The Girl in the Black Hood!
Release: March 8, 1962
Cover: June 1962
12 cents
Credits: Don Heck (uncredited)
5 pages
The story doesn’t have credits. The artist is Don Heck, and the writing is likely Stan Lee and Larry Lieber.
The Coming of the Hulk/The Hulk Strikes!/The Search for the Hulk/Enter… The Gargoyle!/The Hulk Triumphant!
Featuring: Hulk
Release: March 1, 1962
Cover: May 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: Paul Reinman (uncredited)
24 pages
I read this issue in Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1. Stan and Jack signed the issue. The omnibus’ table of contents notes Paul Reinman is the inker.
Now it seems like we’re getting somewhere. I began with a promise of reading this shared Marvel Universe starting with Fantastic Four #1. But it’s been a week and you might be asking, “Where’s the universe?” We’ve read 4 issues of Fantastic Four, a few random sci-fi/horror comics from the period, and you’ve read a handful of comics from BEFORE Fantastic Four #1. All fair points. Where are the other Marvel heroes?
We have covered in the last week about 6 months worth of ground. We started in August of 1961 and have found our way to March of 1962. Finally, we meet our next recognizable hero.
Continue reading “Incredible Hulk #1”The Coming of… Sub-Mariner
On the Trail of the Torch/Enter the Sub-Mariner/Let the World Beware!/Sub-Mariner’s Revenge!
Release: February 8, 1962
Cover: May 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: Sol Brodsky (uncredited)
23 pages
Famously, Human Torch meets a random amnesiac hobo and decides without permission to burn the hobo’s beard off his face. The hobo looks like a character Torch read about in a comic, which convinces him to toss the hobo into the ocean. I would argue this behavior on the part of the Torch is inappropriate. But nobody on the team is setting a better example.
The Return of the Gorilla-Man
Release: January 9, 1962
Cover: April, 1962
12 cents
Credits: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
7 pages
The issue has no credits. The Grand Comics Database identifies the artists as Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, and guesses the writing credits are due to Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. I think Marvel only had two writers at the time, so this is a reasonable guess.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #30, Story A”The Menace of the Miracle Man/The Monster Lives!/The Flame that Died!/In the Shadow of defeat!/The Final Challenge!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 12, 1961
Cover: March, 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: Sol Brodsky (uncredited)
23 pages
I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. The issue has signatures for Stan and Jack. The Table of Contents for the Omnibus credits Sol with inks.
The price of the comic has jumped up from 10 to 12 cents. Not sure we’ll be able to afford to continue this series at this rate.
The Fantastic Four battle Miracle Man, a largely forgotten villain. We see he can: fly; become a giant; change into water, metal, or gas; control elements, storms, thunder, and lightning; slice a tree trunk in half with his finger; withstand the Thing’s strongest blow; etcetera. How can the FF defeat such a villain? Well, there’s a twist I’ll let you read for yourselves.
Continue reading “Fantastic Four #3”I am the Gorilla-Man
Featuring: Gorilla-Man
Release: November 9, 1961
Cover: February, 1961
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
7 pages
This is a tangential story, but it seemed worth including. Unlike Henry Pym last issue, Herr Radzik is a mad scientist bent on evil. He’ll also become less prominent of a character.
He is an evil scientist who invents a ray to switch bodies. He first changes places with a cat (I perhaps would have stayed there) and then decides a gorilla will be the ultimate form. His ambitions involve stealing money as a gorilla, and such. But, once he puts the gorilla into his body, the gorilla is able to use its new human brain to outsmart him and lock him in a zoo.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #28” The Man in the Ant Hill
Release: September 28, 1961
Cover: January, 1962
10 cents
Story: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
7 pages
I read this in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1. The story gives no credits, but the collection does. Some online sources break that down as crediting Stan with the plot and Larry with the scripting.
The opening splash pages serves as a title page and cover for the story.
Marvel stands on the precipice between its era of short sci/fi tales and its era of superheroes. This comic comes out the same day as Fantastic Four #2 and fits squarely in the former category, a short cautionary sci/fi tale about a mad scientist. Not clear what the theme is. Be careful of inventing stuff, I guess.
Continue reading “Tales to Astonish #27, Story A”The Fantastic Four Meet the Skrulls from Outer Space/Prisoner of the Skrulls/The Fantastic Four Fight Back!/The Fantastic Four… Captured!
Release: September 28, 1961
Cover: January, 1962
10 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: George Klein (Uncredited)
24 pages
I read this in Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1. The Table of Contents credits the issue to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; I don’t see any credits in the issue itself. Online sources cite George Klein as the inker.
Hey, it’s the Skrulls! They were just in that movie last month!
Continue reading “Fantastic Four #2”The Fantastic Four!/The Fantastic Four Meet the Mole Man!/The Mole Man’s Secret!
Release: August 8, 1961
Cover: November, 1961
Price: $0.10
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: George Klein (uncredited)
25 pages
| #1 | Next | |
|---|---|---|
| PRELUDE | Marvel Comics #1 | |
| Reading order | Fantastic Four #2 | |
| Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four #2 |
And so was born “The Fantastic Four!!” And from that moment on, the world would never again be the same!!
I read this in Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1. The Table of Contents credits the issue to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, whose signatures appear in the issue. It claims the inker is unknown. Online sources cite George Klein as the inker.
It’s clear to me why modern reboots and films of the FF has always been hard. There is a lot not explained here. Reed built that spaceship. Was it his? The government’s? Why did he steal it? Beating the Commies to space is an outdated motivation for many reasons in 2019. We’ve been to space. Commies no longer a threat. And what was the goal of the mission? They don’t say. Just to get to space? Yuri Gagaran did that in April, 1961. So was there more to their mission? Was Stan just not up on the news? The comic was out-of-date before it was published.
