Ben Grimm Gets Even Uglier!

Marvel Two-in-One #81 & 82 (November & December 1981) is a solid, entertaining superhero adventure with some excellent action scenes drawn by Ron Wilson. What makes it notable, though, is the skill with which writer Tom DeFalco catches important aspects of the personalities of the heroes involved in the tale. These two elements--solid storytelling and sharp characterizations--are combined to make this particular story stand out even amidst Two-in-One's generally excellent run.

The first issue teams Ben Grimm with Namor, though we're about two-thirds of the way into the story before the two heroes actually meet. Namor is visiting New York to get away from the pressures of ruling Atlantis. He's trying to find a homeless woman named Sunshine Mary, who had been kind to him when he had amnesia and was living in the Bowery just before the events of Fantastic Four #4.

Ben, in the meantime, is going through one of his periodic "I'm not good enough for Alicia" phases when he runs into a robot kidnapping a homeless man. Even in a comic book universe, that's something you don't see every day.

The robot gasses Ben and takes him to a secret AIM base, where MODOK is experimenting with a new deadly radioactive virus on the Bowery bums his robots have been snatching.

MODOK's unique visual design and monumental ego have always made him a great villain. Find a logical reason to stick his big head in a story and that story's fun factor instantly rises 38.743%. 

By the way, MODOK's AIM henchmen are in blue rather than yellow because at the time MODOK is in charge of a breakaway faction after an internal rift in the organization. It's an unspoken but nice bit of continuity with the larger Marvel Universe.

Namor, in the meantime, has discovered that Sunshine Mary is among the missing. Accompanied by an army of homeless people, he tracks down MODOK's lair. Ben also breaks out of his containment bottle and the two trash the place, saving homeless and forcing MODOK to retreat. But some of MODOK's Virus X has leaked and, in the last panels, we discover that Ben is infected.

But before that, we have one of those insightful bits of characterizations I mentioned. Namor greets Sunshine Mary after the rescue, but she is horrifed by him. He's no longer "one of us.... but... a freak! A monster!"

Ben and Namor have never really liked each other, but Ben's attempt to comfort Namor and Namor's prideful rejection of the idea that he needs comforting catches both men's personalities in a nutshell.

As the next issue begins, Ben is wandering the streets of New York, mutating physically into an even uglier form that he's normally stuck with and so weak that he's threatened by a trio of common thugs. Fortunately, Captain America happens by and teaches the thugs a much-needed lesson.

Cap gets Ben to the Baxter Building and Reed calls in Bill Foster (the then-current Giant Man) because he need's Foster's expertise as a biochemist. But an antidote alludes them.

Cap takes it upon himself to track down MODOK and get an antidote right from them. He trashes a known AIM front operation and soon (with Ben and Giant Man in tow) finds a transporter that will zap them directly to MODOK's secret base in Antarctica. MODOK is waiting with a platoon of minions and a Thing-based robot.

The fight scene that follows is quite excellent, with fun visuals and strong choreography.
Ben, despite his growing weakness, pulls himself together and beats down the robot. Cap cleans up the minions while Giant Man searches for an antidote. He finds it and discovers that it might actually cure his radiation poisoning as well as cure Ben.


That, by the way, was Giant Man's problem during the 1980s. He was slowly dying of radiation poisoning. It was a story arc that showed up whenever he guest-starred in a comic.  Because he never had his own book, it's a story arc that probably went on too long, but even so it was something that helped give his character depth, allowing him to show his basic generosity of spirit despite knowing he's likely to die soon.

In the fighting, the devise containing the antidote is damaged and there's only enough for one person. Foster, without telling anyone this, uses it to save Ben. His internal monologue tells us "The world needs heroes like the Thing, not second-rate losers... like Giant-Man."

This makes me think of several occasions during the Lee/Kirby run of Fantastic Four where Ben would risk his life for somone else, convinced in his own mind that Reed, Johnny or Sue are simply worth more than he is. He and Giant Man parallel each other here. Both are clearly heroes. Both are noble, brave and more than willing to die to protect the innocent. But neither of them recognize themselves as heroes. Their worth is incalcuable, but they simply cannot see this in themselves.

Next week, we'll begin a look at Gold Key's regrettably short-lived Tragg and the Sky Gods.

When Enemies Become Frie... Well, Not-Quite-Enemies

It's interesting to think what direction Timely (later Marvel) Comics would have gone in if not for the Second World War. Would Captain America be the icon he is today? Would he have been created at all? Would the Sub-Mariner have morphed from anti-villain into a more-or-less hero?

When we first meet him, Namor ruthlessly kills a couple of deep-sea divers and considers himself to be at war with the surface world. He and the original Human Torch are arch-enemies, tangling with each other within the pages of Marvel Mystery Comics.

But the war changed all that. In what is one of my favorite Golden Age stories, Namor and the Atlanteans fight off a Nazi invasion fleet. He becomes a de facto partner with the Allies--he might not like us annoying surface dwellers in general, but he's particularly displeased with the Axis.

This changes his dynamic with the other Timely superheroes, particularly the Human Torch. The two still openly disliked each other, but they were willing to fight together against the Germans and the Japanese.

Their first big team-up came in Marvel Mystery Comics #17 (March 1941). Like many other Timely stories, this one was published before Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into the war. One of the things that always impressed me about Timely is that they made no bones about being anti-Nazi early on, making no effort at all to tone things down to avoid annoying isolationists. (Though they weren't the only pop culture outlet to do this--Warner Brothers, Charlie Chaplin and the Three Stooges also deserve credit for slamming the Axis before it was politically correct to do so.)

In their first team-up, the Torch is surprised to get a message from Namor asking to meet. Though they do fight for a couple of panels, Namor finally manages to convince the Torch that he needs help fighting the real bad guys. (In a nice bit of continuity, Namor mentions that his Atlantean forces were badly decimated when the Germans attacked his homeland.)

Namor has information that the Axis are digging a tunnel across the Bering Strait to invade the U.S., something that confirms information the Torch had obtained in the previous month's issue. The two investigate and are soon tussling first with a U-Boat and then a torpedo boat.

They find an entrance into the tunnel through a volcano. What follows is an extended and very entertaining fight scene, with both the Torch and Namor getting chances to kick some Axis butt and earn their own individual Crowning Moments of Awesome. For the most part, the German and Japanese troops they encounter don't stand much of a chance, but the situation gets more dangerous

when an explosive and incapacitating gas leaks into the tunnel. Namor is knocked out on two different occasions and briefly captured once, but in the end the two heroes (with a little help from the remnants of the Atlantean fleet) manage to breach the tunnel walls and flood it, preventing the invasion.

When they find their way out of the tunnel, they end up in Juneau, Alaska, where Namor promptly annoys and then slugs a cop. But stopping an Axis invasion is an effective Get-Out-Of-Jail free card, so nothing comes of that.

Carl Burgos (the Torch's creator) did most of the pencil work, though Bill Everett drew his creation Namor. The shared art looks great, helping to move the story along at a fast-pace with one effective action scene after another.

