AMAZING FANTASY #15: Boy Meets Spider, Spider Bites Boy, Boy Becomes a Man

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Chrissy

Published: August, 1962

“Spider-Man”
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Letters: Art Simek

The Spider-Man origin story. What a classic! I bet there are a ton of people who have never read a single page of a Marvel comic, yet are at least somewhat familiar with the Spider-Man origin story. A lot of that, of course, would be due to the rash of Spider-Man movies that have come out during the last decade or so, and now I hear we are getting ready to “reload” Spider-Man, with a new movie this summer. And there’s also a Broadway show about Spider-Man! Not to mention that Spider-Man has been a fixture in cartoons almost continuously since 1967. And I guarantee that if you were to visit any toy store anywhere in these United States, you would find some representation of Spider-Man on those shelves, fully fifty years after Peter Parker first concocted his homemade “spider webs” with liquid cement to propel himself through the skyline of New York City.

Really now: can this guy be any more popular?

COSTUMES
Stan starts out on the first page of this first Spider-Man story by saying that “we in the comic mag business” refer to “costume heroes” as “Long underwear characters.” I guess that was supposed to be a joke? As if “costume heroes” is not funny enough on its own? I always get a chuckle when the Marvel characters refer to “costumes.” I’m thinking…wouldn’t “Disguised” or “Incognito” have been a better, more to-be-taken-seriously description? When I hear the word “costume,” sorry, but the first thing I think is “Trick or Treat!” You know they say the definition of an intellectual is someone who can hear the William Tell Overture without thinking of The Lone Ranger. Well, I might have to be reading comic books a very long time before I can hear the word “costume” and not wonder where the Halloween party is going to be.

But anyway… let’s get back to Spider-Man!

1960’S SENSIBILITIES
On the first page we see a group of teenagers engaged in what we would today call “dissing” Peter Parker. They laugh at the thought of him going to the dance, because he is the high school’s only “professional wallflower.” And one fella, who I believe is supposed to be Flash Thompson (who we will later discover is Peter’s high school nemesis) provides what is apparently the ultimate insult by proclaiming “That bookworm wouldn’t know a cha-cha from a waltz.”

Okay. I have to stop a moment to reflect….who exactly is the NERD in this scene? Peter Parker, the bookworm, or Flash, in the pink pants and striped sweater, talking about the cha-cha and the waltz??

Maybe it’s a “60’s Thing,” but I sometimes notice in these comics that the portrayal of young people is sometimes not very…hip. Or, as my mother used to say, “Hep.” A lot of times, we’ll see teenage boys wearing suits and ties, sometimes even bow-ties! Oh yeah. And hats. Like men in the fifties used to do. When I was a kid and went to church, all the pews had these little clips on the back, so that the gentlemen could clip their hats there during Mass. But as I said, this was when I was a kid, early 1960’s, same time as these comics. But these were grown men going to church, not teenage boys in high school!

I’m getting a bit off topic here I think, because we do not actually see any teenagers wearing hats or bow ties in this story, but Flash’s outfit on page one reminded me of the many instances of fashion faus paux we are likely to see along the way in these early comics. I’ll point them out as we go along, mostly because they are so much fun, and I hope to index the most extreme examples on my Fashion Fun and Foibles page at the top of this blog.

But enough of this getting sidetracked! Let’s get to the story at hand! After the humiliation on page one, we find Peter Parker at home with Uncle Ben and Aunt May, both who clearly adore the boy. Then we see Peter in his science class, where his teacher also clearly believes he has the right stuff. The only way Peter strikes out is socially. He attempts to ask out a girl, but she says, “You’re just not my type… especially when there are dreamboats like Flash Thompson around!”

Grrrrr….I told you. Flash Thompson is going to be a thorn in Peter’s side for quite some time.

“I’LL SHOW THEM!”
Despite the cruel behavior of the other high school kids, Peter still attempts to invite them to the science fair. But once again they simply laugh at him. With a small sob, Peter says “Someday I’ll show them! Someday they’ll be sorry!” Sounds like he’s hoping to get his revenge? Kind of makes you wonder, if Peter hadn’t gotten bitten by that radioactive spider and turned into Spider-Man, do you think he may have ended up like one of those kids that’s had just about enough bullying and snaps and brings a gun to school and shoots everyone?

Here at the bottom of page two, that’s what I’m seeing. At least from my 2012 perspective, that’s what I’m thinking. Maybe Stan only meant that Peter dreams of one day becoming a great scientist, discovering or inventing something so fabulous that he becomes rich and famous that then…then all those mean kids from high school will be sorry they ever treated him that way! (Think: the Alan Cumming character in Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. What a great character, and what a great movie!) You know, actually, now that I think about it, it’s probably highly unlikely that in 1962 anybody really considered the possibility that a teenager might bring a gun to school to shoot the bullies. Probably not likely in comics. Or in the real world.

Sigh….sometimes it makes you wish we could go back in time, doesn’t it?

But Peter’s “I’ll show them!” comes into play a lot sooner than expected. Because on the very next page, we witness the most famous spider bite in history!! (Most certainly worthy of my double exclamation point.) While the scientists are demonstrating the power of atomic energy, a tiny spider descends into the atomic energy field, lands on Peter and bites him. Ow! Yes, he actually says “Ow!” and immediately notices that he feels “strange” and “different,” as if his “entire body is charged with some sort of fantastic energy!”

