larry lieber – Page 4 – Coke & Comics

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.

Strange Tales #104

The Human Torch Meets Paste-Pot Pete!
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: October 9, 1962
Cover: January 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I think it goes without saying that Paste-Pot Pete is one of the greatest super-villains of all time. And that he has one of the greatest names. And therefore– I will say no more.

Tales to Astonish #39

The Vengeance of the Scarlet Beetle!
Featuring: Ant-Man
Release: October 2, 1962
Cover: January 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
10 pages

I read this comic in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1.

Jack Kirby is a pretty great artist. But he’s also churning out a lot of comics, drawing all 4 of Marvel’s superhero comics to premiere this month. He seems to put most of his energy into making Fantastic Four as good as he can, and treating the others as after-thoughts. But this comic shows plenty of splashes of greatness, beginning with the cool perspective of the first panel, and continuing with Kirby’s depictions of a war with a variety of insects.

People are pretty quick to call superheroes cowards…

Journey Into Mystery #87

Prisoner of the Reds!
Featuring: Thor
Release: October 2, 1962
Cover: December 1962
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
10 pages

It seems overly sanctimonious to sit here almost 60 years later and dismiss comics like this as propaganda, though it’s evident that’s what it is. Thor, God of Thunder, refers to a Soviet stronghold as a “citadel of evil” and calls upon Odin to smite it. No, it’s a military facility, just like the ones the US has. And the Russian citizens depicted are sympathetic to America and its cause of freedom. That part at least allows it to rise above the propaganda comics of the ’40s, as it demonizes the enemy’s government and military, but not its people.

Why does Thor need Odin’s help to summon a storm?

But really it’s just a story of its time. Stan and Jack are looking for enemies. Twenty years earlier, during the last wave of superhero comics, the Nazis made convenient targets. In 1962, the Soviets seem a natural extension. I think it was a scary time in America, with nuclear war a barely understood but terrifyingly likely reality. Moreover, it’s October of 1962. This comic reached the shelves just 2 weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Tales to Astonish #38

Betrayed by the Ants!!
Featuring: Ant-Man
Release: September 11, 1962
Cover: December 1962
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Scrtipt: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
10 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1.

Johnny Dee is credited with the letters. I believe this is a pen name for Jon D’Agostino.

We open with a meeting of organized crime, who have been stymied by Ant-Man… I must pause here and reflect. We’ve seen Ant-Man triumph over villains so far by tying their shoelaces together and blowing dust in their face with a fan. We’ve seen Ant-Man almost defeated by a box and a vacuum cleaner. I have trouble believing he is so much of a threat that criminals haven’t dared pull a robbery in weeks. And if Ant-Man is this much of a threat, what will these same criminals do when–any moment now–the streets start filling up with costumed vigilantes, many much bigger than an ant?

Strange Tales #103

Prisoner of the 5th Dimension!/Trapped in Another World!
Featuring: Human Torch
Release: September 11, 1962
Cover: December 1962
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.

Once again, we see Stan is giving full credits for the art team, including the letterer Art Simek. Stan credits himself with the plot, but I’ll add some notes based on my general understanding of the usual working relationship; they details of this have been debated by lawyers and historians for decades, so take my musings as those of a non-expert relating what he’s heard. It was very common that Kirby also usually made significant plot contributions, despite the lack of annotation in the credits. The general working arrangement would be that Stan and Jack would talk out ideas together in loose terms, then Kirby would go draw the comic, which includes most of the storytelling details, and then the script and final inks would be filled in after. The busier Stan got, the looser those initial planning conversations were, and the more plotting work was left to Kirby when he was drawing the comic.

Seems like a perfect setup for a Scooby Doo mystery…

Journey Into Mystery #86

On the Trail of the Tomorrow Man!
Featuring: Thor
Release: September 4, 1962
Cover: November 1962
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1.

There’s a pretty significant milestone here. Relatively full credits are given at the bottom of the first page. Many comics we’ve read had no credits at all. Others bore a signature here or there. The Fantastic Four have featured the signatures of Stan and Jack fairly prominently. For the first time, we see explicit credit given to Lieber and Ayers, along with a breakdown of who did what. Online sources were generally clear Lee and been doing the plotting on Thor (though it’s likely Kirby also deserves credit) and leaving the scripting to Lieber. The table of contents of the Marvel Masterworks edition simply refers to Lee and Lieber as writers. Fantastic Four #9 debuts the same day and also features similarly robust credits. We’ll cover that shortly.

I’ve been noting the main credits above–writers and artists–as best I can, drawing from the credits given in the collection I’ve been reading or from online sources. I’m not trying to be a definitive source for credits, so have not been giving full credits myself. I don’t mention above the lettering of Artie Simek or the coloring of Stan Goldberg. I mean no disservice to their talents; it’s just not the focus of this blog. (Notably, I am often looking at these reprint editions, not the originals, and they have often been recolored… so I am anyway in no position to speak intelligently to Goldberg’s coloring).

Strange Tales #102

Prisoner of the Wizard/Wizard’s Wiles!
Release: August 9, 1962
Cover: November 1962
12 cents
Writers: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
13 pages

This is better than the previous Human Torch story. It at least introduces a notable villain. And Wizard is a pretty cool character.

But, man, that secret identity thing remains a rough plot point. First, the ultra-genius Wizard needs a convoluted plan to find the Torch because nobody knows his secret identity. And then, Wizard douses Torch’s flames to defeat him, but only on his body… leaving a flaming head. Why?

Tales to Astonish #37

Trapped by the Protecter!/Face-to-face with the Protecter!
Release: August 2, 1962
Cover: November 1962
12 cents
Writers: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1. I took the credits above from the collection. I see no credits within the story itself.

In his first outing, a difficulty Ant-Man had was that nobody could hear him in ant-size. They haven’t specifically addressed how he overcame that, but he clearly has. Perhaps speakers are built into his helmet.

Again, we see Ant-Man as the most active superhero, using his ants to patrol so he can find his way to crime scenes and help investigate. This will become an increasingly common practice for people in this world, but nobody else is really doing it yet.

Who just rents a jewelry store on a whim?

As part of a trap, Henry Pym rents a jewelry store. That doesn’t sound cheap, suggesting a certain affluence on Dr. Pym’s part. It seems like it would have been easier to have his ants stake out other jewelry stores.

This story introduces the evil Protecter, who is extorting jewelers by threatening to destroy their merchandise with a disintegrating ray. The story has a lot of beat similarity to the Human Torch tale we recently read. There is a villain, and it ends with an unmasking of the villain, who turns out to be the only other character the story bothered to name. We also learn other secrets of the villain, like in this case he didn’t really have a disintegrating ray. He just created a flash and quickly (and entirely implausibly) gathered up gems and sprinkled sand. (How long is that flash? This is a guy in a big mechanized suit– how fast is he?)

Journey Into Mystery #85

Trapped by Loki, the God of Mischief!/The Vengeance of Loki!/
Release: August 2, 1962
Cover: October 1962
12 cents
Writers: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol. 1. The credits above come from the collection. I see no credits within the comic itself.

This is a pretty exciting story for me. I like the character of Thor, but what excites me most is the mythological world surrounding him. The first 2 issues told of a man in Thor’s body battling aliens and Commies. Now we finally get to Asgard.

“Beyond our segment of time and space, there exists Asgard, the citadel of the Norse gods, which is connected to earth by a rainbow bridge called the Bifrost!”