Featuring: Avengers Release: December 8, 1966 Cover: February 1967 12 cents Electrifying editing by Stan Lee Scintillating scripting by Roy Thomas Invigorating illustrating by Don Heck Languishing lettering by Artie Simek 20 pages
How must it feel to be the last of your kind– alone in a world where you don’t belong? Can it be even lonelier than to live forever behind the colorful mask of… Captain America?
Ixar’s Ultroids have defeated the Avengers and plan to absorb their powers.
We learn the Ultroid who had impersonated Scarlet Witch is named Ultrana.
Featuring: Avengers Release: November 10, 1966 Cover: January 1967 12 cents Edited by: Stan (The Man) Lee Scripted by: Roy (The Boy) Thomas Drawn by: Don (The One) Heck Lettered by: Sam (The Sham) Rosen 20 pages
It was with a feeling of eagerness… almost of exhilaration… that I donned my crimson costume once again…
Stan the Man is by far Stan’s most common nickname at this point. I think this is our first time seeing Roy the Boy. I appreciate the rhyming scheme they have going on here, except… Don and One don’t rhyme. Maybe they do in the same way as eye and symmetry.
Who was the mystery figure who confronted Captain America at the end of last issue? It turns out to be the Scarlet Witch.
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: 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.
The Maddening Mystery of the Inconceivable Adaptoid!
Featuring: Captain America Release: July 7, 1966 Cover: October 1966 12 cents Stan Lee authored the script Jack Kirby pencilled the story Frank Giacoia inked the drawings Artie Simek lettered the panels Irving Forbush sharpened the pencils 10 pages
I consider it a rare privilege to serve the mighty Avengers, sir!
Bucky was Captain America’s partner in World War II, killed by Zemo, who was working for the Red Skull.
But he seems to be back somehow?
No, it’s just a photograph.
Jarvis is the butler to the Avengers. He’d previously worked for Tony Stark, but Stark has been loaning his mansion to the Avengers for some time, and has lent Jarvis with it.
We don’t yet know much about Jarvis. He was introduced to us in Tales of Suspense #59, but presumably had been serving the Avengers since early on. He probably had second thoughts about the job when Hawkeye tried to prove his merits to join the team by attacking their butler.
This issue is the most lines he’s had yet. He notes it’s a privilege to serve the Avengers.
He offers to draw a bath for Cap, but Captain America can shower by himself. He’s a big boy.
Featuring: Avengers Release: August 9, 1966 Cover: October 1966 12 cents Stan (The Man) Lee, writer Dazzlin’ Don Heck, artist Adorable Art Simek, letterer Invincible Irving Forbush, snake charmer 20 pages
…beware of the man who sets you against your neighbor!
The cover features Scarlet Witch fighting against the Sons of the Serpent. But I think she’s in Europe and missing all the action.
The reprint of the story in Marvel Triple Action #25 corrects the cover, drawing instead Black Widow, who was in the story.
The Sons of the Serpent originally seemed to have the goal of getting all immigrants out of America. But when they attacked a Black American-born man, we saw their goals were a bit broader. Now, they mention creeds. They also are targeting people of different religions.
Featuring: Avengers Release: July 7, 1966 Cover: September 1966 12 cents Stan Lee, writer and raconteur Don Heck, artist and bon vivant Artie Simek, letterer and patron des artes Irv Forbush, scapegoat, junior grade 20 pages
Now I’m not saying someone in Marvel marketing reads my blog and was thus inspired to make these cross-promotional covers… but I’m not ruling it out either.
Featuring: Thor Release: September 1, 1966 Cover: November 1966 12 cents A Stan Lee * Jack Kirby fantasti-classic! Inked by: Vince Colletta Lettered by: Sam Rosen 16 pages
I am accomplishing… in one brief experiment, what nature would take a million centuries to achieve!
I loved the Galactus saga and the character of Galactus. Fans of the era also loved Galactus. What to do with that? Move on and never see him again? Or recycle the Galactus story again? The former is better than the latter. Best is to use him sparingly when there is a new story to tell about him.
With these ageless characters like Eternity and Galactus, we must remember that years to us may be like moments to them. How many different times should they run into humans in those brief moments? Eternity had noted Dr. Strange was the second mortal to ever stand in his presence. The first must have been a few centuries earlier, like yesterday to Eternity.
Galactus had been devouring planets for eons, but Earth was the first planet he attempted to consume that contained an advanced civilization. So you expect it to be some time before it comes up again. And since he vowed to never consume the Earth and Galactus’ word is “cosmic truth itself”, we expect he’ll never do that again.