And so Namor and the Torch, if they never really become friends, at least become allies. They fought together on the All-Winners Squad and were later retconned as teammates on the Invaders. So we'll never know what would have become of Namor had the Nazis not forced him to become a hero. Maybe the character would have been largely forgotten; maybe he'd be a major villain in the modern Marvel Universe. It's an interesting path for a character to take--from a killer in his first appearance to a hero before two years have passed.

Cover Cavalcade

Two eye-catching Marvel covers from December 1969. The top one is by John Buscema. The bottom one is by John's younger brother Sal. The Sub-Mariner really got around that month, didn't he?

History of the Marvel Universe: June 1966, part 2

TALES TO ASTONISH #80

I don’t think Gene Colan ever drew a boring panel of comic art in his life. And his debut on The Sub Mariner is a lot of fun as Namor battles the giant Behemoth. It looks great.

At first, it looks like Namor is out of his weight class. But when he summons up a bunch of electric eels to zap the thing, the feedback destroys the puppet Krang is using to control it. That allows Namor a chance to swim fast enough to cause a whirlpool and suck the Behemoth into a quagmire.

I’m not entirely sure the physics of that work out, but it really does look great, so what the hey.

In the meantime, Krang goes to his Plan B, which is kidnapping Dorma, then using the now inert Behemoth puppet to run a bluff on her and get her to leave with him and later announce their engagement. This leaves poor Namor thinking Dorma has betrayed him.

And I’m afraid we’re going to leave the heartbroken king of Atlantis behind for now, dropping him from the line-up. We will, though, continue to follow the adventures of the Hulk for a few more issues at least—because… well, because it’s MY blog and I want to.

So what’s the Hulk up to this issue? Well, he’s pretty much finished evolving into the dumb brute who refers to himself in the third person (“Hulk will break away!”) that is his best known incarnation.

Still on the run from the Army, he finds himself teleported down to the underground kingdom of Tyrannus—a despotic ruler who kidnapped Hulk back in Hulk #5 about four years earlier.

Tyrannus as been reduced to a withered old man in the meantime because the Mole Man and his forces now control the enchanted pool he needs to bathe in to remain young.

I like this issue, not just because it’s another fun chapter in a fast-paced serial, but also because it ties some disparate elements of the Marvel Universe together. At this point, we’ve seen at least three underground civilizations. (Iron Man encountered one also.) Now they are being confirmed to all exist in the same continuity and interact with each other. Mole Man is trying to take over Tyrannus’ forces to strengthen his future efforts to conquer all us hated surface-dwellers.

 Anyway, Tyrannus has also kidnapped Rick, Betty and Talbot to try to force Hulk to fight for him. Hulk is too far gone mentally to recognize his friends, but when Mole Man attacks, he fights pretty much just for the fun of it.

Jack Kirby did the layouts, with Bill Everett providing the pencils. The end result seems a little bit stiffer than what we get when these excellent artists work independently, but it still looks pretty cool. In the end, Hulk goes one-on-one against a giant multi-tentacled robot and the enchanted pool gets blow up as collateral damage. The explosion turns Hulk back into Banner for the first time in months, leaving the poor guy wondering what the heck is going on.

AVENGERS # 29

Lots of emotional roller coasters in this issue. Hank is stuck at ten-feet-tall and, though he still fights bravely when needed, he’s rather understandably depressed by this. Hawkeye learns that his true love Black Widow has reappeared, but she’s been brainwashed by the Commies to work for them again.

The Widow recruits Power Man and Swordsman to take out the Avengers. Several of them are captured, but Goliath shows up to spoil the villains’ plans and yet another visually fun fight follows. Widow and her allies get away at the end. Hawkeye has a chance to peg her with an arrow, but can’t bring himself to do it. In a really nice bit of characterization, Captain America sympathizes with him rather than bawling him out, making the archer feel pretty low for riding Cap all these months.

All in all, a strong story that establishes Goliath and Wasp are going to be regular, active members again.

So we’ll use this high point to drop the Avengers from our chronological reviews. Don’t worry, though, there’s far too many cool Avengers stories from the Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart eras to leave them behind for long. We’ll be looking at specific storylines from future issues from time to time.

So that leaves us with the Fantastic Four, Spider Man, Thor and Hulk. We will continue with the first three chronologically for many months to come. We’ll trail along with Hulk for a few more issues at least before dropping him.

And that’s it for June 1966. In July, the Fantastic Four will meet a certain ruler of an African nation for the first time; Steve Ditko will draw Spider Man for the last time; Thor takes a trip to the Greek underworld; and Hulk continues to make a mess of the, um, normal underworld.

But first, we'll jump a thousand years into the future--then a few million years into the past--to join the Legion of Super Heroes in an unusual adventure.

History of the Marvel Universe: May 1966, part 2

AVENGERS #28

The Wasp disappears again right after being rescued from Attuma, so Hank Pym contacts the Avengers for help. He changes his superhero name to Goliath and dons a newly designed costume (which is a big improvement over the butt-ugly one he was sporting just before his retirement). He also lets the other Avengers know that changing sizes is putting a strain on his body—any change he makes could be dangerous.

It’s not hard to find out where Janet is—the Collector radios in an admission that he has kidnapped her, hoping to lure the rest of the Avengers into a trap in order to collect a complete set.


Well, one escape-from-a-death-trap is followed by another imaginative and nicely choreographed fight. The Collector uses some weapons and magical items he’s collected through the years (including some “Jack and the Beanstalk” beans that summon up a couple of giants to go toe-to-toe with Hank), while the Beetle tries to take on Cap and Hawkeye.

Those last two Avengers are still bickering a lot, but they work together smoothly in combat. The Collector escapes via a time-travel device, but Janet is rescued. But Hank only manages to shrink down to ten feet before fainting. The issue ends with the announcement that he’s now probably stuck at that size.

That’s actually neat twist for Hank’s return to the life of a superhero. Overall, the issue is another fun one, with Don Heck providing some nifty visuals.

TALES TO ASTONISH #79


I continue to be impressed with Stan Lee’s ability to keep up a fast pace in his shorter serialized stories and still keep the plot fairly logical. The Sub-Mariner story here includes Namor, wounded in an encounter with army troops, breaking free of the Puppet Master’s control through sheer force of will; the revelation that the Puppet Master was working for Krang (who now wants a puppet of the monstrous Behemoth in order to control that); the Behemoth itself menacing Atlantis; Dorma fetching Namor back to Atlantis in a fast sub; and a cliffhanger in which Namor confronts the giant monster. All good stuff from start to finish, though I still don’t care for Adam Austin’s design for the Puppet Master. The rest of his art continues to be dynamic as he completes his run on the book. Gene Colon will be taking over next issue.

The Hulk, meanwhile, is getting his life force sucked away by the villainous Dr. Zaxon. But Zaxon didn’t realize that the madder Hulk gets, the stronger he gets. Hulk swats the evil scientist away, resulting in Zaxon getting his OWN life force sucked away by his own adventure.

No one witnesses this and no one knew Zaxon was a bad guy, so the Hulk (who escapes from the army base) is now wanted for murder. But the rest of this issue involves an encounter with Hercules.

