Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: March 12, 1963 Cover: June 1963 12 cents Script: Stan Lee Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 20 pages
I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1
In general, the desire to be king of the city’s gangs is an uninteresting motivation. The FF villains are better when they think bigger than the Thinker seems to be thinking here. The lack of a good supervillain plot cheapens the new villain out of the box. Nonetheless, the Thinker (sometimes called the Mad Thinker) will become a major FF adversary.
He thinks I’m just a typical teen-age kid! Good! That’s the way I like it!
So I am going to try something new with this blog. I have mostly been stealing pictures I could find on the internet, but I now have a large nifty scanner working and want to try to make my own scans. Now, for various reasons related to my lack of independent wealth, I don’t own Amazing Spider-Man #2, but I have many reprints.
I’ve largely been reading comics in thick collections, which can be hard to scan with my flatbed scanner. But I have smaller reprints from this story. It was reprinted in Amazing Spider-Man Annual 7, but that is still a bit thick for optimal scanning, and the binding isn’t entirely perfect. I also have it reprinted in Marvel Tales #139. Let me try a few scans for comparison.
Featuring: Human Torch Release: February 12, 1963 Cover: May 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: R. Berns Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 13 pages
Kirby is back with Ayers inking after 2 issues of Ayers on main art. They will go back and forth some, but Ayers is going to be the more regular artist at this point. This is the second script we’ve seen by “R. Berns”, Robert Bernstein, who just provided the script for the last Iron Man story. We’ll see him in a few more places.
The basic idea of this comic is fun. The Painter has magic paint that makes whatever he paints come to life. The ending is somewhat absurd, and the story has some severe structural problems.
The splash page is pretty heavily expository and overly explains the plot of the issue, when really it should just be teasing it.
I mean… that’s pretty much the entire story.
We get a couple pages showing how Human Torch regularly helps police capture common crooks. This isn’t the type of thing we see any other FF members doing. It’s a regular activity for Ant-Man and semi-regular activity for Thor.
The Fantastic Four Versus the Red Ghost and His Indescribable Super-Apes!/Menace on the Moon!/The Watcher Appears/Duel in the Dead City! Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: January 3, 1963 Cover: April 1963 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Art: Jack Kirby Inking: S. Ditko 22 pages
I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.
The great Steve Ditko provides inks for Kirby’s pencils. We last saw this legendary combination in Incredible Hulk #2.
This issue is the first to get to the heart of what I think the Fantastic Four should be about: exploration of the wondrous; an adventure into the imagination. Kirby is famed for his creativity, but this is the first issue where he’s really letting it flex. This issue is bursting with ideas, many tangential to the main story. The FF head to the moon, learn the blue area has a breathable atmosphere, find the ruins of an ancient civilization, battle a super-villain and his super-apes, and meet the enigmatic Watcher. Plus glimpses of the past and future, and of the destruction of a world. That’s a comic bursting with ideas.
The Incredible Hulk vs The Metal Master Featuring: Hulk Release: January 3, 1963 Cover: March 1963 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Art: Steve Ditko 24 pages
I read this story in Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1.
All good things must come to an end. Turns out things like this series also come to an end.
The great Steve Ditko takes over for Jack Kirby for the first full-length Hulk story since the second issue, and what is also the final issue of Incredible Hulk. Though no hint of that ending can be found in the cover or the letters pages. There simply isn’t an issue 7.
This Ditko guy draws a pretty good Hulk.
Perhaps it’s for the best. The first issue was one of the best comics we’ve read and showed so much potential. A dark psychological sci-fi drama, with elements of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. That potential was squandered on constant tweaks to the character, a series that had the feeling of throwing things at the wall until something stuck, then giving up when nothing stuck. It will take Steve Ditko to reshape the character into a more enduring form, but he won’t get a chance to do that now, as the series is being cancelled.
