Category: Marvel Masters & Masterworks

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Sub-Mariner Marvel Masterworks volume 7


By Bill Everett, Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, Dan Adkins, Alan Weiss, Sam Kweskin, John Tartaglione, Jim Mooney & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9915-1 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In his most primal incarnation (other origins are available but may differ due to timeslips, circumstance and screen dimensions) Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the proud, noble and generally upset offspring of the union of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer. That doomed romance resulted in a hybrid being of immense strength and extreme resistance to physical harm, able to fly and thrive above and below the waves.

Over the years, a wealth of creators have played with the fishy tale and today’s Namor is frequently hailed as Marvel’s First Mutant as well as the original “bad boy Good Guy”. What remains unchallenged is that he was created by young, talented Bill Everett, for non-starter cinema premium Motion Picture Weekly Funnies: #1 (October 1939) so – technically – Namor predates Marvel, Atlas and Timely Comics. The Marine Miracleman first caught the public’s avid attention as part of an elementally appealing fire vs. water headlining team-up in the October 1939 Marvel Comics #1 (which renamed itself Marvel Mystery Comics from #2 onwards). The amphibian antihero shared honours and top billing with The Human Torch, having debuted (albeit in a truncated, monochrome version) in the aforementioned promotional booklet designed to be handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year.

Our late-starter antihero rapidly emerged as one of the industry’s biggest draws, winning his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated Spring 1941). His appeal was baffling but solid and he was one of the last super-characters to vanish at the end of the first heroic age. In 1954, when Atlas (as the company then was) briefly revived its “Big Three” line-up – the Torch and Captain America being the other two – Everett returned for an extended run of superbly dark, mordantly moody, creepily contemporary fantasy fables. Even so, his input wasn’t sufficient to keep the title afloat and eventually Sub-Mariner sank again.

In 1961, as Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were reinventing superheroes with their Fantastic Four, they revived and reimagined the awesome, all-but-forgotten aquanaut as a troubled, angry semi-amnesiac. Decidedly more bombastic, regal and grandiose, this returnee despised humanity: embittered and broken by the loss of his subsea kingdom… which had been (seemingly) destroyed by American atomic testing. His urge for rightful revenge was infinitely complicated after he became utterly besotted with the FF’s Susan Storm…

Namor knocked around the budding Marvel universe for years, squabbling with star turns such as The Hulk, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil before securing his own series as one half of Tales to Astonish. From there he graduated in 1968 to his own solo title again.

Cumulatively spanning cover-dates June 1972 – April 1973, this seventh subsea selection trawls Sub-Mariner #50-60, and sees the triumphant return of originator Everett in salty sagas preceded by a heartfelt appreciation and more creative secret-sharing from Roy Thomas in his Introduction before the dry land dramas and thrill-soaked yarns recommence…

Previously, Namor had endured months of escalating horror as old enemies such as Prince Byrrah, Warlord Krang, Attuma, Dr. Dorcas and sinister shapeshifter Llyra constantly assaulted his sunken kingdom. They were soundly defeated, but the constant battles led to the murder of Namor’s lifelong companion and bride-to-be Lady Dorma. The prince had been betrayed by his most trusted ally and, heartsick, angry and despondent, he abdicated the throne, choosing to pursue the human half of his hybrid heritage as a surface dweller…

The decision was fraught with more potential grief, leading to perpetual battles with surface world authorities, deranged psionic hermit Stephan Tuval, mind-tyrant Turalla, monster-maker Aunt Serr, M.O.D.O.K. and AIM. Namor seldom fought alone and initial clashes with old friends such as Diane Arliss and Walt Newell (part-time undersea Avenger Stingray), Spider-Man, Daredevil and Human Torch Johnny Storm, led to refreshed alliances, before culminating in a poignant but so-brief reunion with his long-lost father Leonard McKenzie, a man Namor had for his entire life believed killed by Atlanteans in 1920.

When that tragic hostage to fortune was murdered by post-human horror Tiger Shark and Llyra, doubly orphaned, traumatised Namor lost his memory again, and was used as cannon fodder by Doctor Doom before eventually breaking free and retrenching in confusion to ponder his obscured future…

A fresh start begins in #50 as Bill Everett resurfaces to ask ‘Who Am I?’, with the bewildered amphibian reeling in confusion at the beach until his heroic instincts kick in and he saves a drowning teenager from seaweed and pollution. His actions are completely misunderstood and she savagely attacks him, before swimming off… right out to sea…

Lesson learned, Namor concentrates on his own woes and sets off for Antarctica, eventually fetching up in the Ross Sea to explore the crumbling remains of Atlantis. His reveries are shattered when he is attacked by mutant crab creatures guarding the tomb of his beloved long-lost cousin and WWII partner in crimefighting Namora…

Confronting sinister leader Salamar the Sustainer, Namor is apprised of a bizarre plot to exploit the vast oil reserves under the ocean floor, but soon uncovers old foes shaping events: treacherous cousin Byrrah and Llyra. He also meets again that abrasive teenager and discovers she is Namora’s wayward daughter…

As all hell breaks loose, former prince and newfound cousin Namorita make a break for it in a hail of weapons fire as ‘Armageddon… at Fifty Fathoms Full!’ (scripted by Mike Friedrich) exposes a scaly hidden hand behind the carnage. Byrrah is in league with the alien Brotherhood of Baddoon, who want the – radioactive – oil reserves, albeit not for the reasons they share with the usurper. Ultimately, the aliens, Byrrah, and Salamar’s savage crab people can’t agree and the seagoing cousins are participants in a Battle Royale that ends in environmental catastrophe…

Seeking to confirm Namorita’s account of how Namora died and fob her off on his old girlfriend Betty Dean Prentiss, Sub-Mariner cruises into a clash with ultra-nationalist Japanese mutant and future X-Man Sunfire as ‘The Atomic Samurai!’ – ever receptive to deranged patriotic ranting – falls under the sway of war criminal Dragon-Lord, last of the samurai who plans to unleash his new Nipponese army and deadly defoliants upon America; a tactic that could destroy the oceans…

After a spectacular new incidence of the classic Golden Age fire vs water duel, Everett takes full creative command for the follow-up ‘…And the Rising Sun Shall Fall!’ as Sunfire sees sense and switches sides to save the seas, resulting in all-out war in concluding half-chapter ‘Now Comes… the Decision!’, a brief battle that leaves room in #54 for a “Mighty Marvel Mini Classic!” as Friedrich & Alan Weiss detail how ‘Namor the First, Prince of Atlantis battles The Mer-Mutants’: a light but lovely puff piece involving a mermaid acting as a subsea honey trap for her hungry kin…

Issue #55 sees Namor at last wave goodbye to “Nita” and Betty, before heading back to Antarctica and an unexpected and brutal encounter with a scavenging wrecker dubbed ‘The Abominable Snow-King!’ The literally monstrous Torg’s ambition is to hurl enslaved sea life against humanity but soon sinks once the Sub-Mariner gets involved, after which Friedrich & veteran illustrator Dan Adkins steer the abdicated Prince back to his forsaken kingdom in ‘Atlantis, Mon Amour!’ Sadly, he’s too late to stop his former subjects making a fear fuelled mistake that results in atrocity and genocide when refugee aliens come begging for aid…

When Everett returned he deftly opened the doors to Marvel’s Atlas era-past with a tempestuous yarn that would eventually affect the entire continuity. ‘…In the Lap of the Gods’ reintroduces pliable 1950s sensation Venus whose impact would ripple out across the MU and ultimately reveal a hidden history as part of the Agents of Atlas sub-franchise. It begins in a shattering storm as Namor rescues a lovely mystery woman stranded on a rock and stumbles into a long-running grudge match between the Hellenic gods of Love and War. A contemporary tale of dissent and unrest, the story reunites him with Namorita, who, in his absence, has become a college student and activist. Moreover, her favourite lecturer – Humanities Professor Victoria N. Starr – also has a concealed alter ego and lethal stalker: malign divinity and former pantheon mate Ares…

Having held at bay one angry god, Namor returns to Atlantis, resolved to restore the undersea nation to forefront of civilisation but his program of changes is stalled when ‘Hands Across the Waters, Hands Across the Skies…’ (Everett supervising, steering – and inking – dialoguer Steve Gerber & layout artist Sam Kweskin) uncover a survivor and witness to the recent massacre of alien ambassadors by Atlanteans. Tamara of the Sisterhood claims to offer forgiveness and seek understanding, but many of the original perpetrators would rather there were no witnesses or recriminations to deal with. Most tellingly, the superstrong survivor and her pet monster have their own plans and soon the prince is sucked into more pointless battle…

With John Tartaglione now inking Everett’s plot, Gerber & Kweskin forecast ‘Thunder Over the Seas!’: a tale of tragic miscomprehension as Namor again clashes with the surface world. Now the Sub-Mariner’s new advisor, Tamara is targeted by Atlantean scout Lorvex who is driven wild by her exotic beauty and rarity. Obsessively stalking and assaulting her, Lorvex drives her into Russian trawler nets and the refugee soon becomes a prized possession after the vessel and its contents are impounded by the US Coast Guard. Soon she is a cause célèbre and topic of heated debate at the United Nations…

Having dealt with Lorvex, Namor goes looking for his new friend, crashing into chaos as the war of words over the alien mermaid triggers the usual bellicose response amongst humans. By the time surface-dwelling Namorita summons her cousin to rescue Tamara, Avenger Thor has stepped in to keep the peace. Sadly it’s far too late to prevent ‘The Invasion of New York!’ (Everett, Gerber, Kweskin & Jim Mooney), with Lorvex exploiting the campaign to regain position and secretly abduct Tamara from UN custody. Enraged and resigned, Sub-Mariner acts decisively and violently to end the crisis, and accepts at last the fate he has been really fighting, finally accepting again the throne and responsibilities of ruling Atlantis.

