Marvel Masterworks Marathon Part 1: 8 August-12 December 1961 in Collected Editions: Discussion and Review Board Forum

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Marvel Masterworks Marathon Part 1: 8 August-12 December 1961

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DeBricazar	Marvel Masterworks Marathon Part 1: 8 August-12 December 1961	Lead	[-]
Posts: 5352 Sep 2 06 12:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None Hey everyone, here's the place to post your thoughts, comments, questions, and tasteful complaints on the first four books in our Marvel Masterworks Marathon series, which begins today and ends when everything in the Marvel Universe has been masterworked! We're starting with Fantastic Four #1 (cover dated November 1961), the beginning of said universe, and the three comics that came after it chronologically: FF #2-3 (January-March 1962) and Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962), featuring Hank Pym/Ant-Man in the "Man in the Ant Hill" story. AUGUST 8, 1961 SEPTEMBER 28, 1961 DECEMBER 12, 1961 This first phase of the series will continue through Feb. 1964, since with the release of Silver Age Human Torch Masterworks 1 later this month we'll have everything in the MU masterworked through to that point. I include Sgt. Fury in this bunch, too, since it was considered by the Powers That Be at Marvel at the time to be part of that great bunch of books. And of course, Ma Fury's boy Nick grew up to be director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm away this weekend and won't be able to get to my books until Tuesday the 5th, so please start your engines and go nuts. I can't wait to see everyone share their ideas and perspectives. How well do these stories hold up 45 years later? What would you have done differently if you were Lee or Kirby? Have fun, folks. Glad to have you on board. Visit the official Alex Lear music homepage! SANDPAPERED DREAMS is here! www.alexlear.com Last Edited By: DeBricazar Dec 3 10 9:15 PM. Edited 3 times.
Adamantno1	Re: Marvel Masterworks Marathon Part 1: Nov 1961-March 1962	#1	[-]
Posts: 2346 Sep 2 06 12:31 PM Bronze Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	And of course, the best way to start such a thread is... Cover Images!
GHastly55	Fantastic Four 1 - November 1961	#2	[-]
Posts: 4344 Sep 2 06 6:57 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	OK, I've just finished reading (for perhaps the 75th time in my life) the debut Marvel Universe story. Trying to keep my mindset back in the summer of 1961, in light of other stuff being published, here's my review. Well, what is THIS new on the newsstand this month? Sure looks like the monster books that you find occasionally, with words like Suspense, Astonish, Strange and Mystery as part of the title. The cover looks like any of those interchangable titles, but I always found something a little appealing in those titles, as primitive as they are. Might as well check it out. Hmm, this MUST be put out by the same folks who do Suspense, Astonish, et al. It reads exactly the same, with a lot of captions and rather unattractive principle characters. The first page is really, really ugly, but the rest of the book has a funky charm to it. Unlike what I see every month over at DC, the characters' dialogue mostly sounds more realistic; there's a lot less exposition -- plot points are mostly advanced in artwork and captions, and dialogue is mostly reserved for showing us how the character feels. And ya know what I just realized? Thought balloons are a real rarity in this book, especially when compared to Superman, Batman and Flash, where it seems that 25% of the words each month are in these thought balloons. Seems the writer here is trying to let us guess at the characters' thoughts and motivations. There's definitely something here worth watching, if the book lasts. I mean, the book is definitely a sloppy hodge-podge of science fiction and monster stories, and plot points don't seem all that well thought out -- when pilot Ben Grimm grows into a 500-pound monster his clothes get shredded, but when teenager Johnny Storm suddenly bursts into flame immediately afterwards, his clothes are untouched. And when Mister Fantastic, the group's leader, first fights the book's nominal villain, he doesn't even use his powers during their battle until after the villain tries to escape. We don't even see the villain until about 5 pages before the story comes to an abrupt ending, and the villain's origin is so extraordinarily lame. I don't think Flash's Rogues' Gallery is going to be facing any competition from this new magazine if the writer keeps creating 'em like this. But what I do like is that the story takes up the whole book, not crammed into 8 or 10 pages. In fact, I get the sense that this story could have been stretched out to 2 or 3 issues, and maybe some of the things that bothered me would have been ironed out if it were. I don't know exactly who it is that's writing and drawing this new book Fantastic Four -- I don't even know what publisher is putting it out, there's no name on the cover -- but I think I'll keep my eyes out for issue 2 to see what they come up with next. ANYTHING's gotta be better than The Rainbow Batman!
Adventure 305	Re: Fantastic Four 1 - November 1961	#3	[-]
Posts: 331 Sep 3 06 8:34 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, I got it but it will have to wait its place in the pile, behind all the Superman issues (including Lois Lane)! Top of my reading heap for this month is the new Adventure Comics - issue 290. Superboy on the cover, and the story is "The Secret of the Seventh Super Hero". At long last a new Legion of Super Heroes story! And Bizarro at the back too! There is no comparison really: 1. A smooth clear Curt Swan cover against the usual rough hewn Atlas monster front to the new issue of Fantastic Four (is it no. 1? - oh yes, there it is!) 2. Good professional interior art by seasoned experts George Papp and John Forte - and two stories instead of the one in the Atlas issue. If veteran hack Jack Kirby was going to reach their level of success he would have done so by now. 3. The two "hot" characters show the difference - compare the crude streak of flame from what I presume is the old Timely character "The Human Torch" to the well costumed and depicted newest Legionnaire - Sun Boy. I may get round to reading it eventually, but the proof of the pudding is staying power. I think we will be lucky to see Fantastic Four 2 let alone 290 - there is as much chance of that as there is for the Legion of Super-Heroes appearing in all issues of Adventure Comics by next year!