There’s a nice bit of continuity—Herc is on a train heading for Hollywood, where he’d been offered a movie contract in recent issues of Thor. So it fits nicely into Hercules’ current story arc in that book.

The two go at it in a fight featuring Jack Kirby layouts that were penciled by Bill Everett (the creator of the Sub-Mariner a couple of decades earlier). It’s an indecisive fight—after a few pages of trading blows and tossing multi-ton rocks, the army shows up with a barrage of artillery shells, forcing Hulk to jump away.

Kirby and Everett prove to be a good team. Kirby’s layouts make for an exciting and well-choreographed fight, while Everett’s pencil work is strong enough to do it all justice.

That’s it for May 1966. In June, someone impersonates a member of the FF; Spider Man fights a robot and adds a very, very important new cast member; Thor helps out Hercules again; The Avengers go up against an old girlfriend of Hawkeye; Namor fights a really big monster; and Hulk finally gets to turn human again.

History of the Marvel Universe: April 1966, part 2

AVENGERS #27

Hawkeye decides to use a memory inducer to remember the computer code he needs to find out where the other Avengers are. But he’s interrupted when the Beetle attacks the mansion.

Why? It's not revealed until the next issue, but it turns out that a guy named the Collector (who eventually turns out to be an Elder of the Universe) is collecting a complete set of Avengers and has hired the Beetle as an agent.

But for now, we get to see Hawkeye and Beetle in a pretty neat fight, with Hawkeye using his various arrows in clever ways to get away so that he can rescue his teammates.

And they certainly need rescuing. Attuma’s ship is now completely flooded. The Avengers had air helmets, but the Atlantean bad guy is in his natural element. But Hawkeye shows up (in an “Aero-Sub” he borrows from the Fantastic Four). There’s a dog fight with several of Attuma’s patrol craft, interrupted by a visually impressive encounter with a giant octopus.

All the good guys end up on Attuma’s main ship, teaming up to win the fight. I love a panel where Wanda takes over control of an armored vehicle, zapping some of Attuma’s men with a ray gun while thinking “I don’t quite know what it’s doing—but certainly is doing it well!”

The Avengers escape and Attuma’s ship blows up, ending his latest threat to the surface world. But the Wasp is mysteriously missing and there issue ends with a visitor at the front door. We don’t get to see who it is yet, but the Avengers certainly act surprised.

It’s a strong issue from start to finish. Though I sometimes find Don Heck’s figure work a little stiff, he gives us some really good stuff this issue.

THOR #127

Thor, shamed by his defeat by Hercules, tells Jane it’s over between them, then flies off to mope. Odin, in the meantime, begins to feel badly about double-crossing his son in the middle of a fight. He feels even worse when his advisor Seidring refuses to give back the Odin power. He zaps Odin and soon subdues the warriors of Asgard.

Thor arrives to find out what’s going on and has to take on Seidring along. Through sheer courage and a refusal to surrender, he manages to fight his way into the chamber where the Odin Sword resides, threatening to draw the giant sword and thus cause the universe to end. Seidring panics and gives Odin back his powers. Thor, having saved the day, drops unconscious from his injuries.

That summary really doesn’t do the issue justice. Once again, Jack Kirby takes the opportunity to draw beings of cosmic-level powers to make everything look glorious. And Thor exudes nobility. There’s nothing corny or heavy-handed here. We easily believe that Thor wins with nothing but unflagging courage.

While all this is going on, we learn that the producer who invited Hercules to star in a movie is Pluto, ruler of the Greek Underworld. But he’s sick of that job, so is using this whole movie gimmick to trick Hercules into signing a contract to take his place. He’s enlisted the Queen of the Amazons to help guile the Son of Zeus into signing.

It’s the weirdest supervillain plan ever. But it fits in with the feel of the story. All this continues to make up what I would pick as Thor’s best ever story arc.

In “Tales of Asgard,” Thor and his companions are back in Asgard, listening to the world’s creepiest-looking oracle predict their doom. This provides Jack with an excuse to spend several pages drawing what Ragnarok will look like, ending with the Midgard Serpent rising up finish off what’s left.

Monsters—god-like warriors—massive destruction. In a Jack Kirby story, what else do you need to make it cool?

TALES OF SUSPENSE #76

Iron Man manages to transform Happy back into a human, though the process leaves the unfortunate ex-boxer with amnesia. Soon after, Tony is kidnapped by the Mandarin. He loses his briefcase with his Iron Man armor, while Mandarin threatens to release an ultimate weapon and finally conquer the world.

It’s a pretty straightforward chapter in Iron Man’s ongoing serial, with Adam Austin’s art work continuing to give the title a new sense of energy.

In Captain America, John Romita takes over as artist for a couple of issues and give us some solid action as Cap is forced to team up with Batroc to catch the girl and warn her the explosive she’s carrying is about to go off. Batroc, in the meantime, continues to talk constantly in his REALLY ANNOYING accent.

When the catch the girl, they start fighting each other again. Batroc unintentionally leads Cap back to the criminals who hired him. The two duke it out before the villains seem to escape with the explosive (now safely contained again), but it turns out the girl was carrying a dummy. The real explosive was safely delivered to SHIELD. And as the girl is taken off in an ambulance, Cap wonders if he’ll ever see her again.

This makes for a good stopping point for Tales of Suspense. Well, actually, it’s not that great a stopping point, since both series are hip-deep in cliffhangers. But it’s the closest thing to a stopping point that we’ll get and I’m now determined to cut the titles I do chronologically down to FF, Spidey and Thor over the next few installments, thus opening up Wednesday slots to cover other comics. We will be returning to Shellhead and Cap frequently, though, to look at specific storylines.

TALES TO ASTONISH #78

The army replaces Dr. Banner with Dr. Zaxon, an expert in “organic energy.” Someone fell down on the job in the interview process, though. It soon turns out that Zaxon hopes to one day conquer the world.

And when the Hulk reappears in his own time zone, he’s gassed unconscious by the army. The issue ends with Dr. Zaxon using an Organic Energy Attractor in an attempt to steal the Hulk’s power.

There’s some nifty characterization stuff here too. Banner’s personality and memories are still fading, leaving an increasingly brutal Hulk behind. Rick, before learning that Hulk is still alive, spills the beans to everyone—including Betty—about Banner’s duel identity. It’ll be a few more issues, in fact, before Hulk finally turns back into Banner. But even so, we are getting very close to getting the Banner/Hulk transformations to become regular events based on his emotional state.

Meanwhile, we get the rest of Namor’s encounter with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (all taking place before the current issue of the Avengers). That encounter ends when the Puppet Master (who intercepted a radio message about Namor) quickly takes control of the undersea monarch, with a plan to use him to attack the FF. (Janet, in the meantime, flies off to warn the Avengers about Namor, leading into the Avengers story arc.)

The Puppet Master realizes he’s low on cash, so he sends Namor off to rob a bank or two before crushing the FF. But by the end of the issue, he’s surrounded by the Army, with the villain mentally telling him not to be taken alive.

Adam Austin’s art continues to look great, but I gotta say his design of Puppet Master (which includes a bizarre costume) doesn’t manage to catch the creepy vibe that Jack Kirby always gave him.

