JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #93

“The Mysterious Radio-Active Man!”
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Robert Berns
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Ray Holloway

IN A NUTSHELL
When Thor thwarts the Chinese Communists, scientist Chen Lu becomes Radioactive Man, a mighty opponent for the Thunder God. In NYC, Radioactive Man hypnotizes Thor and separates him from his hammer. Dr. Blake creates an X-ray monitor which locates Mjolnir at the bottom of the Hudson River, and bravely plunges into 80 feet of water to reunite with the hammer. As Thor, he sends Radioactive Man back to the Commies in an international tornado that culminates in an atomic explosion.

WHAT’S HOT
PUBLIC SERVICE. Dr. Blake helps the war effort in India. I had no idea until I looked it up, that India was, in fact, at war with China in November, 1962, just months before this story was published. Kudos on the current events reference!

ROBOTS. Chen Lu uses only robots as assistants to avoid betrayal of his scientific secrets. Smart move!

RED LETTERS. When Radioactive Man is surprised to see Thor, he exclaims his opponent’s name in large red letters. Have we seen characters talking in oversized colored letters before…or is this kind of speech the result of too much radioactivity?

BAR ROOM. Once again at the end of the story we see a version of “Bar Room“ rumbling across the sky. Who’s ready for a break? Thor…or Stan and Jack?

WHAT’S NOT
RE-RUNS. Didn’t Loki hypnotize Thor in Journey Into Mystery #85? Didn’t the Commies do the same in issue #87? Obviously, the best way to defeat Thor is to put him out of his right mind, but it’s going to get really old really fast, if we keep seeing the same villainous techniques over and over again.

IDENTITY CRISIS. When Thor changes back to Dr, Blake, Blake thinks, “Holy hypos! I – I’ve become DR. BLAKE again!” Does Blake really think of HIMSELF as Dr. Blake?? Not Don?

ANDROGYNOUS PATIENTS. Dr. Blake does surgery on a “man” but in recovery, that man looks an awful lot like a woman. Was it a sex change operation?

LEAPS OF LOGIC. When the Chinese Commies see the atomic explosion coming out of the tornado, one says, “There is only one answer…even the Radio-Active man could not defeat Thor!” Really? What made them think a tornado and atomic explosion in the hills of China has anything to do with Radio-Active Man’s mission in NYC?

VILLAIN
The idea of a radioactive villain, especially one whose sentiments hover between Commie and Mad Scientist, is filled with so much promise. In the “Barrrroooomm” panel at the end of story, an atomic explosion would indicate the end of most other villains, but I’m hoping Radio-Active Man feeds on this kind of energy, and will be back, bigger and stronger than ever. It’s entirely possible. After all, we didn’t see a body…

STRANGE TALES #109

“The Sorcerer and Pandora’s Box”
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Robert Berns
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Marty Epp

IN A NUTSHELL
The Sorcerer uses evil spirits in Pandora’s Box not only to gain riches and power, but also to get back at the meddlesome teenager, Torch! He commits various crimes, stumping the police, but Torch figures it out and confronts him. The Sorcerer douses Torch in a giant wave, but as he’s drying out, Torch tricks the Box away from the Sorcerer. Just before Torch dumps the Box in the ocean, the evil spirit of Fear attaches itself to the Sorcerer, immobilizing him against further wrongdoing.

WHAT’S HOT
A SORCERER. Are we laying the groundwork for Dr. Strange? (The real Dr. Strange, I mean—not that cheesy villain we met back in Tales of Suspense #41.)

“NATCH.” Thing says “natch,” for naturally. Wow! That brought me back to my childhood in the 1960’s!

JOHNNY. And I don’t mean just because he’s the Torch. In addition to his part-time job at the bookstore and being a superhero, he does five hours of homework a night and shoots 75 points a game on the high school basketball team. Kobe, move over! Johnny Storm in the house!

WHAT’S NOT
“NOT THIS TIME.” Why do the others in the FF plan a superhero gig and tell Johnny “not this time”? Is there another title I don’t know about…The Fantastic THREE?

STUPID CRIMINALS. The sorcerer brings ONE shopping bag to rob a bank.

VILLAIN
Don’t know if I can really get behind the Sorcerer as the kind of villain that causes grown men to quake in their boots. When we first meet him, he appears nothing more than that curmudgeon in your neighborhood who gets all bent out of shape when kids happen to chase a ball onto his property.

