sam rosen – Coke ⊕ Comics

Thor #139

To Die Like a God!

Featuring: Thor
Release: February 2, 1967
Cover: April 1967
12 cents
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inked with the prowess of Vince Colletta
Lettered with the pen-points of Sam Rosen
16 pages

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Thor #138, Story B	Reading order	Thor #139, Story B
Thor #138, Story B	Thor	Thor #139, Story B

Mighty are the warriors of Asgard! Though hopelessly outnumbered… though faced with alien weapons… they did not succumb! Never hath Orikal seen the like!

“To Die Like a God!” I find that a compelling title and cover image.

At the end of last issue, Thor’s hammer was stolen, which means he will change back to Don Blake in 60 seconds. Thor then gave a long and melancholy speech, which must have taken most of that 60 seconds. As this issue opens with him still being Thor, this must be only a couple seconds later.

Thor #138, Story B

The Quest for the Mystic Mountain!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: January 3, 1967
Cover: March 1967
12 cents
A Stan Lee and Jack Kirby super-spectacular
Inking: Vince Colletta
Lettering: Sam Rosen
5 pages

Previous	#561	Next
Thor #138	Reading order	Thor #139
Thor #138	Thor	Thor #139

If he wouldst fight as valiantly as he doth snore…

Last issue we learned Hogun’s origin, and met his arch-nemesis, Mogul of the Mystic Mountain. Hogun and his friends now seek the legendary Mountain.

Thor #137

The Thunder God and the Troll

Featuring: Thor
Release: December 1, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
In all the unmeasurable universe, surely there be none, save Stan Lee and Jack Kirby who couldst create such wonderment!
And, ne’er again shall we see the like of
Vince Colletta, inker, and
Sam Rosen, letterer
16 pages

Previous	#558	Next
Amazing Spider-Man #43	Reading order	Thor #137, Story B
Thor #136, Story B	Thor	Thor #137, Story B

The invasion is begun! Asgard must fall!

Last issue ended with Thor and Sif meeting. We pick up here with them hanging out. It’s not impossible he went to Earth between that meeting and now, but there’s no evidence he did. And I will need him with the Avengers on Earth soon. A new 3-part arc begins here. Thor will briefly travel to Earth in this story, but be busy. In the next arc, he travels to Earth and seems like he might have a bit of time on his hands.

This is to explain why we’ve gotten a bit far ahead in our Thor reading. We’re about to reach February 1967 for Thor, when we’re still in March 1966 for Hulk. Thor’s just been too busy for an Avengers meeting…. and Peter Parker already has his motorcycle for that meeting… and Matt Murdock was captured by the Owl when Spider-Man fought the Rhino… before Senator Byrd shut down Stark’s factories…

As last issue, Thor describes Sif as the raven-haired sister of Heimdall he knew as a child. But again, when we met Sif in her youth in Journey Into Mystery #102, she was described as the sister of Balder, and appeared to be blonde. Unless they are implying Heimdall and Balder are also brothers, this seems to be a contradiction. Or maybe there are two different women named Sif, sisters to Heimdall and Balder respectively.

Amazing Spider-Man #42

The Birth of a Super-Hero!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: August 9, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Smilin’ Stan Lee, writer
Jazzy Johnny Romita, artist
Slammin’ Sammy Rosen, letterer
20 pages

Previous	#556	Next
Amazing Spider-Man #41	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #43
Amazing Spider-Man #41	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #43

Oh well… I guess I better meet her and get it over with! She may not be as bad as I expect! She’ll probably be worse!

For the first few issues of his tenure, Romita has been inked by Mike Esposito. This issue we get to see Romita on his own to compare.

I claim this is a good comic. Even a very good comic. Lots of good things about it.

But it’s mostly remembered for a single panel that ends the issue. We’ll get there. Let’s see what else is going on first.

Thor Annual 2

If Asgard Falls…

Featuring: Thor
Release: June 30, 1966
Cover: 1966
25 cents
Scripted in solemn splendor by: Stan Lee
Illustrated in idealistic imagery by: Jack Kirby
Delineated in delicious delicacy by: Vince Colletta
Lettered in living luminescence by: Sam Rosen
Unaffected by the unabashed utterances of Irving Forbush
30 pages

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X-Men #24	Reading order	Daredevil #20

Would that I, too, might share the coming glory of clashing combat! But alas, it may not be! Imperial Odin must only be judge! To the young belongs the glory! Yet, well do I remember those hallowed days of yore… when the bludgeoning blade of Odin did strike with the fury of a thousand storms! ‘Twas then the summer of my life… when tall and straight as oak stood Odin! And now, though minstrels still sing of Odin’s feats… while campfires flicker…thy father has reached the twilight of his years… ‘Tis for the young to seize the torch of gallantry, and hold it high! Thus has it ever been! Thus shall it ever be! Even the aging lion must one day allow the eager cub to lead the hunt!

The Tournament of Titans is declared. Warriors from every land are summoned.

X-Men #24

The Plague of… The Locust!

Featuring: X-Men
Release: June 30, 1966
Cover: September 1966
12 cents
Editing by: Stan (Busy Bee) Lee
Script by: Roy (Bookworm) Thomas
Art by: Werner (Worker-ant) Roth
Inking by: Dick (Doodlebug) Ayers
Lettering by: Sam (Pussycat) Rosen
20 pages

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Fantastic Four #54	Reading order	Thor Annual 2
X-Men #23	X-Men	X-Men #25

“Grow! Grow! Grow! Let not one X-Man survive!”
“Now, how does a rational person argue with sentiments like those?”

