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Post by Cei-U! on Jul 2, 2015 8:27:05 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. No fooling. A bunch of welded-together stovepipes topped with an artillery shell and the aerial from a '61 Oldsmobile. It looks like Jack knocked it out on his coffee break. Cei-U! I summon the rare Kirby fail!
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Post by kongat44 on Jul 2, 2015 19:23:16 GMT -5
Now we're happening, we have multiple artists, with their own styles, doing their own titles, where any character can appear in any other book. This is the Marvel I love.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 2, 2015 21:32:34 GMT -5
March of 1963 (the cover dates at least) was one of the most historically important months, I'd say. Amazing Spider-Man and FF are the first real "Marvel Universe" issues and Incredible Hulk #6 is the Hulk's last solo title for a good while. Iron Man's debut is the clincher. Actually, 1963 might be the most important year of the entire Marvel Age. With the exception of Daredevil, virtually all the big name characters and concepts make their debut in that year.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 4, 2015 10:51:51 GMT -5
Tales to Astonish #39 Cover Date: March, 1963 Credits
Script: Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script) Pencils: Don Heck Inks: Don Heck Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Synopsis: When Hank Pym goes to visit one of his scientific colleagues, he finds him missing with his home still locked from the inside. After learning that scientists are being kidnapped from a news report, Pym figures that he’ll get to the bottom of the mystery given that he himself is a scientists and is sure to be a target. Bidding his time for the kidnapper to strike, Pym is visited by a salesman for a window-washing service. The salesman tricks Pym by dousing him with a chemical that paralyses him. After putting some strange devices on their heads, they are transported to an alternate dimension. In this dimension, a warlord by the name of Kulla is forcing the kidnapped scientists to build a super-weapon, a sort of death-ray, to destroy the rebels who are sieging his fortress. Pym has himself isolated and changes into Ant-Man. After several tussles with the extradimensional aliens, Pym finally succeeds in defeating Kulla by having alien insects activate the death-ray. With Kulla dead, the rebels storm the fortress and take control. After capturing the traitorous window-washer, Pym and the scientist return to their own dimension. Character Appearances: Ant-Man [Henry Pym]; Kulla; Ed Marion ('window washer', named in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook); Ben Carter; Paul Comments: It feels like I’ve read this story several times before. This is basically an amalgam of stories that we’ve already encountered in Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales. These generic captured scientist/alien abductor stories are getting tiresome, to say the least. If Pym had any kind of supporting cast I don’t think the strip would be nearly as bland. Even though the Torch’s Strange Tales adventures are usually mediocre, he at least has Sue, and usually Reed and Ben, to give his adventures a little jolt. Stan and Larry are clearly hacking it at bit with this story, covering and recovering the same ground. Even Don Heck’s art seems uninspired. It’s not nearly as good as his art in Tales of Suspense #39, which came out the same month. Character Development: Are you serious? Pym is about as generic as they come so far. Say what you will about the emotionally unstable abusive husband that we’ll encounter down the road, at least there was SOMETHING in that version for readers to latch onto. Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 3/4. This issues is easily one of the weakest Ant-Man stories so far, completely uninspired and seemingly rushed if the hackneyed plot and sketchy art is any indication. Nothing of note is introduced; I barely count generic extra-dimensional aliens as an addition to the Marvel Universe, particularly when they’re not even given a name!
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Post by the4thpip on Jul 4, 2015 15:07:22 GMT -5
I am loving that cover, though.
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Post by The Cheat on Jul 4, 2015 15:48:46 GMT -5
Urggh. I've got the Ant Man Epic on my to-read pile. I'm not exactly looking forward to it
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Post by the4thpip on Jul 5, 2015 1:57:24 GMT -5
Urggh. I've got the Ant Man Epic on my to-read pile. I'm not exactly looking forward to it I am teetotal myself, but couldn't it be fun as a drinking game? Like, have a shot for every time aliens abduct scientists, have a shot for every senselessly dangerous contraption Ant-Man uses to catapult himself halfway across the city etc?
