Never Abuse a Toad!

 

cover art by John Buscema

Writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema bring the Quicksilver/Wanda story arc to a satisfying end in Avengers #53 (June 1968). Of course, we had to put up with cross-title shenanigans, with an important chunk of the story unfolding in X-Men rather than The Avengers. It would have been perfectly acceptable to simply have one team guest star in another team's book, Roy! It would have been! A shared universe doesn't mean forcing your poor readers to buy a book they might not otherwise want to buy!

But the story itself is very good and, as I believe I've mentioned in earlier posts, I suppose I should stop whining about this after nearly half a century has passed. But I still whine nonetheless. Whine, whine, whine.

Anyway, the Avengers show up just after Cyclops defeated Quicksilver (which happened at the conclusion of X-Men #45). Cyclops decides the Avengers might be imposters working for Magneto, and a brief fight follows until Cyclops runs away to free the other X-Men.

We then get a flashback, showing Angel arriving in New York to bring the Avengers back to Magneto's hide-out. But along the way, the Avengers find the bug that Magneto had planted on Angel before allowing the flying hero to escape.

Magneto's plan is to lure the Avengers to the island and then use a mind control ray to get the X-Men to attack them. BUT the Avengers have deduced that--at the very least--they are walking into a trap. So they leave Angel tied up very loosely and pertend to argue among themselves to convince Magneto they are completely unprepared. 

While the mind-controlled X-Men attack the Avengers, Angel gets loose, sneaks onto the island and sabotages Magneto's machinery.

Magneto decides its time to retreat, but not before abusing Toad one more time. This FINALLY pushes Toad over the limit, causing him set the island to self-destruct and then getting away with Wanda and Pietro. Magneto tries to bum a ride with them, but Toad does some finger-stomping, causing the Master of Magnitism to fall to his presumed death when the island explodes.

The Avengers and X-Men get away as well and call it a day. The Wanda/Pietro story arc comes to an end, with the siblings disappearing from continuity for a couple of years before returning to the Avengers. 

This last issue is fun, with several very effective plot twists. The story arc as a whole is good as well. Roy Thomas was able to set up conditions that made it believable for Pietro to consider returning to Magneto and still leaving it believable that he would eventually return to being a hero. A story arc like this makes one regret how badly the characters of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were assassinated by modern writers. It's one of many reasons why, in my personal Head Canon, the Marvel Universe ended around 1986. 

Next week, let's visit with Superman.

Super Speed vs. Force Blast

 

cover art by John Buscema

X-Men #45 (June 1968) takes us back to Magneto's Island, where Cyclops gets worried that the Angel is taking too long and engineers his own escape.

Writer Gary Friedrich and artists Don Heck (layouts) and Werner Roth (finished pencils) give us a great scene here. A lead mask is blocking Scott's optic beams, but he decides to try concentrating those beams on one tiny part of that mask.

It really is a cool sequence, which will soon be followed by a cool fight scene.

It takes a few pages to get to those fight scenes, but it is time well spent. The story does switch back to Angel long enough for us to see he's reached New York and is only minutes away from Avengers Mansion. When Toad sees that Cyclops is free, he tells Magneto and a brief scene in which Magneto essentially tortures his annoying but loyal minion for allowing an escape reminds us that the man is simply evil. 

So when Pietro encounters Scott and tries to convince him that Magneto's plan for a mutant sanctuary is on the up-and-up, we know that Pietro is still fooled (or, by this time, simply fooling himself). Scott whill have none of it--he's been taught too well by Professor X to be fooled or to condemn all of humanity for the sins of a few.

So the two begin fighting. Magneto simply watches like a Darwinian judge, figuring if Quicksilver isn't skilled enough to win on his own, then he's no great loss if Scott beats him. (Yet another example of his ruthlessness.) Wanda watches as well, but is still confused by the effects of the bullet that grazed her head way back in Avengers #49. So she also just watches. 

