sam rosen – Page 16 – Coke & Comics

Fantastic Four #29

It Started on Yancy Street!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: May 12, 1964
Cover: August 1964
12 cents
Written with a dash of greatness by: Stan Lee
Drawn with a hint of glory by: Jack Kirby
Inked with a touch of drama by: Chic Stone
Lettered with a bottle of India ink by: S. Rosen
22 pages

This is pretty easily my favorite cover so far. Years before I’d ever read the issue, I’d been enthralled by the cover. It seems to promise so much potential. What started on Yancy Street? Important enough to attract the attention of the Watcher.

Beyond my fascination with the ominous mood the cover suggests, there really hasn’t been a cover at all like this yet in our reading. First of all, it’s definitely the first Fantastic Four cover without a hint of a villain. The closest other example is Fantastic Four #13, which only shows Red Ghost’s hand. The mood of the characters is entirely different from the norm. Usually they’re mid-battle or primed for battle, with only a couple exceptions, notably FF#13 again. Now, they seem nervous, uncertain, hesitant. Moods that have never made it onto a cover. Reed is holding Sue’s hand. Ben looks uneasy. Johnny is nervously looking around.

Behind them all, the visage of the Watcher lurking ominously with glimpses of the cosmos behind him.

And yet. And yet. While almost everything about the visuals of the cover suggest this serious tone, we must also look to the street sign. Yancy Street. That creates an association which is far from serious. Since we first learned of the Yancy Street Gang back in issue 6, they have been comic relief, existing to knock Thing down a peg, to keep him humble. There is then some irony on the cover. Perhaps the super-serious tone is not meant to be taken quite so seriously.

Will the story live up to the incredible cover? As with most great works of this era, parts of it do and parts of it do not. In particular, the revelation of just what was happening on Yancy Street proves somewhat disappointing.

The first page seems almost a continuation of the cover, the Fantastic Four walking down Yancy Street, uncertain quite what they are looking for. Yet, the ominous tone of the cover is mixed with a certain wackiness as Thing steps in gum and somebody hurls lettuce at Mr. Fantastic. They are indeed on Yancy Street.

The first 5 pages of this comic are a quirky mix of foreboding and humor and relationship drama. The Fantastic Four get attacked by unseen members of the Yancy Street Gang. Reed bewilderingly concludes that a super-villain must be behind the Gang.

Strange Tales #123

The Birth of the Beetle!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: May 12, 1964
Cover: August 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee (‘Nuff Said)
Illustrated by: Carl Burgos (Who was the first to draw the Torch way back in the Golden Age of comics!)
Inked by: Darlin’ Dick Ayers
Lettered by: Smilin’ Sam Rosen
14 pages

Check out the split cover. That’s about to come into vogue. Equal cover real estate for both Human Torch and Dr. Strange. The idea won’t take off right away in this title, but we’ll soon see the split cover all over the place as more and more superheroes share titles.

There’s even a certain symmetry to the halves of the cover, what with the respective guest star boxes.

I find myself with an unusually large amount of things to say about the first page. Strap in.

“Nuff Said”. I’ve now read almost 3 years of Marvel comics without seeing that phrase. Now, I’m usually reading reprints, and thus missing ads and letter pages, where that phrase is more likely to show up. Brian Cronin notes Nuff Said first appeared in the letters page of Fantastic Four #19, almost a year earlier. I missed it. This is the first time I’ve seen it show up in the credits of a story or anywhere within a story. It is now recognized as one of Stan’s signature catch phrases.

Carl Burgos is the artist. That’s pretty cool. Because Burgos created the original Human Torch 25 years earlier; Johnny Storm borrowed his name, look, and powers. However, the credits don’t quite let us know that. Similar to Avengers #4, they acknowledge some contribution from Burgos without attributing the character to him. They call him the “first to draw the Torch”. He was the first to draw and write the character, and the entire concept is his. Marvel just bought his work. From a modern eye, this is irksome for a couple reasons. First, the language may be careful for legal reasons, as these companies like to make clear that the company created these characters and no people were involved. It also feeds into the notion that Stan has taken too much credit for himself over the years, allowing himself to get recognized as the creator of many characters, while often failing to acknowledge the actual creators. If you polled people today and asked who created the Human Torch, Stan Lee’s name would likely come up far more often than Carl Burgos’. Misleading credits like this do not help with that.

X-Men #6

Sub-Mariner!

