Category: Captain America

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Golden Age Captain America Marvel Masterworks volume 2


By Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Charles Nicholas, Syd Shores, Al Avison, Al Gabriele, Harry Fisk, Ken Bald, Bill Ward and various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2228-9 (HB), 978-1-3025-0560-8 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Captain America was devised at the end of 1940 and boldly launched in his own monthly title from Timely – the company’s unofficial trading designation – with none of the customary cautious shilly-shallying. Owner Pulp publisher turned comic book empresario Martin Goodman always knew the value of striking while irons were hot…

The first issue was cover-dated March 1941 and became an instant monster, blockbuster smash-hit. Overnight Cap was the absolute and undisputed star of Timely’s “Big Three” – the other two being The Human Torch & Sub-Mariner. He was also one of the very first to plummet from popularity at the end of the Golden Age. These days – excluding, perhaps, some far-too-few Bill Everett-crafted Sub-Mariner yarns – the huge war-years popularity of the other two just doesn’t translate into a good read for modern consumers.

In comparison to their contemporary rivals and industry leaders at Quality, Fawcett, National/All American and Dell, or Will Eisner’s The Spirit newspaper insert, the standard of most Timely periodicals was woefully lacklustre in both story and, most tellingly, art. That they survived and prospered is a Marvel mystery, but a clue might lie in the sheer exuberant venom of their racial stereotypes and heady fervour of jingoism at a time when the USA was becoming involved in the greatest war in global history. Nevertheless, the first ten Captain America Comics are indisputably the most high-quality comics in the fledgling company’s history and I can’t help but wonder what might have been had National (neé DC) been wise enough to hire Simon & Kirby before they were famous, instead of after that pivotal first year?

Of course, we’ll never know and although the team supreme did jump to the majors after a year, their visual dynamic became the mandated aspirational style for super-hero comics at the company they left. Moreover, their patriotic creation became a flagship icon for them and the industry. Truth be told. however, the groundbreaking and exceptionally high-quality material from Joe Simon & Jack Kirby is not really the lure here – the real gold nuggets for us old sods and comics veterans are the rare back-up features overseen by the star duo and crafted by their small pool of talented up-&-comers.

Although unattributed assistants included at various times Reed Crandall, Syd Shores, Alex Schomburg, Mort Meskin, Chu Hing, Charles Nicholas, Gustav Schrotter, George Klein, C.A. Winter, Fred Bell and many more, working on main course and filler features such as Hurricane, the God of Speed and Tuk, Caveboy: strips barely remembered today yet still brimming with the first enthusiastic efforts of creative legends in waiting.

This lavish hardback volume (available in a digital edition) reprints original Star-Spangled blockbusters Captain America Comics #5-8 (spanning August to November 1941) and also provides a fascinating insight into the fly-by-night nature of publishing during those get-rich-quick days in an Introduction from Gerard Jones, after which the astounding action resumes…

After scrawny, enfeebled young patriot Steve Rogers is continually rejected by the US Army, he is recruited by the Secret Service. In an effort to counter a wave of Nazi-sympathizing espionage and sabotage, the passionate young man was tapped to join a clandestine experimental project to create physically perfect super-soldiers. However, when a Nazi agent infiltrated the labs and murdered its key scientist, Rogers became its only successful graduate and transitioned into America’s not-so-secret weapon and very public patriotic symbol.

Despatched undercover as a simple army private, he soon encountered headstrong, orphaned Army Brat James Buchanan Barnes who became his sidekick and costumed confidante “Bucky”. In the period when America was still officially non-combatant, Rogers and his sidekick were stationed at East Coast army base Camp Lehigh, but still manage to find plenty of crime to crush and evil to eradicate.

In Simon & Kirby’s ‘Captain America and the Ringmaster of Death’ the arrival of a circus leads to the deaths of General Blaine and Defense Commissioner Newsome in suspicious circumstances. Before long, both the masked heroes and government agent Betty Ross reach the same conclusion: all the acts and freaks are Nazi operatives sabotaging the nation’s security through murder… but not for much longer…

Japan was still neutral too, so although visually their forces – especially spies – were also unmistakeably ever-present, the eastern arm of the Axis alliance (the other two being Germany and Italy, history fans) were still being referred to as “sinister Orientals” and “Asiatic aggressor nations”. Even so, when Steve & Bucky accompany new commander General Haywood to the US Pacific base of Kunoa, readers knew who was really behind ‘The Gruesome Secret of the Dragon of Death!’ and revelled in seeing the heroes scupper the most spectacular secret weapon yet aimed at the forces of freedom…

Back in the USA, the hard-hitting Star-Spangled Stalwarts then rescue decent, law-abiding German-Americans terrorised by the ‘Killers of the Bund’ who were determined to create a deadly Fifth Column inside America’s heartland. Following a rousing ad for a newly minted Captain America’s Sentinels of Liberty society, a glorified infomercial for the club comes in the form of prose adventure ‘Captain America and the Ruby Robbers’ scripted by Stan Lee with spot art by S&K, after which our Patriotic Pair save a downed volunteer American flyer held prisoner on a former French Island now administered by the collaborating Vichy government.

‘Captain America and… The Terror That Was Devil’s Island’ offers action-drenched melodrama plucked from the contemporaneous Hollywood movie mill and referencing films like 1937’s The Life of Emile Zola, 1939’s Devil’s Island and perhaps even 1941’s I Was a Prisoner on Devil’s Island and served to show that infamy and cruelty could not long subdue any valiant American heart…

Joining the list of supporting features, the equally relevant if improbable adventures of ‘Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent’ began with this issue. Credited to Stan Lee (Goodman’s nephew and major domo Stanley Lieber) & Harry Fisk, these shorts find US journalist Jerry Hunter sent to Blitz-blighted London to report on the European war, only to become the story after uncovering a traitor in the corridors of power…

Sporting only a title page by Simon & Kirby, primeval wonder ‘Tuk, Cave Boy’ bows out in a final example of “Weird Stories from the Dark Ages” as he saves his mentor Tanir from marauding beast-men and ends forever the depredations of brutal tyrant Bongo, before seasoned pro Charles Nicholas (nee Wojtkowski) assumes art chores on ‘Hurricane, Master of Speed’. Hurricane was the earthbound son of thunder god Thor (no relation to the 1960s version): a brisk reworking and sequel to Kirby’s ‘Mercury in the 20th Century’ from Red Raven Comics #1 (cover-dated August 1940), and here intercedes in a diabolical plot to destabilise the economy by flooding US banks with counterfeit currency.

CAC #6 carried a September 1941 cover-date and opens with a classic murder spree thriller as ‘Captain America Battles the Camera Fiend and his Darts of Doom’ in a frantic bid to prevent the theft of Britain’s Crown Jewels. Timely were never subtle in terms of jingoistic (we’d say appallingly racist) depictions, and even the normally reserved Simon & Kirby let themselves go in ‘Meet the Fang, the Arch Fiend of the Orient’ as Cap & Bucky challenge the full insidious might of the Tongs of San Francisco’s China Town to save kidnapped Chinese dignitaries from a master torturer…

Another new feature followed: scripted by Lee and illustrated by Al Avison & Al Gabriele, ‘Father Time: The Grim Reaper Deals with Crime’ details how Larry Scott learned his father had been framed for murder and through heroic efforts exposed the true culprits… but was seconds too late to save his sire from the noose. Resolved that time should no longer be on the side of criminals and killers, Larry devised a ghastly outfit and – wielding a scythe – brought his dad’s persecutors to justice. They would be only the first in Father Time’s crusade…

Simon & Kirby’s art and stories were becoming increasingly bold and innovative. ‘The Strange Case of Captain America and the Hangman Who Killed Doctor Vardoff’ reveals a diabolical game of “Ten Little Indians” as suspects perish one by one whilst the superheroes attempt to catch a ruthless killer and retrieve a stolen experimental super-silk invention. Lee and an unknown artist then offer another thinly-veiled prose plug for the Sentinels of Liberty club as Cap and Bucky lay a ‘Trap for a Traitor’, after which Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent ‘Battles the Engine of Destruction’ (Lee & Fisk) and exposes an aristocratic English fascist building Nazi terror weapons in his British factories.

Following further Sentinels of Liberty club news and puzzle pages ‘Hurricane, Master of Speed’ closes the issue, crushing a murder plot in his own boarding house with art courtesy of Charles Nicholas.

CAC #7 is a stunning comic milestone that leads with iconic clash ‘Captain America in the Case of the Red Skull and the Whistling Death’. With Steve & Bucky ordered to participate in a Vaudeville-themed troop show at Camp Lehigh, the Nazi super-assassin stalks the city, slaughtering his old cronies and US military experts with a mysterious sound weapon. The fiend’s big mistake is leaving the shadows and arrogantly turning his attention to Cap…

‘The Case of the Baseball Murders: Death Loads the Bases’ seemingly offers a change of pace but Steve’s sporting relaxation turns into more work when a masked maniac starts knocking off his team’s star players before Lee’s prose novelette provides ‘A Message from Captain America’ which introduces his fellow heroes Jerry Hunter, Hurricane and Father Time before S&K strip feature ‘Horror Plays the Scales’ pits the Red, White & Blue Bravos against a murdering musician knocking off anti-Nazi politicians.

Ken Bald & Bill Ward introduce a comedy foil for Hurricane as ‘Justice Laughs Last’ sees the speedster adopt portly shopkeeper Speedy Scriggles after protection racketeers target the feisty fool. Headline Hunter (Lee & Fisk) then clears an Englishman accused of murdering an American film star and reveals a Nazi plot to disrupt Anglo-US relations, as Father Time’s ‘Race Against Doom’ (Lee, Al Avison & Al Gabriele) saves another innocent patsy from taking the fall for a crooked DA and his mob-boss paymaster. The issue closes with more puzzles and patriotic pronouncements from Cap & Bucky to all their fee-paying Sentinels…

Cover-dated November 1941, Captain America Comics #8 was released months before the Pearl Harbor atrocity catapulted the USA into official war so contents might have compiled as early as June or July. Thus it opens with another gripping crime conundrum – ‘The Strange Mystery of the Ruby of the Nile and Its Heritage of Horror’ – which sees the heroes assisting Betty Ross in safeguarding a fabulous antique jewel, but seemingly helpless to prevents its archaeologist excavators being butchered by a marauding phantasm.

The impending conflagration does inform ‘Murder Stalks the Maneuvers’ when a Nazi infiltrator attends war games and uses the opportunity to trick the soldiers into destroying each other with live ammo, whilst Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent remains in the thick of it facing ‘The Strange Riddle of the Plague of Death’ (Lee & Fisk). This time he saves London (and the Home Counties) from a strange sickness spread by bread…

After more Sentinel propaganda and absorbing puzzles, Simon & Kirby’s ‘Case of the Black Witch’ has Cap & Bucky shielding a young woman’s inheritance before clashing with a sinister sorceress and the worst horrors hell could conceive of.

Nicholas returns to Hurricane as the Master of Speed and his new pal shut down a crooked ‘Carnival of Crime’, after which Lee & an unsung illustrator promote in prose a new Timely title as ‘The Young Allies Strike a Blow for Justice’. Please be warned: the treatment here of “Negro” character Whitewash – a full partner in the heroic team – is every bit as dated, contentious and potentially offensive as that era’s representations of other races, so kudos to the editors for bravely leaving the story untouched and unedited. Closing on a bombastic high, Father Time then deals harshly with robbers who use bank strongrooms to asphyxiate witnesses in ‘Vault of Doom!’

An added and very welcome bonus for fans is the inclusion of some absolutely beguiling house-ads for other titles, contents pages, Sentinels of Liberty club bulletins and assorted ephemera…

Although lagging far behind DC and despite, in many ways having a much shallower Golden Age well to draw from, it’s commendable that Marvel has overcome understandable initial reluctance about its earliest output in these masterworks – even if they’re only potentially of interest to the likes of sad old folk like me. However, with this particular tome at least, the House of Ideas has a book that will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best that the Golden Age of Comics could offer.
© 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pioneering Italian comics creator Sandro Angiolini (Isabella) was born today in 1920, sharing the date with Belgian Maurice Maréchal (Prudence Petipas) in 1922 and American cartoonist Tom K. Ryan (Tumbleweeds) in 1926, and – one year later – Le Journal de Spirou stalwart creator Peter Spier (Sophie).

