STRANGE TALES 148
cover by BILL EVERETT
Synopsis:
Dugan is desperate and shattered when he thinks Fury is killed in a fire-bombing attack by A.I.M., only to discover it was a Life Model Decoy that got "killed". But the A.I.M. prisoners he wanted interrogated were killed, which frustrates Fury-- who, along with Dum Dum & Jasper, realize their movements are under video-surveillance by the enemy! Meanwhile, Count Royale and his A.I.M. cohorts are amazed at how advanced & convincing SHIELD's L.M.D.s are, far more advanced than their own chemical androids, and determine to steal one. Fury gets angrier by the minute, and chews out a scientist testing a "tri-di-roentgen hand gun" (capable of making any object transparent), and Jasper, who blew a hole in the ceiling of his cabin trying to find a security gap. Fury realizes he's stepped on a lot of V.I.P.'s toes, but determines he'll play this game his own way. While Fury submits to a "trial", at which Jasper gives the most damning "evidence", a squad of A.I.M. men break into SHIELD's underground base to steal an L.M.D. Just as Royale realizes Fury knew about the surveillance cameras, Fury stuns the crowd by shattering a viewport and leaping thru it to his apparent death! But he parachutes to safety, and is met on the ground by Dugan-- ready to take on A.I.M....
Indexer notes:
Part 4 of 5. 2nd Jack Kirby-dialogued Marvel Comic of the 1960's. The pen-radio Fury uses is similar to the one regularly used by agents on THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. tv series. This is the 2nd time Fury smashed a glass viewport on the Heli-Carrier, the 1st time being in STRANGE TALES #135 (August 1965).
(8-7-2007)
"DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!"
As the forces of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), who, it turns out, are in fact a part of "Them" (whoever they are) continue their efforts to discredit-- and kill-- NICK FURY, the SHIELD ramrod and his men strike back in their own way. JACK KIRBY supplies story, layouts &, for once, HIS OWN DAMN DIALOGUE (although thanks to the credits, it made it seem like this was the only time he did the story, instead of having written every single episode up to this point). Don Heck does pencils AND inks, making this one of the roughest-looking installments yet. This is a tragedy, as, to me, Don Heck's best feature is his visual storytelling, the one thing he wasn't able to do here, and his worst is his inks. The NICK FURY series deserved far better than this, but thanks to the way the work was distributed, the entire JACK KIRBY run of the series has often been dismissed in comparison to the later episodes, which, while flashier, were nowhere near as well-written.
(4-8-2014)
"THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT ONE"
Synopsis:
The Ancient One tells Strange of events far in the past that took place in Kamar-Taj, "a hidden land high in the Himalayas". Both he & Kaluu were born there, but while Strange's mentor wanted to use magic only for the benfit of the people, Kaluu dreamed of making Kamar-Taj the center of a vast empire. Via magical "psychic hypnosis", Kaluu slowly gained control over his own people, imprisoned his once-friend, and invaded, conquered & enslaved neighboring lands. As conquerors, his own people became lazy, fat & indulgent, with no care for the welfare of others. Finally striking back with magic, The Ancient One inadvertently hurt his own people more than Kaluu, as pestilence & disease overran the country. Kaluu fled to another dimension "beyond the edge of the universe", while The Ancient One, unable to help his own people, left Kamar-Taj, swearing to use his magic to help others. Kaluu vowed to return & wreak vengeance "if it takes a thousand years". And now, after all that time, he approaches...
Indexer notes:
Part 2 of 22. Before its corruption, Kamar-Taj was remarkably similar to Shangri-La in the film LOST HORIZON (1937). This is fitting, considering Dr. Strange's resemblance to the film's star, Ronald Colman.
(8-7-2007)
"THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT ONE"
In retrospect, it annoys the hell out of me that BILL EVERETT was writing this series UNCREDITED while a no-talent hack like Denny O'Neil pretty much murdered Everett's stories with his over-written, dull-as-dirt dialogue. At least Everett's FULL ART looked nice, but if the thing becomes so difficult to read, it drags the whole work down.
