Featuring: Sgt. Fury Release: December 8, 1966 Cover: February 1967 12 cents Herculean editing by Stan Lee Halcyon scripting by Roy Thomas Heroic plotting and drawing by Dick Ayers Heavenly inking by John Tartaglione Homogenized lettering by Artie Simek 20 pages
Featuring: X-Men Release: December 8, 1966 Cover: February 1967 12 cents Stan Lee… editor Roy Thomas… scripter Werner Roth… artist John Tartaglione… inker Sam Rosen… letterer Irving Forbush… skating instructor 20 pages
Funny… it took an inhuman, emotionless thing like the Super-Adaptoid… to make me realize the true value of the emotion called… friendship!
We haven’t seen many seasons yet in our years of Marvel reading. But now it’s clearly winter. We’ll think at the end of the post about what that means for our continuity.
Jean is in town for the weekend from college. Going off to college seemed like a way of sidelining her from the series, but she’s managed to miss very few adventures.
We learn Warren is recovering from his accident.
And see Scott standing alone and aloof off to the side while his teammates enjoy themselves.
Featuring: Ghost Rider Release: December 1, 1966 Cover: February 1967 12 cents Edited by… Stan Lee Written by… Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas Plotted and drawn by… Dick Ayers Inked by… Vince Colletta Lettered by… J. Verpooten 17 pages
Magazine Enterprises is long since defunct. So nobody owns the character of Ghost Rider we met in Tim Holt #11. The co-creator Dick Ayers is now a Marvel regular, so Marvel takes the character and has Ayers revive him.
Of course this means Marvel, now owned by Disney, owns the character of Ghost Rider and will for all time.
Ayers would attempt to return to his character in the ’90s, adding some new covers to the old stories, but they had to call him the “Haunted Horseman”, as they had no rights to the name. Because of the world we live in (or at least the country I live in) and laws built to serve corporations and not artists.
Gary Friedrich is a mostly new name to us. This is his first Marvel work. He’s in his early ’20s. He started at Charlton and we saw his work with Steve Ditko on Blue Beetle over there. He’ll become a prolific writer over the decades.
Gary has no relation to Mike Friedrich, who will be starting work at DC soon.
The letterer John Verpooten is also new to us. He’s just started as a regular at Marvel, working on staff. He’s here for behind-the-scenes stuff, and we’ll start seeing him occasionally as a letterer, and soon enough as an inker. He’ll spend a decade with Marvel until his untimely death in 1977 at the age of 37.
Giving Ayers a plotting credit is part of a general trend we are seeing of recognizing artists for their plotting contributions.
Though Thomas would much later claim that credit was false, and the plotting was entirely done by Friedrich and himself.
While the name and likeness are lifted directly from Ayers’ 40s hero, this is a different character with a different origin. The original Ghost Rider was Rex Fury. This issue introduces Carter Slade.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: November 10, 1966 Cover: January 1867 12 cents Editing– Stan Lee Script– Roy Thomas Art– Dick Ayers Inking– John Tartaglione Lettering– Bob Agnew Technical advisor this ish– Morrie (Super-samurai) Kuramoto 20 pages
I think you fellas must have me confused with the rats that bombed Pearl Harbor! Personally, I’ve never been west of San Francisco!
Bob Agnew is a new name to us. 99% of the comics we’ve read have been lettered by Sam Rosen or Artie Simek. The lettering here is by Agnew, in what is as best as I can tell his only Marvel work. His stint in comics seems to have been brief.
Morrie Kuramoto is credited with technical advising, with no more clarity offered as to what that entails. Kuramoto is Japanese-American who served the US in WWII, and this comic will introduce a Japanese-American soldier. The credit calls him a super-samurai, so it’s also possible he advised on the martial arts on display in this issue.
We’ve seen Kuramoto’s work occasionally as a letterer, under the pen name Sherigail.
Morrie Kuramoto was associated with Marvel on and off going back to 1946. He just joined back as a regular member of the Bullpen, and would be with Marvel continually for the next two decades. Morrie passed away in 1985 at the age of 64.
Featuring: X-Men Release: November 3, 1966 Cover: January 1967 12 cents Stan Lee editor Roy Thomas writer Werner Roth artist J. Tartaglione inker Artie Simek letterer Irving Forbush noise-maker 20 pages
How could these puny humans– who dwell among the smoke and noise that they call civilization– hope to appreciate such matchless beauty?
So my normal standard for making posts is to prepare the post one day, but not publish it the same day. I sleep on it and give it a last lookover before publication.
I’m skipping my usual standards today. Because today is St. Patrick’s Day. So I’m posting this without my usual extra day to edit. And from a pub. While some number of drinks in.
As seems appropriate.
This issue feels appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day because it introduces the character of the Banshee.
Who I think is Irish. Though they don’t say so. At least, I associate banshees with being Irish. Of course, I also associate banshees with being women, so shows what I know.