We lost Katzenjammer Kids artist Joe Musial in 1977; Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics founder Martin Goodman in 1992; Golden and Silver Age comic book everyman Manny Stallman (Young Robin Hood, Big Town, Raven) in 1997, with this century this day marking the passings of Kate Worley (Omaha the Cat Dancer) in 2004 and French creator and co-founder of Pilote Jean-René Le Moing – AKA “Bulbul” – (Le Chevalier Emerik, Peter Pat) in 2012.

In 1932 Clifford McBride’s Napoleon and Uncle Elby premiered; and in 1959 The Beano debuted Leo Baxendale’s The Three Bears, UK whilst weekly Cor!! launched today in 1970 and Steve Gerber & Gene Colan’s newspaper strip version of Howard the Duck took flight in 1977.

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Marvel Visionaries: Gil Kane


By Gil Kane, with Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter, Tony Isabella, Dan Slott, Mike Esposito, Joe Sinnott, Dan Adkins, Frank Giacoia, Dick Giordano, Klaus Janson, Jim Mooney & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0888-7 (TPB), 978-1-3029-3737-9 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

This year marks the centenary of Eli Katz, who, as Gil Kane, worked from the Golden Age until his death (on January 31st 2000) to make comics the art form it is today. Diligent, resolute and always challenging himself, Kane was a trendsetting pioneer in style, in form and in comics philosophy. He was also a visual architect of the superhero revival in the Silver Age and a key component in the evolution of the Graphic Novel.

Kane started young and toiled as an artist all his life. An ever-more effective and influential one, he drew and wrote for many companies since his debut (thus far verified as inking Carl Hubbell on The Scarlet Avenger in Zip Comics #14 and cover-dated May 1941): illustrating superheroes, action/adventure, war, mystery, romance, horror, movie adaptations and, perhaps most importantly, Westerns and Science Fiction tales. In the 1950s he was one of DC editor Julius Schwartz’s go-to artists for regenerating the superhero. Yet by 1968, at the top of his (admittedly much denigrated) profession, this relentlessly revolutionary and creative man felt so confined by juvenile strictures of the industry that he struck out on new ventures, jettisoning job security, and the editorial format bounds of comic books for new visions and media. However, the time was not right and after brief forays at other companies (like Dell and Tower) and attempting to create graphic narratives outside the comic book industry – such as His Name Is Savage and Blackmark – Kane began selling his services to Marvel Comics…

Kane’s earliest comic book output included Boy Commandos, Young Allies & Newsboy Legion, Doll Man, Zip Comics, Airboy Comics and many more, but by the Fifties he was settled at National/DC and working on Johnny Thunder, Jimmy Wakely, Matt Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, Rex the Wonder Dog and hundreds of genre yarns – romance, war, sci fi, western and horror. When Superheroes returned, he co-created Green Lantern and The Atom, and generated countless pages and captivating covers for Plastic Man, Batman, Superman, Flash, Teen Titans, Robin, Batgirl, Hawk and Dove, Captain Action and everything in between. Then, in 1966, with ever-increasing bureaucracy and panic over a new upstart rival gripping DC, Kane tentatively – and initially using the pseudonym Scott Edwards – began looking at other publishers, leading to breakthrough art for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent, Dell Four Color, The Lost World, Brain Boy, The Frogmen, dozens of TV westerns and other licensed properties, and began his long association with modern Marvel Comics.

Initially a poor fit (he was asked to draw The Hulk over Jack Kirby’s layouts!), Kane persisted, going on to spectacularly redefine if not pictorially reinvent Amazing Spider-Man, Conan, Captain America and Captain Marvel; co-create Adam Warlock, Morbius, and Iron Fist and put his indelible stamp on Thor, Hulk, Ka-Zar, Daredevil, Marvel Team-Up and all the rest. Kane adapted John Carter, Warlord of Mars and other literary adventure-fantasy properties and reinvigorated dozens of horror-hero and superhero stalwarts, all while filling in on seemingly every character and cover going. Restless and craving what the medium could still achieve, he worked on newspaper strips too. Even before co-creating Star Hawks in 1977 with Ron Goulart, he had limned the daily Flash Gordon for King Features in the 1960s, and Tarzan Sunday pages.

Kane’s latter career included animation/design, and choice comics book outings as well as numerous special projects like Jason Drum for Le Journal de Tintin and The Ring of the Nibelung.

Although Marvel Visionaries: Gil Kane was originally released in 2002, it’s still readily available as it was digitally rereleased in 2021, so if you can read this you can find that…

Offering a brief selection of the many tales crafted by Kane, this tome re-presents gems first seen in Tales to Astonish #76; Tales of Suspense #88-#91; Captain Marvel #17; Amazing Spider-Man #99; Marvel Premiere #1 & 15 and Daredevil #146 plus material from What If #3 & #24 and Marvel Comics Presents #116, as well as offering a host of appealing production and art extras at the far end.

The trek through Marvel History begins with a fulsome appraisal of the artist’s career and achievements from frequent collaborator Roy Thomas in his foreword ‘The Mark of Kane’ after which it’s “on with the motley” and that first foray from Tales to Astonish #76. Cover-dated February 1966, this was on sale from November 4th 1965 and saw Kane draw – over Kirby layouts and under Mike Esposito finishes – an episode of a time-bending sequence with the Green Goliath helplessly trapped in a compounded by a doom-drenched duel with time-lost Asgardian immortal The Executioner…

Assume and accept that you will need to find other collections to experience the full force of these extracted snippets and then move on to those portions of Tales of Suspense #88-#91 (cover-dates April -July 1967) that featured Captain America. Here Lee scripts all four chapters of a classic clash as Kane takes his first run on the character. The extended saga comprises ‘If Bucky Lives…!’ and ‘Back from the Dead!’, as inked by Kane before Joe Sinnott joins as embellisher for ‘…And Men Shall Call Him Traitor!’ and ‘The Last Defeat!’ for a superb thriller of blackmail and betrayal starring the Red Skull. The fascist felon had baited a trap with a robotic facsimile of Cap’s dead partner, triggered it with malign super-hirelings Power Man and The Swordsman whilst blackmailing the Star-Spangled Sentinel into betraying his country and stealing a new atomic submarine. It all turned out okay in the end though…

Next up is Captain Marvel #17 (cover-date October 1969), sole example from a stunning and influential run on the Kree Captain Mar-Vell. Captain Marvel as we know him really begins with this reinvention wherein Thomas, Kane & Dan Adkins totally retooled and upgraded the character.

‘And a Child Shall Lead You!’ sees the imperilled star warrior inextricably bonded to voice-of-a-generation/professional sidekick Rick Jones who – just like Billy Batson (the boy who turned into the original Fawcett hero by shouting “Shazam!”) – switched places with a mighty adult hero when danger loomed by striking together a pair of ancient, wrist-worn “Nega-bands”. This allowed them to temporarily trade atoms: one active in our universe whilst the other floated, a ghostly untouchable, ineffectual voyeur to events glimpsed from the ghastly Negative Zone. As thrilling and as revolutionary as the idea of a comic written from the viewpoint of a teenager was, the real magic comes from Kane’s experimental page layouts and phenomenally kinetic artwork, and whose mesmeric staging of proportionally warped yet somehow still perfect human-form-in-motion rewrote the playbook on superhero illustration with this series.

Kane’s ascendancy was confirmed as he became the regular illustrator on Marvel’s greatest hit. A monumental first run on the wallcrawler is marked here by Amazing Spider-Man #99 (August 1971) portraying ‘A Day in the Life of…’: an all-action, social drama-tinged palate-cleanser with Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy finally getting their love-life back on track, only marginally diverted by a prison breakout easily quelled by the Arachnid Avenger, whilst highlighting the growing scandal of prison conditions…

Jump forward to tumultuous turbulent November 1971 where the April cover-dated Marvel Premiere #1 boldly proclaimed on its cover The Power of… Warlock. Inside, the stunning fable by Thomas, Kane & Adkins declared ‘And Men Shall Call Him… Warlock’ neatly recapitulated artificial man Him’s origins as a lab experiment concocted by rogue geneticists eager to create a superman they could control for conquest. Also on view is the manufactured man’s face off with the Fantastic Four, and clash with Thor over the rights to a mate before returning to an all-encompassing cosmic cocoon to evolve a little more.

Now that shell is plucked from the void thanks to the moon-sized ship of self-created god The High Evolutionary. Having artificially ascended to godhood, he is wrapped up in a bold new experiment…

Establishing contact with Him as he basks in his cocoon, the Evolutionary explains that he is constructing from space rubble a duplicate planet Earth on the opposite side of the sun. Here he will replay the development of life, intending that humanity on Counter-Earth will evolve without the taint of cruelty and greed and deprived of the lust to kill. It’s a magnificent scheme that might well have worked, but as the Evolutionary wearies, his greatest mistake intervenes…

Man-Beast was over-evolved from a wolf and gained mighty powers, but also ferocious savagery and ruthless wickedness. Now he invades the satellite, despoiling humanity’s rise and ensuring the new world’s development exactly mirrors True-Earth’s. The only exception is the meticulous exclusion of enhanced individuals. The beleaguered orb has all Earth’s woes but no superheroes to save or inspire its people. A helpless witness to the desecration, the golden being furiously crashes free of his cocoon to save the High Evolutionary and rout Man-Beast and his bestial cronies (all similarly evolved animal-humanoids called “New-Men”). When the despondent, enraged science god recovers, he decides to erase his failed experiment but is stopped by his rescuer. As a helpless observer, Him saw the potential and value of embattled humanity. Despite all their flaws, he believes he can save them from imminent doom caused by their own unthinking actions, wars and intolerance. When his pleas convince the Evolutionary to give this mankind one last chance, the wanderer is hurled down to Counter-Earth, gifted and graced with a strange “Soul Gem” to focus his powers, on a divine mission to find the best in the fallen and a name of his own…

Enjoying and thriving in an era and atmosphere of experimentation, Kane returned to Marvel Premiere with #15 (May 1974) for the debut of masked martial artist Iron Fist. His saga began on a spectacular high with Thomas, Kane & Dick Giordano’s ‘The Fury of Iron Fist!’, as a teenaged masked warrior defeats the cream of a legendary combat elite in a fabled other-dimensional city before returning to Earth.

Ten years previously little Daniel Rand had watched his father and mother die at the hands of Harold Meachum whilst the party of millionaire adventurers risked Himalayan snows to find the legendary city of K’un Lun. Little Danny had travelled with his parents and business partner Meachum in search of the fabled city – which only appeared on Earth for one day every decade. Wendell Rand had some unsuspected connection to the fabled Shangri La but was killed before they found it, whilst Danny’s mother sacrificed herself to save the child from wolves and her murderous pursuer.

As he wandered alone in the wilderness, the city found Danny. The boy spent ten years training: mastering all forms of martial arts in a militaristic, oriental, feudal paradise while enduring countless arcane ordeals, living only for the day he would return to Earth and avenge his parents. After conquering all comers and rejecting immortality, the Iron Fist returned to Earth, a Living Weapon able to channel his force of will into a devastating super-punch…

Alternate worlds vehicle What If? #3 (June 1977) provided one of the most memorable stories of the era and one of Kane’s greatest triumphs. Scripted by Jim Shooter and inked by Klaus Janson ‘What If the Avengers Had Never Been?’ diverted from established Marvel Continuity at the end of Avengers #2 when Hulk quit the still-forming team. In this instance, the act sunders the entire squad who go their own ways with shocking, spectacular and ultimately tragic consequences. If you buy this book for only one tale it will be this one…

That same month in Daredevil #146 the artist again demonstrated his brilliance in staging dramatic fight scenes. Scripted by Shooter and inked by Jim Mooney, ‘Duel!’ saw the sightless swashbuckler searching Manhattan for maniac marksman Bullseye even as his quarry was setting up a lethal showdown. The brutally bruising climax came when the crazed killer took an entire TV studio hostage but ended with his being soundly defeated yet again…

With Tony Isabella writing and Frank Giacoia inking, Kane revisited one of his greatest comics triumphs in What If? #24 (December 1980), as ‘What If Gwen Stacy had Lived?’ explored an Alternity where Spider-Man saved his fiancée from Green Goblin Norman Osborn and went on to marry her before losing everything he loved to the obsessive hatred of J. Jonah Jameson…

This compelling compilation notionally concludes with a late treat from Marvel Comics Presents #116 (cover-dated November 1992) with future superstar scripter Dan Slott taking Kane back to his cowboy roots for a short rip-roaring romp featuring the Two-Gun Kid. Here the occasional Avenger and prototype Marvel Mystery-man hero serves up ‘Just Deserts’ to vicious scheming owlhoots John Baker and the Unlucky Thirteen Gang before marching the sole survivor back across the searing Devil’s Cauldron back to Tombstone city jail…

Providing pertinent covers by Kane, this tome offers additional pictorial treats including Kane’s favourite cover (Mighty Marvel Western #44) plus a gallery of others such as Western Gunfighters #31, Kid Colt, Outlaw #161, Sub-Mariner #44 & Captain Marvel #23), the extras also deliver a vast selection of page layouts, design roughs, fully-pencilled pages and covers as well as inked and completed pages of marvels.

