I don't usually go into any detail about Marvel's horror anthology comics, apart from listing them in the "other comics" section, but this month I'll make an exception because of a landmark event. This month's Chamber Of Darkness contains a seven-page story by Gerry Conway, who was 16 at the time. He was still at school, so he was writing stories on a free-lance basis. He didn't become a full time employee until four years later. At Marvel he became one of the company's most prolific writers.
Gerry Conway was a controversial figure. Some fans considered him to be Marvel's best writer in the mid-1970's. Others didn't like him at all. I personally lean towards the second group. He wrote some good stories for Amazing Spider-Man, but I found his stories in Fantastic Four and The Avengers bland. Overall, his stories were action adventures with little emotional depth, the opposite of what I admired in the stories of Stan Lee and Roy Thomas.
That's the opinion I had when I read his comics 40 years ago, and I haven't read them since. When I get round to re-reading them for my Marvel Years posts I'll keep an open mind and try to judge his comics as if I've never read them before.
X-Men #65
Title: Before I'd be a slave...
Writer: Dennis O'Neil
Artist: Neal Adams
X-Men: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, Iceman
Villain: Z'Nox (aliens)
Regulars: Professor X, Alex Summers, Lorna Dane
Cameos: Fantastic Four (Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Crystal)
Alex Summers and Lorna Dane summon the X-Men to deal with an approaching crisis. A highly evolved race, the Z'Nox, intend to attack the Earth by steering their planet close to the Earth and destroying it with their magnetic pull. The X-Men are reluctant to believe so far-fetched a story, but then Alex reveals that he's been told all this by Professor X. Didn't he die in X-Men #42? So it seemed, but here comes the deus ex machina. It wasn't Professor X who died, it was the Changeling, one of the leaders of Factor Three. Professor X pretended to be dead so that he could plan a defence against the approaching Z'Nox in secret.
Professor X defeats the Z'Nox by absorbing the positive energy of the Earth's good people, then channelling it through an optic beam blast fired by Cyclops at their planet.
For me this is a very dissatisfying story that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Professor X's return seems highly artificial, but even worse is the way Cyclops can fire goodness with his optic beam. The story is an embarrassment for Marvel. Dennis O'Neil should never have been allowed to touch the X-Men.
Fantastic Four #95
Title: Tomorrow, World War Three!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm
Villain: Monocle
Regulars: Crystal
Guests: Medusa
A man called Monocle intends to kill speakers at a UN meeting, in order to start World War Three. He attacks the Fantastic Four first with a Neutrak Ray (TM) disguised as a camera.
Medusa tells Crystal that Black Bolt has ordered her to return to the Inhumans. She leaves despite Johnny Storm's protests.
The line-up of the Fantastic Four isn't officially changed in this issue, but Crystal is gone and Susan Richards is wearing her costume, so I assume that Crystal's temporary membership, which began in Fantastic Four #81, is now over.
Amazing Spider-Man #81
Title: The Coming of the Kangaroo!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Buscema
Villain: Kangaroo
Regulars: Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson
An Australian calling himself the Kangaroo has illegally entered America. Before he can be deported he escapes by leaping away. He grew up with kangaroos and learned how to imitate them.
When the Kangaroo sees a high security transport he assumes it's money, so he steals the bag. Inside the bag is a vial containing a deadly bacteria. The Kangaroo doesn't realise it's dangerous and keeps it.
Spider-Man hears about the bacteria on the news, so he hunts for the Kangaroo to retrieve it.
Thor #173
Title: Ulik Unleashed!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Villain: Loki, Ulik, Circus of Crime (Ringmaster, Princess Python, Clown, Cannonball, Great Gambinos)
No, Dr. Donald isn't a split personality healing himself. He's giving medical treatment to a strongman called Mike – nice name! – who dresses up as Thor in a circus troupe. But as we know, there's only one circus in the Marvel universe, and that's the circus that belongs to the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. I hope he won't ever get a long term prison sentence, because American children would be crying their eyes out in a world without circuses.
