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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 26, 2015 7:22:48 GMT -5
This was an experiment on Stan Lee's part to see how Al Hartley--one of the mainstays of Marvel's teen humor line--handled super-heroes. It was blatantly obvious he had no feel for the genre whatsoever and Stan gave him no further assignments outside of the Millie the Model-Patsy Walker titles. One of Stan's rare miscues as Goodman's de facto art director. Cei-U! I summon the oops! Once again your insight proves invaluable, Cei-U. I audibly groaned when this issue came up on Mike's Newsstand. I've read it once before and it was even worse the second time around. I do realize that you can't always judge an artist who's working outside their normal genre in situations like this, particularly with these early comic book artists who had little to go on in terms of source material. It's quite possible that Hartley had barely even seen superhero comics before if he spent most of his career in teen humor or romance, for instance. I highly doubt many of these guys ever actually read superhero comics.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 29, 2015 2:26:27 GMT -5
Strange Tales #106 Cover Date: March, 1963 Credits
Script: Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script) Pencils: Dick Ayers Inks: Dick Ayers Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: John Duffy Synopsis: Carl Zante, the Acrobat, convinces Johnny that he’s underappreciated in the Fantastic Four and that together they would be an unstoppable crime fighting duo. Johnny accepts, and seemingly quitting the FF, he is tricked into melting open a bank vault door by Zante. Zante reveals his plot and Johnny admits that he suspected Zante all along but is shot in the arm as the Acrobat makes his escape. The FF arrive and quickly subdue him, yet he escapes again. The Torch decides that it’s his job to put a stop to the Acrobat once and for all. With the Acrobat taken care of, Johnny rejoins the FF. Character Appearances: Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; Acrobat [Carl Zante] (introduction); Invisible Girl [Sue Storm]; Mr. Fantastic [Reed Richards]; Thing [Ben Grimm]; Miracle Man [Joshua Ayers] (flashback); Sub-Mariner [Namor McKenzie] (flashback); Doctor Doom [Victor von Doom] (flashback) Comments: This is the hilarious issue where Stan and Larry finally address the absurd idea that Johnny has a secret identity, even though he’s quite public and well known in the pages of the Fantastic Four. It’s doubly funny that the villain of the piece is the one that breaks it to the poor lad. Basically, the whole town liked the Human Torch so much they didn’t want to hurt Johnny’s feelings. It’s sort of left up in the air whether or not Johnny was serious about joining the Acrobat, but given his cluelessness about everyone knowing his “secret,” I suspect he was serious and was simply trying to save face. To top off this episode of shame, Johnny breaks out the sowing machine and designs, what could be, the goofiest costume of the early Marvel Age. I get the feeling that Johnny might have erased this little moment of his history from the FF database, if only to keep Spider-Man from ever learning about it. Interesting to me, particularly given that this is otherwise such a goofy and lighthearted issue, is that Johnny is actually shot in the arm by the Acrobat. I can't recall many times in the Silver Age where a hero is injured by gunfire. I can't recall many times at all during the Comics Code Authority era, even deep into the Bronze Age. I have always loved Dick Ayer's art and I think he did a great job in this issue. I think of all the artists in the early era of Marvel, he did the best at appropriating some of the strengths of Kirby's style while maintaining his own personality as an artist. Character Development: Not only is Johnny naïve and ridiculously impulsive, but he’s also a world-class seamstress. Why isn’t this skill ever included in any of his RPG stats? Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 5/5. Surprisingly, I’m not going to give this a below average score. I find it too amusing and entertaining to do that. There is a certain charm to this issue, not only because of the goofiness mentioned above, but also with the cameo appearance of the FF and the ridiculous Acrobat. It gets an average historic rank for at least being the death knell for the Torch’s ill-fated secret identity era.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 29, 2015 2:48:02 GMT -5
I almost forgot...
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Post by the4thpip on Jun 29, 2015 8:33:40 GMT -5
I'd wear that!
The Acrobat's next appearance has some historical significance, surprisingly.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jun 29, 2015 9:11:07 GMT -5
I almost forgot... So did he change his name to go along with the new outfit? I would've suggested the "Flaming Beret".
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 29, 2015 9:36:52 GMT -5
He didn't change his name, but Flaming Beret would have been a good choice. This issue is doubly funny to me because it can be read as if Johnny is having a psychological breakdown. "What? Everybody knows I'm the Torch?" "Sure I'll join you shifty looking stranger!" "Isn't my orange beret, made from unstable molecules, cool sis!"
Obviously that's not what the creators intended, but from a modern context, yeah, it sure reads that way!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 29, 2015 11:42:44 GMT -5
I was at Comic-Con in San Diego (I went three years in a row in, I think, 1995, 1996 and 1997) and Mark Evanier moderated a Dick Ayers question-and-answer panel. I asked Mr. Ayers about the whole "Human Torch secret identity" situation.
He got a bit indignant and said "The Human Torch never had a secret identity!" and looked at me like I was crazy. Evanier quickly moved on to the next questioner.