On the walk home he quickly discovers he can scale walls, crush steel, walk on wire. To test his new powers, Peter puts on a mask and jumps in the wrestling ring with “Crusher Hogan,” whom, of course, he easily crushes, with “the speed, the agility, the very strength of a giant spider!” (Who knew a giant spider would possess those qualities?)

ED SULLIVAN
After the fight, Peter is approached by a TV producer, who wants to get him on The Ed Sullivan Show. Now, if you were alive in the 1960’s, you know that nothing but nothing beats getting on The Ed Sullivan Show! So Peter goes home and devises his costume, and perhaps most importantly of all, creates an apparatus for his wrists which shoot out…something…as if it is a spider’s webbing. He also uses some “strong liquid cement” so that he can pull himself from place to place on these “webs.”

The fact that Super Glue couldn’t actually perform the way Peter needs it to, the way we will see it performing in just a few short pages, is completely beside the point. But then I guess if you feel compelled to make a “Reality Check,” you probably shouldn’t be reading Marvel comics…right? Well, let’s see…I guess we could say that when the glue comes in contact with Peter’s super-atomic-ness, it takes on the very super qualities that he now possesses in his own body. Yeah, I guess that sounds good. Doesn’t it?

I have no problem with super powers. I am willing to suspend my disbelief. But nothing will take me out of a story faster than a grammatical error. Now, if you’re going to hang out here with me in the Marvelous Zone, you’ll quickly find out a few things about me, and one of them is that I happen to be a freakin’ Grammar Nazi.

I know this story right now if very much in its infancy, so maybe Stan had not quite yet decided how he’s going to represent the name of his latest superhero. Of course we know that our radioactive pal Peter Parker takes on the moniker “Spider-Man.” There is a dash in the middle. Now, since comics are written entirely in upper case letters, sometimes it’s hard to know where the upper and lower case letters lie, but of this much we are certain, that there is a dash between the word “spider” and the word “man.” Except on the bottom of page six where Peter exclaims “Here comes the spiderman!” and in fact throughout the rest of this story he is referred to as “spiderman.”

Well, first of all…THE spiderman? I guess “the” got dropped fairly soon. But where is the dash? I know it’s not a big deal, at least it shouldn’t be, since we have a lot more important stuff to do like fighting super-villains and saving the world, but I need to know where my dashes and capital letters are supposed to be!!

And you know what? Marvel comics doesn’t make that easy, does it? I mean, there is no hard and fast rule about superhero names. So we have Spider-Man, but we also have Iron Man. Two words, no dash. And then there’s Superman…but we won’t go there.

Aaaah! It’s enough to drive a Grammar Nazi crazy!

But let’s leave all this behind to get on with the story.

Spider-Man (or Spiderman, as he’s known here) does indeed appear on TV, and the response is sensational! As Stan puts it, “Peter Parker breathes the first sweet scent of fame and success.” But as he is leaving the TV studio…well, since this is so important, let’s just “play the clip,” as we say in the podcasting business:

Now, before I read this comic, I had of course seen the Spider-Man movie, the one with Toby McGuire as Peter Parker, and I personally remember this scene being a lot stronger, because in the movie, the wrestling promoter tries to cheat Peter out of his money, and says “I missed the part where that’s my problem.” Then, when the wrestling promoter is robbed and Peter fails to stop the thief, he throws back those exact words at the promoter. So there’s a bit of poetic justice going on there.

Here, we just have Peter being a jerk. Now, I’m not exactly BLAMING him for being a jerk. It’s obvious by what we saw on the introductory pages that he feels, and rightly so, that society has given him a bum rap. Now that he has a taste of power, he’s being selfish with it. He’s letting it go to his head. He finally gets the chance to feel superior to everyone else, and dad gummit! He’s going to enjoy his superiority.

It’s not very mature of him. But I do think it’s understandable, and completely in character for a poor sod like Peter who’s been bullied all his life.

But we do have to give him credit for this much. A few panels later, we see Peter realizing that Aunt May and Uncle Ben are “the only ones who’ve ever been kind to me. I’ll see to it that they’re always happy, but the rest of the world can go hang, for all I care!”

Extremely anti-social, for someone entrusted with so much power. But then, Stan is going to take care of that bad attitude straightaway. I guess it’s a good thing that we only got to know Uncle Ben for a few pages, otherwise I would have found it extremely upsetting when a cop tells Peter that his uncle has been murdered. Of course Peter is extremely upset, and swings into his Spider-Man persona, vowing to “get him” at the old Acme Warehouse. “A killer could hold off an army in that gloomy old place,” Peter declares, “but he won’t hold off…SPIDERMAN!” (No “the,” but no dash, either.)

So Peter tangles with the killer, easily disarms him and knocks him out. The killer’s face is revealed, and at this point Peter realizes that Uncle Ben’s killer is in fact the thief that he chose not to stop when he had the chance, only a few pages earlier.

So. Yes. We do have poetic justice after all. Or rather, poetic injustice? The point is, Peter becomes “aware at last that in this world with great power there must also come– great responsibility!” Now, I don’t know a whole lot about comics, but I do believe that this particular line must go down in history as one of the most famous comics quotes of all time. Of course we have Superman’s “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” and that’s all very well and good, but it just doesn’t have the emotional punch as this line about power and responsibility. “Avengers, assemble!” Yes, a good call to action. But philosophical observations about power and responsibility trump even that.

