Saturday 15 September 2018

Marvel Years 04.06 - June 1964


Fantastic Four #27

Title: The Search for Sub-Mariner

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Sub-Mariner

Guests: Dr. Strange


Sub-Mariner kidnaps Susan Storm from the Baxter Building. He wants to keep her for 24 hours so that he can persuade her to marry him. He promises to release her if she doesn't agree to marry him after this time. Reed Richards isn't prepared to wait. He follows Sub-Mariner to his kingdom to challenge him. The Thing and the Human Torch follow him, aided by Dr. Strange.

Things are happening in Sub-Mariner's kingdom between the comics. In Fantastic Four Annual #1 he was reunited with his people for the second time. Now he's been abandoned by his people again, with the exception of a few warriors.




Amazing Spider-Man #13

Title: The Menace of Mysterio

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Mysterio

Regulars: Aunt May, Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant


In this issue Spider-Man is seen committing crimes at night throughout the city. Peter Parker can't remember anything, so he suspects he's got a split personality and visits a psychiatrist. A new super-hero called Mysterio presents himself and promises to capture Spider-Man. As Spider-Man's fans can guess, it was Mysterio himself imitating Spider-Man in a fake costume. He's a movie stunt man who can use his agility to perform stunts like Spider-Man.


Here's an example of Spider-Man teasing J. Jonah Jameson. It's so light-hearted and comical that you would think they really love one another!




Tales to Astonish #56

Title: The Coming of the Magician

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Dick Ayers

Villain: Magician


The Magician is just what his name says: he's a former stage magician who uses his magic tricks to become a successful robber of rich people at parties.

In this story we find out for the first time that Henry Pym loves Janet Van Dyne as much as she loves him. He intends to propose marriage to her, but is too scared to go through with it. This is yet another example of Stan Lee's frustrated love stories.

In this month's Crazy Credits the letterer doesn't even get a mention. Stan Lee is reverting to the good old days when nobody was told who lettered what.




Title: Beware the Bog Beat

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber
Artist: Larry Lieber

The tale told by the Wasp this issue is in the form of a riddle. If Henry Pym can't work out how the story ends he has to take her to dinner.

This issue also contains a short anthology story.




Journey into Mystery #105

Title: The Cobra and Mr. Hyde

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Cobra, Mr. Hyde

Regulars: Jane Foster

Guests: Captain America, Iron man, Giant-Man, Wasp


In this issue the Cobra (last seen in Journey into Mystery #98) and Mr. Hyde (last seen in Journey into Mystery #100) team up to attack Thor.

Mr. Hyde has invented a marvellous new device, a Time Reversal Ray. When pointed at a person it plays a virtual movie backwards of what the person has done, theoretically back to the moment of a person's birth. He uses this to find where Thor's base of operations is, and tracks him back to Dr. Blake's office. The potential for this device is amazing. It could be solve crimes, replaying a suspect's past to see exactly what he's done. It could also be used for less moral purposes, such as watching a woman having a shower in the morning. I want my own Time Reversal Ray!


There are two novelties in this issue. The first is that we see that if someone else taps Dr. Blake's cane he still becomes Thor. Does this happen if the cane is tapped anywhere or only nearby? If Stan Lee knows the answer he isn't telling.


The other novelty is that Thor's hammer can be lifted by an artificial device. That makes sense. It's magic that makes the hammer unliftable, not its weight.

This is the first half of a two-part story.

The Crazy Credits box mocks the letterer Artie Simek. Poor guy.




Title: When Heimdall failed

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Gods: Odin, Heimdall

The Tales of Asgard features another story about Heimdall.




Tales of Suspense #54

Title: The Mandarin's Revenge

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Don Heck

Villain: Mandarin

Regulars: Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan


Tony Stark travels to Vietnam to investigate why his surveillance devices have been failing. Note that in contrast to the recent Iron Man films Tony Stark is supporting a war. The comic was written in 1964 when patriotic Americans like Stan Lee supported the Vietnam War. He discovers that the Mandarin, last seen in Tales of Suspense #50, is responsible.

The cover mentions a new mask for Iron Man. We see it in the story, although the redesign isn't mentioned. The horns on the previous mask have been removed.


In this comic Iron Man uses flippant banter while in action against the Mandarin. This was only done in a few comics, and I consider it out of character. It makes him sound too much like Spider-Man.

The Crazy Credits are kind to Artie Simek in this comic. Note the alliteration typical for Stan Lee: "Magic Marvel Manner", "Famous Flashing Fashion" and "Smooth Subtle Style".




Title: Hands Off

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber
Artist: Larry Lieber

The Tales of the Watcher continues with another story about the Watcher himself.

It continues from last issue, in which his race was first given the mission to watch other races but never interfere. This concept was copied by Star Trek and called the Prime Directive.

The story also deals with environmental issues. Aliens shoot radioactive waste is shot into space where it will never harm anyone. Or so they think.

The issue also contains two short anthology stories.




Strange Tales #121

Title: Prisoner of the Plantman

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Dick Ayers

Villain: Plantman

Regulars: Susan Storm, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Doris Evans


We're used to Strange Tales being a split comic. This month the cover is also split, featuring both the Human Torch and Doctor Strange. The different sizes follow the size of the stories: the Human Torch has 14 pages, Doctor Strange has nine pages. At this time the Human Torch was more popular than Doctor Strange.

The Plantman returns after last being seen in Strange Tales #113. Now he's improved his plant ray to give himself a new power. In addition to plants obeying him, he can now make them climb out of the ground and walk.

The Crazy Credits box underplays Artie Simek's skills.




Title: Witchcraft in the Wax Museum

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Baron Mordo

Baron Mordo challenges Doctor Strange by stealing his body while he's in his ectoplasmic form, sometimes called his astral body.

Maybe I spoke too soon about Doctor Strange no longer being called the Master of Black Magic. In this comic Baron Mordo says that after killing Doctor Strange only he and the Ancient One will be masters of black magic.

The Crazy Credits are kind to Artie Simek, but maybe Stan Lee should have been more cautious with his praise. On page eight there's a nasty blunder. Baron Mordo forgets who he's fighting and calls Doctor Strange Doctor Doom. Or did Artie Simek forget which comic he was lettering? Stan should look over Artie's shoulder more often instead of just teasing him.





Daredevil #2

Title: The Evil Menace of Electro

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Joe Orlando

Villain: Electro

Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Karen Page

Guests: Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Susan Storm


While the Fantastic Four are in Washington D.C. receiving medals for their services Electro, who we first saw in Amazing Spider-Man #9, breaks into the Baxter Building to steal Reed Richards' secrets. Matt Murdock is visiting the building to check out the lease, but when he senses Electro he changes into Daredevil.



Other comics published this month:

Modeling with Millie #31 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Patsy Walker #115 (Stan Lee, Al Hartley)
Patsy and Hedy #94 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Rawhide Kid #40 (Stan Lee, Dick Ayers)

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