It's a really neat fight scene, with both men using their powers in tactically intelligent ways. In the end, Quicksilver is taken down by a richocheting optic blast.

Naturally, the Avengers show up at just the right moment to misunderstand the situation. The story continues in Avengers #53, which we'll look at next week. At which time, I will undoubtably whine over a crossover story that FORCES people to buy a second title to get the entire story, rather than just have one team guest-star in the other team's book.

Narrow Escapes and a Random Lost Civilization

                                                          art by Don Heck and Marie Severin

X-Men #44 (May 1968) takes us back to the Pietro/Wanda situation that began back in Avengers #47 several months earlier. We are getting to the tail-end of the story arc--2 issues of X-Men (including this one) and then a final issue of The Avengers will wrap it up. 

The credits are complicated, so let's just get them out of the way. Roy Thomas plotted the book, then Gary Friedrich wrote the script. Don Heck did the layouts, then Werner Roth did the finished pencils. 

In the last issue, the X-Men has been captured by Magneto at the villain's island HQ. Toad, naturally, is sucking up to Magneto and insisting the X-Men simply be killed. Pietro, though, argues that they should be kept alive. Though the con Magneto ran on him and Wanda earlier in the story arc was a good one--convincing the siblings that he had set aside his murderous ways--it's starting to get to be a bit of a stretch to accept that Pietro still trusts him. 

But Magneto does agree to keep the heroes imprisoned, with each of them attached to a devise or cage that nullifies their powers. But someone has carelessly left a disintegrator ray near Angel's cage, allowing him to free himself. (This seems contrived, but it will eventually be explained.)

Cyclops, in fact, suspects its a trap and tells Angel to just run for it and get help from the Avengers. Quicksilver tries to follow (he claims to have "recently gained the power of flight, but it seems that he just uses his superspeed to jump really far), but Angel outflies him.

It's a long flight back to New York City. Angel is caught in a storm and lands on a rock to rest. But the rock then rises up and reveals an island. Inside is a super-civilization guarded by a guy in a winged suit called Red Raven.

After a brief (and pretty cool) fight, Raven explains the situation: The secret island city is the home of a race of Bird People. When he was a baby, Raven was the lone survivor of a plane crash and was raised by the Bird People. After Raven grew to adulthood, the winged guys unwisely decided to attack the rest of the world. Raven gassed them all unconscious and put them in suspended animation cylinders. The island has risen up out of the ocean because it's time for them to wake up. Raven, though, intends to put them asleep for another 20 years. (By the way, Raven is later retconned into being a construct based on the World War II-era character--but that's a story for another time.)

Angel objects to this plan, thinking that the Bird People technology might benefit mankind. Raven knocks him out, re-sinks the island, and uses an anti-gravity ray to keep Angel afloat until he wakes up again. When he does wake up, Angel resumes his flight to find the Avengers.

So the book advances the main story arc a little, but most of it is given over to a side story. But this is fine, since its a good story and adds another interesting element to the Marvel Universe that other writers can dip into if they ever want to do so. The Angel/Raven fight scene is fun as well. 

Next week, we'll move to the next issue of X-Men, in which the main story arc will begin to gain speed. 

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.

Tracking the Bad Guys by the Scent of a T-Rex

 

cover art by John Romita & Rich Buckler

Avengers #111 (May 1973) starts off with Magneto forcing a mind-controlled Wanda to dance for him. I'm not up on modern comics, but I think it's been established that Magneto is not Wanda's dad, which was Canon for a number of years. That would be a good thing, because otherwise this scene would be even creepier than it already is.

Steve Englehart is the writer, while Don Heck does the art. As I mentioned last week, I'm not a huge fan of Heck's art, but this issue is still fun to read and look at.

Anyway, we find out how Magneto is mind-controlling the various X-Men and Avengers he captured last issue. He's figured out how to use the iron in blood to slow the flow of blood to the brain and make sure "my victims have the only the consciousness I allow them!" 

