Lest Tyranny Triumph!
Featuring: Captain America
Release: April 8, 1965
Cover: July 1965
12 cents
Story and art by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inking: Frank Ray
Lettering: Artie Simek
10 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Tales of Suspense #67 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #68 |
| Tales of Suspense #67 | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #68 |
Part 2 of the Nazi Cap story where Captain America has been brainwashed by the Red Skull.
Where Walk the Villains!
Featuring: Iron Man
Release: April 8, 1965
Cover: July 1965
12 cents
Written by our roguish writer: Stan Lee
Pencilled by our prankish penciller: Don Heck
Inked by our impish inker: Mickey Demeo
Lettered by our other letter: S. Rosen
12 pages
| Previous | Next | |
|---|---|---|
| Tales of Suspense #66, Story B | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #67, Story B |
| Tales of Suspense #66, Story B | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #67, Story B |
The drama from last issue continues. Happy has quit; Pepper is sad; she blames Iron Man.
Count Nefaria of the Maggia returns, but with a new gimmick and identity. He now calls himself the Master of Dreams. Perhaps also Dream-Maker or Dream-Master; Stan can’t decide from one page to the next. He controls Iron Man’s dreams and sends old foes against him; if Iron Man dies in the dream, he will die.
Continue reading “Tales of Suspense #67”The Fantastic Origin of the Red Skull
Featuring: Captain America
Release: March 11, 1965
Cover: June 1965
12 cents
By: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: Artie Simek
10 pages
| 7Previous | Next | |
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| Tales of Suspense #66 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #67 |
| Tales of Suspense #66 | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #66, Story B |
We’ve been very slowly saying goodbye to Chic Stone, as this represents his last month with Marvel. So we’ve seen his last work on many titles already. This is his final Captain America Story. He is Kirby’s best inker on these books so far, for my money. And he will be missed.
These Captain America stories have been set in his early days. The last three issues retold stories from Captain America Comics #1, with last issue retelling the introduction of the Red Skull (and making it really lame). This issue offers a new Red Skull story. At last we learn his origin.
In the original story, Red Skull was revealed to be American industrialist George Maxon. Last issue played out similarly, (though now he was John instead of George), but it added that Red Skull was not the real Maxon. He had killed Maxon and was impersonating him. That leaves room for his new origin here. As we’ve noted before, for my purposes we are treating the post-1961 stories as canonical for this Marvel Universe. The 1940s Marvel canon is separate. So the origin of the Red Skull is what gets told here. He is not Maxon.
We learn in this issue that he had also not been impersonating Maxon. That was someone pretending to be the Red Skull pretending to be Maxon. Yeesh. And apparently Captain America is desperate to hunt down the real Red Skull based on the crimes of a fake Red Skull. Maybe?
Will the real Red Skull please stand up?
The story opens with Captain America a prisoner of the Skull. That is not where the last issue left off at all. Perhaps they will fill us in how we got here.
Continue reading “Tales of Suspense #66, Story B”If I Fail, a World is Lost!
Featuring: Iron Man
Release: March 11, 1965
Cover: June 1965
12 cents
Written in the Marvel tradition of greatness by Stan Lee
Illustrated in the Marvel tradition of grandeur by Don Heck
Inked in the Marvel tradition of drama by Mickey Demeo
Lettered in the coziest corner of the room by Sam Rosen
12 pages
| Previous | #354 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Sgt. Fury #18 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #66, Story B |
| Tales of Suspense #65, Story B | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #66, Story B |
Stark is never around when you want him!
Due to circumstance, I lost the write-up for this particular story I had completed. I’m not a big fan of the Iron Man stories, and I was just unenthusiastic about writing this entry again. Please excuse me if I do a poorer job than usual. I just kind of want to get through this one.
In particular, I feel like I’d previously worked out where Attuma ranks in a particular metric, and I’m not sure I care to recompute it; I’ll just go off the top of my head and let somebody correct me if I’m wrong. Iron Man is the third distinct hero Attuma has fought, after facing the Fantastic Four and Giant-Man and the Wasp. I think that might be a record?
