Featuring: Spider-Man Release: June 11, 1964 Cover: 1964 25 cents Written by: Stan Lee Drawn by: Steve Ditko Lettered by: S. Rosen 41 pages
It’s 1964. You’re young. You don’t have a lot of money. But you know some math. Most comics cost 12 cents. This one costs 25. You could get two comics for that price! But wait… those two comics between them would only net you 42-46 story pages. This one promises 72 pages! 72 big pages, at that.
Indeed, this first story is 41 pages, enough to give you your money’s worth. But there’re over 30 pages of bonus features as well!
Plus, most of those comics will give you one super-villain, two at most. This cover promises a sinister six villains for your hard-earned quarter.
If you’re not yet sold to drop two bits, the first page should do it. Aunt May and Betty Brant have been captured by the Sinister Six, and Spider-Man has lost his powers! Now that’s a story!
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: June 6, 1964 Cover: September 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee (A rather nice writer) Drawn by: Jack Kirby (A quite noteworthy artist) Inked by: Chic Stone (A somewhat nifty inker) Lettered by: Art Simek (An occasionally neat letterer) 22 pages
On vacation in Transylvania, the Fantastic Four awaken Diablo, an evil alchemist sealed in his crypt 100 years earlier.
Diablo gives Thing a potion which turns him into a prettier (?) version of himself, which leads to Thing betraying the Fantastic Four to join Diablo. Diablo proceeds to make himself wealthy by selling a variety of miracle potions to the world.
Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: June 9, 1964 Cover: September 1964 12 cents Written by: Smilin’ Stan Lee Illustrated by: Darlin’ Dick Ayers Inked by: Peerless P. Reinman Lettered by: Adorable Art Simek 14 pages
Starting with last issue, Thing and Human Torch are costars in this space, though last issue still described Thing as a guest star. Now Thing goes right in the title: “The Human Torch and The Thing Team Up to Battle The Menace of… Paste-Pot Pete.” Of course, Human Torch still gets top billing. This was his title first after all.
Paste-Pot Pete gets a new look this issue, a step toward becoming a more serious foe. He’s clean-shaven. He’s got on a real battle suit, almost like armor, from which he… well, from which he still just shoots paste.
Featuring: Watcher Release: May 12, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Story plot: Stan Lee Script + art: Larry Lieber Inking: Geo. Bell Lettering: Art Simek 5 pages
This story makes me cringe a bit.
There have always been off-color jokes made about the character of the Watcher, suggesting a certain voyeurism to his character. After all, he watches. There seem to be no limits to what we can or will watch. Personal privacy is not a particular concern of his.
I have always taken such comments as jest and not a serious critique of the character of the Watcher, who, after all, is an impossibly advanced cosmic being, indistinguishable to us from a god.
But then we come to this story. Where he falls in love with a woman he is watching.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: May 12, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Written with a dash of greatness by: Stan Lee Drawn with a hint of glory by: Jack Kirby Inked with a touch of drama by: Chic Stone Lettered with a bottle of India ink by: S. Rosen 22 pages
This is pretty easily my favorite cover so far. Years before I’d ever read the issue, I’d been enthralled by the cover. It seems to promise so much potential. What started on Yancy Street? Important enough to attract the attention of the Watcher.
Beyond my fascination with the ominous mood the cover suggests, there really hasn’t been a cover at all like this yet in our reading. First of all, it’s definitely the first Fantastic Four cover without a hint of a villain. The closest other example is Fantastic Four #13, which only shows Red Ghost’s hand. The mood of the characters is entirely different from the norm. Usually they’re mid-battle or primed for battle, with only a couple exceptions, notably FF#13 again. Now, they seem nervous, uncertain, hesitant. Moods that have never made it onto a cover. Reed is holding Sue’s hand. Ben looks uneasy. Johnny is nervously looking around.
Behind them all, the visage of the Watcher lurking ominously with glimpses of the cosmos behind him.
And yet. And yet. While almost everything about the visuals of the cover suggest this serious tone, we must also look to the street sign. Yancy Street. That creates an association which is far from serious. Since we first learned of the Yancy Street Gang back in issue 6, they have been comic relief, existing to knock Thing down a peg, to keep him humble. There is then some irony on the cover. Perhaps the super-serious tone is not meant to be taken quite so seriously.
Will the story live up to the incredible cover? As with most great works of this era, parts of it do and parts of it do not. In particular, the revelation of just what was happening on Yancy Street proves somewhat disappointing.
The first page seems almost a continuation of the cover, the Fantastic Four walking down Yancy Street, uncertain quite what they are looking for. Yet, the ominous tone of the cover is mixed with a certain wackiness as Thing steps in gum and somebody hurls lettuce at Mr. Fantastic. They are indeed on Yancy Street.
The first 5 pages of this comic are a quirky mix of foreboding and humor and relationship drama. The Fantastic Four get attacked by unseen members of the Yancy Street Gang. Reed bewilderingly concludes that a super-villain must be behind the Gang.
Featuring: Human Torch Release: May 12, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee (‘Nuff Said) Illustrated by: Carl Burgos (Who was the first to draw the Torch way back in the Golden Age of comics!) Inked by: Darlin’ Dick Ayers Lettered by: Smilin’ Sam Rosen 14 pages
Check out the split cover. That’s about to come into vogue. Equal cover real estate for both Human Torch and Dr. Strange. The idea won’t take off right away in this title, but we’ll soon see the split cover all over the place as more and more superheroes share titles.
There’s even a certain symmetry to the halves of the cover, what with the respective guest star boxes.
I find myself with an unusually large amount of things to say about the first page. Strap in.