Adamantno1	Re: Fantastic Four 1 - November 1961	#4	[-]
Posts: 2346 Sep 3 06 9:49 AM Bronze Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Looking at the cover of this book, I'm having a hard time deciding if this is a super hero story or not. That monster looks like it's straight out of the "Tales" books, which it probably is... this book has a character named the Human Torch, a name used by a famous 40's super hero created by the same company that releases the Tales books.. Atlas Comics. Torch got a short revival 5 years ago or so, looks like he's back again now, even though he's drawn differently. The cover also says "together for the first time", and lists a couple names I've never heard of, but which difinitly sounds like super hero aliases. Yeah, this must be a super hero book. Human Torch returns from the dead, and rounds up some of his old buddies to fight "Tales Monsters". Might actually be worth a look. Actually opening the book, we see this man using a flare gun to alert his partners, and we spend some pages watching them group together... and they're certainly not subtle about it. The Invisible Girl turns invisible in front of a friends, and runs around in the street, pushing people out of the way, while The Thing for some bizarre reason tosses off his coat, revealing his monstrous self, and then stomps through the streets, crushing a doorsway, scaring people, almost getting shot by a police officer, before ripping up a manhole, escaping thorught the sewers, and then crashing through the ground agaian, destroying a car in the process. IS this a super hero book? This guy definitly doesn't act like one, but the cover claims he's a good guy. Finally, we see a kid by the name of Johnny Storm, who bursts into flame at a service station, melting the car he had just had repaired... okay, that was pointless. Couldn't he, you know, step out of the car before turning into the Torch? Cars aren't cheap, and he just paid for repairs as well. Stupid kid. And he is the Torch? Last time I checked, the Torch was an android who went by the name of Jim Hammond. Anyway, Torch is attacked by a number of fighter planes, whom he accidentally ends up destroying with his flames... again, these guys aren't subtle and make no effort when it comes to concealing their identities, and just destroyed a whole lot of expensive stuff as they grouped together... and as we find out earlier, it wasn't urgent anyway. So yeah, they eventually regroup after the last FF member, Mr. Fantastic, saves the new Torch from a nuke (right over a huge city? Come on, Hiroshima wasn't THAT long ago, the author knows what would've happened if it had detonated), and we get treated to their origin... this Torch apparantly has nothing to do with the old Torch after all. Are these Atlas guys following in DCs tracks, reinventing their golden age heroes instead of just having them return? Could be a good idea, since the Torch and friends didn't last long during their 50s revival. But yeah, origin. Opting for giving the entire group the same origin, they are hit by cosmic rays during a test ride of a rocket... and here's where things get interesting, because these characters actually have personality. Look at Ben Grimm, who is aware of the dangers of these rays, and wants to postpone the flight until they get better shielding, but is pretty much forced along by the others. After the rocket crashes, the other three are given super powers... the ability to turn invisible, the ability to cover ones body with flames, and then fly, and the ability to stretch ones body... but Grimm is turned into a rocky monster, an is unable to revert to his human form. And unlike a DC character, who would say something along the lines of "Well, fate works in mysterious ways, eh? Watch out, criminals, here comes Rockman!", Grimm here is NOT happy about it, and remains grumpy and hostile towards Reed throughout the entire issue. Makes you feel sorry for him, really. There's also some odd physics at work here, as the Torch's clothes do not burn up when he flames on, Susan's clothes turn invisible along with her, and Reed's clothes stretches just like his body. May be the cosmic rays affecting their clothes, true, but still, it's weird, and the group are wearing different clothes for the rest of the book, these also having this ability. Back to the main story, Reed tells the rest of the group about power plants all over the world sinking into the ground, and we witness this being caused by the Tales Monster on the cover. Reed, as the only person on Earth, apparantly, has discovered that there is an island known as Monster Isle located in the exact middle of these cave-ins. First of all, that makes no sense, and appears to be nothing but a lucky coincidence going by the rest of the story, but you'd think SOMEONE else could've figured it out. I mean, it's just looking at a map. So, the group heads to Monster Isle, where they are greeted by actual monsters straight out of the Tales books (hoorah). Reed and Johnny end up getting captured, and brought before the human leader of these monsters, while Ben gets to beat up a monster. This human guy calls himself the Moleman, and doesn't have much of an origin, really. He was ugly, and people hated him for that (he had a deformed nose, that's all... the author isn't exactly sending good messages to the pimply teens no doubt reading this book right now). So Moley decides to search for "the legendary land at the center of the globe", where he can be ruler, finds it at Monster Isle, but accidentally causes and avalance and ends up losing his sight, but gaining a radar sense, super-agility, and the power to control the monsters living down here. Right. Of course. Makes perfect sense. After demonstrating his powers a little, the rest of the group arrives on the scene, Moley releases a monster they defeat, and the group makes a failed attempt at capturing Moley before they decide to trap him down these with his monsters because "there is no place for him in this world". Thank you, Reed, sending more good messages to the pimplefaces. And you know, the monsters CAN dig their way to the surface. It is definitly an interesting book. The characters, Ben Grimm in particular, are a lot more realistic than the DC heroes, but the story itself... eh. While the Tales Monsters are a lot of fun, the main story, dealing with the Moleman, wasn't really that well-written. Moleman's origin is bizarre, and he never does anything with his powers, he just tells his monsters to attack. I think the book has potential, and the story filling the entire book was indeed great, as all the "unnessecary" dialouge intended to humanize the characters really takes up some room. The Moleman story might have benefited form more pages, most of this book simply introduces us to the characters and their powers AND personalities, while little care is given to the villain. The story is also wrapped up very quickly, leaving some dangling plot threads, something the Tales stories didn't do that much. I have to admit I kinda liked the book, though, not so much becaue of the story, which could've been done better in one of the Tales books, but because of the human side to these characters. Let's see if we don't get a new book with these guys in two months, now that their origin is out of the way, enough pages can be dedicated to the main story while still having the humanized dialouge. We'll see. This book does has promise.
Marshall Crist	Re: Fantastic Four 1 - November 1961	#5	[-]
Posts: 3014 Sep 3 06 2:08 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Where did you guys find this comic? My drug store still only has the June issues on sale. That RAWHIDE KID from Atlas was a blast though. It looks like those monsters of theirs are invading all of their books. The KID just took on "the Terrible Totem" in a story straight out of STRANGE TALES! Can't wait to see what they do with a superhero story.
