Captain America and the Falcon #136
Title: The World Below
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Gene Colan
Villain: Mole Man. Giant Gorilla (Dr. Erik Gorbo)
Regulars: Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Sharon Carter
Guests: Tony Stark
Captain America and the giant gorilla are falling to their deaths in a bottomless pit. After what seems like an eternity a ray stops their fall. They've been caught by the Mole Man. He accuses Captain America of leading an attack on his underground kingdom, but Captain America tells him the hole is only intended for dumping nuclear waste. The surface men didn't know the hole was directly over the Mole Man's kingdom.
The Mole Man says he will send Captain America back to the surface to tell the scientists above to fill the hole, but Dr. Garbo changes to human form and tells him that Captain America is a liar and a spy. The Mole Man fights with Captain America. The Falcon flies down and helps Captain America.
The Mole Man prepares to destroy the SHIELD laboratory on the surface. The gorilla knows that this is where the woman he loves works, so he blocks the destructive ray and dies in the blast. With his dying words he tells the Mole Man that he can trust Captain America.
This story also includes a retelling of the Mole Man's origin.
Amazing Spider-Man #95
Title: Trap for a Terrorist!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Romita
Villain: terrorists
Regulars: Aunt May, Anna Watson, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, Captain Stacy (flashback), Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson
Peter Parker decides to go to England to talk to Gwen Stacy. Joe Robertson offers him a free return ticket so that he can take some news photos.
On the plane, Peter meets a man who's the American delegate for a peace conference. When the plane lands it's announced that terrorists have placed a bomb. Spider-Man throws the bomb away, but the terrorists escape with the delegate. They say he'll be killed if their demands aren't met.
Spider-Man hunts the terrorists down and frees the delegate. There are news reports about him, so he fears that if Gwen sees him as Peter Parker she'll guess who he is. I thought he wanted to tell her anyway. Nevertheless, he heads back to the airport with a film full of photos of Spider-Man in action.
Fantastic Four #109
Title: Death in the Negative Zone!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Buscema
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm
Villain: Janus/Nega-Man, Annihilus
Regulars: Agatha Harkness
After the shaky first part, probably caused by the last minute rewrite, the second part of this story is a masterpiece. Reed Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm enter the Negative Zone to lead Annihilus away from the entrance to our world, while Susan Richards remains behind to monitor the equipment.
Annihilus attempts to kill Janus, but Janus offers to lead Annihilus to the entrance. Ben and Johnny face Annihilus, while Reed pursues Janus, who is heading towards the centre of the Negative Zone.
This is the first time the Negative Zone has ever heard the Thing's battle cry: It's clobbering time!
Janus falls into the Exploding Area where he will (presumably) die. Reed returns to aid his comrades. Together they defeat Annihilus. Ben and Johnny return to our world, not knowing that Reed has lost his homing device and has no way back. He sits on a rock drifting towards the exploding area.
Thor #187
Title: The World is Lost!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Buscema
Villain: Infinity, Hela (recap), Loki, Karnilla
Regulars: Odin, Sif, Balder, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg
Thor fights Odin, but he isn't strong enough to overcome him. Odin says he will only cease fighting if Thor swears allegiance to Infinity.
Balder and Sif travel to Karnilla's realm to ask her assistance in freeing the Warriors Three from their trance. She visits Asgard with them, but even her power isn't enough. Loki grudgingly adds his own power, and the spell is broken.
Unable to defeat Odin, Thor returns to Asgard. He asks for all the information available on Infinity. The Grand Vizier knows little, but shows him that it all began when Loki trapped Odin in the Dimension of Death. That was in Thor #176, where it was called the Sea of Eternal Night.
After seeing the vision conjured up by the Grand Vizier, Thor changes. He says that Infinity must triumph.
Once more, the cover says that this is "Truly Marvel's Greatest Epic". The story is breathtaking. Thor, as a comic, has finally reached the dizzy heights that it was destined to achieve.
The Avengers #87
Title: Look Homeward, Avenger!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Sal Buscema
Avengers: Goliath, Vision, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Black Panther, Iron Man
Villain: Klaw, AIM, B'Tumba
Regulars: Jarvis
After the Avengers return to their own world, the Black Panther is uncharacteristically glum. He tells his colleagues that he's suffering from home sickness.
Goliath reacts with his usual insensitivity, but the other Avengers are sympathetic and ask him to tell a bit about himself and his country. He recounts his origin story in greater detail than it was told in Fantastic Four #53. Interestingly, Jack Kirby's artwork is closely copied in parts of the story. Here is just one example.
