johnny storm – Page 9 – Coke & Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #3

The Strangest Foe of all Time… Doctor Octopus

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: April 9, 1963
Cover: July 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
21 pages

Previous	#70	Next
Tales to Astonish #45	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #43
Amazing Spider-Man #2, Story B	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #4

What do I do now? I’ve never been beaten before! But this time my spider powers were not enough! Is this the end of Spider-Man?

I read this story in Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection vol. 1: Great Power.

I’m going to go ahead and confess that I don’t know what the title of this comic is. I often don’t. Many times, the title is in quotes to make it clear. Even though what’s in quotes is often preceded by the name of the title hero with a “versus” or a “battles” after.

For example, Fantastic Four #15 had the opening text: “The Fantastic Four Battle… The Mad Thinker and His Awesome Android!” With the latter part in a much bigger font. Online sources vary.

This is even more confusing because the arrangement of the different pieces make the order unclear.

Possible titles:

Doctor Octopus
Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus
The Strangest Foe of All Time… Doctor Octopus
Spider-Man Versus the Stranges Foe of All Time… Doctor Octopus

The internet generally doesn’t agree on which of the above makes sense. For my part, I’m trusting the table of contents in the collection I’m reading this in.

The title page describes Doctor Octopus as “the only enemy ever to defeat Spider-Man!” Not sure that’s accurate. Vulture and Tinkerer both handed Spider-Man initial defeats last issue before Spider-Man was able to come back and win in round 2. Which is basically what’s going to happen in this issue.

Fantastic Four #15

The Mad Thinker and His Awesome Android!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: March 12, 1963
Cover: June 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
20 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1

In general, the desire to be king of the city’s gangs is an uninteresting motivation. The FF villains are better when they think bigger than the Thinker seems to be thinking here. The lack of a good supervillain plot cheapens the new villain out of the box. Nonetheless, the Thinker (sometimes called the Mad Thinker) will become a major FF adversary.

Strange Tales #108

The Painter of a Thousand Perils!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: February 12, 1963
Cover: May 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages

Kirby is back with Ayers inking after 2 issues of Ayers on main art. They will go back and forth some, but Ayers is going to be the more regular artist at this point. This is the second script we’ve seen by “R. Berns”, Robert Bernstein, who just provided the script for the last Iron Man story. We’ll see him in a few more places.

The basic idea of this comic is fun. The Painter has magic paint that makes whatever he paints come to life. The ending is somewhat absurd, and the story has some severe structural problems.

The splash page is pretty heavily expository and overly explains the plot of the issue, when really it should just be teasing it.

I mean… that’s pretty much the entire story.

We get a couple pages showing how Human Torch regularly helps police capture common crooks. This isn’t the type of thing we see any other FF members doing. It’s a regular activity for Ant-Man and semi-regular activity for Thor.

Fantastic Four #14

The Merciless Puppet Master

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: February 12, 1963
Cover: May 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

Kirby got a fill-in for almost every book he draws in the last couple months… except for this one. This is clearly his baby in a way the others are not. That is also evident in the fact that Lee does all the scripts. That the Human Torch, Thor, Ant-Man, and Iron Man stories have rotating scripters and fill-in artists tells you where they fall on the totem pole compared to Fantastic Four.

I’ve struggled some (actually, for years going on decades) with the question of what order to read these stories in. I’m not alone. Marvel has published indices dedicated to chronology. The Marvel Chronology Project has painstakingly ordered the events of each characters’ lives to make sense. The Complete Marvel Reading Order is focused on what makes the “best” read, which includes keeping stories together.

So far, I’ve mostly focused on release date, catalogued in Mike’s Amazing World. Going in order by date has yielded several insights. I can see when Kirby suddenly had lots of fill-in artists take over. I can see cool facts, like that Thor, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man were all introduced the same day. It’s added a lot to my understanding of the context of these stories to go in time order.

Since most issues have been self-contained and there’s been minimal crossover, there’s been no reason to go in anything but date order. But the stories will become increasingly complex. And it might be nice to read single story-arcs together to appreciate them best.

I did some light fudging last time. Fantastic Four #13 was released January 3, yet I chose to read it after two comics released January 10. Similarly, this comic was released on February 12, but I am reading it before two comics released on February 5. That is because issue 14 picks up right where #13 ended, with the FF still not back from the moon. This will become more common, that the ending of one story will lead into the beginning of the next, and I won’t always be able to place such stories together. But this was easy enough to do.

It says “Part 1”, but there seem to be no other parts. Part 1 of 1?

As an example of something lost in the shuffle if I don’t go in strictly chronological order… this is the first issue we see something pretty cool. There’s a new logo added to the cover, with the word “Marvel” appearing for the first time. I’ve been calling this the “Marvel Age”, and now we see why. This line of titles is officially taking the name “Marvel”! But it didn’t actually begin here. It began last week with Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery. We’ll read those next.

Fantastic Four #13

He is sworn to watch, but never interfere…

The Fantastic Four Versus the Red Ghost and His Indescribable Super-Apes!/Menace on the Moon!/The Watcher Appears/Duel in the Dead City!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: January 3, 1963
Cover: April 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: S. Ditko
22 pages

I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

The great Steve Ditko provides inks for Kirby’s pencils. We last saw this legendary combination in Incredible Hulk #2.

This issue is the first to get to the heart of what I think the Fantastic Four should be about: exploration of the wondrous; an adventure into the imagination. Kirby is famed for his creativity, but this is the first issue where he’s really letting it flex. This issue is bursting with ideas, many tangential to the main story. The FF head to the moon, learn the blue area has a breathable atmosphere, find the ruins of an ancient civilization, battle a super-villain and his super-apes, and meet the enigmatic Watcher. Plus glimpses of the past and future, and of the destruction of a world. That’s a comic bursting with ideas.