GHastly55	Fantastic Four 2 - January 1962	#6	[-]
Posts: 4344 Sep 3 06 2:20 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	OK, before I step back in the time machine, I have to remind everyone that I originally owned this issue as a kid, when it first appeared on the newsstands. I could either try to replicate how my six-year-old mind was impressed/warped by the contents, or I could imagine coming to the story as an older reader for the first time in 1961, having read the previous issue last summer. I'll TRY to do the latter, but some of my six-year-old enthusiasm and curiosity might seep through... ======================================= Well, looks like that Fantastic Four book from the summer has made it to a second issue. No word balloons on the cover this time (I always prefer my covers without word balloons!), but each of the characters is shown demonstrating his or her power against ugly aliens (boy, this artist likes to draw ugly things). The cover is very distinctive, it's a strong yellow background unlike anything else out there since Flash 105 a few years ago -- betcha Hal Jordan doesn't buy this book! Anyway, again the first page is very weak, like last time. In fact, structurally this starts out very much like issue #1 - a series of vignettes featuring individual characters, before they come together a few pages into the story. Only this time the characters features, although they look like and exhibit the powers of the title characters, are in fact shape-changing aliens calles Skrulls. The actual feature characters don't appear until page 5 of the book, conveniently holed up in an "isolated hunting lodge" when they hear that they've been declared enemies of the state. There's a page and a half of group conflict, a half-page retelling of the origin, and then the army comes in to capture the quartet. Each of the stars is then placed in what's supposed to be a "specially-constructed private cell" so that the group's "strange talents" can't free them. In less than 2 pages, each of the members is free, in what actually looks like well-constructed visual story-telling that makes you forget about how poorly planned these "specially-constructed" cells were. The scenes where the heroes plan their escapes are pretty much the only ones to feature thought balloons, and I notice that captions are much more sparse in this issue, letting the dialogue and art carry most of the story along. After their "daring escape", the heroes gather at "one of their many secret apartments" to plan their next steps; the meeting degenerates to another intra-group conflict for a page or so, before they devise a plan to sabotage a rocket site in the hopes that the imposters will believe it was one of their own. The Human Torch insists on drawing the short straw, and as he's hanging around the destroyed rocket hoping for the imposters to show up, they improbably do and invite him into their car. (Why the imposters continue to wear the forms of what are then hunted fugitives, and how they knew that the rocket would be sabotaged, goes unexplained and unremarked.) When the group arrives at "the aliens' headquarters" -- which appears to be an unfurnished urban apartment -- the real Torch has a two-panel battle with the alien "Torch" in which he's defeated, only to be saved by the timely (ahem) entrance of the monstrous Thing. (How the rest of the Fantastic Four found this nondescript apartment is never explained.) Finally, after 15 pages of set-up, the heroes of the book battle the putative villains. And defeat them in less than 10 panels, using such time-tested battle strategies as tripping them and grabbing their wrists. But then they learn that the true threat is a "mighty invasion fleet" preparing to invade earth. Well, of course the earth of 1962 doesn't have their own battle cruisers to drive out the potential invaders, so the brilliant Reed Richards declares that they will impersonate the impersonators, and travel to the fleet's mother ship reporting that Earth cannot be defeated. He does so by providing "actual photos" of what the Skrulls would face -- which turn out to be simply clippings from Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery. Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery?!?! Then it IS the same publisher! And interesting that they should incorporate their comics INTO their comics like this -- I wonder if they'll ever explore that intrigueing concept further? Anyway, the Skrull commander inexplicably believes the "photos" and doesn't demand that the fake Skrulls revert to their natural forms -- which is completely unbelievable even to a six-year-old; I mean, the Skrulls had heard of the Fantastic Four somehow, yet they'd never heard of this "legion of warriors" ready to protect the planet?? The Fantastic Four then return to Earth -- allegedly to remove all Skrull evidence -- but on the way back, they pass through the cosmic belt that had given them their powers. (So how come they didn't pass through the belt on the way UP to the spaceship, hmmmm??) The Thing shows fear and while passing through the cosmic rays changes again -- but strangely, none of the other characters shows any signs of strain. When they land, they're captured again -- not by the army this time, but by city police (who I guess don't have specially-constructed private cells). We see that The Thing has actually turned human again, and in what really is a powerful six-panel sequence we see Ben Grimm's joy at being human again, followed by confusion, disillusionment, and then resignation. This sequence makes up for all of the stupid plot gaffes earlier in the book. So the chief of police needs convincing that it was imposters that were the criminals, so Reed asks the chief to take them to his apartment (what, the "secret" one that they'd gathered at before?) Once at the apartment, the heroes and the police are attacked by three of the Skrulls, but the Skrulls are defeated in half-a-page. (Somehow Reed knows that the fourth Skrull is on his way to another galaxy with the rest of his invasion fleet, but shows no concern about said Skrull spilling the beans.) The police (remembering that they have no specially-constructed cells) wonder how they're going to keep the shape-changing Skrulls prisoner; Reed solves the problem by hypnotizing the Skrulls into becoming --- cows. While that's an extraordinarily-disappointing ending to a story about alien invasions, there's something about this book that's really fascinating. The final panel shows just a hint of humor, and the fact that the heroes only battle the villains for 2 or 3 pages (and easily win every time) is refreshing. And the heroes being pursued by the authorities, even to the point of being imprisoned, is a fresh approach. Something's happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear. But I'm beginning to like it. A lot.
