Featuring: X-Men Release: March 3, 1964 Cover: May 1964 12 cents Spell-binding story by: Stan Lee Dazzling drawing by: Jack Kirby Inking: Paul Reinman Lettering: S. Rosen 24 pages
They’ve redesigned the cover box to make room for Beast.
The story begins right where the last issue left off, but then has a bit of time jump mid-story. It opens with a strange piece of narration. The narrator tells us Professor X “seemed” to lose his powers. Interesting phrasing. Why not just say Professor X lost his powers? Unless you know something about this issue’s twist ending I don’t.
I would warn you that spoilers follow, but I would argue the opening page narration has already spoiled the whole story.
Featuring: Avengers Release: March 3, 1964 Cover: May 1964 12 cents An epic tale told with high drama and heroic dignity by: Stan Lee Illustrated with deep sincerity and dazzling beauty by: Jack Kirby Inked by: Paul Reinman Lettered by: S. Rosen 23 pages
Rick Jones gets his name on the cover and on the opening page alongside the book’s actual stars. He i fact is given billing over Giant-Man and Wasp in both places. His placement suggests he comes with Captain America, as though they are partners.
This tale is getting closer to what I feel like a traditional Avengers tale should be. There should be some menace to the world, a threat so great that no single hero can stand against it. Mostly so far, they’ve just fought Hulk over and over again. And he just wants to be left alone.
In this issue, the Lava Men invade Earth. When last we met them, they were referred to as Lava People; not sure how the unneeded gendering crept in.
Almost what I’m looking for. Only two problems. The first is that the Lava Men/People invaded before and Thor stopped them all by himself. So it’s not clear they’re an Avengers-worthy threat. The second is that in addition to fighting the Lava Men, the Avengers also all attack Hulk again. They really should just give the guy a break. This is now their fifth battle with the Hulk, and they all end in a stalemate.
Featuring: Tales of Asgard Release: March 3, 1964 Cover: May 1964 12 cents A tale told in splendor by: Stan Lee A drama drawn in glory by: Jack Kirby Inked by: Don Heck Lettering: Art Simek 5 pages
I appreciate that the Tales of Asgard stories are willing to try different things. The initial offerings concerned Odin and the early days of creation. Then we got a series of stories about Thor as a youth. Now we will get a series focused on Heimdall. Stories about Balder will follow. The series feels it has the freedom to explore a variety of characters and eras of Asgard.
Heimdall was briefly introduced to us in Journey Into Mystery #85, where we learned he was the Warder of the Bifrost. We are given the general sense that he is very good at his job and that almost nothing slips past him. However, we haven’t seen much evidence of that. Indeed, we’ve seen Loki fool him twice. In issue 88, Loki disguised himself as a snake to escape Asgard. In an ancient tale told in issue 101, young Loki created a hole in Asgard’s defenses without Heimdall realizing it.
We now learn the story of how Heimdall was awarded his post. The right to stand eternal watch at a station is not something I would have competed for, but Heimdall did. Agnar the Fierce and Gotron the Agile both presented their cases to Odin. But they could not compete with Heimdall’s heightened senses. He could hear a plant growing far away in hills thought to be barren, and his eyes that can scan time and space could see an approaching army of Storm Giants still two days away.
Featuring: Thor Release: March 3, 1964 Cover: May 1964 12 cents …only the inspired talent of Stan Lee could have written it… Only the gifted hand of Jack Kirby could have illustrated it!! Inked by: Chic Stone Lettered by: S. Rosen 13 pages
As with last month’s Tales of Suspense, this issue sees Thor take a more significant place on the cover. He gets his own logo, prominent on the cover, with the series’ title taking a subordinate position. “Journey Into Mystery with The Mighty Thor”. This is Thor’s comic now.
Thor has spent most of this series battling threats that really should be beneath his notice. Cobra with his slithering power? Finally, Thor’s mettle gets tested. In fact, it’s a test too great for him. He’ll need the help of Balder and his father Odin to overcome this threat.
The story begins soon after the end of the previous issue. Loki is chastising Enchantress and Executioner for their recent failure. If Enchantress could only have waited a few seconds to turn Executioner into a tree…
Those eyes.
We really need to talk about Loki. I mean, we already did, but it’s getting more confounding. Odin had sentenced him to eternal imprisonment. I really must stress the word “eternal”. But then suddenly Loki was seemingly Odin’s most trusted advisor. No explanation was offered. Loki manipulated the supposedly wise Odin into causing Thor’s most recent grief, both his battles against Zarrko and the Enchantress. Now, Loki not only convinces Odin to travel to Earth, but Odin lets Loki rule in his stead, and grants him extra power to do so.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: February 11, 1964 Cover: May 1964 12 cents Unforgettably written in the grand manner by: Stan Lee Powerfully drawn in the heroic manner by: Jack Kirby Inked by: George Bell Lettered by: Art Simek 23 pages
Thing stands alone no longer.
The Avengers and Fantastic Four team up to battle the Hulk. If there’s a better issue that serves as a microcosm for what the Marvel Universe is all about, I don’t know what it is.
I think this is perhaps the best comic cover we have yet come across. It’s very atypical of the Kirby covers in a number of ways. Likely stemming from having to cram an atypical number of characters in. But we see the full figure of each character, each taking up a small amount of cover real estate. He usually likes characters on his covers to be bigger. He also shows less concern about perspective than usual, since we see neither the floor nor any overlapping characters. He allows the action to be basically 2-dimensional and each character to be small, while overlapping none of the characters. He wants us to be able to see each character and their pose clearly. I’m reminded more than anything of posing action figures.
