Saturday 20 October 2018

Marvel Years 05.01 - January 1965


Fantastic Four #34

Title: A House Divided!

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Gregory Gideon

Regulars: Alicia Masters


Gregory Gideon is the richest man in America. In addition to this he's the owner of the Baxter Building. He makes a wager that he can defeat the Fantastic Four within a week. He has no super powers, but he has the world's most powerful weapon: money! He tricks the members of the Fantastic Four into fighting with one another. He doesn't stop until his son, a fan of the Fantastic Four, goes to help them and almost gets harmed.

The Crazy Credits are kind to Artie Simek. This time.


Here's a cute little poster of the Fantastic Four seeing the graffiti in Yancy Street. If you look carefully you'll see who wrote it.




Amazing Spider-Man #20

Title: The Coming of the Scorpion

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Scorpion (Mac Gargan)

Regulars: Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, Ned Leeds, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen


The mystery man who was following Peter Parker in the last issue turns out to be a private investigator called Mac Gargan, hired by J. Jonah Jameson to find out how Peter gets his photographs of Spider-Man. J. Jonah Jameson soon tires of spending money and getting no results, so he pays a scientist, Doctor Farley Stillwell, to give Gargan greater strength in order to defeat Spider-Man. Gargan is given the strength and agility of a Scorpion, but his personality also changes and he becomes evil.

In the Crazy Credits Stan Lee is asked to suppress his ego by putting Steve Ditko's name first. But look what he did! He even used Sam Rosen as an accomplice. Let's see if he's nicer to him from now on.




Tales to Astonish #63

Title: The Gangsters and the Giant

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Carl Burgos

Villain: Wrecker (Mr. Smith)


A gang is terrorising a local neighbourhood by demanding protection money from shopkeepers. Hank Pym buys the lease to a shop to draw the gang into the open. The gang's leader calls himself the Wrecker.

I don't know what "Logically Lovable" means, but let's give Stan Lee the benefit of the doubt and assume he's praising Sam Rosen in the Crazy Credits.




Title: A Titan rides the Train

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Leader, Chameleon

Regulars: General Ross, Major Talbot

For the first time we see the Leader's face. He was a normal labourer who was caught when a gamma ray cylinder exploded. Whatever that means. How can you contain rays in a cylinder? A gamma ray explosion gave Bruce Banner extreme strength as the Hulk, whereas this explosion gave the labourer extreme intelligence.

Bruce Banner and Major Talbot are travelling by train to deliver a nuclear missile. The Leader wants to steal this missile, but Bruce turns into the Hulk and stops him. Knowing that their powers have a common source the Leader feels bonded to the Hulk and wants to defeat him.

The story ends with Bruce Banner in prison as a traitor after being found with torn clothes next to the missile.

While the Crazy Credits highly praise the other contributors to this wonderful episode in the Hulk's soap opera, all they say about Sam Rosen is that he knows how to write his name. Hmmm... but he's the only one who can write his name, so maybe it's a powerful invocation like the Tetragrammaton.




Journey into Mystery #112

Title: The Mighty Thor battles the Incredible Hulk

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Hulk, Sub-Mariner

Regulars: Odin

Guests: Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp


Thor sees youngsters arguing about who is stronger, Thor or the Hulk. He stops to talk to them. He tells them of a one-on-one battle he had with the Hulk during the events of Avengers #3.

The battle comes to an end when there's a rockfall that separates them. One of the youngsters says to Thor, "But you still haven't told us who's the strongest". The answer that Thor gives is an example of Stan Lee's literary skills:

"I can only guess at the answer... but I can offer no proof. Therefore I shall say nothing. For the God of Thunder does not scatter his words rashly to the wind. But, I leave you with this thought... it is not the one possessing the greatest power who is important. It is the one who uses his power wisely in the cause of justice".

This is a magnificent piece of prose, in which Stan manages to show Thor saying one thing while he means another. In the fight Thor is obviously the weaker of the two, but he's too proud to admit it. He's too proud to say the Hulk is stronger, but he's too honest to say that the Hulk is weaker. He just gives an oblique answer that praises himself. Thor fights for justice, the Hulk doesn't, so Thor is more important.




Title: The Coming of Loki

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Gods: Odin, Loki

Odin leads the Asgardian army into battle against the Frost Giants in Jotunheim.


After slaying Laufey, the leader of the Frost Giants, Odin finds his infant son Loki and adopts him.

The Crazy Credits praise Artie Simek, even though it's difficult to see how lettering can be magnanimous.




Tales of Suspense #61

Title: The Death of Tony Stark

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Don Heck

Villain: Mandarin

Regulars: Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan


After Happy and Pepper suspect that their boss is dead, Anthony Stark allows them to see him in the bedroom of his mansion. He remains covered from the neck down so that nobody can see he's wearing his Iron Man suit.