To Be Continued and Concluded…

During these later issue Everett’s steadily declining health increasingly limited his output. As part of the Bonus features the cover and first 4 pages of Sub-Mariner #61 are included here, as drawn by the old master with Win Mortimer & Mooney. He plotted two further issues and died on February 27th 1973. Those will be seen in the final collection of this sequence. Here, however, follows a visual memorial from editor and friend Thomas, limned by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia that appeared in Sub-Mariner #65 (cover-dated September 1973).

With covers throughout by Gil Kane, Everett, Vince Colletta, Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, Sal Buscema, Weiss, John Romita, Jim Starlin & Rich Buckler, other sunken treasures salvaged here include a watercolour and pen & ink pinup by Bill, a Venus pinup from Marvel Spotlight #2 (February 1972) and 7 original art pages and covers by Everett and assorted collaborators.

Many Marvel Comics are more exuberant than qualitative, but this volume, especially from an art-lover’s point of view, is a wonderful exception: historical treasures with narrative bite and indescribable style and panache that fans will delight in forever.
© 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Fantastic Four Marvel Masterworks volume 18


By Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Roger Slifer, Keith Pollard, Bill Mantlo, George Pérez, John Buscema, Bob Hall, Sal Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Dave Hunt, Pablo Marcos, Bob Wiacek, Marie Severin & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0009-0 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As Marvel’s cinematic arm tries once again to get it right with their founding concept, expect to see a selection of fabulous FF material here culled from their prodigious paginated days…

For Marvel everything started with The Fantastic Four.

Monolithic modern Marvel truly began with the eccentric monsyer ‘n’ alien filled adventures of a compact superteam as much squabbling family as coolly capable costumed champions. Everything the company and brand is now stems from that quirky quartet and the inspired, inspirational, groundbreaking efforts of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby…

Cautiously bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961, Fantastic Four #1 – by Stan, Jack, George Klein & Christopher Rule – was raw and crude even by the ailing outfit’s standards; but it seethed with rough, passionate, uncontrolled excitement. Thrill-hungry kids pounced on its dynamic storytelling and caught a wave of change beginning to build in America. It and every succeeding issue changed comics a little bit more… and forever. As seen in the premier issue, maverick scientist Reed Richards, his fiancée Sue Storm, their close friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s bratty teenaged brother survived an ill-starred private spaceshot after cosmic rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding.

All four permanently mutated: Richards’ body became elastic, diffident Sue became (even more) invisible, Johnny Storm burst into living flame and tragic Ben shockingly devolved into a shambling, rocky freak. After the initial revulsion and trauma passed, they solemnly agreed to use their abilities to benefit mankind. Thus was born The Fantastic Four.

Throughout the 1960s it was indisputably the key title and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters. Kirby was approaching his creative peak: unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot, and intense, incredible new characters whilst Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas ever seen. Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their powers and full of the confidence only success brings, with The King particularly eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed… which is rather ironic since it was the company’s reticence to give the artist more creative freedom that led to Kirby’s moving to National/DC in the 1970s.

Without Kirby’s soaring imagination the rollercoaster of mindbending High Concepts gave way to more traditional tales of characters in conflict, with soap opera leanings and supervillain-dominated Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas. With Lee & Kirby long gone but their mark very much still stamped onto every page of the still-prestigious title, this full-colour luxury compendium collects Fantastic Four #192-203 and Annuals #12-13, spanning March 1978 to February 1979.

What You Should Know: After facing his own Counter Earth counterpart Reed Richards lost his stretching powers. With menaces like Salem’s Seven, Klaw and Molecule Man still coming for him and his family, weary and devoid of solutions, Richards made the only logical decision and called it a day for the team…

Following Introduction ‘The Fantastics’ by then-incoming scribe Marv Wolfman, a new direction closely referencig the good ol’ days begins with #192 and ‘He Who Soweth the Wind…!’ by Wolfman, George Pérez & Joe Sinnott, as Johnny heads west to revisit his childhood dream of being a race car driver and unexpectedly meets old pal Wyatt Wingfoot.

Back East, Ben and girlfriend Alicia Masters ponder their options as Reed gets a pretty spectacular job offer from a mystery backer, even as Johnny’s race career is upended when superpowered mercenary Texas Twister attacks at the behest of a sinister but unspecified employer with a grudge to settle…

The admittedly half-hearted assault fails but when Ben offers his services to NASA a pattern begins to emerge when he and Alicia are ambushed by old foe Darkoth in ‘Day of the Death-Demon!’ (plotted by Len Wein & Keith Pollard, scripted by Bill Mantlo, and illustrated by Pollard & Sinnott). The cyborg terror is determined to destroy an experimental solar shuttle, but doesn’t really know why, and as Ben ponders the inexplicable incident, in Hollywood, Susan Storm-Richards’ return to acting is inadvetantly paused when shapeshifting loon Impossible Man pays a visit. The delay gives Sue a little time to consider just how she got such a prestigious dream-fulfilling offer completely out of the blue…

Back at NASA, when Darkoth strikes again his silent patrner is exposed as scheming alchemist Diablo, whilst in upstae New York, Reed slowly discovers his dreams of umlimited research time and facilities is nothing like he imagined…

Finally, launch day comes and The Ting pilots the Solar Shuttle into space, only to have it catastrophically crash in the desert…

Joined by additional inker Dave Hunt, the creative pinch-hitters conclude the saga in ‘Vengeance is Mine!’ as Ben survives impact and searing sandstorms, tracks down his foes and delivers a crushing defeat to Diablo and Darkoth. In FF #195 Sue learns who sponsored her revived Hollywood ambitions when Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner renews his amorous pursuit of her. Embittered and lonely, he has fully forsaken Atlantis and the overwhelming demands of his people and the state, but they have not done with him and despatch robotic warriors to drag him back to his eternal duties in ‘Beware the Ravaging Retrievers!’ (Wolfman, Pollard & Pablo Marcos). Like everybody else, the metal myrmidons have utterly underestimated the Invisible Girl and pay the price, allowing the once-&-future prince to reassess his position and make a momentous decision…

As Johnny links up with Ben and Alicia, the strands of a complex scheme begin to appear and in #196 gel for self-decieving Reed Richards as ‘Who in the World is the Invincible Man?’ (Wolfman, Pollard & Marcos) depicts the enigmatic Man with the Plan secretly subjecting Reed to the mindbensding powers of the Pyscho-Man, just as Sue rejoins Ben and Johnny in New York City before being impossibly ambushed by former FF foe The Invincible Man.

This time the man under the hood is not her father, but someone she loves even more…

Reunited with Reed, the horrified heroes are confronted by their greatest, most implacable enemy (it’s not a spoiler as he’s right there on the cover of this book…) and the complicated plot to restore Reed’s powers finally unfolds. Victor Von Doom wants revenge but refuses to triumph over a diminished foe, but his efforts to re-expose Richards to cosmic rays is secretly hijacked by a rival madman in ‘The Riotous Return of the Red Ghost!’ (Wolfman, Pollard & Sinnott). Of course there’s more at stake, as Doom seeks to legitimise his rule through a proxy son: planning to abodicate in his favour and have junior take Latveria into the UN and inevitably to the forefront of nations…

Fully restored and invigorated, Mister Fantastic defeats the equally resurgent Red Ghost before linking up with Nick Fury (senior) and S.H.I.E.L.D., and leading an ‘Invasion!’ of Doom’s kingdom. Beside Latverian freedom fighter and legal heir to the throne Prince Zorba Fortunov, Richards storms into Doomstadt, defeating all in his path, foiling the secondary scheme of imbuing the ‘The Son of Doctor Doom!’ with the powers of the (now) entire Fantastic Four and exposing the incredible secret of Victor von Doom II…

Months of deft planning (from Wolfman, Pollard & Sinnott) culminate in an epic confrontation ‘When Titans Clash!’, Doom and Richards indulge in their ultimate battle (thus far), with the result that the villain is destroyed and the kingdom liberated. For now…

The post-Doom era opens in FF #201 (December 1978) as the celebrated and honored foursome return to America and take possession of empty former HQ the Baxter Building. Unfortunately so does something else, attacking the family through their own electronic installations and turning the towering “des res” into ‘Home Sweet Deadly Home!’: a mystery solved in the next isue when it subsequently seizes control of Tony Stark’s armour to attack the FF again in ‘There’s One Iron Man Too Many!’ with John Buscema filling in for penciller Pollard.