In early issues of the X-Men, Magneto occasionally showed telepathic powers, but this soon stopped being mentioned. As for this magnetism-based mind-control power, I don't remember it ever being mentioned again. I may be wrong about that, though. In any case, that power is very much in play for this short story arc.

Meanwhile, the non-captured Avengers (Thor, Vision and Black Panther) have teamed up with Daredevil and Black Widow to rescue the captives. Unfortunately, they don't know where the captives are. But Daredevil theorizes that a nearby meeting of the Atomic Energy  Commision might be a target. DD's logic is pure Comic Book Science, but makes sense in that context. Atomics cause mutations, which would interest Magneto.

Magneto and the mind-controlled heroes do indeed attack the conference and kidnap the attendees. The good guys arrive and a well-choreographed fight ensues. But Magneto makes a getaway with his hostages.

That leaves the good guys stumped once again, until Black Panther remembers that Magneto had sicced dinosaurs on the Avengers in the previous issue.  They must have come from somewhere nearby. T'Challa will just back-track their scent. So, in the end, the villain will lose because T-Rexes are stinky.

Magneto is mind-controlling the Commission members he kidnapped to get access to atomic installations. But the good guys find his underground base. We get another pretty cool fight scene, but then Magneto steps in to mind-control everyone.

The issue ends with a nice twist. Vision had used his intangibility to inhabit the body of the Piper, Magneto's current minion. He karate-chops Magneto unconscious and thus wins the day.

Comic Book Science reigns again here--he keeps himself intangible enough to avoid damaging Piper's organs, but solidifies his brain just enough to take over Piper's body. I'm completely okay with that. 

Vision also explains that the trick is very dangerous to both himself and the person he takes over, so it's not something he would commonly try. That's a perfectly good explanation for why we don't see the Android Avenger doing that trick more often. 

I'm still not sure if there's a reason why Magneto didn't keep using mind-control as a common tactic. It would be awfully handy. If anyone knows of if an in-universe explanation was ever given, please comment on it.

Avengers #110 and #111 is an entertaining two-parter. As I stated last week, I'm annoyed that it claims to be a three-parter by inserting an unnecessary crossover with Daredevil #99, which you don't even need to read to follow the story. But, well, it's been a half-century now since this came out. I suppose one should learn to forgive and forget.

Next week, we'll return to the pages of Dell's Indian Chief. 

Who are these "X-Men?"

 

cover art by Gil Kane

I'll get the credits for Avengers #110 (April 1973) out of the way first, because in an attempt to confuse future bloggers when writing reviews, it switches artists halfway through. The writer is Steve Englehart. The artist for the first 12 pages is Don Heck. John Buscema takes over starting with page 13.

The story starts by adding to some of the ongoing character arcs before moving on to the story. Quicksilver has been missing for some time, but now contacts the Avengers to announce that he was rescued by the Inhumans and has fallen in love with Crystal. Wanda, pleased, announces that she's fallen for the Vision. Pietro does not react well and disconnects after ordering Wanda to dump the android. 

More character drama pops up later on and does connect a little more with the main story. Hawkeye, who quit the Avengers after learning that Wanda liked Vision better than him, heads out to San Francisco to see the Black Widow. 

Anyway, the drama is appropriate. Marvel Comics had a decades-worth of Soap Opera shenanigans behind it by this point and it was these character-driven arcs that so effectively humanized the protagonists.

But, hey, lets move on to the really cool stuff. Another message comes through on their viewer, showing them the wrecked X-Mansion and unconscious X-Men. The source of this message is mysterious and, not surprisingly, it turns out to be a trap.

Reading this story nowadays, when we are so used to multiple crossovers and various superheroes teaming up on many occasions, it's fun to see the Avengers trying to remember who that Professor X guy is and then reveal that they have no idea where the X-Mansion is. They have to split up and search for it.

