What Tim Read This Month--September 2025

 

Cover Cavalcade

  SEPTEMBER IS WALLY WOOD'S DAREDEVIL MONTH!!!

 Here is Wood's cover for the October 1965 issue. He would ink the next issue's cover, but this was his last time drawing it. He would continue to draw and/or ink the interior art for a couple of more issues.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Shadow: "Death Under the Chapel" 8/28/38

An insane professor vows to take violent revenge on the college that fired him. He's assisted by a super-strong deaf-mute with further unwitting help from the world's dumbest security guard.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

The Martian Horrors of Clark Ashton Smith, Part 3

 

cover art by Frank R Paul

Read/Watch 'em In Order #184

Smith's third trip to Mars can, I think, be considered to be in the same universe as the story "The Vaults of Yoh-Vambis." And like that story, it went through some pre-publication shenanigans before being published in a diluted form.

Before being published in the February 1933 issue of Wonder Stories, it had been rejected by Weird Tales. Strange Tales was his next try, but that magazine folded. He then tried Wonder Stories, but the editor there demanded the story be expanded to give it more "scientific explanation." The ending was also, as Smith himself put it, "cruel and monstrous."

Smith didn't want to make these changes. He felt (and he was right, by golly) that the story worked best if the horrors encountered on Mars were inexplicable rather than given a psuedo-scientific explanation. He was convinced that the horrific ending was appropriate to the story. He was right about that as well.

Smith tried and failed one more time to sell the story to Weird Tales. He then reluctantly the revisions needed to get it published in Wonder Stories. He refused to change the ending, but when it was published, he was shocked to discover that the ending had been toned down with an editorial re-write.

The story in its original form is great. Three human prospectors on Mars take shelter in a cavern during a sandstorm. They find an apparently bottomless abyss with a path running down the side. Unwisely, they decide to explore the path. What happens next... well, this is another case where I don't want to spoil anything.

Here's a link to the original story, titled "The Dweller in the Gulf." I also got the background information about the publication history from this site. Anyway, make sure the lights are on when you read this one. And, for gosh sake, don't go spelunking on Mars!

Getting Collected

 

cover art by John Buscema

Avengers #52 (April 1968) is an effective one-issue story. Strong writing by Roy Thomas and great art by John Buscema come together for a fine example of how to tell a good story with a solid beginning and end in just 20 pages.

The issue opens in Avengers Mansion, with Hank Pym nearly getting himself killed using a "vibrotron" to try to regain his growing power. This doesn't seem to work, though it will actually pay off (with some help from the issue's villain) later on in the story. Before long, the three Avengers are kidnapped and brought aboard a space ship.

I enjoy Hank's off-the-cuff analysis that the craft is "of unearthly design." Gee whiz, Hank, how many oddly shaped flying vehicles have you seen being used by earthly bad guys AND good guys? Helicarriers--Fantasti-Cars--hovercraft--Quinjets--and so on. They ALL look weird! But then, Hank is the scientist, not me. I guess he can tell.

Anyway, the ship belongs to the Collector, who has decided to collect the Avengers. He already has Thor on board and has tricked the Thunder God into drinking an obediance potion. Thor is sent out to add Iron Man to the growing collection.

In the meantime, Collector straps Hank to a machine to make his own attempt to give the Avenger back his power to grow. After all, he doesn't want a defective Avenger in his collection.

It's Janet who saves the day when she realizes that one of the Collector's prizes is an alien insect. Using her power to talk to insects, she gets the thing to let her loose, then frees Hank and Hawkeye. The Collector sics a big robot on them, but Hawkeye damages it and Hank discovers he can grow big enough to punch the snot out of it. Before this happens, the damaged robot runs out of control, fatally damaging the Collector's ship and forcing the Collector to teleport away. 

All this means Thor is free from being controlled, so he flies back to the ship, getting the other Avengers out of the ship before it explodes.

There's an epilogue in which it is confirmed that Hank has permenantly regained his power and the Avengers get a message from Captain America recommending Black Panther to the team. (At this point, just called Panther--I think to avoid being linked to the political group.)

It really is a good story from start to finish--with the plot moving along quickly and in a way that's consistant with Comic Book Logic. We have one more single-issue Avengers story to cover next week. Then we'll return to the X-Men and their team-up with the Avengers to bring the Pietro/Wanda situation to a close. 

Cover Cavalcade

  SEPTEMBER IS WALLY WOOD'S DAREDEVIL MONTH!!!

Wood did a nifty montage for the August 1965 cover. 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 X Minus One: "The Map Makers" 9/26/56

A ship is hopelessly lost in deep space and the only chance of making home rests on the shoulders of... a blind man!

Click HERE to listen or download. 

