sam rosen – Page 8 – Coke ⊕ Comics

Strange Tales #145

Lo! The Eggs Shall Hatch!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: March 10, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Designer: Jack Kirby
Penciller: Don Heck
Inker: Mickey Demeo
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Badge polisher: Irving Forbush
12 pages

Previous	#509	Next
Strange Tales #144, Story B	Reading order	Strange Tales #145, Story B
Strange Tales #144, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #145, Story B

A simple smoke grenade should do the job nicely in this instance… and it won’t cost the taxpayers as much as a noisy, explosive grenade! For we guardians of the public trust must ever have the average citizen’s interests close to our hearts!

Quite the opening page. Somewhat disturbing.

Curious if it inspired images in the modern horror series, Locke & Key.

Where were we? The Druid wants to destroy SHIELD for some reason. He pretends to have mystical powers, but technology underpins everything he does. Oh, and we just met the eager new recruit, Jasper Sitwell.

Strange Tales #144

The Day of the Druid!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: February 10, 1966
Cover: May 1966
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Designer: Jack Kirby
Penciller: H. Purcell
Inker: M. Demeo
Letterer: Sam Rosen
12 pages

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Daredevil #17	Reading order	Strange Tales #144, Story B
Strange Tales #143, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #144, Story B

It is given to few men to serve the forces of SHIELD… and those of us who are chosen dare not take the challenge lightly!

We are back for the new year! And Howard Purcell is back on art. He was credited with an assist last issue, but now is credited as the penciller, with Kirby as the “designer”. Which presumably means layouts by Kirby, finished pencils by Purcell, followed by inks by Esposito. Or something like that.

Strange Tales has oddly shared its pages of late between the spy stories of Nick Fury and the mystical stories of Dr. Strange. It seems like the writer has finally mixed up the two and tossed a Dr. Strange villain into Nick Fury’s story.

Daredevil #17

None Are So Blind..!

Featuring: Daredevil
Release: April 5, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Writer: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Artist: Jazzy Johnny Romita
Inker: Fearless Frankie Ray
Letterer: Swingin’ Sammy Rosen
Complaints may be sent to the irascible Irving Forbush!
20 pages

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Daredevil #16	Reading order	Strange Tales #144
Daredevil #16	Daredevil	Daredevil #18

It’s the challenge… the thrill of battle… the danger! That’s what really grabs me! And, I’ve a hunch that Spider-Man feels the same way!

Who’s Irving Forbush?

Recall the situation: The Masked Marauder had manipulated Daredevil and Spider-Man into being suspicious of each other. Now not only does Spider-Man think Daredevil is in league with the Masked Marauder, but he believes Foggy is Daredevil!

And remember, we’re supposed to be seeing what we think of John Romita’s take on Spider-Man. Somebody needs to take over for Steve Ditko!

Thor #130, Story B

The Fateful Change!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: May 3, 1966
Cover: July 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Vince Colletta
Lettering: Sam Rosen
Costumes: Asgard Haberdashery
5 pages

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Thor #130	Reading order	Daredevil #16
Thor #130	Thor	Thor #131

My glorious record proves that Volstagg knows not the meaning of fear! But, why do we race so quickly into a land where death lurks everywhere?

The meandering Odinsword Saga came to an unclimactic resolution, but this led into a couple good issues showing us Ragnarok, the end of Asgard and the death of the gods. That’s led into this story of Thor and friends battling Harokin to retrieve the Warlock’s Eye.

Kirby does cool things with the 5-page/at-most-17-panel format when doing sweeping arcs of abstract history, but it’s limiting when trying to tell a piece of a more standard story. It just doesn’t get very far.

Thor #128, Story B

Aftermath!

Featuring: Tales of Asgard
Release: March 3, 1966
Cover: May 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Pencilling: Jack Kirby
Delineation: Vince Colletta
Lettering: S. Rosen
5 pages

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Thor #128	Reading order	Thor #129
Thor #128	Thor	Thor #129

For this is the destiny of god and man alike… this is the lesson supreme… all that live must die… but, all that die shall live!

Hey, we come to the 500th Marvel story in our reading order. That’s cool. Thanks to everybody who’s been reading along since the beginning and to those who have joined us recently. We’ve covered almost 5 years of Marvel history and have many more years ahead of us.

I admit somewhat to wishing it were a different comic for this anniversary. It was almost a really cool comic in an early draft of the reading order. But at least we get probably our best Tales of Asgard story yet to mark the occasion. How much can one do in 5 pages? Let’s find out.

Thor #127

The Hammer and the Holocaust!

Featuring: Thor
Release: February 3, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Delineator: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Sam Rosen
16 pages

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Avengers #29	Reading order	Thor #127, Story B
Thor #126, Story B	Thor	Thor #127, Story B

For one brief, fleeting instant of eternity, a god hath dared to love a mortal! Till the universe crumbles, my heart is ever thine! Let that be our epitaph… and our glory!

Now that’s a cover.

We discussed Pieta-inspired covers with Journey Into Mystery #110. This is a much better example of such a cover. I would call this awesome.