It’s too bad that Uncle Ben had to die as (somewhat) a result of Peter’s cocky stupidity. But then, his death sets the stage for a maturity and a sense of mission in our new hero. I wonder if fate had not stepped in to instigate the death of one of the only two people in the world that Peter cares about whether or not his Spider-Man persona would have had the opportunity to grow into the great hero he becomes. Would Peter have remained content putting on shows for cash, just to help out his old aunt and uncle?In other words, would he have continued acting as a self-centered, immature BOY? Remember, this story is not about Spider-Boy, it’s about Spider-MAN. Too bad it had to be in the school of hard knocks, but I think Peter has learned his lesson about power and responsibility.

And that is what prepares him to take on the mantle of Spider-MAN.

Of course, if he did not take up that mantle and begin fighting criminals, villains and super-villains, the Marvel world would be a much different place, and we would not have much of a comic-mag to read. So this is one of those bad things that is really a good thing in disguise.

And disguise is what it’s all about in the Spider-Man saga. In the panel above, notice that the bottom headline reads “Who is the Spiderman?” Who, indeed! Spider-Man is one of those super-heroes whose identity shall remain a secret (unlike the Fantastic Four) even from the people he most cares about. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think it’s fair to speculate at this point that the events of this first story are going to provide a myriad of changes in the life of young Peter Parker, changes that have just as much to do with his issues of self-confidence and self-worth as with his ability to swing through the city on self-made “spider webs,” fighting crime. The boy will grow up. We are only beginning to see it here.

A good start.

Next time I meander in the Marvelous Zone, Hulk is banished to outer space, and Rick Jones has a lot to think about. I’ve already mentioned that Hulk is not one of my favorite characters, but will this next story help change my mind? Join me and find out!

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JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83: Never Judge a Book by its Cover

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Chrissy

Published: August, 1962

“The Stone Men from Saturn!”
Script: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Art Simek

Journey into Mystery was a title that had been around for 82 issues before Thor makes his first appearance. Russ tells me that before Thor, Journey into Mystery mostly did some short stand-alone comic stories, often with an O’Henry type twist at the end. We also find some short prose stories. Oh, and lots of advertisements. Seems to me this comic-mag must have been a sort of hodge-podge, very episodic, no unifying force to hold it all together. I’m not a big fan of “episodic,” so I don’t think this magazine would have appealed to me without a continuing story about a character I could care about.

But now…behold! Thor! And in addition to being a different kind of story than what had previously been done in Journey into Mystery, Thor is also a different kind of hero than we have met thus far in the Marvel Silver Age of Comics. So far I’ve looked at the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, and the Hulk, and in all those, super-powers were delivered by means of an accident, technology gone wrong. These almost read as cautionary tales about the dangers of being reckless with science in the modern world. But in the case of Thor, we aren’t looking into a future perhaps too powerful for our own good. Instead, we delve deep into the past, harnessing the power of legend, myth, and one particular larger-than-life figure.

On the title page, Thor exclaims “By the will of the gods, I am alive!” So, right off the bat, we see it is not science, but religion, that brings Thor into being. This is indeed a new kind of story!

The story begins with “frail” Dr. Don Blake, vacationing in Norway (Blake is young, but hampered by an injury or a condition which necessitates his using a cane). Blake enjoys the scenery…but does not notice the strange alien spaceship landing behind him. So! We’re not even off the first page of our story, and already we’ve encountered “the gods” and an alien spaceship. What a juxtaposition of elements!

The aliens emerge from their spaceship and, like all good villains, begin to brag about how powerful and wonderful they are. These are the Stone Men of Saturn. They look similar to Thing of the Fantastic Four, but not as handsome. For some reason, their “talk bubbles” are jagged around the edges. What does that indicate? Are they talking in another language, not English, as is depicted? (I’m just glad Stan was kind enough to translate for us!)

By the end of the first full page of the Stone Men, we learn that they have powerful weapons, and an invasion force is on its way. A local fisherman sees these creatures and exclaims, “By the beard of Odin, what have I stumbled onto?” (Well, he doesn’t actually exclaim this, because his talk bubble is cloud shaped, indicating that he is just thinking the words, not actually saying them.)

And a good thing too, because his silence gives him the opportunity to run to the village to warn everyone. But his tale is, of course, greeted with disbelief and disdain. Crazy old fisherman! What would you expect, anyway, from someone who swears by the beard of Odin?

But Dr. Blake overhears his story, and the next day goes out exploring, looking for these aliens…and finds them! Immediately he gets fearful and decides to leave, but steps on a twig, which alerts the stone men, and they chase him. Blake loses his cane, trips, falls, hides in a cave. He can’t find a way out, and sits on the ground, despondent, thinking the Stone Men will find him and kill him.

However, fate has something else in store for our Dr. Blake! Somehow a secret panel opens, leading him into a secret chamber, where he finds a stick, “like an ancient cane.” He thinks he’ll try to use it to move a boulder that is blocking his way, so he can get out of here!

But that doesn’t actually work too well. After much frustration, “in helpless anger” he strikes the cane on the ground and…and…well, you know what happens next. In a flash of light, he is transformed into Thor, “bursting with power!”

Now, here’s something that Dr. Blake knows, that I didn’t actually know until I started reading comics and Russ brought me up to speed on the legends. Apparently Thor is not a creation of Stan Lee’s imagination, like the heroes we have seen so far, but he is instead “the legendary god of thunder!! The mightiest warrior of all mythology!!”