The monthly mayhem pauses after #203’s ‘…And a Child Shall Slay Them!’ wherein Wolfman, Pollard & Sinnott reveal the incredible powers possessed by dying cosmic ray-mutated child Willie Evans Jr. When the foremost authority on the phenomenon is called in to consult, Dr. Reed Richards and his associates – and all of Manhattan – face savage duplicates of themselves manifested from FF fan Willie’s fevered imagination…

Although the regular fun stops here, two chronologically adrift King Size specials finish up the thrill-fest, beginning with Fantastic Four Annual #12’s ‘The End of the Inhumans… and the Fantastic Four’ by Wolfman, Bob Hall, Pollard, Bob Wiacek & Marie Severin. When Johnny’s former flame Crystal – and gigantic Good Boi Lockjaw – teleport in seeking aid in finding the abducted Inhuman Royal Family, the team battle ruthless Inhuman supremacist Thraxon the Schemer before exposing that megalomaniac’s secret master: the immortal unconquerable Sphinx. Despite his god-like, the united force of the FF plus Blackbolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal and ex-Avenger Quicksilver proves sufficient to temporarily defeat their foe… or does it?

A year later, Annual #13 offered a more intimate and human tale from Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Sinnott as ‘Nightlife’ revealed how New York’s lost underclass was systematically being disappeared from the hovels and streets they frequented. With guest appearances from Daredevil and witch queen Agatha Harkness, the tale reveals a softer side to the FF’s oldest enemy and a return to addressing social issues for the team.

To Be Continued…

With covers by Pérez, Sinnott, Frank Giacoia, Pollard, Marcos John Buscema, Steve Leiloha and Kirby, this power-packed package also includes a wealth of original art pages and sketches from Dave Cockrum, Kirby & Sinnott, Pollard, Marcos, Hunt, and enthralling house ads of the period.

Although the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” never quite returned to the stratospheric heights of the Kirby era, this collection offers an appreciative and tantalising taste-echo of those heady heights. These extremely capable efforts are probably most welcome to dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but will still thrill and delight the generous and forgiving casual browser looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement – especially if this time theupcoming movie delivers on its promise…
© 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Daredevil volume 3: Unmasked


By Stan Lee & Gene Colan with Frank Giacoia, Dick Ayers, John Tartaglione & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5428-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, making him an astonishing acrobat, formidable fighter and living lie-detector. Very much a second-string hero for most of his early years, Daredevil was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due in large part to the roster of brilliant artists who had illustrated the strip. He battled thugs, gangsters, a plethora of super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion, quipping his way through life and life-threatening combat. His civilian life consisted of assorted legal conundra and manfully standing back and suppressing his own feelings as his portly best friend and law partner Franklin “Foggy” Nelson vainly romanced their secretary Karen Page.

DD only really came into his own once illustrator Gene Colan signed up for the long haul, which properly begins with the tales in this collection: part of a series of Mighty Marvel Masterworks available as kid-friendly digest paperbacks and eBooks. Gathering Daredevil #22-32 (November 1966 to September 1967) it traces a move from morose masked avenger to wisecracking Scarlet Swashbuckler, offering a marked improvement in overall quality as scripter Lee utilises extended soap operatic plot-threads to string together Colan’s unique fight scenes as he shook off the remnants of predecessor John Romita’s art style.

In a very short time Romita had made the Sightless Swashbuckler his own before graduating to Spider-Man, so when Colan took over on DD, he initially kept the clipped, solid, nigh-chunky lines for rendering the Man Without Fear, but increasingly drew everything else in his loose, fluid, tonal manner. With these tales, his warring styles coalesced and the result was literally poetry in non-stop motion…

Without preamble the action opens with ‘The Tri-Man Lives’ (inked by Frank Giacoia & Dick Ayers), containing Gangland themes and malignant machinations whilst sharing focus with super-menaces The Gladiator and Masked Marauder, whose eponymous killer android proves less of a threat than expected. The villains had sought control of international organised crime syndicate The Maggia but their master plan to prove their worthiness by murdering the Man Without Fear goes badly awry after the kidnapped hero refuses to simply lie down and die…

Concluding in #23 with ‘DD Goes Wild!’, the ending sees our hero trapped in Europe, but soon making his way to England and a violent reunion with Tarzan analogue Ka-Zar who has become prime suspect in #24’s chilling puzzle ‘The Mystery of the Midnight Stalker!’

This tale contains my vote for the Most Obnoxious Misrepresentation of Britain in Comic Books Award as a policeman – sorry, “bobby” – warns, “STAY BACK, PLEASE! THE MILITIA WILL BE ARRIVING IN JIG TIME!”…

After clearing the jungle hero’s name, Matt Murdock heads back to America in time to enjoy the less-than-stellar debut of a certified second-rate super-villain as ‘Enter: The Leap-Frog!’ introduces a thief dressed like Kermit on steroids with springs on his flippered feet. Yes, really…

However, the big event of the issue is meeting Matt’s hip and groovy twin brother Mike…

By the time ‘Stilt-Man Strikes Again’ (DD #26, March 1967) Colan is totally in command of his vision and a leaner, moodier hero is emerging. The major push of the next few issues was to turn the hopeless romantic triangle of Matt, Foggy and Karen Page into a whacky quadrangle by dint of fictitious twin Mike, who Matt would be “expose” as Daredevil to divert suspicion from the blind attorney who actually battled all those weird villains…

Confused, much?

Still skulking in the background, arch-villain Masked Marauder slowly closes in on DD’s alter ego. He gets a lot closer in ‘Mike Murdock Must Die!’ (Giacoia inks) after Stilt-Man teams with the Marauder and the ever-fractious Spider-Man once again clashes with old frenemy Daredevil before the villains meet their apparent ends.

The Sightless Swashbuckler has his first encounter with extraterrestrials in #28’s moody one-trick-pony ‘Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Planet!’ – an Ayers-inked thriller wherein invading aliens’ blindness-inducing rays prove inexplicably ineffective against the Crimson Crime-crusher. John Tartaglione inked the next tale, a solid, action-packed gangster-thriller entitled ‘Unmasked!’ whilst issue #30 opened a protracted and impressive clash with former Thor foes the Cobra and Mister Hyde. The bombastic first bout comes complete with an Asgardian cameo in ‘…If There Should Be a Thunder God!’

Attempting to catch the rampant super-criminals, DD masquerades as the Asgardian Avenger only to encounter the real McCoy. Sadly, the villains ambush the mortal hero once the Thunderer departs and, as a result of the resultant battle, DD loses his compensating hyper-senses. Thus, he must perpetrate a ‘Blind Man’s Bluff!’… which almost fools Cobra & Hyde…

Naturally, it all goes wrong before it all comes right and against all odds Murdock regains his abilities just in time ‘…To Fight the Impossible Fight!’…

Supplemented by a Colan cover gallery and original art pages, this tome reveals how The Man Without Fear blossomed into a truly magnificent example of Marvel’s compelling formula for success: smart stories, human characters and magnificent illustration. This is pure Fights ‘n’ Tights magic no fan of stunning super-heroics can afford to ignore.
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Marvel Team-Up Marvel Masterworks volume 7


By Chris Claremont, Bill Kunkel, Bill Mantlo, Gary Friedrich, Ralph Macchio, John Byrne, Dave Wenzel, Jim Mooney, Kerry Gammill, Bob Hall, Marie Severin, Howard Chaykin, Jeff Aclin, Dave Hunt, Bob Wiacek, Ricardo Villamonte, Tony DeZuñiga, Dan Green & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3324-1 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times

The concept of team-ups – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with new or less well-selling company characters – has been with us since the earliest days of comics, but making the brief encounter/temporary alliance a key selling point really took hold with DC’s The Brave and the Bold before being taken up by their biggest competitor.

Marvel Team-Up was the second regular Spider-Man title, launched as 1971 ended. A big hit, it proved the time had finally come for expansion and offering a venue for uncomplicated action romps to supplement the company’s complex subplot fare in regular books. However, even in an infinite Marvel Multiverse, certain stars shine more brightly than others and some characters turn up in team-ups more often than others. In recent years, carefully curated themed collections from the back-catalogue have served to initiate new readers intrigued by Marvel’s Movie and TV endeavours, but there’s no real substitute for seeing Marvel’s continuity unfolding in chronological order. This compelling compilation gathers the contents of Marvel Team-Up #65-77, collectively covering January 1977 to January 1979 and – following Chris Claremont’s Introduction offering fond remembrances of the times and key writer Bill Mantlo – opens onto a period of superior sagas.