Also working as Gil Stack, Scott Edward, Stack Til, Stacktil, Pen Star and Phil Martell, Gil Kane became a foundation stone of comics and remains a vivid, vital inspiration to future generations of creators and readers. With all that in mind why not have a far too brief look at some of the man’s early Marvel superhero triumphs and gently remind the Powers-that-Be that this is only the tip of a graphic iceberg that includes plenty of room for barbarian, sci fi and horror collection one day…
© 2021 MARVEL.

Born today in 1924, cartoonist Brad Anderson (Marmaduke), Belgian illustrator Willy Lambillotte AKA Lambil (Sandy, The Bluecoats, Pauvre Lampil) in 1936 and cartoonist/illustrator Norm Fueti (Retail, Gil, The King of Kazoo) in 1970.

Today we lost someone you’ve probably never heard of: letterer, designer and production artist/manager Gerda Gattel (October 28th 1908 – May 14th 1993). She was filling the ballons and fixing pages for Timely-Atlas from 1947 to the company’s implosion and then moved across town to National DC where she did the same thing from 1958 to her retirement as Production Coordinator in 1973.

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Marvel Two-In-One Epic Collection volume 3 (1977-1979): Remembrance of Things Past


By Marv Wolfman, Jim Starlin, Roger Slifer, Tom DeFalco, David Anthony Kraft, Ralph Macchio, Peter B. Gillis, Alan Kupperberg, Bill Mantlo, Jo Duffy, John Byrne, Steven Grant, Allyn Brodsky, David Michelinie, Ron Wilson, Sal Buscema, Bob Hall, Chic Stone, Frank Miller, Jim Craig, Pablo Marcos, Josef Rubinstein, Jim Mooney, Alfredo Alcala, Sam Granger, Frank Giacoia, Dave Hunt, Tex Blaisdell, Gene Day, Joe Sinnott, Bob McLeod, Bruce Patterson, Mike Esposito & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5564-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing, or battling (often both) with less well-selling company characters – was not new when Marvel awarded their most popular hero the same deal DC had with Batman in The Brave and the Bold. Although confident in their new title, they wisely left options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead: the Human Torch. In those long-ago days, editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since super-heroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.

Nevertheless, after the runaway success of Spider-Man’s guest vehicle Marvel Team-Up, the House of Ideas carried on the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm – the Fantastic Four’s most iconic and popular member. They began with a test run in Marvel Feature #11-12, before awarding him his own team-up title, with this third power-packed compendium gathering in the contents of Marvel Two-in-One #37-52; MTIO Annuals #2-4 and Avengers Annual #7, covering November 1977 to June 1979.

The action begins with ‘The Final Threat’ (by Jim Starlin & Joe Rubinstein) from Avengers Annual #7, wherein Kree warrior Captain Marvel and Titanian mind-goddess Moondragon return to Earth with vague anticipations of impending cosmic catastrophe. Their premonitions are confirmed when galactic wanderer Adam Warlock arrives with news that death-obsessed Thanos has amassed an alien armada and built a Soul-gem powered weapon to snuff out the stars like candles. Broaching interstellar space to stop the scheme, the united heroes forestall interstellar incursion and prevent the Mad Titan destroying the Sun, but only at the cost of Warlock’s life…

Then Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 undertakes a ‘Death Watch!’ (Starlin & Rubinstein): finding Peter Parker plagued by prophetic nightmares disclosing how Thanos had snatched victory from defeat and now holds the Avengers captive whilst again preparing to extinguish Sol. With nowhere else to turn, anguished, disbelieving Spider-Man heads for the Baxter Building to borrow a spacecraft, unaware The Thing also has history with the terrifying Titan. Although utterly outpowered, the mismatched champions of Life subsequently upset Thanos’ plans, allowing the Avengers and the Universe’s true agent of retribution to end the Titan’s threat forever… or at least until next time…

Marvel Two-In-One’s apparent function as a clearing-house for old, unresolved series and plot-lines was then briefly put on hold as issue #37 teamed Ben with Matt Murdock (not alter ego Daredevil) for Marv Wolfman, Ron Wilson & Pablo Marcos’ legal drama ‘Game Point!’

Ben had been framed for monstrous acts of wanton destruction, and when the case went badly, he faced decades in jail. However, the Man Without Fear and eccentric street punk Eugene the Kid determined the Mad Thinker was behind the plot to place the ‘Thing Behind Prison Bars’ (Roger Slifer, Wilson & Jim Mooney): tackling the maniac whose ultimate game plan is to corner the future, mass-producing his own squadron of the synthezoid Avenger in #39’s conclusion ‘The Vision Gambit’ (inked by Marcos).

Slifer, Tom DeFalco, Wilson & Marcos then detail a spooky international yarn as the Black Panther is involved in a monstrous reign of terror with a zombie-vampire stalking the streets and abducting prominent African Americans. Concluding chapter ‘Voodoo and Valor!’ – by David Anthony Kraft, Wilson & Marcos – sees Jericho Drumm/Brother Voodoo volunteer his extremely specialised services to Ben and T’Challa in hopes of ending the crisis. The trail takes our heroes to Uganda for a confrontation with Doctor Spectrum and the far more dangerous real-world crazed killer Idi Amin…

Crafted by Ralph Macchio, Sal Buscema, Alfredo Alcala & Sam Grainger, Marvel Two-In-One #42 then debuts a future mainstay of Marvel Universe continuity as Project Pegasus premiers in ‘Entropy, Entropy…’

The Federal research facility designated Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States is dedicated to investigating new and exotic power sources and naturally became the most sensible place to dump energy-wielding super-baddies once they were subdued. Ben finds and begins trashing the place whilst tracking down his educationally – and emotionally -challenged ward Wundarr after the kid was renditioned by the Government. The furious Thing is soon confronted and contained by Captain America in his role as security advisor and together they stumble over a sabotage scheme by martial maniac Victorius who unleashes a deadly new threat in the ghostly form of Jude, the Entropic Man. This phantasmic force easily trounces Cap and Ben but finds the macabre Man-Thing far harder to handle in concluding chapter ‘The Day the World Winds Down’ from Macchio, John Byrne & Friends & Bruce Patterson)…

The third Marvel Two-In-One Annual then hosts a great big, old-fashioned world-busting blockbuster wherein Nova the Human Rocket battles beside Ben to free captive alien princesses and save Earth from colossal cosmos-marauding space invaders: a simple yet entertaining tussle entitled ‘When Strike the Monitors!’ all crafted by Wolfman, Sal Buscema, Frank Giacoia & Dave Hunt… after which, back in the monthly comic book, issue #44 strays away from standard fare with ‘The Wonderful World of Brother Benjamin J. Grimm’ (Wolfman, Bob Hall & Frank Giacoia) with the Thing telling rowdy kids a fanciful bedtime story concerning his recent partnership with Hercules to free Olympus from evil giants…

Marvel Two-In-One #45’s sees Kree Captain Marvel warned by his Cosmic Awareness that the Thing had been targeted by vengeful Skrulls in ‘The Andromeda Rub-Out!’ (Peter Gillis, Alan Kupperberg & Mike Esposito), after which the Incredible Hulk’s new TV show compels an outraged Ben to head for Hollywood, only to become accidentally embroiled in a ‘Battle in Burbank!’ (Kupperberg & Chic Stone)…

The Thing’s self-appointed gadflies The Yancy Street Gang headlined in MT-I-O #47 as ‘Happy Deathday, Mister Grimm!’ (Bill Mantlo & Stone) sees a cybernetic tyrant long believed dead take over Ben’s old neighbourhood… until the hero pays a visit. The invasion exposed, it is quickly concluded once awesome alien energy powerhouse Jack of Hearts joins the fight against ‘My Master, Machinesmith!’ (in #48 by Mantlo, Stone & Tex Blaisdel).

Mary Jo Duffy, Alan Kupperberg & Gene Day piled on spooky laughs in #49 as the ‘Curse of Crawl-Inswood’ highlights how Doctor Strange manipulates Ben into helping crush a paranormal incursion in a quaint and quiet seaside resort…

Anniversary issue #50 was everything a special issue should be. ‘Remembrance of Things Past’ by Byrne & Joe Sinnott takes a powerful and poignant look at the Thing’s history as a monster outcast and posits a few what-might-have-beens…

Following another failure by Reed Richards to cure Ben’s rocky state, The Thing steals the chemical and travels into his own past, determined to use the remedy on his younger, less mutated self. However, his bitter, brooding, brittle earlier incarnation is hardly prepared to listen to another monster and, inevitably, catastrophic combat ensues…

Issue #51 was even better. ‘Full House… Dragons High!’ by Peter Gillis, up-&-coming artist Frank Miller & Bob McLeod, details how a weekly poker session at Avengers Mansion is interrupted by rogue US General Pollock, who again tries to conquer America with stolen technology. Happily, Ben and Nick Fury find Ms. Marvel (not today’s teenager Kamala Khan but current Captain Marvel Carol Danvers), Wonder Man and The Beast better combat comrades than poker opponents…

A note of sinister paranoia creeps in with Marvel Two-In-One #52’s ‘A Little Knight Music!’ (Steven Grant, Jim Craig & Marcos), as the mysterious Moon Knight joins Ben in stopping CIA Psy-Ops master Crossfire brainwashing the city’s superheroes into killing each other, prior to MTIO Annual #4 providing an old-fashioned, world-busting fantasy finale – for now – as ‘A Mission of Gravity!’(plotted by Allyn Brodsky, scripted by David Michelinie, limned by Craig, Bob Budiansky & Patterson) unites Ben and Inhuman monarch Black Bolt (and Good Boi Lockjaw!) to stop unstable maniac Graviton turning into a black hole and taking the world with him…

Backed up by the covers of Starlin, Rubinstein, Wilson, Sinnott, Marcos, Terry Austin, George Pérez, Walt Simonson, Sal Buscema, Hall, Giacoia, Keith Pollard, Layton, Stone, Budiansky, and Al Milgrom, there is also a big bold bonus section including contemporary house ads, covers from reprint title The Adventures of the Thing (by Sam Keith, Mike Mignola & Joe Quesada) and original art pages by Starlin, Rubinstein, Perez & Sinnott.

This tome of tales from Marvel’s Middle Period are admittedly of variable quality. They are, however, offset by truly timeless classics, still as captivating today as they ever were. Most fans of Costumed Dramas will have little to complain about and there’s lots of fun to be found for young and old readers. So why not lower your critical guard and have an honest blast of pure warts ‘n’ all comics craziness? You’ll almost certainly grow to like it…
© 2025 MARVEL.

This date in 1754 – and attributed to Benjamin Franklin – the first American newspaper cartoon “Join, or Die” was published in The Pennsylvania Gazette.