The Martian Horrors of Clark Ashton Smith, Part 2

 

cover art by C.S. Senf

Read/Watch 'em In Order #183

 

Smith's second trip to Mars was a vast improvement over his first. Perhaps because this was purely his own story--he didn't have to work from someone else's plot this time. But regardless of the reason, "Vaults of Yoh-Vombis," published in the May 1932 issue of Weird Tales, is fantastic. 

Well, the original version is fantastic. When Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright first received the manuscript, he asked for some revisions. He wanted faster pacing. Smith, in a letter to H.P. Lovecraft (whose At the Mountains of Madness is an obvious influence on Martian tale), wrote "I suppose I can throw out a lot of the descriptive matter, but it's a crime all the same."

Smith was right, of course. Smith's vivid description of Mars is a vital part of generating the proper atmosphere. Without it, it's still a good story. But it's not a GREAT story.

The story is a first-person account of the only survivor of an archeological expedition to the ruins of the ancient Martian city of Yoh-Vambis. The scientists are all Earthmen, but they know a far amount about Martian history and legends. For instance, they know the race that built Yoh-Vambis died off forty thousand years ago. They also know the legend that suggests the race was killed by "something too horrible and outre to be mentioned even in a myth."

Here's a teaching moment: If you are about to enter the vaults of an ancient alien city AND there's a legend about something horrible having once been in the area AND if the Martian natives you've hired refuse to enter the vaults with you.... DON'T GO IN. It won't end well for you.

They do go in, of course. They find a mummy. When the mummy collapses into dust, "the strange cowl it was wearing began to curl and twitch upward at the corners, it writhed with a verminous motion, it fell from the withered cranium, seeing to fold and unfold convulsively in mid-air as it fell. Then it dropped on the bare head of [one of the scientists]..."

Agony, screaming and the apparent control of dead bodies by the parasitic creature follows. I don't want to give too much away, because you should experience it for yourself. Just remember--DON'T GO INTO THE VAULTS!

You can read the proper complete version of the story HERE, which is also where I got the background information about its writing and publication. 

Smith will return to Mars twice more. Next week, we'll look at his third trip to the Red Planet and examine another case in which bad editing decisions lessen the impact of a good story. 

Spawn of the Devil

 

cover art by Joe Kubert

Our Army at War #270 (July 1974) saw writer Bob Kanigher and artist George Evans bring us a very unusual Sgt Rock tale. 

It begins with a replacement join Easy Company. Two things stand out when we meet him. First, Little Sure Shot, despite having a good instinct for such things, doesn't immediately recognize the soldier as an ally. Second, the guy's name is Havok. I guess that second one doesn't necessarily stand out at first, but it will soon prove to be horribly metaphorical.

It only takes turning the page to discover that Havok is trouble. He's a little too quick at throwing a grenade at shadowy figures. He ends up killing a farmer and the farmer's young son.

Havok doesn't seem bothered by his mistake. It looks like he might be a problem, but then he's killed by a German grenade.

Except he turns up alive again a few minutes later...

He then promptly shoots several American G.I.'s by being a little too quick on the trigger once again. But he takes a bullet through his helmet. He's dead for sure this time.

No, he's not. He's walks back into the midst of the now really nervous Easy Company soldiers a few minutes later.

Something weird is going on. And Sgt. Rock does exist in the same universe as the Haunted Tank (and arguably in the same universe as Weird War Tales), so there is possibly something literally supernatural going on. 

A few minutes after all this, Easy Company starts taking shell fire. Havok takes cover in a cabin, but this takes a direct hit. Havok begins screaming in pain, begging for Rock to do something.

Here's where the story gets very interesting. Rock runs into the cabin. There's a panel in which we no longer hear Havok screaming. Did he simply die from his wounds? Did Rock give him a mercy bullet (though there's no sound effect for a gunshot)? 

We'll never know for sure, since Rock is forced to flee the cabin before its destroyed by another German shell. And then, the men see something very strange. Is that the devil himself carrying Havok off to hell? Or is it just a random image in the smoke?

There are other unanswered questions as well. Was Havok just a sociopath who survived early supposed "deaths" just by luck? Or was he some sort of demonic entity? If the latter, what was it about this last "death" that allowed it to take hold?

The questions raised are good ones, but this is a case where NOT answering them is actually the best decision Kanigher could make. Sometimes ambiguity adds to the drama. That is what happens here.

Next week, we'll return to the Avengers to see how Hawkeye, Hank Pym and the Wasp are handling the reduced roster.

Books That Inspired My Love of Reading

 

Cover Cavalcade

  SEPTEMBER IS WALLY WOOD'S DAREDEVIL MONTH!!!