As we learned last issue, Jean is leaving the X-Men to go to college. She’ll be at Metro College, the same college as Johnny Storm. We just saw that Johnny Storm was on school break with Wyatt Wingfoot, and using that break to travel to the Great Refuge to try to free the Inhumans.

The Narrator notes Johnny and Wyatt are in the Himalayas. Last we saw them, they were traveling from Wakanda in Africa and on their way to the Great Refuge, which had been in the Andes, not the Himalayas. Perhaps they got lost.

Fantastic Four #54

Whosoever Finds the Evil Eye–!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: June 9, 1966
Cover: September 1966
12 cents
Script: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Art: Jolly Jack Kirby
Inking: Jovial Joe Sinnott
Lettering: Snarlin’ Sam Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#550	Next
Sgt. Fury Annual 2	Reading order	X-Men #24
Fantastic Four #53	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #55

My name is Prester John… and long have I travelled the world, seeking to unravel the mysteries of mankind! That is why men have ever called me… the Wanderer! And, the sights I beheld… the secrets upon which I stumbled… were far beyond description… yea, almost beyond belief itself… Can I ever forget those lonely mountain peaks from which I barely escaped with my life… after finding a savage race who thrived only in the land of endless snow…? And, I wonder if time has erased the glory of Cathay… where I witnessed the flight of giant projectiles… like roaring comets, soaring high into the heavens! Even madness did I encounter… such as the time I crossed the angry sea only to find a tribe who studied the stars… and who insanely proclaimed Earth to be round, like some great spinning egg shell! But, the greatest triump of my life was finding the fabled isle of Avalon! Avalon… hidden realm of miracles without end! Avalon… whose wizards created mighty machines which harnassed the natural forces of the universe!! Alas, that those same forces should have destroyed their own land… causing them to vanish forever from the sight of men!

Still in Wakanda, the Fantastic Four and Black Panther play a baseball game.

When Reed and Sue go off to “shmooze”, Ben exclaims, “What a revoltin’ development!” Not the first time he’s used the phrase in response to Reed and Sue going off to shmooze. We’d seen it before in Fantastic Four #35. Brian Cronin traces the evolution of the phrase from Life of Reily to Daffy Duck to Ben Grimm here.

Sgt. Fury Annual 2

A Day of Thunder!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: June 9, 1966
Cover: 1966
25 cents
Stan Lee, editor extaordinary
Roy Thomas, scripter superlative
Dick Ayers, penciler pre-eminent
John Tartaglione, inker infallible
Sam Rosen, letterer lamentable
24 pages

Previous	#549	Next
Daredevil #19	Reading order	Fantastic Four #54
Sgt. Fury Annual 1	Sgt. Fury Annual	Sgt. Fury Annual 3

Countless ships… squadrons of high-flying B-17’s, and medium-range bombers…170,000 American and British troops– all part of the mightiest armada ever assembled by man! All dedicated to the overthrow of the most unholy empire ever conceived by man… or demon!

We’ve been hanging out in 1943-44 for this whole series. It’s been pointedly pre-D-Day. The Howlers are based in England because there is no major Allied presence in Europe. They keep sneaking into Europe for their adventures.

These annuals aren’t necessarily set with the monthly comics, so there may be several pre-D-Day comics yet to come. For example, the first annual showed the Howlers reunite in Korea, and the next one will take us to Viet Nam. And we have several more pre-D-Day stories to come in the main title.

June 5. 1944. Normandy. Hitler believes his wall around Europe to be impenetrable. The Howlers once again sneak into France on their most important mission.

Daredevil #19

Alone– Against the Underworld!

Featuring: Daredevil
Release: June 2, 1966
Cover: August 1966
12 cents
Script: Masterful Stan Lee
Art: Magnificent Johnny Romita
Inks: Melodramatic Frank Giacoia
Lettering: Melancholy Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Thor #136, Story B	Reading order	Sgt. Fury Annual 2
Daredevil #18	Daredevil	Daredevil #20

“You’ve got to confess that it was a hoax!”
“But then I’ll never have a chance with Karen!”

Hello. Happy new year. Welcome to this blog. We will be reading along with Daredevil #19, the 548th comic in the story that is the Marvel Universe, by our reckoning.

We’ve had a busy few months and found some complications in the Marvel Universe, which unfortunately delayed this latest entry. I thank the readers for their patience.

Without further ado, let’s try to recall that Foggy has recently been pretending he was Daredevil in order to impress Karen. The ruse led to Foggy finding himself in a Daredevil costume, battling a new super-villain called the Gladiator. This all began when Spider-Man mistook Foggy for Daredevil while searching for the Masked Marauder. The Masked Marauder remains at large.

Foggy does not seem to have learned a lesson from last issue’s shenanigans.

Thor #136, Story B

There Shall Come a Miracle!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: November 3, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Garnished with glory in the Marvel tradition by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Delineated by: Vince Colletta
Lettered by: Sam Rosen
5 pages

Previous	#547	Next
Thor #136	Reading order	Daredevil #19
Thor #136	Thor	Thor #137

Never before hath a blessed blanket of rain so caressed the barren wasteland of Nastrond! Rain… which is truly the harbinger of life… the promise of the new day which is yet to be! And, in time to come, the soil shall turn green once more… the grass shall grow, and plants shall sprout above the place where Fafnir fell! For, such is the way of life… life universal.. which can never vanish whilst faith endures!

We come to the finale of the battle in Nastrond. Its king Fafnir had once rebelled against Odin and he and the entire land were sentenced to death in Odin’s wrath. But Fafnir lived on, transformed into a dragon. He now battles Thor for the fate of Nastrond.

It is claimed that if Thor can defeat Fafnir, there will be a miracle in Nastrond.