Professor H Reads Comics: May 1968

(Continued from April 1968)

STRANGE TALES 168
cover by DAN ADKINS

"EXILE!"

Synopsis:
Yandroth's shot sends Strange plunging into the abyss, but the Ancient One uses the "Trans-Hypnotic Jewel" to arrest his fall. Yandroth tells the terrified Victoria to run from the Behemoth, figuring it's better she die than him, but manages to down the creature anyway. Strange uses his Cloak of Levitation to grab Yandroth, but sees the Viking women about to kill Victoria. To save her, he releases his grip on Yandroth, sending him plummeting "endlessly" through the Dimension of Dreams, where he will eventually become nothing more than a dream himself. Banishing the phantoms, Strange whisks Victoria back to Earth at last, where the memory of her ordeal will soon fade. The Ancient One welcomes his desciple home and bids him to "take the rest you have well earned".

Indexer notes:
Part 22 of 22; part 5 of Yandroth sequence. Series continues next month in DR. STRANGE #169 (June 1968). Yandroth (or what remains of him) would return in MARVEL FEATURE #1 (December 1971).
(2007)

"TODAY EARTH DIED!"

Synopsis:
Having returned from Hyper-Space, Fury, in his office, dictates a letter to Jimmy Woo. He's unsure if The Claw, Suwan & Von Voltzmann, who all turned out to be robots, were the same ones Jimmy knew in the 50's or not ("But maybe not, who can say?"). As he drops off to sleep, he gets a message from Val about a UFO and takes off in her Jaguar XK-E. In the middle of Manhattan, a crowd of people and a TV news crew watch the arrival of a UFO, from which steps a beautiful, golden-skinned alien named Vaengr. He offers them "The Prism Of Miracles", which the elders of his people hope will "banish all hatred, crime, war and violence forever". Fury, Val & Dugan arrive, and go aboard his spaceship, but Val discovers Vaengr is not what he seems! Meanwhile, Jimmy receives Fury's message, which invites him to become a SHIELD agent. Aboard the alien ship, Fury is shocked as Val & Dugan are fried to ashes-- then, both he & Vanegr mutate into monstrous insect-like forms and do battle, while outside "greedy Earthlings" have turned on the Prism of Miracles-- really a "world-killing machine"-- as Vaengr reveals his race's purpose is to "destroy all life-- everywhere"! As Earth's complete destruction begins... Fury wakes from his nightmare. As he lights up a cigar, Dugan tells him of a report just in about a UFO...

Indexer notes:
A peaceful alien offering a gift pays tribute to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951), while an alien invasion which turns out to be a nightmare-- which starts all over again at the end of the story-- pays tribute to INVADERS FROM MARS (1953). Series continues in NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (June 1968).
(2007)

FANTASTIC FOUR 74
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott

"WHEN CALLS GALACTUS!"

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 60
cover by JOHN ROMITA

"O, BITTER VICTORY!"

IRON MAN 1
cover by Gene Colan & Mike Esposito

"ALONE AGAINST A.I.M.!"
"THE ORIGIN OF IRON MAN"

CAPTAIN AMERICA 101
cover by Jack Kirby & Syd Shores
(alterations by John Romita)

"WHEN WAKES THE SLEEPER!"

SUB-MARINER 1
cover by John Buscema & Sol Brodsky

"YEARS OF GLORY-- DAY OF DOOM!"

THE INCREDIBLE HULK 103
cover by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia

"AND NOW... THE SPACE PARASITE!"

This is the last consecutive story I've read to date, albeit in a 70's reprint. Nothing to brag about. Hulk fights some generic alien from space, who, I believe, tries to drain his "life-force", but fails. As with early-70's CAPTAIN AMERICA when you had Gary Friedrich & John Romita on the same book, the question is, and I think it's a legitimate question, WHO was writing the STORIES here? Friedrich, or Marie Severin? Mind you, once Marvel's "MY GOD I'M A GREAT WRITER!" Editor is out of the equation, I do think it's a safe bet that this was genuinely done "Marvel Style"-- Friedrich, rough story outline, Severin, fleshing out the story, Friedrich, dialogue which may or may not be coherent at all.
(12-16-2013)

CAPTAIN MARVEL 1
cover by Gene Colan & Vince Colletta

"OUT OF THE HOLOCAUST-- A HERO!"
(Thomas / Colan / Colletta)

Marvel found a different distributor, and was finally able to expand its line again in early 1968.   SUSPENSE became CAPTAIN AMERICA, ASTONISH became THE INCREDIBLE HULK and STRANGE TALES became DOCTOR STRANGE, while IRON MAN, SUB-MARINER and NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. were all spun off to their own # 1’s. As did CM, although the 3rd episode had been announced for MSH # 14, so it must have been a last-minute decision in this case. MSH became a SHOWCASE-like book for awhile, starring different characters in each issue. Meanwhile, CM # 1, like most of the above-mentioned titles, started out IN THE MIDDLE of an already-ongoing story. Geez.

Few inkers have caught more hell from fans in the long run than Vince Colletta, master of the thin-lined pen-stroke, the romance title and the deadline. Vince Colletta was popular with editors, because he NEVER blew a deadline in his career—no matter how many corners he had to cut or how much detail he had to leave out. When the Sub-Mariner series started in TALES TO ASTONISH, Colletta teamed with Colan, and it was less than impressive. Surprisingly, on CM, he was a serious IMPROVEMENT after Paul Reinman. And over 4 episodes, he did FAR better work over Colan than anything he’d done on Sub-Mariner!

The Sentry’s battle with Mar-Vell takes up the ENTIRE issue. It’s a shame Thomas’s scripting never gave any coherent, consistent or rational logic to its attack. As in the previous episode, the Uni-Beam is also referred to as a “wrist-lens”. Does this sound lie a tip of the at to the LENSMEN series? We learn Carol Danvers’ first name this time out, as Mar-Vell fights to save both their lives as well as the rest of the base. Let’s see, a member of a galactic military organization using a “lens” weapon and a woman at a air force base named Carol—wanna bet Roy was also a big GREEN LANTERN fan? Let’s not forget his uniform was green & white (as opposed to green & black). They do seem to be wearing their influences on their sleeve here…

Now TIED UP in her cabin, Una tries unsuccessfully to help Mar-Vell again, while pondering how the two of them have always seemed different from most Kree, to whom blind obedience to their superiors is as natural as breathing. Even Yon-Rogg considers his crew “slave-like”. At the climax, Mar-Vell succeeds in destroying The Sentry, and is looked on as a hero by the Earth military! How ironic, considering his mission was to enact retribution for its supposed earlier destruction! Yon-Rogg, who activated it in the first place, sees this as an opportunity to contact the home world and have Mar-Vell declared a traitor. However, it seems Ronan has been monitoring Yon-Rogg, and warns him that while they don’t care WHAT Yon-Rogg does to Mar-Vell, if he jeopardizes the mission one more time, he’ll have to face Ronan for it.

I got this issue, cheap, about 25 years back, for a measely $3.00 !
     (??-??-??)

THOR 152
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta