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Journey Into Mystery #101

The Return of Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man!

Featuring: Thor
Release: December 2, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: G. Bell
Lettered by: S. Rosen
13 pages

We are one week late reading this comic because it begins a two-part battle against Tomorrow Man. How this comic fits in with Thor’s appearances in Avengers is pretty complicated, and we’ll be addressing that in a later post.

I’ll remind readers that the Avengers really do have some urgent business to get back to. Both Hulk and Namor remain at large. It should also be noted that Giant-Man recently fractured his ankle, but seems better now.

Jack Kirby is back and here to stay. Perhaps he’ll be able to turn around what up to this point has been one of the worst comics. Perhaps not, as he was there for the earliest issues of Thor and they were still of low quality. But Stan Lee was also farming out the writing to a variety of people. Now, for the first time, Stan and Jack will be the team on this book, just like on Fantastic Four and Sgt. Fury. They’ve also reached the point in their working relationship where their “coplotting” of the stories likely involves Stan less and less. Kirby will be taking greater control of the storytelling going forward. We’ll see how it goes.

Now that Lee is scripting, there is a detectable difference in Thor’s speech patterns. Under other writers, he had slowly evolved from talking like he was Don to talking like he was Thor. Now, there’s a certain haughty regality to the language. Words like “naught”.

Tales to Astonish #53, Story B

When Wakes the Colossus!

Featuring: Wasp
Release: December 2, 1963
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script + Art: L.D. Lieber
Inking: D. Heck
Lettering: R. Holloway
5 pages

Once again, we get a Wasp story where she narrates another story. This time, she tells her story to Hank before heading to the Veterans hospital.

It concerns a warlord named Mingo (perhaps inspired by Ming from Flash Gordon). An atheistic conqueror, he takes advantage of his targets’ religious beliefs, easily defeating a people who don’t believe in fighting at night and another who can’t fight soldiers wearing sacred animal garb.

Tales to Astonish #53

Trapped by the Porcupine!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: December 2, 1963
Cover: March 1964
12 cents
Story by: Daring Stan Lee
Art by: Dazzling Dick Ayers
Lettering by: Dynamic S. Rosen
18 pages

Porcupine is only Dr. Pym’s second recurring villain. Egghead was the first.

Giant-Man’s costume seems to be undergoing frequent slight alterations. I’m not sure what’s going on with the black suspenders. They may be adjustable. Whatever is going on, this issue they seem to form an “x” on his back.

The Avengers #3

Sub-Mariner!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: November 5, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: P. Reinman
25 pages

We see a new cover box. Acknowledges that Hank is now Giant-Man and that Wasp exists.

Welcome to a special Mothers Day post. What makes this a Mothers Day post? Well, today is Mothers Day. Also, my mother likes the Sub-Mariner, and this is the issue where the Avengers meet Sub-Mariner.

Sub-Mariner doesn’t show up until page 15, but still gets the issue titled after him. Good for him.

In the first issue, Loki tricked the Avengers into attacking the Hulk.

In the second issue, Space Phantom tricked the Avengers into attacking the Hulk.

This issue, the Avengers just decide to attack the Hulk.

Tales to Astonish #52, Story B

Not What They Seem!

Featuring: Wasp
Release: November 6, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script and art: Larry Lieber
Inking: G. Bell
5 pages

Wasp visits an orphanage to tell another sci/fi tale. The main plot about prisoners pursued by the Space Patrol doesn’t have too much going for it. But along the way, one convict lists some weird planets he was aware of. And those planets all represent some cool sci/fi ideas.

Tales to Astonish #52

The Black Knight Strikes!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: November 6, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Dick Ayers
18 pages

This story is 18 pages. They’d been seeming to have trouble filling 13, but 18 will be the new norm. The 5-page difference is made up for by the lack of a science fiction backup, save the tale the Wasp tells. An era is soon coming to an end.

