Daredevil #2

The Evil Menace of Electro!

Featuring: Daredevil
Release: April 2, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Joe Orlando
Inking: Vince Colletta
Lettering: S. Rosen
22 pages

The credits have two names that are new to us. Last issue was drawn by Bill Everett, who did an excellent job, but apparently also missed his deadline by a wide margin. Whatever happened, he was not invited back.

The artist is now Joe Orlando, who has been working in comics since the early ’50s, including occasional freelance work for Marvel. This is his first superhero work, previously drawing horror, western, and war comics, most notably for EC Comics. He worked in the comics field for many decades as artist, writer, and editor, most of that time with DC comics. As far as I can tell, this short stint on Daredevil is the last work he’ll ever do at Marvel.

Here’s a peek at some of the work he’d been doing in the previous 13 years.

Vince Colletta had been working as an artist for Marvel for about a decade, primarily on romance comics. He had recently moved toward inking. He will soon become a regular inker over Jack Kirby, and begin a very long run inking Thor. I believe this is also his first ever superhero work.

His work is not always loved by critics or his colleagues. He has a reputation for choosing professionalism over artistry. I see no evidence of this or any other flaw in this particular comic. I will caveat that I haven’t always the best eye for art, nor any particular talent for separating the contributions of the penciler from the inker when I look upon a page.

Here’s a sampling of his prior work.

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Fantastic Four #27

The Search for Sub-Mariner!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: March 10, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Author and illustrator extraordinary: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inked by: Geo. Bell
Lettered by: S. Rosen
23 pages

The opening of this story is somewhat different from the norm. A littleā€¦ sexier.

To make the opening image more amusing, we learn it’s not an actual projection of Sue, but rather a projection of what happens to be on Reed’s mind at the moment. Sexy Sue, apparently.

We then get the issue’s big news. Reed is planning to go buy a ring in order to ask Sue to marry him. Giant-Man recently bought a ring for the same reason, but chickened out. Let’s see if Reed can do any better.

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Fantastic Four #26

The Avengers Take Over!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: February 11, 1964
Cover: May 1964
12 cents
Unforgettably written in the grand manner by: Stan Lee
Powerfully drawn in the heroic manner by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: George Bell
Lettered by: Art Simek
23 pages

Thing stands alone no longer.

The Avengers and Fantastic Four team up to battle the Hulk. If there’s a better issue that serves as a microcosm for what the Marvel Universe is all about, I don’t know what it is.

I think this is perhaps the best comic cover we have yet come across. It’s very atypical of the Kirby covers in a number of ways. Likely stemming from having to cram an atypical number of characters in. But we see the full figure of each character, each taking up a small amount of cover real estate. He usually likes characters on his covers to be bigger. He also shows less concern about perspective than usual, since we see neither the floor nor any overlapping characters. He allows the action to be basically 2-dimensional and each character to be small, while overlapping none of the characters. He wants us to be able to see each character and their pose clearly. I’m reminded more than anything of posing action figures.

The whole of the scene with its 11 characters still fills a small amount of the cover. Kirby gives a lot of top real estate to word balloons. He could have zoomed in more if he wanted to. He didn’t. He wanted what is probably the widest cover shot we’ve seen yet.

This concludes a two-part Fantastic Four story, the best Fantastic Four story yet, but it’s also part of a bigger saga. It’s been building since Hulk quit the Avengers in Avengers #2, carried over into the Avengers’ battles with Hulk and Namor in Avengers #3 and #4 and will have an epilogue in Avengers #5, where the Avengers have one last encounter with Hulk, at least for now.

Still, it doesn’t really end there. Events at the end of Avengers #5 lead directly into issue 6, which itself ties in with Sgt. Fury #8. And the Hulk’s story continues, with the toll these events have taken on him leading indirectly to his upcoming battles with Spider-Man and Giant-Man. These two issues are at the center of a giant interconnected web of stories, which revolve around Hulk being (justifiably) upset with how the world’s been treating him.

It’s all part of the long build-up to Hulk finally getting his solo adventures again. He was the first superhero of the new Marvel Age to have his title cancelled and will be the first to be revived.

