Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: July 8, 1965 Cover: October 1965 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Layouts: J. Kirby Art: J. Severin Lettering: Art Simek 12 pages
Well, we can’t just stand here cryin’ in our soup, like kids! That won’t bring those joes back! We gotta make sure they didn’t cash in their chips for nothin’!
It’s a pretty big deal that Severin is given the cover. Even when Stan’s used different interior artists, he’s wanted Kirby on the cover. Heck’s been the regular artist on Iron Man since day 1, but Kirby’s almost always done the covers. All but one, so far. Kirby got all the Giant-Man covers, whether it was Heck or Ayers on art. But the artist base is starting to expand. Colan’s been doing the Sub-Mariner covers, and now Severin gets a SHIELD cover.
We get something new with the credits. The art attempts to integrate them into the story. Rather than a separate box, they show up on a computer screen at SHIELD HQ.
We see the “Q” scene as Nick Fury gets his fancy gadgeted clothing. The dialogue is pretty rote at this point. “Why are you giving me an ordinary hat?” “Ho ho, it just looks like an ordinary hat…”
I think the hat is cool because it seems like it might actually work. There’s nothing too fancy going on in their diagram. A hat whose brim works like a periscope to allow you to see what’s going on behind you.
I’m not sure I would want to wear a suit made of explosive fabric.
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
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.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: June 8, 1965 Cover: September 1965 12 cents Script by the unpredictable Stan Lee Layouts by the unmatchable Jack Kirby Art by the unbeatable Johnny Severin Lettering by the unsinkable Art Simek 12 pages
Hail Hydra! Immortal Hydra! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place! We serve none but the Master– as the world shall soon serve us! Hail Hydra!
We get a new artist, described as another returnee from the Golden Age. John (Johnny) Severin. I’m a big fan and excited he’s joining us.
Kirby is on the layouts, but John will provide most of the details. This of course means Kirby is responsible for the storytelling.
He’s been with the industry almost 20 years by this point, working off and on for Marvel, but doing his most famous work for EC. Here’s a sampling.
Prize Comics Western #72 (Prize, 1948)
Actual Romances #1 (Marvel, 1949)
Two-Fisted Tales #19 (EC, 1951)
Frontline Combat #1 (EC, 1951)
Mad #1 (EC, 1952)
Sergeant Barney Barker #1 (Marvel, 1956)
Notice that the colorist for the EC books, including Mad, was John’s sister Marie Severin. We’ll be hearing more from her soon.
Of those titles, Mad is the most famous, and would endure in some form for 65 years until finally shutting down in 2018. Perhaps the world had grown too farcical by then to satire.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: May 4, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Artist: Jack Kirby Inked by: Dick Ayers Lettered by: Artie Simek 12 pages
It’s 1965. Thunderball will be hitting the cinemas in Decembr, the 4th consecutive year Sean Connery will go into action as 007.
In the second film, From Russia with Love, we were introduced to a global criminal organization that it takes a dedicated government to fight– SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion).
The head of SPECTRE wasn’t named and we didn’t see his face, only his kitten. The kitten plainly identifies him as evil.
These movies are popular, and the rest of the entertainment industry is taking notice.
Michael Caine just went into “action” in a more subdued and bureaucratic spy tale as Harry Palmer, definitely not the world’s best spy.
Television will soon be satirizing this secret agent genre with Get Smart, in which Maxwell Smart of CONTROL fights against KAOS, an international organization of evil.
The following year, secret agents on TV will be offered an impossible mission, if they choose to accept it.
Probably most relevantly, the previous year introduced The Man from UNCLE (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement), letting us know that these organizations should have acronyms for names.
(Picture chosen especially for my mother)
In the 1950s, Marvel had dabbled in every genre, including the occasional spy series like Spy Fighters or Kent Blake of the Secret Service.
Now they are bursting at the seams with the expanding superhero genre. They have one current war title, Sgt. Fury, which we’ve been reading with the superhero comics for some reason.
They haven’t abandoned their long successful romance/humor girl genre, and Millie and Patsy each carry two titles still. And three western heroes still carry titles: Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, and Kid Colt.
They’re ready to ride on the booming spy genre with their own 007 or Man from Uncle. They’ll need a secret spy organization with a cool title that’s really an acronym. And they’ll need an evil organization to pit them against. Preferably headed by a mysterious man with a kitten.
And a star to headline these adventures. New character? Or look to their already expansive cast of characters.
We know from the pages of Fantastic Four that Sgt. Fury of World War II is now Colonel Fury of the CIA. Why invent a new top spy when you already have one?
Where to put them? Make a new title? No, you’re having crazy distribution problems at the moment and are artificially limited in the number of titles you can put out. Why Captain America and Iron Man need to share a book.
I’ve got it! Strange Tales. The Human Torch/Thing stories all sucked, so we cancelled them. Our new spy series can share this former horror title with Dr. Strange. Makes sense to me.
On that note, I then have to recall that we haven’t actually read any Dr. Strange stories since issue 129, 6 issues ago. We read the wonderful Human Torch stories from issues 130-134, but skipped the Dr. Strange stories.
But now that Nick Fury is taking over the first half of the book, I would like to… still not read the Dr. Strange stories. Not just yet. We’ll read this first half of this comic, then return to it later. Even though, with the new Dr. Strange movie out, a Dr. Strange post would be topical.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: September 10, 1963 Cover: December 1963 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Drawn by: Jack Kirby Inked by: George Bell 22 pages
The cover tells me not to dare reveal Hate-Monger’s identity. I fear that I am going to have to do just that. Spoilers ahead.
This is George Roussos’ first time on Fantastic Four and the effects are noticeable. He makes less effort than the other inkers to smooth out Kirby, and if anything only emphasizes the sharp angles of the faces, creating a more exaggerated style. The first page is meant to show the FF looking angry and hate-filled, so perhaps is not the ideal introduction to his take on the characters.
The first page lets me know this will be the most unusual, thought-provoking tale I will read this season. Often, Stan uses hyperbole in these opening pages. But I think the ending (yes, the one I plan to spoil; you are warned) more than lives up to Stan’s promises.
