Strange Tales #103

Prisoner of the 5th Dimension!/Trapped in Another World!
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: September 11, 1962
Cover: December 1962
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages

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

Once again, we see Stan is giving full credits for the art team, including the letterer Art Simek. Stan credits himself with the plot, but I’ll add some notes based on my general understanding of the usual working relationship; they details of this have been debated by lawyers and historians for decades, so take my musings as those of a non-expert relating what he’s heard. It was very common that Kirby also usually made significant plot contributions, despite the lack of annotation in the credits. The general working arrangement would be that Stan and Jack would talk out ideas together in loose terms, then Kirby would go draw the comic, which includes most of the storytelling details, and then the script and final inks would be filled in after. The busier Stan got, the looser those initial planning conversations were, and the more plotting work was left to Kirby when he was drawing the comic.

Seems like a perfect setup for a Scooby Doo mystery…
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