DeBricazar	Re: Fantastic Four 2 - January 1962	#7	[-]
Posts: 5352 Sep 3 06 3:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just checking in for a sec while in NYC ... this thread is going awesomely ... love the time machine concept! Visit the official Alex Lear music homepage! SANDPAPERED DREAMS is here! www.alexlear.com
Shining Knight	Re: Fantastic Four 2 - January 1962	#8	[-]
Posts: 1339 Sep 3 06 4:54 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	If anyone wants to read the other Marvel comics published at the same time, and has a big collection of 1970s reprint books , then here's a list (courtesy of Joe Marek's site and the GCD): August 1961 Journey Into Mystery #73, October 1961 [published 1 Aug 61] "The Spider Strikes" V-344 7pp Reprinted in Where Creatures Roam # 8 "What Lurks on Channel X?" V-345 6pp Reprinted in Fear # 5 and Monster Menace # 1 "Menace from Mars" V-346 5pp Reprinted in Fear # 5 "One Look Means Doom" V-347 - 5pp Reprinted in Fear # 5 Amazing Adventures #6, November 1961 [published 1 Aug 1961] "Dr. Droom Defies the Menace Called ... Krogg!" V-338 5pp Reprinted in Giant-Size Man-Thing # 3 Fantastic Four #1, November 1961 [published 8 Aug 1961] "The Fantastic Four!" V-372 25pp Reprinted everywhere! Strange Tales #90, November 1961 "Orggo ... the Unconquerable!" V-364 7pp Reprinted in Fear # 2 and Monster Menace # 4 "A Thousand Years Later..." V-365 6pp Reprinted in Chamber of Darkness # 8 "The Inhuman!" V-366 - 5pp Reprinted in Fear # 2 "Germ Warfare" V-367 5pp Reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces # 6 Tales to Astonish #25, November 1961 [published 8 Aug 61] "I Was Captured by the Creature from Krogarr!" V-351 7pp Reprinted in Creatures on the Loose # 13 and Weird Wonder Tales # 17 "Behold Him! He Is the Martian!" V-352 6pp Reprinted in Where Creatures Roam # 8 "The Gypsy's Revenge!" V-353 5pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 14 "Where Lurks the Ghost!" V-354 - 5pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 16 Tales of Suspense #23, November 1961 [published 8 Aug 61] "I Entered the Dimension of Doom!" V-356 7pp Reprinted in Fear # 9 "The Creature from the Black Bog!" V-357 6pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 19 "Going Down!" V-358 - 5pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 19 "The Changeling" V-359 - 5pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 19 Kid Colt, Outlaw #101, November 1961 [published 8 Aug 61] "When the Outlaws Strike!" V-355 13pp Reprinted in Kid Colt Outlaw # 188 September 1961 Journey Into Mystery #74, November 1961 [published 31 Aug 61] "The Thing in the Black Box!" V-377 7pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 8 "The Mechanical Men!" V-404 5pp Reprinted in X-Men # 93 Amazing Adult Fantasy #7, December 1961 [published 31 Aug 61] "Why Won't They Believe Me?" V-381 5pp Reprinted in Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko "Witch Hunt" V-396 3pp Reprinted in The Frankenstein Monster # 12 "Journey's End" V-395 5pp Reprinted in X-Men # 91 and Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko Teen-Age Romance #84, November 1961 [published 31 Aug 61] "The Summer Must End!" V-421 7pp Reprinted in Marvel Romance and Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby Volume 2 Strange Tales #91, December 1961 "The Sacrifice!" V-381 - 7pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 18 "The Mask of Morgumm!" V-383 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 18 Tales to Astonish #26, December 1961 [published 5 Sept 61] "Four-Armed Men!" V-402 7pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 8 "He Walked Through Walls!" V-403 6pp Reprinted in Fear # 4 and Chamber of Chills # 22 "Run, Rocky, Run!" V-405 - 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 8 "Dream World!" V-380 - 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 8 and Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko Tales of Suspense #24, December 1961 [published 5 Sept 61] "The Insect Man" V-397 7pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 19 "Beware .. the Ticking Clocks!" V-398 - 6pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 19 "Something Lurks in the Fog" -- - 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 19 "Long Live The King!" V-390 - 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 19 Rawhide Kid #25, December 1961 [published 5 Sept 61] "The Bat Strikes!" V-406 - 7pp Reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western # 27, Marvel Masterworks Rawhide Kid Volume 1 and Marvel Strange Westerns starring the Black Rider # 1 "The Twister!" V-407 6pp Reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western # 35 and Marvel Masterworks Rawhide Kid Volume 1 "The Man Who Robbed the Express!" V-434 - 5pp Reprinted in Marvel Westerns Kid Colt and the Arizona Girl # 1 and Marvel Masterworks Rawhide Kid Volume 1 "Those Who Live By The Gun..." V-408 5pp Reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western # 33, Marvel Westerns Kid Colt and the Arizona Girl # 1 and Marvel Masterworks Rawhide Kid Volume 1 October 1961 Journey Into Mystery #75, December 1962 [published 26 October 61] "Lo-Karr, Bringer of Doom!" V-415 6pp Reprinted in Fear # 4 "Mister Gregory and the Ghost!" -- - 7pp Reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces # 5 and Fear # 4 "The Magic of Mordoo!" V-416 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 9 "The Man Who Lost the World!" V-417 - 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 9 Strange Tales #92, January 1962 "The Thing Hunts for Me!" V-453 7pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 23 "Inside the Flying Saucer!" V-456 - 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 23 Fantastic Four #2, January 1962 [published 28 October 1961] "The Fantastic Four Meet the Skrulls From Outer Space!" V-457 24pp Reprinted in Marvel Collector's Item Classics # 1, Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Volume 1, Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1, Essential Fantastic Four Volume 1 Tales to Astonish #27, January 1962 [published 28 October 1961] "The Man In the Ant Hill!" - 7pp Reprinted in Marvel Collector's Item Classics # 22, Essential Ant-Man Volume # 1, Marvel Masterworks Ant-Man/Giant-Man # 1 "Dead Planet" 5pp Reprinted in Journey Into Mystery # 19 Kid Colt, Outlaw #102, January 1962 [published 28 October 61] "Gun Duel In Dorado" V-477 - 5pp non-series Reprinted in Kid Colt Outlaw # 126 "The Eyes of Orville Jones" V-452 5pp Reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western # 3 and Gunslingers # 1 November 1961 Journey Into Mystery #76, January 1962 [published 2 Nov 61] "Follow the Leader" V-458 7pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 27 Amazing Adult Fantasy #9, February 1962 [published 2 Nov 1961] "The Terror of Tim Boo Ba" V-474 5pp Reprinted in Monster Menace # 1 "I Come From the Black Void" V-475 3pp Reprinted in Creatures on the Loose # 27 Strange Tales #93, February 1962 "When the Thing Runs Amok!" - 7pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 22 "Earth Will Be Lost Tonight!" - 6pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 27 "Mister Black" 5pp Reprinted in Fear # 13 "The Wax People" - 5pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 22 Tales to Astonish #28, February 1962 [published 9 Nov 61] "I Am The Gorilla-Man" 7pp Reprinted in Fear # 5 "Midnight on Haunted Hill" 6pp Reprinted in Creatures on the Loose # 13 "The Frightening Fog" 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 13 Tales of Suspense #26, February 1962 [published 9 Nov 61] "It Crawls by Night!" V-478 7pp Reprinted in Fear # 8 "Never Trust a Martian!" -- - 6pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 8 "The Face" V-481 - 5pp Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell # 8 Rawhide Kid #26, February 1962 [published 9 Nov 61] "Trapped by the Bounty Hunter!" - 7pp Reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western # 25 "Shoot-Out at Scragg's Saloon!" - 6pp Reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western # 39 "Strong-Man" 5 pp Reprinted in Kid Colt Outlaw # 134 "The Bullet-Proof Man!" - 5pp Reprinted in Mighty Marvel Western # 28 and Marvel Strange Westerns starring the Black Rider # 1 December 1961 Journey Into Mystery #77, February 1962 [published 5 Dec 61] "Beware! He Isn't Human!" V-493 7pp Reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces # 10 "I Don't Believe in .... Ghosts!" V-494 6pp Reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces # 9 Tales to Astonish #29, March 1962 [published 5 Dec 61] "When the Space Beasts Attack!!" - 7pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 12 "The Last Laugh!" V-500 5pp Reprinted in Fear # 6 Amazing Adult Fantasy #10, March 1962 [published 5 Dec 1961] "Those Who Change" V-536 5pp Reprinted in Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko "No Sign of Life" V-540 3pp Reprinted in Creatures on the Loose # 28, Curse of the Weird # 2 and Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko Fantastic Four #3, March 1962 [published 12 Dec 1961] "The Menace of the Miracle Man" V-563 23pp Reprinted in Marvel Collector's Item Classics # 2, , Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Volume 1, Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1, Essential Fantastic Four Volume 1 Strange Tales #94, March 1962 "Pildorr the Plunderer from Outer Space" 7pp Reprinted in Marvel Super-Heroes # 24 and Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby "Save Me From the Weed!" - 6pp Reprinted in Giant-Size Man-Thing # 3 and Monster Menace # 2 "Help!" - 5pp Reprinted in Kull the Destroyer # 15 Tales of Suspense #27, March 1962 [published 12 Dec 61] "Oog Lives Again!" V-515 7pp Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl # 20 "On the Trail of the Witch!" V-516 6pp Reprinted in Beware # 1 Kid Colt, Outlaw #103, March 1962 [published 12 Dec 61] "Zack Krull, the Man Who Outdrew the Kid" V-576 6pp Reprinted in Kid Colt Outlaw # 182 Anyone got 'em all?
Comicsdad	Re: Fantastic Four 1 - November 1961	#9	[-]
Posts: 3809 Sep 3 06 5:06 PM Bronze Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't know about you all, but doesn't this "Mr Fantastic" strike you as a bit of a cold fish? I mean, he causes his friend Ben Grimm to turn into a monster, but doesn't seem to care one whit! The plot of the book has so many holes, you'd think veterans like Jack Kirby and Stan Lee would know at least a bit better. Perhaps they are by now so set in working with 6-8 page stories that it is hard for them to adjust. At the same time, the book has certain charm, and mixing monsters and super-heroes is done well. The book has signatures of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but I am reasonably sure this was inked by someone else. Comicsdad
DavidSpofforth	Re: Fantastic Four 1 - November 1961	#10	[-]
Posts: 3203 Sep 4 06 10:25 AM Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, I liked the story. I've never been taken with other superhero comics from recent years. I mean, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, etc all look good with very slick art but I find the stories a bit dull and lifeless. The less said about the cardboard cut-out Justice League the better, as far as my taste goes. It's disturbing to admit (as a thirty-something married man), but I find the teenage romances of the Patsy Walker comics more to my taste. Still, in recent months I've been hiding my Patsy comics between the pages of that very enjoyable (and much more manly!) Rawhide Kid comic. I like the fact that this Fantastic Four don't act like superheroes. They seem more like detectives or explorers (who just happen to have superpowers!). I especially like that they don't wear silly looking "underpants on the outside" costumes. They are so UN-glamorous. Especially the Thing. That panel where he looks up to find a manhole cover is really creepy. What worries me though, is that this comic won't last. It seems really cheap. The art isn't as good as in Rawhide Kid, even though that was drawn by the same artist. And the colouring - most panels aren't even coloured properly! Half of the figures are just painted in single flat colours! I'd like to think it was for dramatic effect (and it is quite effective, I'll admit) but I think it was probably because the bloke doing the colouring couldn't be bothered to make the effort. What else have I been reading recently? Oh yes, there was the latest "Tales to Astonish" I picked up. I doubt I'll buy any more of these. The story about a shrinking man who runs straight outside into an ant hill was extremely silly. Have you ever tried to light a match by throwing a pebble at it? And really? Why would anyone throw away such a miraculous potion? It'd be worth a fortune. Oh well, at least he didn't use it to try and become a shrinking superhero like that Atom character that's in Showcase comics at the moment.
Indefatigable Fjor	Re: Fantastic Four 1 - November 1961	#11	[-]
Posts: 8137 Sep 4 06 10:58 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	howcum his sink dint shrink?
DavidSpofforth	Fantastic Four 2 - January 1962	#12	[-]
Posts: 3203 Sep 4 06 11:30 AM Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hang on a sec, have I missed an issue here? How come the Fantastic Four are suddenly world famous celebrities? Was there an un-numbered issue for December '61 that I missed? Still, the artwork is a bit nicer this issue. As another reviewer pointed out, there's plot holes big enough for the Thing to stroll through, but there is an energy here. I think the writer, Mr Lee is more concerned with dialogue than plot structure. These are real characters. Even Mr Fantastic seems to think of their powers as a curse rather than a blessing. A curse that he openly blames himself for (and the Thing never ceases to remind him about it.) I especially liked the way the Torch is sympathetic to poor Ben after he reverts to being the Thing. It's obvious that these two are friends even if they do spend all their time bickering. And, by the way, that scene with Ben becoming normal again for a few minutes was very powerful and moving. (Nice to see the colourist make more of an effort this time as well).