After a short and sweet flurry of original adventures in his own UK title, Captain Britain eventually succumbed to the English version of funnybook limbo: his title subsumed by a more successful one with CB reduced to reprints. Soon after, he pyrrhically debuted across the water in Marvel Team-Up #65 ‘Introducing Captain Britain’ by originating scripter Claremont and British-born, Canada-bred illustrator John Byrne. The story depicts exchange student Brian Braddock on transfer to Manhattan and the unsuspecting houseguest of Peter Parker. Before long the heroes formally meet, fight and unite to defeat flamboyant games-obsessed hit-man Arcade, with the transatlantic tussle concluding in #66 as the abducted antagonists systematically dismantled the mercenary maniac’s ‘Murderworld’.

The mystery of a long-vanished feline were-woman warrior is then resolved in ‘Tigra, Tigra, Burning Bright!’ as the webslinger is targeted by Kraven the Hunter, using the Feline Fury as his enslaved attack beast until Spider-Man breaks her conditioning, after which Claremont, Byrne & Bob Wiacek explore ‘The Measure of a Man!’ in #68. Here, the Amazing Arachnid philanthropically returns the captive Man-Thing to his Florida swamp habitat. Of course, no good deed ever goes unpunished and soon he encounters horrific demon D’Spayre torturing benevolent enchanters Dakimh and Jennifer Kale. It takes every ounce of courage both man and monster possess to defeat the sadistic feeder on torment…

A clash with Egyptian-themed thieves next draws Spidey into the years-long duel between cosmic powered X-Man Havoc and his nemesis the Living Monolith in ‘Night of the Living God!’ (inked by Ricardo Villamonte), but when the battle turns against them, it requires the thunderous might of Thor to stop the ravening mutant menace in ‘Whom Gods Destroy!’ (Claremont, Byrne & Tony DeZuñiga).

This epic clash signalled an end to the creative team’s good times as MTU downshifted to short filler tales. Courtesy of Bill Kunkel, Dave Wenzel & Dan Green, Spidey and The Falcon save Captain America from death by poison by a minor villain with big plans in #71’s ‘Deathgarden’ after which beloved Police officer Jean DeWolff features heavily in the psionic rogue The Wraith’s demented revenge plot ‘Crack of the Whip!’ (#72 by Bill Mantlo & Jim Mooney) which sees the wallcrawler linking up with Iron Man to mangle Maggia stooges and assassin-for-hire Whiplash.

MTU #73 paired the webslinger with old frenemy Daredevil in a workmanlike thriller by Gary Friedrich, Kerry Gammill & Don Perlin as vicious gang leader The Owl returned in ‘A Fluttering of Wings Most Foul!’ and a flurry of frenzied felonious forays, setting the scene for a minor mirth-quake. Long embargoed and seemingly lost due to intellectual rights issues, lost gem ‘Live From New York, Its Saturday Night!’ depicts a comedy of errors set on an ongoing TV sensation. Starring Spider-Man and the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players (Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner & Lorne Michaels), the sinister Silver Samurai searches for his missing teleportation ring takes place live to a totally oblivious TV audience and temporary host Stan Lee. The manic episode is written by Claremont and a triumph of caricaturing brilliance for Bob Hall & majestic Marie Severin.

Assisted by Ralph Macchio, Claremont then reunited with Byrne and inker Al Gordon to team up in tribute to the New York Fire Department with #75’s ‘The Smoke of That Great Burning!’ wherein Spider-Man and Hero for Hire Luke Cage are caught up in a robbery and hostage crisis which soon turns into a major conflagration…

The collection closes with a continued tale co-starring mystic master Dr. Strange and Clea,  Ms. Marvel (AKA Carol Danvers the present-day Captain Marvel), in what I’m guessing was intended as an annual before being chopped in two. Limned by Howard Chaykin, Jeff Aclin & Jose Ortiz, ‘If Not For Love…’ and second chapter ‘Death Waits at Bayou Diable!’ sees the mundane mortal metahumans stumble into an attempt to murder the Sorcerer Supreme and his disciple, leading Spidey, Ms. M and a much reduced Stephen Strange south to Bourbon Street and a risky rendezvous with voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau, Witch Queen of New Orleans. Sadly, she is far more than she seems and the trio are trapped in a scheme perpetrated by magic-loathing sorcerer Silver Dagger leading to astounding arcane action in #77’s ‘If I’m to Live… My Love Must Die!’

This epic edition is packed with rarely-seen extras, beginning with ‘Aunt May’s Photo Album’: a selection of stills from the 1977-1979 Spider-Man television show as originally published in Marvel Treasury Edition #18 (1978). It’s followed by that album’s covers, illustrated by Bob Budiansky & Ernie Chan, and a large selection of original art pages and covers by Byrne, Hunt, Dave Cockrum, Tom Palmer & Mooney. A gallery of covers from Marvel Tales (#193-207, 235-236) by Ron Frenz, Josef Rubinstein, John Romita Sr., Mark Bright, Vince Colletta, Mark McKenna George Perrez, Joe Sinnott, Joe Albeo, Byrne, Frank Giacoia, Hall, Todd McFarlane & Sam Keith, spanning November 1986 to November 1991 follows a rare treat: a selection of Byrne’s un-inked pencil pages.

A series of short stories from Marvel Tales (#255, 262 & 263) based on earlier MTU stories ends this tome. ‘Shock Therapy’ by Scott Lobdell, Vince Evans & Phil Sheehy reveals a clash between the Trapster and Ghost Rider, whilst Barry Dutter & Vince Evans’ ‘A Case of Sunstroke’ shows what happened to the X-Men after MTU Annual #2, whilst Woodgod runs wild again in ‘The Scream’ by Lobdell, Robert Walker & Jim Sanders.

These tales are generally superb examples of Marvel’s Second Wave, Bronze Age yarns fans will find little to complain about. Although not perhaps a book for casual or more maturely-oriented readers there’s lots of fun on hand and young readers – or Marvel Cinematic supporters – will have a blast, so why not consider this tome for your “Must-Have” library?
© 2023 MARVEL.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks Presents volume 3 1963-1964: It Started on Yancy Street


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby with George Roussos, Chic Stone, Sam Rosen, Art Simek & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4907-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

I’m partial to a bit of controversy so I’m going start off by saying that Fantastic Four #1 is the third most important Silver Age comic book ever, behind Showcase #4 – reintroducing The Flash in 1956 – and 1960’s The Brave and the Bold #28, which brought superhero teams back via the creation of The Justice League of America. Feel free to disagree…

After a troubled period at DC Comics (National Periodicals as it then was) and a creatively productive but disheartening time on the poisoned chalice of the Sky Masters newspaper strip, Jack Kirby settled into his job at the small outfit that used to be publishing powerhouse Timely/Atlas. There he generated mystery, monster, romance, war and western material for a market he suspected to be ultimately doomed. However, as always, he did the best job possible and that genre fare is now considered some of the best of its kind ever seen.

Nevertheless Kirby’s explosive imagination couldn’t be suppressed for long and when the JLA caught readers’ attention it gave him and writer/editor Stan Lee an opportunity to change the industry forever. According to popular myth, a golfing afternoon led to publisher Martin Goodman ordering nephew Stan to do a series about a group of super-characters like the JLA. The resulting team quickly took the fans by storm. It wasn’t the powers: they’d all been seen since the beginning of the medium. It wasn’t the costumes: they didn’t have any until the third issue.

It was Kirby’s compelling art and the fact that these characters weren’t anodyne cardboard cut-outs. In a real and recognizable location – New York City – imperfect, raw-nerved, touchy people banded together out of tragedy, disaster and necessity to face the incredible. In so many ways, The Challengers of the Unknown (Kirby’s prototype partners in peril for National/DC) laid all the groundwork for the wonders to come, but staid, hidebound editorial strictures there would never have allowed the undiluted energy of the concept to run all-but-unregulated.

Another milestone in the kid-friendly paperback/eBooks line of Mighty Marvel Masterworks, this full-colour pocket-sized compendium collects Fantastic Four #21-29 (spanning cover-dates December 1961 to August 1964) and shows how Stan & Jack cannily built on that early energy to consolidate the FF as the leading title and most innovative series of the era.

As ever the team are maverick scientist Reed Richards, his fiancée Sue Storm, their closest friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s teenaged brother Johnny: survivors of a private space-shot that went horribly wrong after Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding and mutated them all. Richards’ body became elastic, Susan gained the power to turn invisible and her sibling could turn into living flame. Poor tragic Ben was reduced to a shambling, rocky super-strong freak of nature… Soon the FF was recognised as being like no other comic on the market and buyers responded to it avidly if not fanatically…

In late 1963, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos was another solid newsstand hit for the young “House of Ideas.” Eventually its brusque and brutish star metamorphosed into Marvel’s answer to James Bond. Here, however, he’s a cunning world-weary CIA agent seeking the FF’s aid against a sinister, immigrant-hating racist supremacist demagogue called ‘The Hate-Monger’: a cracking yarn with a strong message, inked by comics veteran George Roussos, under the protective nom-de-plume George Bell.