Somewhat less momentously – perhaps – today in 1893 Wonder Woman co-creator William Moulton Marton was born as was Short Ribs cartoonist Frank O’Neal in 1921; Half Hitch and Henry illustrator Dick Hodgins, Jr. in1931 and multi-directional art scribe Barbara Slate (Yuppies From Hell, Angel Love, Sweet XVI, Ms. Liz) in 1947. They were joined in 1953 by writer Pat McGreal (Chiaroscuro; The Private Lives of Leonardo DaVinci, Veils, I, Paparazzi and more Disney comics than seems humanly possible); in 1955 by American Splendor illustrator Brian Bram; inveterate comics publisher David Campiti in 1958, and the astoundingly funny Ty Templeton (Stig’s Inferno, Batman Adventures, The Simpsons) in 1962.

Today in 1991 The Simpsons episode “Three Men and a Comic Book” aired, giving Comic Book Guy to the world…

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Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dennis O’Neil, Roy Thomas, John Severin, Joe Sinnott, Don Heck, Howard Purcell, Ogden Whitney, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito, Jim Steranko & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2686-7 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Veteran war-hero and superspy Nick Fury debuted in Fantastic Four #21 (cover-dated December 1963): a grizzled, world-weary and cunning (but innately Good) CIA Colonel at the periphery of the really big adventures in a fast-changing world.

What was odd about that? Well, the gruff, crudely capable combat everyman was already the star of the reemergent publisher’s only war comic, set twenty years earlier in – depending on whether you were American or European – the beginning or middle of World War II. Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos was an improbable, decidedly over-the-top and raucous combat comics series, similar in tone to later movies such as The Wild Bunch or The Dirty Dozen and had launched in May of that year.

Nevertheless, Fury’s latterday self became a big-name star as espionage yarns continued guiding a global zeitgeist in the wake of popular TV sensations like Danger Man and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Bond movies (and many imitators) so the contemporary iteration was granted a second series. It began in Strange Tales #135 (cover-dated August 1965).

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. combined Cold War tensions with sinister schemes of World Conquest by a subversive, all-encompassing, hidden enemy organisation. The ever-unfolding saga came with captivating Kirby-designed super-science gadgetry and – eventually – iconic, game-changing imagineering from Jim Steranko, whose visually groundbreaking graphic narratives took the comics art form to a whole new level…

For those few brief years with Steranko in charge, the S.H.I.E.L.D. series was one of the best strips in America (if not the world) but when the writer/artist left just as the global spy-fad was giving way to supernatural mystery and horror stories, the whole concept faded into the fundamental background architecture of the Marvel Universe…

This astounding full-colour compendium (available in hardcover and digital editions) deals with the outrageous, groundbreaking, but still notionally wedded-to-mundane-reality iteration which set the scene.

Here Jack Kirby’s genius for graphic wizardry and gift for dramatic staging mixed with Stan Lee’s manic melodrama to create a tough and tense series which the new writers and veteran artists that followed turned into a non-stop riot of action and suspense, with Steranko’s late arrival only hinting at the magic to come…

These epic early days of spycraft encompass Strange Tales #135-153 and Tales of Suspense #78, collectively covering August 1965 – February 1967 and guaranteeing timeless thrills for lovers of adventure and intrigue. Following a history lesson from Kirby scholar John Morrow in his Introduction, the main event starts in at full pelt in ST #135 as the Human Torch solo feature was summarily replaced by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which back then stood for Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division). In the rocket-paced first episode, Fury is asked to volunteer for the most dangerous job in the world: leading a new counter-intelligence agency dedicated to stopping secretive subversive super-science organisation Hydra. With assassins dogging his every move, the Take-Charge Guy with the Can-Do Attitude quickly proves he is ‘The Man for the Job!’ in a potent 12-page thriller from Lee, Kirby and inker Dick Ayers.

Even an artist and plotter of Kirby’s calibre couldn’t handle another strip at that busiest of times, so from the next issue “The King” cut back to laying out episodes, allowing a variety of superb draughtsmen to flesh out the adventures. Happily, however, there’s probably a stunning invention or cool concept on almost every page that follows so the Kirby Touch was fully upon the unfolding suspense and intrigue. ‘Find Fury or Die!’ brought veteran draughtsman John Severin back to the company that used to be Atlas. He pencilled and inked Jack’s blueprints as – aided and abetted by full-on patriotic weaponsmith Tony Stark – the new Director of the latest spy-agency becomes the target of incessant assassination attempts as we meet mysterious masked maniac the Supreme Hydra…

The tension ramps up for the next instalment as a number of contenders are introduced – any of whom might be the obscured overlord of evil – even as S.H.I.E.L.D. strives mightily but fails to stop Hydra launching its deadly Betatron Bomb in ‘The Prize is… Earth!’ Despite the restrictions of the Comics Code, these early S.H.I.E.L.D. stories were bleakly grim and frequently carried a heavy body count. Four valiant agents died in quick succession in #137 and the next issue underscored the point in ‘Sometimes the Good Guys Lose!’, with further revelations of Hydra’s inner workings.

Fury and fellow WWII era Howling Commando stalwarts Dum-Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones meanwhile played catch-up after Hydra assassins invade S.H.I.E.L.D., almost eliminating Fury and Stark – the only man capable of destroying an atomic sword of Damocles hanging over the world. Although Fury saves the munitions genius, he is captured in the process…

Tortured by Hydra in #139’s ‘The Brave Die Hard!’ (with Joe Sinnott replacing Severin as finisher), Fury latches on to an unlikely ally in Laura Brown, the Supreme Hydra’s daughter and a young woman bitterly opposed to her father’s megalomaniacal madness. Even with only half a comic book per month to tell a tale, creators didn’t hang around in those halcyon days, and #140 promised ‘The End of Hydra!’ (Don Heck & Sinnott over Kirby) as a S.H.I.E.L.D. squad invades the enemy’s inner sanctum to rescue the already-free-&-making-mayhem Fury. In the meantime, Stark travels into space to remove the orbiting Betatron Bomb with his robotic Braino-Saur system. The end result leaves Hydra temporarily headless…

Strange Tales #141 sees Kirby return to full pencils (inked by pseudonymous Frank Giacoia, moonlighting as Frank Ray) for the mop-up, prior to ‘Operation: Brain Blast!’ introducing Mentallo – a mutant and career criminal renegade from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ESP division. He joins technological savant The Fixer to assail the organisation as their first step in an ambitious scheme to rule Earth. The momentous raid begins in ‘Who Strikes at… S.H.I.E.L.D.?’ (illustrated by Kirby & Mike Demeo – AKA Mike Esposito) with the ruthless rogues hitting hard and fast: seizing and mind-controlling Fury before strapping him to a mini H-bomb. With Howard Purcell & Esposito embellishing Kirby’s layouts, Dum-Dum and the boys come blasting in ‘To Free a Brain Slave’ in #143. A new and deadly threat emerges in #144’s ‘The Day of the Druid!’ as a mystic-seeming charlatan targets Fury and his agents with murderous flying techno-ovoids. Happily, new S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit Jasper Sitwell is on hand to augment the triumphant fightback in ‘Lo! The Eggs Shall Hatch!’ (finished by Heck & Esposito).

As Marvel continuity grew evermore interlinked, ‘Them!’ details a Captain America team-up for Fury in the first of the Star-Spangled Avenger’s many adventures as a (more-or-less) Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Taken from Tales of Suspense #78 (June 1966): scripted by Lee with Kirby on full pencils and Giacoia inking, the story depicts the WWII wonders battling an artificial assassin with incredible chemical capabilities, after which Nick seeks the creature’s mysterious makers in ST #146, ‘When the Unliving Strike!’(Kirby, Heck & Esposito).

Proclaiming themselves a technological Special Interests group, Advanced Idea Mechanics courts S.H.I.E.L.D.’s governmental and military masters (and contracts), promising potent and incredible new weapons if only they would sack that barbaric slob Fury. However, the surly supremo is getting close to exposing A.I.M.’s connection to “Them” …and an old enemy thought long gone.

A concerted whispering campaign and briefing-against seemingly sees Fury ousted in ‘The Enemy Within!’, before being put on trial in ‘Death Before Dishonor!’ (scripted by Kirby with Heck & Esposito finishing his layouts), but it’s all part of a cunning counterplan which delivers a shattering conclusion and ‘The End of A.I.M.!’ (ST #149, dialogued by Denny O’Neil with art by Kirby & Ogden Whitney). Then, revealed by Lee, Kirby, John Buscema & Giacoia, a malign, devilishly subtle plan is finally exposed in Strange Tales #150 as Fury’s team compares clues from all the year’s past clashes to come to one terrifying conclusion… ‘Hydra Lives!’

The shocking secret also hints at great events to come as newcomer Steranko assumes the finisher’s role over Lee & Kirby for ‘Overkill!’ with Fury targeted by the new – true – Supreme Hydra who devises a cunning scheme to infiltrate America’s top security agency and use his enemy as the means of triggering global Armageddon…

Although the Good Guys seemingly thwart that scheme, ‘The Power of S.H.I.E.L.D.!’ is actually helpless to discern the villain’s real intent as this initial dossier of doom pauses on a cliffhanger after ‘The Hiding Place!’ (ST #153, scripted by Roy Thomas) closes with the archvillain comfortably ensconced in Fury’s inner circle and ready to destroy the organisation from within.

To Be Continued…

Although the S.H.I.E.L.D. saga stops here, there’s an added bonus still to enjoy: the aforementioned FF #21. This depicted Fury as a wily CIA agent seeking the team’s aid against a sinister demagogue ‘The Hate-Monger’ (Lee & Kirby, inked by George Roussos, under protective nom-de-plume George Bell) just as the 1960s espionage vogue was taking off. Here Fury craftily manipulates Marvel’s First Family into invading a sovereign nation reeling in the throes of revolution in a yarn crackling with tension and action…

Fast, furious and fantastically entertaining, these high-octane vintage yarns from a time when the US were global Good Guys and “World Police” are a superb snapshot of early Marvel Comics at their creative peak and should be part of every fanboy’s shelf of beloved favourites.

Don’t Yield! Back S.H.I.E.L.D.!

© 1965, 1966, 1967, 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1907, Belgian artist Jacques Laudy (Le Journal de Tintin) was born, as was occasional Green Lantern scripter Henry Kuttner in 1915 and Canadian cartoonist Jacques Boivin (Melody) in 1952. In 2007, B,C. creator Johnny Hart died.

Today in 1935 Dr. Seuss launched his short lived but influential strip Hejji and, in 1992, Art Spiegelman received a Special Pulitzer Prize for Maus.

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Daredevil Epic Collection volume 8: To Dare the Devil (1978-1981)


By Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, David Micheline, Jo Duffy, Michael Fleischer, Mike W. Barr, Frank Robbins, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Klaus Janson, Frank Springer, Josef Rubinstein & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-60537 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, making him an astonishing acrobat, formidable fighter and living lie-detector. He also developed a kind of biological radar, granting him complete awareness of his immediate environment. A second-string hero for much of his early career, Daredevil was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due mostly to the captivatingly humanistic art of Gene Colan. DD fought gangsters, super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion, quipping his way through life and life-threatening combat, utterly unlike the grim, moody, quasi-religious metaphor of justice and retribution that he became.