In school I learned all about which state produced the most cotton, different kinds of triangles, and even a bit that I can’t really remember now about how laws and sausages are made. But I don’t remember ever learning about Thor. I think there’s something back there in my early education about Greek and Roman gods, but they didn’t really interest me too much until I saw the 1981 movie Clash of the Titans. Still, I’m quite certain I never knew anything about Norse mythology…until I began reading Marvel comics.

Oh yes, wait. I did know one thing about Thor before I read comics. Once again, I reference a 1980’s movie, this one Adventures in Babysitting, where the babysittee is a little girl so obsessed with Thor that she spends the entire film sporting a helmet with wings. At the time I had a vague idea that this was a reference to…something…somewhere…but once again, don’t put me on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

But getting back to our story, Dr. Blake, a far more educated person than I, apparently, knows immediately who Thor is and what power he possesses. But even more importantly, he recognizes that these powers are now his, and he moves the rock that so frustrated him just a moment ago, “as if it were cardboard!”

As Thor exits the cave and replaces the rock, he muses that “the stone creatures will never suspect that their frail quarry escaped through this rear exit!” Once again, it’s time for a vocabulary lesson. What is a “quarry”? First thing that comes to my mind is the rock quarry where Fred Flintstone worked. But apparently it can also mean “one that is sought or pursued. Prey.” Who knew? Well, now I do. Since I am reading Marvel Comics. 🙂

Thor ponders his new situation, and discovers that if he lets go of the hammer, he reverts to his original form, the frail Dr. Blake. Then he runs through the other characteristics of the hammer: it is enchanted, invincible, heavy, and will always return to Thor’s grasp when thrown. He also discovers that stamping the hammer TWICE on the ground can produce rain, snow, and a tornado! Then to end the storm, he stamps the hammer on the ground THREE times. But if he stamps it only ONCE, he reverts to Blake.

Wait a minute! Twice for storm, once for Blake, three times for…Does anyone have a pencil? I think I need to write this all down.

While Blake is playing around with the hammer, the alien invasion has begun, and the Earthly military is in full battle mode, but to no avail.

Blake turns into Thor and whirls the hammer “with the speed of lightning” to propel himself into the battle. He fights the Stone Men, but they capture him in a metal cage. From which he easily escapes. Fearing the might of this opponent, the Stone Men release “the mechano-monster.” Well, the mechano-monster survives for less than a page before Thor and his mighty hammer turn it to scrap metal.

The Stone Men rightly assume that Thor is “too mighty, too skilled in the art of battle,” but they wrongly assume that there might be more like him, so they flee in terror. The army arrives–a little late, wouldn’t you say?–and Thor decides it would be best if he doesn’t reveal himself. In his words, “They won’t rest till they’ve learned my secret. I’ll become an international curiosity.” And so Thor simply taps the hammer on the ground the appropriate number of times, and reverts to “that lame passer-by with a gnarled old cane,” a “skinny gent” who couldn’t possibly be earth’s secret weapon.

In the last panel of this comic story, there is an “Editor’s Note” advising that Thor will appear regularly in Journey into Mystery, and the reader best reserve their next issue because “It’s sure to be a sell-out!” Again, that wonderful sense of self-promotion.

But I imagine the audience of the day would have indeed been looking forward to the next story with “the greatest new super-hero of all time,” and didn’t actually need further coaxing to buy the next issue. Of course I haven’t seen any previous issues of Journey into Mystery, but in this issue I can see not only the Thor origin story, but also every other page. I have not actually taken the time to read the two other comic stories in Issue #83, but I can tell you that they are five pages each; one involves two guys wearing suits, and the other is about a cognizant lion. I don’t know what happens in these stories, but I do know they do not contain any characters anywhere near as fantastic and interesting as Thor!

I should also take a moment to mention that the balance of this Journey into Mystery is filled with a short story, and numerous ads for products like the “Magic Art Reproducer” that allows you to draw pictures of girls in bikinis, and the “Secret New Dynaflex Method,” guaranteed to turn you into a “he-man” in only ten minutes a day. (“If the girls laugh at you now when you take off your shirt, they’ll be breaking down doors to get dates with you once they’ve seen the rugged DYNAFLEX BODY I can give you!”) I don’t know which is more amazing…that these products are being marketed to little boys, or that “You pay only $1.98 complete, nothing else to buy.”

Oh! And check out the boa constrictor ad! What a hoot! All these ads are a step back in time, a look at a unique aspect of popular culture we are highly unlikely to see again.

But getting back to Thor, this first story is short and sweet, and I appreciate that Stan takes the time to explain (for the uninformed, like myself) who Thor is and what he can do. I wish we could have seen more of Dr. Blake in this first story, but there’ll be plenty of time for that in future issues.

So far all we know is that Blake is as weak and frail as Thor is mighty and powerful. We haven’t yet met Jane Foster, and for me, it’s her relationships with both Blake and Thor that makes this saga so compelling. We also have not yet been introduced to Thor’s family—father Odin and brother Loki. But when we do meet them, we will quickly discover that with Thor we don’t just get a superhero, we also get all the personal baggage of his dysfunctional family!

So the stage is set. Can’t wait to read more!