By this juncture the FF were firmly established and Lee & Kirby well on the way to toppling DC/National Comics from a decades-held top spot through an engaging blend of brash, folksy and consciously contemporaneous sagas: mixing high concept, low comedy, trenchant melodrama and breathtaking action.

Unseen since the premiere issue, #22 heralded ‘The Return of the Mole Man!’ in another full-on monster-mashing fight-fest, chiefly notable for debuting Sue Storm’s new increased power-set. Her ability to project force fields of “invisible energy” also involved a power to reveal hidden things and make others invisible too: advances that would eventually make her one of the mightiest characters in Marvel’s pantheon – and not before time either…

FF #23 enacted ‘The Master Plan of Doctor Doom!’ by introducing his mediocre mercenary minions “the Terrible Trio” – Bull Brogin, Handsome Harry and Yogi Dakor – and the uncanny menace of “the Solar Wave” (which was enough to raise the hackles on my 5-year-old neck. Do I need to qualify that with: all of me was five, but only my neck had properly developed hackles back then?)…

‘The Infant Terrible!’ in #24’s is a classic case of sci fi paranoia and misunderstanding and a sterling yarn of inadvertent extragalactic menace and misplaced innocence, with a reality-warping space baby endangering Earth, and is followed by a 2-part tale truly emphasising the inherent difference between Lee & Kirby’s work and everybody else’s at that time.

Fantastic Four #25-26 offered a cataclysmic clash that had young heads spinning in 1964 and led directly to the Emerald Behemoth finally regaining a strip of his own. In ‘The Hulk vs The Thing’ and conclusion ‘The Avengers Take Over!’ a relentless, lightning-paced, all-out Battle Royale results when the disgruntled emerald man-monster returns to New York in search of side-kick Rick Jones, with only an injury-wracked FF in the way of his destructive rampage.

A definitive moment in The Thing’s character development, action ramps up to the max when a rather stiff-necked and officious Avengers team (Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, The Wasp and recently-defrosted Captain America) horn in, claiming jurisdictional rights on “Bob” Banner and his Jaded alter ego. The tale is plagued with pesky continuity errors which would haunt Lee for decades, but – bloopers notwithstanding – is one of Marvel’s key moments and still a visceral, vital read today.

Stan & Jack had hit on a winning formula by including other stars in guest-shots – especially since readers could never anticipate if they would fight with or beside the home team. FF #27’s ‘The Search for Sub-Mariner!’ again saw the undersea antihero in amorous mood, and when he abducts Sue again, the boys call in Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts to locate them. Issue #28 delivered another terrific promotional infomercial team-up, but remains most notable (for me and many other fans) because of the man who replaced George Roussos as inker…

‘We Have to Fight the X-Men!’ sees the disparate super-squads in conflict due to the Mad Thinker and Puppet Master’s malign machinations, but the inclusion of Chic Stone – Kirby’s most simpatico and expressive inker – elevates the illustration to indescribable levels of beauty as the sinister savants briefly mind-control professor Charles Xavier and order him to set his students on the extremely surprised first family…

Closing this foray into the fantastic comes ‘It Started on Yancy Street!’ (FF #29) opening low-key and a little bit silly in the slum where Ben grew up, before the reappearance of the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes sees everything go wild and cosmic. The result is another meeting with the almighty Watcher, a blockbusting battle on the Moon, and the promise of bigger and even better to come…

To Be Continued…

Bolstered by all Kirby’s covers, this is a truly magnificent treat sharing pioneering tales that built a comics empire. The verve, imagination and sheer enthusiasm shines through and the wonder is there for you to share. If you’ve never thrilled to these spectacular sagas then this book of marvels is your best and most economical key to another world and time.
© 2023 MARVEL.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Mighty Thor volume 4: When Meet the Immortals


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, with Vince Colletta, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5426-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

These stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before, but today I’m once again focussing on format. The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line launched with economy in mind: classic tales of Marvel’s key creators and characters re-presented in chronological publishing order. It’s been a staple since the 1990s, but always in lavish, hardback collectors editions. These editions are cheaper, on lower quality paper and – crucially – smaller, about the dimensions of a paperback book. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all…

Even more than The Fantastic Four, Sci Fi fantasy title The Mighty Thor was the arena in which Jack Kirby’s boundless fascination with all things Cosmic was honed and refined through his increasingly groundbreaking graphics and captivating concepts. The King’s plethora of power-packed signature pantheons began in a modest little monster mag called Journey into Mystery where – in the summer of 1962 – a tried-&-true comic book concept (feeble mortal transformed into god-like hero) was revived by the rapidly resurgent company who were not yet Marvel Comics: adding a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers.

This cheap & cheerful epochal pocket tome re-presents more pioneering Asgardian exploits from Journey into Mystery Annual #1, JiM #120-125, and The Mighty Thor #126-127: altogether spanning cover-dates September 1965 to April 1966 as the venerable anthology title changed name to further magnify its magnificent wide-screen feature hero, in a blazing blur of innovation and seat-of-the-pants myth-revising and universe-building. It is lettered throughout by unsung superstars Art Simek & Sam Rosen, and an unjustly anonymous band of colourists.

As you already know: Once upon a time, lonely, lamed American doctor Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway and encountered the vanguard of an alien invasion. Trapped in a cave, Blake found a gnarled old walking stick, which when struck against the ground, turned him into the Norse God of Thunder! Within moments he was defending the weak and smiting the wicked. As months swiftly passed, rapacious extraterrestrials, Commie tyrants, costumed crazies and cheap thugs gradually gave way to a vast panoply of fantastic worlds and incredible, mythic menaces. Moreover, from JiM #110, the wild warrior’s Realm of Asgard was a regular feature and mesmerising milieu for our hero’s earlier exploits, heralding an era of cosmic fantasy to run beside young Marvel’s signature superhero sagas.

Every issue carried spectacular back-up sagas Tales of Asgard – Home of the Mighty Norse Gods gifting Kirby space to indulge his fascination with legends. They also allowed both complete vignettes and longer epics – in every sense of the word. Initially adapted myths, these yarns evolved into serial sagas unique to the Marvel universe where Kirby constructed his own cosmos and mythology, underpinning the company’s entire continuity.

Here – with everything attributed to Lee, Kirby & Vince Colletta and after Thor has defeated his malign step-brother Loki and The Destroyer in Vietnam – the Thunder God returns to America, leaving room for a special event and flashback tale too big for the regular periodical.

The blockbusting lead story from Journey into Mystery Annual #1 reveals how in undisclosed ages past the God of Thunder fell across dimensions into the realm of the Greek Gods for a landmark heroic hullabaloo ‘When Titans Clash! Thor vs. Hercules!’ The spectacular clash of theologies was an incredible all-action episode, and is augmented by a stunning double-page pin-up of downtown Asgard – a true example of Kirby magic…

Back in the now, Thor stops at Pittsburgh’s steel mills to repair Mjolnir – cut into pieces by the Destroyer – and ‘With My Hammer in Hand..!’ prepares to denounce Loki’s villainy to Odin. In the process he mislays one of his brother’s magical Norn Stones: a mishap that will cost him dearly later. Meanwhile, beloved Jane Foster has been abducted by a hidden miscreant with mischief in mind but before the Thunderer can act on that he is ambushed by Loki’s contingency plan as the awesome Absorbing Man returns…

In the back, the Tales of Asgard serial ‘The Quest’ further unfolded as hand-picked warriors on Thor’s flying longship endure further hardship in their bold bid to forestall Ragnarok. This month’s Asgardian edda sees their bold but misguided attempt finally start, as they ‘Set Sail!’ against their legendary prophesied foes…

JiM #121 opens mid-melee as the Thunderer’s attack against colossal Crusher Creel intensifies in ‘The Power! The Passion! The Pride!’ before the god’s compassion for human spectators sparks his downfall and defeat. Seemingly doomed Thor’s cliffhanger fate is paused as B-feature ‘Maelstrom!’ sees Asgardian Argonauts epically encounter an uncanny living storm…

In #122’s ‘Where Mortals Fear to Tread!’ triumphant Crusher Creel is prevented from finishing Thor when he is abducted by Loki to attack Asgard and Odin himself: an astounding clash capped by cataclysmic conclusion ‘While a Universe Trembles!’ Meanwhile at the rear, ‘The Grim Specter of Mutiny!’ invoked by seditious young Loki is quashed in time for valiant Balder to save the Argonauts from ‘The Jaws of the Dragon!’ in the ever-escalating Ragnarok Quest.