The Threat of the Torrid Twosome Featuring: Human Torch Release: December 10, 1962 Cover: March 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: Larry Lieber Art: Dick Ayers 13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch vol. 1
This blog took a short hiatus while I traveled a bit. I did bring my Human Torch book along with me with the idea of getting this written while abroad, but I didn’t get it done. It doesn’t help that we’ve now read Amazing Spider-Man, so know how good a superhero comic can be. That doesn’t make it easy to return to these Human Torch comics.
This is the first Human Torch story not drawn by Kirby. Regular inker Dick Ayers is stepping up as the main artist. That’s a common theme for the month. After 18 months of Kirby drawing all the titles we’ve been reading, he’s dialing it back. We just saw Don Heck on Ant-Man and Iron Man.
This story finally addresses–albeit clumsily–the nagging flaw at the heart of this series: the secret identity of the Human Torch. We learn that he does not in fact have a secret identity, and that all his friends were pretending to not know his identity to be nice. That doesn’t explain a lot of things, like why the Torch so frequently risked lives to protect his identity, why he was so open and cavalier about his identity in theFantastic Four comics, or why the Wizard’s plan depended so heavily on the Human Torch guarding his identity.
How much does the job pay? I figure I’m worth your top salary!
We come now to the fourth and final Marvel superhero milestone of December 10, 1962
Milestone #1 of December 10, 1962: Fantastic Four meet the Hulk!
Milestone #2: Iron Man
Miletone #3: Amazing Spider-Man #1
Milestone #4: Fantastic Four meet Spider-Man!
A pretty exciting day in the history of Marvel superheroes indeed.
While the first story of Amazing Spider-Man #1 was largely a character-focused tale, this one gets more into the superhero action.
There are two main thrusts. The first is the meeting between Spider-Man and the FF! And of course, when they meet, they fight. The FF were understandably unhappy about Spider-Man breaking into their headquarters, and Spider-Man saw taking them on as a way of proving his worth to them.
In fairness, the FF get into fights with everybody, including each other.
He thought joining the Fantastic Four would be the secret to solving his money woes, but he learned they are a non-profit organization that pays no salary.
The Impossible Man Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: November 1, 1962 Cover: February 1963 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 11 pages
I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.
In some ways, this is a fill-in issue of FF, a break from their serious adventures. The first half of the issue gave the team to address their real-life letters in-story in an extended letters page. This half features a gag character. He reminds one of DC antagonists such as Bat-Mite or Mr. Mxyp– I mean Mr. Mxyzpl– I mean, that imp who annoys Superman.
The adversary is from the planet Poppup, a race that has learned to instantly evolve. The Impossible Man is essentially unbeatable, but not really a villain. Their initial conflict is just intergalactic cross-cultural misunderstanding; later, the Impossible Man is just trying to amuse himself. The FF should probably have tried to deescalate and defuse the situation.
The Human Torch Meets Paste-Pot Pete! Featuring: Human Torch Release: October 9, 1962 Cover: January 1963 12 cents Plot: Stan Lee Script: Larry Lieber Art: Jack Kirby Inking: Dick Ayers 13 pages
I think it goes without saying that Paste-Pot Pete is one of the greatest super-villains of all time. And that he has one of the greatest names. And therefore– I will say no more.
Prisoners of the Puppet Master!/The Hands of the Puppet Maker/The Lady and the Monster!/Face-to-face with the Puppet Master!/Death of a puppet! Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: August 9, 1962 Cover: November 1962 12 cents Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Inker: Dick Ayers 23 pages
I read this issue in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. The comic has the signatures of Lee and Kirby. The collection lists Ayers as the inker.
We begin now the second year of adventures of the Fantastic Four.
Well, he did tell them to call him Thing…
I’ve found it weird the whole series that they always refer to him as ‘Thing’ instead of ‘Ben’. In later comics, they will mostly call him Ben. The writers seemed to have noticed it’s odd as they make a thing of it here. Sue calls him Ben, and he complains about how it’s only ‘Ben’ when they want something.