VILLAIN VALUATION
But first: what about these Stone Men from Saturn? Where do they fit in my villain valuation? Well, let’s see…when we meet them, they do seem quite an opponent for the human race. Great strength, powerful weapons, and an image inducer at their command, and let’s not forget “the mechano-monster.” Of course, when it comes right down to it, they don’t possess a tremendous amount of courage or intelligence, do they? At the first sign of an enemy who might be able to defeat them, they re-enact that scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail —“Run away!! Run away!!”

It’s just occurred to me that so far in my reading, alien races are not really that fearsome. If this is the best that outer space has to offer, I don’t think we earthlings have that much to worry about. Like the Skrulls, the Stone Men are all about conquering other planets and civilizations….until there is the slightest hint of resistance, then all of the sudden it’s “Oh, never mind. We had no idea it was going to be THIS difficult! Let’s pack up and go home.”

But I do have to give the Stone Men one advantage that puts them above the Skrulls. At least they did not say, “We hate being stone men. We would rather be anything other than stone men!” And they trump the Toad Men, because…well…Toad Men. ’nuff said. As they run away with their tail between their legs their self-respect is bruised, but not entirely obliterated. So I’ll place the Stone Men on my list just a notch above the Toad Men. But only a notch.

COSTUME
Now I have one more thing to say about Thor. Let’s talk about his appearance. Yes, we must talk about his appearance. How can the subject be avoided? Stan is fond of calling his heroes “colorful,” and in the case of Thor, there is no doubt. What’s going on with that outfit? I call it an “outfit,” but I guess the proper word is “costume.” Though “costume” has never sat quite right with me; it sounds like you’re going to a Halloween party, pretending to be a superhero, instead of actually being one. But the Marvel heroes don’t wear “uniforms,” do they? Well, maybe in the case of the Fantastic Four you could call their costumes a uniform, since they are all wearing basically the same thing. The costume “unifies” them.

But Thor’s get-up really does look more like a Halloween costume than anything. There are just too many colors! It’s just too BUSY! He’s got the cape and the belt and the wristbands and the…I guess they’re boots, and of course the helmet with the wings. I mean…what is the fashion statement here? I don’t know where to look first! And of course the huge buttons on his tunic (I’m assuming they’re buttons, I’m assuming it’s a “tunic”) are way too reminiscent of Mickey Mouse for my taste. All in all, there’s a bit of “clown” in what he’s wearing.

MOVIE THOR
For my money, I’m extremely grateful that when Marvel Entertainment decided to personify Thor for the silver screen, they put actor Chris Hemsworth in an outfit that is a lot more…shall we say…subdued. I think the movie Thor looks a lot more impressive, commanding, compelling, and not to mention, just plain handsome. This is a good look for Thor.

But getting back to the Thor of the comics, I must say, I like the hair. Definitely digging the long blonde hair. And his body is fairly ripped. So that’s all good. But seriously, if he didn’t have the hair and the muscles, I doubt he could pull off the rest of this ensemble. At least not with people laughing their butts off whenever he appears on the scene.

But I guess that’s what the Thor story is all about, not judging a book by its cover. Look at frail weak thin little Dr. Blake. Who would guess that a Norse god dwells somewhere deep inside that humble exterior? Is Stan trying to say that somewhere deep inside all of us there is the potential for greatness?

And how is it, anyway, that a Norse god dwells inside such a humble little man? Was Thor always inside him, just waiting to get out? And why did Blake never know about this until he finds the stick? Where WAS Thor, before Blake finds the stick and releases him?

So many questions. This one is not simple, like the Fantastic Four: there was an accident, our molecules got mangled, now we have superpowers. No, there’s a lot more going on here, a meshing and merging of two completely different personalities, two completely different worlds. But I think I’m starting to get ahead of myself. I close up now, so that I can go read the next comic on my reading list, perhaps the most significant comic of Marvel’s Silver Age. Eventually I can get back to Thor, and learn more about him, and hopefully get some answers about him, as I continue to plod my way through this truly Marvelous Zone.

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INCREDIBLE HULK #2: They Hate Me, I Hate Them, I Kill Them

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Chrissy

Published: July, 1962

“The Terror of the Toad Men”
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inks: Steve Ditko
Letters: Art Simek

Originally, Russ was going to have me skip over this second Hulk story and go straight to the third, The Hulk Banished to Outer Space. But as I started to read, I felt I was missing something. I didn’t know how Hulk had gotten from where he was at the end of his origin story to where he is at the beginning of the third story. I guess Russ didn’t think The Terror of the Toad Men was worth reading, because the villains, the Toad Men, are not a formidable foe. But they certainly provide a good amount of trouble for Hulk, and for humanity in general, until the brilliant brain of Bruce Banner takes care of them in the end. So it’s a good story, full of drama and excitement. But more importantly, I think in this story we also have some important developments in the relationships of our main characters. So I want to say a word or two about The Terror of the Toad Men before we move on to the next adventure.

QUICK SYNOPSIS
As we begin, people everywhere are terrified by the Hulk, and only teenager Rick Jones can deal with the monster. While Banner and Jones make arrangements for an underground chamber to contain the Hulk, the Toad Men from outer space “have focused on the most brilliant scientific brain on Earth” and sweep up both Banner and Jones with their magnetic ray.

Captive aboard the alien spaceship, the earthlings are treated to a dissertation by Captain Torrak, who details the havoc their race can wreak on Earth with magnetic force, UNLESS Banner agrees to tell them everything he knows about Earth’s technological capabilities. When Rick Jones pipes up his objections, the Toad Captain catapults him back to earth in a “magnetically guided plastic escape cylinder.”