In modern times, with the latest threat to Asgard ended and Creel and Loki banished, Thor returns to Earth to defeat The Demon: a “witchdoctor” empowered by the magical Norn Stone left behind after the Thunder God’s Vietnamese venture. However, whilst the Storm Lord is away, Hercules is dispatched to Earth on a reconnaissance mission for Zeus. ‘The Grandeur and the Glory!’ opens another extended story-arc/action extravaganza, bouncing the Thunderer from bruising battle to brutal defeat to ascendant triumph…

As seen in Journey into Mystery Annual #1, long ago the God of Thunder inadvertently invaded the realm of the Greek Gods. Now with the Greek godling clearly popular with readers, Hercules properly enters the growing Mavel Universe. After the impending imbroglio with Thor, the Prince of Power would battle the Hulk and eventually join the Avengers but right now he’s still just another enemy for the Thunderer to face…

Issue #125 –‘When Meet the Immortals!’ – was the last Journey into Mystery for decades. With next month’s ‘Whom the Gods Would Destroy!’, the comic became The Mighty Thor and the drama amped up, culminating with ‘The Hammer and the Holocaust!’ In short order Thor crushes the Norn-fuelled Demon, tells Jane his secret identity and is deprived of his powers by Odin. He is then brutally beaten by Hercules, and subsequently seemingly loses Jane to the Prince of Power, yet still manages to save Asgard from unscrupulous traitor Seidring the Merciless who had usurped Odin’s mystic might while the All-Father was distracted with family matters. And in the wings another epic encounter opened as a certain satanic terror set his infernal sights on an unwitting godly prince…

To Be Continued…

The accompanying Tales of Asgard instalments see the Questers home in on the cause of all their woes. ‘Closer Comes the Swarm’ pits them against the Flying Trolls of Thryheim, before ‘The Queen Commands’ sees Loki captured until Thor answers ‘The Summons!’, promptly returning all Argonauts to Asgard to be shown ‘The Meaning of Ragnarok!’

In truth, these mini-eddas were, although still magnificent in visual excitement, becoming rather rambling in plot, so the narrative reset was neither unexpected nor unwelcome…

The episodic exploits then close with the original pencil art to the cover of JiM #123.

These Thor tales show the development not only of one of Marvel’s fundamental continuity concepts but more importantly the creative evolution of the greatest imagination in comics. Set your common sense on pause and simply wallow in the glorious imagery and power of these classic adventures for the true secret of what makes graphic narrative a unique experience.
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Spider-Man volume 5: To Become an Avenger


By Stan Lee & John Romita, with Don Heck, Mike Esposito, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5434-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

These stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before but here we’re enjoying another example of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

As well as finally introducing the romantic option who would drive much of hero’s later life, this compelling compilation categorically confirms the superstar status of the wallcrawler. Originally seen in The Amazing Spider-Man #39-46 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3, spanning cover-dates August 1966 to December 1968, these stories herald the start of a brand new era for the Astonishing Arachnid, with Peter and an ever-expanding cast of cohorts well on their way to being household names… as well as the darlings of college campuses and the media intelligentsia.

Outcast, geeky high school kid Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, after attempting to cash in on the astonishing abilities he’d developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy. Due to the teenager’s arrogant neglect, his beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered and the traumatised boy determined henceforward to always use his powers to help those in dire need. For years the brilliant young hero suffered privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego endured public condemnation and mistrust as he valiantly battled all manner of threat and foe…

Although co-authors of the wonderment, by 1966 Stan Lee & Steve Ditko could no longer work together on their greatest creation. After increasingly fraught months the artist simply resigned, leaving Spider-Man without an illustrator. In the coincidental meantime John Romita had been lured away from DC’s romance line and given odd assignments before assuming the artistic reins of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Before long, Romita was co-piloting the company’s biggest property and expected to run with it.

After a period where traditional – albeit fantasy-tinged – crime and gangsterism predominated, science fiction themes and costumed crazies increasingly began to predominate. As the world went gaga for superheroes, the creators experimented with longer storylines and protracted subplots. When Ditko abruptly left, the company feared a drastic loss in quality – and sales – but it didn’t happen. For the first time since the Marvel miracle began, Lee was largely left to his own narrative devices on a major feature, without the experimental visual inspiration or plotting acumen of twin comics geniuses Kirby and Ditko. What occurred heralded a new kind of superhero storytelling…

John Romita (senior) considered himself a mere “safe pair of hands” keeping the momentum going until a better artist could be found, but instead blossomed into a major talent in his own right as the wallcrawler continued his unstoppable rise at an accelerated pace. With the scene set the new era dawns when Amazing Spider-Man #39 appeared, first of a 2-part adventure declaiming the ultimate victory of the hero’s greatest foe.

Ditko was gone and no reader knew what had happened – and no one told them. ‘How Green Was My Goblin!’ and concluding episode ‘Spidey Saves the Day! Featuring: the End of the Green Goblin!’ calamitously changed everything: describing how the archfoes learn each other’s true identities before the Goblin “perishes” in a climactic flame-fuelled showdown. It would have been memorable even if the saga didn’t feature the debut of a new artist and a whole new manner of storytelling. These issues were a turning point in many ways, and – inked by old DC colleague Mike Esposito (under the pseudonym Mickey DeMeo) – they still stand as one of the greatest Spider-Man yarns of all time.

They were also precursors to a run of classic tales from the Lee/Romita team that saw sales rise and rise. In ASM #41 and on ‘The Horns of the Rhino!’, Romita began inking his pencils. The debuting super-strong criminal spy proved a mere diversion, but his intended target J. Jonah Jameson’s astronaut son was a far harder proposition in the next issue. Amazing Spider-Man #42 heralded ‘The Birth of a Super-Hero!’, with John Jameson mutated by space-spores and going on a Manhattan rampage: a solid, entertaining yarn that is only really remembered for the last panel of the final page.

Mary Jane Watson had been a running gag in the series for years: a prospective blind-date arranged by Aunt May whom Peter had avoided – and Ditko teasingly not depicted – for the duration of time our hero had been romantically involved with Betty Brant, Liz Allen, and latterly, Gwen Stacy. Now, in that last frame the gobsmacked young man finally realises that for two years he’s been ducking the hottest date in New York!

Enthralling encore ‘Rhino on the Rampage!’ gave the leathery villain one more crack at Jameson and Spidey, but the emphasis was solidly on foreshadowing future foes and building Pete and MJ’s relationship, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 3 and ‘…To Become an Avenger!’ Here the World’s Mightiest Heroes offer the webspinner membership… but only if he can capture The Hulk. As usual, all is not as it seems, but the action-drenched epic, courtesy of Lee, Romita (layouts), pencilled by Don Heck and inked by Esposito is the kind of guest-heavy, power-punching package that made the summer specials a child’s delight.

The monthly Marvel merriment marched on with the return of a tragedy-drenched former foe when Lee & Romita reintroduced biologist Curt Conners in ASM #44’s ‘Where Crawls the Lizard!’ The deadly B-movie inspired reptilian marauder again threatens Humanity itself and requires all of the wallcrawler’s resourcefulness and resolve to stop the savage saurian in all-action conclusion ‘Spidey Smashes Out!’

Closing this outing, ASM #46 introduced an all-new, second tier menace in the blue collar form of ambitious, seismic super-thief ‘The Sinister Shocker!’ who just wants to rob some banks and crack a few safes, but comes closer than many macabre masterminds in ending the antics of the wary webspinner. Moreover, as sinister stalker Patch (no relation to the later Wolverine alter ego) trails Peter Parker in the opening moves of a major subplot beginning to unfold, the baffled college boy can only watch in bewilderment as his attention is pulled between classmate Gwen Watson and bizarrely attentive and attention-drawing Mary Jane.

It’s only the start of years of complex romantic interactions To Be Continued in succeeding collections…

Augmented by a brief gallery of Romita original art pages – including unused ones – this transitional tome is the just the beginning of an era when Spider-Man became a permanent and unmissable part of countless teenagers’ lives: doing so by living a life as close to theirs as social mores and the Comics Code would allow. Blending cultural authenticity with glorious narrative art, and making a dramatic virtue of awkwardness, confusion and a sense of powerlessness most of the readership experienced daily resulted in an irresistibly intoxicating read, delivered in addictive soap-opera slices, but none of that would be relevant if the stories weren’t so compellingly entertaining.

