcile.

The big news of this issue, besides Wasp’s new do, is that Hank has finally bought a ring, and intends to propose to Jan. She’s been wanting that basically since they met while he has always been too preoccupied with science and superheroing.

Journey Into Mystery #104

Giants Walk the Earth!

Featuring: Thor
Release: March 3, 1964
Cover: May 1964
12 cents
…only the inspired talent of Stan Lee could have written it…
Only the gifted hand of Jack Kirby could have illustrated it!!
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: S. Rosen
13 pages

As with last month’s Tales of Suspense, this issue sees Thor take a more significant place on the cover. He gets his own logo, prominent on the cover, with the series’ title taking a subordinate position. “Journey Into Mystery with The Mighty Thor”. This is Thor’s comic now.

Thor has spent most of this series battling threats that really should be beneath his notice. Cobra with his slithering power? Finally, Thor’s mettle gets tested. In fact, it’s a test too great for him. He’ll need the help of Balder and his father Odin to overcome this threat.

The story begins soon after the end of the previous issue. Loki is chastising Enchantress and Executioner for their recent failure. If Enchantress could only have waited a few seconds to turn Executioner into a tree…

We really need to talk about Loki. I mean, we already did, but it’s getting more confounding. Odin had sentenced him to eternal imprisonment. I really must stress the word “eternal”. But then suddenly Loki was seemingly Odin’s most trusted advisor. No explanation was offered. Loki manipulated the supposedly wise Odin into causing Thor’s most recent grief, both his battles against Zarrko and the Enchantress. Now, Loki not only convinces Odin to travel to Earth, but Odin lets Loki rule in his stead, and grants him extra power to do so.

Avengers #4

Captain America Joins… The Avengers!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: January 3, 1964
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Gloriously written by: Stan Lee
Grandly illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Gallantly lettered by: Art Simek
23 pages

No inker is given in the credits for some reason. The GCD suggests the inker is George Roussos, who has been doing a lot of inking lately under the pseudonym George Bell. I don’t think we’ve yet seen a single comic where Kirby has done his own finishes. Probably because he’s drawing a half dozen comics each month.

There’s something that troubles me about these credits, and it’s the type of thing that makes Stan Lee a controversial character to this day. Look to the acknowledgement on this first page. Stan notes that Jack drew the original Captain America comics. That’s true and good to point out. But that massively understates Kirby’s contribution. Kirby and Simon created Captain America. The box should say. “Jack Kirby is one of the creators of Captain America.” Now, this may have been mere thoughtlessness on Stan’s part. Kirby used to draw Captain America and now is drawing him again; Stan used to write Captain America and now is writing him again. That may be the only point he wanted to make, and perhaps no other thoughts occurred to him. But the phrasing seems careful, and reflects the longtime legal stance of the many companies that have owned Marvel, that people don’t create characters, companies do. You can read an article from Brian Cronin on a piece Stan Lee had written in 1947 crediting publisher Martin Goodman with the idea for Captain America. The piece is basically fictional. Joe Simon came up with the character independently, and Kirby helped him flesh out the details. Stan’s failure to credit them for that goes back a long ways.

Tales to Astonish #54

No Place to Hide!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: January 3, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Daringly written by: Stan Lee
Dramatically drawn by: Don Heck
Deftly lettered by: Art Simek
13 pages

The placement of this story is tricky. Where we have it, Hulk and Namor are still on the loose, so this is no time for Wasp to be talking about a vacation. Doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be. Hank does note they don’t have time for a vacation. I choose to treat this as a veiled reference to the whole Hulk/Namor situation, whether intended or not.

On the subject of chronological concerns, notice Giant-Man is in his older outfit, last seen in issue 51. This indicates to me that he alternates between the outfits. In reality, the outfit seems to correspond to the artist. Ayers drew the issues with the thick suspenders. Kirby and Heck seem to be drawing Giant-Man with the lighter stripes. They will all eventually converge on thicker suspenders.

We see some pretty rough play between Giant-Man and Wasp. It seems to be all in good fun, but may be early warnings of an abusive relationship forming.