We have to define ‘distinct’ a bit carefully. I think fighting a hero and the team that hero is on should only count as one: Sandman fought both the solo Human Torch and the Fantastic Four; Loki fought both Thor and the Avengers.
With that caveat, Attuma is only the second villain to fight three distinct heroes. The first being Chameleon, who has faced Spider-Man, Iron Man (along with the Avengers), and Hulk.
Continue reading “Tales of Suspense #66”Killed in Action!
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: March 11, 1965
Cover: May 1965
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Dick Ayers
Inker: Chic Stone
Letterer: Artie Simek
20 pages
| Previous | #359 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Avengers #17 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #66 |
| Sgt. Fury #17 | Sgt. Fury | Sgt. Fury #19 |
The title of this story is “Killed in Action!”
“Once again, sudden death claims another victim!” reads the cover.
The “once again” refers to Junior Juniper, the first Commando to fall in battle, all the way back in issue 4. Letting us know that this was a series with consquence. It wasn’t a sure thing our heroes would make it back after each mission.
Since then, they all have turned out okay. But let’s read on.
The art is credited to Ayers and Stone, but Jack Kirby was brought in to redraw most of the famous final sequence.
The issue begins in the middle of intense action. Sgt. Fury is in his fancy duds, clearly having been on a date that’s been interrupted by an air raid.
Continue reading “Sgt. Fury #18”Four Against the Minotaur!
Featuring: Avengers
Release: April 8, 1965
Cover: June 1965
12 cents
Story by: Stan Lee (Who else?)
Art by: Don Heck (Why not?)
Inked by: Dick Ayers
Lettered by: S. Rosen
20 pages
| Previous | #358 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales to Astonish #69, Story B | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #18 |
| Avengers #16 | Avengers | Avengers #18 |
Here it is, the first outing of the New Avengers. How will they measure up to the old team? Lots of differences. In terms of power level, we’ve traded in a god and a man in a powerful suit of iron armor for a guy with a bow and arrows and a guy who runs fast. In terms of character strength, we’ve traded in four people who sustained their own features for 3 years now for three who have only been side characters. In terms of ethics, we’ve traded in four superheroes for three characters who were super-villains a month ago. Two members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and one lovesick Soviet stooge.
The opening tag refers to the team as the New Avengers, which is what I have always called them. Similarly if you hear me refer to the New X-Men, I probably mean the 1975 team.
It also lets us know the Avengers have begun the search for the Hulk. I’m not convinced they look very hard at all.
Continue reading “Avengers #17”Trapped in the Lair of the Leader!
Featuring: Hulk
Release: April 1, 1965
Cover: July 1965
12 cents
Hulking story by: Stan Lee
Hulksome art by: Jack Kirby
Hulkish inking by: Mickey Demeo
Hulkable lettering by: Art Simek
10 pages
| Previous | #357 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales to Astonish #69 | Reading order | Avengers #17 |
| Tales to Astonish #69 | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #70 |
This is the 10th chapter of the Leader Saga. For 9 issues, Leader has been lurking in the background, secretly behind various threats Hulk has faced. Now they finally meet.
This weird scene weird Hulk is being transported by magnetic waves is notable as it directly ties into Avengers #17, which we will read next.
Oh, Wasp, Where is Thy Sting?
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: April 1, 1965
Cover: July 1965
12 cents
Edited with perfect control by: Stan Lee
Written with all bases covered by: Al Hartley
Drawn with the impact of a line drive by: Bob Powell
Inked with the beauty of a three-bagger by: John Giunta
Lettered with only a few errors by: S. Rosen
12 pages
| Previous | #356 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales to Astonish #68, Story B | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #69, Story B |
| Tales to Astonish #68, Story B | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #69, Story B |
All good things must come to an end, and so must this series.