This book is Marvel and Spider-Man at their peak. Come and see why.
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents the Black Panther volume 2: Look Homeward


By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Larry Lieber, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Len Wein, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia, George Tuska, Don Heck, Bob Brown, Tom Palmer, Syd Shores, Mike Esposito, Joe Sinnott, Dave Cockrum & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4905-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

These stories are timeless and have been published many times before but here we’re boosting another example of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

This tome gathers in whole or in part more early Black Panther adventures prior to his winning his own solo series. Included are The Avengers #77-79, 87, 112, 126, Daredevil #69, Astonishing Tales #6-7, Fantastic Four #119 and Marvel Team-Up #20, spanning June 1970-August 1974 and almost all showing The Great Cat as a collaborator. peripatetic guest star and team player…

Acclaimed as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first appeared in the summer of 1966. As created by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and inker Joe Sinnott, T’Challa, son of T’Chaka, is an African monarch whose secretive, hidden kingdom is the only source of vibration-absorbing wonder mineral Vibranium. The miraculous alien metal – derived from a fallen meteor which struck the continent in lost antiquity – is the basis of Wakanda’s immense wealth, making it one of the wealthiest and most secretive nations on Earth. These riches allowed the young king to radically remake his country, creating a technological wonderland even after he left Africa to fight as one of America’s mighty Avengers, beginning with #52 (cover-dated May 1968). At that time, the team had been reduced to Hawkeye, The Wasp and a recently re-powered Goliath. This changed when they welcomed new recruit Black Panther on the recommendation of Captain America…

This impactful assemblage of tales opens as the tone of the times shifted and comics titles entered a period of human-scaled storytelling dubbed “Relevancy”. Here Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Tom Palmer pit the heroes against a far more mundane and insidious menace – billionaire financier Cornelius Van Lunt who manoeuvres Tony Stark to bankruptcy to gain the team’s services. The Avengers (currently Cap, Goliath, The Vision, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver) were compelled to become the mystery magnate’s ‘Heroes for Hire!’ to save their sponsor…

Sal Buscema then popped in to pencil ‘The Man-Ape Always Strikes Twice!’ as the embattled champions are targeted by a coterie of vengeful villains competing to join a new league of evil, spectacularly culminating in a grand clash with the aforementioned anthropoid, The Swordsman, Power Man, Living Laser and The Grim Reaper in ‘Lo! The Lethal Legion!’, which heralded the artistic return of big brother John and the apparent destruction of the malevolent miscreants.

It was the dawning era of crossover tales and gently simmering subplots in all-Thomas scripted titles, and the experimentation led T’Challa to Daredevil #69 (October 1970) where the author, Gene Colan & Syd Shores paired the heroes in a tale of kid gangs and the rise of the “Black Power” movement. The African king had been seeking to understand America by working undercover as high school teacher Luke Charles, where his need to save a good student from bad influences leads to tragedy, disaster and ‘A Life on the Line’…

Jumping to Avengers #87 (April 1971) T’Challa’s conflicted duties prompt the Black Panther to reviews his bombastic origin before opting to take leave of his comrades and reassume the throne of his hidden kingdom in ‘Look Homeward, Avenger’ (Giacoia & Sal B), segueing into Astonishing Tales #6 (June 1971, by Larry Lieber, George Tuska & Mike Esposito) as the Lord of Latveria invades Wakanda. ‘The Tentacles of the Tyrant!’ depicts Doctor Doom resolved to seize its Vibranium, only to be outwitted and fall to the furious tenacity of its king and prime defender in ‘…And If I Be Called Traitor!’ (by Gerry Conway, Colan & Giacoia).

Roy Thomas and his artistic collaborators were always at the forefront of Marvel’s second generation of creators: brilliantly building on and consolidating Lee, Kirby and Ditko’s initial burst of comics creativity whilst spearheading and constructing a logical, fully functioning wonder-machine of places and events that so many others could add to. He was also acutely aware of the youthful perspective of older readers which might explain a bizarre face-saving shuffle seen in Fantastic Four #119 (February 1972) as the African avenger cautiously adopts the designation “Black Leopard” – presumably for contemporary political reasons… In Illustrated by John B & Joe Sinnott, ‘Three Stood Together!’ offers Thomas’ damning, if shaded, indictment of South Africa’s apartheid regime as Wakanda’s king is interned in white-ruled state Rudyarda, leading to The Thing and Human Torch busting him out whilst clashing with mutual old enemy Klaw, who is attempting to steal a deadly new superweapon…

Escalating cosmic themes and colossal clashes recall the King to America in Avengers #112 (June 1973 by Steve Englehart, Don Heck & Frank Bolle) wherein a rival African deity manifests to destroy the Panther God’s human avatar in ‘The Lion God Lives!’ and T’Challa and his valiant comrades must tackle a threat that is not what it appears to be. It’s followed by the concluding chapter of a battle between Stegron the Dinosaur Man and the unlikely alliance of Spider-Man and Ka-Zar. When the clash expands from the Savage Land to Manhattan in Marvel Team-Up #20 (April 1974), the scaly rapscallion’s plans to flatten New York by releasing ‘Dinosaurs on Broadway!’ (Len Wein, Sal B, Giacoia & Esposito) is only foiled by the Black Panther’s help.

However it’s T’Challa’s deductive abilities that save the day and a group of hostages in Avengers #126 when ‘All the Sights and Sounds of Death!’ (Englehart, Bob Brown & Cockrum) finds villains Klaw and Solarr invading Avengers Mansion in a devious attempt to achieve vengeance for past indignities. The manner in which King T’Challa solves the case convinces The Black Panther that is once more time to take up the reins of rule in Wakanda…

But that’s a tale for the next volume..

With covers by John & Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe, Don Heck, Gil Kane, John Romita and Ron Wilson, this tidy tome is a wonderful, star-studded precursor to the Black Panther’s solo exploits and a perfect accessory for film-fans looking for more context. It also offers art lovers a chance to enjoy the covers to reprint title Marvel’s Greatest Comics #39 & 40, by Jim Starlin & Sinnott and Sal Buscema respectively, as seen in November 1972 and January 1973 as well as unused Kirby/Sinnott cover art, and Jack’s origins designs for precursor the Coal Tiger.

These terrific tales are ideal examples of superheroes done exactly right and also act as pivotal points as the underdog company evolved into a corporate entertainment colossus. There are also some of the best superhero stories you’ll ever read…
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks Presents The Silver Surfer volume 1 1966-1968: When Calls Galactus


By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Marie Severin, Joe Sinnott, Sal Buscema, Frank Giacoia & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4909-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Cautiously bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961, Fantastic Four #1 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, George Klein & Christopher Rule) was crude: rough, passionate and uncontrolled excitement. Thrill-hungry fans pounced on it and that raw storytelling caught a wave of change starting to build in America. It and succeeding issues changed comic books forever.

In eight short years FF became the indisputable core and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: bombarding readers with a ceaseless salvo of concepts and characters at a time when Kirby was in his conceptual prime and continually unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot. Inspired, Stan Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas that Marvel – or any publisher, for that matter – had or has ever seen. Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their creative powers, and full of the confidence that only success brings, with The King particularly eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed. A forge of stunning creativity and endless excitement, the title was the proving ground for dozens of future stars and mesmerising concepts; none more timely or apt than the freewheeling cosmic wanderer and latter-day moral barometer dubbed The Silver Surfer.

These stories are timeless and have been published many times before but here we’re boosting another example of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

What Has Gone Before: Although pretty much a last-minute addition to Fantastic Four #48-50’s ‘Galactus Trilogy’, Kirby’s scintillating creation the Silver Surfer quickly became a watchword for nuance, depth and subtext in the Marvel Universe… and one Lee kept as his own personal toy for many years.

Tasked with finding planets for space god Galactus to consume and, despite the best efforts of intergalactic voyeur Uatu the Watcher, one day the Silver Surfer discovered Earth, where the latent nobility of humanity reawakened his own suppressed morality; causing the shining scout to rebel against his master and help the FF save the world. In retaliation, Galactus imprisoned his former herald on Earth: the ultimate outsider on a planet utterly ungrateful for his sacrifice.

The Galactus Saga was a creative peak from a period where the Lee/Kirby partnership was utterly on fire. The tale has all the power and grandeur of a true epic and has never been surpassed for drama, thrills and sheer entertainment but it’s not included here: for that treat you’ll need to see any of many other Marvel collections…

In 1968, after increasingly frequent guest-shots and even a solo adventure in the back of Fantastic Four Annual #5 (happily included here at the end; chronologically adrift but well worth the wait), the Surfer finally got his own (initially double-length) title at long last. There’s also a sassy spoof to puncture any pomposity overdose you might experience.

This stellar collection collects pertinent material from Silver Surfer #1-4, Fantastic Four Annual #5 and Not Brand Echh Astonish #13, reprinting appearances of the Starry-eyed Sentinel – cover dates November 1967 to May 1969 – and begins with ‘The Origin of the Silver Surfer!’

Illustrated by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott, the drama unfolds after a prolonged flashback sequence and repeated examples of crass humanity’s brutal callousness and unthinking hostility, detailing how Norrin Radd, discontented soul from an alien paradise named Zenn-La, became the gleaming herald of a planetary scourge. Radd had constantly chafed against a civilisation in comfortable, sybaritic stagnation, but when Galactus shattered their vaunted million years of progress in a fleeting moment, the dissident without hesitation offered himself as a sacrifice to save the world from the Devourer’s hunger.

Converted into an indestructible, gleaming human meteor, Radd agreed to scour the galaxies looking for uninhabited worlds rich in the energies Galactus needs to survive, thus saving planets with life on them from destruction. He didn’t always find them in time…

The stories in this series were highly acclaimed – if not really commercially successful – both for Buscema’s agonisingly emphatic and truly beautiful artwork and Lee’s deeply spiritual and philosophical scripts. The narrative tone was accusatory; with the isolated alien’s travails and social observations creating a metaphoric status akin to a Christ-figure for an audience concurrently maturing and rebelling against America’s creaking and unsavoury status quo.

