fantastiflare – Coke & Comics

Fantastic Four #10

The return of Doctor Doom!/Back from the Dead!/The End of Mr. Fantastic?/No Place to Turn!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: October 9, 1962
Cover: January 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Pencilling: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
23 pages

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Our fans have grown to expect real exciting super-villains from us! Too bad that Doctor Doom was lost in space! He was possibly the greatest super-villain of all!

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

Again, Stan gives relatively full credits, compared to the previous 25 years of comics. He has been inconsistent about crediting the letterer. He is also not careful to distinguish between plot and script, which has led to much confusion over the years. It is known Kirby contributed at least some, likely much, and perhaps all of most of these plots. Yet he is only ever credited for pencils or art. The plotting is just not in the credits here. Stan does credit himself with plots for the Human Torch and Thor stories when he credits his brother Larry with the scripts.

This comic is most famous for introducing the characters of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. We learn they exist in the Marvel Universe, and they publish Fantastic Four comics, in consultation with the real team. To preserve a bit of mystery, Jack never draws either creator’s face.

Fantastic Four #8

Prisoners of the Puppet Master!/The Hands of the Puppet Maker/The Lady and the Monster!/Face-to-face with the Puppet Master!/Death of a puppet!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: August 9, 1962
Cover: November 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
23 pages

I read this issue in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. The comic has the signatures of Lee and Kirby. The collection lists Ayers as the inker.

We begin now the second year of adventures of the Fantastic Four.

Well, he did tell them to call him Thing…

I’ve found it weird the whole series that they always refer to him as ‘Thing’ instead of ‘Ben’. In later comics, they will mostly call him Ben. The writers seemed to have noticed it’s odd as they make a thing of it here. Sue calls him Ben, and he complains about how it’s only ‘Ben’ when they want something.

Strange Tales #101

The Human Torch/The Flaming Fury Strikes Back!!
Release: July 10, 1962
Cover: October 1962
12 cents
Writers: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1. I don’t see any credits within the issue. The collection’s table of contents gives the credits I list above.

In his first solo outing, Human Torch must battle the Destroyer in Glenville, while preserving his secret identity…

Wait? What?

He wasn’t that concerned about his secret identity when he flamed on in front of his mechanic friend… Or talked to his friends about his Fantastic Four problems… Or went to Congress to get awards and his photo taken… Or when he decided his costume didn’t need a mask. (Yes, I realize Superman thinks the same)

Fantastic Four #5

Prisoners of Doctor Doom!/Back to the Past!/On the Trail of Blackbeard/Battle!/The Vengeance of Doctor Doom!
Release: April 10, 1962
Cover: July 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnot (uncredited)
23 pages

I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby signed the issue. The omnibus credits Joe Sinnot as the inker in the table of contents.

I am of two minds about this comic. Let me tell you of both of them.

One the one hand, the premise of the series is that this team gets into fantastic adventures. Travelling back in time to battle pirates qualifies as such an adventure. And as stories about the FF travelling back in time to battle pirates go, this one is pretty solid.

On the other hand, this issue introduces Dr. Doom. Dr. Doom is perhaps my favorite super-villain ever, and this issue just doesn’t quite capture the Dr. Doom that I first met. Whatever I envisioned about the first encounter between our heroes and their arch-nemesis, it wasn’t this.

Fantastic Four #4

The Coming of… Sub-Mariner
On the Trail of the Torch/Enter the Sub-Mariner/Let the World Beware!/Sub-Mariner’s Revenge!
Release: February 8, 1962
Cover: May 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: Sol Brodsky (uncredited)
23 pages

Famously, Human Torch meets a random amnesiac hobo and decides without permission to burn the hobo’s beard off his face. The hobo looks like a character Torch read about in a comic, which convinces him to toss the hobo into the ocean. I would argue this behavior on the part of the Torch is inappropriate. But nobody on the team is setting a better example.

Fantastic Four #3

The Menace of the Miracle Man/The Monster Lives!/The Flame that Died!/In the Shadow of defeat!/The Final Challenge!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 12, 1961
Cover: March, 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: Sol Brodsky (uncredited)
23 pages

I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. The issue has signatures for Stan and Jack. The Table of Contents for the Omnibus credits Sol with inks.

The price of the comic has jumped up from 10 to 12 cents. Not sure we’ll be able to afford to continue this series at this rate.

The Fantastic Four battle Miracle Man, a largely forgotten villain. We see he can: fly; become a giant; change into water, metal, or gas; control elements, storms, thunder, and lightning; slice a tree trunk in half with his finger; withstand the Thing’s strongest blow; etcetera. How can the FF defeat such a villain? Well, there’s a twist I’ll let you read for yourselves.