While I mostly think of him and appreciate him as an inker, I’d like to note that Dick Ayers is a pretty solid draftsman in this issue. I complained recently about his Strange Tales work with George Roussos. But, inking himself, he gives a very clean take on these characters.

We meet the new Black Knight, Professor Garrett. He’d been a spy busted by Giant-Man. He fled the country to his castle in the Balkans. (Yes, another super-villain with a castle; at least this one’s in a part of the world with lots of castles.) He used his science knowledge to genetically engineer a winged horse and build a lance that has all kinds of weapons attached.

In particular, his lance can melt metal. Since that’s the only power of the Melter, the Melter would feel pretty useless if the two ever teamed up.

Tales of Suspense #49

The New Iron Man Meets The Angel!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: October 8, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko
Inked by: P. Reinman
18 pages

Paul Reinman on inks. It’s not often Ditko gets an inker. He usually does his own finishes. His first Iron Man story had Don Heck doing “refinement”. I think that’s the only other time we’ve seen anybody else finishing Ditko. Paul Reinman has been inking the X-Men comics, so he may be here to help keep their faces on-model.

Once again, that weird note at the beginning; we’ve seen something similar in every crossover. Stan thanks the editors of X-Men for letting the characters appear. You are the editor, Stan. But there may be legal reasons for this. Martin Goodman played all types of crazy games with shell companies and such to save a buck here and there.

The idea is it’s all one continuity, one universe. That’s why we read these comics together. But we don’t know that any character is part of that continuity until they cross over. At first, crossovers were sparse. It was a while before there was any hint Iron Man and Thor might be in this world. Crossovers have become increasingly common. After only two issues of X-Men, we learn they are a part of this world. The main story is a battle between Iron Man and Angel, but all the X-Men and Avengers will also show up.

Tales to Astonish #51, Story C

Somewhere Waits a Wobbow!

Featuring: Wasp
Release: October 1, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script and art: Larry Lieber
Inking: G. Bell
5 pages

Wasp finally gets her own solo adventures… the first female character to do so. And she’ll spend the series… reading science fiction stories to sick children.

Huh. Not exactly where I thought her character arc was going.

So far, she has shown an interest in men, makeup, and fashion. At least her interest in science fiction is less stereotypical.

Really, this is the same type of story that has been appearing in this series after the Ant-Man tales all along. Weird little science fiction shorts. We’ve been skipping most of them. But now they’re part of our superhero reading because the Wasp is narrating them.

Tales to Astonish #51

Showdown with the Human Top!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: October 1, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Dick Ayers
13 pages

This continues the story of the previous issue. This is arguably the first real 2-part story we’ve seen. The Fantastic Four took two issues to defeat Dr. Doom in Fantastic Four #16–17. But as one encounter was in the Micro-World alongside Ant-Man, and the other was not, it could be argued those were two different stories, the main plot of issue 16 being resolved. Here, issue 50 clearly ended with a note the story was to be continued. Nothing was resolved. So that makes this something of a milestone within our reading.

They presumably mean his worst defeat since becoming Giant-Man. As Ant-Man, he was defeated by a vacuum.

Tales to Astonish #50

The Human Top!

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: September 3, 1963
Cover: December 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Jack Kirby
Rendered by: Steve Ditko
23 pages

Kirby and Ditko is a rare and special combination. I think this is now the 4th time we’ve seen the combo.

Giant-Man gets a costume change, though less dramatic than the Iron Man one we just saw. Since he’s no longer Ant-Man, the ant logo is vestigial. He thus drops it in favor of some vertical stripes that resembles suspenders.

We get a major new villain, Human Top. For many characters, it’s obvious who their arch-nemesis is. Thor has Loki, the X-Men, Magneto. For Dr. Pym, it’s less clear. I had suggested it was Egghead, but a friend argued it was the Human Top. Both are contenders.

We learn Dave Cannon was born with super speed and the ability to whirl really fast like a top. This makes him a mutant as Professor X explained the term. Though this comic does not use that word.