Banner transforms into the Hulk, overpowers the Toads, then decides to use the ship’s weapons to wipe out mankind. But the military shoots down the alien ship, finds Banner, and arrests him for treason.

The Toads use their magnetic power to escape the fallen ship and signal their comrades in the sky, who launch an invasion, which consists of pulling the Moon closer to Earth, with those intended results of wreaking havoc.

Meanwhile, Banner becomes Hulk again, escapes his prison cell, overpowers the army and kidnaps Betty Ross.

One again, Hulk becomes Banner, and now that he has his wits about him, he uses the gamma ray cannon to vanquish the Toad Men. End of story.

Yes, I know I went through all that very quickly. But that doesn’t mean I’m done. Not by a long shot! As I read through this story, question upon question kept occurring to me, and I’m afraid the rest of this entry is going to be series of questions, peppered by the occasional comment.

In fact, I’ll start with a comment. In the first story, Hulk is gray. But now we see him in his traditional green skin. My guess is that the artists/editors simply decided that green was more visually appealing than gray. It certainly makes a nice contrast against the Hulk’s pink/purple outfit. I don’t really think you can call his clothes a “costume,” like other superheroes wear. There’s no forethought; it’s just the torn shred of what Bruce Banner happened to be wearing at the time of the transformation.

QUESTIONS AND MORE QUESTIONS
Which brings up the first of my questions. And I’m sure I’m not the first person to ask this, but how is it that Hulk doesn’t completely bust out of Banner’s clothes? He’s significantly larger in every way, so why do these garments still hang on his body? Unless Banner’s pink/purple jumpsuit is made from a stretchable jersey material? But what about when Banner is dressed in a collared shirt and dress pants? We know those aren’t stretchable!

And how about this: wouldn’t it be likely, at some point, that someone is going to notice that the rags hanging on Hulk’s body look suspiciously similar to the remnants of the outfit Banner was wearing…just before he bleeped off the radar screen?

And isn’t anyone going to notice that Banner and Hulk never seem to be around at the same time?

Well, General Ross has an explanation for that last one. “That milksop will find a safe place to hide whenever danger threatens!” I’m not sensing a lot of respect here. But then again, that would be totally in keeping with the General’s character, to value brawn above brains. Of course, with his daughter totally ga-ga over the brilliant Bruce Banner, that’s likely to cause some tension and disagreement in the Ross household. But that’s a good thing, isn’t it? The more drama, the better.

But back to my questions! And this is a big one, one that I feel really has to be explained, or it will just be totally unbelievable if no one in the story decides to ask the same question. It seems that we’re developing a pattern of Rick Jones showing up when Hulk is in full swing and shouting out things like “Lemme thru! I’m the only one who can reason with ’im!” and “Hulk! It’s me, Rick! Your friend!”

Uhh….why? What does some teenage orphan boy have to do with a monster like the Hulk? How is he “friends” with the Hulk? Isn’t anybody going to ask him that? And by the way, kid, aren’t you that pipsqueak that’s always hanging around Dr. Bruce Banner? And say, kid! Where IS Banner anyway? Why is it that he’s never around when the Hulk is around? Is General Ross right about him being a milksop? Or might it be…something… more….

SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF
So this is the really weird thing about how I approach comics. As far as “suspending my disbelief” I’m totally willing to do so in matters of magic and mutations. Hulks, super-powers, monsters, little green men from outer space (or, toads, as the case may be)—bring ‘em on! The more the merrier. But DON’T tell me that the army, the navy, the marines and the local police are not going to question the one person who always seems to be right in the middle of everything.

Now, maybe in future issues Rick Jones will be questioned, and maybe he’ll come up with some kind of explanation that makes sense, or at least seems plausible to law enforcement. I’ll just be extremely disappointed if the authorities don’t at least make some attempt at getting information from him.

Now, speaking of Rick Jones, why did the Toad Men take him aboard their ship in the first place? They want Banner, “the most brilliant scientific brain on Earth,” but why does Rick Jones have to come along for the ride? Is their magnetic ray not fine-tuned enough to hone in on only one person? Well, maybe. But that only leads to the next, and more compelling question: once they’ve got Rick Jones, why don’t they just kill him? They don’t need him. The only possible good he can be to their evil plans is that if Banner refuses to talk, they can say “Tell us what we need to know or we’ll kill your companion!” But they don’t even do that. As soon as Jones squawks, they catapult him back to Earth.

My question still stands: why not kill him? Why send him back to Earth, so he can report everything he’s learned about the Toad Men, their capabilities and their plans to invade and conquer Earth? Why risk letting this pesky little kid mess everything up for them?

VILLAIN VALUATION
This leads directly to my Villain Valuation. The Toad Men don’t rank much higher than the Skrulls, as far as I’m concerned. No self-respecting villain is going to wrap an escape cylinder around someone who is absolutely of no use to them, and may in fact be able to do damage to their plans. They are much too kind for villains. Well…kind…or just plain stupid.

Yeah, I think I might have to come down on the side of stupid. The only thing the Toad Men have going for them is interplanetary space travel and the use of magnetic force. And perhaps their biggest mistake is kidnapping “the most brilliant scientific brain on Earth,” and letting him in on exactly how they plan to conquer Earth, never imagining that this brilliant scientific brain might indeed be able to find a way to put an end to their ambitious plans. Which of course, he does.