TODD TAMANEND CLARK	Re: THE FANTASTIC FOUR #1 (1961)	#13	[-]
Posts: 6376 Sep 4 06 1:22 PM Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's Thursday, August 10, 1961. It's my ninth birthday, and we're at my maternal grandparents' house in Greensboro, Pennsylvania, where my grandmother and grandfather have just given me some money. I have already been collecting comic books for almost three years, and these are the main titles that I'm following: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN ADVENTURES OF THE FLY ADVENTURES OF THE JAGUAR AMAZING ADULT FANTASY BATMAN CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN DETECTIVE COMICS FORBIDDEN WORLDS GREEN LANTERN JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY MY GREATEST ADVENTURE MYSTERY IN SPACE STRANGE TALES TALES OF SUSPENSE TALES TO ASTONISH THE FLASH TOMAHAWK TUROK, SON OF STONE I decide to walk down the hill to Longo's Confectionery and see if there are any new issues of these books. When I get there, I immediately gravitate to a strange new comic in the front row. What's this? The Fantastic Four? The caption reads, "Featuring: The Thing! Mr. Fantastic! Human Torch! Invisible Girl! Together for the first time in one mighty magazine!" My mind wonders if I had missed some other comic books where they had appeared separately. And that big green monster looks like something out of Strange Tales, so I hand Betty Longo a dime and race back up the hill to read it. And from that moment forward, writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby altered my inner consciousness forever! - - - - - - TODD TAMANEND CLARK Poet / Composer / Multi-Instrumentalist / Cultural Historian The Monongahela River, Turtle Island cdbaby.com/all/copperhead myspace.com/toddtamanendclark rateyourmusic.com/~Todd_Clark
JJJ	Re: Fantastic Four 2 - January 1962	#14	[-]
Posts: 2205 Sep 4 06 2:09 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Read all 4 books last night in a very satisfying session - try to read 4 contemporary DC's in a row and I'm struggling to stay awake half way through the second issue. Obviously there are a lot of plot inconsistencies that make me wince at times (... the wanton destruction of property by the Torch and Thing and yet these guys are still accepted as heroes by the public?) but the characterization is truly striking when contrasted with the cardboard cut-outs in DC. How many times did Robin ever call Batman "gruesome" or "loudmouth"; when did the Flash ever tell Green Lantern "I want Carol Ferris to look at me the way she looks at you"; and how often did Superman talk like the thugs he sent to prison - "I'll wipe that grin off his oily face!" This is eye-opening stuff for someone weened on the bland stuff being produced at the competition. And the artwork might be less refined or polished but it's powerful in it's own way - check out the simple series of panels following the elation of Ben Grimm receding into despair as he changes back to the Thing in FF 2 - whoever feels like crying for J'onn J'onzz? I noticed also the steady improvement in the art from issue 1 to 3. The Sol Brodsky inks make a great improvement from the first two stories. Have the editors decided they have a hit on their hands and decided to invest more labour into producing what they now humbly refer to as "The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World"? The Ant-Man was a curious diversion. Nice art - better than the FF I thought - and it carries possiblites for a future series. He just needs someone to talk to instead of ants like, uhmmm, how about a sexy female assistant? Nah, they'd never go for it!
GHastly55	Fantastic Four 3 - March 1962	#15	[-]
Posts: 4344 Sep 4 06 3:55 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Last issue they were hunted and imprisoned by the Army, then they were captured by the police. Last issue they were holed up in a hunting lodge and had various secret apartments available in a large yet unnamed city. Last issue they got around town in taxicabs and stolen helicopters. And this issue, they have uniforms, their own skyscraper, and a flying bathtub. And it looks like a cheerleader is writing the cover blurbs. "The Greatest Comic Magazine In The World" indeed! Anyway, I was intrigued by the first issue, impressed by parts of the second issue, but this issue is just not quite right. The artist starts off with the same artistic structure on the opening page: a 2/3 page splash panel which is actually part of the story rather than a symbolic scene from the story you're about to read. And it's clear from this opening page that this quartet has no such thing as secret identities -- the members of the group appear, in civilian clothes, in the front row of a vaudeville show (vaudeville??? This is almost 1962!!) and have the spotlight shone on them. The show they're attending is for someone calling himself "The Miracle Man", performing what seem to be standard magician's tricks -- until in a contest of strength with The Thing, the Miracle Man wins. As the Fantastic Four leave the theater after the performance in the afore-mentioned flying bathtub (given the awkward name Fantasticar in the caption -- and where did they park the thing, anyway?), Reed muses that if The Miracle Man ever turned to crime, the world may be in serious trouble. Talk about foreshadowing; is the writer in a tenth grade literature class or what? I'm sorry -- I'm just heavily disappointed at most of this issue. The gaping plot hole continue to make themselves obvious (if the crook can commit miracles, why is his first act of "evil" to bring a monstrous statue to life to randomly destroy property? Is "The Monster From Mars" really worthy of a live TV show dedicated to its premiere? If The Miracle Man were to declare war on "the human race", would he do so by sending a printed letter to the local police commissioner? The list is practically endless...) And something is wrong with the art -- there are no well-constructed sequences like there were in the last issue; and in some places the art is downright bad, as for example in the first two panels of page 10, or the entirety of page 19. There is just so much wrong with this issue. Johnny's buddies asking if they can join the Fantastic Four?? The Thing ripping his costume to shreds on page 11, only to have it mysteriously reappear on page 14?? The Miracle Man driving a stolen atomic tank through city streets for miles without being noticed or chased by the authorities? The Miracle Man using his great powers to defeat the Invisible Girl and The Thing -- but needing to use a canister of chemical foam to defeat the Torch? So far as I can see, there is only one redeeming feature in this story -- the artist is now depicting the Human Torch as a humanoid form surrounded by flame rather than a bunch of random formless flames -- this looks much better. The uniforms are an interesting touch, too, and I use the word very carefully -- they're not "costumes", wherein each individual has his own look, as in the Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes. But no explanation is given for how the Human Torch's uniform doesn't burn up when he begins blazing -- the idea that his clothes were irradiated when he passed through the cosmic rays doesn't hold up with newly-sewn clothes. I wonder how (or if) they'll explain THAT one! The group continues to fight among themselves, with most of the tension between the Torch and the Thing this issue. But surprisingly at the end, it's not the gruff Ben Grimm that walks out on the group, but the hot-headed Johnny Storm. And the book closes with Reed wondering about the possibility of the Torch turning bad. This was a surprising turn of events, as I would have figured it was the Thing that walked out first, and it's certainly more credible that the Thing would "turn bad" more naturally. And there's a teaser at the end of the story: apparently the editors are "bringing back another great character". Since we've established the books are being published by what was lowly little Atlas comics, what characters can they possibly have to "bring back"? Fin Fang Foom? Doctor Droom? The Blip? I fully expect another disappointment next issue, and that the title will wash out in another 5 or 6 issues.