Loki has requested Ulik the Troll to attack Thor, so he sends him to Thor's location, the circus. The Ringmaster hypnotises Ulik, but when Thor attacks Ulik the hypnosis is broken and they fight. After lengthy battles in the past, Thor defeats Ulik in less than four pages. There are three possibilities.
(1) Thor has grown stronger.
(2) Ulik has grown weaker.
(3) The battle had to be cut short to finish the story within a single issue.
Sadly, I believe that the third possibility is true.
Thor exposes that there is stolen computer equipment hidden in the circus.
Ulik last battled Thor in Thor #152, but we saw him briefly in an underground cavern in Thor #153 and Thor #154.
The Circus of Crime last fought with Thor in Thor #147. They wanted to attack Thor at the wedding of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne in Avengers #60, but Thor was absent due to a battle with the Silver Surfer.
At the same time, Loki is summoning his allies to fight against Thor. I think that Stan Lee must have had an off day. Usually is prose is spotless, even Shakespearean, but this time his old English is faulty. Let me describe it simply.
"Thou" is the singular form, "Ye" is the plural.
And yet Loki addresses the malcontents (plural) as thou (singular).
On the next page Loki addresses Ulik (singular) as ye (plural). The first two speech bubbles are correct, but Stan Lee still slips up in the third.
There's another type of mistake made in Thor's speech at the end of the comic.
"Thou" is the subject of a verb, "Thee" is the object.
Thor should have said "'Tis thou who have done the unpardonable".
The easy way out would be to blame Artie Simek for everything, but that would be so 1960's.
Silver Surfer #13
Title: The Dawn of the Doomsday Man!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Buscema
Villain: Doomsday Man (robot)
The world is panicking because of a giant robot that the press calls the Doomsday Man. An emergency meeting of the United Nations has been convened.
After the first Moon landing it was decided that a robot should be built to assist in the exploration of other planets. (Yes, I know the Moon isn't a planet, but I couldn't think of any other way to concisely formulate that sentence). When the robot was complete it was thought to be too dangerous, so the government wanted to destroy it, but it was too tough to destroy. Try a screwdriver? It was put in a heavily fortified prison on a remote island. Now it's attempting to break out.
The Silver Surfer visits the United Nations and offers to deal with the robot.
The Avengers #73
Title: The Sting of the Serpent
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Frank Giacoia
Avengers: Black Panther, Goliath, Vision, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Captain America (flashback)
Villain: Sons of the Serpent
Guests: Bill Foster (flashback)
The Sons of the Serpent are active in America again, after apparently being crushed in Avengers #33. Racism never dies. Do you notice the absolute stupidity of American racism in the splash page? The Supreme Serpent is saying that they will drive from the land the foreign-born. That would include the white race of European origin.
The Black Panther claims for himself the right to tackle the Sons of the Serpent alone. It's a matter close to his heart, for obvious reasons. Interestingly, the American public has never guessed until now that he's a black man beneath his mask.
At the end of the story he's captured by the Sons of the Serpent.
This isn't the place for me to make a social commentary on racism, but I'll say a few words. Racism is stupid. Always. It doesn't matter what the colour of a person's skin is, all that matters is what he thinks, what he says and what he does.
Captain America #122
Title: The Sting of the Scorpion!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Gene Colan
Villain: Scorpion
Regulars: Sharon Carter
This comic begins with pages of introspection by Captain America. He's questioning whether his lifelong service of his country has been worth it. This topic will be followed up in future comics. It's an important topic, and not just for super-heroes. It's a topic worth thinking about today. Patriotism is a good thing, whether you're American, British, Chinese or any other nationality. But what do you do when you think your country is on a wrong path? Do you try to alter the system, or do you rebel against the system and try to smash it? Listen to Captain America's thoughts.
A gang has hired the Scorpion, last seen in Amazing Spider-Man #29, to kill Sharon Carter. Captain America runs into the Scorpion by chance and defeats him in combat. He breaks up the gang and hands them over to SHIELD, not realising that Sharon is tied and gagged in another room.