Under the auspices of Jim Shooter, Roger McKenzie and finally Frank Miller & Klaus Janson, the character transformed into a grimly modern figure, but here we find him navigating choppy relationship waters. After a disastrous on-again, off-again relationship with his secretary Karen Page, Murdock took up with Russian émigré Natasha Romanoff, infamous and notorious former soviet spy Black Widow, but their similarities and incompatibilities led to her leaving and Matt taking up with flighty, fun-loving trouble-magnet heiress Heather Glenn…

Spanning cover-dates November 1978 to October 1981, this crucial compilation comprises relevant material from Daredevil #155-176, plus spin-off material generated for a readership that simply could not get enough of their newly darkened avenging devil and his secret paramour, as first seen in What If? #28 & Bizarre Adventures #28. The visual tumult and tension begin sans any delay or debate…

Heroic endeavours resume with writer Roger McKenzie describing the repercussions of a massive ambush on the hero by his worst enemies. Guest-starring Black Widow, Hercules and The Avengers, aftermath episode ‘The Man Without Fear?’ is illustrated by Frank Robbins & Frank Springer, wherein a brain-damaged Murdock repeatedly attacks innocent bystanders and his allies before collapsing. Keenly observing, macabre mystery menace Death-Stalker spots an opportunity and follows the hospitalised hero into #156’s ‘Ring of Death!’ (McKenzie, Colan & Klaus Janson). As DD undergoes surgery and suffers deadly delusions of fighting himself, the teleporting terror with a death-touch seeks to end the scarlet swashbuckler’s meddling forever, but finds the Avengers almost too much to handle…

The assault ends in DD #157’s ‘The Ungrateful Dead’, with Mary Jo Duffy scripting from McKenzie’s plot. Now, after frustrating the vanishing villain, Matt is cruelly kidnapped by a new squad of the Ani-Men (Ape-Man, Cat-Man & Bird-Man) all leading to Miller’s debut as penciller in #158’s ‘A Grave Mistake!’ With McKenzie writing and Janson inking, all plot threads regarding Death-Stalker spectacularly conclude as the monster gloatingly shares his true origins and reasons for haunting the Sightless Swashbuckler for so long. As always, Villain underestimates Hero and the stunning final fight in a graveyard became one of the most iconic duels in superhero history…

From this point on, Daredevil was increasingly repositioned as an outcast urban defender and compulsive vengeance-taker: a tortured demon dipped in blood. The character makeover was carried on initially by McKenzie from his predecessor Jim Shooter, and fully manifested in collaboration with Miller until the latter fully took control to deliver audacious, shocking, groundbreakingly compelling dark delights, making Daredevil one of comics’ most momentous, unmissable, “must-read” series.

That revitalisation resumes with ‘Marked for Murder!’ (McKenzie, Miller & Janson) wherein infallible assassin-broker Eric Slaughter comes out of retirement for a very special hit on the hero of Hell’s Kitchen. Meanwhile elsewhere, veteran Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich works a nagging hunch: slowly piecing together dusty news snippets that indicate a certain sight-impaired attorney might be far more than he seems……

The spectacular showdown between the Crimson Crimebuster and Slaughter’s hit-man army inevitably compels his covert client to eventually do his own dirty work: brutally ambushing and abducting former flame Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow…

After a single-page fact-feature on ‘Daredevil’s Billy Club!’, the saga continues in #160 with our hero having no choice but to place himself ‘In the Hands of Bullseye!’ – a stratagem culminating in a devastating duel and shocking defeat for the villain in cataclysmic conclusion ‘To Dare the Devil!’

Next issue offered a fill-in tale by Michael Fleisher & Steve Ditko wherein another radiation accident impairs our hero’s abilities and induces amnesia just as a figure from his father’s pugilistic past resurfaces. Becoming a boxer for crooked promoter Mr. Hyle, Murdock unknowingly relives his murdered dad’s last days in ‘Requiem for a Pug!’… until his own memories return and justice is served…

Stunning David & Goliath action belatedly comes in #163 as the merely mortal Man Without Fear battles The Incredible Hulk in ‘Blind Alley’ (McKenzie & Miller, inked by Josef Rubenstein & Janson) wherein Murdock’s innate compassion for hounded Bruce Banner inadvertently endangers Manhattan and triggers a desperate, bone-breaking, but ultimately doomed attempt to save his beloved city…

In #164 McKenzie, Miller & Janson deliver an evocative ‘Exposé’, retelling the origin saga as meticulous, dogged Urich confronts the hospitalised hero with inescapable conclusions from his diligent research and a turning point is reached…

The landmark tale is followed by accompanied by Miller’s unused cover for Ditko’s fill-in yarn, and precedes a mean-&-moody modern makeover for a moribund and over-exposed Spider-Man villain. DD #165 finds the Scarlet Swashbuckler in the ‘Arms of the Octopus’ when Murdock’s millionaire girlfriend Heather is kidnapped by Dr. Otto Octavius. Her company can – and do – rebuild his mechanical tentacles with Adamantium, but “Doc Ock” stupidly underestimates both his hostage and the seemingly powerless Man Without Fear…

A long-running plot thread of Matt’s best pal Foggy Nelson’s oft-delayed wedding finally culminates with some much-needed comedy in #166’s ‘Till Death Do Us Part!’, with true tragedy coming along too as old enemy Gladiator has a breakdown and kidnaps his parole officer. With visions of Roman arenas driving him, tormented killer Melvin Potter only needs to see Daredevil to go completely over the top…

David Michelinie wrote #167 for Miller & Janson, with a cruelly wronged employee of tech company the Cord Conglomerate stealing super-armour to become ‘…The Mauler!’ and exact personal justice. Constantly drawn into the conflict, DD finds his sense of justice and respect for the law at odds when another avoidable tragedy results…

The tale is backed up by an info feature revealing the ‘Dark Secrets’ of DD’s everyday life before segueing neatly into the story that changed everything.

With Daredevil #168 Miller took over the writing and with Janson’s art contributions increasing in each issue, rewired the history of Matt Murdock to open an era of noir-tinged, pulp-fuelled, Eisner-inspired innovation. It begins when Daredevil encounters a new bounty hunter in town which prompts recall of lost college-days first love. Back then, diplomat’s daughter Elektra Natchios shared his secrets – until her father was kidnapped and murdered before her eyes, partly due to Matt’s hasty actions. She left him and vanished, apparently becoming a ninja assassin, but is now tearing up the town hunting Eric Slaughter. Matt cannot help but get involved…

When Daredevil last defeated Bullseye, the psycho-killer was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and in #169 escapes from hospital to enact another murder spree. He is deep in a delusional state where everyone he sees are horn-headed scarlet-draped ‘Devils’. A frenetic chase and brutal battle results in countless civilian casualties and great anxiety as Daredevil has a chance to let the manic die… but doesn’t.

Yet another landmark resurrection of a tired villain begins in DD #170 as Miller & Janson decree ‘The Kingpin Must Die’. The former crimelord of New York had faded into serene retirement in Japan by impassioned request of his wife Vanessa, until this triptych of terror sees him return, more powerful and resourceful than ever. It all begins when the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen hears rumours the syndicate that replaced Wilson Fisk are trying to kill their old boss. Apparently, he has offered all his old records to the Feds…

When Vanessa hires Nelson & Murdock to broker the deal, all hell breaks loose, assassins attack and Mrs Fisk goes missing. Further complicating matters, having survived brain surgery, Bullseye now offers his services to the syndicate, mercenary killer Elektra senses a big business opportunity and a murderously resolute Kingpin sneaks back into the country resolved to save his Vanessa at any cost…

The title at last returned to monthly schedule with #171 as the city erupted into sporadic violence with civilians caught in the crossfire. DD dons a disguise and goes undercover but is soon ‘In the Kingpin’s Clutches’, and seemingly sent to a watery grave prior to Fisk gambling and losing everything.

The saga ends in all-out ‘Gangwar!’ as, with Vanessa lost and presumed dead, Wilson Fisk destroys the in situ Syndicate and takes back control of New York’s underworld. At least Daredevil scores a small-yet-toxic victory by apprehending the Kingpin’s assassin, all the while aware that every death since Bullseye’s operation has been because Murdock was not strong enough to let the monster die…

… And deep in the bowels of the city, an amnesiac woman wanders, a future trigger for much death and destruction to come…

With the city increasingly awash in mobsters, monsters, assassins and deviants, Daredevil 173 returns to the difficult, painful redemption of mentally-ill former foe The Gladiator. Having suffered an emotional crisis Melvin Potter prays his violent old life is over, but when a woman is brutalised in the streets, she identifies the anxious supervillain as her attacker. Murdock begins a stout defence of the ‘Lady Killer’, but despite his truth-sensing abilities, even his confidence takes a battering when his own assistant Becky Blake reveals Potter is the man who put her in a wheelchair years previously. Shocked and betrayed on all sides, Matt lets DD take charge and exposes a world of horror and abuse while tracking down a cunning, opportunistic human beast who tortures women just for kicks…

Elektra co-stars in #174 as her former master The Jonin demands ‘The Assassination of Matt Murdock’, introducing resurrecting zombie ninja cult The Hand just when the Potter trial is going badly and faithful partner Foggy Nelson has abandoned him. The cult’s expansion into America is lethally and effectively countered by Elektra, but when Daredevil joins the fight he is wounded and loses his greatest supersense, leaving him to depend on her and Melvin reluctantly returned to his Gladiator persona…

Now targeted by immortal super ninja Kirigi, Elektra goes after Jonin in ‘Gantlet’ and leaves DD to his own devices prior to ‘Hunters’, showing severely impaired Matt hunting for the old guy who first taught him to use his super senses. He rattles his old foes and street sources so badly that even Z-grade thugs Turk and Grotto are scared enough to steal a super-armour suit and settle with the Scarlet Swashbuckler for good…

To Be Continued…

Here, however, the events sparked a number of ancillary delights represented here by What If? #28’s ‘Matt Murdock, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ (by Mike W. Barr, Miller & Janson, and cover-dated August 1981), seeing what might have been had Anthony Stark and Nick Fury been nearby when young Matt was hit by that senses-altering radioactive cannister. That’s followed by spectacular monochrome prequel ‘Elektra’, crafted by Miller for Bizarre Adventures #28 (October 1981) with the hired killer going off-book after she finds out an unsavoury truth about her client.

Supplementing throughout with the covers by Colan, Springer, Janson, Rubinstein, Al Milgrom, Miller, Ditko, Bob McLeod, George Roussos and Bob Larkin, this roster depicting the resurgent rise in comics form is further bedecked and bedazzled with contemporary house ads; the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page heralding Miller’s debut; original art and Miller’s full Daredevil character bible, written in 1980 as he prepared to take over the writing. Also on view are Miller & Janson’s pages from Marvel Comics 20th Anniversary Calendar 1981 (June) and their Spider-Man vs DD plate from Marvel Team-Up Portfolio One. Those are supplemented by Miller covers & frontispieces for Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller volume 1 & 2 (with Steve Buccellato) before closing with M&J’s iconic Amazing Heroes #4 cover from September 1981.

As the decade closed, these gritty tales set the scene for truly mature forthcoming dramas, promising the true potential of Daredevil was finally in reach. Their narrative energy and exuberant excitement are dashing delights no action fan will care to miss.

… And the next volume heads full on into darker shadows, the grimmest of territory and the breaking of many more boundaries…
© MARVEL 2025.

In 1958 horror artist John Totleben was born, as was Italy’s Antonio Serra (Nathan Never) in 1963, Tim Bradstreet in 1967 and Warren Ellis one year later.

We lost letterer/colourist/comics artist/animator Frank Engli in 1977 but we can still enjoy Popeye, Betty Boop, Terry and the Pirates, Male Call, Steve Canyon, Scorchy Smith and his own creations On the Wing and Rocky the Stone Age Kid. Don’t you want to go look him up now?

In 1963 UK standby Knockout finally lay down after 24 years and in1980 Nutty launched with the debut of Bananaman. And in 2017 dutchman designer Dick Bruna died, having introduced us all to his bunny star Miffy way back in 1955.

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Marvel Team-Up Omnibus volume 1


By Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Steve Gerber, Ross Andru, Gil Kane, Jim Mooney, Sal Buscema, Don Heck, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Steve Mitchell, Frank Bolle, Don Perlin, Sal Trapani, Wayne Howard, Dave Hunt, Vince Colletta & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-6699-7 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Inspiration isn’t everything. In fact, as Marvel slowly grew to a position of market dominance in the wake of losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators, they did so less by experimentation and more by expanding proven concepts and properties. The only real exception to this was the assembly line creation of horror and horror-hero titles in response to the industry down-turn in super-hero sales – a move expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with less well-selling company characters – was not new when Marvel decided to award their most popular hero the lion’s share of this new title, but they wisely left their options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch. In those long-lost days editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since superheroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.

Marvel Team-Up was the second regular Spider-Man title (abortive companion title Spectacular Spider-Man was created for the magazine market in 1968 but died after two issues). MTU launched at the end of 1971 and went from strength to strength, proving the time had finally come for expansion and a concentration on uncomplicated action over sub-plots…

This engaging hardback and/or eBook compilation gathers the first 30 issues of Marvel Team-Up (spanning cover-dates March 1972 to February 1975) and includes crossover fun from Daredevil (and the Black Widow) #103, plus double length larks from Giant-Size Super Heroes #1 and Giant-Size Spider-Man #1-3. As well as a monolithic assortment of nostalgic visual treats at the back, this mammoth tome is dotted throughout with editorial and letters pages (from ‘Team-Up’ to ‘Mail it to Team-Up’) and also includes recycled Introductions from previous Marvel Masterworks editions (namely Gerry Conway’s ‘Behold: An Introduction’ and Roy Thomas’ ‘A Long, Loose Leash’ and ‘Full Credit – or Blame’) plus other contemporary editorial announcements as seen in each original issue, just to enhance overall historical experience…

Marvel Team-Up #1was crafted by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito as a mutual old enemy reared his gritty head in charming seasonal saga ‘Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!’. A light-heated romp full of Christmas cheer, rambunctious action and seasonal sentiment, the story set the tone for all epics to follow. Merry Marvelite Maximii can award themselves a point for remembering which martial arts/TV hero debuted in this issue, but folk with lives can simply take my word that it was Iron Fist’s sometimes-squeeze Misty Knight…

Gerry Conway assumed the writer’s role and Jim Mooney the inks for ‘And Spidey Makes Four!’ in the succeeding issue as our hot and sticky heroes then take on and trounce the Frightful Four and Negative Zone bogeyman Annihilus before without pause going after Morbius the Living Vampire in #3’s ‘The Power to Purge!’ (as inked by Frank Giacoia). The new horror-star was still acting the villain in MTU #4 as the Torch was replaced by most of Marvel’s sole mutant team (The Beast having gone all hairy – and solo) in ‘And Then… the X-Men!’

Inked by Steve Mitchell, this boldly enthralling thriller was illustrated by magnificent Gil Kane at the top of his form. Kane became a semi-regular penciller, and his dynamic style and extreme-action anatomy lifted many pedestrian tales such as #5’s ‘A Passion of the Mind!’ (Conway script & Esposito inks), pitting Spidey and The Vision against manipulative mesmeric Puppet Master and robotic assassin the Monstroid. The bad guy again carried over to the next issue and joined by the Mad Thinker in ‘…As Those Who Will Not See!’ pitted the wallcrawler and The Thing against cerebral scoundrels in a cataclysmic battle no Fights ‘n’ Tights fan could be unmoved by…

MTU #7’s ‘A Hitch in Time!’ was produced by Conway, Andru & Mooney: guest-starring Thor with otherworldly Trolls freezing Earth’s time-line as a prerequisite step to conquering Asgard, after which #8 provides a perfect example of the team-up comic’s other function – to promote and popularise new characters. ‘Man-Killer Moves at Midnight!’ was most fans’ first exposure to The Cat (later retooled as Tigra the Were-Woman) in a painfully worthy if ham-fisted attempt to address feminist issues from Conway & Mooney. The hard-pressed heroes joined forces here to stop a male-hunting murderer paying back abusive men. These days we’d probably be rooting for her…

Iron Man collaborated in the opening foray of 3-part tale ‘The Tomorrow War!’ (Conway, Andru & Frank Bolle) as he & Spidey are kidnapped by Zarkko the Tomorrow Man to battle Kang the Conqueror. The Torch returned to help deal with the intermediate threat of a ‘Time Bomb!’ (with art by Mooney & Giacoia) before the entire race of Black Bolt’s Inhumans pile in to help Spidey stop history unravelling in culminatory clash ‘The Doomsday Gambit!’ – this last chapter scripted by Len Wein over Conway’s plot for Mooney & Esposito to illustrate.

Deftly delineated by Andru & Don Perlin, Wein scripted a Conway plot for ‘Wolf at Bay!’ in MTU #12 wherein wallcrawler meets Werewolf By Night Jack Russell to maul malevolent mage Moondark in foggy San Francisco, after which we divert to the Man Without Fear’s own title. Here they share some left coast limelight as Daredevil and the Black Widow #103 (Steve Gerber, Don Heck & Sal Trapani). This sees them join the still-California-bound wallcrawler as a merciless cyborg attacks the odd couple while they pose for roving photojournalist Peter Parker in ‘…Then Came Ramrod!’…

Kane & Giacoia limned ‘The Granite Sky!’ wherein Wein pits Spidey & Captain America against Hydra and Grey Gargoyle in a simple clash of ideologies, after which ‘Mayhem is… the Men-Fish!’ (inked by Wayne Howard – and, yes bad grammar, but great action-art!) matches the webslinger with the savage Sub-Mariner against vile villains Tiger Shark and Doctor Dorcas as well as an army (navy?) of mutant sea-beasts.

Wein, Andru & Perlin created The Orb to bedevil Spidey and Ghost Rider in ‘If an Eye Offend Thee!’ in #15 before Kane & Mooney limn ‘Beware the Basilisk my Son!’: a gripping romp featuring (the original Kree) Captain Marvel, concluding with ‘Chaos at the Earth’s Core!’ (inked by “everybody”!), as Mister Fantastic joins the fracas to stop Mole Man inadvertently blowing up the world. Human Torch Johnny Storm teams with The Hulk in MTU #18 to stop antimatter malcontent Blastaar in ‘Where Bursts the Bomb!’ (Giacoia & Esposito inks), but Spidey blazes back a month later with Ka-Zar in situ to witness ‘The Coming of… Stegron, the Dinosaur Man!’ (Wein, Kane & Giacoia). His plans to flatten New York by releasing ‘Dinosaurs on Broadway!’ is foiled with Black Panther’s help… as well as the artistic gifts of Sal Buscema, Giacoia & Esposito.

Dave Hunt replaced Esposito inking ‘The Spider and the Sorcerer!’ in #21 as Spidey and Doctor Strange once more battled Xandu, a wily wizard first seen in Spider-Man Annual #2, before we pause for a brief lecture.

Giant-Size titles were quarterly double-length publications added to the schedule of Marvel’s top tier heroes, and the wallcrawler’s were used to highlight outré or potentially controversial pairings such as Dracula and Doc Savage. Here they are represented by try-out Giant-Size Super Heroes #1 which pitted the wallcrawler against Living Vampire Morbius as well as hirsute and manic Man-Wolf. In a classic clash by Conway, Kane & Esposito. Within months a quarterly double-length Spider-Man team vehicle was added to Marvel’s schedule….

Back in MTU #22, Wein, Sal B & Giacoia’s ‘The Messiah Machine!’ brings the monthly story glories to a brief pause after depicting Hawkeye and the Amazing Arachnid frustrating deranged computer Quasimodo‘s ambitious if absurd mechanoid invasion. Then – cover-dated July 1974 and courtesy of Conway, Andru & Heck – Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 saw the webspinner in frantic pursuit of an experimental flu vaccine, improbably carried on an ocean liner in ‘Ship of Fiends!’ The quest brought him into chilling contact with newly-revived vampire lord Dracula and a scheming Maggia Capo at ‘The Masque of the Black Death!’…

Here that bizarre battle is accompanied by its original editorial text feature ‘An Illuminating Introduction to Giant Size Spider-Man’ before we move on to monthly MTU wherein the Torch & Iceman fractiously unite to stop Equinox, the Thermo-Dynamic Man on ‘The Night of the Frozen Inferno!’ (Wein, Kane & Esposito). Still embracing supernatural themes and trends, the webslinger learns ‘Moondog is another Name for Murder!’ in a defiantly quirky yarn illustrated by Mooney & Trapani which brings the decidedly offbeat Brother Voodoo to the Big Apple to quash a Manhattan murder cult…

Wein, Mooney & Frank Giacoia then determine that ‘Three into Two Won’t Go!’ as Daredevil joins Spider-Man in thrashing inept kidnappers Cat-Man, Bird-Man and Ape-Man, after which Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 sees the amazing arachnid drawn into battle with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu as sinister immortal Fu Manchu frames Spider-Man in ‘Masterstroke!’ The duped heroes clear the air in ‘Cross… and Double-Cross!’ before uniting to foil the cunning Celestial’s scheme to mindwipe America from the ‘Pinnacle of Doom!’

MTU #26 finds the Torch and Thor battling to save the world from Lava Men in The Fire This Time…’ by Wein, Mooney, Giacoia & Hunt. At this time, in a desperate effort to build some internal continuity into the perforce brutally brief encounters, the scripters introduced a shadowy trio of sinister observers with an undisclosed agenda who would monitor superhero episodes and eventually be revealed as providers of outrageous technologies for many of the one-shot villains who came and went so quickly and ignominiously…

They weren’t involved when the Chameleon frames Spider-Man (again) and tricks the Hulk into freeing a man – for the most unexpected reason of all – from the New York Men’s Detention Center in #27’s ‘A Friend in Need!’ (Wein, Mooney & Giacoia). They did, however, have a cloaked hand in ‘The City Stealers!’ (#28 by new regular creative team Conway, Mooney & Vince Colletta) when strange mechanoids swipe the island of Manhattan, necessitating Spidey and Hercules (mostly Hercules) having to drag it back to its original position…

After that implausible minor miracle Spider-Man experiences time-displaced disaster as Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 (Conway, Andru & Esposito) explores ‘The Yesterday Connection!’ Now lovely alien Desinna seeks the aid of Spidey in 1974 and – in ‘The Secret Out of Time’ – the hands-on help of legendary 1930s adventurer Doc Savage. Across a gulf of four decades the heroes individually discover something is not right in ‘Other People in Other Times!’ With the escape of a savage rampaging monster, two eras seem doomed to destruction, at least until wiser, more suspicious heads and powers prevail in ‘Tomorrow is Too Late’ ensuring that ‘The Future is Now!’…

Marvel Team-Up #29 displays a far less constrained – or even amicable – pairing as flaming kid Johnny Storm and patronising know-it-all Iron Man butt heads whilst tracking a seeming super-saboteur in ‘Beware the Coming of Infinitus! or How Can You Stop the Reincarnated Man?’ before in #30 Spider-Man and The Falcon find ‘All That Glitters is not Gold!’ whilst tracking a mind-control drug back to its crazy concoctor Midas, the Golden Man.

However, adding extra lustre are visual treats aplenty in the form of contemporaneous house ads; covers and frontispieces from seasonal tabloid treasury Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag (with art from John Buscema & John Romita Sr.) and original art pages and covers from Andru, Kane, Esposito, Perlin, Mooney, & Giacoia plus Kane pencil layouts. Also on view are covers from Marvel Tales #234, 249, 254, by Todd McFarlane, Marshall Rogers, Brian Stelfreeze, complete with new bridging pages by Jae Lee. Jan Harpes & Renee Witterstatter, and another gallery of Spider-Man Megazine covers (#1-6) by James Fry, Hector Collazo, Stelfreeze, Jung Choi, Ron Frenz, Al Milgrom, Stuart Immonen, Kirk Jarvinen, Jason Moore and Mark Buckingham, plus the unpublished cover of #7 as crafted by John Romita Sr & Jr.. Closing the book is a truly unique unused cover for #8 by Brian Bolland.

These stories are of variable quality but nonetheless all exhibit an honest drive to entertain and please. Artistically the work is superb, and most fans of the genre would find little to complain about so, although not really a book for casual or more maturely-oriented readers, there’s bunches of fun on hand and young readers will have a blast, so there’s no real reason not to add this tome to your library…
© 2025 MARVEL.

Today in 1892 Korky the Cat creator James Crighton was born as was Golden Age great Creig Flessel in 1912 and Al McWilliams in 1916. Writer/editor/publisher Bob Shreck joined the party in 1955, three years after Crocket Johnson released the final episode of Barnaby.

Back in 1938, the very first Donald Duck newspaper strip was syndicated and in 1987 the astounding Ken Reid drew his last breath – as did Dutch comics maestro Lo Hartog van Banda in 2006. As always, look in the blog for more or just buy anything with these guys’ names on it…

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Marvel Comic Annual 1969


By Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Bill Everett, Don Heck, Chic Stone, Dick Ayers, Mick Anglo Studios & various (World Distributors, Ltd.)
No ISBN ASIN: B001G8UJME

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

When Stan Lee rejuvenated the US comic-book industry in the early 1960s, his biggest advantage wasn’t the small but superb talent pool available, but rather a canny sense of marketing and promotion. DC, Dell/Gold Key and Charlton all had limited overseas licenses (usually in dedicated black-and-white anthologies like the much beloved Alan Class Comics such as Suspense) but Lee – or his business managers – went further, sanctioning Marvel’s revolutionary early efforts in regular British weeklies like Pow!, Wham!, Smash! and even the venerable Eagle. There were two wholly Marvel-ised papers, Fantastic! & Terrific! which ran from 1967 to 1968. These featured a plethora of key Marvel properties, and, appearing every seven days, soon exhausted the back catalogue of the company.

