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Tales to Astonish #69

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

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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.

Tales to Astonish #68

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.

Tales to Astonish #67

The Mystery of the Hidden Man and his Rays of Doom!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: February 4, 1965
Cover: May 1965
12 cents
Way-out story by: Stan Lee
Ring-a-ding art by: Bob Powell
Singin’ inkin’ by: Chic Stone
Boss balloons by: Artie Simek
12 pages

Previous	#352	Next
Tales to Astonish #66, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #67, Story B
Tales to Astonish #66, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #67, Story B

We need to recall that everything is happening almost concurrently. The X-Men fight the Stranger and then Juggernaut. The Fantastic Four fight the Frightful Four and get lost at sea. The Avengers fight the Masters of Evil, then disband, then get replaced by the New Avengers. Thor fights Absorbing Man, then faces the Trial of the Gods, then the Destroyer. Hulk faces a series of villains controlled by the Leader.

These all overlap to some extent.

We’ve just caught up on 4 months of Hulk stories in this title. We’d been keeping up with the Giant-Man stories, but skipping the Hulk ones. Now we’re caught up to both. The Huk’s saga is continuing, so we’ll read the next 3 issues together.

That’s commentary on when these Giant-Man/Wasp stories take place. They fit better before Avengers #15 or perhaps in the middle of Avengers #16, before Giant-Man and Wasp announce their retirement (page 6). When the Avengers disbanded, it sure looked like Giant-Man and Wasp wanted a break from superheroing. These next 3 issues we are about to read are published concurrently with Avengers #15-17.

Journey Into Mystery #116

The Trial of the Gods!

Featuring: Thor
Release: March 4, 1965
Cover: May 1965
12 cents
Written by imperial Stan Lee
Illustrated by impregnable Jack Kirby
Inked by implacable Vince Colletta
Lettered by impossible Artie Simek
16 pages

Previous	#340	Next
Daredevil #7	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B
Journey Into Mystery #115, Story B	Journey Into Mystery	Journey Into Mystery #116, Story B

Colletta graduates from inking the backup stories to the main Thor feature. He will be the Thor artist for a very long time to come. For better or worse. In fact, he will ink the next 52 consecutive Thor stories, and a good many of the next 50 after that over the course of an 8-year run.

We’ll reserve commentary on the his style for now. Let’s spend a few issues taking in this new art style before we try to see how we think Colletta compares to Chic Stone.

Another compelling Thor title. “The Trial of the Gods!”

We’ve known the phrase since we read Avengers #16, which was actually published a week after this, but took place earlier. At least, Thor’s appearance in the story took place before this issue.

Kirby seemed to use the same concept for cover and first page.

I’ve never really understood Odin and never will. Everybody seems to agree he is wise, but his wisdom must be too much for my mortal intelligence to grasp. Thor claims Loki kidnapped Jane to Asgard; Loki claims Thor brought Jane to Asgard because he loves her. Who is lying? The God of Thunder or the God of Lies?

Only one way to find out, says Odin. The Trial of the Gods!

Avengers #16

The Old Order Changeth!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: March 11, 1965
Cover: May 1965
12 cents
Dazzling script by: Stan Lee
Dashing layouts by: Jack Kirby
Darlin’ artwork by: Dick Ayers
Delicate lettering by: Artie Simek
20 pages

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Avengers #15	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #114
Avengers #15	Avengers	Avengers #17

“Avengers Assemble!” shouts Captain America. With quite the assemblage of heroes and villains behind him. Check out our pretty full cast list near the end.

A little annoyed with myself as I make this post. I screwed up. In the middle of a move and all my comics are in transit. I have this issue, my second oldest Avengers comic after issue 8, and I thought I had scanned this before I packed and shipped it. I remembered doing so. Apparently I only scanned the single page I used in my Wandavision post.

I considered pausing our reading for a bit until I could scan my comic, but who knows when that will be. So we’ll press forward with scans, err, found on the internet. We’ll call them temporary. I’ll come back in a month or so and replace them with my own. You probably won’t even notice the difference. I just prefer to scan my own comics when I can.

And this issue means a lot to me.

Had it since early childhood somehow. My cousin had borrowed it for an extended period of time, but I eventually got it back.

This is a pretty historic issue. For whatever reason, Heck chose this issue of all issues to take a breather, leaving Ayers to do the artwork over Kirby’s layouts… or perhaps Kirby’s loose pencils, or maybe full pencils for some of the comic.

Here’s an interesting post on the breakdown of artistic labor in this issue, including speculation that Carl Hubbell was involved: https://nick-caputo.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-unknown-art-of-carl-hubbell.html

First, we need to wrap up the story from last issue. Captain America had just fatally defeated Zemo, and now needs to get back to New York with Rick. He’ll have some trouble with Zemo’s henchmen. Meanwhile, the battle with the Masters of Evil continues in New York.

Let’s just say the Avengers win, though Enchantress and Executioner escape. The battle’s anyway over by page 4, and we have more important things to discuss.

It turns out this was these heroes’ final battle together.

