Amazing Spider-Man #13

The Menace of… Mysterio!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: March 10, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Author: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko
Lettered by: Art Simek
22 pages

I love the web dissolving on the cover.

Spider-Man has turned to crime. He commits a robbery and then gets away by crawling a wall and using webbing. He must be guilty. Jameson was right all along.

Of course, there was the time the Skrulls convinced everybody the Fantastic Four had turned to crime. Or the time Thor was framed by Mr. Hyde. Or the two times Wizard impersonated Human Torch to frame him for crimes. Spider-Man himself has been framed for crimes now by Chameleon and the Fox. And Jameson accused Spidey of being Electro and of being in cahoots with almost every other villain. So maybe the public shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.

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Fantastic Four #1

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

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PRELUDEMarvel Comics #1
Reading orderFantastic Four #2
Fantastic FourFantastic Four #2

And so was born “The Fantastic Four!!” And from that moment on, the world would never again be the same!!

Cover of Fantastic Four #1

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.

Fantastic Four #1. Page 9. Panels 1-3.
What is their mission?

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 Beating the Commies to space is an outdated motivation for many reasons in 2019.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 The comic was out-of-date before it was published.

Photo of Yuri Gagarin
Hadn’t the Commies already been to space?
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