They find it eventually. A booby trap gives them a little trouble, but they manage to get the professor, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman and Angel outside.

In dealing with the booby trap, I do wonder why Cap is fighting it while Wanda is barely able to pull Xavier from the room. Couldn't Wanda have hex-blasted the thing while Cap easily carried the professor out? In fact, though I like this issue a lot, my one complaint is that Wanda never gets a chance to show her stuff, even during the ensuing action.

Because lots of action does ensue. Boulders jump up from the ground "like meteors" and we get an awesome Buscema-illustrated three page battle against mind-controlled dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs are defeated and the Avengers are about to confront the Piper, the mutant who has been controlling the monsters. That's when Magneto launches a sneak attack. It was he in Angel's costume, waiting for his chance to strike. He reveals a new mind-control power of his own (something that will be explained in the next issue). He walls off Thor, Vision and Black Panther with boulders, steals the quinjet with the X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man and Wanda are his prisoners.

I do like this story. The action looks cool, with the presence of dinosaurs making everything even better (as is always the case with dinosaurs). Magneto's trap was reasonably clever and the issue ends with an effective cliffhanger. I'm not the biggest fan of Don Heck's art (his figure work always seems a bit stiff to me), but Buscema's art in the second half is great.

I will now rant about something I dislike. The story is said to be continued in Daredevil #99. First, I dislike stories crossing over into different issues, forcing fans to buy something they might not necessarily want to buy. Second, the crossover is largely unnecessary. Most of the Daredevil involves Hawkeye getting into a fight with Daredevil. The uncaptured Avengers show up to get reinforcements. Hawkeye, still in a snit, refuses to come, but Daredevil and the Black Widow do join up.

It's not at all necessary to read this issue to know what's going on in the next issue of The Avengers. A flashback quickly brings us up-to-date and the Hawkeye/Daredevil fight has no effect on the Magneto story. I do love the Marvel Universe of the 1960s and 1970s, but this was a cheap shot.

Anyway, next week, we'll be skipping the Daredevil issue and moving right on to Avengers #111. 

History of the Marvel Universe: March 1966, part 2

STRANGE TALES #142

Mentallo and the Fixer team up, then attack SHIELD HQ. Mentallo can predict everything the defending agents will do, plus mentally detect structural weak points and hidden weapons. The Fixer can then whip out a gadget for dealing with each individual situation.

With all this going for them, they kick SHIELD butt and capture Nick. They then place a mask on Nick that’ll alter his brain waves and make him their mental slaves.

This chapter is a straightforward and exciting action tale. Kirby continues to come up with cool looking gadgetry. But, as I said a few issues back, his stuff here doesn’t look quite as cool as it does in the FF or Thor. Just my impression, of course, but I think Jack was putting a little bit less time and effort into Nick Fury to give him more time to concentrate on the other titles.

Since the SHIELD stories are still excellent (visually as well as structurally), then I’m okay with this. Jack Kirby when he was merely good was still leagues ahead of nearly any other artist.

Dr. Strange, meanwhile, detects the bomb hidden in his Sanctum and tosses it away, but the concussion still knocks him out. He’s captured by Mordo’s minions, who have no idea their boss has been banished to a far dimension by Dormammu.

Strange is locked up in a mask that keeps him from seeing or speaking and a pair of mitten-like gloves that keep him from making magical gestures. (Or any other sort of gesture—though Strange has too much class to just flip off the bad guys anyways.)

In a really nifty action sequence, Strange has to use his ectoplasmic form to awkwardly guide his physical body. He manages to knock out a couple of guards and escape the house he was held in, but his physical body is still nearly helpless and the bad guys are closing in on him.

DAREDEVIL #14

After a couple of cool issues, the Ka-Zar story arc winds down a little bit unsatisfactorily. The art is still fine—John Romita pencils this issue. But the story jumps awkwardly between plot points without any real sense of pacing; the Plunderer adapts a supervillain costume that isn’t as cool as the pirate duds he was using; and Ka-Zar spends the whole issue in jail.