GHastly55	The Man In The Ant-Hill - Tales To Astonish 27 January 1962	#16	[-]
Posts: 4344 Sep 4 06 4:40 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	For this review, there's no way I can keep up the Time Machine artifice. This story was just a six-page fantasy story among 20 such stories published each month by Goodman's companies. There's positively nothing to distinguish the original story "The Man In The Ant-Hill" from any of the same sorts of stories; the plot structure was predictable, and the art was average. Lee could have just as easily built his next superhero around Anton Gorge, protagonist of TTA #7's "I Spent Midnight With The Thing On Bald Mountain", as he did Henry Pym. So on to a detailed review of this unlikely birth of a "superhero". First off, I called this a six-page story even though it's seven pages long. That's because page 1 is a full-page splash depicting a scene from later on in the story, and doesn't advance the plot in any way. The splash isn't even all that well-done. On to the story itself. We meet Dr. Henry Pym, who in his first appearance is depicted as crazed and wild-eyed, not normally a candidate for heroics. He developed his serums primarily out of ego -- "I'll show them who's the greater scientist!" The major benefit he sees from a shrinking formula is -- lower shipping costs??? I'm sorry, I was wrong -- this is FAR WORSE than the average Atlas fantasy story of late 1961! Now, when he applies the serum, whether on an artifact or on himself, he simply dribbles a lille bit of it on the thing to be shrunk. There's Stan Lee the Science Major at work again; no precise measured amounts, no controlled application mechanism, just apply it as if it's jam on toast. No wonder "the world's greatest scientist" shrinks faster than he expected! Then for the action, such as it is. Chased by ants, this brilliant scientist retreats to -- the anthill where said ants reside. This guy shows as much intelligence as a loose teenager in a horror movie, but at least the loose teenager doesn't purport to hold a doctorate. Cleverly getting stuck in honey, the scientist is saved by a Good Samarantan, only to be once again attacked by the other ants. Thankfully someone has provided a wooden match sticking straight up out of the ground (still within the anthill, remember), which the intrepid scientist-cum-Eagle Scout uses to create a diversion by throwing a pebble at the "sulfuric head". Looks like Pym should give up science for a career as a major league pitcher, because the pebble gets the matchhead alight on the first toss. And of course this one tiny matchhead creates enough flame to "keep the ants at bay" while he fashions a "makeshift lasso" out of -- something, we're never told what. He shimmies up the -- thread? weed? spider intestine? -- only to be confronted with an angry red ant who grabs Pym in his mandibles. Thankfully though, the intrepid scientist knows judo, and thus is able to catapult the ant head-over-heels (despite being held in mid-air by the mandibles, never gaining a foothold on the ground). Escaping the anthill, Pym is despondant that he'll never reach the antidote which he conveniently placed in a knocked-over testtube on his windowsill. But through yet another Insect Ex Machina, the One Good Ant appears and lets Pym ride him up the wall, where he splashes about in the growth serum and is saved. Why Pym didn't immediately fall back down off the narrow windowsill as he grew is not explained. The story ends with Pym pouring his serums down the drain (and in answer to Fjor's question about why the sink and pipes didn't shrink, well it's obviously because Pym poured the growth serum down at the same time, thus counteracting the shrinking serum's effects!) and claiming to his peers that his experiments were a failure. But of course it's stated that Pym never again stepped on an anthill because of the debt of gratitude he owed to the Good Samarantan. Ahem. I'm sorry, this story is just so DUMB. Worse than any Jerry Siegel Mighty Crusaders story. Worse than Jimmy Olsen, Porcupine Boy. Worse than Tod Horton, Super Green Beret. Worse even that the Blue Beetle's Giant Mummy Who Would Not Die. If THIS is the raw material out of which Stan Lee would be making his next generation of superheroes, comics would have been in BIG trouble!
Titanic True Believer	Re: The Man In The Ant-Hill - Tales To Astonish 27 January 1	#17	[-]
Posts: 404 Sep 4 06 9:30 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Its November 1961. Im almost eight, and in the second grade. Ive been reading since before starting kindergarten, thanks in large part due to the Fox and the Crow, Mad Magazine, and especially Sugar and Spike. (Gods blessings to you, Sheldon Mayer.) Im probably at Rusines, on Broadway in Lorain, Ohio. Those two old kids perusing the comics next to me are two students from nearby Oberlin College, Don and Maggie Thompson. Theyre looking at those generic comics by the Charlton Comics. I think theyre called Marvel Comics, but like the Charlton line, theyre on crappy paper, and about space and monsters. Except for an occasional foray into Archie Comics to read about the Jaguar or the Fly, Im a little DC superhero zombie. Its THEIR comics whose covers leap off the rack at me. Flash is lashed to a "giant space boomerang death trap! The JLA (sans Superman and Batman) is being deformed by fun-house mirrors. Batman was busy being defaced by another mirror over in Worlds Finest, while Superman (and Robin) looked on helplessly. The JLA (this time WITH Superman and Batman) are on the cover of Lois Lane, so I buy it, even though its a girls comic. This Steve Trevor guy is fighting a tug-of-war with a mer-MAN (how come he has a TAIL? Aquaman doesnt!) over (in) Wonder Woman. I dont give this one magazine, Tales To Astonish, with the Man in the Ant Hill on the cover a second look, (which is ironic, because in two years, after he hooks up with the Wonderful Wasp, and gains the power to grow, Hank Pym will be my favorite Marvel character, and TTA will be my favorite anthology title.) But I DO buy Showcase, to read about DCs miniature superhero, the Atom, and in reading the text page am stunned to learn that LOOOOONG ago (15 years - almost an eternity!) there was an earlier version of the Atom and Flash and Green Lantern, in something called the Justice SOCIETY. Finally, I was STUNNED to see that evil, bald (!) Lex Luthor had succeeded in KILLING Superman! (Fortunately, it was an IMAGINARY story! Whew!) It was November 61. By the fateful November of 1963, I for some inexplicable reason had started regularly buying the Fantastic Four. By November 1964, DC was in the rear view mirror, and I was hooked on Stan Lee's mantra, MAKE MINE MARVEL. How many others reading this thread were right poised on the cusp of making their conversion from DC to Marvel at this time?
