Pages

▼

Monday, 2 June 2014

Fifty years ago this month - June 1964.

As I tread the boards of Sheffield's finest comedy clubs, wowing everyone, with my wide range of farmyard impressions, people often say to me, "Steve, you great big, fatheaded ignoramus. If your blog's supposed to be about things that're comic, why don't you do more features about the classic 1970s and '80s sit-com Terry and June? I love Terry and June and would happily murder anyone who doesn't also like it."

Well, those people only need to murder fifty percent of me. Because I don't have much Terry but I do have a whole load of June for you.


Amazing Spider-Man #13, Mysterio

Mysterio makes his mind-bending (and possibly spoon-bending) debut.

I don't care how lame some people claim he was; Mysterio was always one of my favourite villains and he had probably my favourite costume of any criminal.

If I ever turn to crime, this is definitely how I'll dress in order to do it.

In fact, I think I'll dress like it even if I don't turn to crime After all, how could people fail to respect me once I've donned such garb? How much more impressive my farmyard impressions shall sound coming from inside such a helmet.
Daredevil #2, Electro

Daredevil comes up against his first super-villain, as Electro gets zapping.

I used to have a copy of this issue. It was in decent nick and cost me less than £30. The lack of financial value of early Daredevil comics does seem unfair for one of Marvel's Silver Age Superstars.
Fantastic Four #27, The Sub-Mariner and Dr Strange

Subby's still trying to get his leg-over with Sue Storm.
Journey into Mystery #105, Thor, the Cobra and Mr Hyde

Gasp! How can our virtually all-powerful hero possibly hope to prevail, as Mr Hyde and the Cobra team up against him?
Strange Tales #121, Human Torch and the Plantman

It's hard to see how the Human Torch's strip failed to set the world alight when he was up against villains as epic as Plantman - a foe so mega he didn't even feel the need to hyphenate his name. Plantman fears nothing - not even the Comic Book Grammar Police.

Dr Strange is starting to make the cover now. This can't be good news for the Torch.
Tales of Suspense #54, Iron Man v the Mandarin

The Mandarin's back, on a very strange cover that obliterates the hero's face.

I can't remember ever seeing any other comic book cover that reduced its hero to such anonymity.

Nor can I remember one whose blurb tried to use its hero getting a new mask as a marketing tool.

Come to think of it, what was the new mask? Was it the one with the rivets along its edges?
Tales to Astonish #56, Giant-Man vs the Magician

Giant-Man's still in search of a foe who's not completely useless.

And hes still failing.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous2 June 2014 at 23:47

    "a whole load of June for you"? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (oh the humanity) ha ha ha ha ha (can't breath) ha ha ha ha ha (we miss you Ann).

    The Prowler (standing in a puddle of pee).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Doug3 June 2014 at 02:27

    A dopey lot of stories, to be sure. But, don't they make you want to grab a Masterworks or an Essential something or other? I love these posts!

    Doug

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve W.3 June 2014 at 09:13

    Thank you, Doug and Prowler.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3 June 2014 at 13:14

    On the Fantastic Four cover Dr. Strange is completely green - perhaps that's supposed to depict him in his non-corporeal form ? Steve, I don't know much about Sub-Mariner lore but do you know why he's monarch (ie.king) of Atlantis and yet he's always called "prince" Namor - why not King Namor ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Steve W.3 June 2014 at 18:15

    Colin, I don't have a clue why he's only a prince. It's something I've wondered about in the past as well.

    Then again, why's Dr Strange called, "Doctor," when he's a surgeon, and surgeon's are called, "Mr"? Surely that means he should be called Mr Strange.

    Then again, why's Dr Doom called Dr Doom when he's not a doctor? He was kicked out of university and never completed his education.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous3 June 2014 at 22:51

    Again, I'm just passing along the fruit of other's labor. My source, Amazing Heroes 16, cover dated Oct 1982. Robert Jones' Namor Rex!

    "After the death of Namor's grandfather, Emperor Thakorr, it was decided that henceforth the ruler of Atlantis would bear only the title of prince, this signifying that he was ruling in the stead of the "real" Lord of Atlantis, King Neptune."

    I know very little of Amazing Heroes so I can not vouchsafe for their veracity. I do enjoy reading them and I would search out more back issues if I didn't already own way too much as it is.

    The Prowler (still laughing over the whole "load of June").

    ReplyDelete
  7. Aggy3 June 2014 at 22:59

    @Steve @Colin Because Stan Lee that's why...

    Excelsior!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4 June 2014 at 00:23

    Prowler, thanks for the explanation but I suspect that was made up later on to explain it all away...?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5 June 2014 at 15:17

    The tradition of calling surgeons "mister" instead of "doctor" seems to be uniquely British. In the US, surgeons are called "doctor."

    Victor Von Doom's doctorate is probably self-awarded and I wouldn't want to be the one to argue the point with him.

    The Amazing Heroes explanation for "Prince" Namor does sound like an afterthought.

    I think Doctor Strange was sometimes depicted as green or white when in non-corporeal form, that is, invisible, intangible, or using astral projection.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous5 June 2014 at 19:59

    I don't think Namor will ever get over his love for Susan Storm. Actually, there is still an outside chance that the two of them might yet get together, if Reed and Sue ever have another separation and eventual divorce. While such is unlikely, it is still a distinct possibility.

    ReplyDelete