marvel universe – Page 51

Amazing Spider-Man #5

Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: July 9, 1963
Cover: October 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Steve Ditko
21 pages

The opening page tells us the names of many characters, two named for the first time. We learned last issue that Peter’s blonde classmate was named Liz. We now get the full name: Liz Allan. Last issue, we met Jameson’s secretary Miss Brant. We learn on that first page her name is Betty.

We’ve now seen plenty of crossover amongst the heroes of the titles; now they’re starting to share villains. One week earlier, Thor brought his archfoe Loki along with him for Avengers #1. Now, the Fantastic Four will lend their favorite villain to Spider-Man. Of course, they’ll also be showing up to lend a hand.

Because they’re borrowing a villain, this is the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man where Ditko doesn’t create a timeless villain. He’ll get back to that practice next issue.

Perhaps for that reason or others, this is one of the weaker Spider-Man stories yet. Of course, a weak Spider-Man story is still on par with the best of the other titles.

They summarize Doom’s most recent appearance in Fantastic Four, showing tight continuity. Also taken from Doom’s previous appearance is his use of robot doubles.

My ranking so far

The 20 best

Now that we have 100 stories under our belt, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the best of them. These are my votes for the top 20, in order, represented by the cover or the first page of the story.

You’ll notice a preference for character introductions and Spider-Man stories (as well as Ditko stories in general). Not sure why there aren’t any Ant-Man or Human Torch stories…

Click on an image to view my write-up for that story.

The Avengers #1

The Coming of the Avengers!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

Previous	#94	Next
Marvel Boy #1	PRELUDE
X-Men #1	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #48
	Avengers	Avengers #2

I pity the guy who tries to beat us!

We reach the 100th story in our Marvel reading. Quite the milestone. And what a story it is. Coincidentally, the 100th Marvel Universe story, by my count, is Avengers #1. Did I plan it that way? No. Well, at least not exactly. Six different comics came out this very same day, and it was mostly up to me what order to read them in. The 100th story could just as easily have been X-Men #1 if I’d wanted. But I made that #99. Because.

[Big asterisk on the last paragraph. I have since edited my own reading order to make this story an unexciting story #94. But it was #100 when I first posted it. Now that honor goes to Journey Into Mystery #97]

And what a day for comics. The first Fantastic Four annual had Namor find his people and declare war on the surface world. That’s cool. Sgt. Fury met Reed Richards for the first time. That’s cool. The X-Men were introduced! We read the worst story yet as Thor battled Merlin. That’s… less cool. But overall an exciting day.

Including this. Really, what it’s all been building up to. Why I’ve been intermixing Thor and Iron Man stories, acting like they’re somehow connected even though they clearly haven’t been. This is the heart of it all. Five heroes we’ve been reading about team up. Also, the Fantastic Four show up for good measure.

And, as we’ve discussed, my first comic ever was an Avengers comic. So I’m excited to have reached this milestone.

I just wish it were a better comic.

PRELUDE: Marvel Boy #1

Marvel Boy and the Lost World

Featuring: Marvel Boy
Release: August 24, 1950
Cover: December 1950
10 cents
Credits: Russ Heath
12 pages

No credits are given in the issue. The art is generally recognized as being by Russ Heath.

I was thinking of waiting a long time to introduce Marvel Boy. He’ll show up in the Marvel Age in the pages of What If…? in 1978. The following year, a new hero named Quasar will be introduced, a character modeled partly after Marvel Boy. But it’s going to be a long time before I get to those comics. We’re still in 1963, after all.

And Marvel Boy is a significant superhero. Introduced in 1950 at a time when the company was starting to shy away from superheroes. Plus, his very name will have some significance to the company. Marvel Boy.

So let’s read his origin now, on the pretense that we’ve just been introduced to Marvel Girl.

The origin is a pretty good one, though if you squint a bit, you’ll see some resemblance to Superman’s origin. Marvel Boy’s father, Professor Matthew Grayson, was an early atomic scientist, able to build an atomic rocket in 1934. (Hey… maybe this allows us to add 5 years to Xavier’s age if people were experimenting with atomic power as early as 1934). When his wife and daughter are killed by Nazis, he retreats to space with his son, ending up on the planet Uranus, and discovering an advanced utopian society.

PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1, Story B

The Angel

Featuring: Angel
Release: August 31, 1939
Cover: October 1939
10 cents
Credits: Paul Gustavson
8 pages

We have already read two stories from this, the very first Marvel comic, appropriately titled “Marvel Comics”. The most important character to debut in this issue is Sub-Mariner, whose story would be revived in the modern era in the pages of Fantatic Four. Next is Human Torch, who would not be revived, but rather reimagined– a new character created with the name and likeness. Another story in this issue features Ka-Zar, who will also get reimagined for the modern age. We’ll read his story when we meet the new one.

That leaves two other features, neither of whom will be revived in the Marvel Age of comics. One is the Masked Raider. Not sure when I’ll find an excuse to read his story, but I will at some point, just to complete the issue.

The other we get to now, the story of the Angel. We’re reading it now on the flimsy pretense that we just met the new Angel, a member of the X-Men. Even though it’s obvious these characters have nothing in common but a name. Not even sure this character was on anybody’s mind when they were creating the new Angel.