The whole of the scene with its 11 characters still fills a small amount of the cover. Kirby gives a lot of top real estate to word balloons. He could have zoomed in more if he wanted to. He didn’t. He wanted what is probably the widest cover shot we’ve seen yet.
This concludes a two-part Fantastic Four story, the best Fantastic Four story yet, but it’s also part of a bigger saga. It’s been building since Hulk quit the Avengers in Avengers #2, carried over into the Avengers’ battles with Hulk and Namor in Avengers #3and #4 and will have an epilogue in Avengers #5, where the Avengers have one last encounter with Hulk, at least for now.
Still, it doesn’t really end there. Events at the end of Avengers #5 lead directly into issue 6, which itself ties in with Sgt. Fury #8. And the Hulk’s story continues, with the toll these events have taken on him leading indirectly to his upcoming battles with Spider-Man and Giant-Man. These two issues are at the center of a giant interconnected web of stories, which revolve around Hulk being (justifiably) upset with how the world’s been treating him.
It’s all part of the long build-up to Hulk finally getting his solo adventures again. He was the first superhero of the new Marvel Age to have his title cancelled and will be the first to be revived.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: January 10, 1964 Cover: April 1964 12 cents Sensational story by: Stan Lee Astonishing art by: Jack Kirby Incredible inking by: G. Bell Lighthearted lettering by: S. Rosen 22 pages
I have no idea why it took us so long to get to something like this. It seems like such an obvious superhero story to me: a good old-fashioned slugfest. Take two very strong characters and just have them duke it out. Thing and Hulk are perfect for a brawl. They met before, but it wasn’t a brawl. There was a mystery and a Commie plot and all this stuff. This time, the rest of the team is quickly taken out of contention. And it’s up to Ben Grimm to hold his own against the Hulk.
Worth the wait.
We get some preamble. Hulk has returned to New Mexico with the Avengers in pursuit. Unbeknownst to them, he turned around suddenly and went to New York to find them. He read in the paper that Captain America had replaced him and thought Rick had betrayed him. He is off to finally destroy the Avengers. Of course, Rick never betrayed him. And the Avengers only replaced him because he quit.
Featuring: Avengers Release: January 3, 1964 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Gloriously written by: Stan Lee Grandly illustrated by: Jack Kirby Gallantly lettered by: Art Simek 23 pages
No inker is given in the credits for some reason. The GCD suggests the inker is George Roussos, who has been doing a lot of inking lately under the pseudonym George Bell. I don’t think we’ve yet seen a single comic where Kirby has done his own finishes. Probably because he’s drawing a half dozen comics each month.
There’s something that troubles me about these credits, and it’s the type of thing that makes Stan Lee a controversial character to this day. Look to the acknowledgement on this first page. Stan notes that Jack drew the original Captain America comics. That’s true and good to point out. But that massively understates Kirby’s contribution. Kirby and Simon created Captain America. The box should say. “Jack Kirby is one of the creators of Captain America.” Now, this may have been mere thoughtlessness on Stan’s part. Kirby used to draw Captain America and now is drawing him again; Stan used to write Captain America and now is writing him again. That may be the only point he wanted to make, and perhaps no other thoughts occurred to him. But the phrasing seems careful, and reflects the longtime legal stance of the many companies that have owned Marvel, that people don’t create characters, companies do. You can read an article from Brian Cronin on a piece Stan Lee had written in 1947 crediting publisher Martin Goodman with the idea for Captain America. The piece is basically fictional. Joe Simon came up with the character independently, and Kirby helped him flesh out the details. Stan’s failure to credit them for that goes back a long ways.
Featuring: Captain America Release: March 17, 1941 Cover: May 1941 10 cents By: Stan Lee 2 pages
Marvel comics up through the 1960s have often included short prose stories. We haven’t covered any yet in detail, as none have been sufficiently relevant. In the 1960s, they have been short one-off tales of science fiction or fantasy.
The first two Captain America comics also each featured a text story we did not cover. We have not even covered all the Captain America comic stories from those first two issues. We are just doing a brief scan of Captain America’s history prior to his return in 1964.
Why cover this particular text piece? The author is notable.
Featuring: Captain America Release: February 10, 1941 Cover: April 1941 10 cents By: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby 15 pages
Notice that for the second issue in a row, Captain America is attacking Adolf Hitler on the cover. A disappointing thing about the first issue was that the scene was not reflected inside the comic. This comic makes up for it with this second story. Which is of course why we are reading it. To actually see Cap sock Hitler.
Note that it’s February 1941. Still 10 months before America enters the war. But Joe and Jack aren’t shy about letting their opinions out. They inform us that Cap and Bucky head to “Nazi enslaved France”. Quite the strong language.
Featuring: Captain America Release: February 10, 1941 Cover: April 1941 10 cents By: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby 15 pages
This comic was released on my birthday, just 40 years early.
Our buildup to Avengers #4 continues.
Once again, the cover of the comic shows Captain America directly confronting Hitler, this time without the satisfying sock to the jaw. The interior of the first issue disappointed, as Captain America and Hitler did not actually meet. This issue will rectify that, but not with this story. We’ll see Hitler in the next post, concerning “Case No. 2”.
The title of the story alone–“The Ageless Orientals Who Wouldn’t Die”– tells you that this comic is probably extremely inappropriate, and it is. Popular culture depictions of Asian characters were problematic for decades. This comic at least only features giants, not meant to represent actual people.