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 5, 2015 2:12:28 GMT -5
Urggh. I've got the Ant Man Epic on my to-read pile. I'm not exactly looking forward to it I am teetotal myself, but couldn't it be fun as a drinking game? Like, have a shot for every time aliens abduct scientists, have a shot for every senselessly dangerous contraption Ant-Man uses to catapult himself halfway across the city etc? If they read all the stories in one night using your guidelines, which is quite possible given that many are only 10 pages, there's a good chance that they'll die of alcohol poisoning! How about whoever makes it to the Wasp's first appearance without hurling get's a lifetime reprieve from ever having to read the stories again? (I'm being a little harsh here. Ant-Man's a great character...but those early stories...)
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 5, 2015 12:37:19 GMT -5
I am teetotal myself, but couldn't it be fun as a drinking game? Like, have a shot for every time aliens abduct scientists, have a shot for every senselessly dangerous contraption Ant-Man uses to catapult himself halfway across the city etc? If they read all the stories in one night using your guidelines, which is quite possible given that many are only 10 pages, there's a good chance that they'll die of alcohol poisoning! How about whoever makes it to the Wasp's first appearance without hurling get's a lifetime reprieve from ever having to read the stories again? (I'm being a little harsh here. Ant-Man's a great character... but those early stories...) Are still better than the contemporaneous Human Torch series in Strange Tales.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 5, 2015 13:52:09 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #13 Cover Date: April, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee Pencils: Jack Kirby Inks: Steve Ditko Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Synopsis: As our story opens, Reed Richards explains to the rest of Fantastic Four that he has developed a new form of rocket fuel from a meteor which will allow them to journey to the moon. While the FF prepare for their adventure into space, the communist space explorer Ivan Kragoff is training three apes to aid him in piloting his own ship to the moon. Both groups launch into space at the same moment, but Kragoff has special plans for his journey. Having learned of the FF’s origin, he has designed his craft to be transparent; without any shielding, Kragoff and his apes are bathed in the same cosmic rays that gave the FF their powers. Because of this exposure, Kragoff’s gorilla is made superhumanly strong, his baboon gains the ability to change his shape into anything and the orangutan gains magnetic powers. Kragoff himself gains the ability to phase through solid objects and to become intangible, thus becoming the Red Ghost. The FF touch down first in the mysterious Blue Area of the moon; a long dead city of unknown alien origin. Reed, Sue and the Torch scout ahead, but Ben is left behind, and as he moves off to join his comrades, he’s attacked by the Red Ghost and his super apes. However a mysterious and powerful being known as the Watcher intervenes and transports the FF, as well as the Red Ghost and his apes, to a secluded area of the dead city. The Red Ghost ambushes the FF and captures Sue, but Reed formulates a plan to rescue her. Sue escapes her capture by disabling the force field that keeps the super apes imprisoned and after they break free, she escapes. The Red Ghost has prepared a trap for the FF, a death ray found in the dead city, but Sue warns Torch and the Thing, allowing the Torch to melt the weapon. The Red Ghost escapes, and after attempting to explore the Watchers home, is transported back and forth through time by the Watcher and cast out like an insect. Reed arrives, having created a paralysis gun to stop the Red Ghost. With the Red Ghost subdued, the Watcher arrives and congratulates the FF on their victory. The super apes find the Red Ghost, but instead of freeing him, turn on him and chase him away into the distance. Having succeeding in being the first humans to set foot on the moon, the FF return to Earth in their ship. Character Appearances: The Fantastic Four [the Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; The Invisible Girl [Sue Storm]; the Thing [Ben Grimm]; Mr. Fantastic [Reed Richards]]; the Red Ghost [Ivan Kragoff] (origin); the Red Ghost's super-apes (origin); the Watcher [Uatu] (introduction) Comments: This might be my favorite issue of the FF so far. The issue is incredibly important, for obvious reasons, but it should be noted that this is the first time that a communist enemy is presented as being something more than a formulaic “red tyrant” or spy. The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes are interesting characters and manage to be a serious threat to the FF. Of course the most important character to debut