Featuring: Human Torch and Thing Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan (Prolific) Lee Illustrations by: Bob (Terrific) Powell Delineation by: Dick (Specific) Ayers Lettering by: S. (Hieroglyphic) Rosen 12 pages
Continuing through the Human Torch stories in Strange Tales while saving the Dr. Strange stories for much later.
Why is the story titled the “Bouncing Ball of Doom”? Because the Thinker’s plan involves a bouncing ball.
Huh.
How many Human Torch stories do we still have to read?
I must emphasize that the Dr. Strange story is one of the single greatest Marvel stories of all time, yet the Bouncing Ball of Doom is what gets spotlighted on the cover.
Featuring: Captain America Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Illustrator: Jack Kirby Delineator: Frank Ray Letterer: S. Rosen 10 pages
This is an extremely close retelling of the second story from Captain America Comics #1, which we covered back when Captain America first returned in Avengers #4.
The original story is most notable for being Captain America’s first case and for introducing Betty Ross.
I see I didn’t go into great detail on the plot in that post, writing this:
The story of the comic doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I can’t begin to try to explain it and I’m not sure it’s worth considering all the many ways in which it makes no sense. Suffice it to say they stop the bad guys.
We’ll delve deeper here.
Last issue was a close retelling of the first story from Captain America Comics #1, which was the story of Captain America’s origin. Next issue will be a retelling of Captain America’s first battle against Red Skull from the same issue. It makes sense why one might want to revisit those two stories. And then there’s this one.
The original stories are by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Joe Simon’s name should probably have been in the credits of this comic, as it’s based so closely on his original story. The plot owes more to Simon than many of the comics Stan Lee claims “plot” credit on owe to Stan.
My issue with the original is that I didn’t really understand what Sando and Omar brought to the scheme. There were Nazi saboteurs in America successfully blowing things up. Why have a member of your crew go onstage and warn people about the attacks in advance by pretending to be psychic? The comic didn’t really try to explain.
Let’s compare the new one to the original. The first thing we will notice is the new one fits into very regular grid patterns that make it easy to crop out groups of panels. The original felt bound by no such structure, so the croppings will all be imperfect.
Looking to the opening splash pages, the crystal ball image is very close. The changes fit Kirby’s more dramatized style and generally make a more modern splash page. Omar is a little less freakish in the new one. The biggest loss is Sando, whose fingers had an unusual positioning in the original, almost suggesting his role as puppeteer. Kirby opted for a more standard-for-Kirby dramatized positioning.
The modern comic claims to be “introducing” Sando and Omar. This seems blatantly false, as they were obviously introduced 25 years earlier.
Featuring: Iron Man Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Powerful script by: Stan Lee Poignant art by: Don Heck Punchy inking by: Chic Stone Polite lettering by: Sam Rosen Plenty of kibitzing by: The Bullpen Gang! 12 pages
We just met the “new” Giant-Man. It was really just Giant-Man with a new outfit and gizmo. Similarly, the “new” Black Widow is just the Black Widow with some new gimmicks.
These gimmicks make her more formidable, but still no match for Iron Man.
She can now climb walls and fire a line of suction-tipped nylon, a web of sorts. She is a spider-themed heroine, so it makes sense her gimmicks will have hints of Spider-Man.
We also see the first hints of a possible road to redemption for Black Widow. She has decided she wishes to stop being evil and tells Khrushchev this to his face. He shows her that her parents are his prisoners, and they will be killed unless she cooperates. That Khrushchev is a villain, indeed.
Stronger than mastodon! Stronger than giant boar! Mighty is Ka-Zar! Lord of Jungle!
The cover claims this comic is introducing Ka-Zar. It’s unclear if that’s true when we just met a Ka-Zar in our last post, introduced almost 30 years earlier.
Same guy? No evidence otherwise, except that he’s somehow moved from the Congo to Antarctica.
I’m so glad they tell us how to pronounce his name. It’s the bane of comics reading. Nobody tells you how to pronounce the names. You think you’re an expert in this stuff, then along comes a movie and you’ve been pronouncing names wrong for decades, and everyone looks at you like an idiot. But now we know: “Kay-Sar”.
My buddy Brian just polled on Twitter about how people pronounced his name when they first read it, and I was forced to admit that I was saying “Kay-Zar” in my head in my ignorant youth. Perhaps if I’d known more German then, I would have different ideas about pronouncing that ‘Z’.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: January 5, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Story: Smilin’ Stan Lee Art: Beamin’ Bobby Powell Inking: Friendly Frankie Ray Lettering: Sunny ol’ Sherigail 12 pages
The Giant-Man tale is hogging most of the cover real estate.
Wasp doesn’t seem to be recognized as a co-lead for the second issue in a row. This is just described as a Giant-Man story. The covers have long since omitted her name.
