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, 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?
Featuring: Iron Man Release: February 12, 1963 Cover: May 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: R. Berns Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 13 pages
Confession time. I just made a dumb mistake here. Got confused by numbers and dates. This post should have come before my previous Journey Into Mysterypost, as this issue is from February and the Thor story is from March. It’s a little confusing because both are cover-dated May. The Thor stories always seem a month out of sync in terms of their cover dates for some reason.
Robert Bernstein returns on scripting duties. He will be the regular scripter for a while. This is the first Iron Man story without Don Heck involved with the art (either as primary or finisher). This is perhaps why Tony looks so radically different from the previous 2 stories.
Maybe I’d recognize him better with black hair…
Though part of the problem is that his hair is brown in my omnibus (scanned above). Other modern recolorings make it black. It’s hard to speak intelligently to the coloring of these comics because of how wildly it varies between reproductions.
Iron Man is falling into a somewhat familiar pattern 3 issues in. After a very good origin issue, we get a sequence of pretty forgettable stories. Last issue, he fought Gargantus, and this issue introduces Dr. Strange. Neither of whom am I expecting to show up any time soon in a major motion picture.
Another familiar trope is that we’ve skipped the establishing of the hero. In this issue, the third Iron Man story, the first of which was set in a Vietnam jungle, we learn that children idolize Iron Man. So he, like the rest of the heroes, has fast become a sensation.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: February 12, 1963 Cover: May 1963 12 cents Script: Stan Lee Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 22 pages
I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.
Kirby got a fill-in for almost every book he draws in the last couple months… except for this one. This is clearly his baby in a way the others are not. That is also evident in the fact that Lee does all the scripts. That the Human Torch, Thor, Ant-Man, and Iron Man stories have rotating scripters and fill-in artists tells you where they fall on the totem pole compared to Fantastic Four.
I’ve struggled some (actually, for years going on decades) with the question of what order to read these stories in. I’m not alone. Marvel has published indices dedicated to chronology. The Marvel Chronology Project has painstakingly ordered the events of each characters’ lives to make sense. The Complete Marvel Reading Order is focused on what makes the “best” read, which includes keeping stories together.
So far, I’ve mostly focused on release date, catalogued in Mike’s Amazing World. Going in order by date has yielded several insights. I can see when Kirby suddenly had lots of fill-in artists take over. I can see cool facts, like that Thor, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man were all introduced the same day. It’s added a lot to my understanding of the context of these stories to go in time order.
Since most issues have been self-contained and there’s been minimal crossover, there’s been no reason to go in anything but date order. But the stories will become increasingly complex. And it might be nice to read single story-arcs together to appreciate them best.
I did some light fudging last time. Fantastic Four #13 was released January 3, yet I chose to read it after two comics released January 10. Similarly, this comic was released on February 12, but I am reading it before two comics released on February 5. That is because issue 14 picks up right where #13 ended, with the FF still not back from the moon. This will become more common, that the ending of one story will lead into the beginning of the next, and I won’t always be able to place such stories together. But this was easy enough to do.
It says “Part 1”, but there seem to be no other parts. Part 1 of 1?
As an example of something lost in the shuffle if I don’t go in strictly chronological order… this is the first issue we see something pretty cool. There’s a new logo added to the cover, with the word “Marvel” appearing for the first time. I’ve been calling this the “Marvel Age”, and now we see why. This line of titles is officially taking the name “Marvel”! But it didn’t actually begin here. It began last week with Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery. We’ll read those next.
Human Torch battles Sub-Mariner for no particular reason!
Face-to-Face with Prince Namor, the Mighty Sub-Mariner Featuring: Human Torch Release: January 10, 1963 Cover: April 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: Larry Lieber Art: Dick Ayers 13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1.
Dick Ayers is again the main artist. Kirby will be back next issue, but they will trade art duties for the remainder of the series. This is the pattern we have been seeing. Kirby is still around and will sometimes provide the art for the series he pioneered, but will be rotating with other artists. Heck has Ant-Man and Ayers has Human Torch.
This fairly useless series continues. The Fantastic Four series hasn’t once yet acknowledged anything about this series’ existence, including Sue and Johnny’s home in Glenville. In contrast, this series references lots of things about the Fantastic Four. The whole team has a cameo in this issue and there are references to the FF battles against Namor. You can tell which series is the ugly stepchild.
As the story–such as it is–begins, we find the three adult FF members had a meeting while Johnny was in school. They were taking notes on next month’s adventure, while Sue typed them up. It’s a bit odd, as most FF adventures are their responses to crises. It’s not clear what they’d be planning a month in advance.