I mean, yes, it’s Daredevil’s book, so it makes sense that he gets to do most of the heroic stuff. But Ka-Zar is pretty darn cool in his own right (8.2 on the Bogart/Karloff scale), so it’s a shame to have him in a story and not have him do ANYTHING. Gee whiz.

But in the end, Daredevil helps the army capture the Plunderer and his gang while Ka-Zar is proved innocent of the murder he was accused of last issue. Matt Murdock heads home for New York, where he can once again get into an awkward love triangle with Foggy and Karen.

And that’ll be it for Daredevil. His will be the first book we drop from these reviews.

Daredevil is an important addition to the Marvel Universe, but in those early years he seems to often be odd man out in terms of getting cool stories. There have been a few high points mixed in up till now, but he will pretty much muddle along for years without ever really being exceptional. Eventually, Frank Miller will make him popular by going all dark and gritty with him. I can’t object to this, because taken on their own merits those stories are of good quality. But, in my opinion, I always thought DD went a little too far down the “dark and gritty” path. Heck, the fact that it led to that awful Ben Affleck movie is proof enough of that. And I refuse to talk about what is eventually done to poor Karen Page. That was just wrong.

But for now, we’re going to leave DD behind to muddle his way through the rest of the 1960s and most of the ‘70s with mildly entertaining but unmemorable stories. He will forever be a great character who never quite seems to find the right voice.

X-MEN #18
Along the course of this issue, we discover that Magneto busted out of the Stranger’s museum planet by salvaging an old space ship (and contemptuously kicking poor Toad out of the hatch before taking off).

Now he’s planning on scanning the DNA of Warren’s parents and using that to grow an army of mutant slaves. That actually kinda makes sense in terms of comic book science. The Worthingtons already gave birth to a mutant, so their genetic make up should produce more mutants.

With most of the X-Men floating into airless space inside a balloon, only the injured Iceman (who was still in the hospital last issue) is around to fight the villain. But Bobby does a pretty good job of holding Magneto at bay while the rest of the team think their way out of their death trap. They then gang up on Magneto until Professor X projects an illusion of the Stranger coming back to re-capture the evil mutant. Magneto pretty much runs away screaming like a little girl. Professor X mind-wipes the Worthingtons so they just remember getting a good night’s sleep (Stan Lee STILL hasn’t worked out the ethics of mental powers, it seems) and everything ends happily.

Which makes this a good place to leave off with the X-Men, I think. Stan will script one more issue, then Roy Thomas will take over. The book will remain solidly entertaining, but it never gets to be a really big seller during the 1960s and early 70s. In fact, if I remember correctly, for some years it will simply be reprinting early stories.

But then, in 1975, Len Wein and Dave Cockrum will introduce a new generation of X-Men and suddenly mutants will be the most popular thing in the Marvel Universe. We’ll eventually look at some of those storylines, as the book (done regularly by Chris Claremont and John Byrne) was quite excellent and the new X-Men were vibrant additions to the Marvel Universe. But eventually, their very popularity will hurt the quality of X-Men stories, with too many different X-titles, Wolverine’s healing power amped up to absurd levels (to the point where he wasn’t cool anymore, just silly) and the angst and tragedy taken too far over the top.

But let’s not end on a downer note. In 1966, the X-Men were pretty cool. In 1975, they’d get even cooler and stay that way for a number of years. That’s not a bad record.

So, as we leave Daredevil and the X-Men behind for now, we look forward to our visits next week with Thor, Namor, Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man.

History of the Marvel Universe: February 1966, Part 2

STRANGE TALES #141

It’s a good thing comic book characters don’t usually know they are comic book characters. The good guys, at least, would probably go nuts knowing that no villain or villainous organization is ever eliminated completely.


SHIELD mops up Hydra in this issue, with the Hydra leader getting offed by his own men before he can press the self-destruct button. But Hydra isn’t gone for good. It’ll be back again. And again. And again….


Anyway, Nick also lets the leader’s daughter escape as thanks for her help. Then, without time to take a breath, he plunges into another adventure. On a trip to SHIELD’s new ESP division, he finds out a former agent with Esper abilities has gone rogue. A lot of this issue also involves an intricate jail break by a criminal inventive genius called the Fixer. The Fixer and the rogue esper (who will take the name Mentallo next issue) will be teaming up for the next story line. It’s a neat paring—the technical guy and the psychic guy. Plus, Jack Kirby really seems to have a ball taking us step-by-step through the Fixer’s prison escape using various gadgets he had built from spare parts. (Note to all wardens: For heaven sake, stop letting super-villains work in the prison machine shop!.)


Off in another dimension, Dormammu is ticked off at Mordo for interfering in the big D’s one-on-one fight against Dr. Strange. So Mordo is banished into the Dimension of Demons (which does not sound like a good thing), while Strange recovers and goads Dormammu into continuing the fight.

Playing on the powerful villain’s ego, Dr. Strange manages to outfight him and win the bout. Dormammu is forced to promise never to endanger Earth. He does get some petty revenge by banishing Clea (who is still unnamed—gee whiz, Stan, give the girl a break) to an unknown dimension.

Strange and the now healthy Ancient One return to Earth. But when Strange gets home, he’s unaware that Mordo’s minions have planted a bomb. He’s got the house rigged to detect magical threats, but something more mundane passes unnoticed. Tick, tick, tick…

This pretty much brings an exciting story arc to an end. It is, in my opinion, the best arc Dr. Strange has ever had—culminating in a multi-issue magical wrestling match that showcases Ditko’s unique and often stunning art style. Stan Lee will be writing just one more issue before passing the reins for this book onto others—most notably Roy Thomas. Dr. Strange will always be a cool character and he’ll still be in some strong stories, but we’ve finished up what I believe to be for him the best of the best.

DAREDEVIL #13

Jack Kirby continues to supply the layouts for John Romita’s pencils as this fast-moving story continues. It’s another case where so much happens, it’s difficult to summarize briefly.

But by the end of the issue, Plunder has captured both Ka-Zar and Daredevil and brought them back to his castle in England. Ka-Zar is his long-lost brother and both of them have half of a medallion. This medallion is of a rare metal discovered by their dad that reflects energy and causes surrounding matter to disintegrate.

It’s unnamed here, but this is (I believe) the first appearance of Vibrinium in the Marvel Universe. It’s something that’s destined to become the Macguffin in countless stories.

Well, everyone pretty much has a chance to fight everyone else before the issue is over. Ka-Zar and DD get loose, but they are pursued both by spies who want the medallion and the local cops (Plunder has accused them of murder). The two heroes are being knocked for a loop by a rifle grenade in the last panel.

The art looks great and, as I mentioned last time, Kirby’s return to the book (along with Romita’s skilled pencils) seems to have reinvigorated the title. This is really exciting stuff.

There’s one some continuity error. At the beginning of the issue, Daredevil has lost his powers due to an explosion while Ka-Zar is out looking for healing herbs. Both men are captured before Ka-Zar can give the herbs to Daredevil. Later, when DD’s powers are returning, he mentally credits the herbs—despite Ka-Zar never having had a chance to give them to him.

Oh, well. It’s hardly a story-wrecking error. But it’s fun to take note of it.

X-MEN #17

Iceman, injured in the fight with the Sentinals, is in a coma. The other X-Men are getting minor injuries patched up when the Angel learns his parents are coming to the school for a visit. He flies back there to meet them, only to be captured by an unseen intruder.

Scott and Xavier head back to the school when they don’t hear from Warren—only to get captured.

