Monday 5 August 2013

Fifty years ago today - August 1963.

With the world still reeling from the news that The Thick of It star Peter Capaldi is to be the new Doctor Who, it's time for us to once more leap into the Steve Does Comics TARDIS and fall headlong into the year 1963 to discover what our favourite Marvel characters were up to back when even Dr Who was no more than a twinkle in our Eye of Harmony.

Will they too find themselves in the thick of it?

Or will they, like Capaldi, each find him or herself to be quite the Local Hero?


Fantastic Four #17, Dr Doom

It's like the worst ever edition of Total Wipeout as Dr Doom inflicts his latest perils on the Fantastic Four.
Journey into Mystery #95, Thor

I don't like to criticise a man's masterplan but, now that the faux Thor's flung away both his hammers - you know, the things that keep him in the air - doesn't that mean he's about to plunge to his death?

Somehow, this isn't shaping up to be the most arduous, or long-lasting, fight Thor's ever had.
Strange Tales #111, Human Torch v Asbestos Man

Speaking of badly thought-out plans; now we get a man who decides that the ideal way to commit crimes is to wrap himself in asbestos.

Next month we get to meet a man who decides the best way to see off Ant-Man's little friends is to spray himself from head to foot with arsenic.
Tales of Suspense #44, Iron Man and Cleopatra

Last month, Iron Man was up against the She-inspired Kala. This month, he encounters Cleopatra. Even wrapped in armour, Tony Stark can't stay away from the ladies.
Tales to Astonish #46, Ant-Man, the Wasp and Cyclops

Ant-Man and the Wasp find themselves up against Cyclops - and I don't mean the X-Man.

I do wonder if this was the same Cyclops who fought Mr Fantastic in the early days of the Fantastic Four?

Is it just me or is Ant-Man's dialogue on this cover quite bizarre?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

In 1978 I bought a little novel-sized colour collection of the early Steve Ditko Dr. Strange stories which had originally appeared in Strange Tales - one of them also had Cleopatra as a guest star, she must have been sick of meeting super-heroes from the 20th Century ! I've always wondered whether Dr.Strange got his name because he first appeared in Strange Tales. Steve, I noticed that you have/had(?) something called Steve Does Dr. Who so what do you think of Peter Capaldi ? I looked for that blog but could only find one review from 2011.

Steve W. said...

Colin, towards the top right of this site's homepage, you'll find a link to Steve Does Dr Who. Sadly, I only managed to do about 20 reviews before I decided that being a critic just wasn't me.

I am curious to see what we'll get from Peter Capaldi. A lot of people seem to think we'll get a very angry performance from him but I have a suspicion he's going to do it fairly playfully. Only time will tell.

Anonymous said...

Yes , I feel there's something Tom Baker-ish about him, he could be an inspired choice. I'm no expert on Dr. Who lore but isn't it the case that the Doctor can only regenerate 12 times ? This is the 12th Doctor, they'll just hope everybody forgets about that I suppose.

Steve W. said...

It was claimed in an old story back in the 1970s that there's a limit to how many times a timelord can regenerate but there are ways to get round it.

For instance, it could be argued that the limit was enforced by the timelords and they're not around anymore to enforce it.

Then again, a couple of seasons back, River Song gave the Doctor her regeneration energy, which could enable him to break the limit.

And there's probably a million and one other ways it could be got round. That's the joy of science fiction, the writers can make the rules up as they go along.

Anonymous said...

They could also have used the " James Bond " option from the beginning - simply changing the actors without any explanation. The Doctor is supposed to be about 900 years old so that must mean he spent 850 years looking like William Hartnell and he's rattled through all his other selves in only 50 , that's pretty careless of him !