Fantastic Four #17

 "Forgive me for interrupting you by sending my pseudo-image here. But I am still human enough to wish to gloat over your hapless plight!"

I love the exciting cover to this one, promising so much action. But not as much as I love the declaration that "Marvel Comics Group ushers in the Marvel age of comics". Fantastic Four may not be as good as Amazing Spider-Man, but it's easily the second best title at this point.

It's absolute bonkers, though.

We begin by saying farewell to last issue's guest star, Ant-Man. After all, his appearance in this more popular title is a clear sign that sales of Tales to Astonish must be flagging. No wonder the Thing is seen reading an issue as a subtle hint to the readers. 

Doom, though, is still at large... and he wants power, namely as a member of President Kennedy's cabinet, which is utterly bizarre. Latveria is not yet a thing, and I don't think there's yet any suggestion that he's anything other than American. Still, nice oblique visual hints of Camelot are nice, with JFK and "Caroline's bedtime".

It's probably best not to think about the plot too much, with Doom kidnapping Alicia as leverage but then utterly failing to use her as such when the FF attack his base in, er, a cloud floating above New York. Yep. Bonkers. 

But we end with such fun little set pieces, and the issue has so much overall charm, that I can't help but love it. Especially as we end with Doom jumping out of the plane, ostensibly to his, er, doom, but wevknow damn well that's not going to happen... 

 

Fantastic Four #16

 "The fools! They live in peace! They are contented and happy! But I'll soon put a stop to that!"

This issue is, obviously, bonkers. I mean, a tiny sub-atomic kingdom? An incredibly credulous society that Doom easily conquers due to their naivete? And, yes, a cover that proclaims a "special surprise guest star at the same time as announcing blatantly that it's Ant-Man.

Fascinating, is it not, that all Marvel crossovers so far have involved the Fantastic Four, who have interacted with the Hulk, Spider-Man and now Ant-Man. Will we get any crossovers not involving the FF any time soon? Still, I fear for Ant-Man. The Hulk's title was cancelled soon after he appeared in Fantastic Four #12. Can Ant-Man's tenure in Tales to Astonish be coming to an end? It would be such a terrible shame...! 

And, awkwardly, this issue is really rather good, and shows the FF, who finally seem to be morphing into explorers rather than crime fighters, to be better in stories involving shrinking than a certain Henry Pym. Ouch. I suppose he can console himself with the fact that Sue apparently fancies him... after earlier declaring that they "can't ever be sure that he really exists". First Hulk, now Ant-Man... the FF seem to be perennial sceptics when it comes to the existence of other super powered individuals.

This is a fun little romp, ending with the Thing literally batting away the invasion fleet of the Lizard Men of Tok, which is not a sentence I ever imagined myself typing. I'm enjoying Fantastic Four... and, oh goody, the next title in the Order is the next issue.

Fantastic Four #15

 "Good grief! Another power-mad genius for us to contend with!"

The quote above says it all- the Mad Thinker is not exactly the greatest villain of all time, just being another arrogant clever villain, this time the conceit being that he plans things to the second, until Reed defeats him with the "x-factor", or an unpredicted event which the Thinker somehow failed to foresee for reasons that aren't entirely clear... but at least Mr Lumpkin gets another mention! 

Still, it's a surprise that the Thinker becomes such a fixture for the FF, being so dull, and nowhere near as cool as his Awesome Android, overpowered though it seems here. There are some cool moments though, such as our first real experience of Ben's rivalry with the Yancy Street Gang, and Reed again using that gun thingy from issue #1 to summon the team- I think a fixture of these early days? It's also nice to see a bit of wry irony in Stan's captions, describing the Thing as "as lovable and shy as ever".

Interestingly, even as late as this issue the FF are as much crimefighters as they are explorers, with the Thinker seen very much as a gangland figure. It'll be interesting to see that change. Overall, though, a decent enough issue but nothing special. The FF need a far bigger canvas than this sort of stuff. 

 

Tales of Suspense #43

 "Follow me, puny surface man!"