Yes, we are falling farther and farther behind in our Hulk reading.
As before, it’s not actually a new Giant-Man. He just has a new hat.
Madam Macabre is an evil analogue to Giant-Man, with the power to make things shrink or grow. Not knowing she is evil, Giant-Man considers partnering with her, until he learns she thinks they can rule the world together.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: December 10, 1964 Cover: March 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Illustrator: Bob Powell Inked by: Don Heck Lettering by: Sherigail 12 pages
The cover boasts of a new Giant-Man. They just mean a new costume, one which will not prove enduring. The corner box has already been updated with the new look.
We met Bob Powell in Strange Tales #130. He’s taking over two titles this month.
We met Sherigail the letterer once before in issue 55. Various websites, including Marvel’s official site, misattribute the lettering of Sherigail. Nel Yomtov had been kind enough to reach out and let me know that Sherigail is a pseudonym for Morrie Kuramoto.
We’re getting ahead with the Giant-Man/Wasp stories and behind with the Hulk stories in this title. We’ll catch up to the Hulk stories eventually.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: December 10, 1964 Cover: March 1965 12 cents Proudly produced by: Smilin’ Stan Lee and Jolly Jack Kirby Inked by: Chic Stone Lettered by: Artie Simek 21 pages
The main credits are shared between Stan and Jack without specifying who did what.
Fantastic Four has been one of the best of these Marvel superhero titles since the start, but it’s regarded as one of the best comic series ever, which hasn’t yet been obvious. The series gets better at some point. It can be hard to pinpoint the exact point of transition. We noted issue 29 when Kirby started using photo collages as a step toward greatness. The introduction of the Frightful Four in this issue also suggests we are well down the path. Particularly the mysterious Madam Medusa.
Sue and Reed announced their engagement last issue. They’ve now made a public announcement, and the press is excited, underscoring their celebrity status. There will be a big engagement party this issue.
Also, I think Sue’s gotten a haircut. Her hair definitely seems shorter.
Featuring: Avengers Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: March 1965 12 cents Plot and editing by: Stan Lee Script by: Paul Laiken and Larry Lieber Layouts by: Jack Kirby Pencils by: Don Heck Inking by: Chic Stone Lettering by: S. Rosen 20 pages
That’s quite the credits listing. Sounds like they were running out of time to get this done and called in every hand they could to meet a deadline. That’s also how this story reads.
Larry Lieber had long since left superheroes behind to focus on comics like Rawhide Kid, but he pitches in.
Paul Laiken is a new name to us. This is the only superhero story he’ll ever be involved in writing. I literally think they recruited everybody in the building at the time to help get this one done. It seems like he’ll be best known for his work on the Marvel humor magazine which is totally not a Mad rip-off, Crazy.
Featuring: Avengers Release: December 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Rather exceptional story by: Stan Lee Somewhat distinctive art by: Don Heck Fairly compelling inking by: Dick Ayers Moderately clear lettering by: Artie Simek 20 pages
The cover is pretty off for a Kirby composition. I’m pretty sure Count Nefaria is supposed to be manipulating the controls, but he looks passed out to me.
Solid opening splash page of the Avengers looking furtive near the wanted ad.
The story opens with Iron Man and Thor stopping a fur robbery. Honestly, that seems somewhat beneath them; I’d be more comfortable with such crimes being left to conventional authorities or more down-to-earth vigilantes.
Up to this point, there was no evidence the Avengers were proactively seeking out any types of crimes to stop. They responded to two global threats–the Lava Men and Kang. They occasionally seek out the Hulk to fight, but usually just wait for a villain to attack them. Villains in these stories tend to be much more proactive. But now we learn the Avengers have been actively fighting crime for a while now.
This story introduces the Maggia, an organized criminal organization, perhaps inspired by real-life Mafia.
Featuring: Captain America Release: December 10, 1964 Cover: March 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Illustrator: Jack Kirby Inked by: Frank Ray Lettered by: Art Simek 10 pages
Rather than trying to tell a new Captain America story, this comic will retell the origin of Captain America. Subsequent adventures will recap his earliest issues and others will be new stories set in World War II.
I can only guess what’s going on here. One, you can imagine Kirby would like a bit of a break from drawing 5 stories a month, and it may be easier on him to retell old tales. Or, perhaps he is looking back on those tales now that he has grown as an artist and is looking to revisit them and tell them better.
I also suspect that Stan is starting to notice how much his readers care about the intercontinuity of the titles, something he probably doesn’t want to think about at all. Telling Captain America stories set in the past saves him the trouble of worrying that they line up with current Avengers comics.
I tend to find the best thing to do with these retellings is just go in depth and try to spot any differences from previous tellings, particularly the original story in Captain America Comics #1 (1941).