Amazing Spider-Man #10

The Enforcers!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: December 9, 1963
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Written by: Smiling Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Swinging Steve Ditko
Lettered by: Sparkling Sam Rosen
22 pages

Warning that spoilers follow. You may not want to read this post until you go read the comic and learn the shocking identity of the Big Man! Otherwise it will be revealed unceremoniously in my character listing.

Once again, we see clever credits. Several comics released this month had them.

The Enforcers remind me somewhat of Dr. Doom’s henchmen we met in last month’s Fantastic Four. But the Enforcers are the better team of henchmen and will prove more enduring. In fact, Big Man is the “big” villain of this issue, with the Enforcers his henchmen. But the Enforcers will become the more famous villains.

The Avengers #3

Sub-Mariner!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: P. Reinman
25 pages

We see a new cover box. Acknowledges that Hank is now Giant-Man and that Wasp exists.

Welcome to a special Mothers Day post. What makes this a Mothers Day post? Well, today is Mothers Day. Also, my mother likes the Sub-Mariner, and this is the issue where the Avengers meet Sub-Mariner.

Sub-Mariner doesn’t show up until page 15, but still gets the issue titled after him. Good for him.

In the first issue, Loki tricked the Avengers into attacking the Hulk.

In the second issue, Space Phantom tricked the Avengers into attacking the Hulk.

This issue, the Avengers just decide to attack the Hulk.

Tales of Suspense #49

The New Iron Man Meets The Angel!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: October 8, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko
Inked by: P. Reinman
18 pages

Paul Reinman on inks. It’s not often Ditko gets an inker. He usually does his own finishes. His first Iron Man story had Don Heck doing “refinement”. I think that’s the only other time we’ve seen anybody else finishing Ditko. Paul Reinman has been inking the X-Men comics, so he may be here to help keep their faces on-model.

Once again, that weird note at the beginning; we’ve seen something similar in every crossover. Stan thanks the editors of X-Men for letting the characters appear. You are the editor, Stan. But there may be legal reasons for this. Martin Goodman played all types of crazy games with shell companies and such to save a buck here and there.

The idea is it’s all one continuity, one universe. That’s why we read these comics together. But we don’t know that any character is part of that continuity until they cross over. At first, crossovers were sparse. It was a while before there was any hint Iron Man and Thor might be in this world. Crossovers have become increasingly common. After only two issues of X-Men, we learn they are a part of this world. The main story is a battle between Iron Man and Angel, but all the X-Men and Avengers will also show up.

Fantastic Four #16

The Micro-World of Doctor Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: April 9, 1963
Cover: July 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

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

Astute readers are noting that this comic is from April of 1963 and recall that we’ve been reading comics from May of 1963. So what gives? Why is this one here in the reading order? Am I even paying attention to what I’m doing?

Well, issue 17 will pick up right where 16 leaves off, and the battle with Dr. Doom basically continues from one issue to the next. So I thought it would be good to read the two stories together.

One other chronology note. This issue also came out a month before Ant-Man’s appearance in Tales to Astonish #46. Which would leave me inclined to put that story after this two-part adventure. However, Ant-Man rides a flying ant in this. He first meets a flying ant in his own comic in issue 46. Prior to that, he always catapulted places. That suggests to me this story fits best after Tales to Astonish #46, despite the publication dates.

He catapults to the flying ants, which he uses like skis.

Now you’re wondering how Dr. Doom can be in this story when you recall him shrinking to nothingness. I, too, was convinced we would never see him again. But it turns out he didn’t shrink to nothingness but ended up in a micro-world populated by micro-people.

Well, I guess I was wrong when I thought he was gone for good.

It turns out sentient life is all around us. We know now the stars are populated by many aliens, some as close as Saturn. We’ve encountered–let’s see, carry the one and… 10 alien races in these superhero tales.

Plus other races live in neighboring dimensions, under the sea, beyond the Rainbow Bridge… and there are at least four underground kingdoms.

So we now add a micro-world kingdom to the list.