(4-8-2014)
FANTASTIC FOUR 54
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
The Black Panther gives Johnny & Wyatt a bizarre flying vehicle as a gift, which they use to head for The Inhumans' city. En route, they discover, in the desert of Northern Africa, a long-buried tomb containing an ancient English knight of the middle ages, "Prester John", who arises from a highly-advanced piece of equipment that's kept him in suspended animation. He has a device which can used as a weapon known as "The Evil Eye", which Johnny believes may be able to break thru the "Negative Zone" surrounding The Inhumans' city, and in a fit, makes off with it, not realizing it's accidentally been set to self-destruct!
Apparently Prester John was yet another character intended to have his own series, but, like The Inhumans and The Black Panther, was introduced in this book instead. But unlike the others, he vanished without a trace after this one episode, giving one the feeling that an intended multi-parter was somehow cut off in mid-story. In fact, Prester John did not appear again until THE DEFENDERS #11 (Dec'73), at the very end of the long, meandering "Avengers-Defenders Clash", which centered around a quest for The Evil Eye. Crazy.
JACK KIRBY supplies characters, story & art; ye "editor" does dialogue, and JOE SINNOTT continues to do absolutely stunning inks.
(4-8-2014)
TALES TO ASTONISH 83
cover by Jack Kirby & Bill Everett
Namor catches up with Warlord Krang, and the two have it out, super-powered muscle-bound strength versus high-tech weaponry. (I ask, does that seem fair?) Meanwhile, "Number One" of The Secret Empire observes the battle from a discreet distance, until Namor is hit by some kind of energy ray that knocks him right out of the sky. On awakening, he's lost all memory of who he is (OH NO, not the "amnesia" card!!!), and the red-robed rotten egg wastes no time telling him he's got a mission-- find, and kill, The HULK! Can you say, "crossover"??
JACK KIRBY supplies story & art, once again filling in for Gene Colan, who caught the flu the month before, while ye "editor" does dialogue & Dick Ayers does inks. One of the strangest things about this episode is that Kirby completely disregarded the "flagship" Krang had been racing around in for months now, and gave him an entirely different one (while the dialogue "explains" it had the ability to re-configure itself-- OH REALLY?????).
"LESS THAN MONSTER, MORE THAN MAN"
Betty Ross slowly coming to terms with the fact that her boyfriend is really THE HULK, who, by this time, has become SO dumb, SO stupid, SO lacking in mental capacity (hey, this could go on for awhile), that simply trying to communicate with him has become increasingly difficult. But, by story's end, he's sent Boomerang packing, and returned Betty to her father, who STILL sees the Hulk as a menace to be destroyed. While this is going on, one by one, the leaders of The Secret Empire are being bumped off by "Number Nine", who apparently wants to become the new "Number One".
JACK KIRBY supplies story & layouts, ye "editor" does dialogue, and BILL EVERETT does his final turn on pencils & inks. These are a blast, I can only imagine how much better they might have been if Kirby had been allowed to write his own dialogue. You've got inter-related plot-lines running thru 5 different series at the same time now!! And some people actually think Kirby never wrote any of his own stories until he started the "Fourth World".
(4-8-2014)
MARVEL SUPER-HEROES 38
There's a couple of slight differences in the faces between the original and the early-70's reprint. Which raises the question, is the reprint showing the art BEFORE it was altered on the original? It turns out that kind of thing happened quite a lot.
That could be a John Romita or Marie Severin face on the original, trying to make Ross look less like a stark raving madman.
MORE deceptive credits. When it says "Script", it doesn't say that "script" was written AFTER the story and art were already turned in. As usual at this point, JACK KIRBY wrote this story!
Meanwhile, the reprint quality is so bad, much of Bill Everett's fine line-work is getting blurry and lost.
