June 1967

(Continued from May 1967)

THREE reviews so far this month!

STRANGE TALES  157
cover by JIM STERANKO

"CRISIS!"

Synopsis:
Strucker announces that the impregnable dome over Hydra Island will keep them safe from the "Death Spore" plague, and plans to use Fury's body as the basis for an army of HYDRA androids to "police" the world, once he's dead from the Alpha Ray beam.  But Fury escapes!  As SHIELD searches the Heli-Carrier for the bomb with no result, Fury, "playing it by ear", takes on one group of HYDRA thugs after another, until Strucker faces him one-on-one.  Thanks to his deadly "Satan Claw", Strucker gains the upper hand, and it looks like it might be the end...!

Indexer notes:
Part 8 of 9.  1st appearance of The Satan Claw.
     (8-15-07)

"THE END OF THE ANCIENT ONE!"

Synopsis:
In order to pass his powers onto his desciple, The Ancient One allows Zom to defeat him.  Before Strange's eyes, his mentor is fused with one of the giant rocks at Stonehenge, but not before he utters a warning.  A battle ensues, until Strange manages to rip the forelock of hair from Zom's head-- at which point, an aura of evil is unleashed, and Zom declares that all is lost!  From the horizon, a booming voice is heard, and Zom is banished.  Strange turns to behold the towering sight of The Living Tribunal-- who declares that because of Strange's actions, Earth must be "totally destroyed"!

Indexer notes:
Part 11 of 22; part 2 of Zom sequence.  1st appearance of The Living Tribunal.
     (8-15-07)


FANTASTIC FOUR  63
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott

TALES TO ASTONISH  92
cover by Don Heck & Dan Adkins

TALES TO ASTONISH #92-93  /  Jun-Jul’67 -- The real "new era" for HULK started in TTA #92, when Marie Severin took over the series.  She made the Hulk look almost handsome.  The stories could be exciting at times, but there was a same-ness, a repetitiveness that just wasn't there before.  For the next 15 STRAIGHT YEARS, under a variety of creative teams, it was the same thing, month after month, year after year.  Hulk vs. various monsters or super-villains, Hulk being chased by the army, Hulk lamenting, "Why won't puny humans leave Hulk alone?", and Bruce Banner being sidelined to the role of occasional non-entity, a pathetic shell of a man with no life other than being on the run, going from one dead-end job to another (on those occasions when he ever managed to find one), the occasional "cure" story thrown in, NONE of which ever went anywhere.

Frankly, "THE FUGITIVE" was a lot more satisfying, but they had the sense to END the story after 4 years.

Marie became the 1st person to write or draw the SURFER after Jack Kirby.  He came within ONE second of permanently curing Banner, before the green IDIOT attacked him again and made him change his mind.
    (12-11-2013)


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  49
cover by JOHN ROMITA

TALES OF SUSPENSE  90

cover by GIL KANE

THOR  141

cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta   (rejected)

cover by Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta & Frank Giacoia

THE AVENGERS  41

cover by John Buscema & George Roussos

SGT. FURY & HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS  43

cover by DICK AYERS

DAREDEVIL  29

cover by Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia

X-MEN  33

cover by Werner Roth & John Tartaglione  (rejected)

cover by Gil Kane   (rejected)

cover by Gil Kane   (w/ alterations by Werner Roth, Jhn Romita & Sol Brodsky)

GHOST RIDER  3

cover by DICK AYERS  (alterations by John Romita)

"CIRCUS OF FEAR"

from the GCD: "Synopsis: When the Barton Brothers Circus comes to Bison Bend the box office is robbed.  Sheriff Brooks accuses the Circus' cougar trainer (Adano Andriani, the infamous Cougar) of the theft.  The Ghost Rider frees him from jail to help find the real robber.  The robber turns out to be Adano's brother-in-law, but Sheriff Brooks still believes that the Ghost Rider is "up to no good."

The sheriff is AN ASSHOLE.  Stuff like that makes it difficult for me to put up with stories like this.

DICK AYERS supplied story & art, Gary Friedrich did dialogue, & Vince "Not another western!" Colletta did inks.  Again, once editor-in-training Roy Thomas got done with this series, it was already a lost cause before the first issue was even written.
    (3-15-2014)

(Continued in July 1967)

All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa