strange tales – Page 4 – Coke & Comics

Strange Tales #134

The Challenge of… The Watcher!

Featuring: Human Torch and Thing
Release: April 8, 1965
Cover: July 1965
12 cents
Soul-stirring script by: Stan Lee
Breath-taking art by: Bob Powell
Eye-popping inking by: Wallace Wood
Heart-rending lettering by: Artie Simek
12 pages

Previous	#328	Next
Strange Tales #133	Reading order	X-Men #11
Strange Tales #133, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #134, Story B

All good things must come to an end. And so must this.

Hulk’s series only lasted 6 issues. But then he started showing up all over the place. Avengers, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, and finally he got his own series back, this time to last for over 50 years and counting.

The Wasp had a back-up feature in Tales to Astonish behind the main feature she shared with Giant-Man. It started with her narrating science fiction tales, but then she started going on her own adventures. They were short-lived; she was the second character to lose a series.

The Watcher had a back-up feature behind the Iron Man stories in Tales of Suspense. It started with him narrating science fiction tales, but then he started going on his own adventures. They were short-lived; he was the third character to lose a series.

This month, two long-running features get cancelled. We’ll talk about the other in due course. (We’re reading this one a little early to get the Fantastic Four chronology in line.)

For the moment, let’s reflect on the history of Strange Tales…

Strange Tales #133

The Terrible Toys!

Featuring: Human Torch and Thing
Release: March 11, 1965
Cover: June 1965
12 cents
Written in the magnificent Stan Lee tradition!
Illustrated in the majestic Bob Powell manner!
Inked in the magiloquent Mick Demeo style!
Lettered in the mortgaged Sam Rosen home!
12 pages

Previous		Next
Strange Tales #132	Reading order	Strange Tales #134
Strange Tales #132, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #133, Story B

Due to the tightness of forthcoming FF chronology, we are reading ahead a bit in these Human Torch stories. Since Dr. Strange is still involved in a big saga, we are still holding off on reading Dr. Strange stories.

Dr. Strange at last gets half of the cover, but Kirby’s work here doesn’t quite do justice to the tale Ditko is spinning inside.

Stan notes the story will start in the middle. That is unusual for one of these stories, but it’s a classical storytelling technique, en media res.

This issue promises a surprise twist, an old villain in a new guise. I don’t want to spoil the big surprise.

Strange Tales #132

The Sinister Space Trap!

Featuring: Human Torch and Thing
Release: February 11, 1965
Cover: May 1965
12 cents
Edited with reckless abandon by: Stan Lee
Written with daring bravado by: Larry Ivie
Drawn with brash impetuosity by: Bob Powell
Inked with reckless vigor by: M. Demeo
Lettered with a soggy penpoint by: S. Rosen
12 pages

Previous		Next
Amazing Spider-Man #24	Reading order	Strange Tales #133
Strange Tales #131, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #132, Story B

Dr. Strange gets a small box on the cover to acknowledge his story.

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the publication of Fantastic Four #1. Wish I could have timed my posts to have something better than this Human/Torch Thing story to celebrate with. So it goes. Happy birthday, Foursome!

Art by Alex Ross, inspired by Jack Kirby.

Lots to unpack from the credits page.

We’ve already met Mr. Demeo (Mike Esposito), as he also picked up inking on Iron Man this month.

Larry Ivie is a new name to us. He is an occasional comics writer and artist, and perhaps best known as a comics fan.

The blog, Professor H’s Wayback Machine, recently did a tribute series to Ivie’s work on his self-published fanzine, Heroes & Monsters.

This is the last we’ll see of Ivie for some time, but he’ll do occasional Marvel work here and there over the next couple decades.

Also unusual in the credits is a comic Stan Lee takes no writing credit on. This isn’t the first time, but it’s been a rare occurrence, and will become less rare. Stan still gets his name first in the credits somehow.

What we would today call editing is certainly a contribution that Stan makes to every one of these books, and not one to be taken lightly. The issues arise on the comics where he worked as an editor but credited himself as a writer.

