FANTASTIC FOUR #14

“Sub-Mariner and the Merciless Puppet Master”
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Art Simek

IN A NUTSHELL
Newly released from the sanitorium, the Puppet Master controls Sub-Mariner, who kidnaps Sue, causing the others to run to her aid. They battle in Namor’s underwater lair, but when the Puppet Master realizes Namor is not attempting to kill the FF, he ups the pressure. Still, Namor won’t comply. Namor’s octopus attacks the Puppet Master’s ship, and the mind control is broken. Namor dismisses the FF when Sue reveals that though Namor fascinates her, her loyalties remain with Reed.

WHAT’S HOT
• Reed Richards has a fan club of swooning girls! (“That voice! Those eyes! Those shoulders! He’s TOO much!”)

• Torch creates a “warm air funnel” to suck everyone back to the Baxter Building. Almost as good as teleportation!

• Namor has an even greater arsenal of live aquatic weapons than the last time we saw him: the hypno-fish, dagger-needle coral, the flame-eater (for battling Torch), a mysterious plant which emits poisonous fumes, and the mento-fish, which can sense human thoughts and transmit them to any point on earth through mental electro waves.

• Reed’s super-stretchiness is generally looked upon as the most unimpressive of the FF powers, yet here, Namor reveals that he believes Reed is “the most coldly dangerous.” Great phrase! But I wonder what he means by it…

WHAT’S NOT
• Sue cyber-cheats on Reed with his “roving eye” TV apparatus. (I wonder how the FF legacy might have turned out, if the internet had been around in 1963?)

• Thinking they might not come back from this most dangerous mission, Reed plans to leave the key to their secret files with the police commissioner. What?? Way to increase the drama, or way to disappoint the readers with the possibility that our SUPER heroes are not really as super as we think?

• Ben takes Alicia with him on this dangerous mission because he can’t stand to see her cry. Not only that, the others anticipate his move and go along with it! You’d think she would at least have changed out of her dress and pumps before heading out on a hazardous undersea adventure!

• When Thing comments, “Well, it ain’t Saturday night but a little bath never hurt anybody!” it really makes me hope that after all their strenuous battling evil and saving the world, our heroes bathe more than once a week…

• The Cover. Nice butt-shot, Namor!

SOAP OPERA DEVELOPMENTS
This tale escapes the annals of forgetability only because it is yet another chapter in the ongoing love triangle between Sue, Reed and Namor.

Early in the story, Sue is approached by two opportunists: one wants to sign her up for a lifetime Hollywood contract, the other tries to get her to hawk deodorant in TV commercials. Well, that would not be a hard decision to make (and happily, Sue chooses neither) but in the end, Sue is no closer to deciding between Reed and Namor. Yes, she leaves Namor with a heartfelt, “I pray that someday you will lose the bitterness from your heart, and that you might become—our friend!” (Aaargh! The dreaded “Let’s be friends!”) yet still, she will not commit her heart to Reed.

We get a brief glimpse into Reed’s emotional landscape and learn that he is distraught because despite all his wonderful scientific achievements, he is still unable to completely conquer the heart of the girl he loves. But you know what? It might not always be that way. One of those honeys in his fan club could someday prove too alluring, too appealing. Don’t wait this one out, Sue! Take my advice and grab a good thing, while you can!

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #92

“The Day Loki Stole Thor’s Magic Hammer”
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Robert Bernstein
Art: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Martin Epp

IN A NUTSHELL
From his Asgardian imprisonment, Loki causes the uru metal in his chains to attract Thor’s hammer “with irresistible magnetism!” Then Loki causes Thor to summon Odin, who lifts Thor back to Asgard to search for Mjolnir. Loki battles Thor with enchanted trees and phantom dragons, but each time Thor constructs a hammer to defend himself. When Thor fashions a hammer from uru metal, it is irresistibly drawn to Mjolnir. Reunited with his hammer, Thor notifies Heimdall, and Loki is once again imprisoned.

WHAT’S HOT
• When Thor participates in the filming of a Viking movie, he donates his proceeds to charity. What a swell guy!

• Heimdall, the powerful guardian of the Rainbow Bridge, gives Queen Fricka’s hand-maiden the third degree when she tries to cross. Heimdall’s not taking any chances that she might be Loki in disguise. Loki burned him before with his sorcerous ways…not going to let that happen again!