The X-Men #1

X-Men

Featuring: X-Men
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Paul Reinman
23 pages

Paul Reinman is not a name we’ve seen a lot. The internet tells me we’ve seen him ink Kirby once before in our reading, on Incredible Hulk #1, but he was not credited in that issue. That issue relied heavily on the mood created by night and shadow, so it needed a good inker. This issue requires an entirely different feel, but Reinman again delivers.

So, anyways, hey! It’s the X-Men! That’s a good new addition to our growing cast. They were really big when I started reading comics in the early ’90s. And they’ve had a whole bunch of movies now. So this is pretty exciting. We get to see how it all began.

And did you know the X-Men and the Avengers debuted on the very same day? How wild is that? We’ll cover Avengers #1 shortly.

We learn the X-Men are a team of mutants, really the students at a school for mutants, which also acts as a haven. Professor X is the teacher. He trains his students to use their powers to benefit mankind, and to fight evil mutants, like Magneto.

The word “mutant” is important, but pretty new to us. It’s worth reflecting back on Amazing Adult Fantasy #14, where we first encountered the word in our reading. I’m not sure what Marvel comic was the first to ever use the word, but I know who to ask. In that story, Tad Carter is revealed to be a mutant with telepathic and telekinetic powers, because his father had been exposed to radiation before he was conceived. He receives a telepathic summons and goes to join a secret society of self-described mutants with a variety of powers, who wait in hiding until humanity is ready to accept them, when they can usher in a new golden age.

We heard the word again in two other comics published this very day, July 2, 1963. Namor, the offspring of a human and a Sub-Mariner, with powers beyond either race, self-described as a mutant. And Merlin, wizard of King Arthur’s court, explained his seeming wizardry was actually because he was a mutant with powers of telepathy, teleportation, and levitation.

INTERLUDE: Journey Into Mystery #96, Story B

Call her… Medusa!

Featuring: Medusa
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script + Art: Larry Lieber
Inking: Paul Reinman
5 pages

Wet met Medusa in Tales to Astonish #32. As with all these mythological characters, it is unclear if all the stories that appear are supposed to connect. The CMRO includes many Medusa appearances in its order, including several appearances that predate where we started our reading. I hope to cover USA Comics #6 eventually in a “prelude” post, but after we first meet Captain America in the present stories.

For example, this comic notes Medusa was slain by Perseus, suggesting she is not the same character we met in the modern day. On the other hand, the Perseus story was related by a teacher, who is perhaps just wrong about Medusa’s fate.

Either way, we learn Medusa is a member of an alien race called the Gorgons, who are now ready to invade earth once again.

Journey Into Mystery #96

Defying the Magic of… Merlin the Mad

Featuring: Thor
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Joe Sinnott
13 pages

Merlin, again. Soon, we’ll meet the new Black Knight, and this will lead us to look back on the great Black Knight stories of the 1950s, which prominently feature Merlin. He was a heroic figure in those stories.

Surprised England was so willing to let so important a piece of their history go.

In our Marvel Age reading, we first met Merlin in Tales of Suspense #27, there to give a corrupt magician his just rewards. In Incredible Hulk #5, we learn he had once banished the evil Tyrannus beneath the earth. Then, Strange Tales #108 told a tale of King Arthur’s court, where Merlin clashed with Sir Mogard. It is not clear whether any of these are meant to tie together.

I’ve harped on this a few times now, but a lot of these weaker comics really fail to tie all their threads together, as compared with how Ditko tells the Spider-Man stories, where each story has a singular flow that juggles and intertwines its threads. Here, we get 3 pages of Thor rescuing a bus and it leading to drama with Jane. Then we move on completely to the Merlin story, which has nothing to do with any of that. They only have 13 pages to fill, but still seem to need to pad the story. Thor and Merlin finally meet on page 9.

Sgt. Fury #3

Midnight on Massacre Mountain!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages

The scans below are taken from a reprint in Special Marvel Edition #5, from 1972.

The goal of this blog is to get at the large meta-story that is the Marvel Universe. What we are mostly reading is a collection of titles that don’t seem to be particularly related except for one piece of glue: the Fantastic Four. At this point, the Fantastic Four have met Spider-Man, Hulk, Namor, and Ant-Man. They have not yet met up with Iron Man or Thor, but we have here a more unlikely connection. The story of how Reed Richards met Sgt. Fury.

Of course, the bonds will be forming even stronger in another comic that premieres this very same day, one which really ties the universe together, just as a rug might do to a room.

Fantastic Four Annual 1, Story B

The Fabulous Fantastic Four Meet Spider-Man!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: 1963
25 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Steve Ditko
6 pages

This is a very odd story. Something of a remake. It takes pages 2-4 of the second story from Amazing Spider-Man #1 and redraws them, expanding the story to 6 pages. This time, drawn by Kirby and inked by Ditko.

I don’t know why. The opening editor’s note claims it’s because fans demanded it, but Stan Lee always claimed that fans demanded everything. In the original, each member takes one go at Spidey. This time, each gets two.

Sue has a different haircut and each artist renders her invisibility differently. Ditko makes her shape clearer. In contrast, it’s Kirby who more clearly renders Johnny’s outline when he’s aflame.

Rather than offer any commentary of possible general interest to a story we’ve already talked about, I’m going to focus on the academic, and just give a full comparison of the stories. Some dialogue is copied, some slightly changed, some original. Some panels are new, while others closely match original panels. All seem redrawn from scratch.