Featuring: Captain America Release: May 11, 1965 Cover August 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Artist: Jack Kirby Inker: Frank Ray Letterer: Sam Rosen 10 pages
The story’s title, “The Sentinel and the Spy”, seems to refer to Captain America’s nickname, “The Sentinel of Liberty”. It’s not clear to me how established that nickname is at this point. It’s been associated with the character since his first appearance in 1941, as the Sentinels of Liberty was the name of his fan club.
At the end of last issue, Cap still seemed to be brainwashed, but he’s snapped out of it by the opening splash page.
Featuring: Hulk Release: February 4, 1965 Cover: May 1965 12 cents Script by Stan Lee, who created [sic] the Hulk! Art by Steve Ditko, who adopted the Hulk! Inking by Frankie Ray, who fears the Hulk! Lettering by Art Simek, who looks like the Hulk! 10 pages
Hulk remains in the unnamed “iron curtain nation”. We will learn this nation borders Mongolia.
We see an impressive battle with the Soviet military. Hulk’s been fighting the US military since issue 1, but this is the first real all-out battle between Hulk and a bunch of tanks.
Featuring: Thor Release: February 4, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee the sage of the Marvel Age! Penciling by: Jack Kirby the rage of the Marvel Age! Inking by: Frankie Ray for his wage in the Marvel Age! Lettering by: Artie Simek from his cage in the Marvel Age! 16 pages
Recall last issue Thor and Absorbing Man were locked in battle when Balder transported Thor away to Asgard because Loki had imprisoned Jane Foster.
I noted that starting just about last issue, the Thor title is finally getting good. In the old stories, Mr. Hyde or Cobra would kidnap Jane and Thor would fight them.
Admittedly the plot of this issue is that Loki kidnaps Jane and Thor fights him. But it’s good.
At least Loki imprisoning Jane makes sense, as Loki is well aware of Thor’s secret identity– which makes one question the value of the secret identity. Mr. Hyde would just pick the right victim by chance.
Admittedly the plot of next issue is that Enchantress and Executioner kidnap Jane, but I still maintain these stories are getting better.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: March 1965 12 cents Written with machine gun power by Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee Drawn with howitzer impact by Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers Inked with rifle-fire sharpness by Ex-Corp. Frank Ray Lettered with bloodshot eyes by Artie Simek Civilian 1st Class 20 pages
The cover is striking because of the dominant yellow. We haven’t yet seen a cover with such a coloring scheme, but they’ll become more common, and they’ll always catch my eye. This particular color evokes the intense heat of the desert.
Hans Rooten takes his new place as squad mascot. He’s even got a uniform to indicate his “mascot” status. He’s written far more sensibly than, say, Rick Jones is in Avengers. He is allowed to train with the Commandos, but not on dangerous maneuvers, and he doesn’t go on missions, whereas the Avengers take Rick to fight most any super-villain.
The only not-particularly sensible thing is why they continue to let Hans believe his father is a traitor. Now that he’s safely in England, there’s surely no harm in telling the kid his father is a heroic Allied double agent. But these were his father’s wishes, so the child will go on thinking himself to be basically an orphan, with the Howlers the only family he has left.
This page is from the original comic, found online.
Hans has already figured out the character of Sgt. Fury: “He is yelling at me! That means he likes me!”
Hans wants to be a Howler when he grows up. Nick hopes that when he grows up, there won’t be any need for Howlers.
Featuring: Captain America Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Illustrator: Jack Kirby Delineator: Frank Ray Letterer: S. Rosen 10 pages
This is an extremely close retelling of the second story from Captain America Comics #1, which we covered back when Captain America first returned in Avengers #4.
The original story is most notable for being Captain America’s first case and for introducing Betty Ross.
I see I didn’t go into great detail on the plot in that post, writing this:
The story of the comic doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I can’t begin to try to explain it and I’m not sure it’s worth considering all the many ways in which it makes no sense. Suffice it to say they stop the bad guys.
We’ll delve deeper here.
Last issue was a close retelling of the first story from Captain America Comics #1, which was the story of Captain America’s origin. Next issue will be a retelling of Captain America’s first battle against Red Skull from the same issue. It makes sense why one might want to revisit those two stories. And then there’s this one.