Daredevil #61
Title: Trapped by the Trio of Doom!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Gene Colan
Villain: Jester, Cobra, Mister Hyde
Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Karen Page
Matt Murdock is plucking up his courage to ask Karen Page to marry him. Wait! Didn't he already propose to her in Daredevil #58?
Yes he did, and she accepted. There's the proof! I can only assume that she retroactively made her acceptance conditional on the promise he made to give up being Daredevil.
The Cobra and Mister Hyde (last seen in Daredevil #32) have teamed up with the Jester (last seen in Daredevil #46) to get revenge on Daredevil. They lure him to a fairground where the rides have been booby-trapped. After the previous long, hard battles, Daredevil manages to defeat their combined forces within a mere six pages. This is yet another casualty of the disastrous new single issue story policy.
The Incredible Hulk #124
Title: The Rhino says No!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Herb Trimpe
Villain: Leader, Rhino
Regulars: General Ross, Major Talbot, Betty Ross
We've had super-hero weddings before. Reed Richards and Susan Storm got married in Fantastic Four Annual #3. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne got married in Avengers #60. By now people should know that super-hero weddings are never peaceful occasions. There are always super-villains waiting to strike. This time the villains are the Leader and the Rhino.
The Rhino was seemingly killed after fighting the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #104, but he survived, and he's been lying in a coma ever since. The Leader revives him and makes him stronger. He want's Rhino's assistance for the second half of his plan. First the Leader will fire a Gamma Gun (TM) at Bruce Banner to trigger his transformation during the wedding ceremony and make him kill everyone around him. Then the Rhino will attack and defeat the Hulk.
The Rhino's impatience spoils the plan. Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk, but the Rhino attacks him too soon, before he can do any damage. The Leader and the Rhino turn on one another while the Hulk looks on.
The Hulk has now lost Bruce Banner's intelligence and the ability to change forms whenever he wants to. The wedding is off.
Sub-Mariner #22
Title: The Monarch and the Mystic!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Marie Severin
Villain: Undying Ones, Nameless One
Regulars: Dorma, Vashti
Guests: Doctor Strange
This comic is a continuation of the story of the Undying Ones, which began in Doctor Strange #183, the final issue in the series. I can't help wondering whether the story would have developed in a different way if the Doctor Strange comic hadn't been abruptly cancelled.
Prince Namor is brought to Atlantis for an operation to restore the functionality of his gills. While asleep, Doctor Strange talks to him in a dream and tells him about the Undying Ones. They are a race of beings that lived on Earth before humans. It's possible to make contact with them through magic rituals. On waking up, Namor goes to the house of Kenneth Ward in Boston to look for the mystic idol. He finds it buried beneath a statue in the cemetery outside the house. Doctor Strange and the Sub-Mariner fight against the Nameless One, the leader of the Undying Ones. Namor wants to continue the fight, but Doctor Strange says he will fight alone.
Iron Man #22
Title: From this conflict, death!
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artist: George Tuska
Villain: Crimson Dynamo (Alex Niven), Titanium Man
Regulars: Janice Cord, Eddie March
Iron Man rushes to rescue Eddie March, the man who replaced him as Iron Man last issue. He was too weak to fight the new Crimson Dynamo because of the blood clot in his brain.
Tony Stark swears he will never let anyone else replace him as Iron Man. Let's see how long he keeps that up.
The Titanium Man, last seen in Tales Of Suspense #94, attacks the Crimson Dynamo, because Alex Niven is a Russian defector. The Crimson Dynamo flies away with Janice Cord. Iron Man thinks he is trying to harm Janice and attacks him. Iron Man finally wins a confused three-way battle.
The question is how Iron Man manages to defeat the Titanium Man in three pages when their previous battle lasted three comics. Once more, the answer is that there's a new single issue story policy at Marvel.
Other comics published this month:
Millie the Model #179 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Mad About Millie #9 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Chili #10 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Our Love Story #3 (Stan Lee, Gene Colan)
Rawhide Kid #74 (Larry Lieber, Larry Lieber)
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #75 (Gary Friedrich, Dick Ayers)
Chamber of Darkness #3 (Gerry Conway, Barry Smith)
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