I don't care what anyone else says--Stilt Man is awesome! This is the June 1965 issue.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Mysterious Traveler: "They Struck it Rich" 3/16/48

Two men attempt to tunnel into a bank vault and end up in a very unusual place.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

The Martian Horrors of Clark Ashton Smith, Part 1

 

cover art by Frank R. Paul

Read/Watch 'em In Order #182

In 1931, Wonder Stories had an Interplanetary Plot contest. A reader could send in a plot for a story involving another planet, with the chance of winning money AND having the plot expanded into a full-blown story by one of Wonder Stories regular writers. Johnston got 25 bucks and Clark Ashton Smith got a paycheck for turning Johnston's plot into a story.

"The Planetary Entity," sometimes reprinted as "Seedling of Mars," saw print in the Fall 1931 issue of Wonder Stories Quarterly.

Now I am a huge fan of Smith's work. His dark fantasy and horror stories are written with style, wit and a wonderful fondness for obscure words.

But when I decided to review the four C.A.S. stories involving Mars, it meant starting with the first one published. I'd never read "The Planetary Entity" before and was curious to do so.

And the story just falls flat. Maybe--being someone else's idea--Smith's heart wasn't in it. I don't know. But where his stories are normally a joy to read, this one (dispite being only novella-length) took me three days to work through. I didn't dislike it, but it didn't engross me and I found myself easily distracted from it. 

In addition to the plodding nature of the prose, I had a few problems with the story that means I won't be able to avoid spoilers. So, if you want to experience it spoiler-free, click HERE to read it before continuing on. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my opinon.

An unmanned ship from Mars land on Earth. When a party of scientists, politicians and reporters climb aboard, the ship takes off and takes the to Mars.

They discover that the one life form on Mars is a giant plant stretching itself around the planet. They ship takes them to a sort-of central mode for the plant, which includes a couple of enormous eyes and the ability to build more ships.

The plant learns to communicate with the humans. It wants to set up a teleportation device on Earth that would send him water. In exchange, he'll teach the humans advanced science and social skills, ending war and bringing a utopia on Earth. But the plant compares itself to a god and talks of humans being his servant.

Half the scientists want to go for this. The other half is suspicious and manages to bring the ship back to Earth. Soon, civil wars are waging across the Earth. Finally, people in the pro-plant faction are given transport to Venus, where they eliminate the Venusian dinosaurs and set up a transmitter to send water to Mars.

On Earth, a giant seed crashes and a plant quickly grows to engulf the planet, emitting a gas to wipe out anti-plant humanity. 

And--well, that's it. Are the humans on Venus happy? Are they allowed personal freedom? Are they under the rule of the plant? Do they regret the planetary genocide carried out back on Earth? I dunno! The story fails to dive deeply (or even superficially) into the issues being raised. 

It's all very unsatisfying. But Clark's future Martian stories, set on another version of Mars, will be very, very satisfying (as well as bizarre). Next week, we'll see what we think of one of them.

Beating Up a god is All in A Day's Work

 

cover art by John Buscema

Last week, we left the X-Men in a cliffhanger. Now we are going to jump back to the Avengers. Since the World's Mightiest Heroes are going to have three single-issue adventures before reconnecting with the Wanda/Pietro story arc, I've decided that we'll cover the first of these three issues this week. Next week, we'll take a break from the story arc and visit with Sgt. Rock. The two weeks after that will be the remaining two single-issue adventures. THEN we can get back to the X-Men as they are joined by the Avengers to sort-of wrap up the Wanda/Pietro story. Gee whiz, planning a blog is as complex as planning D-Day sometimes!

Anyway, Avengers #50 (cover-dated March 1968; written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema) begins with the three remaining Avengers (Hawkeye, Goliath and Wasp) bickering with each other and wondering if its time to close up shop--especially since Goliath can't be Goliath anymore. He can still shrink, but he can't grow larger any more.

But they pull themselves together enough to begin to trace Hercules, who hasn't contracted them since he left a few issue before. We know, of course, that he's been zapped into a shadowy dimension by the mad Titan Typhon. So we switch scenes to the big guy, who beats up a monster before finding the other Olympian gods.

There's a bit of bickering among the gods--primarily and unsurprisingly it's Ares who does the most complaining. But Zeus decides that only Hercules is powerful enough and noble enough to defeat Typhon. Zeus had enough power left to zap Herc back to Earth.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Avengers have run into Typhon and gotten into a fight. But they're in over their heads--none of them are powerful enough to face off against a Titan. Fortunately, Hercules returns in time to go toe to toe with the bad guy. They trade super-powerful blows, but in the end it is Typhon who falls.

Herc is able to summon the rest of the Olympians back home. Typhon is tossed back into his eternal prison and Hercules opts to stay in Olympus for the time being.

So the Avengers are still down to just three members. But they opt to stay together. By golly, the Avengers are THE AVENGERS and nothing will ever bring their ongoing legacy to an end.