The mystery of Number Nine continues. Apparently, he's just bumped off Numbers 2-8 (not counting 5, who was bumped off the previous month).
The crazy thing is... to find out what the HELL is going on... you won't find out reading the next month's ASTONISH issue. No! Instead-- you have to read STRANGE TALES!!!
(That sneaky Kirby...)
(12-7-13)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 40
cover by John Romita & Mike Esposito
TALES OF SUSPENSE 81
cover by Gene Colan & Jack Abel
As Tony Stark flies to Washington, DC, to face the Senate sub-committee, who have demanded he turn over the secrets of Iron Man's armor to the military (why this should INCLUDE revealing Iron Man's secret identity is completely beyond me), behind the Iron Curtain, those ROTTEN, EVIL COMMIE BASTARDS have decided to give Shellhead's big green counterpart a 2nd chance. Somehow, he's become bigger than before, though his armor is sleeker (an evolution that follows the tradition of Iron Man's armor), and, loading him into an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, they fire him at Washington. High above the city, the two MEET! As one might expect, "to be continued". GENE COLAN supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and JACK ABEL does his final inks on the series (awwww). It always bugs me when they change the creative line-up in the middle of a story. Ever notice Gene really has a thing for "giant-size" bad guys?
"THE RED SKULL SUPREME!"
The ultimate Nazi has gotten his hands on THE COSMIC CUBE, and there's nothing, NOTHING, I say, that can stop him!!! BWA-HAHAHA!!!! ...except, maybe, his own over-inflated ego and arrogance and hatred and (hey, this could go on for awhile). CAPTAIN AMERICA has to tackle the guy one-on-one, and manages to use trickery as well as strength & prowess to turn things around. As the tiny island they're on disintegrates just like the one at the end of "The Mysterious Island", The Cube gets lost in the ocean, and The Skull, searching for it, sinks to the bottom due to the heavy suit of armor he fashioned for himself. "OOPS!!!" Of course, we know he'll return... eventually. JACK KIRBY supplies story & art, ye "editor" does dialogue, and Frank Giacoia does fabulous inks. (There's probaby some Joe Giella in there as well, which makes me wish I'd been taking more notes when I re-read these things.)
(4-8-2014)
"THE RED SKULL SUPREME!"
Synopsis:
Cap fights a seemingly-hopeless battle against The Skull, who, armed with The Cosmic Cube, can do anything he wishes merely by thinking it! The Skull envisions instantly making everyone on the planet his slaves-- turning every able-bodied man into a fighting machine-- creating "new, invincible weapons-- in endless number, with matchless power"-- and eventually leaving Earth to create an intergalactic empire, extending to "the furthest reaches of space". Cap only turns the tables by pretending to grovel, and becoming the Skull's servant. Mad with power, The Skull envisions a new group of "knights of the round table", and fashions a suit of armor made of solid gold. At which point Cap wrestles with him, trying to knock the Cube from his grip. At his thought, the island they're on breaks up and sinks into the ocean. Cap knocks the Cube into the water, and The Skull dives in after it-- before he realizes what he's done, as the weight of the armor drags him down to the bottom. The Cube becomes buried in the deep, as Cap hopes it will be lost forever.
Indexer notes:
Part 3 of 3. The Red Skull would return, with the Cosmic Cube, in TALES OF SUSPENSE #89 (May 1967).
(2007)
THOR 132
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Thor, battling to Rigel, is diverted by the menace of Ego."
Remember when this series started, and Jack Kirby would alternate between science-fiction, red menace and Asgardian stories? Well, Commies may have reduced in frequency, but for the first time in quite awhile, THOR is definitely tackling a sci-fi menace. And I mean, REALLY "sci-fi"-- as he's out in deep space, trying to stop an alien race from claiming the entire planet Earth as their own. And while he's at it, it turns out they're facing a menace of their own, which-- how convenient-- THOR may turn out to be the only one who can save THEM!