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Fantastic Four #25

The Hulk vs. The Thing

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: January 10, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Sensational story by: Stan Lee
Astonishing art by: Jack Kirby
Incredible inking by: G. Bell
Lighthearted lettering by: S. Rosen
22 pages

I have no idea why it took us so long to get to something like this. It seems like such an obvious superhero story to me: a good old-fashioned slugfest. Take two very strong characters and just have them duke it out. Thing and Hulk are perfect for a brawl. They met before, but it wasn’t a brawl. There was a mystery and a Commie plot and all this stuff. This time, the rest of the team is quickly taken out of contention. And it’s up to Ben Grimm to hold his own against the Hulk.

Worth the wait.

We get some preamble. Hulk has returned to New Mexico with the Avengers in pursuit. Unbeknownst to them, he turned around suddenly and went to New York to find them. He read in the paper that Captain America had replaced him and thought Rick had betrayed him. He is off to finally destroy the Avengers. Of course, Rick never betrayed him. And the Avengers only replaced him because he quit.

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Strange Tales #119

The Torch Goes Wild!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: January 10, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Dick Ayers
Lettered by: S. Rosen
13 pages

No picture this time, but at least the covers are now consistently mentioning that Dr. Strange exists.

The title of this story is, “The Torch Goes Wild!” Not quite sure what that leads me to expect. Maybe Johnny will take his top off, show a little skin.

Our more observant readers might be wondering if we completely forgot about Avengers #4. We did not. For various reasons about story flow and chronology and such, we will be waiting a bit to read it. I promise a future post that explains all these decisions in excruciating detail.

Our story begins with Johnny having a bad day. Perhaps the Rabble Rouser is to blame.

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Strange Tales #118

The Man Who Became the Torch!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: December 9, 1963
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Dick Ayers
Lettering: S. Rosen
13 pages

What? Is that Dr. Strange on the cover of a comic? Not just buried in the back of the comic somewhere where they hope nobody will notice?

Congratulations to Dr. Strange on his first cover appearance. 8 issues after his introduction.

This marks the fourth battle between Human Torch and Wizard. Perhaps this solidifies the Wizard as his “archfoe”.

The Wizard of these stories hasn’t quite been the character I know from my own youth. A key difference gets resolved this issue. While in prison, Wizard was given the necessary equipment to build an anti-gravity power unit that allows him to fly. I definitely think of flying as being a key Wizard trait.

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Fantastic Four #24

The Infant Terrible!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 9, 1963
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Lovingly written by: Stan Lee
Tenderly drawn by: Jack Kirby
Heroically inked by: Geo. Bell
Neatly lettered by: S. Rosen
23 pages

The most notable thing about this comic is the credits. “Lovingly written”, “Tenderly drawn”,… Stan is starting to insert a little creativity into that box. This will become a pretty regular thing for him. It begins here. The closest we’ve seen to any embellishment before was in the “Tales of Asgard” story from Journey Into Mystery #99, which was “Presented with pride…”.

The Fantastic Four pose for a photoshoot with Life Magazine. We’ll get to see Alex Ross’s rendering of a Life cover when we get to Marvels #2.

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Fantastic Four #23

The Master Plan of Doctor Doom!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: November 12, 1963
Cover: Februrary 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: George Bell
23 pages

We open with a dinosaur running loose. Ben refers to Reed as “Stretch”. This nickname will stick.

We get some drama with the team. Reed is being too bossy, so they try to pick a new leader. It doesn’t go well. Reeds turns out to be the only fit leader on the team. After all, Johnny is a teenager. Ben loses his temper so easily. And Sue is a woman.

The last issue promised the Four would face off against four super-villains this issue. Turns out they meant one super-villain and three henchmen. At least by my count.

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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.

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Amazing Spider-Man #8, Story B

Spider-Man Tackles the Torch!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: October 8, 1964
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Steve Ditko
6 pages

This is Kirby’s third comic story featuring Spider-Man. All 3 have had Ditko on inks. Of course, he also drew the cover of Spider-Man’s first appearance. Also with Ditko on inks.

This is a pretty slight story. A piece of frivolity squeezed into the back of an issue. Spider-Man and Human Torch annoy each other.

Their antics lead to Spider-Man fighting with Mr. Fantastic and Thing as well. Fighting is what superheroes do when they meet.

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