“Nuff Said”. I’ve now read almost 3 years of Marvel comics without seeing that phrase. Now, I’m usually reading reprints, and thus missing ads and letter pages, where that phrase is more likely to show up. Brian Cronin notes Nuff Said first appeared in the letters page of Fantastic Four #19, almost a year earlier. I missed it. This is the first time I’ve seen it show up in the credits of a story or anywhere within a story. It is now recognized as one of Stan’s signature catch phrases.
Carl Burgos is the artist. That’s pretty cool. Because Burgos created the original Human Torch 25 years earlier; Johnny Storm borrowed his name, look, and powers. However, the credits don’t quite let us know that. Similar to Avengers #4, they acknowledge some contribution from Burgos without attributing the character to him. They call him the “first to draw the Torch”. He was the first to draw and write the character, and the entire concept is his. Marvel just bought his work. From a modern eye, this is irksome for a couple reasons. First, the language may be careful for legal reasons, as these companies like to make clear that the company created these characters and no people were involved. It also feeds into the notion that Stan has taken too much credit for himself over the years, allowing himself to get recognized as the creator of many characters, while often failing to acknowledge the actual creators. If you polled people today and asked who created the Human Torch, Stan Lee’s name would likely come up far more often than Carl Burgos’. Misleading credits like this do not help with that.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: April 9, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee (The leader!) Drawn by: Jack Kirby (The king!) Inked by: Chic Stone (The master!) Lettered by: Art Simek (The letterer!) 22 pages
Stan’s been doing “clever credits” for a while now, giving all sorts of nicknames to the creators. This one happens to be Kirby’s most famous nickname. He is generally known today as Jack “King” Kirby. This is the first time we’ve seen the “king” nickname in our reading. Can’t confirm whether it’s been used anywhere else before. This project began 20 years into Jack’s rather prolific career.
We turn now to the story, where the Fantastic Four and X-Men meet for the first time. (Well, Human Torch and Iceman had already met…)
We begin with a statue of Thing that has been sculpted by the brilliant Alicia, working by touch alone.
Featuring: Human Torch Release: April 9, 1964 Cover: July 1964 12 cents Rapidly written by: Stan Lee Speedily sketched by: Dick Ayers Instantly inked by: Geo. Bell Lazily lettered by: S. Rosen 14 pages
Move over, Johnny. Human Torch now has to share the corner box with Dr. Strange. Getting your face into the corner box is how you know you’ve made it.
And hey! I own this comic. That cover is scanned from my collection. I bought it not all that long ago for $15, which seemed a reasonable price. For those keeping count, this is #3 for comics I actually own in original form.
But now I want to return it. Because of blatant false advertising. The cover clearly says “Dr. Doom does not appear in this story.”
Yet, look here on page 1. Who is that? It’s Dr. Doom!
Turn the page, who do we see on page 3? Dr. Doom again!
Now, these panels are all flashback sequences to the last battle with Dr. Doom. Since it ended with Dr. Doom falling into space, it’s obvious we’ll never actually see him again. Wait… but the note informs us he will return in Fantastic Four Annual 2. How can that possibly be?
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.
Featuring: Marvels Release: November 9, 1993 Cover: January 1994 $5.95 Writer: Kurt Busiek Artist: Alex Ross Letters: Starkings w\ John Gauhsell Editor: Marcus McLaurin Assistant editor: Spencer Lamm Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco Cover design & logo: Joe Kaufman Interior Design: Comicraft 45 pages
When this is over, I’d said. When would that be? It would blow over. The world wouldn’t stay like this. It couldn’t. Could it?
The 4 (or so) issues comprising this series are pretty close to being the best comics I have ever read. They inspire the journey we are taking here, where we read through the entire Marvel Universe starting in 1961, and I want them to frame the journey we are taking.
Through a man named Phil Sheldon, an “ordinary” photojournalist, we see a holistic view of all these many interconnected stories of Marvels, cohesing into a single narrative, leading us to understand that this world is not our own, and helping us imagine what it might be like to live in that world.
The tagline reads: “Experience the Marvel Universe from a whole new perspective– yours.”
We read Marvels #0 pretty early in the project, right after meeting the original Human Torch, who we introduced after meeting the new Human Torch.
Marvels #1 deals with Marvel’s Golden Age, stories from the 1930s and 1940s. We are reading it now in our reading order because we have met enough Golden Age heroes to justify it. Really, it comes down to the big three: Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. But our reading about characters like Angel, Electro and Black Widow will also help us appreciate the details.
And if there’s one word that can describe this comic, it’s “detailed”. Sitting in a hotel room in Dresden with the intent of doing a deep dive into this issue, I have the original comic in my hand, but also the recent annotated edition which can serve as a guide. Plus some Golden Age and other reference material.
With all that in front of me, I would like to look very closely at this comic; consider those details, and try to do so without losing sight of the powerful emotional journey in front of us, one that will seem very familiar in the year 2020.
I think I’ve already gushed at sufficient length over the creators Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross in our recent Astro City discussion, so we’ll jump right into the story.
A Time of Marvels
The bystanders had seen the stories in the paper– seen them, chuckled and dismissed them. But it’s one thing to read about the impossible– and another to look it in the face.
The story opens in 1939 with reporters talking about the tensions in Europe. Phil Sheldon is an ambitious photojournalist looking for an assignment overseas. His fellow reporter–resembling a young J. Jonah Jameson down to a well-placed shadow beneath the nose where Jameson’s mustache will eventually be–muses that one day he will be the one running the Bugle. Phil is off to cover a press conference with a scientist who he expects to be a crackpot, one Phineas T. Horton.