The original stories are by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Joe Simon’s name should probably have been in the credits of this comic, as it’s based so closely on his original story. The plot owes more to Simon than many of the comics Stan Lee claims “plot” credit on owe to Stan.
My issue with the original is that I didn’t really understand what Sando and Omar brought to the scheme. There were Nazi saboteurs in America successfully blowing things up. Why have a member of your crew go onstage and warn people about the attacks in advance by pretending to be psychic? The comic didn’t really try to explain.
Let’s compare the new one to the original. The first thing we will notice is the new one fits into very regular grid patterns that make it easy to crop out groups of panels. The original felt bound by no such structure, so the croppings will all be imperfect.
Looking to the opening splash pages, the crystal ball image is very close. The changes fit Kirby’s more dramatized style and generally make a more modern splash page. Omar is a little less freakish in the new one. The biggest loss is Sando, whose fingers had an unusual positioning in the original, almost suggesting his role as puppeteer. Kirby opted for a more standard-for-Kirby dramatized positioning.
The modern comic claims to be “introducing” Sando and Omar. This seems blatantly false, as they were obviously introduced 25 years earlier.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: January 5, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Story: Smilin’ Stan Lee Art: Beamin’ Bobby Powell Inking: Friendly Frankie Ray Lettering: Sunny ol’ Sherigail 12 pages
The Giant-Man tale is hogging most of the cover real estate.
Wasp doesn’t seem to be recognized as a co-lead for the second issue in a row. This is just described as a Giant-Man story. The covers have long since omitted her name.
Yes, we are falling farther and farther behind in our Hulk reading.
As before, it’s not actually a new Giant-Man. He just has a new hat.
Madam Macabre is an evil analogue to Giant-Man, with the power to make things shrink or grow. Not knowing she is evil, Giant-Man considers partnering with her, until he learns she thinks they can rule the world together.
Featuring: Captain America Release: December 10, 1964 Cover: March 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Illustrator: Jack Kirby Inked by: Frank Ray Lettered by: Art Simek 10 pages
Rather than trying to tell a new Captain America story, this comic will retell the origin of Captain America. Subsequent adventures will recap his earliest issues and others will be new stories set in World War II.
I can only guess what’s going on here. One, you can imagine Kirby would like a bit of a break from drawing 5 stories a month, and it may be easier on him to retell old tales. Or, perhaps he is looking back on those tales now that he has grown as an artist and is looking to revisit them and tell them better.
I also suspect that Stan is starting to notice how much his readers care about the intercontinuity of the titles, something he probably doesn’t want to think about at all. Telling Captain America stories set in the past saves him the trouble of worrying that they line up with current Avengers comics.
I tend to find the best thing to do with these retellings is just go in depth and try to spot any differences from previous tellings, particularly the original story in Captain America Comics #1 (1941).
Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: November 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee (as if you didn’t know!) Pencilling by: Dick Ayers (as if anyone cares!) Inking by: Frankie Ray (as if it matters) Lettering by: Art Simek (as if things aren’t bad enough!) 12 pages
Dr. Doom’s loser henchmen return, and Lee is still convinced that’s more interesting to spotlight than whatever Dr. Strange is up to this issue. At least Stan acknowledges Dr. Strange’s existence with a caption on the cover.
The loser henchmen now have a name. They are the Terrible Trio. They even have a cool logo design, where their name appears to be shaking.
It will be 15 years before a writer thinks they’re worth bringing back.
Frank Giacoia returns as inker. We met him last issue, where he used the pen name “Frank Ray”. Now he’s settled into the more informal “Frankie Ray”, which he will be better known as.
Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: October 8, 1964 Cover: January 1965 12 cents Monumental story by: Stan Lee Magnificent pencilling by: Dick Ayers Masterful inking by: Frank Ray Melancholy lettering by: Artie Simek 12 pages
I appreciate that Simek has come up with logos for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Some wooshes over Quicksilver’s name. Some frayed edges for the Scarlet Witch.
Frank Giacoia
We see a new name in the credits. Frank Ray is the inker. Frank Ray is a pen name for Frank Giacoia. He wil become a frequent Marvel inker, initially under the name Frank Ray or Frankie Ray.