That’s it for April. Next week, we'll pause in our examination of the Marvel Universe again to take a look at what the average dinosaur was doing during World War II.

In two weeks, we'll return to our now-truncated history of the Marvel Universe, in which the FF wraps up its fight against Galactus in time to send Johnny to college; Spider Man fights a new villain and gets Gwen really ticked off at him; several ex-Avengers return to the fold; Thor goes fishing before deciding to help Hercules; the Hulk actually fights Hercules; and Namor deals with both mind control and a giant monster.

History of the Marvel Universe: March 1966, part 3

THOR #126

It’s the coolest fight ever. Seriously. The fight between Hercules and Thor—consisting of everything from trading punches while balanced atop a moving subway train to tossing multi-ton vehicles at each other at a construction site—represents Jack Kirby at his best. It’s pure fun from start to finish.

And it finishes when Odin, as punishment for Thor’s disobedience in returning to Earth, takes away half his power right in the middle of the fight. Though he never stops trying, the Thunder God is beaten down by the Son of Zeus.

Actually, Odin can’t bring himself to so this personally, so he gives the Odin-power to Seidring, one of his advisors. It’s Seidring who actually zaps Thor. Of course, the decision to basically let someone else borrow his omnipotence will come back to bite the All-Father in the butt next issue. Some “all-knowing” deities just never learn.

But it’s the visuals and the extraordinary fight choreography that makes this issue. There have been other great fights so far. Spider Man’s rampage against Doc Ock’s gang in recent issues of that book, for instance. The Hulk/Thing fight from FF #25. Daredevil vs. Namor in DD #7. Dr. Strange vs. Dormammu in Strange Tales. I could name others. It’s arguable, of course, because it’s so subjective. But this might very well be my favorite comic book fight of all time. It is an astounding example of how to move the action in an exciting yet still logical manner from panel to panel.

Anyway, it ends with Thor refusing to be comforted by a repentant Jane, while Hercules is offered a Hollywood movie contract. That contract is a trap, of course—the first step in one of the most bizarre supervillain plans ever.

The Tales of Asgard feature has Thor rescuing Loki from the flying trolls. Then Odin recalls the ship to Asgard, telling them their mission is over and that Ragnarok must be confronted there.

I’ve always wondered if Stan and Jack didn’t plot out the Tales of Asgard in stream of consciousness from issue to issue, because this really is an awkward jump. The Argo was supposed to be sailing off to discover the source of Ragnarok. They had a few visually awesome adventures, but didn’t really accomplish anything that related to their mission. Now Odin pops up and tells them their mission is over and that basically the whole trip wasn’t necessary.

Oh, well, it really does look awesome. That’s the whole point to the feature anyways.

TALES TO ASTONISH #77

Namor is off to stop whatever human activity is causing earthquakes in Atlantis. He finds an experimental drill being worked by Hank Pym from a floating sea lab. Namor breaks the drill. Soldiers on the lab shoot at him and the issue ends with Namor confronting Hank and Janet, with everyone talking tough to each other.

In the meantime, the quake is waking up a giant sea monster called the Behemoth.

Adam Austin’s art continues to make this serial look cool.

In the far future, the Hulk uses Jack Kirby layouts and John Romita pencils to look equally cool. Hulk fights the Executioner and his tripod fighting machines, smashing a bunch of the machines, before the effects of the T-Gun wear off and he fades out, returning to the present.

While this is going on, Rick Jones, thinking Hulk/Banner is dead, tells Major Talbot that Banner and Hulk were the same guy. The cat’s out of the bag now.

Both serials continue to move along from cliffhanger to cliffhanger in a fun and satisfying manner. Neither story is reaching the heights of greatness currently being achieved in FF and Thor, but it’s still good solid storytelling.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #75

Iron Man fights the powerful creature that Happy Hogun has transformed into, but gets his butt handed to him. Happy shambles back to Stark’s factory, where Senator Byrd is yelling at poor Pepper and trying to serve his subpoena to Tony—who, as usual, is nowhere to be found.

In an interesting character moment, the arrogant blowhard senator risks his own life to try to save Pepper from “Happy.” He gets knocked out, but it’s a neat reminder that though Byrd might not be likable, he is an honorable man who really is doing what he thinks best for the country. He really thinks that the Iron Man armor should be turned over to the government and Iron Man’s identity revealed.

Anyway, Iron Man confronts Happy again and uses some sort of power feedback macguffin to attempt to revert his friend back to a normal human. The device catches fire and Iron Man is in danger of roasting in his own armor as the issue comes to an end.

Captain America, in the meantime, is mooning about the past when he runs into a girl who reminds him of a lost love from World War II. Though hinted at here, it’s only in later issues that we’ll learn that this girl is Sharon Carter, SHIELD agent and younger sister to that lost love.

For now, she’s trying to keep a cylinder of a new powerful explosive out of the hands of enemy agents. In this case, the enemy is represented by Baltroc the Leaper, an expert in the foot boxing fighting style called Savate. He makes for a visual fun opponent for Captain America in their ensuing fight, but he pretty much right away shows us his most irritating feature. He talks constantly in a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really annoying French accent.

In the end, Baltroc and Cap are both chasing Sharon (who, remember, is still unnamed at this point). The pretty spy doesn’t realize her cylinder is cracked and that the explosive is threatening to detonate with enough force to destroy New York City.

Gee whiz, a few blocks away, Galactus is confronting the FF and threatening to eat the world while here a spy is carrying what basically amounts to a ticking atom bomb through some back alleys. Spider Man is causing a ruckus fighting Kraven while Thor and Hercules are tossing construction vehicles at each other at yet another location. And Attuma is trying to flood the whole city out.

Exactly why does anyone live in New York City? I mean, I know the Broadway shows are nice, but ticket prices are already high enough without adding the risk of having a bulldozer thrown by an ill-tempered immoral fall on top of you. Or have the world eaten before you see the last act of “Lion King.” It just doesn’t seem worth it.


Anyway, that’s it for March.  In April, our reduced line-up will see the FF continue to urge Galactus to go on a diet; Spider Man causes a ruckus with Molten Man; The Avengers continue to battle Attuma; Nick Fury gets strapped to a bomb; Dr. Strange continues with his out-of-body experience; Thor saves his dad; Namor gets mind-controlled; Hulk gets captured; Iron Man gets kidnapped; and Captain America has to continue to listen to a bad French accent.

But before moving on with Marvel, we will take a week to look at a particular multi-part Sgt. Rock story arc from the 1970s. We'll return to the chronological Marvel posts in two weeks. 

History of the Marvel Universe: February 1966, part 3

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #125

This, by the way, is the last ever issue of Journey into Mystery. Next issue, it’ll be renamed The Mighty Thor (though it will retain the same number sequence). Stan Lee or someone else at Marvel finally realized that the Thunder God had completely taken over what was once an anthology book.

But on to the good stuff. This story begins an arc that rates a 9.9 on the Bogart/Karloff Coolness scale. Though it’s a very close call, I might have to go with the next six issues as being the best ever Thor story. Kirby will be at his most awesome. The plot will be bizarre but follow its own Marvel Universe logic from start to finish, allowing for both characterization and action. It’s graphic storytelling at its best.

