History of the Marvel Universe: June 1964, part 2

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #105

Mr. Hyde and the Cobra, defeated by Thor individually, decide to try working together to take revenge against the Thunder God.


Both characters were too underpowered to represent a decent threat to Thor in previous issues. Together, they make a slightly more believable threat. Mr. Hyde comes up with some scientific gadgets to even the odds a bit--including a nifty "time reversal ray" that allows them to backtrack Thor and discover he has some sort of connection with Donald Blake. The villains also make good use of a sort of tag-team approach their direct attacks, making it difficult for Thor to capture one before the other steps back into the fight.


There's one weak moment. Hyde and Cobra capture Blake to lure Thor to them. The trick Blake uses to get them to help him turn into Thor--while their backs are turned so they don't notice the transformation--was a little too contrived to be acceptable.


The story continues into the next issue. (Two-parters are slowly starting to become more common among the various Marvel books). It concludes this issue with an interesting take on how the magic inherent in Thor's hammer works. No other living being can lift it unless they are worthy, right? But can a significantly strong machine lift it? Apparently so--as Cobra uses an atomic-powered hydraulic lift to snatch it from Thor's grasp.


I wasn't sure if I liked this at first, but after thinking about it a moment, the idea grew on me. An inanimate object can't be either worthy or unworthy, so it can be argued that it is exempt from the hammer's usual magic.


The back-up story involves enemies of Asgard using a small sprite-like "air creature" to sneak past Heimdall and scout out Asgard's defences. As usual, it's Jack Kirby's magnificent art that sells this short and fairly quiet tale.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #54

Well, gee whiz, two-parters really are starting to become more common. This is the first of a two-part Iron Man vs. Mandarin story.

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Someone is sabotaging advanced Stark-built weaponry being used in Vietnam. Tony figures only the Mandarin has the know-how to pull this off. This leads to a pretty cool fight that ranges around inside Mandarin's castle. Don Heck does a really nice job of energetically choreographing the battle. In the end, Iron Man can't counter all the various weapons Mandarin uses and he ends up drained of power and captured.

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Iron Man's suit gets a minor re-design this issue, losing that sort-of double-point set atop the forehead. The character is beginning to really find his footing--the plots are improving and the character is gradually becoming more visually appealing.

TALES TO ASTONISH #56

Here's another instance in which the heroes have far too much trouble capturing a particular bad guy than they should.

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The bad guy this time is the Magician, who apparently uses magic to rob everyone at a society party. In reality, he uses gadgetry and sleight-of-hand. When Giant Man runs him down aboard the Magician's getaway blimp (okay--the getaway blimp part is pretty cool), he and the Wasp simply have more trouble than they should taking him in. He's just not that powerful or clever. In fact, at one point--when Hank is ant-sized and Janet is Wasp-sized, he sics his pet rabbit on them. A pet rabbit. Oh, the horror, the horror.

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The story is probably most important in that it ends with Hank and Janet finally admitting they love each other. It'll still be quite awhile before they get married (and Hank will have amnesia when they do tie the knot--don't ask), but this is a nice break from the "Oh, I love her but can't ever say so aloud" dynamic that is actually being over-used just a little with Donald Blake/Jane Foster and Tonly Stark/Pepper Potts.
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That's it for now. Next week, we'll look in on Dr. Strange, the Human Torch and Daredevil.