in this issue is the Watcher. The Watcher is the first “cosmic being” introduced in the Marvel Universe (Odin’s as powerful, but he’s not a cosmically powered alien, so it fits.) and will have an enormous impact, not just on the mythos of the FF, but on the Marvel Universe in general. He’ll basically be present form this moment on for every major event in the Marvel Universe. Just as important is the introduction the Blue Area, which as we all now know, will be revealed later on as an ancient Kree city. It’s amazing how many ramifications these two introductions to the FF’s mag will have as the years unfold. Beyond the historic importance of this issue, it’s just a flat out good story. Given some of Stan’s dialog, which is a bit heavy granted, it seems as if he’s slowly moving beyond the black and white anti-communist propaganda we’ve seen so far. One of my favorite parts of the issue is how Stan and Jack use the Russian meteor impact of 1908 as the origin of the rocket fuel meteors. The art is good, but not great; I think that has to do with Ditko not being a good fit for Kirby’s pencils. It’s great to see these two legends as the art team, but their styles are just too different and don’t mesh well. It’s not a major drawback, though. Character Development: I think this issues hammers home that the FF are explorers first and superheroes second. The scene in the beginning when Ben, Sue and Johnny take Reed to task for wanting to go to the Moon alone is a great scene that illustrates how close they’ve all become. Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 8/9. Like I stated above, this is simply a great issue. Its importance can’t be overstated, not just for the introduction of the Watcher (and the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe) but for the Kree city and what that will eventually lead to. As if that wasn’t enough, we get an interesting new villain in the Red Ghost. Arguably the strongest issue of the Fantastic Four so far.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 5, 2015 21:44:08 GMT -5
I like the Kirby/Ditko art! Incredible Hulk #2 is one of my favorite early Marvels.
And there's a great war story titled "A Tank Knows No Mercy" that's got Kirby/Ditko art. It's in one of the later issues of the Atlas war title Battle.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 6, 2015 8:05:03 GMT -5
I certainly don't hate the art. I guess I'm such a big fan of the Kirby/Ayers art, and such a HUGE fan of the Kirby/Sinnott art, that I'm biased when it comes to Kirby's FF run. Ditko's inks usually only work for me over his own pencils, so I think that plays a part in it.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 14, 2015 9:32:30 GMT -5
Journey Into Mystery #91 Cover Date: April, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script) Pencils: Joe Sinnott Inks: Joe Sinnott Colors: Stan Goldberg (most likely) Letters: Terry Szenics Synopsis: Still imprisoned in Asgard, Loki gives a carnival mentalist named Sandu greatly enhanced powers in a scheme to destroy his half-brother, Thor. Sandu immediately begins to use his powers for evil, attempting to steal a bank by levitating it into the air. Thor attempts to stop him, but Sandu teleports the bank outside the city, sending the occupants back to the city with their memories erased. Sandu then levitates the entire United Nations building into the air, demanding that they make him ruler of the earth. Hot on his heels, Thor confronts Sandu, but is rendered nearly unconscious after Sandu hits him with a crane and a stack of steel girders. As Thor lays helpless, Sandu wraps him in chains and drops a building on top of him. However, Thor pleads to Odin for aid, and Odin sends his Valkyries to Earth with Thor’s enchanted belt of strength. Once wearing the belt, Thor easily breaks his chains and escapes. Sandu tricks Thor into hurling his hammer at him and instantly teleports the hammer, as well as the nearby surroundings, to another dimension. Sandu’s greed gets the better of him and he overtaxes himself in a vain attempt to lift the hammer with his mental powers. Overriding his own actions, Sandu and the hammer return to Earth and Thor easily defeats Sandu, foiling Loki’s scheme. Character Appearances: Thor [Doctor Donald Blake]; Loki; Sandu (introduction); Jane Foster; Odin; Valkyries (introduction) Comments: This is one of those issues that I feel had a lot of promise, but was botched a bit. The main reason for this is that the power levels seemed all over the place. Sandu, after all, was “almost” as powerful as Loki, yet he seemed to be far more powerful than Loki himself up till then. Sandu certainly had a thing for showing off his powers by psychically levitating extremely large buildings. This story has a distinct DC Silver Age vibe to it, even though Thor comes off not only as “dramatically weak” given the chain incident, but also a bit of a lunkhead seeing as how easily Sandu tricks