WHAT’S NOT
• The title on the splash: “The Day Loki stole Thor’s magic hammer.” Yawn…has Thor never lost his hammer before? Oh yeah, he has. And doesn’t he always gets it back just in the nick of time? Oh yeah, he does. Like I said…yawn….

• Those self-centered Asgasrdian gods! They’re not going to help Thor find his hammer because they are “burdened with thousands of tasks of our own!” Geez! And I thought I was busy!

• “You used…Thor’s hammer…to smash your unshatterable chains…” Read it again, and you’ll see why I object.

• First, Blake stitches up a jewel thief, and Thor sends him and his buddies to the cops, which has nothing to do with anything. Next, Thor participates in filming a Viking picture. Again…nothing to do with anything. This story’s only 13 pages long. Do we really have time for all this?

SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS #1

“Seven Against the Nazis!”
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Art Simek

IN A NUTSHELL
When LeBrave of the French underground is captured by the Nazis, Sgt. Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos must rescue him before the details of D-Day are tortured out of him. Fury and company endure an endless barrage of attacks from guns and tanks and bombs, but continue on with their mission, aided by a young lady from the French Underground. Using firepower, sheer guts and a bit of trickery, the brigade rescues LeBrave and all live to fight another day.

WHAT’S HOT
• Bravery without superpowers. Sgt. Fury won’t stop even when he’s wounded, and all his men keep going, no matter what the odds.

• Camaraderie. Even though they insult each other constantly (Fury’s favorite terms for his men are “Lunkheads” and “Meatheads”), there is obviously a lot of trust and mutual respect.

• Marie. The young blonde from the French underground arrives to assist and risks her life with the rest of them, valuing the ideals of freedom more than life itself. Men do not have a monopoly on heroism.

WHAT’S NOT
• Biologically inherent as a female, or simply a personal preference? Either way, war stories have never been my among my favorites.

• Starting the story with a full two-page spread of wordy character studies put me off at first. This exposition may be better appreciated after the reader has developed an affinity for the series and wants to know the characters better. But for a war story, it’s a slow start.

• All these early Marvel comics are wordy, but this one seems especially so. It’s hard to say which is the more outstanding feature: the non-stop action, or the non-stop exposition. In the time it takes to read “Suddenly, unexpectedly, totally without warning” three pages of action might take place!

FURY
As a fan of the Marvel movies, I was curious to meet Sgt. Nick Fury. The character I’m meeting here is nothing like Fury from the movies, and the fact that he’s white is last on my list of differences. Yeah, I get it: Fury is a tough guy. But I think the bravado we see from the Fury of this early comic is as much a reflection of his times (WWII) as the Fury we see in the movies is a reflection of his times. Samuel Jackson’s Fury is certainly tough, but in a quiet, authoritative, no-nonsense way. The Fury I see in the comic is loud, brash, crude. But considering his situation, he has to be.

STRANGE TALES #108

“The Painter of a Thousand Perils!”
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Robert Bernstein
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Terry Szenics

IN A NUTSHELL
Torch sends counterfeiter Wilhelm Van Vile to prison, where he discovers magical paints that cause whatever he paints to materialize and carry out his commands. Upon escaping prison, Van Vile seeks to establish a crime empire—but first to get even with Torch! He paints Torch into a number of difficult situations, but each time Torch escapes. Finally Torch uses the magic paints himself to trick Van Vile, destroying the paints and sending the criminal to prison.

WHAT’S HOT
• Johnny has a part time job in a bookstore. Ha! Really? Why? Going to school and being a superhero isn’t enough? How does he fit it all in? Does he need the money? (We know super-heroism doesn’t pay well, but with the company he keeps, money shouldn’t be a problem). I wonder if Sue and Reed insist Johnny have a part time job to learn “responsibility”? That sounds like something Reed would do…

• Painting something that actually comes to life. What a great superpower! But you know what? It kind of reminds me of Stan Lee’s superpower: fifty years ago he wrote simple stories for kids on cheap newsprint, and now a multi-million dollar entertainment empire flourishes for the enjoyment of the entire world. Well, okay…it’s not exactly the same, but I do see similarities in the ability to create something overpoweringly wonderful from practically nothing.

