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This is another one I bought as a 10-year-old. I don’t know what possessed me to buy it. I’d never bought a war comic before. But I tell you, I really enjoyed this issue. I remember that I read it over and over again.

Sgt. Fury #8, July 1964 [published 5 May 64] Script: Stan Lee; Art: Dick Ayers; Inking: George Roussos; Lettering: Sam Rosen

Jack Kirby did a nice rendition of Percy on the cover; but that’s not regulation eyewear, is it? Speaking of Kirby, did you notice he left Sgt. Fury, The Avengers and The X-Men about the time they went monthly. Not exactly, but close.

That’s right Zemo appears two places this month. This appearance is before Cap dumped Adhesive X on him.

The soldiers teasing Percy are a hoot.

On page 16, Stan has Fury say to lower the drawbridge; it’s obvious that he means to raise the drawbridge.

A Lee/Ayers Sgt. Fury story would not be this good for a while. This one was really a good story. The introduction of Percy was well handled, and the story was interesting and the pacing was good. Bravo! Was Percy a cliché? What? Don’t all Englishmen talk that way?

Spider-Man #15, August 1964 [published 12 May 64] Script: Stan Lee; Art: Steve Ditko; Lettering: Art Simek (the credits make a reference to Mickey Spillane, who, of course, wrote text stories for Marvel back in the 1940s)

So Electro organized car theft rings and the Chameleon organized bank robbery gangs? Of course they did!

We’re going to see a lot of the Chameleon this year!

Betty’s reaction to the attention Liz Allen gives Peter is a hoot! The rotations in Peter’s life are interesting: Betty, Liz, Mrs. Watson’s headache-prone niece. I think it’s pretty obvious that Peter’s relationship with Betty was moving too fast and that Stan and Steve decided to slow it down. It would have been more interesting if they haven’t.

Kraven was certainly a unique villain, and I liked his gimmicks; it’s a shame they were de-emphasized in the future. He seemed to have some depth, and he was certainly driven and focused. I’m sorry so much of this was missing from his later appearances.

An article on Spider-Man was published in the Colgate Maroon, the newspaper of Colgate University (Hamilton, NY). Also in the lettercol someone wrote a letter from the point-of-view of Spider-Man’s costume. You just don’t see letters like that anymore.

Tales of Suspense #56, August 1964 [published 12 May 64]

Iron Man: “The Uncanny Unicorn!” Script: Stan Lee; Art: Don Heck; Lettering: Sam Rosen

The opening scene by Don Heck showing Iron Man in anguish is very similar to one depicting Thor done just a few months before.

Pepper’s “Oh, the phone!” was the most unnecessary bit of dialog in a Marvel comic all year.

The Unicorn: good costume, good powers, appropriately threatening.

Happy Hogan was hopelessly outmatched against the Unicorn, which makes Iron Man’s victory all the more impressive.

Compare what the doctor says to Tony Stark about the hospital care Happy Hogan was going to receive with the way things today: with today’s bargain basement health insurance, unless you DO have Tony Stark’s money, the hospital would just give you a Band-Aid and send you home.

“… strong enough to protect me from the explosive force of a thousand tons of T.N.T.!” … “The experimental Black Light Tracer which I’ve developed should do the trick!” Stan goes too overboard in explaining things. This is a case of less-is-more. Just tell us what the characters are going to do, please don’t go into detail; that just makes it sound too ridiculous!

It seems as though Don Heck is using more large panels this time.

Iron Man goes a little overboard in destroying the Unicorn’s plane, and we thought the Hulk had a bad temper!

And of course Happy’s allergic to hospital flowers … but he was going to defend his boss’s plant, no matter what!

Watcher: “The Watcher's Sacrifice!” Plot: Stan Lee; Script & Art: Larry Lieber; Inking: George Bell; Lettering: Art Simek

Consider, for a moment, this story’s title, “The Watcher's Sacrifice!” Now consider the fact that there is no Mrs. Watcher. I hope you are now sufficiently enticed to go out and find the story and read it.

Oh, and remember that crossing guest-star appearance I mentioned? Larry Lieber draws a better Thing than many other artists.

Strange Tales #123, August 1964 [published 12 May 1964]

A split cover this month! I think it was a test, to see what a split cover would look like, but also to promote Dr. Strange. We would soon be seeing a lot more of these; but, really, in your minds, tie this split cover into the new strips that would launched July and August of this year, and you’ll see why I’m making a big deal of it!

Human Torch: “The Birth of the Beetle!” Script: Stan Lee; Art: Carl Burgos; Inking: Dick Ayers; Lettering: Sam Rosen

Carl Burgos drew the Human Torch in the ’40s and Dick Ayers drew the Human Torch in the ’50s. Here they are together on the ’60s Torch. The splash page isn’t bad. Burgos design of the Beetle’s armor isn’t horrible, but it’s not inspiring either. Steve Ditko would do a much better job of drawing this costume later.

I believe this is the first Johnny/Doris/Ben/Alicia double date. There would be more in Strange Tales.

There’s no way the Beetle should be able to fly with those big metal wings and that heavy metal armor. The Beetle seems to specialize in drive-ins (repressed teenage memories perhaps).

“The Beetle may be our biggest attraction!” At the World’s Fair? This line just doesn’t make any sense. There are more nonsense lines. Parts of this story are sort of an embarrassment and not the return to Marvel that Burgos should have had.

A few people have singled out the picture of Stan in the last panel. Note he has a beard as early as 1964. It would have still been normal for a man of Stan’s age to comb his hair back. Receding, yes! Balding, I don’t buy into that.

Dr. Strange: “The Challenge of Loki” Script: Stan Lee; Art: Steve Ditko; Inking: George Roussos; Lettering: Art Simek

Even though Roussos only inked four Dr. Strange tales while Ditko was creating the Spider-Man Annual, these are painful to look at. They could have been so much better.

The story begins with Dr. Strange practicing, like an athlete or a musician would do.

Here we have another example or Marvel’s crossing guest-star appearances as Thor appears in Strange Tales. Stay tuned for the second half of this trend.

Just hearing Loki’s name should have alerted Dr. Strange to what was going on. What? He wouldn’t be up on his mythology.

This appears to be the first case of a magic battle being illustrated as rays coming from the combatants’ hands, with a “halo” effect around those hands. Some of the layout (or composition) of those scenes, as it appears to have been started here, would continue through the rest of Ditko’s run on the series.

Is this also the first time that Dr. Strange has created multiple images of himself in a battle.

For some reason Dr. Strange has to be in his astral form, and looking into Loki’s eyes, to return Thor’s hammer to him. What??!?

And the phrase: “And yet, some omnipotent power has so arranged the Universe that good must always prevail! For every mighty villain, there is a mightier hero! For every menacing enemy of mankind, there is a fighting avenger!” I don’t really feel this is just a platitude. This is Marvel’s philosophy (and therefore Stan’s, I guess) as to how things are.

"Joseph, with those CD-Roms, are we able to display a comic page horizontally on a laptop to fill the whole screen? (and I can turn the screen vertically)  If so, I think I'm interested in those."

They are PDFs. I use the marque zoom feature and it makes them very easy to read. Whether or not you could turn the screen would depend on your PDF reader and any other software on your "toy".

Call me "Joe".

You don't need restorations. These are SCANS of ACTUAL comic books. The resolution is much better than the screen captures I've posted.

No, they sadly weren't. But most of them are probably "fine".