This is a panel from Fantastic Four #53.
This is a panel from Avengers #87. It's interesting how Sal Buscema has rearranged the six soldiers in the picture. That would be an easy feat with today's computers, but what did he do in 1971? Did he trace them onto his own canvas, or did he cut out the images and stick them onto his picture?
The origin story in Fantastic Four #53 ends with the teenage T'Challa driving Klaw away. In this story we read about T'Challa being educated in the top schools and universities of Europe and America, accompanied by his friend B'Tumba, who was secretly recruited by AIM and led them to Wakanda to plunder the Vibranium.
At the end of the issue T'Challa says he must decide whether to remain an Avenger or return to his tribe.
The Incredible Hulk #138
Title: Sincerely, the Sandman!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Herb Trimpe
Villain: Sandman
Regulars: Betty Ross, General Ross, Major Talbot
The Hulk has just fallen from space after fighting with the Abomination.
In this comic Herb Trimpe reaches yet another peak. He's now one of Marvel's best artists, whatever the fans say. But look at the second page, written by Roy Thomas and lettered by Sam Rosen.
It's beautiful, isn't it? Stan Lee will never make fun of Sam Rosen again. He hasn't lettered many comics over the last few months, which is why a number of free-lance letterers have been used to support Artie Simek and his daughter Jean. This month's bullpen page says that he was absent because of sickness, but it doesn't go into more detail.
The poem wasn't written by Roy Thomas himself. It's "The Sorrow of Love" by William Butler Yeats. It was the inspiration of genius that Roy Thomas considered quoting it here. The page contains the whole poem, and it's so appropriate that you have to ask whether Yeats was thinking about the lovesick Hulk when he penned the words.
Betty Ross has been hospitalised since suffering a nervous breakdown in Incredible Hulk #132. There's a famous doctor in her hospital, Dr. Marquand, who has perfected a technique of total blood replacement. The Sandman comes to the hospital at night demanding his help. In Incredible Hulk #114 his body was turned to glass. He seemed to be back to his normal self in Fantastic Four #94, but he says that this was only a temporary cure with the Wizard's help. Since then his body becomes glass whenever he turns into the Sandman.
The doctor exchanges the Sandman's blood with Betty Ross's blood. This turns him back to normal. Bruce Banner comes to the hospital to visit Betty, and he gets into a fight with the Sandman. He defeats the Sandman, but Betty has turned into glass.
Sub-Mariner #36
Title: What Gods have joined together!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Sal Buscema
Villain: Attuma, Llyra
Regulars: Dorma, Triton, Diane Arliss
Namor seeks out Proteus, a blind wise man, to preside over his marriage to Lady Dorma. When he returns, Atlantis is under attack by Attuma. Namor defeats him, with the assistance of Karthon, even though Attuma has weapons with a technology that he couldn't possibly have invented himself.
The vows are spoken.
Namor kisses the bride.
He recognises that it's not Dorma's kiss. Llyra, who seemingly died in Sub-Marine #32, is impersonating Dorma.
Daredevil #75
Title: Now rides the Ghost of El Condor
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Gene Colan
Villain: El Condor
Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Karen Page (vision)
Foggy Nelson is visiting a South American country called Delvadia for a "congressional investigation", whatever that means. Is that a typical job for a New York district attorney? I've never understood the American constitution and legal system, whichever one of them applies in cases like this. Whatever the reason, it brings Matt Murdock as the DA's assistant to a trouble spot.
Delvadia is obviously a country on friendly terms with the USA. It's described as being "south of the Equator", which could put this fictional country anywhere between Colombia and the south tip of Chile. El Condor, the country's revolutionary leader, is repeatedly compared with Che Guevara, so my guess is that it's supposed to be halfway down South America, between Bolivia and Argentina, probably inland, close to the border of Paraguay. That's just a guess. I'd have to ask Gerry Conway what his intentions were when he dreamed up the story and dedicated it to "the government and armed forces of Delvadia".
Daredevil is present to save the US ambassador, Jerome Villiers, from a rebel attack. Or so he thinks. The ambulance that picks him up is driven by rebels who deliver him into El Condor's captivity.
I find the story disappointing. The emotional depth is shallow at most, and the pompous language used throughout only emphasises the script's weaknesses. Daredevil's soliloquies are pale in comparison to the ones he spoke in the days of Stan Lee and Roy Thomas.