Giant-Man is reduced to a small corner of the cover, with Hulk hogging the space. No mention that this is the epic finale to the adventures of Giant-Man and the Wasp.
Hulk’s solo series ended after only 6 issues, but then he returned as the backup feature in this title and has been a monthly fixture for going on 60 years. He returned by ending the Wasp’s solo series. Captain America’s return to a solo series caused the Watcher to lose his.
Marvel has had distribution problems for as long as we’ve been reading them, keeping a tight limit on the number of titles they can publish. So for every new title, something has to go. They’ve been trimming the western and humor lines, but ultimately it’s time to let go of some superhero titles.
We read the final Human Torch story a while back, but it was actually released just a week after this. Both Human Torch and Giant-Man lose their series at the same time. Both to make way for better things.
They found the weakest two series in terms of story to ax, and presumably the sales reflected that. Thor stories are good now, so it’s good they’ll stick around. Iron Man stories aren’t any good yet, but maybe they will be one day. Either way, he gets to stick around, now with the dubious honor of being Marvel’s worst remaining title.
We’ll have to wait until next month to see who these cancelled titles are making room for. Neither character will be new to us. One just hasn’t had a title for a while, and the other will get a second title with a very different focus.
Before we get to the final issue of their series, I think it’s worth pausing to reflect on the entire 36 issue run of Henry Pym/Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Wasp stories.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #69”Back from the Dead!
Featuring: Hulk
Release: March 4, 1965
Cover: June 1965
12 cents
Story and art by Marvel’s modern masters: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inking: Mickey Demeo
Lettering: Artie Simek
10 pages
| Previous | #355 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales to Astonish #68 | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #69 |
| Tales to Astonish #68 | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #69 |
With Ditko off the title, Kirby is back to take another shot at his co-creation. Stan shares the top billing with Jack for this triumphant return. The original Lee/Kirby run on Hulk lasted 5 issues. This one will make it around 15 or so. I’m expecting it to be largely immemorable.
We open with a trick out of the Ditko run. The last issue ended with Banner facing impending death and transforms to the Hulk just in time to be saved. Banner and Talbot are falling to their death when Banner transforms.
Hulk crosses the Pacific with leaps. Isle to isle, plane to plane.
That’s… a very long distance, even if you can jump very far. Maybe there are enough islands between Japan and Hawaii to hopscotch it, but it’s 2500 miles from Hawaii to California with nothing in between.
We check in with the Leader, still scheming.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #68, Story B”Peril from the Long-Dead Past!
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: March 4, 1965
Cover: June 1965
12 cents
Stupefying script by: Stan Lee
Stereophonic art by: Bob Powell
Stultifying inking by: Vince Colletta
Schizophrenic lettering by: S. Rosen
12 pages
| Previous | #354 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales to Astonish #67, Story B | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #68, Story B |
| Tales to Astonish #67, Story B | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #68, Story B |
Who is Giant-Man’s #1 archnemesis? I had previously suggested it was Egghead, and my friend Dan countered with the Human Top. His original run only featured three repeat super-villains, Porcupine being the other. He fought Egghead 4 times and now Human Top 3 times. But two Human Top stories are 3-parters so Human Top appears in 5 different issues. They’re both strong contenders. Maybe we’ll see which are in more significant stories in the decades to come. So far, neither has been in any story I would call particularly significant. The possible exceptions are issues 57 and 59. 57 is significant for guest-starring Spider-Man and happens to feature Egghead. 59 is significant for guest-starring Hulk and happens to feature Human Top.
Neither is a particularly good villain.
Honestly, I would argue Porcupine is the best of the 3 villains, which is why he will go one to find better nemeses than Giant-Man and Wasp.
The issue opens with Human Top crashing a plane into Giant-Man to knock him unconscious. He’s stumped as to what to do next. Even unconscious, Human Top can’t figure out how to harm a giant.
The last time Human Top had Giant-Man at his mercy, he didn’t want to harm him. He thought locking him in a closet would be enough satisfaction.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #68”