Featuring: X-Men Release: October 11, 1966 Cover: December 1966 12 cents Edited by Stan Lee Scripted by Roy Thomas Drawn by Werner Roth Inked by Dick Ayers Lettered by Sam Rosen (Wouldja believe Artie Simek?) 20 pages
…as long as there are evil mutants abroad in the world, the X-Men must remain vigilant!
Recall last issue ended with Cyclops accidentally (or so he claims) injuring Angel. Meanwhile, Jean Grey ran into Cal Rankin at Metro College. Cal Rankin had fought the X-Men as Mimic, but he doesn’t recall the encounter because Professor X futzed with his brain.
We pick up with the X-Men battling Mimic again, now seeming to recall their last encounter. After the in media res opening, we see how we got here.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: September 8, 1966 Cover: November 1966 12 cents Block-buster editing by Stan Lee Bullet-scarred script by Roy Thomas Battle-ready art by Dick Ayers Bomb-happy inking by John Tartaglione Ballpoint-pen lettering by Sam Rosen 20 pages
A traitor? Nein, I think not! If there be any traitor to the Fatherland, it is rather those who would lead it to the brink of disaster for the sake of their own personal glory!
The stories from this title had fallen into a pattern. The premise was always location-based. The Howlers had some mission in a new location. They completed it and went home.
Since taking over, Thomas has been trying to tell actual stories and have character arcs.
This issue is location-based. The Howlers go to the neutral territory of Switzerland, breaking any number of laws and treaties.
But there’s a premise and a larger character arc as well.
We met Eric in Sgt. Fury #27, when he defected from the Germans and came to Britain. But last issue it was decided Eric (whose last name we learned was Koenig) should join the Howlers, since Manelli was injured and recovering back in the States. This is his first mission with the Howlers.
So Thomas writes about a couple things pertaining to that, ideas that are more than “the Howlers have a mission and succeed”. The first is that he’s eager to prove himself, sometimes too eager and to everyone’s detriment.
I must prove myself… show the Commandos I am as good as any of them! I must! For, only thus will I ever be certain that they look on me as a man… not as an ex-Nazi!
Featuring: Avengers Release: October 11, 1966 Cover: December 1966 12 cents Edited (ecstatically) by Stan Lee Scripted (surprisingly) by Roy Thomas Drawn (dynamically) by Don Heck Lettered (legibly) by Sam Rosen 20 pages
To be an Avenger is to surrender a part of one’s life… to be ever at the beck and call of humanity! Still, in these quiet moments, each of the others has another human being to whom he can reach out… only I have no one… no life, except behind the mask of the Red-White-and-Blue Avenger!
This begins a 70-issue run on Avengers by Roy Thomas. Thomas will have his highs and lows over those 70 issues, and it will take him a minute to warm up and get into the groove, but on the whole I think his Avengers will be much better than Stan Lee’s.
We’ll try to note along the way milestones marking an increase in quality. I’ll offer a hint that a new artist is going to help a lot.
The slow move of Stan off scripting duties, and the expanding bullpen of artists… this is a transition into the next era of Marvel Comics. Where it’s not Stan and Jack and Steve making most of the comics.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: December 8, 1966 Cover: March 1967 12 cents Edited by: Stan Lee Scripted by: Roy Thomas Plotted and drawn by: Jim Steranko Lettered by: Sam Rosen 12 pages
The training wheels are off for Jim Steranko. In his first couple issues, he’d been drawing off layouts from Kirby, but Kirby has stepped away. The newcomer Steranko has drawn this all by himself.
And he even gets a plotting credit for his work. Something it took Ditko and Kirby years to get. That folks like Orlando and Wood left the company over.
Roy Thomas was also on scripting duties last issue, but this won’t be a regular gig for him. This is his second and final turn on the series.
AUTOFAC is the AI system that does SHIELD’s thinking. If they feed it what they know about Supreme Hydra, it will deduce their identity.
Can you, reader, deduce the identity of Supreme Hydra before AUTOFAC can? If not, maybe we should just surrender to AI.
We get a detailed diagram of the Heli-Carrier. Below the story notes, we recorded all the rooms and notes.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: November 10, 1966 Cover: February 1967 12 cents Seldom-equalled editing by Stan Lee Seldom-surpassed scripting by Roy Thomas Seldom-lacking layouts by Jack Kirby Seldom-rivaled rendering by Jim Steranko Seldom-legible lettering by Artie Simek 12 pages
The hour of Hydra has come at last– And nothing that the human race can do will cease our relentless march toward world domination!
Steranko takes on the cover solo, and does an impressive job. He probably won’t need Kirby’s handholding much longer.
Inside, it’s still the Kirby/Steranko art team, with the art seeming more and more Steranko each issue. What’s changed is the writer. Thomas has been the regular on X-Men and Sgt. Fury and occasionally filled in elsewhere. This is in that fill-in category. He won’t be a regular writer on this series.
We open in the barbershop. Not clear the status of it after the attack by AIM. Is it still a SHIELD base? Is it still secret?
We recognize the two agents working in the barbershop, but still haven’t learned their names.