The second 40-page adventure exposes a secret invasion by extraterrestrial lizard men ‘When Lands the Saucer!’, forcing the Surfer into battle against the sinister Brotherhood of Badoon without human aid or even awareness in ‘Let Earth be the Prize!’…

A little side-note for sad nit-picking enthusiasts like me: I suspect that the original intention was to drop the page count to regular 20-page episodes from #2, since in terms of pacing both the second and third issues divide perfectly into two-parters, with cliffhanger endings and splash page/chapter titles that are dropped from #4 onwards.

Silver Surfer #3 is pivotal in the ongoing saga as Lee & Buscema introduce Marvel’s Satan-analogue in ‘The Power and the Prize!’ Lord of Hell Mephisto sees the Surfer’s untarnished soul as a threat to his evil influence on Earth. To crush the anguished hero’s spirit, the demon abducts Norrin Radd’s true love Shalla Bal from still-recovering Zenn-La and torments the Sentinel of the Spaceways with her dire distress in his sulphurous nether-realm…

The concluding chapter sees mortal angel of light and devil of depravity conduct a spectacular ‘Duel in the Depths’ wherein neither base temptations nor overwhelming force are enough to stay the noble Surfer’s inevitable triumph.

Just as wicked a foe then attempted to exploit the Earth-bound alien’s heroic impulses in #4’s ‘The Good, The Bad and the Uncanny!’ (inked by new art collaborator Sal Buscema) wherein Asgardian God of Evil Loki offers lies, deceit and even escape from Galactus’ terrestrial cage to induce the Silver Stalwart to attack and destroy the mighty Thor. The result is a staggering and bombastic clash that just builds and builds as the creative team finally let loose and fully utilise their expanded story-proportions and page count to create smooth flowing, epic action-adventures, with truth triumphant in the end…

As foretold, this compulsive if not quite comprehensive comic book chronicle concludes with the groundbreaking vignette from Fantastic Four Annual #5 – released in August 1967 – wherein the rapidly rising star-in-the-making got his first solo shot. ‘The Peerless Power of the Silver Surfer’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) is a pithy fable of cruel ingratitude that reintroduced the Mad Thinker’s lethal A.I. assassin Quasimodo. The Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organ was a malevolent murder machine trapped in a static computer housing dreaming of being able to move within the real world. Sadly, although its pleas initially found favour with the gullibly innocent stranger from the stars, the killer computer itself had underestimated the power and conscience of its rash saviour. Eventually, the gleaming guardian of life was explosively forced to take back the boon he had impetuously bestowed in a bombastic bravura display of Kirby action and Lee pathos…

One last silly sally comes with ‘The Origin of the Simple Surfer!’ by Roy Thomas and the sublime Marie Severin from Not Brand Echh #13, May 1969. This time alien émigré Borin-Kadd ruminates on his strange fate and pontificatingly pines for his daftly-beloved Shallo-Gal when… well you get the idea, right?

Completing the treats are a reprint cover gallery of stunning original art covers by Buscema & Sinnott and house ads.

Silver Surfer was always a pristine and iconic character when handled well – and sparingly – and these early forays into a more mature range of adventures, although perhaps a touch heavy-handed, showed that there was far more to comic books than cops and robbers or monsters and misfits. That exploratory experience and inbuilt mystique of a hero as Christ allegory made the series a critically beloved but commercially disastrous cause célèbre until eventually financial failure killed the experiment.

After the Lee/Kirby/Ditko sparks had initially fired up the imaginations of readers in the early days, the deeper, subtler overtones and undercurrents offered by stories like these kept a maturing readership enthralled, loyal and abidingly curious as to what else comics could achieve if given half a chance, and this fabulously lavish tome offers the perfect way to discover or recapture the thrill and wonder of those startlingly different days and times.
© 2023 MARVEL.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Captain America volume 3: To Be Reborn


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Syd Shores, Dan Adkins & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5432-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

During the natal years of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby opted to mimic the game-plan which had paid off so successfully for National/DC Comics, albeit with mixed results. Beginning cautiously in 1956, Julie Schwartz had scored incredible, industry-altering hits by re-inventing the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed sensible to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days two decades previously. A new Human Torch had premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four, and in the fourth issue of that title the amnesiac Sub-Mariner resurfaced after a 20-year hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive an “Atlas” superhero line in the mid-1950s). The teen Torch promptly won his own solo lead-feature in Strange Tales (from issue #101 on) where eventually – in #114 – the flaming kid fought a larcenous villain impersonating the nation’s greatest lost hero…

Here’s a quote from the last panel…

“You guessed it! This story was really a test! To see if you too would like Captain America to Return! As usual, your letters will give us the answer!” I guess we all know how that turned out. With reader-reaction strong, the real McCoy was promptly decanted in Avengers #4 (cover dated March but on sale from January 3rd 1964). Marvel’s inexorable rise to dominance of the American comic book industry really took hold in 1968 when most of their characters finally got their own titles. Prior to that and due to a highly restrictive distribution deal the company was tied to a limit of 16 publications per month.

After a captivating, attention-hogging run in Avengers, the Sentinel of Liberty won his own series as half of a “split-book” with fellow Avenger and patriotic barnstormer Iron Man, starting in Tales of Suspense #59. This thrifty third Mighty Marvel Masterworks Captain America collection assembles those last exploits from ToS #95-99 and continuance as Captain America #100-105 of his own title (spanning cover-dates November 1967 to September 1968) in a kid-friendly edition that will charm and delight fans of all vintages…

These stories are timeless and have been published many times before but The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line is designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

Scripted throughout by Lee, Cap’s adventures had been blending high concept espionage thrillers milking the burgeoning spy fad of the mid-Sixties with spectacular superhero shockers after the Star-Spangled Avenger joined superspy Nick Fury in many missions as a (more-or-less) Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here however with Kirby locked-&-loaded into full action mode a portentous change of pace amplifies already frenetic tensions as – in rapid succession – ‘A Time to Die… A Time to Live’ and ‘To Be Reborn!’ see the eternal hero retire and reveal his secret identity to the world, only to jump straight back into the star-spangled saddle for S.H.I.E.L.D. for #97’s ‘And So It Begins…’ after a rash of would-be replacements provoke a campaign of opportunistic assassination attempts from the underworld…

The saga would carry the Sentinel of Liberty back into his own title: a 4-part tale that spectacularly concludes in issue #100, with which number Tales of Suspense became simply Captain America. Guest starring the Black Panther, it recounts the apparent return of long-dead nemesis Baron Zemo and his lethal, world-threatening orbiting Death Ray. ‘The Claws of the Panther!’ was inked by both Joe Sinnott and the great Syd Shores (a Cap illustrator from the 1940s) who became regular embellisher with ‘The Man Who Lived Twice!’ before the premier 100th first issue (how weird is that?) revisited Cap’s origin before climactically closing the superb team-up thriller with ‘This Monster Unmasked!’

Without pause, Lee, Kirby & Shores enacted another epic encounter across Captain America #101-104, featuring fascist revenant The Red Skull and introducing another appalling Nazi revenge-weapon. Opening with ‘When Wakes the Sleeper!’ and furious follow-up ‘The Sleeper Strikes!’, our hero and his support crew Agent 13 and Nick Fury hunt a murderous mechanoid capable of ghosting through solid Earth and blowing up the planet. Although the immediate threat soon seems quashed, the infernal instigator is still at large and #103 reveals ‘The Weakest Link!’ as a budding romance with S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Agent 13 (finally named after two years as Sharon Carter) is interrupted by the nefarious Nazi. The uber-fascist’s new scheme of nuclear blackmail extends to a second issue, wherein his band of war-criminal assassins, The Exiles, test Cap nigh to destruction on the hidden isle where he becomes the ‘Slave of the Skull!’ (with the loose, flowing inking of Dan Adkins) before turning the tables and crushing the plotters.

After that, a period of done-in-one all-action yarns began with ‘In the Name of Batroc!’ (Lee, Kirby & Adkins), a brisk super-villain team-up wherein Living Laser and The Swordsman ally with gallic mercenary Batroc the Leaper to swipe a new superbomb, concluding the patriotic Fight’s ‘n’ Tights fist-fest on an exuberant if nonsensical high note…

To Be Continued…

With covers by Kirby, Frank Giacoia, Gene Colan, John Romita, Sinnott, Shores & Adkins, there’s just enough room for a brace of pencil layouts of unused covers to compliment these tales of dauntless courage and unmatchable adventure, fast-paced and superbly illustrated. These exploits rightly returned Captain America to heights his revamped Golden Age compatriots the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner never regained. Pure escapist magic, these are glorious treats for the eternally young at heart, episodes of sheer visual dynamite that cannot be slighted and must not be missed.
© 2024 MARVEL.