Admittedly, it's an August 1966 cover date but what's a mere fifty years to a man of my quality?
If my memory betrays me not, the Avengers are still in a scientifically advanced hidden land in the Andes which doesn't appear to have any connection with the Inhumans' recently introduced scientifically advanced hidden land in the Andes.
My memories of this one are vague, to put it mildly. Is this the issue where we first get hints of the Masked Marauder's true identity?
In a sensational development, we get the origin of both the Black Panther and Klaw, in one titanic tale.
It's a classic story but I'm not sure what that entity is on the cover. It seems to bear no resemblance to anything that's actually inside the comic.
New penciller Jazzy John Romita arrives with a bang as we get a classic cover and then the reveal of the true identity of Spidey's greatest foe.
This tale clearly has something to do with A.I.M.
Don't ask me what.
I don't have a clue.
In which, even when armed with the Cosmic Cube, the Red Skull still can't get within a million miles of beating Captain America. What a complete and total wally.
Subby and Iron Man are still slugging it out.
I could be wrong but I suspect this tale is drawn by Jack Kirby instead of the two characters' usual artist Gene Colan.
I think this is the build-up to Thor meeting Ego for the first time.
With that, and Tana Nile's huge big wide head thrown in, how could anyone not love the strip during this era?
Not quite on the same level as the aforementioned Thor epic, the X-Men tangle with a bunch of foes whose presence on a cover has never convinced anyone to part company with their money.
That looks like an absolute cracking month. FF, Cap, Spidey, Thor all hitting new heights.
ReplyDeleteWhile X-Men looks full of what looks like D-list villains today, remember this was the early days of Marvel. I'd have been excited about the return of all of those villains.
Daredevil and Strange Tales both look a bit meh to me though. And while the inside of Avengers wouldn't have been great, the cover makes up for it. You're not the only one, Steve, that appreciates a good Goliath dominated Avengers cover.
I thank that explodey shape on the F.F. cover is supposed the be the big red gorilla monster Klaw makes with his new solid-sound powers. I first read this story in the reprint comic MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS, where the big red gorilla dominated a new cover by Our Pal Sal.
ReplyDeleteThat Tales to Astonish story was drawn by both Colan and Kirby. One guy drew one part, and the other guy drew the other. I have no idea why, maybe somebody had to be somewhere else all of a sudden. It happens.
ReplyDeleteI'ts rather jarring, given that their two styles were so different. I'm a huge Gene Colan fan, but I think Kirby's style suited the subject matter (violent mayhem) better in this case.
A lot of great comics here, and Thor is in top form, telling the Romulian Empire (did I spell that right?)what's what, who's who, and to knock off their nonsense.
The stage is set for...the coming of Ego, the Living Planet!!!
Great post!
M.P.
The Thor, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four stories are definitely classics. Even though I can't actually remember what happens in the Daredevil story, I know I really liked the John Romita era of the strip, so I'm sure it's one I'd like if re-exposed to it.
ReplyDeleteA poor month for me here! I only bought the X - Men out of all of them!
ReplyDeleteThat issue of Strange Tales had the first post-Ditko Dr. Strange, drawn by Bill Everett.
ReplyDeleteFascinating trivia - Everett was a lineal descendant of William Blake. All the same, his Doc was underwhelming.
FF and Thor really hitting peak Kirby at this point - phenomenal stuff.
Somehow Jack still found the time to work on Tales to Astonish, although maybe it wasn't getting his full attention - got to agree with M.P. about the Gene the dean crossover, and as for the Hulk... well, the Boomerang wasn't in quite the same league as the Black Panther or Tana Nile and the colonizers of Rigel.
Funnily enough, I don't recall the Boomerang even using a boomerang.
-sean
They were Rigellians? And I called them Romulans!
ReplyDeleteI'm mortified! I guess I can expect an angry visit from the Rigellian governor of this space quadrant. And possible vaporization.
M.P. (closing my curtains and turning off all the lights)
Regarding that Colan / Kirby - Iron Man / Subby hand-off -- don't remember exactly what the deal there was, but yeah, Colan had to bail on the story after finishing the first few pages ( sudden illness or scheduled vacation or something), Stan called Jack in a panic and Kirby banged out the rest of the story over the weekend. While he was in the middle of seminal, book-defining runs on FF and Thor. As a story, it's nothing great, just IM and Subby beating the crap out of each other for ten pages, but it's one hell of a dynamic donnybrook.
ReplyDelete