It begins with Thor managing to take down the Demon, disband the Demon’s army and recover the Norn Stone. But when he brings the stone back to Asgard, he discovers Daddy Odin is most displeased that Thor has revealed his secret identity to a mere mortal.

Thor is banned from returning to Earth, but he refuses to forsake Jane and fights his way to the Rainbow Bridge, plowing through a gazillion or so Asgardian Red Shirts, then outfighting Heimdall to make good his escape.

But once back on Earth, he discovers that Hercules has arrived in town and is—GASP—buying Jane an ice cream soda. Jane, miffed at Thor for leaving her after he promised to stay around—gives him the cold shoulder. Thor has words with Hercules and the two gods square off to fight.

It all just looks so…. COOL. Even the kinda silly stuff—such as two all-powerful immortals going at each other over a pretty girl at the soda shop—looks great. And it’ll look even better next issue, when Thor and Hercules have one of the best fights ever. (Only the Hulk/Thing match from FF #25 beats it out.)

In the Tales of Asgard, we have Thor trying to talk peace with the flying trolls. Loki will have none of that and takes out the trolls with a poison vapor. This brings on a bigger troll contingent that captures Loki. Once again, Kirby makes it all look breathtaking.

TALES TO ASTONISH #76

Namor finally gets back his throne by pretty easily beating the snot out of Krang. It’s actually a bit of an anti-climax. After all that effort, I think a more extended knock-down, drag-out between the two enemies would have been appropriate.

Anyway, Dorma is saved by Atlantean science, Krang is exiled and goes away muttering threats of vengeance and all seems right with the underwater world. Until an earthquake rocks the city. Namor realizes it was caused by surface world nuclear tests. He vows to return to the surface world and deal with it somehow.

One thing of note—there’s still no mention of the fact that Dorma originally helped Krang depose Namor. She’s returned to her status as Namor’s eye candy. As I mentioned last time, I really think that, with all the stories Stan was juggling at the time, he just plain forgot about that plot thread.

The Hulk, meanwhile, discovers he’s in the 25th Century. A king tries to capture him to use him in a war, but he just gets loose and wrecks lots of stuff. Then a rival force attacks and the issue ends with Hulk confronting the other leader—who happens to be the Executioner. The two square off to fight.

Back in the 20th Century, Thunderbolt Ross is in hot water for “losing” the Hulk—no one has any idea that the T-Ray displaced him in time. So Ross and Talbot head off to question Rick Jones to see if he can help find the Hulk. That’ll lead to Rick making an important revelation next issue.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #74

Iron Man is still weak and out of power, but he manages to send off a distress signal to Pepper Potts, who plugs him into an electrical outlet so that he can power up again.

In the meantime, Shellhead gets a phone call from Senator Byrd, who is threatening to issue a subpoena to force Iron Man to unmask for national security reasons. It’s a sub-plot that’s been going on for a few issues now, with usually just a few panels per issue given to it. It’s a proper rhythm for an interesting but non-action plotline and it’ll continue to be interesting in issues to come.

Anyway, Iron Man can’t catch a break on any front. The doctors use an experimental procedure to save Happy’s life, but it turns him into a mindless, super-strong brute. Iron Man is left with the task of subduing his best friend without hurting him.

It’s an okay story, helped along by Adam Austin’s dynamic art.

Captain America isn’t getting much rest, either. The last Nazi Sleeper robot turns out to be a giant skull that Cap deduces is really a planet-cracking bomb. Cap quickly recruits an army unit to help him and ends up getting airdropped on to the combined Sleeper robots with a flamethrower attached to his back. He uses this to sabotage the robots, getting them to detonate harmlessly in the upper atmosphere.

It’s a satisfying ending to this lastest serial.

That’s it for February. In March 1966, both the Fantastic Four and Thor are running with their respective Best Stories Ever; Spidey has a rematch with Kraven; the Avengers get a visit from a former member; Nick Fury gets his brain zapped; Dr. Strange almost gets blowed up; the X-Men tussle with an old enemy; Namor tussles with some soldiers; Hulk tussles with an Asgardian; Iron Man tussles with his best friend; and Captain America tussles with an annoying Frenchman.

History of the Marvel Universe: January 1966, Part 3

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #124

Poor Jane Foster is on the verge of a breakdown, what with the man she loves vanishing for days or weeks at a time without explanation. So Blake—against his father’s wishes—shows her that he’s also Thor. This ticks off Odin—something that will have consequences next issue.

Also, Jane makes Thor promise not to leave her again. But that’s a silly promise to exact from a Thunder God. Soon, there are news reports of the Demon (the witch doctor who found the lost Norn Stone) using his newfound powers to raise an army and go on a conquering rampage. So Thor, despite his promise, is off to Asia, where he ends this issue by confronting the villain.

In the meantime, up on Olympus, Zeus is tiring of his son Hercules always getting into fights. So he sends him on a trip to Earth. This sets up a storyline that will begin next issue involving both the son of Odin and the son of Zeus—an arc that is my personal favorite from the Lee/Kirby run on this title.

The Tales of Asgard story gives us a little insight into Hogun the Grim—showing he’s quick to help friends despite his perpetual crankiness—and sets up a fight scene for next issue as the flying trolls of Queen Ula swoop down on the Argonauts.

TALES TO ASTONISH #75

Namor and the unconscious Dorma are surrounded by Nameless Ones and apparently doomed. But Neptune himself shows up; tells Namor he’s worthy because he acted bravely to save the woman he loved even though he risked getting his throne back; banishes the Nameless Ones; and gives Namor the Trident.

I’m not sure Neptune’s logic holds up. Basically, Namor had decided “The heck with the thousands of Atlanteans I’m responsible for who are being subjugated by a tyrant. I want to save the hot babe who is herself responsible for this whole mess by betraying me.” Namor really needs to watch Casablanca.

You know, with all the writing and editing chores Stan Lee was juggling at this time, I think he really might have lost track of the fact that Dorma committed treason a few issues back.

Oh, well. It works out all right in the end. And Adam Austin’s dynamic art still looks great. Namor heads back to Atlantis, smashes past Krang’s mercenary guard, wrecks the robo-tank that had stunned the rebelling citizenry last issue, gets Dorma into a revitalization tank to save her life, and confronts Krang in the last panel.


In the meantime, the Hulk is now free of the (supposedly) dead Leader and jumps off into the desert. He comments on how Banner’s thoughts and memories are fading, but he’s perfectly happy being the Hulk. But he now has nothing to do. He can’t even play with the Watcher’s Ultimate Machine, because the Watcher zaps it back to the Moon.

As for the other cast members—they all think Banner is dead; Rick is still locked up by the military for helping Banner (who, you’ll remember, was suspected of treason); and General Ross is building a weapon known as a T-Gun from one of Banner’s last designs. This despite no one having any idea what the T-Gun actually does.

Well, they find out. Or at least the Hulk does. When he’s spotted by the Army, he’s zapped with the gun and teleported forward in time. Now in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC, he’s jumped by an army of guys wielding high tech weapons.