Nice to see that even Sue had a role in the meeting…
The current issue of Fantastic Four came out a week earlier. We haven’t read it yet, because issue 14 picks up where it leaves off, so I’m reading it last this month. That adventure is a trip to the moon. Which does take some planning; however, in the issue itself, the trip is a surprise to the rest of the team. Only Reed had been planning it and had been planning not to take the others. So they must be referring to something else.
The Threat of the Torrid Twosome Featuring: Human Torch Release: December 10, 1962 Cover: March 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: Larry Lieber Art: Dick Ayers 13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1
This blog took a short hiatus while I traveled a bit. I did bring my Human Torch book along with me with the idea of getting this written while abroad, but I didn’t get it done. It doesn’t help that we’ve now read Amazing Spider-Man, so know how good a superhero comic can be. That doesn’t make it easy to return to these Human Torch comics.
This is the first Human Torch story not drawn by Kirby. Regular inker Dick Ayers is stepping up as the main artist. That’s a common theme for the month. After 18 months of Kirby drawing all the titles we’ve been reading, he’s dialing it back. We just saw Don Heck on Ant-Man and Iron Man.
This story finally addresses–albeit clumsily–the nagging flaw at the heart of this series: the secret identity of the Human Torch. We learn that he does not in fact have a secret identity, and that all his friends were pretending to not know his identity to be nice. That doesn’t explain a lot of things, like why the Torch so frequently risked lives to protect his identity, why he was so open and cavalier about his identity in theFantastic Four comics, or why the Wizard’s plan depended so heavily on the Human Torch guarding his identity.
The Incredible Hulk/Mission: Stop the Hulk!/Who is the Wrecker?/The Hulk at Last! Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: December 10, 1962 Cover: March 1963 12 cents Script: Stan Lee Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 23 pages
I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.
Let’s review the key dates so far.
August 8, 1961 — The Fantastic Four debut March 1, 1962 — The Incredible Hulk June 5, 1962 — The most important day in Marvel’s history thus far: introducing Spider-Man, Thor, and Ant-Man!
It’s now December 10, 1962.
Another hugely important date in Marvel’s history. Four milestones, which we’ll be covering over the next few posts: we’ll see the debut of another iconic superhero; a superhero we haven’t seen in 6 months makes his return in the debut of his solo title; and, most excitingly, the Marvel comics start to coalesce into a universe. On this day, we get not only our first crossover of the Marvel Age, but our first two crossovers! The Fantastic Four will encounter two iconic Marvel characters on this very date.
The Thunder-God and the Thug! Featuring: Thor Release: December 3, 1962 Cover: February 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: L.D. Lieber Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.
Ray Holloway is credited as the letterer. First credit we have seen for him. Art Simek has been doing most of the lettering when it’s been credited.
As with his battle against the Soviets, fighting mobsters is unworthy of Thor’s power. They really don’t stand a chance. The only trick that works is taking a hostage, usually Jane.
The Vengeance of Loki!
Featuring: Thor
Release: November 1, 1962
Cover: January 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: L.D. Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages
Loki is Thor’s first repeat villain. Coming up with new villains every month is exhausting, so it’s worth repeating the best ones. Loki was the best one. (His competition is: the Stone Men from Saturn, the Executioner, Zarrko, and some Soviet soldiers.) The Fantastic Four have now fought Doom and Sub-Mariner three times each. Human Torch has faced off twice against the Wizard. Ant-Man hasn’t had a repeat villain yet, but I suspect we’ll see the return of Egghead soon enough. Hulk has a persistent nemesis in Thunderbolt Ross, but otherwise hasn’t encountered any actual villains twice. I think repeating villains is good, unless it’s overdone. It is how you develop good rivalries and get an arch-nemesis. But once Joker appeared in the old Batman comics, he started showing up in every single issue of Batman. It’s a balance of having some variety in the foes while giving a chance for a proper rivalry to develop. So far, these comics are doing well enough on the variety side.
We see Heimdall at his post for the first time, guarding the Bifrost. Loki is forbidden to leave Asgard, so he must somehow sneak past Heimdall. He does so by disguising himself as a snake. I really thought of Heimdall as being better than that.
The Incredible Hulk vs The Hordes of General Fang! Featuring: Hulk Release: November 1, 1962 Cover: January 1963 12 cents Script: Stan Lee Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 11 pages
I read this story in Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1.
There are ways in which Stan and Jack are ahead of their time on social issues, and ways in which they are not. Their depictions of Asian people remain pretty racist. It will take a couple decades before Marvel is able to do much better. General Fang is an awful stereotype, and the story is more cold war propaganda, depicting the forces of Red China as strangely-drawn, yellow-skinned, and cartoonishly evil. Even the Asian people depicted as allies–including the citizens of Llhasa (Lhasa, Tibet) and the soldiers of Formosa (Taiwan)– have cringeworthy depictions.