Not very bright, Toad Men.

HEROES AND MOTIVATION
But once again, I find it is Banner who is the hero, not Hulk. Hulk is, in fact, still somewhat of a mystery to me. I’m not sure what motivates him. Yes, he’s angry, incredibly angry at the human race. The moment he gets a chance to strike back at Earth, he takes it, willing to attack his own planet for…for what? For “That’ll show ’em!” Show ’em what? What exactly is he upset about?

The best I can figure, he’s upset because the military and police are always chasing him and trying to kill him. Well, I guess that’s a good reason to be upset. But if he succeeds in his plan to “wipe out all mankind,” where is he planning to live? On the desolate Earth? Or perhaps with the Toad Men? Maybe Hulk is smart enough to figure out that if he throws his lot in with the Toad Men, they won’t be capable of giving him any trouble. Either he’s thought through his plan to that point, or he hasn’t thought things through at all, and is just acting on sheer emotion. They hate me, I hate them, I kill them.

But later, when Hulk meets Betty, she asks him “Why do you hate us so??” And Hulk says:

Okay, now I’m even more confused. What does Hulk mean when he says “Look what men have done to me?” Does he mean the fact that he’s a Hulk? Does he think “mankind” has done this to him? Does he not remember it wasn’t “men” in general who turned him into the Hulk, but that it was his own doing, as Bruce Banner? It was Banner’s gamma bomb experiment that caused him to turn into the Hulk. And what’s more, if you really want to get technical about it, this is all Rick Jones’ fault, isn’t it? If Jones hadn’t gone out on that testing ground in his jalopy in the middle of a scientific experiment involving a gamma bomb, Banner wouldn’t have had to run out to rescue him, and therefore the Hulk would have never come into being.

But maybe Hulk IS thinking things through…maybe he’s thinking right back to the security guards that should have been alert enough to keep Rick Jones off the testing grounds, so that Banner wouldn’t have HAD TO run out there to rescue him, and therefore the Hulk would have never been created.

But does Hulk detest himself so much that he wants to kill anyone and everyone who is responsible for his being? Does that really make sense?

So Hulk, still an enigma. But here’s another enigma. When the army discovers the spaceship, they immediately shoot it down. When the spaceship falls to Earth, they find Banner aboard and arrest him for treason. Whoa! Slow down there! Wouldn’t he explain that he was kidnapped by the aliens? Of course by the time the army gets there, the aliens have escaped, burrowing underground with their magnetic power, so maybe the army thinks this is Banner’s spaceship? Would they continue to think that even if Banner provided a different version of events? And not only that, it’s not very trusting, is it?— to assume that just because a man is on a spaceship he was necessarily planning to attack Earth.

And “planning” is all they can accuse him of, because nowhere in the story does it say that the alien spaceship actually made any hostile move on the Earth. The military is just shooting down the spaceship because it IS a spaceship. As General Ross says, “If your radar shows an unidentified flying object above us, SHOOT IT DOWN, man! What do you think we’re HERE for?”

In other words, shoot first, ask questions later. Sigh…

A lot of questions raised in this second issue of Hulk. Maybe some of this stuff will get sorted out in future issues. But I’ve been here long enough now, and I’m anxious to get back to my reading, so that next time I can give you my impressions of Thor!

MY MID-MONTH MARVEL MOVIE MUSINGS
But before I go, one exciting announcement! At least I’m excited about it. In preparation for the release of The Avengers, Russ and I just completed a Marvel Movie Marathon, watching five films in five nights leading up to The Avengers, and of course I wrote about them here. It was a hectic schedule, but I did so enjoy reviewing these films. I enjoyed it so much that I decided I would like to continue reviewing Marvel movies, and so I am instituting My Mid-Month Marvel Movie Musings. Once each month, somewhere near the middle of the month, I’ll pick a Marvel movie to watch and review. I’ve chosen the middle of the month in honor of Stan Lee’s alliterative character names. I wanted something full of the same letter, and M was the obvious choice.

So, starting in June, look for a movie review somewhere in the middle of each month. The focus of this blog will continue to be a celebration of the comics in their classic format, but as the future of Marvel’s most popular characters is now being played out in blockbuster movies, in living color, with symphonic soundtracks and special effects for all the world to see, I’m excited to explore this marvelous new territory opening up here in The Marvelous Zone.

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MARVELOUS MOVIES: THE AVENGERS (2012)

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Chrissy

In my Captain America review I started by saying that overhyped blockbusters rarely live up to the hype. Key word being “rarely.” Meaning: most don’t live up to the hype. But some do.

Case in point: The Avengers.

Before going to see this movie, I considered it highly hyped. I know that with this cast, and with Joss Whedon as director, Russ and I were expecting great things. No, better than great things—fantastic things!

And we were not disappointed.

At the risk of sounding like a gushing fan girl, I have to say that The Avengers is the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen. Now, I’m sort of new to the genre, but after having watched all of the feed-in movies last week, and waxing eloquent about most of them, even in light of all that, I still think The Avengers was EVEN BETTER.

This might come down to a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Yes, each of these Marvel superhero characters is interesting and compelling and fascinating and whatever superlative adjectives you might want to use in their own right, but what really takes the whole experience over the top, I think, is putting them all together in one room and watching how they interact with each other.