This is a fun issue and a satisfying end to Hercules' story arc. Buscema's art, especially in his depiction of the shadow dimension and Hercules' too-short but still epic fight with Typhon, is fantastic. The story doesn't give the actual Avengers enough to do, but an issue emphasizing that they currenly lack the raw power they once had via members like Herc, Thor or Iron Man is important. The team has decided to stay together, but they need to power-up or expand the team somehow. We'll see how in future issues.

Cover Cavalcade

 SEPTEMBER IS WALLY WOOD'S DAREDEVIL MONTH!!!

Wood makes a key improvement to DD's costume in the April 1965 issue.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Green Hornet: "Bait for a Two-Timer" 6/27/39

Brit Reid has two problems: He can't get proof that a building inspector is taking bribes and he has a snitch on his payroll who is passing information to a rival newspaper. But he as a plan that will solve both problems at the same time.

Click HERE to listen or download.

One of the Funniest Books I've Ever Read

 

Three Men on a Boat (Not to Mention the Dog), by Jerome K. Jerome, is one of the funniest books I've ever read. It's premise is simply--the novel describes a two-week boat trip along the Thames. There's the narrator, two of his friends and a dog named Montmorency. None of the men are particularly competent, though each of them is convinced he knows more than his friends. Written in 1889, the author started out intending to write a serious travel guide, but his sense of humor took over and we end up with an account of slapstick misadventures (such as all three men suffering injuries of some sort while trying to open a tin of pineapples after discovering they forgot to pack a can opener), with the author often digressing into anecdotes about a zillion other subjects--an account of his uncle Podger disastrous attempt to hang a picture on a wall or the tale of enduring living nearby to someone trying to learn to play the bagpipes.

There's a few serious passages, but mostly its one hilarious anecdote after another. Gee whiz, this book is funny.

Funerals, Remote Islands and Secret Plans

 

cover art by John Buscema

I promise not to whine any more about how this story arc crossed from one title to another, forcing young readers to cough up another 12 cents to perhaps buy a book they didn't necessarily want to buy--or that their local 7-11 might not get. There's nothing wrong with characters guest-starring in one another's books and cross-promoting different aspects of a Comic Book Universe. But these crossovers between titles are WRONG--WRONG--WRONG!!! But I won't whine about it. Except to say that it's wrong. Gosh darn you, Roy Thomas, you were WRONG to do this. WHINE-WHINE-WHINE!!!

Oh, well. It's been over a half-century, so perhaps we should just move on to the actual story from X-Men #43 (April 1968), written by Roy Thomas and drawn by George Tuska. In Avengers  #49, Magneto had tricked Quicksilver into rejoining him and had arranged for Wanda to be injured--apparently at the hand of a regular human. 

But now, Quicksilver isn't so sure he did the right thing. Also, he wants to pay his respects to Professor Xavier, who was recently killed. (Actually, it was a shape-changing mutant impersonating the Prof who died, but that's not a concern for us now.)

So he observes the Professor's funeral from afar. The X-Men spot him and, though they had heard from the Avengers that he'd switched sides, they try to talk to him. But Pietro doesn't trust them and speeds back to Magneto's remote island HQ.

Once there, he meets Toad, who is his usually annoying self, and speaks to Wanda. We learnt that Pietro is concerned about Magneto's sincerity in promising to help Wanda regain her powers, but doesn't feel like they can give up on this plan yet.

The issue also includes a scene in which the X-Men watch a last video message from Professor X, which we'll skip over. It's well-written, but not a part of this story arc. 

Anyway, a ship will be sailing near the island carrying a large new computer that Magneto needs to build a mind-control machine to subjugate humanity.  He snatches up the ship when it nears the island.

But the X-Men suspected Magneto might be after the computer and are on board. In the ensuing fight, Pietro tries to subdue the X-Men without hurting them, while Cyclops tries to subdue Pietro with minimum violence.

I like this part. So far, the issue has been exposition-heavy and a little slow-paced. But there fight scene, though relatively short is a good one. I enjoy how Pietro can't bring himself to fully embrace villainy again--Magneto played on his anger over Wanda's injury to get him to turn, which made sense. But I think Roy Thomas realized that he could not simply have Pietro jump feet first into being a bad guy. Once he calmed down, of course he'd have second thoughts.

In the end, though, Magneto uses a booby-trap to capture his old enemies.

So this story ends with a cliffhanger. Next week, we'll leave this cliffhanger unresolved for a time as we jump over to Avengers #50 and wrap up Hercules' story arc. That issue of The Avengers actually came out a month before this issue of X-Men, but I'm trusting the Marvel Wiki as to the best reading order.

Cover Cavalcade

 SEPTEMBER IS WALLY WOOD'S DAREDEVIL MONTH!

Wood's first Daredevil cover was the December 1964 issue.