dick ayers – Page 10 – Coke & Comics

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 All of whom have given up and withdrawn entire fleets at the slightest hint of possible resistance.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 #17

Defeated by Dr. Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

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

We see the first of an effect that will be used again on Fantastic Four covers. Four panels on the cover. One for each member of the team. Perhaps with a centerpiece for the villain.

Alicia gets herself kidnapped by Dr. Doom. The girlfriend being held hostage is an old superhero trope going back to Lois Lane. We’ve seen it in the Marvel Universe already with Jane Foster.

We get a little insight into Doom’s mindset. He relates to the Thing, as both are grotesque. Yet, Thing has found love. Rather than causing him to reflect that maybe it’s okay to remove his mask, Doom still believes nobody can love him and vows revenge on all humanity. Notice that the art is going out of its way to not show us Doom’s face.

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.

Strange Tales #111

Fighting to the Death with the Asbestos Man!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: May 9, 1963
Cover: August 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Story: H. Huntley
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1.

We again see the cover blurb “Marvel Comics Group ushers in the Marvel Age of Comics!” showing up on a few covers and house ads around this time. As with last issue, the cover includes no mention of the Dr. Strange story within.

The credits are mildly different than usual (besides that Ernie Hart, aka H.E. Huntley, left off his middle initial). Stan Lee usually credits the secondary writer with the “script” and himself with the plot or story. Here, he gives Hart story credit. I have no idea what he thinks the difference between “story” and “plot” is.

I keep accidentally typing “Karloff” instead of Kasloff.

I think the Asbestos Man is the best villain we’ve met in the pages of these Human Torch stories (<– the faintest of praise). I like Professor Kasloff, how arrogant he seems, but also how refined. Arrogance is perhaps the defining trait of a supervillain.

Sgt. Fury #2

7 Doomed Men!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandoes
Release: May 2, 1963
Cover: July 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
23 pages

I read this story in Sgt. Fury Epic Collection vol. 1: The Howling Commandoes. Scans are taken from a reprint in Sgt. Fury #95 from 1972.

The story opens at a Nazi u-boat port in occupied France.

The plan is to create a diversion so that Nazis don’t notice a destroyer coming in to destroy the port. I have one concern with the plan. Sgt. Fury notes the destroyer is coming at 1300. The narration tells us it’s currently dark out. The implication is that it’s nighttime, presumably no later than 0400 or so. Are they supposed to create a 9-hour long diversion? Even if it’s just a dark morning, we’re still looking at 0800 at latest, well before it seems an appropriate time to start the diversion.

Strange Tales #110

The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: April 9, 1963
Cover: July 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: H.E. Huntley
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1.

Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete team up.

First, we dedicate 3/13 pages to recapping the last encounter with each villain. It sticks pretty close to the original story.

Journey Into Mystery #93

The Mysterious Radio-Active Man!

Featuring: Thor
Release: April 2, 1963
Cover: June 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

Another Cold War story, but this one tying itself closely to current events, seeming to be set during the Sino-Indian War.

Thor takes quite the interest in particular geopolitical concerns.

This allows us to align the comic’s timeline with our own. The Sino-Indian War mainly took place October-November 1962, about 6 months before this comic came out. And since it takes some number of months to go from concept to the comic being finished, printed, distributed and appearing on stands, they were drawing from pretty current events.

Strange Tales #109

The Sorceror and Pandora’s Box

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: March 12, 1963
Cover: June 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1.

The Sorceror is a hermit who is mean to kids who trespass on his property. In return, Johnny is extremely mean to him. I thought Johnny was being quite the bully to a harmless hermit who just wants to be left alone.

Torch tells him: “You can’t have it both ways. If you want freedom of movement, others must have it as well!” But that hardly makes sense. In context, Torch is saying: “If you want to leave your own property, you have to let others onto it.”

Anyways, the Sorceror is not harmless. He’s actually a sorceror and has found Pandora’s Box. Which contains a bunch of evils, also called imps. We meet some of them: Flood, Hatred, Forgetfulness, Sleepiness, Paralysis, Cold, Disease, Foolishness, Laziness, Fire, Fear. They range from human traits to natural disasters.

We learn a bit of Greek myth, how Pandora released the evils but Circe put them back. Not clear what connection Circe will have to the Eternal named Sersi we will eventually meet.

Always a woman. Eating that apple. Opening that box.

In the last post, we spoke about characters getting ruined by having lame ambitions. The Sorceror has access to all the evils of the world. And what does he want to do with it? Rob a bank. Boring.

The most interesting thing in this story to me is that Johnny notes it’s 1963. He had noted in an issue of Fantastic Four that it was 1962, suggesting at least a year has passed. I am fascinated by trying to track how much time has passed and am looking for clues. But I must be careful reading too much into a single line of dialogue stating the year. As writers will almost always claim their story is happening in the current year, whether or not that makes sense.. But Reed is already in his ’40s by 1961 when we meet him. So he only has so many decades of superheroing left in him.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆, 39/100

Characters:

Johnny Storm/Human Torch
The Sorcerer
Flood
Ben Grimm/Thing
Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
Sue Storm/Invisible Girl
Pandora
Circe
Hatred
Forgetfullness
Sleepiness
Paralysis
Cold
Disease
Foolishness
Laziness
Fire
Fear

Story Notes:

Johnny notes it’s now 1963
The box contains hundreds of imps
In end, Sorcerer frozen with fear from Imp of Fear

#71 story in reading order
Next: Tales of Suspense #42
Previous: Fantastic Four #15

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.

Sgt. Fury #1

Sgt. Fury, and His Howling Commandos/Seven Against the Nazis!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos
Release: March 5, 1963
Cover: May 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
21 pages

I read this comic in Sgt. Fury Epic Collection vol. 1: The Howling Commandos.

So why are we reading this comic in with the superhero stories? Well, the answer is probably obvious, but let’s think it through a little. What else is Marvel putting out in March of 1963 that I could be reading?

Two western comics: Gunsmoke Western and Rawhide Kid. And a few later time-travel stories will intersect these heroes with our superhero comics, so they’re not irrelevant. The problem is there are so many western comics, going back to well before we started our reading in 1961. The original Two-Gun Kid debuted in 1948, the same month as Annie Oakley #1. Kid Colt, Blaze Carson, Tex Morgan, and Tex Taylor debuted soon after. Point is, we are nowhere near a good jumping on point for the western stories.

There are two romance titles out this month, Love Romances and Patsy and Hedy. As we’ve mentioned, Patsy Walker will eventually become a superhero. But there are also a lot of these comics going back to the 1940s. Patsy’s had a regular feature since 1945.

(Notice that’s also Jack Kirby on the Love Romances comic. So he’s telling a lot of stories in a lot of genres this month.)

There are four fantasy anthology titles, each with a superhero feature we’ve been reading as the lead story. One pure superhero comic.

And now a war comic set in World War II. Why read the war comic with our superhero reading and not the westerns or romance comics?

Two answers, there.