Featuring: Wasp Release: February 4, 1964 Cover: May 1964 12 cents Story plot: Stan Lee Script and art: Larry Lieber Inking: George Bell Lettering: Sherigail 5 pages
This is the first lettering we’ve seen attributed to “Sherigail”, a pseudonym for Morrie Kuramoto. The name is a combination of both his wife and daughter’s names.
I originally attributed the lettering to Ray Holloway. Thanks to Nel Yomtov for the correction.
I recognize that “gypsy” is an outdated and offensive word, but it’s in the title of the comic, and it’s how the comic describes the strange alien visitor.
Though the era of weird tales is ending, through the Wasp’s stories we get two more in this title.
Featuring: Wasp Release: December 2, 1963 Cover: March 1964 12 cents Story plot: Stan Lee Script + Art: L.D. Lieber Inking: D. Heck Lettering: R. Holloway 5 pages
Once again, we get a Wasp story where she narrates another story. This time, she tells her story to Hank before heading to the Veterans hospital.
It concerns a warlord named Mingo (perhaps inspired by Ming from Flash Gordon). An atheistic conqueror, he takes advantage of his targets’ religious beliefs, easily defeating a people who don’t believe in fighting at night and another who can’t fight soldiers wearing sacred animal garb.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: November 12, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Don Heck Lettered by: Ray Holloway 13 pages
So there’s this idea of an archfoe. Not every superhero needs one, but most have one. For Superman, it’s Lex Luthor. Batman has an extensive rogues gallery, but Joker stands out amongst them as his archfoe. We have not yet met Green Goblin, but many consider him Spider-Man’s archfoe. That’s likely why he was the villain in the first Spider-Man film. Those people, including the filmmakers, are wrong. We have met Spider-Man’s archfoe. It’s Dr. Octopus.
Thor has fought Loki in almost every issue. Magneto showed up in X-Men #1 and will be showing up a lot more. The Fantastic Four have fought Dr. Doom in a full quarter of their issues.
For Human Torch, it seems to be the Wizard. For Ant-Man/Giant-Man, it’s a little less clear. I tend to point to Egghead, others to the Human Top.
In this issue, Iron Man meets the Mandarin. He’ll be showing up again in a few issues. And conventional wisdom suggests Mandarin is Iron Man’s archfoe. I have no idea why conventional wisdom suggests that. I just don’t understand and never have.
Mandarin is a “yellow peril” villain, part of a long tradition of villains, with the most eminent one being Fu Manchu. Within Marvel, they had the Yellow Claw back in the 1950s. We’ll visit his old stories when he reemerges in the modern era. Today, by modern standards, this tradition of villains is considered racist. They are stereotypes of Asian people, which feed and draw from the prejudice that many Americans feel toward the people of various Asian countries. This prejudice is rooted partly in government propaganda, going back to the war against Japan, and continuing with the Cold War against Communist China, with this xenophobia enduring to the present day.