WHAT’S NOT
• Stupid criminals. Van Vile counterfeiting one dollar and five dollar bills. That’s a lot of work for a very small payoff.

• Stupid criminals. Van Vile is supposedly a great painter but he forgets to give the Mona Lisa a smile, he paints The Blue Boy GREEN, and counterfeits Abe Lincoln’s sideburns incorrectly.

• Stupid criminals. The power is in the paints and the brushes, not within Van Vile himself, yet none of the gangsters even try to get the stuff away from him. And Torch is able to sneak in and use the paints, so even though these are Van Vile’s most valuable possessions, he doesn’t guard them very well. Why didn’t he take the time to paint a safe around his painting materials? Or are we going back to that issue of not paying attention to details?

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
What horrible bad luck to build, of all things, a prison on top of a cavern where magical paints have been left for a million years. What are the odds? Of the mural in the underground cavern, Van Vile says, “I can tell the age from its style.” The painting is reported to be one million years old! What period was that? The pre-prehistoric neo-nothingness artistic period?

TALES OF SUSPENSE #41

“The Stronghold of Doctor Strange!”
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Robert Bernstein
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Martin Epp

IN A NUTSHELL
While Iron Man attends a charity ball, then amuses orphans by juggling cars, evil genius Dr. Strange creates a device that emits ultra-frequency waves. Hypnotized by these waves, Iron Man is compelled to break Strange out of prison. From his island stronghold, Dr. Strange issues an ultimatum to the world: surrender to me, or I will destroy all life on earth! Daughter Carla is not impressed. When Iron Man arrives, she sides with the hero against her father, who escapes…presumably to fight another day.

WHAT’S HOT
• In addition to everything else Tony Stark/Iron Man can do, add to the list: entertaining orphans. I mean…is this an all-around good guy, or what? Tony’s girlfriend (a sophisticated blonde identified only as “Baby” and “Doll”) drops heavy hints that she would like to marry him, and I don’t blame her at all.

• Juggling cars. Cool image, but…Don’t try this at home, kids!

• Snappy dialog. When Dr. Strange notices Carla giving him the silent treatment, he beseeches her and gets this reply: “If you must know, it’s your despotic ultimatum and your willingness to destroy mankind if the earth doesn’t surrender to you!! I never dreamt you were so evil!” Good stuff! Marcia Brady never got to say lines like this!

WHAT’S NOT
• A villain named Dr. Strange. Yes, it’s a good name for a villain, but down the road we’re going to meet Dr. Strange, a superhero. Having a villain and hero with the same name causes no end of confusion for me. My best guess: Dr. Strange the villain didn’t resonate as strongly as Stan had hoped, so there were no plans to bring him back, but realizing the name was just too good to give up, a different approach was used when assigning the moniker “Dr. Strange” to the medical master of the mystic arts.

• But let’s visit this idea of Dr. Strange the villain not resonating strongly enough to bring him back. On the splash, we are told this Dr. Strange is “the most evil villain in history.” THE most evil villain in history. The MOST evil villain in history. The most EVIL villain in history. No matter how you slice it, he should come out as an incredibly badass character. And yet, The Marvel Chronology Project tells me we never see him again. Not only that, but his name is given to a superhero! Personally, if I was a super-villain whose name was reassigned to a superhero, I would also be ashamed to ever show my face in public again.

• Stupid criminals. sigh… This seems to be a recurring theme in these early comics. Here, Strange proclaims, “If you don’t surrender to me, I’ll blow up the whole world!” To which I say…okay, smartypants. If you blow up the whole world, where does that leave you, and your stronghold of evil? Where are you going to live? And who are you going to lord it over? It’s no fun being the master of…nothing.

• Dr. Strange’s parenting skills. He claims to want nothing more than his daughter’s love and admiration, yet calls her “Foolish child!” and “You little fool!” Worse than that, he thinks “cunning scientists” and “power-mad military men” are appropriate companions for an impressionable girl. Given her upbringing, it defies reason that this young lady retains any semblance of sanity and morality. One can only imagine that Mrs. Strange has primary custody, and Carla only visits her father on the occasional weekend or holiday.