Strange Tales #107

Human Torch battles Sub-Mariner for no particular reason!

Face-to-Face with Prince Namor, the Mighty Sub-Mariner
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: January 10, 1963
Cover: April 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

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

Dick Ayers is again the main artist. Kirby will be back next issue, but they will trade art duties for the remainder of the series. This is the pattern we have been seeing. Kirby is still around and will sometimes provide the art for the series he pioneered, but will be rotating with other artists. Heck has Ant-Man and Ayers has Human Torch.

This fairly useless series continues. The Fantastic Four series hasn’t once yet acknowledged anything about this series’ existence, including Sue and Johnny’s home in Glenville. In contrast, this series references lots of things about the Fantastic Four. The whole team has a cameo in this issue and there are references to the FF battles against Namor. You can tell which series is the ugly stepchild.

As the story–such as it is–begins, we find the three adult FF members had a meeting while Johnny was in school. They were taking notes on next month’s adventure, while Sue typed them up. It’s a bit odd, as most FF adventures are their responses to crises. It’s not clear what they’d be planning a month in advance.

Nice to see that even Sue had a role in the meeting…

The current issue of Fantastic Four came out a week earlier. We haven’t read it yet, because issue 14 picks up where it leaves off, so I’m reading it last this month. That adventure is a trip to the moon. Which does take some planning; however, in the issue itself, the trip is a surprise to the rest of the team. Only Reed had been planning it and had been planning not to take the others. So they must be referring to something else.

Strange Tales #106

Johnny’s new costume has a beret!

The Threat of the Torrid Twosome
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: December 10, 1962
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Dick Ayers
13 pages

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

This blog took a short hiatus while I traveled a bit. I did bring my Human Torch book along with me with the idea of getting this written while abroad, but I didn’t get it done. It doesn’t help that we’ve now read Amazing Spider-Man, so know how good a superhero comic can be. That doesn’t make it easy to return to these Human Torch comics.

This is the first Human Torch story not drawn by Kirby. Regular inker Dick Ayers is stepping up as the main artist. That’s a common theme for the month. After 18 months of Kirby drawing all the titles we’ve been reading, he’s dialing it back. We just saw Don Heck on Ant-Man and Iron Man.

This story finally addresses–albeit clumsily–the nagging flaw at the heart of this series: the secret identity of the Human Torch. We learn that he does not in fact have a secret identity, and that all his friends were pretending to not know his identity to be nice. That doesn’t explain a lot of things, like why the Torch so frequently risked lives to protect his identity, why he was so open and cavalier about his identity in the Fantastic Four comics, or why the Wizard’s plan depended so heavily on the Human Torch guarding his identity.

Amazing Spider-Man #1, Story B

Spider-Man vs. The Chameleon
Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: December 10, 1962
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
10 pages

Previous	#47	Next
Amazing Spider-Man #1	Reading order	Strange Tales #106
Amazing Spider-Man #1	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #2

How much does the job pay? I figure I’m worth your top salary!

We come now to the fourth and final Marvel superhero milestone of December 10, 1962

Milestone #1 of December 10, 1962:
Fantastic Four meet the Hulk!
Milestone #2:
Iron Man
Miletone #3:
Amazing Spider-Man #1
Milestone #4:
Fantastic Four meet Spider-Man!

A pretty exciting day in the history of Marvel superheroes indeed.

While the first story of Amazing Spider-Man #1 was largely a character-focused tale, this one gets more into the superhero action.

There are two main thrusts. The first is the meeting between Spider-Man and the FF! And of course, when they meet, they fight. The FF were understandably unhappy about Spider-Man breaking into their headquarters, and Spider-Man saw taking them on as a way of proving his worth to them.

In fairness, the FF get into fights with everybody, including each other.

He thought joining the Fantastic Four would be the secret to solving his money woes, but he learned they are a non-profit organization that pays no salary.

Fantastic Four #12

The Incredible Hulk/Mission: Stop the Hulk!/Who is the Wrecker?/The Hulk at Last!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 10, 1962
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
23 pages

I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

Let’s review the key dates so far.

August 8, 1961 — The Fantastic Four debut
March 1, 1962 — The Incredible Hulk
June 5, 1962 — The most important day in Marvel’s history thus far: introducing Spider-Man, Thor, and Ant-Man!

It’s now December 10, 1962.

Another hugely important date in Marvel’s history. Four milestones, which we’ll be covering over the next few posts: we’ll see the debut of another iconic superhero; a superhero we haven’t seen in 6 months makes his return in the debut of his solo title; and, most excitingly, the Marvel comics start to coalesce into a universe. On this day, we get not only our first crossover of the Marvel Age, but our first two crossovers! The Fantastic Four will encounter two iconic Marvel characters on this very date.

Strange Tales #105

The Return of the Wizard!
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: November 8, 1962
Cover: February 1963
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.

It’s time to reflect back on this series so far: it’s not very good. Now, the Fantastic Four comic is pretty good. This has the same creators and features a character from that comic. But they don’t seem to be bringing their A-game to this title.

There’s a couple things to notice about the Fantastic Four comics. The first is that Johnny has a pretty minor role in those stories. Most of the focus and character development is on Reed and Ben. Those are the characters Lee and Kirby seem interested in, notably the two male characters about their age, as opposed to the woman and teenager, who almost seem to be there as token characters.

Also, notice the Fantastic Four comic never gives any hints that this series exists. It’s never mentioned Glenville. Johnny continues to be open about his Human Torch identity there, while hiding it here. Johnny seems to always be in the Baxter Building; it seems like he lives there. Johnny’s solo adventures are just never mentioned.