Featuring: X-Men Release: November 3, 1964 Cover: January 1965 12 cents Savagely written by: Stan Lee Supremely drawn by: Jack Kirby Superbly inked by: Chic Stone Stoically lettered by: S. Rosen 20 pages
The cover promises the return of Professor X. He left the team in issue 7, leaving Cyclops in charge. We haven’t seen him since, except for a brief appearance in issue 8 where he and Cyclops have a telepathic chat. Anyway, now it’s issue 9 and we get the long-awaited return of Professor X.
Featuring: Thor Release: November 3, 1963 Cover: January 1964 12 cents A Stan Lee-Jack Kirby Marvel Masterwork! Inking by: Chic Stone Lettering by: S. Rosen 16 pages
Lee and Kirby seem to share top billing in the credits (Lee’s name first, of course) without breaking down who did what.
It’s interesting that they wanted Thor to battle the Hulk, but rather than have Thor battle the Hulk, they had Thor tell a story set in the past. Perhaps Hulk is too busy with the ongoing Leader Saga to be able to appear in Thor’s book. Stan is perhaps becoming aware his fans expect continuity and resorting to tricks not to break it.
Thor tells children a story when he sees them arguing over who is stronger: Thor or Hulk. Superhero fans have asked such questions for decades, and Stan had likely received more than a few letters asking the question. As he’s done before, he puts the fans’ queries–and the fans themselves– directly into the story.
I love the Hulk/Thor signs the kids made, and just how passionate and angry they all seem about this important question.
Thor’s tale is set in the middle of Avengers #3, expanding the story told then. Recall the Avengers battled Hulk and Sub-Mariner in Gibraltar.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: November 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Brashly written by: Stan Lee Boldly drawn by: Don Heck Brazenly inked by: Dick Ayers Bashfully lettered by: S. Rosen 12 pages
Now that the issue is dual-featured, with each feature of similar importance, they need to think of different ways to highlight two pictures on the cover. We’ve seen the Iron Man picture embedded in the Captain America picture, while consuming a large chunk of the real estate, forming the main art of the Cap picture into an ‘L’. We’ve seen 2 separate pictures placed onto the mat at odd angles like postcards dropped on a canvas. The most conventional format will be a split-screen, either horizontal or vertical. This one is basically a horizontal split, but with a slanted line. It feels like the Iron Man portion wastes the portion of the image where it has the space. The Cap portion has extra space on the left and puts Cap himself there. Iron Man is squeezed into the small space on the left, and the extra space on the right is devoted to landscape.
Apparently Marvel had received more than 500 requests for the origin of the Mandarin.
If you look to the Best we’ve read page, it will become obvious the origin stories tend to be my favorite comics. At present, I see a full quarter of the list are origin stories, including the top 3 entries. Conversely, almost every major origin we’ve read is represented. (Sorry to Ant-Man, Thor, and Watcher.) Therefore I’m excited whenever we get a new origin story… unless it’s Mandarin’s story.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: October 8, 1964 Cover: January 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee because we wanted the best! Art by: Don Heck because we wanted the finest! Inking by: Dick Ayers because we wanted the tops! Lettering by: S. Rosen because we wanted to keep him busy! 12 pages
The cover boasts that Tony Stark will die at the hands of the Mandarin. Covers often exaggerate or outright fabricate such things. This caption is closer to true than usual, though.
We are informed the Mandarin returns by overwhelming popular demand. I was not given a vote. He remains my least favorite Marvel villain.
We meet Inspector Flint, investigating the disappearance of Tony Stark. I spent some mental cycles trying to decide if he was the unnamed inspector we met last issue. He resembles that inspector, and it makes sense he would still be on the case. However, since he introduces himself to Happy and Pepper, that implies they’ve never met. So I assume he is a different inspector.
A journalist overhears Flint talking to Happy and Pepper, so the papers reveal that Iron Man is top suspect in Stark disappearance. Clearly, Iron Man is the only suspect. Either Stark is on vacation like Iron Man claimed, or Iron Man is lying. So if there is a criminal case, Iron Man is at the center of it. Or, Iron Man is telling the truth, and there is no criminal case.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: September 8, 1864 Cover: December 1964 12 cents Written by the king of comi-drama: Stan Lee Illustrated by the master of panoramic spectacle: Don Heck Inked by the prince of line design: Dick Ayers Lettered by the sultan of shaky borders: Sam Rosen 13 pages
Iron Man is suspected of murdering Anthony Stark! But how can that be when Iron Man and Stark are the same person!
The art team is Heck and Ayers. We recently saw their work on Avengers #9 and will soon see it on Avengers #10. I was not impressed with their Avengers work. They acquit themselves much better here, even when rendering the Avengers. The faces are clear and distinct. The lines are clean.
Here’s where we were. Iron Man’s heart problems have accelerated. He needs the constant flow of power from his suit to his heart. He cannot remove his suit even for a minute, lest he risk his heart giving out. This means he cannot appear as Tony Stark. He made some excuses as Iron Man for Tony’s disappearance, but Pepper and Happy are suspicious.
This story seems to take place pretty soon after the ending of last issue. Pepper and Happy are searching for Mr. Stark. We saw that Avengers #9 explicitly took place in the middle of all this, with Iron Man reflecting on Stark’s disappearance and Pepper and Happy’s suspicions.
Featuring: Avengers Release: September 8, 1964 Cover: November 1964 12 cents Story superbly written by: Stan Lee Art adorably drawn by: Don Heck Inked by darlin’ Dick Ayers Lettered by stalwart Sam Rosen 20 pages
The issue’s title is “The Avengers Break Up”. Yet, at no point in the issue do the Avengers appear to break up. Instead, characters go to great lengths repeatedly to explain the title via the dialogue. “Now that Thor’s over there and Iron Man’s across the room, it’s basically like they’ve broken up.”