I’ve really been enjoying these early Hulk stories. They have a fun rhythm to them—jumping without pause from plot point to plot point in a way that still makes “sense” in a comic book universe.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #73

Adam Austin begins a short run as Iron Man’s artist. His vibrant layouts give the series a healthy shot in the arm right from the first panel, in which Iron Man marches down a hospital hallway to investigate Happy Hogan’s disappearance.

He finds a trail that begins with a hoof print on the third floor window sill of Happy’s room. Well, there’s only one guy Iron Man knows who has a horse that can fly up to a third floor window—that’s the Black Knight.

That’s why I love comic book universes. Someone finds a hoof print in a spot where (in real life) no hoof print could possibly be and can instantly make sense of it.

Anyway, Iron Man tracks down the Black Knight. There’s a fight that’s really a little too slow moving to be truly satisfying (much of it involving Iron Man feigning unconsciousness while he recharges his transistors); the Knight is defeated and perhaps killed; Hogan is taken back to the hospital; but Iron Man is now on the missing list, lying in a hidden spot in the Black Knight’s base.

Captain America is also pretty busy, fighting the giant Nazi Sleeper robot. This is soon joined by the second Sleeper, a giant flying machine. While Cap desperately tries to find a way to damage the Sleepers, they attach themselves together via magnetism and fly off—presumably to join up with the third and last Sleeper. Cap is pretty much having a non-stop bad day in this chapter, but we readers certainly have fun. The action is laid out with Jack Kirby’s usual skill.

That’s it for January. In February, the FF continue to learn more about the Inhumans; Spider Man has one of his finest moments; the Avengers confront Dr. Doom; Nick Fury discovers that telepaths are annoying, while the Hulk discovers the same thing about time travel; Dr. Strange wraps up his wrestling match with Dormammu; Daredevil does a lot of traveling; the X-Men encounter an old enemy; Thor begins his coolest story arc ever; Namor fights for his throne; Iron Man fights a friend; and Captain America continues to fight really big robots.

History of the Marvel Universe: December 1965, part 3

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #123

Thor continues to be super-awesome in storytelling, themes and visuals. Stan and Jack’s work here and on Fantastic Four will (for the next several years) be consistently incredible.

Thor takes reporter Harris Hobbes to Asgard, where he finds Loki and the Absorbing Man apparently about to take down Odin himself. But the ruler of Asgard surrenders his scepter rather than see Asgard torn apart by a massive fight.

It’s just a trick, of course. Loki and Crusher immediately start to argue over who gets the scepter—then Odin casually sends them zipping away into space, permanently exiled into the interstellar vastness.

Odin really shines in this issue. He’s haughty and proud, but has the chops to back this up with decisive action. In previous issues, he sometimes had moments that seemed less than “all-wise.” But now he’s portrayed exactly as he should be--powerful and decisive.

By the way, Harris Hobbs’ camera breaks, Odin kicks him out of Asgard before he can make a pencil sketch and he gets his memory wiped anyway. So he pretty much has the suckiest day ever and (if I remember correctly) pretty much disappears from Thor’s continuity anyways.

In the meantime, a witch doctor finds the Norn stone Thor dropped three issues ago. This gives him the power to single-handedly fight off some Communist troops. That’s a good thing—but his decision to conquer the world is a bad thing. Thor will very soon have some work to do.

The Tales of Asgard back up as the ship and crew getting past a huge dragon after Balder destroys it with a magic trumpet blast. That brief description, though, doesn’t do the short story justice. Jack Kirby’s art makes every panel look breathtaking.

TALES TO ASTONISH #74

In the Sub Mariner story, Stan Lee once again manages to squeeze in a boat-load of action into a relatively few pages. The scene switches back and forth between Namor as he fights hordes of Faceless Ones to save Dorma; Krang has he seals himself up in Atlantis’ palace and sics a robot tank on the rebelling citizens; and an old guy who volunteers to find Namor and tell him he’s wanted back home (whether he finds Neptune’s Trident or not). Adam Austin’s art continues to be eye-catching and dynamic. It ends in an appropriately cliff-hanger fashion with Namor holding an unconscious Dorma as the Faceless Ones regroup to attack him anew.


While Namor is still having adventures deep undersea, the Hulk is still on the Moon, fighting the alien creature that’s also after the Watcher’s Ultimate Machine. (One of the reasons I love doing these reviews is that I get to write sentences like that.)

The Watcher doesn’t want his house trashed, so he teleports the two combatants to a remote location (it’s never made clear where—it doesn’t seem to be on the Moon.) What follows is a pretty nifty fight, with the Hulk coming out on top. So the Watcher zaps Hulk back to his home and lets him take the clear sphere identified as the Ultimate Machine. The Leader then zaps the Hulk home.

There was an interesting bit of characterization when all this was going on. The Hulk realizes that even though he now has Banner’s brain, his driving emotions and desire to fight are the Hulk’s. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve always wondered how much of the Hulk’s constant evolution was planned by Stan Lee and how much he just made up as he went along. I think maybe Stan was still experimenting with the character, trying to find the right Jekyll/Hyde balance in personality and rules of transformation that made for the best dramatic fit.

Anyway, back on Earth, the Leader snatches the Ultimate Machine from the Hulk and uses it to download all the knowledge of the universe into his own mind. This proves to be too much for him and he falls over dead. Of course, he’s not actually dead—he’ll be back soon enough as a regularly appearing villain in the Marvel Universe. But for now, the Hulk is back on Earth and free from his arch enemy.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #72

A playgirl jilted by Tony hires the Mad Thinker to find out who Iron Man really is as part of her plan to get revenge. It’s a silly motivation, but it leads to some pretty good action scenes. The Thinker sends his android to kidnap Tony, intending to force Iron Man’s identity from his “boss.” Tony manages to escape long enough to get his armor on and manages to outfight the android, blow up the Thinker’s lab and take the villain to prison. The playgirl has to walk miles to get home. Not much of a punishment after funding kidnapping, but boy were her feet sore.

Artist Don Heck does a pretty nice job on the fight scene. A new and interesting sub-plot in which Senator Byrd wants to force Tony into revealing Iron Man’s identity (in the interest of national security) begins in this issue as well.

In the next issue, Gene Colon will begin doing the art for Iron Man, staying on the book for a couple of years and really amping up the stories visually. Colon never drew an uninteresting panel of comic art in his life and he’ll be giving Shellhead a really dynamic look.

Captain America, it turns out, has been recounting all the World War II stories we’ve been reading to his fellow Avengers. He has one more war-time memory—that of beating the Red Skull a final time. Just before the Skull’s apparent death, the villain claims that in exactly 20 years “The Sleepers will awake!”

Well, it has been 20 years, hasn’t it? And the Sleepers do awake. They’re giant Nazi robots that have been buried while awaiting activation—Kirby gives them a clunky, retro design that seems appropriate for the time period in which they were built.

The first one pops up in Germany. Cap fights it, but it pretty much just brushes past him, intent on rendezvousing with the other two Sleepers.