Maybe this one page is a highlight. I suspect the first panel is a meant as a subtle joke. "Us costumed types aren't supposed to get old". That's a standing joke among Marvel fans. The super-heroes never age (apart from Spider-Man, who ages very slowly). Johnny Storm was a teenager in 1961, but 35 years later he was still being called a youngster.
But the writer, Gerry Conway, is a real life youngster. He was only 18 at the time he wrote this story. He's a master of the English language, and he can write exciting stories, but something is missing. Is it life experience? An 18-year-old might be intelligent enough to take in whatever he learns in school and reads in the newspapers, but he hasn't had the time to sample life.
I don't think Gerry Conway should have been employed by Marvel at his age. He should have gone to college first. I don't just mean that he needed to learn facts. He needed to go to college parties, get drunk, kiss girls, fall in love, have his heart broken... all the experiences that would give him the emotional depth to write stories like Stan Lee.
Iron Man #36
Note: I included the review of this issue in my February 1971 post because of discrepancies in the release months of a crossover story.
Astonishing Tales #5
Title: Rampage!
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Barry Smith
Villain: Zaladane, Garokk
Ka-Zar's struggles make Zaladane's pterodactyl fall from the sky. He saves her life, so she breaks off the fight.
Meanwhile, Garokk is being turned mad by his new powers. Zaladane already knew this would happen. She proposes an alliance with Garokk, but he refuses. After a three-way battle with Ka-Zar, both Garokk and Zaladane die. Seemingly.
Title: A Land Enslaved!
Writer: Larry Lieber
Artist: George Tuska
Villain: Red Skull, Exiles (General Ching, Iron Hand Hauptmann, Cadavus, Gruning, Krushki, Baldini)
Doctor Doom returns to Latveria, not knowing that it's been conquered by the Red Skull.
Doctor Doom is easily defeated because he has no defence against Chemi-Sleep Gas (TM). Excuse me! Why not? Has he never thought about putting gas filters in his mask?
Instead of just killing Doctor Doom, the Red Skull puts him on display as a trophy. Bad thinking! Doctor Doom escapes and defeats the Red Skull and the Exiles with ease. It looks like the Red Skull had run out of Chemi-Sleep Gas.
Marvel Tales #30
Marvel Tales is a magazine that ran for 291 issues, from January 1964 to November 1994. During this time it reprinted stories from other Marvel comics. I don't normally mention reprint comics in my Marvel Years posts, but this is a special exception. Marvel Tales #30 is the only issue in this long-running series that contains an original story. It's the third part of the Angel vs the Dazzler story, which began in Ka-Zar #2 and Ka-Zar #3. Ka-Zar, also a reprint series, was cancelled after three issues.
Title: To cage an Angel!
Writer: Jerry Siegel
Artist: George Tuska
Villain: The Dazzler (Burt Worthington)
Regulars: Candy Southern
The Dazzler unmasks the Angel and is surprised to see that it's Warren Worthington III. The Dazzler unmasks himself and reveals that he's Warren's Uncle Burt. He and Warren Jr (Warren's father) were smuggling diamonds, but Warren Jr developed a conscience, so Burt killed him.
The Dazzler wants to use a giant diamond to power a destructive ray. He hypnotises Warren III to collect the diamond from a mobster. Unknown to the Dazzler, a side-effect of Warren's mutant powers is that he can't be hypnotised. Warren collects the diamond, but he secretly replaces it with a piece of glass. The machine explodes. The Angel carries Candy and his uncle to safety, out of the blast radius. The Dazzler starts fighting in the air, making the Angel drop both of them. He can only rescue one of them, so he catches Candy, and the Dazzler falls to his death. Seemingly.
Here's a message from Stan Lee in this month's Bullpen Bulletin page. I can relate to it. He's writing exactly the same things that I say about myself. Is that a surprise? I read Stan Lee's words when I was an impressionable child, and he's had an immense influence on my way of thinking. I don't give myself a label. I follow neither "liberal" nor "conservative" party political lines. In every political or moral issue I make up my own mind, which usually ends up with my views being somewhere in the middle. Liberals accuse me of being conservative, while conservatives accuse me of being liberal. They should open their minds and think for themselves.
Other comics published this month:
Conan the Barbarian #4 (Roy Thomas, Barry Smith)
Millie the Model #189 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Our Love Story #10 (Stan Lee, Gene Colan)
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #86 (Gerry Conway, Dick Ayers)
Monsters on the Prowl #10 (Mike Friedrich, Don Heck)
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