Things are heating up in the Fantastic Four book, and there won’t be much space for solo adventures. So far, with only a few exceptions, Fantastic Four adventures have fit into a single issue, where one could easily imagine these Human Torch stories fitting in between the issues. But, as is the general trend these titles are taking, Fantastic Four stories are going to get more involved, with cliffhanger endings which lead us right into the next issue.

To that end, we’re going to knock out the next few Human Torch/Thing stories presently, getting us a little ahead with them. We’ll eventually revisit all these comics and read the Dr. Strange stories.

Thus subjecting myself and you to three of these in a row.

But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel…

Strange Tales #131

The Bouncing Ball of Doom!

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

Previous	#318	Next
Tales of Suspense #64, Story B	Reading order	Fantastic Four #37
Strange Tales #130, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #131, Story B
Captain America Comics #1, Story C	Prelude

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.

Strange Tales #130

Meet the Beatles!

Featuring: Human Torch and Thing
Release: December 10, 1964
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Story by Swingin’ Stan Lee
Art by Bouncin’ Bob Powell
Inking by Chucklin’ Chic Stone
Lettering by Sizzlin’ Sam Rosen
12 pages

Previous	#307	Next
Amazing Spider-Man #122	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #63
Strange Tales #129, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #130, Story B

Dr. Strange finally gets the cover almost to himself… but we won’t be reading his story. As we’ve discussed, the plan is to take a break from Dr. Strange, but keep reading the Human Torch/Thing stories. The Dr. Strange stories have mostly been happy to be single short episodes that fit in 10 pages. The only exception has been the 2-part battle against Dormammu. But even that epic was only 20 pages, the length of a normal Fantastic Four or Spider-Man story. Not one to make incremental change, Ditko decided he needs 170 pages and 17 months to tell the next story.

I’ve made no secret that I’ve found these last 30 issues of Human Torch stories to be almost entirely worthless. Putting Ben and Johnny in Beatles wigs is probably the single most worthwhile thing that has happened yet. Especially since Johnny is wearing the wig over his flaming head. The fact that it’s not burning means it must be made from unstable molecules.

Stan Lee made a big deal last issue and in recent letters’ pages about the exciting new artist for this series. That artist is Bob Powell. Powell will be the Human Torch/Thing artist for as long as this series has left. He will not be turning the quality of stories around. Powell is another returning artist from back when, having worked in comics since the 1930s, occasionally doing some Marvel work. He’ll also be taking over the Giant-Man title this month… and not turn the quality around on that one either. He’ll have the honor of putting Marvel’s two worst series to bed.

Strange Tales #129, Story B

Tiboro! The Tyrant of the Sixth Dimension!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: November 10, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
Edited by: Stan Lee, and his magic typewriter.
Script by: Don Rico, and his mystic fountain pen.
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, and his miraculous lead pencil.
Lettered by: Sam Rosen, and his melancholy penpoint.
10 pages

Previous	#300!	Next
Strange Tales #129	Reading order	Fantastic Four #35
Strange Tales #129	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #130

Welcome to the 300th Marvel Age story! We’re almost 1% finished!

I think the periods that end each credit above are the first periods we have ever seen. Stan Lee holds to a pretty strict exclamation point-only policy. But then, Stan Lee didn’t write this.

For the second time this month, and the second time in our entire Marvel Age reading, Stan Lee claims no story credit for the issue. His name still comes first, but he takes credit for editing. The only other time we’ve seen this is with Tales to Astonish #64, published just a week earlier, and scripted by Leon Lazarus.

Rumor is that publisher Martin Goodman was concerned of the power Lee held by being the sole writer on these increasingly successful titles, and instructed Lee to diversify the writing staff. However, neither Rico nor Lazarus became regular writers. So if that was Goodman’s intent, he was not successful.

We’ve met Don Rico twice before, though he used the alias of N. Korok, when he worked on Tales of Suspense #52–53 and helped introduce Black Widow. The first time we saw him work with Stan, Stan credited himself with “story” and Rico with “plot”. I don’t know the difference either.

This is Rico’s final scripting assignment for Marvel, a company he’s worked for off and on for 25 years at this point. It’s pretty close to his last comics work. He’d basically already left comics behind for prose writing at this point. A couple miscellaneous pieces in the 70s, including the art for a short Captain America story.

Don Rico passed away in 1985 at the age of 72.