And meanwhile, even as the plot-line for "Tana Nile" and the Colonizers was introduced while the previous story was still going on (in classic "soap-opera" tradition), the NEXT storyline begins to work its way in while this one is going strong.
JACK KIRBY supplies mind-boggling story & eye-popping art; ye "editor" fills word balloons, and Vince "You've got to be F***ing kidding me!" Colletta does inks.
"THE DARK HORSE OF DEATH!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Thor and companions rest after defeating Harokin's Hordes. Harokin, mortally wounded, waits for the Black Stallion of Doom."
Harokin, who bears such a strong physical resemblance to Thor (except for the hair color), is dying, and although he was their enemy, Thor and his companions honor him as a great warrior.
JACK KIRBY supplies story & art on this latest instalment of "Tales Of Asgard". Ye "editor" does dialogue, and Vince "I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse" Colletta does inks.
(4-6-2014)
THE AVENGERS 32
cover by DON HECK
This introduces a whole new group of baddies, The Sons Of The Serpent. Like the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi Party, their thing is inciting RACE HATRED among people. One of their victims is Bill Foster, a scientist who's helping Hank Pym try to "fix" his problem of being stuck at ten feet tall. Foster, years later, would become BLACK GOLIATH!
DON HECK supplies story & FULL art, while ye "editor" does dialogue. As Jack Kirby was no longer doing the covers, I have to wonder who came up with this story originally. I also have to wonder, did Don Heck return to inking his own pencils because he needed the work, and wanted to do it, or because Frank Giacoia was becoming TOO over-extended elsewhere? (The fact that Giacoia BLEW a deadline the very next month would suggest that could have been a factor.) This is the point where I started to lose interest in this book, as I've never been that crazy about Heck's inks, especially on a superhero series. He did okay on IRON MAN, but here, it's some of the ROUGHEST, CRUDEST, UGLIEST inks I've ever seen in all of 60's Marvel. I'm sure I would have enjoyed these issues more if they'd at least had a more "polished" look.
(4-8-2014)
SGT. FURY & HIS HOWLING RECRUITS 34
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
"THE ORIGIN OF THE HOWLERS!"
Roy Thomas & Dick Ayers supply story & art, though who did how much of what is up for debate. John Tartaglione supplies the bullets --err, inks.
(4-8-2014)
DAREDEVIL 20
cover by Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia
Matt Murdock is kidnapped by D.D.'s old enemy, The Owl, and taken to an island where he's to take part in a mock trial of the judge who sentenced the guy to prison. Gee, doesn't ANYBODY actually serve believable jail terms in the Marvel Universe? In what must stretch credibility totally beyond any hope of belief, he sneaks off and returns as hornhead, and somehow, NOBODY figures out they're the SAME guy. Right!
D.D. begins a whole new era here (WHAT, ANOTHER ONE?). It seems John Romita was off doing this year's SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL and a "fill-in" was needed. YEAH, RIGHT. In comes GENE COLAN, supplying story & art on his first of COUNTLESS issues of this book, that became his "signature" character!!! Ye "editor" does dialogue, while Frank Giacoia does inks. From here on out, D.D. became a series far more known for its gorgeous, stunning, spectacular and moody artwork, and less for its writing. At least Gene tended to have a sense of humor. Let's face it-- DAREDEVIL works best when he's Marvel's answer to THE FLASH, not BATMAN, as far as the tone of the stories, and the sheer wackiness of the bad guys goes.
(4-8-2014)
X-MEN 24
cover by Werner Roth & Dick Ayers
Jean Grey has been yanked out of Xavier's school by her parents, and sent to a "normal" college (does this actually make any sense at all?). And meanwhile, yet another misguided scientist turns supervillain, in a rather disappointing episode. Oh well, can't win 'em all. Roy Thomas supplies story, Werner Roth the pretty pictures, and Dick Ayers does inks. It may be dull, but at least it looks nice.
(4-8-2014)
(Continued in October 1966)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
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