That’s it for now. Next week, we enter 1966 as the FF try to find out what’s up with the Inhumans; Spider Man tries to find out who’s running the high-tech thieves’ gang; the Avengers continue to battle Kang in the far future, while the Hulk does some time traveling of his own; Nick Fury blows a bunch of stuff up; Dr. Strange goes one-on-one against Dormammu; Daredevil fights pirates AND dinosaurs (how cool is that?); the X-Men and Captain America both fight giant robots; Thor goes after the lost Norn Stone; Namor returns to Atlantis; and Iron Man confronts an old enemy to save an old friend.

It was a good time to be a comic book fan. And you could have bought every single one of these comics for a total of $1.08, plus maybe sales tax. $1.08 for a months’ worth of time travel, pirates, dinosaurs, giant robots, battles both in the ocean and on the Moon, and lots of superheroes. I really need to get to work on my time machine.

History of Marvel Comics: November 1965, part 3

TALES TO ASTONISH #73

Lots of stuff going on this time. Namor manages to defeat the guardian of the Diamonds of Doom, getting one step closer to finding Neptune’s trident. The people of Atlantis rise up against Krang and seem to be winning a swift but violent civil war, but the warlord seems to have one last trick up his sleeve as he turns a mysterious dial. And Lady Dorma is at the mercy of the Faceless Ones, a horde of, well, faceless creatures.

So Namor has to choose between finishing his quest or zipping off to rescue Dorma—whose “love for me has never faltered.” Well, it actually did falter a time or two, such as when she HELPED KRANG TAKE THE THRONE FROM NAMOR. But Namor seems to have forgotten this for the moment as he opts to possibly lose his throne by saving the girl.

It’s actually a really good story, with Adam Austin continuing to provide strong art work. But the character interactions are a little bit inconsistent—both Dorma’s loyalty and the loyalties of the Atlantian people in general seem to fluctuate randomly. Perhaps Stan Lee—juggling so many serial stories at the same time—simply managed to lose track of some of the details.

Meanwhile, the Leader uses a gamma ray laser to melt the bullet lodged in Hulk’s skull. Now Hulk can revert to Banner safely, but the extra dose of gamma rays seem to have locked him in Hulk’s form permanently. He still has Banner’s mind, though the Leader doesn’t suspect that.

Feeling himself to be under obligation to the Leader, Hulk allows himself to be teleported to the Watcher’s domicile on the Moon, where he is to retrieve a sphere the Leader calls “the ultimate machine.” The Watcher greets the Hulk, but also tells him he’s free to look around. The Watcher, remember, has vowed never to interfere.

Of course, he actually interferes all the time (and is about to do so in a big way over in Fantastic Four in just a few months.) He’s also kicked people out of his house before. But the story requires him to be a bit more laid back this time, so he gives Hulk the run of his place.

But a big, scaly alien known as the “most powerful fighter in the galaxy” is also the ultimate machine. The chapter ends with the Hulk and the alien facing off against each other.

It’s another strong chapter in the serial. Jack Kirby is still doing the layouts (with Bob Powell doing the finished art), so the various machines and alien creatures decorating the Watcher’s house all look pretty cool.

It’s also interesting to note that Hulk/Banner still doesn’t have any established rules for turning back and forth between monster and human. I’d be interested to know how much of this Stan planned in advance and how much of it he just made up as he went along. Was he planning on having Banner stuck in Hulk’s body long term? Did he have the idea of finally stabilizing the conditions on what makes Banner change already in mind? Stan’s scripts are providing rollicking fun, so this isn’t a complaint, but I often wonder how far ahead he planned and how much was stream of consciousness.


AVENGERS #22

Legally banned from working as a team, the Avengers all go their own way. But the job market for disgraced superheroes is a sparse one and the only work Pietro, Wanda and Hawkeye can get is working for the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. They don’t know the Circus is a crooked operation at first, but when the Ringmaster tries to hypnotize them into helping break the law, they soon catch on.

Something I commented on before—prison sentences in the Marvel Universe seem to be pretty light. It’s only been a few months since the Circus folk were all busted by Spider Man. And this probably is only a few weeks in comic book time. But they’ve already been tried and convicted, served their sentence and are back on the street.

It’s not a big deal and is actually an acceptable break from reality. There’s no reason not to reuse villains—that sort of continuity was a big part of the Marvel Universe’s appeal—and it would get old to have them break out of prison every single time.

Besides, the Ringmaster not currently being wanted allows him to falsely accuse the ex-Avengers of trying to rob him. So, after a few pages of fun fight scenes, the good guys take it on the lam.

But Captain America hasn’t given up. He manages to trick Power Man into making a taped confession of the whole “discredit the Avengers” plot. His trick is a bit contrived, but the fight scene that follows, with the three wanted Avengers showing up to help Cap team up on Power Man, is a great one, so we’ll be forgiving.

Enchantress washes her hands of the whole mess and teleports. Deprived of his hot babe, Power Man gets discouraged and surrenders. The Avengers are hailed as heroes and reinstated. (In the meantime, the cops had made the Circus of Crime crew fess up about that incident—a nice touch, since they were known criminals.) But all does not end well. Though Hawkeye and Pietro finally seem appreciative of Cap’s leadership, he’s sick of them and the issue ends as he quits.

X-MEN #14

The anti-mutant bigotry theme that runs through X-Men comics is abruptly kicked into high gear in this issue when Dr. Bolivar Trask (an eminent anthropologist) publically announces that mutants are a danger. They might at any moment use their powers to enslave mankind.

Of course, this is what Magneto and his allies had been trying to do since X-Men #1, but the issue is simplified here to make it a thematic analog to bigotry and mob rule. And that’s fine—it’s something that the better written issues of Marvel’s mutant titles have often handled quite well through the years.

Anyway, it turns out that though Trask might be a good anthropologist, he really stinks at robot design. He builds a number of giant Sentinels—destined to be one of the X-Men’s most persistent foes through the years—but they turn on him as well. They are programmed to seek out and capture mutants, but they’ve decided that they’re better than us mere humans. While the X-Men have trouble battling just one Sentinel, the others take Trask to the secret underground facility where they were constructed.

The issue ends when the X-Men are confronted outside this facility by its defensive weaponry.

I like the way the action is choreographed this time around. The X-Men are actually on vacation when Professor X encounters the Sentinels. He sends out a mental alert, but his students are all coming from different locations, so they show up singly or in pairs. It’s a trick that allows the action to build up momentum in an entertaining manner.

That’s it for this time. In December, the X-Men and Daredevil both become monthly titles, so I’ll be re-ordering the reviews slightly. Throughout that month, the FF will be meeting more of the Inhumans; Spider Man meets some important supporting characters; Nick Fury pulls of a jail break; Dr. Strange finally confronts Baron Mordo face to face; Thor and his dad defend Asgard; Iron Man fights a big android; Captain America fights a big robot; the X-Man fight a lot of giant robots; Namor attempts to rescue his lady love; Hulk finds out what the “ultimate machine” actually does; the Avengers do some time traveling; and Daredevil continues his match-up against the Organizer’s gang.

History of the Marvel Universe: October 1965, part 3

TALES TO ASTONISH #72

Namor, still on his quest to find Neptune’s trident, manages to defeat the seaweed monster long enough to find the next clue—it turns out he must now travel to the Diamonds of Doom.

