jack kirby – Page 19 – Coke ⊕ Comics

Journey Into Mystery #111, Story B

The Secret of Sigurd!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: October 1, 1964
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Superbly written by: Stan Lee
Supremely drawn by: Jack Kirby
Savagely inked by: Vince Colletta
Sagatiously lettered by: Artie Simek
5 page

Previous	#279	Next
Journey Into Mystery #111	Reading order	Daredevil #5
Journey Into Mystery #111	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #112

The theme of many of these early Thor stories is that Loki is still considered a friend and ally by Thor, yet Loki is always secretly trying to get Thor killed, usually in pretty non-subtle ways. This has been going on since they were children.

Loki has recommended a short cut through a forbidden forest, then goads Sigurd and Thor into battle. Balder is suspicious.

Journey Into Mystery #111

The Power of the Thunder God!

Featuring: Thor
Release: October 1, 1964
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Written with the mastery of: Stan Lee
Illustrated with the genius of: Jack Kirby
Delineated with the delicacy of: Chic Stone
Lettered with the India ink of: Artie Simek
16 pages

Previous	#278	Next
Journey Into Mystery #110, Story B	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #111, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #110, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #111, Story B

It is a pretty cover. I would argue the box about not having captions counts as a caption.

The two panels devoted to the love of Odin’s youth is far more interesting than the many pages devoted Thor fighting Cobra and Mr. Hyde.

It’s tantalizingly sparse in details. Balder sings a song of Odin’s youth and own forbidden love, until Loki interrupts, fearing Balder is trying to sway Odin to be fairer to Jane. Odin and the unnamed girl he was forbidden to marry took “one last ride over the eternal chasm together”. What does that even mean?

Journey Into Mystery #110, Story B

The Defeat of Odin!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: September 1, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Illustrator: Jack Kirby
Delineator: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Art Simek
5 pages

Previous	#277	Next
Journey Into Mystery #110	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #111
Journey Into Mystery #110	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #111

King Rampok is dead. The meek Prince Rivvak must now lead their forces against Asgard. Armies gather, and not for tea.

During the battle, Odin repeatedly employs questionable tactics and does not seem to bring his full power to bear. Ultimately, the Asgardians retreat in defeat.

Journey Into Mystery #110

Every Hand Against Him!

Featuring: Thor
Release: September 1, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Spectacularly written by: Stan Lee
Magnificently drawn by: Jack Kirby
Powerfully inked by: Chic Stone
Eventually lettered by: Art Simek
16 pages

Previous	#276	Next
Avengers #10	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #110, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #109, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #110, Story B

This image of Thor holding the wounded Jane resembles an extremely common trope in superhero comics. It’s a standard way to depict a character as dead while another mourns them. This is the first time we’ve seen it in our Marvel reading. The Distinguished Competition had a cover with a similar pose a year earlier to depict the death of Robin.

Generally, these are described as “pieta covers”, referring to the resemblance to La Pieta by Michelangelo, in which Mary holds the body of her dead son, Jesus.

This blog post on metropolisplus gives an overview of the trope. Depending on how much of a purist you are, this Thor cover might not quite fit the pieta trope. As Jane is wounded, not dead; and Thor is protecting her, not mourning her. But it’s pretty close.

Tales of Suspense #60, Story B

The Army of Assassins Strikes!

Featuring: Captain America
Release: September 8, 1864
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: Art Simek
10 pages

Previous	#274	Next
Tales of Suspense #60	Reading order	Avengers #10
Tales of Suspense #60	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #61

Last issue, Captain America fought a gang of generic villains in purple jumpsuits. This issue, the generic villains are wearing green jumpsuits and work for Zemo. “Army of Assassins” may be their official name, as it’s used repeatedly.

There really won’t be much in the way of a story here, so what value we find will have to be in dramatic expressions and posing, and of course in the high energy action on display. I suspect Kirby will come through.