The Heck/Ayers art looks much as it did last issue, which I see as a negative. I’ll give them credit for a couple nice panels. A trippy one of Immortus and an easy-on-the-eyes Enchantress.
We get a weirdly sexist moment in an era filled with weirdly sexist moments. I don’t know if I’m ready to claim it’s the worst, but it’s up there. Iron Man recommends giving Rick Jones a uniform and making him an official Avenger. “…why don’t we make his membership in the Avengers official, as the Wasp’s is…”
Featuring: Spider-Man (for the moment) Release: August 11, 1964 Cover: November 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee, author of “The Fantastic Four” Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, illustrator of “Dr. Strange” Lettered by: Sam Rosen, letterer of… “Patsy Walker”??? 22 pages
Check out that cover. Quite the contrast with pretty much every other superhero cover. The superhero is usually portrayed as tough, dramatically standing against the odds. In the worst case, the cover might show the villain winning, but the superhero remains defiant. This one has Spider-Man cowering and hiding from the villain.
In this story, Peter decides to quit being Spider-Man. He’s thought about it before, but he’s about to actually quit for the first time. It won’t be the last time, or even necessarily the most famous time. A similar story will get told and retold across decades of Spider-Man stories and even make its way into Spider-Man 2. (More directly, the film borrowed from Amazing Spider-Man #50, which borrowed from this issue.)
Note we’re reading this and the last issue together because they make a strong arc when read together. In terms of continuity, it has been weeks since the conclusion of the last issue, so it’s likely several other heroes’ adventures we’ve read occurred in the interim.
The story begins with everybody reacting to Spider-Man’s retreat: heroes, villains, people on the street… guy can’t run away from a single fight without everybody having an opinion. Ditko is great at people reacting to things.
Wasp notes that wasps and spiders are natural enemies. Always found that a weird thing to say. But she’s said it before and she’ll say it again; it’s an obsession of hers whenever the topic of Spider-man comes up.
This is an excellent comic for helping shape the nature of the relationship between Human Torch and Spider-Man. They’ve had some banter and conflict before, but also teamed up. A friendly rivalry. We saw how friendly last issue when Johnny attended the Spider-Man Fan Club meeting and then was quick to help Spider-Man against the Goblin. Now, he seems uncertain. He witnessed Spider-Man’s cowardice firsthand, but still wants to think better of his friend.
Featuring: Avengers Release: August 11, 1964 Cover: October 1964 12 cents Sensationally written by: Stan Lee Superbly illustrated by: Don Heck Selectively inked by: Dick Ayers Sufficienty lettered by: Art Simek 21 pages
As the cover indicates, it’s a moment of big change for this title. The science fiction tales are gone, and the horror stories (or tales of suspense) this title was founded on are long gone. But gone now also are the Watcher stories, which blurred the line between the older science fiction tales and our new superhero ones.
Henceforth, this title will contain two stories: an Iron Man adventure and a Captain America adventure.
Captain America’s return has been successful enough to give him his own title, but Marvel is still artificially limited in the number of titles it can publish, and seemingly reluctant to get rid of titles, preferring to repurpose them. Thus Captain America and Iron Man have to share a book. Just as Hulk has to share Tales to Astonish with Giant-Man and Wasp, and as Dr. Strange has been sharing Strange Tales with Human Torch and Thing.
Recall that Professor Nathan Garrett adopted the identity of Black Knight and fought Giant-Man and Wasp. He was not the first Black Knight, but the first of modern times. He genetically engineered a flying horse and built an arsenal of gadgets and weapons, primarily his multifunctional lance.
The fancy credits neglect the contributions of Chic Stone and Art Simek.
Having been defeated, he agreed to join the Masters of Evil to fight Giant-Man and the rest of the Avengers.
Having been defeated by the team of superheroes he attacked, he now wants revenge, and so is planning to attack the Avengers individually. He begins with Iron Man, starting with an attack on Stark’s factory.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: July 9, 1964 Cover: October 1964 Written by: Stan Lee, the man with the talented typewriter! Illustrated by: Jack Kirby, the man with the power-packed pencil! Inked by: Chic Stone, the man with the panoramic paint-brush! Lettered by: S. Rosen, the man with the leaky lettering pen! 21 pages
I’d like to reflect back to Fantastic Four #11. Things were revealed there which are contrary to my general impression of these characters. Some key facts were that Reed and Ben had served in World War II. Prior to the war, they had both finished college. Further, he and Sue were sweethearts prior to the war.
We did a lot of math about what that meant, math I’m sure Stan Lee never did. But he must have had some sense of what he was saying. He had been a sergeant himself in World War II. He must have known that claiming Reed and Ben served in the same war he did made them about his age. He similarly knew that it was quite odd to have a sweetheart for 20 years and still not be married. He must have known these things.
The one thing I suspect he didn’t think about was that Johnny was in high school. This necessarily put a gap of almost twenty years in age between brother and sister. I have a friend whose brother is 30 years older than he, so I know this is possible. But I really don’t think Stan intended it.
Stan certainly gives the impression in the stories that Reed has let Sue stay single too long, but I assume he intends to mean she should have been married by 23 and she’s now like 26 or something. But that’s inconsistent with the World War II facts, which suggests she’s pushing 40 and still unmarried, but with at least two suitors.
Either way, Johnny is in high school. And whether his sister is ten or twenty years older than he, she is definitely much older and seems to be his guardian. There has been no mention of parents.