After years being a guest in other publications Marvel finally secured their own UK Annuals through World Distributors’ publishing arm and packaged courtesy of jobbing comics content outfit Mick Anglo Studios. This sparkling collection is one of the very best. Completely absent are the text pieces, quizzes and game pages that filled out British Christmas books, replaced with cover-to-cover superhero action mimicking the emergent House of Ideas at the very peak of their creative powers. It even includes a few almost Golden Age classics. Moreover it’s in full colour throughout – almost unheard of at the time.

A closer look by Marvel scholars would ascertain that all of the strips published here were actually taken from the wonderful 25¢ giants (Marvel Tales, Marvel Collector’s Item Classics and Marvel Superheroes) released during the preceding year, perfectly portioned out to fit into a book intended for a primarily new and young audience.

Behind the delightful painted cover the enchantment commences with a John Romita drawn Captain America tale from 1954, as the Sentinel of Liberty & Bucky lay waste to a scurvy gang of Red Chinese dope smugglers in ‘Cargo of Death’, followed by a spectacular Thor saga from Lee, Jack Kirby & Chic Stone as the Thunder God tackled ‘The Cobra and Mr. Hyde’, complete with cameo from the mighty Avengers.

The first of two Hulk shorts comes next, another Commie-busting classic with sci-fi overtones. Lee, Kirby & Dick Ayers’s ‘The Gladiator from Outer Space’ is a terrific all-action mini-blockbuster, perfectly complimented by Lee & Steve Ditko’s sinister crime shocker wherein Spider-Man is trapped between ‘The Goblin and the Gangsters!’

Unsung genius Bill Everett provided a brace of sublime Sub-Mariner tales, both from the fabulous 1950s. The secret origin saga ‘Wings on his Feet’ is the first and undeniable best of these, his magical line-work wonderfully enhanced by a bold colour palette and the crisp white paper stock of this comfortingly sturdy tome.

He’s followed by a masterful clash of titans as ‘Iron Man Faces Hawkeye the Marksman’ (Lee & Don Heck) before ‘The Hulk Triumphant’ (concluding chapter of the very first appearance wherein the Green Goliath ends the menace of Soviet mutation The Gargoyle)/ The book then closes with another enthralling Everett Sub-Mariner epic as the Prince of Atlantis defeats mad scientists and monsters ‘On a Mission of Vengeance!’

These oft-reprinted tales have never looked better than on the 96 reassuringly stout pages here: bold heroes and dastardly villains running riot and forever changing the sensibilities of a staid nation’s unsuspecting children. Magic, utterly Marvellous Magic!
© 1969 Perfect Film & Chemical Corporation, Marvel Comics Group. All rights reserved.

Today is pretty auspicious for births! In 1893 Robert Ripley (Ripley’s Believe It or Not!) was whelped, as was Red Ryder co-creator Stephen Slesinger in 1907, whilst Tarzan maestro and educational powerhouse Burne Hogarth showed up in 1911. Two years after that, Elliot Caplin (The Heart of Juliet Jones & Abbie an’ Slats) joined the party, whilst in 1920 Letterer Joe Rosen who lettered all the other Marvel classic stories was born.

Season’s Greetings, Boys, Girls and especially those Still Thinking About It!

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Captain America Marvel Masterworks volume 3


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Syd Shores, Dan Adkins, Frank Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, George Tuska, Tom Palmer & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2063-6 (HB) 978-0-7851-8803-2 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Pure Superhero Swashbuckling… 10/10

During the Marvel Renaissance of the early 1960’s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby imitated the tactic that had worked so tellingly for DC Comics, but with mixed results. Julie Schwartz had scored an incredible success with his revised versions of the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed natural to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days.

A new Human Torch premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four, and in the fourth issue of that title Sub-Mariner resurfaced after a 20-year amnesiac hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive an “Atlas” superhero line in the mid-1950s). The Torch was promptly given his own solo feature in Strange Tales beginning in #101, and in #114 the flaming teen fought an acrobat pretending to be Captain America.

With reader reaction strong, the “real” thing promptly resurfaced in Avengers #4 and, after a captivating, centre-stage hogging run in that title, the Sentinel of Opportunity was granted his own series as half of “split-book” Tales of Suspense (from #59, cover-dated November 1964).

However, Marvel’s inexorable rise to dominance in the American comic book industry really took hold in 1968 when many of their characters finally got their own full length titles. Prior to that and due to a highly restrictive distribution deal, the company was tied to a limit of 16 publications per month. To circumvent this, Marvel developed those titles with two series per publication, such as Tales of Suspense where original star Iron Man shared honours with Cap. When the division came, Shellhead started afresh with a big deal First Issue, whilst Cap retained the numbering of the original title; thereby premiering with #100.

This resoundingly resolute full-colour collection spanning May 1968 to May 1969 – and available in hardcover, trade paperback and digital editions – re-presents Captain America #101-113 and also includes a fervent Introductory reminiscence from arch-Kirby appreciator John Morrow, plus a fascinating Afterword by industry legend Jim Steranko wherein he meticulously and methodically deconstructs the landmark epic that comprises the end of this titanic tome…

Crafted by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & legendary 1940s Cap illustrator Syd Shores, Captain America #101-102 recount the return of fascist revenant the Red Skull who here deploys yet another appalling Nazi revenge-weapon in ‘When Wakes the Sleeper!’ This results in boatloads of furious action and a classic clash of wills and ideologies in furious finale ‘The Sleeper Strikes!’ It all began as our hero and his trusty support crew Agent 13 & Nick Fury hunt a murderous mechanoid capable of ghosting through solid Earth and blowing up the planet…

Although the immediate threat is quickly quashed, the instigator remains at large and #103 exposes ‘The Weakest Link!’ as the budding romance with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 13 (finally revealed after two years as Sharon Carter) is cruelly interrupted by the nefarious Nazi. The über-fascist’s latest scheme of nuclear blackmail also extends to a second issue, wherein his aging band of war-criminal assassins, The Exiles, sequentially test Cap nigh to destruction on the hidden isle where our hero becomes the ‘Slave of the Skull!’

That issue and following super-villain team-up – wherein Living Laser and The Swordsman ally with another flamboyant Cap foe to battle ‘In the Name of Batroc!’ – feature the loose, flowing inking of Dan Adkins, before Frank Giacoia embellishes all-action, sinister spies-&-devious-doppelgangers romp ‘Cap Goes Wild!’ in #106.

Shores spectacularly returns in #107 embellishing sinister mystery ‘If the Past Be Not Dead…’: a panic-paced-paced psycho-thriller introducing malevolent, mind-bending world-conquering psychiatrist Doctor Faustusâ’…

The Star-Spangled Avenger is once again rescuing Agent 13 – or at least he thinks he is – in breakneck thriller ‘The Snares of the Trapster!’ before Captain America #109 redefines his origin for the Sixties generation with ‘The Hero That Was!’: a blistering and bombastic wrap-up to Kirby’s run on the Sentinel of Liberty… at least for the moment.

Comics phenomenon and one-man sensation Jim Steranko then took over the art – and art direction – with #110 for a far-too-brief stint that was to become everybody’s favourite Star Spangled epic for decades to come.

After a swift and brutal skirmish with the Incredible Hulk, teen appendage Rick Jones becomes the patriotic paladin’s new sidekick in ‘No Longer Alone!’, just in time for the pair to tackle the memorably lascivious, ferociously fetishistic Madame Hydra – and her eerily obedient hordes – in #111’s ‘Tomorrow You Live, Tonight I Die!’ Both are inked by Joe Sinnott in a landmark saga that inspired and galvanised a generation of would-be comics artists.

With the Avenger seemingly killed at the issue’s close, the next month saw a bombastic account of Captain America’s serried career by fill-in superstars Kirby & George Tuska, before Lee, Steranko & Tom Palmer returned to conclude the Hydra affair with ‘The Strange Death of Captain America’ in #113.

This yarn reset the veteran warrior’s character and dictated his heroic trajectory; and led to a whole new career path…

Also on offer are a selection of Kirby’s original art pages and covers, including rejected and unseen pencil versions prior to editing and the draconian interference of the Comics Code Authority…

These are tales of dauntless courage and unmatchable adventure, fast-paced and superbly illustrated, which rightly returned Captain America to the heights that his Golden Age compatriots Human Torch and Sub-Mariner never regained. They are pure escapist magic: glorious treats for the eternally young at heart, and episodes of sheer visual dynamite that cannot be slighted and should not be missed.
© 1968, 1969, 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1914, Timely Marvel founding force Vince Fago was born, as was contemporary universe-builder Jerry Ordway. In 2012 utterly unique commix creator Spain Rodriguez died. He probably saw it coming… and you can learn all you should already know about him by viewing Spain: Rock, Roll, Rumbles, Rebels & Revolution.

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The Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection volume 11: Nine Lives Has the Black Cat (1978-1980)


By Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, Roger Stern, David Michelinie, Jim Starlin, Keith Pollard, John Byrne, Rich Buckler, Sal Buscema, Al Milgrom, Jim Mooney, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Terry Austin, Gene Day, Pablo Marcos, Bob McLeod, Frank Springer, Marie Severin, Alan Kupperberg & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5641-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Spectacular Seasonal Spider Sensationalism … 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Peter Parker was a smart yet alienated kid when he was bitten by a radioactive spider during a school science trip. Developing astonishing arachnid abilities – which he augmented with his own natural chemistry, physics and engineering genius – the boy did what any lonely, geeky nerd would do with such newfound prowess: he tried to cash in for girls, fame and money.

Making a costume to hide his identity in case he made a fool of himself, Parker became a minor media celebrity – and a criminally self-important one. To his eternal regret, when a thief fled past him one night, the cocky teen didn’t lift a finger to stop him. When Parker returned home he learned that his beloved guardian uncle Ben Parker had been murdered.

Crazed with a need for vengeance, Peter hunted the assailant who had made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known, finding, to his horror, that it was the self-same felon he had neglected to stop. His irresponsibility had resulted in the death of the man who raised him, and the traumatised boy swore to forevermore use his powers to help others…

Since that night he has tirelessly battled miscreants, monsters and madmen, with a fickle, ungrateful public usually baying for his blood even as he perpetually saves them, and by the time of the tales in this full-colour compendium of web-spinning adventures the wondrous wallcrawler was a global figure and prime contender for the title of the World’s Most Misunderstood Hero. Spanning November 1978 to July 1980, chronologically re-presenting Amazing Spider-Man #186-206, Annual #13 & Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1 the transformative tales are an attempt to reconcile the tragic, ill-fated young man with the changing world of the fast-approaching, take-no-prisoners 1980s; and regrettably they don’t always succeed in our hindsight-equipped 21st century eyes…

Previously: old girlfriend and current neurotic stranger Betty Brant-Leeds returned after fleeing a dying marriage. She was absorbed with nostalgic notions to rekindle old flames with first love Peter Parker, but that mature-&-moved-on, almost-college-graduate’s social life was already deeply out of control. For his arachnid alter ego life involved constant attacks especially from increasing out-of-whack J. Jonah Jameson who funds yet another fringe science secret scheme to trap Spider-Man…

At this time a star of (1970s) television, the webslinger’s adventures were downplaying traditional fantasy elements as Keith Pollard became penciller for #186. Now, ‘Chaos is… the Chameleon!’ sees the devious disguise artist seeking to discredit the webslinger, even as District Attorney Blake Tower works to dismiss all charges against him, and is followed by a moody tale of lockdowns and plague as Spider-Man and Captain America unite to stop a voltaic villain inadvertently using ‘The Power of Electro!’ (Marv Wolfman, Jim Starlin & Bob McLeod) to trigger a biological time bomb…