him. All this taken into account, the story comes off a bit silly and out of place in execution, if not in theory. Joe Sinnott's art is very good, unfortunately he draws virtually all the characters off-model in relation to Jack Kirby. It does seem that he had little to no knowledge of Kirby’s version of Norse Mythology, which is odd; he portrays Asgard as a floating city in the clouds (As opposed to being in another dimension with the Rainbow Bridge) and the Valkyries as somewhat generic angelic figures as opposed to warrior maidens. Character Development: The only interesting scene on this front is that Jane Foster almost learns that Don Blake loves her. As quaint as this tragic romance is to modern readers, I do think it was a good idea to have Odin decree that Thor can’t reveal himself to a mortal. As it originally stood, Don Blake/Thor’s reasoning was more than nonsensical. Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 5/6. The issue wasn’t bad, but it had more than its fair share of problems. I think it rates a solid “average” on the scale. I give it an ever so slight bump in importance because of the belt of strength and the Valkyries.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 14, 2015 12:41:32 GMT -5
The romantic part of the comics gets more and more annoying as you go forward, to the point that by the time Odin completely forbids the relationship, I half agreed with him.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 19, 2015 2:14:15 GMT -5
Strange Tales #107 Cover Date: April, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script) Pencils: Dick Ayers Inks: Dick Ayers Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Synopsis: Still feeling that the rest of the FF don’t take him as seriously as they should because of his age, Johnny decides that if he can defeat the Sub-Mariner by himself, then he’ll prove that he’s deserving of more respect. The Torch heads off to the part of the Atlantic that the Sub-Mariner frequents, but has to take a break on a passing ship because his flame has exhausted itself. The crew not believing that Johnny is the Human Torch, proceed to make him swab the deck. The ship soon hits a thick fog bank and the crew discover that their lights and horn are malfunctioning. His flame renewed, Johnny turns into the Torch and uses his powers to light the way for the ship. Taking his leave of the ship and its crew, the Torch proceeds to call out the Sub-Mariner by writing a challenge in the sky over the water. The Torch and Sub-Mariner proceed to battle each other, but in the end, the Torch uses his nova flame to drive Namor deep into the ocean where the Torch seals him into a makeshift tunnel. Exhausted, the Torch is rescued by the same ship that he saved and they proceed to take him back to the mainland. Namor escapes his prison, and thinking that the Torch has fled, doesn’t press the issue. Johnny finally returns home, crashing on his bed just as Sue returns from visiting a friend. Character Appearances: Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; Sub-Mariner [Namor McKenzie]; Thing [Ben Grimm] (cameo); Mister Fantastic [Reed Richards] (cameo); Invisible Girl [Sue Storm] (cameo) Comments: This issue is a straightforward Torch vs Sub-Mariner slugfest and it works. We’re still in the early days of Namor’s Silver Age adventures, so we have him displaying goofy abilities like being able to puff up like a puffer fish and more useful abilities like being able to generate electricity similar to an eel. I’ve always wondered why these powers never stuck with Namor, beyond the fact that the creators obviously didn’t think it worked for such a “serious” anti-hero. I get the puffer fish power being forgotten, but electrical generation is kind of cool. The Torch comments in this issue that he’d like to figure out the exact duration of his ability to maintain his flame. You’d think that Reed would have long since figured this out and told the Torch, but I guess the “drama” that this limitation generated in the stories was viewed as being too important to do away with. Dick Ayers continues to impress me with his art on the Torch adventures. I’ve become a big fan of his work over the years. His Namor might be a bit too “smiley” for my taste, but that’s a minor quibble as the art as a whole is really great. Character Development: Johnny’s really been struggling with the respect issue these last two issues. It’s a nice touch to have him obsess over this as a teenager. Sure, it seems quaint now, but these little touches were groundbreaking in 1963. Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 7/6. I feel this is easily the best Torch adventure so far, mainly because it features a great antagonist and it has a nice balance of action and humor. I give it a slight bump in importance because it’s the first solo confrontation between the Torch and Namor in the Silver Age.
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