So when would we see Galactus? Well, Galactus is the devourer of worlds. Ego is the living planet. Conflict seems almost inevitable.
Why the conflict now, when both are ageless? Perhaps Thor’s battle with Ego attracted Galactus, and it’s not just coincidence.
Either way, Galactus journeying into the Black Galaxy to confront Ego a galaxy away from Earth is a good and sensible use of the character. A character I am excited to see again. As long as they don’t overdo it, and the stories they tell with him are new stories.
Featuring: Marvels Release: January 25, 1994 Cover: March 1994 $5.95 Writer: Kurt Busiek Artist: Alex Ross Letterers: Starkings w/ John Gaushell Editor: Marcus McLaurin Assistant editor: Spencer Lamm Editor in chief: Tom DeFalco Cover design & logo: Joe Kaufman Interior Design: Comicraft 45 pages
And then it was quiet. No one around. They were all inside– or gone. Was this what it was going to be like? Silence and emptiness– forever?
We again jump back to 1994. As noted in this post, which serves as something of a vision statement, my goal here is to be able to reread my first comic, Avengers #309, but this time with full context, without feeling like I was missing anything or that I had read things out of order. More than that, it’s an attempt to try to see decades of disparate titles by a variety of creative voices as telling a larger single story.
I see Marvels, the masterpiece by Busiek and Ross, as an attempt to come to terms with that same story, and then to tell it in miniature. In general I try to take a contemporaneous viewpoint, looking at our 1966 stories from the perspective of 1966, and not spending too much thought on what later stories have to say. Marvels is the exception, as I’m using Marvels to frame our reading and my thinking about this reading.
For example, we jumped a little bit ahead in our X-Men reading lately. The rush through X-Men was to line up with this issue of Marvels. I was eager to read this comic right after the Galactus saga, but knew I had to hold back until after the X-Men battled Count Nefaria. And the choices in reading order we made with respect to the Avengers and Fantastic Four stories were inspired by how Marvels presented them.
There is no other later series I let impact my thinking on these stories. That’s born both out of a love of Marvels and its creators, and a trust in Kurt Busiek to have done his homework.
As this post is a bit long and picture-heavy, I’ve broken it into twoparts.
The series Marvels covers the Marvel Universe from 1939-1973. I don’t know how far this blog will go before I get bored or die, but I’m hoping to at least hit 1973 and finish Marvels. But that is several years away.
There’s also a bit of timing in the writing of this blog that has recontextualized Marvels and the stories it represents again. I started this blog in 2019 and reached Marvels #1 in 2020, and found new meaning in Phil’s desire for the world to return to normalcy. I write this blog post in 2024, with 2020 four years in the past, but the pandemic continuing to affect lives in big and small ways.
Marvels #1 starts with the dawn of Marvel in 1939 and takes us into the war in Europe, likely around 1943. We then jump forward 20 years and Marvels #2 covers the ground of part of our reading. It skips the introductions of most of the heroes and takes us to 1964 and Avengers #6 (May 1964), then ends in 1965 with Tales of Suspense #69 (around July 1965). Its focus was on the juxtaposition of two major events, the wedding of Reed and Sue in Fantastic Four Annual 3, and the introduction of the Sentinels in X-Men #14-16.
Thinking in terms of Fantastic Four, a title which has been a monthly constant in our reading, Marvels #2 covers the ground of approximately Fantastic Four #29-43.
Marvels #3 will cover a little less ground, Fantastic Four #44-50, bringing us to around February 1966. And most of the page count is dedicated to recapturing a single story, the battle between the Fantastic Four and Galactus in Fantastic Four #48-50. Due to its wonky arrangement with other stories, the original battle only covered about 48 pages of comics originally, so the retelling in miniature is not actually that much shorter, taking up almost 32 pages.
Of course, this retelling will not be from the perspective of the Fantastic Four, but our man Phil Sheldon.
The story has been about Phil, but also about his changing opinion of the Marvels. In the 1930s, he thought they were something to fear when he first saw Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, but came to conclude they were something to cheer on when he saw Captain America, and then all the heroes teaming up against Nazis. He continued to cheer them on into the 1960s, loving the Fantastic Four and the Avengers… but not the X-Men. Mutants, he hated. Though he grew a bit by the end.
Now he begins to wonder if he’d put a bit too much faith in all the Marvels, put them too much on a pedestal. As they become embroiled in controversy after controversy… had he overestimated them? He begins to have doubts.