Fantastic Four #33

Side-by-side with Sub-Mariner!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: September 8, 1964
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Script: Smilin’ S. Lee
Art: Jolly Jack Kirby
Inks: Chucklin’ Chic Stone
Lettering: Amiable Art Simek
20 pages

Previous	#272	Next
Sgt. Fury #12	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #60
Fantastic Four #32	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #34

Kirby has used these photo collages a few times now, but this is the first cover that combines art with photographs in a cool collage.

This is the first time Stan’s name has ever been abbreviated in the credits: “S. Lee”. I’m guessing the letterer just ran out of room.

Namor is again the king of Atlantis (the exact same month Aquaman is first named king of Atlantis at the Distinguished Competition). Namor has the most fickle people. They moved the entire kingdom once so he couldn’t find them because of his affection for Sue. But I guess that’s all forgotten now.

The story is that Dorma betrayed Namor because he scorned her love, so she helped Attuma’s armies gain entry to Atlantis so Attuma could seize the throne. Women, eh?

X-Men #8

Unus, the Untouchable

Featuring: X-Men
Release: September 1, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inker: Chic Stone
Letter: S. Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#270	Next
Fantastic Four #32	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #12
X-Men #7	X-Men	X-Men #9

The X-Men are no longer students, but the status quo hasn’t changed much. They now train for missions; their training sessions look very similar to the classes they used to take. Professor X is still away and Cyclops is in charge; so he is running the training session. Hence, he is in a suit rather than a uniform. So you know he’s in charge.

Iceman practices making his body icier. As he does, some of the smoothness fades, allowing defined corners within his now icy body. These are the first hints of a new look forming. Iceman’s visual evolution is similar to Thing’s, going from a softer ill-defined look to lots of defining lines and corners.

It’s weird that Iceman is described as transparent and compared to the Invisible Girl. I usually think of the ice as a layer around him; they seem to be suggesting his insides are turning to ice as well, though the art indicates nothing of the kind.

Fantastic Four #32

Death of a Hero!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Story by: Stan Lee who has never been more dramatic!
Illustrations by: Jack Kirby who has never been more thrilling!
Inking by: Chic Stone who has never been more realistic!
Lettering by: S. Rosen who has never been more than an hour late!
21 pages

Previous	#269	Next
Tales to Astonish #62, Story B	Reading order	X-Men #8
Fantastic Four #31	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #33

Kirby continues his experimental depictions of outer space, using a collage of art and photos.

That’s not a great reprint. Let’s see the cleaned-up digital version:

Tales of Suspense #59, Story B

Captain America

Featuring: Captain America
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Author: Stan Lee
Illustrator: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: S. Rosen
10 pages

Previous	#255	Next
Tales of Suspense #59	Reading order	Avengers #9
Tales of Suspense #59	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #60

Captain America is back with his own series, more or less. He doesn’t get the title of the magazine, but he gets a regular feature. He and Iron Man will be sharing Tales of Suspense. Very few characters get the title of the magazine. Daredevil and Spider-Man are special like that.

Captain America of course debuted in his own self-titled mag, Captain America Comics, way back in 1941. He was one of Marvel’s most popular superheroes for the entire decade. His comic was then retitled into Captain America’s Weird Tales for its final two issues to focus on the burgeoning horror genre. The final issue in 1950 didn’t even feature Captain America.

They tried a revival of the Captain America series in 1954, but it only lasted three issues. Fans were not as interested in seeing Cap smash Commies as they had been seeing him battle the Nazis a decade earlier.

Ten years later, they’re ready to try again. This time, the character will endure. Within 4 years, they’ll change the title of this comic to Captain America and that series will basically continue (with the occasional renumbering) to the present, over 55 years later.

All that said, this series doesn’t quite begin with a bang.

Journey Into Mystery #109, Story B

Banished from Asgard!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: August 4, 1964
Cover: Ocotber 1964
12 cents
Author: Stan Lee
Illustrator: Jack Kirby
Delineator: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Sam Rosen
5 pages

I think the Mountain Giants are a new set of villains. They seem to be careful naming the groups of giants. We’ve met the Frost Giants and the Storm Giants. Now, we meet Mountain Giants. Their queen is Knorda, a normal-sized woman.