As with Avengers, I want to note where Thor is during an upcoming Fantastic Four story, published concurrently with the last few issues. What keeps him away from helping the FF? I don’t believe his short fight with the Demon nor his tiff with Hercules would do it.

Also, the last year of Thor stories still must have taken very little time, as there has been little room for pausing. So it’s likely these Thor stories take place before a lot of the other stories we’ve been reading, and the adventure that seemed more important than helping the FF is still ahead. We’ll be on the lookout for it!

In that sense of there being not a lot of time passing, this picks up precisely where last issue left off, with Jane trying to comfort a moping Thor, who has just lost his first fight, because his daddy halved his powers. Notably, Odin finally seems to support the relationship.

Of course, now there’s a new reason Thor and Jane can’t be together. It’s not about his bum leg or his daddy issues. How could she love a man who can’t even beat Hercules in a fight?

Avengers #29

This Power Unleashed!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: April 12, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Savage script by: Stan Lee!
Powerful pencilling by: Don Heck!
Explosive embellishment by: Frank Giacoia!
Lethargic lettering by: Sam Rosen!
20 pages

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Avengers #28	Reading order	Thor #127
Avengers #28	Avengers	Avengers #30

No matter what else… he’ll always be an Avenger! Just as he’ll always be… the man I love!

Frank Giacoia going by his real name for perhaps the first time. He’s usually been under the pen name Frankie Ray or similar.

Dr. Henry Pym. Ant-Man. Giant-Man. Goliath. He who can’t choose a name.

Or a status quo. His latest shtick is that he can only turn exactly 25 feet tall and only for a period of exactly 15 minutes. What happens if he exceeds 15 minutes? We’re about to find out. He did so last issue, then collapsed while shrinking, having gotten down to about 10 feet.

I think it’s cute how quickly all the Avengers have taken to calling him Goliath. There’s probably a lesson for people today to take from this.

Tales to Astonish #80

To the Death!

Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner!
Release: March 3, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Story by Smilin’ Stan Lee
Pencils by Grinnin’ Gene Colan
Inks by Dazzlin’ Dick Ayers
Lettering by Snarlin’ Sam Rosen
12 pages

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Tales to Astonish #79, Story B	Reading order	Avengers #26
Tales to Astonish #79, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #80, Story B

I am still the Lord of the Seven Seas!

Where were we. Krang and Puppet Master have teamed up to control the Behemoth. Hank Pym and Janet were around at some point. We’ll catch up with them next time in the pages of Avengers.

We’re supposed to believe that because Krang is controlling the Behemoth through the clay puppet, the creature has better reflexes than it would otherwise. That makes little sense to me.

Tales to Astonish #78, Story B

The Hulk Must Die!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: January 4, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Story by: Stan Lee (Certainly!)
Layouts by: Jack Kirby (Naturally!)
Artwork by: Bill Everett (Surprisingly!)
Lettering by: Sam Rosen
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #78	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #79
Tales to Astonish #78	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #79

Everett is on art now. We know him as the creator of Sub-Mariner, who told Namor’s original stories. And as the co-creator of Daredevil with Stan Lee, who worked on that series for a single issue. He was removed for being very over-deadline. I think a full-length comic for an entirely new character takes longer than a 10 page Hulk story.

Nonetheless, Kirby is brought in for layouts. Though Everett is the more senior of the two and has long been a writer/artist.

Hulk’s story hasn’t had a pause to breathe since he got his new title. No sooner had the Leader finally been defeated than Hulk was transported into the future. Thinking him dead, Rick revealed Banner’s secret to Major Talbot. But Hulk lives, and has returned from the future.

Has Talbot not told anybody his news yet? Not even Ross?

Tales to Astonish #77, Story B

Bruce Banner is the Hulk!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: December 2, 1965
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Script by: Stan Lee
Layouts by: Jack Kirby
Pencilling + inking by: Johnny Romita!
Lettering by: Sam Rosen
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #77	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #78
Tales to Astonish #77	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #78

Why shouldn’t I tell? It’s time the world learned the truth…!

That’s a damn compelling cover, a collaboration between Kirby and Romita, with the Romita influence coming in heavy, but a unique look for the Hulk that is very distinctive compared to either man’s style. Dramatically, we shockingly hear Rick Jones tell an officer (presumably Talbot) Hulk’s secret. We’ll see how that plays out.

John Romita took over as the regular artist on Daredevil last month. He’s just filling in here, as the series has floundered without a regular artist for the last 10 months. Bill Everett will be taking over next issue. We also saw Romita filling in on last month’s Captain America

As we noted in our recent Daredevil post, John Romita just recently passed away in June 2023 at the age of 93. One of the greatest comic artists of all time.

It is a compelling title. “Bruce Banner is the Hulk!” Is this the issue where his secret identity is finally revealed? Secret identities have been revealed on occasion before, but the learner of the identity usually develops amnesia or dies.

Recall from last issue the army built Banner’s T-Gun without knowing what it did. They hit Hulk with it and now everybody assumes Hulk is dead. In fact, Hulk has been transported to the future.