March 1963

(Continued from February 1963)

FANTASTIC FOUR  12
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Review  (coming soon)


TALES TO ASTONISH  41
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Review  (coming soon)


THE INCREDIBLE HULK  6
cover by STEVE DITKO

#6 is the infamous issue where Jack Kirby, in a rage of anger, walked out of his editor's office, and TORE an entire story he'd just finished writing & drawing IN HALF.  My guess is, he got tired of said "editor" second-guessing the direction of the book too much.  So, he WALKED. But #6, presumably, was already on the production schedule, and even if the book was cancelled on the spot, SOMETHING had to get to the printer's, or they'd be facing a STIFF penalty.

And so, STEVE DITKO was recruited to write & draw #6...

Sometime later, Ditko would do the same honors on the first 8 episodes of the series' revival in TALES TO ASTONISH.
    (3-4-2014)


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  1
cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

Review  (coming soon)


JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY  90
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"TRAPPED BY THE CARBON-COPY MAN!"

from the GCD: "Synopsis: The heir to the throne of a race of shape-shifting aliens leads an attack on Earth as his rite of passage. The aliens replace officials in New York and disrupt the government, but Thor discovers their plan and defeats them."

I was expecting "sci-fi" last time, but the "gangster" story pushed it back a month.  THIS is the first of 9 stories (not consecutive) NOT pencilled by Jack Kirby, and a run that most Marvel fans tend to totally diss EVEN MORE than the early THOR stories that were pencilled by Kirby.  I guess I can see the point, but I think some people just set the bar too high and expect every single issue to be top-top-notch.

AL HARTLEY, known mostly for humor & romance, does his only episode of THOR.  I'm afraid I know very little about his work, except that the ONE episode of IRON MAN where he filled in writing dialogue, his stuff was FUNNIER than "Ye editor's"!!  Larry Lieber did the dialogue here, and as usual, it's "serviceable", but nothing to brag about.

This leaves us with the eternal question... WHO REALLY wrote this story???  I know what it says in the credits, and that's why I totally discount the credits.  It seems to me this was still a bit early for the period where ALL the artists were expected to do their own stories, and while it's possible Al Hartley wrote this, the sci-fi elements suggest to me that JACK KIRBY, who did ALL the covers, was still hanging around supplying other people with stories.  Presumably he passed them on to his "editor", who passed them to the artists, and TOOK CREDIT AND PAY for them.

The theme of shape-shifting aliens replacing public officials is a popular one in science-fiction.  On DOCTOR WHO alone, I've seen it done in "Spearhead From Space", "Terror Of The Zygons", "The Android Invasion", "The Androids Of Tara", "Ressurection Of The Daleks", and more recently, "Aliens Of London".  There was also a LOST IN SPACE story that used the idea, "Target Earth".

As I said earlier, it seems about this time, Kirby was launching IRON MAN, coming up with the entire concept, design, characters, stories, and pencilling 3 full episodes, even though, oddly enough, the 1st one published wound up being illustrated by Don Heck.
    (1-26-2014)


STRANGE TALES  106
cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"THE THREAT OF THE TORRID TWOSOME"

Synopsis:
Johnny trains on the obstacle course designed for him by Reed.  Meanwhile, Carl Zante, "The world's greatest acrobat", visits Sue, looking for The Human Torch.  Johnny wonders how he knew, when Zante explains that "everyone" knows Johnny Storm is The Human Torch, and Sue tells him the people in Glenville left him alone because they figured he valued his privacy!  Zante tries to convince Johnny that he's the most valuable member of the Fantastic Four, but getting none of the "profits" from rewards (which tend to go into scientific research).  Johnny joins Zante in "The Torrid Twosome", a new crimefighting duo (complete with costumes), whose first case is to rescue someone trapped in a bank vault.  But it turns out, Zante only wanted Johnny to help him rob the bank!  With a little help from his partners, but mostly on his own, Johnny nabs Zante for the cops, then explains he suspected Zante, and just wanted to see what he was up to.

Indexer notes:
1st appearance of Carl Zante ("The World's Greatest Acrobat").  Zante would return in STRANGE TALES #114 (November 1963).  1st appearance of Johnny's obstacle training course.  Last story in which Johnny worries about having a "secret identity".
     (2007)


TALES OF SUSPENSE  39
cover by Jack Kirby & Don Heck

Review  (coming soon)

(Continued in April 1963)

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