STRANGE TALES 150
cover by BILL EVERETT
The 3rd act of the massive "Hydra Trilogy" (my name for it) begins with a literal BANG.
Synopsis:
Fury subjects himself to a highly-dangerous test in order to prove that an atomic missile can be detonated long-distance by a sonic weapon-- which SHIELD believes HYDRA has their hands on. While both he & Dugan are recovering from injuries, he looks into a mysterious Mexican millionaire, "Don Cabellero", who, on the urging of an undercover SHIELD man, invites Fury to a grand party he's holding in the ancient ruins of Karnopolis, in the Sahara Desert. Caballero is merely a disguise for the new Supreme Hydra, who knew the man who made the suggestion was a spy all along. Senator Dudley, who earlier appeared to know nothing about HYDRA, later turns out to have helped Fury in setting up the meeting. After surprising Sitwell with the news that he is going, Fury then puts Sitwell in command while he's gone. Just then, a sonic boom shakes the HQ, as the "Overkill Horn" is being tested.
Part 1 of 9. 1st appearance of the "new" Supreme Hydra, later revealed to have been its real leader all along, behind-the-scenes. In this episode, Jasper Sitwell is a dead ringer for Roy Thomas!
JACK KIRBY supplies story & layouts, JOHN BUSCEMA actually ERASED the layouts before he did his pencils ("I can't work this way!", he said), and Frank Giacoia does inks. After goofing off for 2 months, ye "editor" finally returns to fill in the word balloons (while still claiming the whole idea was his-- what a sleazebag).
"THE CONQUEST OF KALUU!"
Synopsis:
Kaluu realizes the 2 burning candles indicate his enemies have escaped into the past. A shield prevents him from blowing them out. Strange & his mentor travel back to ancient Babylonia, where The Ancient One must once again defeat a griffin to obtain The Book Of The Vishanti. Just before Kaluu can extinguish the Flames of the Faltine, Strange returns to the present with the mystic book. When Kaluu attempts to freeze Strange permanently in suspended animation, the book itself hurls the spell back at him, ending 5 centuries of questing for vengeance. The Ancient One hurls Kaluu into Limbo "till the end of time". Meanwhile, in The Dark Dimension, Clea grows fearful, as the absence of The Dread Dormammu has allowed The Mindless Ones to break free of his prison. But before they can destroy all in their path, another former prisoner of The Dread One is released-- Umar The Unrelenting-- Dormammu's sister! His mantle of supremacy passes to her, and she vows his deeds shall pale beside hers.
Part 4 of 22. 1st appearance of Umar. Candles used in time-travel previously used in STRANGE TALES #124 (September 1964). Due to the growing use of "soap-opera" format, Kaluu's story runs straight into Umar's without a break between episodes. It seems quite ironic that Kaluu was described as being more powerful than Strange & his mentor together, yet with this episode he vanished, never to return; while Umar became a long-running villain still appearing to this day.
BILL EVERETT supplies story & full art, while Roy Thomas does dialogue.
(4-21-2014)
FANTASTIC FOUR 56
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
Johnny & Wyatt have hooked up with Lockjaw, whose dimensional-hopping power they hope may allow them to get inside the "Negative Zone" barrier surrounding the city of the Inhumans and free Crystal, as well as the rest of its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Reed & Ben find themselves trapped by another impenetrable barrier-- this one created out of pure sound waves, generated by KLAW, The Black Panther's arch-enemy, who has actually been transformed into a being of pure sound! As he threatens Sue, Reed manages to find a way to have Ben break thru the barrier, and once he recovers, he goes on to tackle the baddie. This issue contains one of my favorite exchanges of dialogue in the entire series...
"If you think that nutty oversized KAZOO is gonna stop me--!"
"It HAS to stop you! It can stop a herd of BUFFALO! It can fell the tallest REDWOOD! It's the concentrated, solidified, converted energy of pure SOUND!"
"Yeah? I'll try'n REMEMBER that-- while I'm CLOBBERIN' ya!"
JACK KIRBY supplies story & art; ye "editor" does dialogue; and JOE SINNOTT does the usual stunning ink job. This episode was actually picked for the pilot of the 1967 Hanna-Barbera FANTASTIC FOUR cartoon show (although it wound up getting run midway thru the season).
(4-21-2014)
FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL 4
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
That twelve-time loser, The Mad Thinker, in his unrelenting determination to bring down Reed Richards (professional and intellectual jealousy, no doubt), has built a thinking computer with a serious case of low-self-esteem named "Quasimodo" (you can imagine why). He's also located the original HUMAN TORCH, who's been deactivated since the early 1950s, and done his best to re-program him to follow his orders and attack and kill The F.F. Taking a break from their journies (as Lockjaw has taken Johnny & Wyatt everywhere but the Hidden Land-- including, The Baxter Building), Johnny finds himself in a one-on-one knock-down drag-out with his earlier counterpart. It all ends tragically, as the android Torch is "killed" once again (and despite his big brain, Reed doesn't even suggest he might be able to fix the guy), The Thinker escapes scot free (a serious recurring problem in the Marvel Universe), and Quasimodo is left behind to suffer in solitude.
JACK KIRBY supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and JOE SINNOTT knocks yer eyes out with his inks. I've read there was some behind-the-scenes drama going on involving this story, as the Torch's creator, Carl Burgos, was apparently really angry at publisher Martin Goodman for "stealing" his creation. This raised the possibility that doing a story about the android Torch may have been on the orders of Goodman-- or the "editor"-- in the first place. In any case, it does seem an example of the kind of contempt shown by certain people in charge for stories and characters that came out before FF #1.
(4-21-2014)
TALES TO ASTONISH 85
cover by Jack Kirby & Bill Everett
One of the funniest things I ever saw in HULK (if you think about it) was... Rick Jones needs to get to NYC, doesn't have cash, so takes a job driving a guy's car from Florida to NYC. Upon arrival, he finds The Hulk. Moments later, down in Florida, the FEDS break into the home of the guy who hired Rick-- who's a Commie spy. But before they haul his RED A** outta there, he activates a radio device... and up in NYC, the trunk of the car opens, and a ROBOT, stored inside the trunk, EXPANDS to its full size, CRUSHING the entire car as it does under its weight.
Now... HOW the hell did it do that, when the car was able to supports its weight when the entire machine was INSIDE the trunk? It's just one of those things you're not supposed to think about.
The robot's function, oddly enough, is mostly to act as a local guidance-system jamming device. Hmm. At that moment, the army is testing Bruce Banner's ORION MISSILE (remember that thing???). Just before Hulk destroys the robot, it diverts the ORION's course, sending it straight for Manhattan! With only minutes before it obliterates the entire city, HULK leaps ito the air to stop it.
Only... once he grabs it in mid-air, he FORGET why he jumped. And then... he turns back into Bruce Banner. So you've got this skinny little scientist holding on for dear life to a speeding missle, moments before it's about to wipe out a major city. NOW WHAT?
I just wrote the above sypnopsis WITHOUT looking up the comic. Ain't that something? This was John Buscema's very 1st work for Marvel in the 60's. I'm presuming that-- possibly-- Jack Kirby at least DESCRIBED to his editor where the story was going. (The robot-in-the-trunk thing sounds like the kind of goofy stunt Kirby would pull and make you BELIEVE it.)
What bugs me is, according to various interviews, it seems "ye editor" was NOT THRILLED with Buscema's work on this episode. Not thrilled to the point where, to "teach him the Marvel Method", he assigned Buscema to do the next NICK FURY episode in STRANGE TALES #150. The one that started the 3rd act of the 3-act "HYDRA" epic.
Buscema was so put off and offended by this assignment, that he ERASED all of Kirby's layouts before re-pencilling everything from scratch, his own way. I'm guessing only the panel breakdowns and possibly story notes were left. "Ye editor" was MORE pleased with this, and allegedly liked Buscema's 2nd & 3rd HULK episodes much more. But Buscema only did 3, and NEVER worked on the series again after that.
(12-9-13)
"--AND ONE SHALL DIE!"
SUB-MARINER, with his memory restored, ignores the radio-orders of The Secret Empire's sole surviving member, "Number One", who is forced to set a bomb to kill the Hulk himself. But as some uncanny fate seems to lead Greenskin to his hiding place, the baddie accidentally catches his robe in a slamming door, and is BLOWN TO BITS. Hulk barely notices. And so, another would-be power-mad baddie bites the dust, in total anonymity. GENE COLAN supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and-- incredibly-- BILL EVERETT returns to the character he created decades before, but only doing inks. OH, the ignominity of it!!
"THE MISSILE AND THE MONSTER!"
As HULK is on the loose in NYC, Rick Jones takes a job driving a car to the city from Florida, unaware a Commie spy has hired him. For, in the trunk is a robot, which, on activation, sends a tracking signal to a missile being tested by the Army. Ironically, it's a design of Bruce Banner's! Rick, finding his friend, directs him to stop the missile, but on reaching it, he abruptly turns back into Bruce Banner, who finds himself clinging helplessly to the side of a missile speeding to destroy all of Manhattan. YIKES!
JOHN BUSCEMA returns to Marvel after many years, and this was his 1st assignment-- finishing off the storyline JACK KIRBY had spent so many months working on. Ye "editor", who did dialogue (while claiming credit AND PAY for the story) said he was so disappointed with Buscema's work (J.B. did NOT want to have to write stories himself, from scratch), and assigned him to do STRANGE TALES #150 immediately after this, allegedly, to pick up on how Kirby laid out "his" stories. YEAH RIGHT. John Tartaglione did inks. Oh well, at least he didn't murder Buscema's pencils. Part 1 of 3.