The Mandarin, last seen in Tales of Suspense #55, destroys Anthony Stark's mansion with a laser beam. This convinces everyone that Stark is dead. Iron Man travels to China to challenge the Mandarin and is trapped. The story continues next issue.

So what do the Crazy Credits mean? There's not enough work for Sam Rosen?




Title: The Strength of the Sumo

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Vietnamese soldiers

Captain America travels to Vietnam to negotiate for the release of a soldier whose brother had rescued him from the European Theater of Operations in World War Two. He fights with various Vietnamese soldiers, including their general who is an accomplished sumo wrestler.

The Crazy Credits praise everyone except for Artie Simek. What else do you expect?




Strange Tales #128

Title: Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Dick Ayers

Villain: Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch


Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch finally decide to leave Magneto. They go to the Baxter Building to seek help from the Fantastic Four, of whom only the Human Torch and the Thing are at home. They assume that the two mutants have come to attack them, so a fight ensues. At the end the two mutants take this as proof that they will never be accepted by homo sapiens – although it's difficult to see why they would take it for granted that the Fantastic Four are homo sapiens – so they return to Magneto. (I'm not saying that the Fantastic Four are mutants; I'm saying that unless the reason for their powers is known they look like mutants).

The Crazy Credits say that Artie Simek is melancholy while everyone else is wonderful.




Title: The Demon's Disciple

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Demon

A man comes to Doctor Strange, telling him that his master wants to conquer the world. Doctor tracks down the master who calls himself the Demon.

The Crazy Credits subtly belittle Artie Simek. While Stan Lee and Steve Ditko create masterpieces, Artie Simek merely passes them on.




The Avengers #12

Title: This Hostage Earth

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Don Heck

Avengers: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp

Villain: Mole Man, Red Ghost

Regulars: Rick Jones


Giant-Man receives a message that the ants in a nearby ant-hill are panicking. He calls an Avengers meeting to ask for their aid, but they ridicule him. Thor's exact words are:

"You have the temerity to summon us because some ants in an ant-hill are in need of assistance? I know not whether to feel wrath or amusement".

Not even the Wasp takes him seriously, so Giant-Man visits the ant-hill alone and tumbles through a whole to a cavern deep beneath the Earth. There he sees the Mole Man using a machine with which he intends to destroy all life on the Earth's surface by speeding up the Earth's rotation. So far the speed has only increased slightly, just enough to be felt by small creatures like ants.

Giant-Man is captured by the Mole Man. As the Earth's rotation speeds up enough to be noticed in skyscrapers the other Avengers realise the ants' warning was serious. They travel below the Earth's surface to look for their partner.

The Red Ghost visits the Mole Man and offers his services as an ally.

The Mole Man was last seen in Fantastic Four #31.

The Red Ghost was last seen in Fantastic Four #29

The Avengers stories are being printed out of sync with Tales of Suspense. Avengers #11 (last month) took place at the same time as Tales of Suspense #61 (this month). In Avengers #12 Iron Man has returned, so the story must take place after Tales of Suspense #62 (next month).

Maybe Sam Rosen has more than enough work after all. The Crazy Credits tell us that he can barely get his lettering done on time.




X-Men #9

Title: Enter the Avengers

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

X-Men: Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman, Marvel Girl

Villain: Lucifer

Regulars: Professor X

Guests: Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp)


Look at the splash page. It's Jack Kirby at his best.

Professor X has gone to the Balkans to challenge a villain called Lucifer. We know nothing about him, except that he was responsible for Professor X losing the use of his legs. He can't be killed because he's wired a large bomb to explode if his heart stops beating. The Avengers arrive, attracted by underground impulses. The X-Men have to stop them approaching Lucifer.

The Avengers are complete, so we can assume that this story takes place after Avengers #12, and also after Tales of Suspense #62.



Check the two panels above. Stan Lee seems to have got his geography mixed up. Professor X is in a cave in the heart of Balkans. The X-Men are in a "nearby Bavarian village" and say that Professor X is somewhere beneath them. Oops! Bavaria is about 700 miles away from the Balkans. That's the sort of mistake you would expect from Donald Trump. Stan Lee ought to know better.

The Crazy Credits tell us that while Stan Lee writes savagely and the artists create excellent art Sam Rosen calmly and stoically goes about his work. Whatever Stan is trying to say, Sam should accept it as praise.



Other comics published this month:

Millie the Model #126 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Kid Colt Outlaw #120 (Stan Lee, Jack Keller)
Two Gun Kid #73 (Stan Lee, Dick Ayers)
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #14 (Stan Lee, Dick Ayers)

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