He has this fabulous resource, a Pandora’s Box, which he plans to use to make himself “rich and powerful and my name will go down in history as the most feared man who ever lived!” Okay, good villain vibes there, but before he gets started on any of that: “Above all, I’ll get even with that teen-age meddler, the Torch!”

Way to prioritize, Sorcerer.

Torch tells the Sorcerer “Black Magic went out with mustache wax.” Anticipating the arrival of a real sorcerer in the next Strange Tales, I doubt that’s exactly true.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #42

“Trapped by the Red Barbarian”
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Robert Berns
Art: Don Heck
Letters: E. Thomas

IN A NUTSHELL
The Red Barbarian discovers Anthony Stark has invented a “new weapon to make America invincible!” and cohort “The Actor” impersonates Stark to gain access to his well-guarded plant. The Actor confiscates the secret plans, and Stark avoids assassination by the Actor’s henchmen. He hops a rocket to go behind the Iron Curtain and steals back his plans. By pretending to be the Actor, he sets the two villains at each other’s throat. The Actor is killed. Supposedly.

WHAT’S HOT
LETTERING. There’s a new letterer for this story, E. Thomas, and his work is pretty and readable.

SECURITY. Stark’s plant is well guarded. As it should be!

INSULTING SOVIET AUTOMOBILES. When Iron Man crunches up the Actor’s car, he comments, “Say! They don’t build em so strong behind the Iron Curtain, do they?”

TRICKERY. Nice storytelling use of trickery in the beginning, and again at the end of the story. Iron Man doesn’t use physical strength or technical prowess to overcome the Commies—just his brain. Of course, you don’t have to use too much brain when your enemies are as dense as these villains. But I’ll get to that in a moment.

WHAT’S NOT
RED BARBARIAN. He’s cruel and demanding, but has no superpowers. The Actor is the true villain in this story. But I guess “Red Barbarian” looked more menacing on the cover than “The Actor.” However, the Red Barbarian excels at throwing food at messengers bearing bad news. Yeah, we get it: Commies are thugs and pigs.

ROCKET TRAVEL. Sounds like this should be in the plus column, but not when it pertains to Iron Man. You’d think he could fly at least as fast as a rocket, and have more control over his landing. Well, anyway, that’s what I think, having seen Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man…

AWKWARD DIALOG. Why isn’t Iron Man affected by magnetism? “My metal clothing contains alloys which reject magnetic attraction,” he patiently explains to the thug dangling dangerously above solid ground. Why? Because the thug asked. Because when you’re one wrong move away from death, your primary concern is always going to be solving inconsequential mysteries, right?

STUPID CRIMINALS
In the last several stories, I’ve run into more than a handful of stupid criminals, and frankly, it’s getting annoying. In this story alone:

• The Actor’s henchmen cave like a soufflé within seconds of Iron Man grabbing them. How could men with that little backbone actually be henchmen?

• When Iron Man impersonates “The Actor,” why does the Red Barbarian let him walk off with the attaché case containing the secret plans? Why does he not demand the plans be left with him? Concerned about the supposed bomb? Knowing he was dealing with “The Actor,” a master of deceit, he should have been more concerned with the possibility of treachery.

• After Iron Man tricks the Red Barbarian, he returns to the Actor, imprisoned in his twisted-up car, and says “Okay, you can leave now.” At this point, the Actor should have realized there was no good reason for Iron Man to set him free, unless he had a secret plan up his iron sleeve. At the very least, the Actor should have proceeded with caution. But no, he traipses right over to the Red Barbarian and easily falls into Iron Man’s plan for his demise.

I realize that to a certain extent, villains must be less intelligent than superheroes in order for the superheroes to succeed. But it takes the fun out, when the villains are so dense even teenager Rick Jones with no superpowers and no high school diploma could handily defeat them.

So why are the criminals in these early stories so stupid? Was it simply a case of not having enough time to work out details for a story where smart people square off against each other? Stupid is quick and easy. But I’m hoping as I travel through time in the Marvel Universe I’ll find that the villains become bigger and badder till at last our heroes are fighting foes on a threat level at least equal to those we see in the recent rash of Marvel movies.

GONE?
“The Actor is gone,” says one of the Barbarian’s men at the end of the story. We see a fireburst from a gun, and hear “The Actor is gone,” but don’t see a dead body. “Gone” could mean he took a quick leap out the window. Or perhaps, the Actor disguised himself as the guard, and shot the real guard in the face, all before the angry, drunken Barbarian could catch on to what was happening. For my money, it’s entirely possible the Actor continues to live on for future appearances!