Avengers #15

Now, By My Hand, Shall Die a Villain!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: February 11, 1965
Cover: April 1965
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Layouts: Jack Kirby
Pencilling: Don Heck
Inking: Mickey Demeo
Lettering: Artie Simek
20 pages

Previous	#333	Next
Fantastic Four #38	Reading order	Avengers #16
Avengers #14	Avengers	Avengers #16

For several issues, Avengers had become a Lee/Heck production and was much the worse for it. Last issue had everybody working at Marvel pitch in. Now, Kirby is on hand with the layouts. Recall, we’re basically talking positioning of characters, but with that comes the storytelling, and this story is a cut above the last several issues. That’s likely Kirby’s hand. He’s been the missing ingredient. He’s back to do layouts for two issues, and they’ll be two of the best Avengers stories of the era.

Ordering is funny, as continuity is getting tight. Everybody is embroiled in multi-issue arcs, stories are flowing into each other; Avengers is always tricky continuity because it needs to be fit around the solo titles; and there’s a wedding any day now.

That’s why we already skipped ahead 5 months in our X-Men reading and are so far behind in our Dr. Strange and Hulk reading. Trying to fit it all together. This is the February issue of Avengers. We’re already mostly on to March, but about to read the January Thor. I think it all makes sense. This issue for significant reasons plainly takes place after the July issue of X-Men.

Tales to Astonish #66

The Menace of Madam Macabre

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: January 5, 1965
Cover: April 1965
12 cents
Story: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Art: Beamin’ Bobby Powell
Inking: Friendly Frankie Ray
Lettering: Sunny ol’ Sherigail
12 pages

Previous	#314 *(≈ 100 𝜋)**	Next
	Prelude	Marvel Comics #1, Story F
Tales to Astonish #65	Reading order	X-Men #10
Tales to Astonish #65, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #66, Story B

The Giant-Man tale is hogging most of the cover real estate.

Wasp doesn’t seem to be recognized as a co-lead for the second issue in a row. This is just described as a Giant-Man story. The covers have long since omitted her name.

Yes, we are falling farther and farther behind in our Hulk reading.

As before, it’s not actually a new Giant-Man. He just has a new hat.

Madam Macabre is an evil analogue to Giant-Man, with the power to make things shrink or grow. Not knowing she is evil, Giant-Man considers partnering with her, until he learns she thinks they can rule the world together.

Tales to Astonish #65

Presenting the New Giant-Man

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: December 10, 1964
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Illustrator: Bob Powell
Inked by: Don Heck
Lettering by: Sherigail
12 pages

Previous	#313	Next
Fantastic Four #36	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #66
Tales to Astonish #64, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #65, Story B

The cover boasts of a new Giant-Man. They just mean a new costume, one which will not prove enduring. The corner box has already been updated with the new look.

We met Bob Powell in Strange Tales #130. He’s taking over two titles this month.

We met Sherigail the letterer once before in issue 55. Various websites, including Marvel’s official site, misattribute the lettering of Sherigail. Nel Yomtov had been kind enough to reach out and let me know that Sherigail is a pseudonym for Morrie Kuramoto.

We’re getting ahead with the Giant-Man/Wasp stories and behind with the Hulk stories in this title. We’ll catch up to the Hulk stories eventually.

Fantastic Four #36

The Frightful Four!

Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: December 10, 1964
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Proudly produced by: Smilin’ Stan Lee and Jolly Jack Kirby
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: Artie Simek
21 pages

Previous	#312	Next
Avengers #14	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #65
Fantastic Four #35	Fantastic Four	Fantastic Four #37

The main credits are shared between Stan and Jack without specifying who did what.

Fantastic Four has been one of the best of these Marvel superhero titles since the start, but it’s regarded as one of the best comic series ever, which hasn’t yet been obvious. The series gets better at some point. It can be hard to pinpoint the exact point of transition. We noted issue 29 when Kirby started using photo collages as a step toward greatness. The introduction of the Frightful Four in this issue also suggests we are well down the path. Particularly the mysterious Madam Medusa.

Sue and Reed announced their engagement last issue. They’ve now made a public announcement, and the press is excited, underscoring their celebrity status. There will be a big engagement party this issue.

Also, I think Sue’s gotten a haircut. Her hair definitely seems shorter.

Avengers #14

Even Avengers Can Die!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: January 12, 1965
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Plot and editing by: Stan Lee
Script by: Paul Laiken and Larry Lieber
Layouts by: Jack Kirby
Pencils by: Don Heck
Inking by: Chic Stone
Lettering by: S. Rosen
20 pages

Previous	#311	Next
Avengers #13	Reading order	Fantastic Four #36
Avengers #13	Avengers	Avengers #15

That’s quite the credits listing. Sounds like they were running out of time to get this done and called in every hand they could to meet a deadline. That’s also how this story reads.

Larry Lieber had long since left superheroes behind to focus on comics like Rawhide Kid, but he pitches in.

Paul Laiken is a new name to us. This is the only superhero story he’ll ever be involved in writing. I literally think they recruited everybody in the building at the time to help get this one done. It seems like he’ll be best known for his work on the Marvel humor magazine which is totally not a Mad rip-off, Crazy.