Jean and Hank head back to the school when they don’t hear from Scott and the professor—only to get captured. All the prisoners are loaded into a big balloon and turned lose to drift to the upper atmosphere.

The captor turns out to be Magneto. His return is nicely times. There had been a danger of overusing him early in the book’s run, but exiling him to deep space six issues back gave us a needed break. His return is appropriately dramatic and well-handled.

Next week, we’ll see Thor enter HIS best story ever. We’ll also visit, as usual, with Namor, Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America.

History of the Marvel Universe: December 1965, part 2

STRANGE TALES #139

With the help of Hydra Leader’s estranged daughter and a shirt with high explosives woven into the fabric, Nick blasts out of the cell he’s locked in. He and the girl, both now armed with submachine guns taken from downed guards, begin blasting it out with Hydra troopers.


In the meantime, Tony Stark is putting the finishing touches on his Braino-saur, which turns out to be a rocket-equipped computer able to disarm the Hydra bomb currently in orbit around the Earth.


While all this is going on, Gabe and Dum Dum figure out where the Hydra base is and lead a strike force to attack. But will they arrive in time to save Nick and the girl?


The 12-page tale does a very good job of jumping back and forth between multiple points-of-view without losing track of the story. And we get to see more Kirby-designed gadgetry, though the “mechanical hunter” that Hydra sends after Nick isn’t as cool looking as most of Jack’s visuals usually are. Not that it’s bad. It just manages to leave the impression that maybe Jack wasn’t spending as much time on this book as he is on FF or Thor. Most Kirby machines rate a 9 or 10 on the Bogart/Karloff Pure Coolness Scale™. This one was maybe a 7.


James Bond influences remain apparent. Hydra Leader keeps a panther on a leash next to him pretty much all the time—that’s a touch that would fit the average Bond villain to a tee. And we got a Q-inspired scene a few issues back, in which Nick is shown how his explosive clothing works, that pays off this issue.


Dr. Strange’s story is a particularly good one—the first of several issues that will feature non-stop magical battling. In this one, Strange and Mordo duel. Mordo’s power is still being amped up by Dormammu, but Strange out-fights him, playing off first Mordo’s overconfidence and then his innate cowardice. Finally, Dormammu gets disgusted with Mordo and—as the issue ends—decides to finally take a personal hand in the battle

Ditko’s art is still perfect for the story—presenting bizarre and fascinating visuals to represent the magic spells the two combatants toss at each other. This issue and the next two (which concludes this long story arc) are, in my opinion, the best in Dr. Strange’s canon.

DAREDEVIL #11

The uninteresting story of the Organizer and his attempt to gain political control of New York City is wrapped up as Daredevil exposes the scheme. There is a nicely choreographed fight scene between DD and the Organizer’s minions, but overall the story was awkwardly constructed and predictable.

The issue ends with Matt taking a leave of absence from the law firm. He’s convinced that Foggy and Karen are in love and doesn’t want to come between them. Ah, whatever. It will take Matt on a cruise ship and into a really cool two-part story arc.

X-MEN #15

This is pretty much an all-action issue, though we do get some information via flashback about Hank McCoy’s early life (made fun of because of his appearance, excelling at school academically and athletically, recruited by Professor X).

The X-Men assault the Sentinel HQ. Beast and Iceman are captured in the first attack, but Cyclops, Jean and Angel blast their way in during a second try. Iceman is busted out of his prison while Beast is being mind-probed. The heroes manage to trash a couple of Sentinels, but all are captured (or re-captured, as the case may be). Master Mold, the prototype Sentinel, then tells Dr. Trask to build an army of Sentinels so they can “serve mankind” by conquering it. Boy, is Trask’s face red as he realizes how badly he’s screwed up, but he’s got no choice but to obey Master Mold.

Good solid action that works well as the middle chapter in the Sentinel trilogy.

That’s it for now. We’ll finish December next week with looks at Thor, Hulk, Sub Mariner, Iron Man and Captain America.

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: 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.