Featuring: X-Men
Release: May 5, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written: With the flair of Stan Lee
Drawn: With the air of Jack Kirby
Inked: With the care of Chic Stone
Lettered: On a dare by S. Rosen
22 pages

Once again, we see that Namor and Hulk are the binding that holds this nascent Marvel Universe together. Most of the heroes haven’t met each other, but they’ve almost all met Hulk or Namor. (Daredevil hasn’t met either yet, but we’ve only read two issues; he’ll meet Namor soon.)

My confusion about what to call Magneto’s group remains. It’s becoming clearer that “Evil Mutants” is how Xavier and the narrator refer to them. It’s less clear what they would call themselves. They were called the “Brotherhood of Evil Mutants” on the cover, and in the title, of their first appearance; however, that name has never shown up in-story.

Tales to Astonish #58, Story B

The Magician and the Maiden!

Featuring: Wasp
Release: May 5, 1964
Cover: August 1964
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script and art: Larry Lieber
Lettering: S. Rosen
7 pages

The Magician escaped prison, so Wasp has to take his picture off her weird trophy wall of super-villains she has defeated. Considering the rate at which these villains seem to get out of prison, she must have to update that wall a lot.

Do we recognize all the villains on the wall? I see: Egghead, Black Knight, Magician, Human Top, the Creature from Kosmos, Porcupine. There are two pictures we can’t see. The wall is missing Cyclops, Trago, Living Eraser, El Toro, and Colossus. It’s possible we just can’t see the entire wall and those photos are off to the side. It’s also possible she was unable to get a picture of some of them. The Living Eraser lives in another dimension, so getting a photo may be hard.

Concerned for her safety, Hank phones Wasp to suggest she go to the lab. The lab is publicly known to be the headquarters of Giant-Man. I would argue that is the least safe place. What about his house in New Jersey? He apparently somehow has a secret identity.

Wasp refuses, as there is a new line of Wasp-themed fashion debuting at Benson’s department store.

Strange Tales #122

3 Against the Torch!

Featuring: Human Torch
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Rapidly written by: Stan Lee
Speedily sketched by: Dick Ayers
Instantly inked by: Geo. Bell
Lazily lettered by: S. Rosen
14 pages

Move over, Johnny. Human Torch now has to share the corner box with Dr. Strange. Getting your face into the corner box is how you know you’ve made it.

And hey! I own this comic. That cover is scanned from my collection. I bought it not all that long ago for $15, which seemed a reasonable price. For those keeping count, this is #3 for comics I actually own in original form.

But now I want to return it. Because of blatant false advertising. The cover clearly says “Dr. Doom does not appear in this story.”

Yet, look here on page 1. Who is that? It’s Dr. Doom!

Turn the page, who do we see on page 3? Dr. Doom again!

In three different panels, no less!

Now, these panels are all flashback sequences to the last battle with Dr. Doom. Since it ended with Dr. Doom falling into space, it’s obvious we’ll never actually see him again. Wait… but the note informs us he will return in Fantastic Four Annual 2. How can that possibly be?

Daredevil #2

The Evil Menace of Electro!

Featuring: Daredevil
Release: April 2, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Joe Orlando
Inking: Vince Colletta
Lettering: S. Rosen
22 pages

The credits have two names that are new to us. Last issue was drawn by Bill Everett, who did an excellent job, but apparently also missed his deadline by a wide margin. Whatever happened, he was not invited back.

The artist is now Joe Orlando, who has been working in comics since the early ’50s, including occasional freelance work for Marvel. This is his first superhero work, previously drawing horror, western, and war comics, most notably for EC Comics. He worked in the comics field for many decades as artist, writer, and editor, most of that time with DC comics. As far as I can tell, this short stint on Daredevil is the last work he’ll ever do at Marvel.

Here’s a peek at some of the work he’d been doing in the previous 13 years.

Vault of Horror #9 (1951), Battle #47 (1956), Classics Illustrated #147 (1958), Mad #44 (1959)

Vince Colletta had been working as an artist for Marvel for about a decade, primarily on romance comics. He had recently moved toward inking. He will soon become a regular inker over Jack Kirby, and begin a very long run inking Thor. I believe this is also his first ever superhero work.

His work is not always loved by critics or his colleagues. He has a reputation for choosing professionalism over artistry. I see no evidence of this or any other flaw in this particular comic. I will caveat that I haven’t always the best eye for art, nor any particular talent for separating the contributions of the penciler from the inker when I look upon a page.