Ruthlessly violent thugs are on the rampage next as ASM #188 depicts ‘The Jigsaw is Up!’ (illustrated by Pollard & Mike Esposito) after the river party cruise Peter, his pals and increasingly insistent Betty are enjoying is hijacked. Jameson’s secret then gets out to inflict ‘Mayhem by Moonlight!’ in a sharp two-part shocker limned by John Byrne & Jim Mooney. Exploited by malign and dying science rogue Spencer Smythe, Jonah is abducted by his own monster-marked son John leaving the wallcrawler ‘In Search of the Man-Wolf!’ Forced to witness the (presumed) death of his child at his worst enemy’s hands leads to a savage confrontation with Smythe’s Spider-Slayer robots in ‘Wanted for Murder: Spider-Man!’ (#191 by Pollard & Esposito) before all Jonah’s debts are paid and another death results after Spidey & Jonah are bound to the same bomb and given ‘24 hours Till Doomsday!’ …

Eluding doom by the skin of their shackled wrists, a new phase in the Jonah’s psychotic enmity begins in ASM #193’s ‘The Wings of the Fearsome Fly!’ with Wolfman, penciller Keith Pollard and inker Jim Mooney recapping how would-be Spider-Slayer Spencer Smythe had handcuffed JJJ to his despised bête noir Spider-Man in an explosive deathtrap and how that drew mutual old enemy The Fly as well as causing the death of John Jameson in his monster form of the ferociously feral Man-Wolf…

Peter is most disturbed by a half-remembered moment. In that clash Jonah might have peeked under the arachnid’s mask whilst the wallcrawler was briefly unconscious, and not knowing is driving Parker crazy. The loss of his son has absolutely unhinged the publisher, however, and, after firing Peter, Jonah swears to destroy Spider-Man, even as Peter dutifully hunts down the Fly. He finally finds him robbing the Metropolitan Museum of Art and succumbs to an opportunity to release his pent-up anger. It ends badly…

In the aftermath, another plot strand resurfaces as Ned Leeds show up and punches Parker out. The incensed reporter thinks its justifiable as his (recently estranged) wife Betty has been nostalgically and aggressively pursuing old flame Peter. Meanwhile at May Parker’s empty house, a strangely familiar figure is tearing walls down hunting for something. After eventually giving up, he moves on to the Restwell Nursing Home where the widow Parker currently resides… and finds a situation he can readily exploit…

With life in turmoil Peter is poorly prepared for the major change that begins in #194, painfully learning ‘Never Let the Black Cat Cross Your Path!’ after encountering a svelte femme fatale costumed jewel thief with luck always on her side. However, she seems to have forsaken profit for a new, darker agenda. Inked by Frank Giacoia, the tale sees her recruit a crew to break someone out of jail, and – despite an obvious (and mutual) attraction to sexy Spidey – she will let nothing stop her…

Now working as a photographer for rival paper the Daily Globe where he immediately sparks the curiosity of reporter April Maye, Peter continues to pursue the feline felon in a chase to disaster, quickly realising ‘Nine Lives Has the Black Cat!’ (collectively inked by “M. Hands” Mooney, Mike Esposito & Al Milgrom). This affords an origin for the curvaceous crook and culminates in shocking news for Peter…

I’d normally give lip service here to “spoilers” and indeed back then, the death of Aunt May was – for a brief moment – a big deal, but it wasn’t real and didn’t last long. In-world though, Peter is crushed by the loss of his last relative and only family, with ‘Requiem!’ – limned by Milgrom, Mooney & Frank Giacoia – seeing him shattered by her “peaceful passing” whilst he was elsewhere, and at this moment still blithely unaware of a plot by unctuous home director Dr. Rinehart. Many older fans had already clocked who he really was…

Dazed and reeling, the hero is just starting to suspect something isn’t right as he’s ambushed by thugs and dragged to ‘The Kingpin’s Midnight Massacre!’ in ASM #197. Here Wolfman, Pollard & Mooney show the soon-to-be-retired crime lord packing to leave and up against an immovable deadline. To please his beloved wife Vanessa, the villain will cease his illegal activities at the witching hour. All that’s left on his to-do list is to kill Spider-Man, but the clock’s ticking and the wallcrawler just won’t die…

Building up to the anniversary spectacular and illustrated by Sal Buscema & Mooney, most dangling plot threads start cleaving together when Peter realises who Rinehart actually is and bursts into the Restwell Home in ‘Mysterio is Deadlier by the Dozen!’ to find the master of illusion preying on sundowning oldsters and teamed up with the burglar who shot Uncle Ben. Out of jail and desperate to retrieve something long hidden in the Parker house, the long-discarded thug has hijacked Mysterio’s comfortably risk-free scam and attracted the wrath of a really, really angry Spider-Man…

Despite fighting back fiercely in ‘Now You See Me! Now You Die!’ the writing is truly on the wall for the now-at-odds bad guys who meet their fates in The Amazing Spider-Man #200’s extra-length conclusion ‘The Spider and the Burglar… A Sequel!’ – cover dated January 1980 and courtesy of Wolfman, Pollard & Mooney.

With the truth out and May restored, Peter is ready for whatever the future holds as we segue into The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 where Wolfman, Byrne & Terry Austin occupy ‘The Arms of Doctor Octopus’ with a murderous scheme to regain his underworld reputation and dominance. The plot is brought to Spider-Man’s attention by murdered federal agent Kent Blake, who blackmails the hero into going undercover in the gang to recover stolen plans and ends with a catastrophic clash that sees the villain maimed…

Although momentarily defeated, Ock isn’t finished with New York or Spider-Man, and the saga continues and concludes in the first annual of a companion Spider-title. Before that, though, Annual traditions are upheld by additions to ongoing feature ‘A Gallery of Spider-Man’s Most Famous Foes’. Rendered by Pollard, the roster expands for The Molten Man, The Looter, The Rhino, The Shocker, The Kingpin, Silverman and Man-Mountain Marko, The Prowler and The Kangaroo before ending on ‘A Mighty Marvel Bonus’ offering updated locations and floorplans for ‘Peter Parker’s Pad!’, The Daily Bugle & Daily Globe offices and Empire State University Campus – and Peter’s colleagues.

The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1 details the denouement in ‘And Men Shall Call Him… Octopus!’ as Bill Mantlo, Rich Buckler & Mooney follow a furious and confused webslinger who uses Ock’s severed metal tentacle to lure the near-insane-with-pain-&-shock villain into a cataclysmic showdown aboard a ship’s graveyard in the East River and apparently final clash in an undersea base…

Dried out and back to business basics, the hero’s journey resumes in ASM 201’s ‘Man-Hunt!’ as Wolfman, Pollard & Mooney reunite the hero with The Punisher, whose hunt for a gang boss turns up a suspicious connection between photo seller Parker and his star subject Spider-Man…

Further muddying the waters is the latest woe to befall Jonah, whose nervous collapse devolves into pure mania, prompting his escape into delusion and the city’s back alleys. Guilt-ridden Parker can’t do much for his favourite gadfly, but can send Frank Castle on an identity-saving wild goose chase, before helping to deal with his latest target in concluding chapter ‘One For Those Long Gone!’

More infomercial than adventure – and probably a deadline-busting fill-in – Amazing Spider-Man #203 is one huge plug for Marvel’s disco sensation as Wolfman, Pollard, Esposito & Friends introduce Spider-Man to mutant musician Dazzler. The siren songstress is being hunted by old arachnid foe Lightmaster who needs her energies to bust him free of the light dimension that holds him captive but fails again in ‘Bewitched, Bothered and B-Dazzled!’

Another strong independent woman (re)appears in Pablo Marcos inked #204, as Wolfman signs off with ‘The Black Cat Always Lands on her Feet!’ Here the presumed-dead super thief returns to steal a selection of romance-themed art, and Spidey’s pursuit is the bandit’s actual goal. As seen in #205’s David Michelinie, Pollard & Mooney conclusion ‘…In Love and War!’, second generation purloiner Felicia Hardy has become fixated on the enigmatic masked man and stealing these items is her way of wooing the wallcrawler. Just for a change, this is a challenge requiring Parker’s mind and empathy, not Spider-Man’s might…

With an increasingly angry and unstable Joe Robertson replacing a lost amnesiac Jameson at the Daily Bugle, ASM #206 sees Roger Stern, John Byrne & Gene Day resolve the saga of his breakdown in closing inclusion ‘A Method in his Madness!’ Here it’s revealed that rogue scientist Dr. Jonas Harrow (who remade sundry second-rate thugs into super-foes like Will-O’the-Wisp, Kangaroo and Hammerhead) had turned the publisher’s office into a testing ground for his fringe science. Now that his Mental Attitude-Response Variator ray has driven Jonah to the edge of madness, Harrow plans to turn it on Spider-Man himself, but one last test on the entire Bugle staff gives our hero a heads-up and leads to the devil doctor’s defeat…

With covers throughout from Milgrom, Pollard, John Romita Sr., Buckler, McLeod & Josef Rubinstein, this tome also offers a selection of original art by Pollard with Mooney, Frank Giacoia and Byrne & Austin; Carmine Infantino & Steve Leialoha’s unused cover to Spider-Woman #9 where Wolfman originally intended Black Cat to debut, and Dave Cockrum’s revamped design for her as well as an unused Pollard & McLeod cover for ASM #194 and Cockrum’s rough for the cover they finally used. Completing the extras are House ads for forthcoming landmark ASM #200.

These yarns confirmed Spider-Man’s growth into a global multi-media brand. Blending cultural veracity with superb art, and making a dramatic virtue of the awkwardness, confusion and imputed powerlessness most of the readership experienced daily, resulted in an irresistibly intoxicating read, especially when delivered in addictive soap-styled instalments, but none of that would be relevant if Spider-Man’s stories weren’t so utterly entertaining. This action-packed collection relives many momentous and crucial periods in the wallcrawler’s astounding life and is one all Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatics must see…
© 2025 MARVEL.

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The Marvel Comics Covers of Jack Kirby volume 1: 1961-1964


By Jack Kirby, with Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, Paul Reinman, Bill Everett, George Roussos, Joe Sinnott, Chic Stone, Vince Colletta, George Klein, Sol Brodsky, Al Hartley, Stan Goldberg, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various, Introduction by Patrick McDonnell (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-50673-246-6 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-50673-247-3

Today in 1917 on New York’s Lower East Side, Jacob Kurtzberg was born to Jewish-Austrian parents. He grew up to be one of the most influential and recognised artists in world history. The reason why can be read here.

The Marvel Comics Covers of Jack Kirby chronologically collects The King’s superhero cover art in a spectacular hardcover coffee table book which simultaneously preserves the wonderment in a digital edition, thus allowing instant enlargements of any and all bits you might have glossed over or missed before…

Preceding the massive and momentous art attack comes heartfelt appreciation from Patrick McDonnell (Mutts) in his Introduction and via collector memory ‘Echoes of the King’ by Vincent Iadevaia. At the far end of the collection there’s a succinct biography and appreciation of Jack for those of you who don’t know him as well as we declining comics stalwarts do.

In between those points reside a torrent of those visual highpoints that served to introduce new and revolutionary ways of seeing and enjoying comic books. These collectively span cover-dates November 1961 to December 1964 as seen on The Avengers #1-11; Fantastic Four #1-33; Incredible Hulk #1-5; Journey into Mystery #83-111; Strange Tales #90, 101-127; Tales to Astonish #25, 27, 35-62; Tales of Suspense #39-56, 58-60; X-Men #1-8; Amazing Fantasy #15; Amazing Spider-Man #1; Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1-13; Daredevil # 1-4 plus Strange Tales Annual #2, Marvel Tales Annual #1, Fantastic Four Annuals #1-2, a few (far too few!) pre-Marvel genre covers including combat classic Battle #65, and a selection of monster book covers…

Inkers, colourists and letterers are not credited here, but that oversight is hopefully covered by us in the great big shopping list under the title…

Despite the too-tight brief – where are all the war, romance and particularly western and sci fi covers!? – this is a magnificent meander around the things that literally drew most of us into comics… that eye-grabbing first image. Jack Kirby was a master of electric storytelling, but he was also the god of the perfect moment and single pictures worth a thousand words. Look here and learn how and why…

© 2025 MARVEL.

Win’s First Christmas Gift Recommendation of the year!: Utter Acme of Visual Iconography… 9/10