Otherwise, Ayers was pretty cool, if a bit cranky.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 29, 2015 12:17:24 GMT -5
That's pretty funny... I wonder if he really didn't remember, or if its more of a 'that was stupid so I don't want to admit it'. kinda thing.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 29, 2015 12:44:49 GMT -5
That's pretty funny... I wonder if he really didn't remember, or if its more of a 'that was stupid so I don't want to admit it'. kinda thing. Given his age, the number of years since the job was done and the fact that for most of the guys at that time it was "just a job" it seems far more likely that he had forgotten.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 29, 2015 13:45:23 GMT -5
I wouldn't doubt that he simply forgot. There's an interesting video on YouTube where Jack Kirby is doing a brilliant sketch of Dr. Doom, sometime in the early-to-mid 80's, and he seems to have forgotten a few basic facts about Doom's background. These guys that started in the Golden Age did so much work, particularly as artists, that even the milestones were probably hard to recall at the drop of a hat.
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Post by paulie on Jun 30, 2015 16:46:09 GMT -5
I have always loved Dick Ayer's art and I think he did a great job in this issue. I think of all the artists in the early era of Marvel, he did the best at appropriating some of the strengths of Kirby's style while maintaining his own personality as an artist. Well said. I completely agree. Even in a couple of their collaborations, I'm thinking Two Gun Kid and Avengers #16, it is hard to tell where Kirby ends and Ayers begins or vice-versa.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 2, 2015 2:52:40 GMT -5
Tales of Suspense #39 Cover Date: March, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script) Pencils: Don Heck Inks: Don Heck Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Synopsis: As our story opens, we’re introduced to industrialist and millionaire playboy Tony Stark, a brilliant inventor and developer of high-tech transistor-based weaponry for the U.S. military. While accompanying soldiers in Vietnam to make sure his inventions work properly, he’s gravely injured when stumbling on a tripwire. He’s discovered by a minion of Wong-Chu, a communist tyrant, and brought back to his headquarters. It’s explained that Stark has shrapnel lodged near his heart and his condition is inoperable; once the shrapnel works its way to his heart, he’ll die. Wong-Chu commands Stark to build weapons for him, claiming that he’ll only get treatment if he does so. Stark realizes that this is a lie and sets out to build a weapon to escape. He’s soon joined by Professor Yinsen, a dissident who opposes Wong-Chu as well as one of the world’s most brilliant scientist. Both men set out to design a sophisticated suit of armor, not only as a weapon, but as a way to prevent Stark from dying. With the armor finished with Stark inside, Yinsen heroically sacrificed his own life to give the armor time to charge. Stark uses the armor to escape his prison, and after tossing Wong-Chu around a bit, he easily dispatches Wong-Chu’s soldiers, causing them to flee in terror. Wong-Chu, losing his nerve once his men desert him, runs to where the prisoners are being held in a cowardly attempt to have them all killed before Iron Man can stop it. However, Iron Man shoots a stream of oil to the ammo supply and lights it, causing it to explode, killing Wong-Chu and saving the prisoners. Character Appearances: Iron Man [Tony Stark] (introduction, origin); Wong-Chu (villain, introduction), Professor Yinsen (introduction, death) Comments: Iron Man’s debut, while steeped in Cold War propaganda, is a surprisingly well written tale. It’s a bit unfortunate that Vietnam was used, but Stan and Larry can hardly be faulted for this in 1963; the idea that America wasn’t always the “good guys” was an unknown concept to most men of their generation. It goes without saying that they had no knowledge of what was really behind U.S. involvement in the region. Politics aside, this story shows a bit of social progression with the inclusion of Professor Yinsen, a Vietnamese citizen and hero. Making a point to show that not all Vietnamese were base “evil communist,” while being a no-brainer to historians and some adults, was a good message to send to kids who had been, all too often, conditioned not to empathize with foreigners in comics. The fact that Iron Man takes out Wong-Chu, instead of capturing him, adds gravitas to the story, particularly since Iron Man was directly responsible and present when it happened. (A lot of these stories seem to end in grand explosions in the distance, muting the impact in most cases.) Don Heck does a great job on art duties. I’ve grown to appreciate his artwork over the years, and while he was probably best suited for romance comics, the world of Tony Stark is still a good fit for his talents. Character Development: We don’t get much of what Tony’s like as a socialite, but I think you get a good enough sense from the issue that he’s going to be quite different from the other heroes we’ve seen so far. Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 7/10. I think the issue is strong and packs a lot of dramatic punch for being a mere 13 pages. Given Iron Man’s current high profile in comics and in the films, it’s now one of the most important Silver Age origin issues.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 2, 2015 2:54:29 GMT -5
I have always loved Dick Ayer's art and I think he did a great job in this issue. I think of all the artists in the early era of Marvel, he did the best at appropriating some of the strengths of Kirby's style while maintaining his own personality as an artist. Well said. I completely agree. Even in a couple of their collaborations, I'm thinking Two Gun Kid and Avengers #16, it is hard to tell where Kirby ends and Ayers begins or vice-versa. I think Ayers is the best thing about the Human Torch strip. He might be the only good thing about them!
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Post by Cei-U! on Jul 2, 2015 7:09:00 GMT -5
Amazing Fantasy #15 excepted, I think Iron Man's is the strongest of the first wave of Marvel origins, due largely to Lieber and Heck. This is hands down the best writing of Larry's career: perfectly paced and with nary a wasted word. Alas, it's his only script for the series, as hackmeister Robert Bernstein succeeds him in ToS #40. I also much prefer Heck's interpretation of Jack Kirby's armor design, as it is far more believable that someone could function effectively in it than in Jack's clunky version that becomes the norm with the next issue.
Cei-U! I summon the winning combination!
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 2, 2015 7:46:19 GMT -5
I agree. Kirby's Iron Man was one of his few misfires in terms of the major characters. It was downright comical at points.
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