(4-21-2014)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 42
cover by JOHN ROMITA
TALES OF SUSPENSE 83
cover by Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia
Shellhead DEFEATS the collossal menace of The Titanium Man, shaming him in front of all the world. Escaping in disgrace, the power in his suit gives out just as he reaches the Soviet submarine, which dives before rescuing him, as there is no room for failure in their world. GENE COLAN supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and Frank Giacoia does inks. Part 3 of 3.
"ENTER... THE TUMBLER!"
A new acrobatic baddie decides to invade Avengers Mansion and take on CAPTAIN AMERICA, not realizing he's actually fighting The Adaptoid android instead, who's impersonating Cap. He wins, but then the real Cap gets loose and clobbers him without much effort. Pretending to be deactivated, the android ponders its next move. JACK KIRBY supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and Dick Ayers does inks. Part 2 of 3.
(4-21-2014)
THOR 134
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Thor returns to earth and finds Jane Foster at the High Evolutionary's Wundagore."
The above barely scratches the surface. Let's see, in the early days, THOR's adventures rotated between sci-fi, Commies, and "Loki". Slowly, the Cold War has been faded out of most Marvels. And since JIM #124 (Jan'66), Loki's been in cold storage-- literally! So, the sci-fi continues.
In this case, we get to see a tribute to H.G. Wells' "THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU", the story about a scientist who removed himself from civilization so that he could focus on his research into genetics without interference. But here, we see a variation on that theme unlike anything Wells might have dreamed of! Instead of a a remote island in the Pacific, we have a futuristic laboratory built on the peak of a mountain somewhere in the Alps. This reminds me of when Harry Allan Towers decided to do a remake of Agatha Christie's "TEN LITTLE INDIANS". The original film version with Louis Hayward was set on an island. The remake with Hugh O'Brien was set on a mountain-top! That was released in June 1965, only a little over a year before this comic.
The scientist in this case has taken to calling himself "The High Evolutionary", and looks like he stepped out of a UFO. His creations-- animals advanced artificially via a ray machine (quite like the one seen in THE OUTER LIMITS episode "The Sixth Finger" (1963), with Edward Mulhare as the scientist, and David McCallum as the subject of his experiment) are referred to as "The New-Men". And like "Maria" in "THE SOUND OF MUSIC" (1965), Jane Foster has been recruited to act as a teacher for these intelligent creatures.
Of course, into any such story there's a problem, and in this case, it's "The Man-Beast", an advanced wolf who somehow has decided living in harmony with his fellow creatures is not something he's interested in.
JACK KIRBY supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and Vince "This is some crazy S***!" Colletta does inks. Part 1 of 2.
"WHEN SPEAKS THE DRAGON!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Thor and companions inspect Nastrond for Odin. Volstagg wanders off and finds Fafnir."
This would be a great issue for someone to come in on. Both the lead and back-up features begin new stories. In this case, it's Part 1 of 3 or a new "Tales Of Asgard" storyline. At the moment, however, I still don't have the original of this in my collection. I only have the lead story in MARVEL SPECTACULAR #5 (Jan'75), and the back-up in TALES OF ASGARD #1 (1984-- why the 2nd issue of that book wasn't number #2 is beyond me.)
JACK KIRBY supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and Vince "This just gets screwier all the time" Colletta does inks.
(4-20-2014)
THE AVENGERS 34
cover by DON HECK
The team tackles a new menace, one far more deadly and dangerous than usual. Making it worse is, the guy has developed an obsession with The Wasp, and wants her to be his, no matter what. DON HECK supplies story & full art, while ye "editor" does dialogue & takes credit & pay for the full story. As Don Heck also did the cover, it would appear HE created The Living Laser all on his own. The costume would seem to corroborate this, as it looks nothing like anything Jack Kirby would have come up with! Part 1 of 2.
(4-21-2014)
SGT. FURY & HIS HOWLING SQUADRON 36
cover by DICK AYERS
"MY BROTHER, MY ENEMY!"
DICK AYERS supplies story & art, Roy Thomas does dialogue & John Tartaglione does inks.
(4-21-2014)
DAREDEVIL 22
cover by Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia
The Masked Marauder & The Gladiator return and sic an android on D.D. GENE COLAN supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and Frank Giacoia & Dick Ayers do inks (I guess Frank blew another deadline). Part 1 of 2.
(4-21-2014)
X-MEN 26
cover by Werner Roth & Dick Ayers
The team defeats Kukulcan. Roy Thomas supplies story & dialogue, Werner Roth does pencils and Dick Ayers does inks. Part 2 of 2.
(4-21-2014)
(Continued in December 1966)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
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