Meanwhile, Lady Dorma refuses to marry Krang and gets exiled to the realm of the Faceless Ones. What this means we aren’t yet told, but we are not given the impression that it’s a good thing.

Namor finds out about this--via fish telepathy—a power more commonly associated with Namor’s DC parallel Aquaman. Even though he’d been around for a few years now, Namor’s powers were still in flux. Stan Lee never seemed to remember what Namor could or could not do. Sometimes he could do fish telepathy, sometimes he couldn’t. In later years, he pretty much seemed not to have this power, though he could always summon up a few undersea monsters whenever the plot demanded it of him.

Anyways, Namor can’t take time to save Dorma because Krang will start a world-encompassing war unless he’s defeated. So it’s off to the Diamonds of Doom. The Doom part, he discovers, comes from their ability to suck out the life force of any living thing that comes close to them. Namor realizes this a little too late, giving us this issue’s cliffhanger.

Meanwhile, the Hulk has been teleported by the Leader to the villain’s secret base. Soon after, the army blows up Banner’s mountain lab (thinking the Hulk is still inside), destroying the equipment Banner needs to keep himself from turning human again. (Remember, the bullet in his skull kills him if he turns back into Banner.)

The Leader wants Hulk to work for him, but the two really can’t manage to play nice. To make matters worse, Hulk begins to slowly turn back into Banner while fighting the Leader’s Humanoids. Weakened by this, he falls to a barrage of energy weapons. If the weapons don’t kill him, turning human will.

AVENGERS #21

A mercenary who worked for the late Baron Zemo is still hanging around Zemo’s lab in South America. The Enchantress shows up and uses the same machine that turned Simon Williams into Wonder Man (back in issue #9) to turn the merc into Power Man.

Then she and her new ally begin using magically created illusions and a series of dirty tricks to make it look like the Avengers are destroying property and breaking laws. Eventually, the government issues a court order, forcing them to disband.

The idea of discrediting the Avengers is an old one. Count Neferia tried it just a few issues back. But Enchantress’ plan is a pretty clever one and the circumstances are used to highlight some of the strained relations within the Avengers (most notably between Cap and Hawkeye). That will really come to a head next issue.

DAREDEVIL #10

A criminal known as the Organizer, um, organizes a cadre of criminals respectively known as Cat Man, Frog Man, Bird Man and Ape Man. All have costumes and talents that mimic the animals they dress up as.

They are, to be frank, a pretty silly looking bunch. Only Wally Wood’s effective layouts save the story, in which the bad guys steal from or otherwise attack the political Reform Party (which has recruited Foggy Nelson as their candidate for D.A.). As the issue ends Cat Man has been captured, but the others are still loose and Daredevil has to rescue a kidnap victim who doesn’t really seem to be all that much of a victim. That the villain is secretly making the Reform Party look good to the public is obvious from the start and no surprise when this is revealed in the next issue.

That’s it for October. Before moving on to November, we’ll take a week next time to look at the 1965 annuals. Reed and Sue are goin’ to the chapel and gonna get married; Spider Man has a strange encounter with Dr. Strange; and Thor meets the official Marvel Universe version of Hercules.

History of the Marvel Universe: September 1965, part 3

TALES TO ASTONISH #71

Namor manages to defeat the giant octopus that had him cornered last issue, then continues to follow clues that will lead him to Neptune’s trident. He has a tussle with some of Krang’s men, then is confronted by a giant seaweed monster that begins to crush the life out of him as the issue comes to an end.

Adam Austin’s strong artwork carries the story along nicely. There’s also a legitimately touching moment when Namor meets an elderly Atlantian who assures him that most of his people are still loyal to him. The “Namor on a quest” story also fits into the multi-chapter serial format that Stan Lee is using on quite a few books by this point.

Meanwhile, Thunderbolt Ross is proving to be pretty casual at tossing around atomic weapons. He uses one to finish off the Leader’s giant Humanoid. Hulk grabs Rick Jones and jumps away in the nick of time. This leaves Hulk mad at the army, despite having Banner’s brain in control. Rick begins to get worried, noting that the Hulk is now more violent than ever.

With a bullet still lodged in his brain, the Hulk is dead meat if he turns back into Banner. So he heads for his secret lab and rigs up equipment that will keep him from changing. But the army has spotted him and now Ross is once again threatening to drop a nuke.

Hulk forces a reluctant Rick to leave the cave and get to safety. He figures he’s doomed, but just then the Leader teleports into the cave and promises to save him—IF, of course, he swears eternal loyalty to the Leader.

The series continues to roll along with good action and effective cliffhangers. The Leader might actually be in danger of overexposure—it’ll be nice when the Hulk’s rogue’s gallery gets to grow a little larger. But he’s a strong villain nonetheless, as will be demonstrated over the next few chapters.

AVENGERS #20

Captain America is still plummeting to his doom, but the other Avengers use their various powers together to save him. They’re about the clean the Swordsman’s clock when the bad guy is teleported away by the Mandarin.

The Mandarin then fakes a message from Iron Man, telling the Avengers that Swordsman can indeed be trusted. This, of course, is a trap, with the Swordsman being given a bomb to plant inside Avengers Mansion.

There’s a fun twist at the end. Swordsman has second thoughts about committing mass-murder and is getting rid of the bomb when the Avengers—who remained suspicious of him—confront him. It looks like he’s planting the bomb, so he has to make a break for it, disposing of the explosive devise just before it goes off.

There’s also more bickering among the Avengers over who should be leader. It’s actually a nice dynamic—all fight bravely and work well together when in battle, but between battles they begin to get on each others’ nerves.

X-MEN #13

Juggernaut has blasted through the X-Men to confront Professor X, who attempts to drop the bad guy with a mental blast. But Juggy’s helmet keeps him immune to telepathic shenanigans.

What follows is a very exciting and expertly choreographed battle in which the X-Men fight a delaying action against Juggernaut back and forth through the mansion, until they finally come up with a way to get his helmet off. Xavier can then finally drop him with a mental blast. A very good issue in terms of action and Kirby’s visuals.

The X-Men, by the way, get some help from the Human Torch, whom Professor X summoned telepathically. Johnny seems a pretty random choice, but the real reason, of course, is to get in a quick plug for the FF and mention Reed’s upcoming marriage to Sue.

This leads to an odd bit at the end, when Professor X mind-wipes the memory of the battle from Johnny. That seems a bit unnecessary and highlights that Stan and Jack still hadn’t thought through all the ethical implications of the professor’s powers. But this does nothing to take away from the story’s high entertainment value.


That’s it for September. In October, the Fantastic Four continue to fight the Frightful Four while Iron Man continues to battle the Titanium Man; Spider Man gets a rematch against the Scorpion while Thor gets a rematch against the Absorbing Man; some SHIELD agents get whacked; Dr. Strange mind-probes his mentor; Captain America joins Bucky as a captive of the Nazis; Namor has trouble with both seaweed and diamonds; the Hulk and the Leader find they can’t play nice together; the Avengers get discredited---AGAIN; and Daredevil fights a gang of pretty goofy looking criminals.