austex23	Re: The Man In The Ant-Hill - Tales To Astonish 27 January 1	#18	[-]
Posts: 2201 Sep 4 06 11:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's late 1962, Im 9, and I've managed to beg, barter, or buy the first 10 issues of Fantastic Four, but despite hours of scouring used book stores and swapping comics with friends , I have yet to find a copy of the first issue. Then one day, in East Texas, at a little crossroads grocery store named Gilley's, where they still sell comics for 10 cents (even though they've just gone to 12 or even 15 cents everywhere else), tightly stacked in a white box, I strike gold. I flip through the box, looking for something to read while I am staying at my grandfather's farm, passing up IW comics with stories that carry the violent, sexy aura of another era, Charlton comics bristling with weird, surreal stories and quirky art, and old issues of Tales of Suspense and Strange Tales, comics that I have come to understand are related to my beloved Fantastic Four. At first I don't realize what I'm looking at. I'ts an issue of Fantastic Four that I have never seen. White cover, monster, at first mistakable for one of those Strange Tales. Is it new? No . . . it's the grail, the missing first issue! I take it back to my grandparent's and I read it over and over, the collection complete, the saga unfolding from its simple beginning. Even then, I realized this first issue wasn't nearly as good as the later ones, that there was a crudeness to it, that the concepts hadn't been nailed down. Together for the First Time worried me. Were there other, earlier issues? I liked the cover -- it reminded me of other comics that were among my favorites, the first three JLA comics and some of the Challengers issues, with a group of heroes fighting a giant menace. The origin was familiar to me, retold several times in later issues, but the Mole Man part was new and over far too soon, though the monsters were neat, especially the mob on the last page. When I got home, I read that first issue again, and all of the nine issues that followed it. Again and again. It's late 1961, I'm 8, and I'm in East Texas visiting my grandparents, in Sulphur Springs on a Saturday. I like visiting the farm, playing with cousins, even helping gather eggs and pick vegetables, but comics are essential as air, a fact that my parents and relatives seem to understand with amusement, so they stop by a little grocery store that sells new comics. There is a wire rack at the back of the store and the comics on it are mostly unfamiliar I don't see any of the DCs that are my favorites. I like monster comics and science fiction and here's one that looks about right. But who the heck are the Fantastic Four? The comic is confusing. Clearly I've missed something important. I have to read the first panel a couple of times before I realize the character is called The Thing. He's a monster, but he's a hero, only he's not doing heroic things here. I plow onward. A woman who turns invisible, a man made of flame who melts a Civil War statue (the Civil War was almost as cool as monsters in those centennial days) and there's a stretchy guy who seems very evil. I was so hooked. I read and re-read the comic, captivated by the Skrulls, by the heroes who fought against the army instead of on their side, by the panels clipped from comics I had actually read! I read FF2 until the cover came off, at the farm and then on the long drive all the way back to my home in Corpus Christi, Texas. Its 1965, and I'm 12. There's a little used book store on Ayers Boulevard in Corpus that sells comics for a nickel. I haunt the place every week after the Saturday morning movie at the theater across the street. One Saturday, probably after an episode of The Purple Monster Strikes and some western I only half watched, I'm scouring the table in the book store and there it is -- one of the few Marvel comics I don't have -- Tales to Astonish 27, The Man in the Anthill. I buy it and an issue of The World Around Us and bike home. The Man in the Anthill is nothing special, neat because it was the first episode of a series I miss. By now, I know who Jack Kirby is and I appreciate his art and I like ants -- have kept them in jars and read every book in the library about them -- but I recognize that the ants in this comic are ridiculous. DC does science so much better than Marvel does. I file the comic on my shelves, where I have started to keep issues in numerical order. It's early 1962, not long after Christmas. I'm riding with my buddy Barry in the back of his parents' station wagon and we're talking comics. He loves Green Lantern and I tell him about #10, recently purchased -- Prisoner of the Power Ring -- and he tells me about a comic he got a couple of weeks earlier, far too long for me to have much hope of finding one, especially since Marvel comics are really tough to find in Corpus Dell and DC filling most of the racks. He says it's called The Fantastic Four, but it doesn't sound like the same comic I've read. Barry's folks run a motel and he got the Fantastic Four comic because some guest had left it behind in a room. When he sees my interest, he taunts me at first but in the end he trades it for the new Green Lantern and I take FF 3 home to read. At first, I don't like the comic much at all. It's so very different from the second issue. The torch looks different -- maybe because hes wearing a uniform. I didn't like the uniform much either and the story troubles me, though it still has a neat monster in it. If the Miracle Man only hypnotized people into thinking the statue moved, how the heck did it get to the spot where the Torch burned it? But there are other things in the comic that I like very much -- the cross-section of the FF's Secret Headquarters, the tension between the Torch and the Thing, and especially the end . . . a cliffhanger, something I had seen a few times in Action Comics and that I recognized from the old serials at the neighborhood theater. Although I had my doubts about the direction the comic was taking, I also had to read the next issue . . .. Last Edited By: austex23 Oct 6 11 4:10 PM. Edited 1 times.
DeBricazar	Re: The Man In The Ant-Hill - Tales To Astonish 27 January 1	#19	[-]
Posts: 5352 Sep 5 06 7:07 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just a quick note here: I love the time machine perspective; it's really creative and interesting. But if anyone just wants to give a 2006 perspective on these four comics, that's great as well. A friend of mine asked about it, so I wanted to make sure everyone knew. Visit the official Alex Lear music homepage! SANDPAPERED DREAMS is here! www.alexlear.com
TODD TAMANEND CLARK	Re: Marvel Masterworks Marathon Part 1: Nov 1961-March 1962	#20	[-]
Posts: 6376 Sep 5 06 9:30 AM Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think that an important factor in some reviewers thinking that the art is weak in these issues is that they are reading along with the bad linework reproduction of the Masterworks reprints instead of the clearer art of the original comic books. = = = = = = TODD TAMANEND CLARK Poet / Composer / Multi-Instrumentalist / Cultural Historian The Monongahela River, Turtle Island cdbaby.com/all/copperhead myspace.com/toddtamanendclark rateyourmusic.com/~Todd_Clark

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Marvel Masterworks Marathon Part 1: 8 August-12 December 1961

Marvel Masterworks Marathon Part 1: 8 August-12 December 1961