Strange Tales #129

The Terrible Trio!

Featuring: Human Torch and Thing
Release: November 10, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
Story by: Stan Lee (as if you didn’t know!)
Pencilling by: Dick Ayers (as if anyone cares!)
Inking by: Frankie Ray (as if it matters)
Lettering by: Art Simek (as if things aren’t bad enough!)
12 pages

Previous	#299	Next
Amazing Spider-Man #21	Reading order	Strange Tales #129, Story B
Strange Tales #128, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #129, Story B

Dr. Doom’s loser henchmen return, and Lee is still convinced that’s more interesting to spotlight than whatever Dr. Strange is up to this issue. At least Stan acknowledges Dr. Strange’s existence with a caption on the cover.

The loser henchmen now have a name. They are the Terrible Trio. They even have a cool logo design, where their name appears to be shaking.

It will be 15 years before a writer thinks they’re worth bringing back.

Frank Giacoia returns as inker. We met him last issue, where he used the pen name “Frank Ray”. Now he’s settled into the more informal “Frankie Ray”, which he will be better known as.

Strange Tales #128, Story B

The Demon’s Disciple!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: October 8, 1864
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee– unchallenged master of the dramatic word!
Drawn by: Steve Ditko– unquestioned innovator of the occult illustration!
Lettered by: Artie Simek– unabashed purveyor of the captivating caption!
10 pages

Previous	#286	Next
Strange Tales #128	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #61
Strange Tales #128	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #129

Dr. Strange gets more cover real estate than usual.

Recall that after last issue’s epic battle with Dormammu, Dr. Strange was rewarded with a more powerful amulet and a new cape. The narrator here notes the amulet and new powers of levitation. This seems to imply the cape itself bestows the power of levitation. Dr. Strange confirms this at the end of the story.

A man comes to Dr. Strange seeking help. He had become the disciple of a magician known as the Demon and wishes to leave the Demon’s service. The Demon summons him back before Dr. Strange can help.

Strange Tales #128

Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch

Featuring: Human Torch and Thing
Release: October 8, 1964
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Monumental story by: Stan Lee
Magnificent pencilling by: Dick Ayers
Masterful inking by: Frank Ray
Melancholy lettering by: Artie Simek
12 pages

Previous	#285	Next
Fantastic Four #34	Reading order	Strange Tales #128, Story B
Strange Tales #127, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #128, Story B

I appreciate that Simek has come up with logos for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Some wooshes over Quicksilver’s name. Some frayed edges for the Scarlet Witch.

Frank Giacoia

We see a new name in the credits. Frank Ray is the inker. Frank Ray is a pen name for Frank Giacoia. He wil become a frequent Marvel inker, initially under the name Frank Ray or Frankie Ray.

Strange Tales #127, Story B

Duel with the Dread Dormammu!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: September 8, 1964
Cover: December 1964
12 cents
Story by: Stan Lee, master of macabre menace
Art by: Steve Ditko, weaver of wondrous witchraft
Lettered by: S. Rosen, sultan of speedball sorcery
10 pages

Previous	#263	Next
Strange Tales #127	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #19
Strange Tales #127	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #128

Last issue saw the build-up to Dr. Strange’s fight with Dormammu. It established pretty clearly that Dormammu is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, on a level we can’t even comprehend. Dr. Strange has no chance against Dormammu. Last issue was quite clear on that, but then cut off just as they were about to battle.

The promised battle does not immediately commence. Dormammu gives Strange a chance to reconsider first, as this would be more slaughter than battle.

The girl from last issue finds Dr. Strange again, this time to show him the moral complexity of the situation. Dormammu poses a threat to Earth; that is why Dr. Strange must stop him. But Dormammu also rules his realm. Early indications are that he’s something of a tyrant, imprisoning people who question him or fail him.

He may be a tyrant; he may be evil; he may be about to destroy our world… but he’s also the only force standing between his subjects and the Mindless Ones. Whatever else he may be, he keeps his people safe. Even if Dr. Strange somehow succeeded in defeating Dormammu, the mystic shields sustained by Dormammu’s will would break, allowing the Mindless Ones to enter the Dark Realm, where they would proceed to kill all the inhabitants. Quite the moral quandary.