Here’s a sampling of his prior work.

Love Romances #44 (1954), Jungle Action #4 (1955), Love Diary #6 (1959), Kid Colt Outlaw #100 (over Kirby’s pencils, 1961)

Tales of Suspense #55, Story B

All About Iron Man

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Presented by: Stan Lee and Don Heck
Lettered by S. Rosen
5 pages

This is pushing the line between what I’d call a story and what I’d call a special feature at the end of a story. It’s long enough and told in a comics format, so I decided to give it its own entry, but I could have included it at the end of the last one.

This feature fits in where the science fiction tale would normally have gone, but those are done now.

The first page shows some of Iron Man’s major villains:

Black Widow
Mysterious Melter
Mandarin
Scarecrow
Mr. Doll
Crimson Dynamo
Gargantus
Jack Frost

It’s not an exhaustive list. I don’t see:

Wong-Chu
Kala and the Netherworlders
Dr. Strange
Red Barbarian
The Actor
The Mad Pharaoh

One villain is unnamed, and I don’t recognize him.

Avengers #6

Masters of Evil!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: May 5, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Written by the inspired typewriter of: Stan Lee
Drawn by the enchanted pencil of: Jack Kirby
Inked by the gifted brush of: Chic Stone
Lettered by the scratch pen of: S. Rosen
23 pages

As if it wasn’t hard enough trying to figure out how to fit the Avengers’ solo adventures around this title, issue 5 ended with an urgent call from the Teen Brigade to go on a mission unrelated to the Lava Men adventure they just had, which itself was unrelated to the Hulk adventure that started that issue. Leaving almost no space for solo adventures.

Here, the narration informs us they are still on the way to New York to respond to the urgent call, but needed to refuel in Chicago.

Between New York and Chicago, Iron Man and Giant-Man have gotten new costumes, and Wasp has a new hairdo and headpiece.

Captain America meanwhile has new glove magnets and miniature transistors installed in his shield that allow him to control its motion.

Iron Man designed the shield transistors. He is apparently an engineering genius on par with Tony Stark, the man nobody has ever seen him with, despite being Stark’s bodyguard.

And then Thor gives Captain America his mail. Wait? What? I thought this was a refueling stop in Chicago. Where did they get the mail? Where are they?

Not many details in the scene. Some equipment makes it look like a lab. Cap is sitting on a chair, so they seem to not be on a plane or at a refueling station.

Sgt. Fury #8

The Death Ray of Dr. Zemo!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: May 5, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Not a bad story by: Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee
Passable art by: Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers
Inked by: Geo. Bell
Lettered by: S. Rosen
22 pages

I know what you’re thinking.
Didn’t we just read Sgt. Fury #7 pretty recently?
Yes.
But isn’t Sgt. Fury bimonthly?
Yes.
Wait. This comic is from May. You were just reading March comics.
Yes.
You haven’t even finished March yet. We haven’t read the March Iron Man story.
True.
I know you’re mostly going in publishing order, but sometimes move things around for story reasons.
I do.
But that doesn’t make any sense here, right? You only move things around when comics tie into each other, and Sgt. Fury is set in WWII. How can it tie in directly with any superhero comics?

Well, there’s the rub. For reasons we’ll go into later, we are reading Avengers #6 two months early. And, as noted on the first page, this issue does tie into Avengers #6! Sort of, at least. They were released the same day and star the same villain, Dr. Zemo.

It makes for a pretty uncommon occurrence in comics, where fans like to track what a character’s first appearance is. Dr. Zemo has two. He was introduced on the same day in two different titles, two stories set twenty years apart. We’ll meet him here in Sgt. Fury, then see what he’s up to twenty years later menacing the Avengers.

It’s a pretty cool and unique quasi-crossover. In service of it, we’re reading Sgt. Fury #8 two months early.

Fantastic Four #27

The Search for Sub-Mariner!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: March 10, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Author and illustrator extraordinary: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inked by: Geo. Bell
Lettered by: S. Rosen
23 pages

The opening of this story is somewhat different from the norm. A little… sexier.

To make the opening image more amusing, we learn it’s not an actual projection of Sue, but rather a projection of what happens to be on Reed’s mind at the moment. Sexy Sue, apparently.

We then get the issue’s big news. Reed is planning to go buy a ring in order to ask Sue to marry him. Giant-Man recently bought a ring for the same reason, but chickened out. Let’s see if Reed can do any better.