I asked Russ afterwards which he thought the best scene in the movie was, and he said that scene in the beginning when they all first meet, and the conversation that goes on between them, because it’s so real, and so in character, and so exactly how each of them would react to the others. Here we have a group of extremely distinct personalities. Not only do their superpowers differ from each other, but these powers have been granted or visited upon people who are strong characters in their own right, even without superpowers. You throw superpowers on top of such strong personalities, and…kaboom! And then you put all those super personalities and powers together in one room and…DOUBLE KABOOM!

That was the most fun for me. Watching them all get along (or, sometimes, NOT get along) with each other. And, in the end, when push comes to shove, seeing them band together.

I very much enjoyed the new and improved Bruce Banner. Not only is he now being portrayed by a different actor (Mark Ruffalo) but I also sensed a subtle change in his demeanor. He’s still dealing with his overwhelming angst about “The Other Guy,” as he refers to Hulk, but I enjoyed seeing him at work, having something to do, being a brilliant scientist. And of course he and Tony Stark hit it off right away, which is as it should be, and was a lot of fun. It was nice that Betty Ross did not make an appearance in this movie. Frankly, she would have had nothing to add to the storyline, and she may have just got our Dr. Bruce acting all sappy and whiny again. Glad that didn’t happen.

Thor returns to Earth on a mission, and there is a brief nod to his love interest, Jane Foster, where we find out that she is safe. And then we don’t hear from her or talk about her again. Because this is not her movie. We may see more of Jane Foster in Thor 2, scheduled for release in November 2013. But right now, Thor’s kinda too busy for her.

One character I’m glad we got to see a lot more of is Nick Fury. So far, I’ve only known him as this mysterious figure who shows up to invite people to be an Avenger, but now we really get to see his leadership qualities. And he’s pretty good with a bazooka too.

There’s only one girl in this group, Natasha, the Black Widow, and we have a few good scenes that flesh her out more as a character. We hear a bit about her past, get a hint of what motivates her, and for the first time sense some vulnerability, making her seem more human than she did in Iron Man 2. This time around I felt she was a little more than simply window dressing, a “Wow!” factor for all the males in the audience. She’s still all that, of course, but she’s also starting to feel more like a real person.

I was also glad to see Agent Coulson in this one, even as he has been in all the feed-in movies to date, and I especially enjoyed his fanboy adoration of Captain America. That would, of course, fit right in with his character. In fact, I would almost be surprised if it wasn’t Captain America that inspired him to pursue the career path that ultimately puts him in SHIELD. Coulson had some good lines…and some very powerful scenes.

As for Cap, I am gaining even more appreciation for his character. Since he is so much of a leader, seeing him in a group of superheroes, many of whom are natural leaders in their own right, really gives him the chance to shine as a leader. And as a member of a team. The “fish out of water” stuff was also fun.

In fact, there’s so much fun in this movie, that a couple of times the audience was laughing so much, we couldn’t hear the next line. No, it’s not a comedy, but there are some good comic lines. I won’t spoil any of them for you here (in case you haven’t seen the movie yet, and if you haven’t, shame on you! Get ye to a movie theatre, pronto!). On top of that, though, I’m pretty certain I’m lacking the “Joke Gene” in my DNA, because I generally have a terrible time remembering jokes. A ouple of really funny ones do stick out, though, but to repeat them here would not do them justice. Really: Just go see for yourself.

Many many months ago, when Russ and I heard that Joss Whedon was going to direct The Avengers, we found this exciting news. We of course know Joss Whedon from his work on Buffy and Angel, so with that in his resumé, the ample and appropriate use of humor was a given. Another given with Whedon, is that he has no qualms about taking the plot in a direction that other movie directors would never dare attempt. As Russ says, “Nothing’s sacred.” Again, I won’t spoil, but if you haven’t already seen the movie….do be ready for anything.

As all comic book fans know, every band of superheroes must have its supervillains, and Loki stands out as the bad guy in all this. He’s working with this group of aliens who are, at least to me, token aliens, token bad guys. Pretty standard fare. But Loki…oh, he is deliciously evil! Of course, we’ve got all that sibling rivalry with Thor at the bottom of it, and he is after all, the God of Mischief. Still, what goes on here is a lot more than simple mischief. He’s evil, and insane, and so much fun to watch.

Of course, the best part about Loki is seeing him get vanquished in the end. No spoiler here, I’m sure. Obviously the bad guys are not going to come out on top. There’s this terrific battle between our superheroes and the alien forces, played out on the streets of New York City, with the Stark skyscraper in the background. It’s all a bit over the top, if you ask me, but then…hey! We’re dealing with comic book heroes here! Of course it’s over the top! And to any who might scoff, “But that would never happen!” Well…duh! That’s why it’s in a movie! A comic book movie! The final sequence is a rollicking bit of action worthy of the very best battles ever laid out by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in the day. Totally worthy, and very likely surpassing anything you might be able to imagine.

I thoroughily enjoyed my first look at The Avengers . This movie cries out for a second viewing. And maybe a third or fourth. It moved so fast, and was so chock full of good stuff, I’m sure I didn’t catch it all on a a first viewing. We saw it in 2D, because we wanted to be able to follow the story and the characters and not be overly distracted by special effects. But now that we have one showing under our belts, we’ve decided to go back in a couple of weeks and see how this thing looks in 3D IMAX. We haven’t seen anything yet in 3D IMAX. We were waiting for a movie worthy of the price of admission for something like that.

And we feel certain that with The Avengers, we’ve picked a winner.

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