This may, in some ways, be an utterly unremarkable issue. There's still no real supporting cast. The antagonist. Queen Kala of the Netherworld, may not quite be a one-off but she's hardly a major recurring villain. And Tony Stark basically gets out of his quandary by tricking Kala into giving him a laboratory, privacy, and unlimited resources so he can sneakily make a new Iron Man suit- in short, a retread of the origin story.

Plus , again, we have little attention being given to overall continuity, showing that, still, despite the crossovers there's no real conception of a consistent shared universe. The "Netherlanders" (Secretly Dutch? They're certainly below sea level,) are yet another underground civilisation, and they're descended from Atlanteans. So, yeah, I'm sure Mole Man, Tyrannus and indeed the Sub-Mariner might have something to say about that.

Yet, despite its flaws and contemporary quirks (Tony exploits the misogyny of Kala's right hand man! She kindly shows him around before carrying out her plan! Bringing to the surface turns her, conveniently, into an "old hag" so invading the surface wouldn't be viable. Even more conveniently, the effect is reversible!), this is very fun and engaging. But at this point we really, really need a supporting cast and some solid recurring baddies. 

Tales to Astonish #40

 "Mister, even when that guy fails, he wins."

I'm writing this having just read and blogged Tales to Astonish #44. It seems I unwittingly skipped this one. Oops! Remedying that now, having just gone back and read it. 

Fortunately, it's just a ho-hum Ant-Man story with a one-off villain and that repeats some of his tropes. Very ordinary criminal giving himself a supervillain name and costume for some reason? Yep. Said supervillain turning out to have been the person who needed help in the first place? Yep. Blatant use of Chekhov's gun, with both the gas mask Pym is working on and the Inca statues being very relevant indeed to the plot? Yep.

This issue feels very perfunctory and phoned in, and is as skippable as they come. Ant-Man gets a bit of unnecessary harsh criticism when he develops his obviously feigned appendicitis, mind- if you happen to become ill, you haven't "failed"! And that gas mask looks scarily like a translucent plastic bag to me- don't try this at home, kids. 

Tales to Astonish #44

 "Go to the ants, thou sluggard!"

A new writer, a new beginning, a bit of a retcon.. and a new sidekick-cum-love interest- could Ant-Man finally be worth reading? Early signs are good. By early '60s comic book standards, in fact, very good.

 This new writer has a very different style. Henry Pym's friends are described, in splendidly sesquipedalian fashion, as his "hymenoptera colleagues" and his "hexapoda friends". They now can and routinely do talk. Although, happily, Ant-Man is still firing hmself from his miniature cannon and landing on a makeshift ant hill. Some things must never change.

And Henry Pym suddenly has a tragic backstory, giving this previously very bland character a bit of depth. He was once married to Maria Trovava, a refugee from communist Hungary with a not very Hungarian name, who was tragically kidnapped and murdered during the newlyweds' honeymoon in the perhaps not overly wise location of Hungary. Pym is now heartbroken, bitter, motivated to fight injustice and yearning to one day to find a partner... a wish which will, by an incredible coincidence, be fulfilled in this issue.

We meet Dr Vernon Van Dyne and his daughter Janet who is described, rather ickily in light of what's going to happen, as "not much more than a child", and there follows the most textbook superhero sidekick origin story imaginable. Janet's beloved father is brutally murdered by an evil, green, alien criminal! She's filled with grief and a deep desire to fight crime ("I wish I could track down all the criminals") and... Pym very suddenly reveals his secret identity to Janet, offers to give her powers (wings and antennae when shrunk), immediately does so, and... gives her an already existing superhero costume, which apparently fits perfectly. Well then. In no way is there any undue haste or dodginess surrounding this grieving teenage girl...!

Of course, Janet declares her love for him but, in typical Marvel fashion, Ant-Man is too damaged to face the prospect of love again, however blatantly he may subconsciously yearn for it. We end with the baddie beaten, and Pym gently chiding Janet for her emotional reaction... but she sees right through him. 

Ant-Man, up until now the weakest of the whole stable of superheroes, feels much more Marvel, with  angst and a potential love interest. Will this soft reboot do any good overall?

Strange Tales #109

 "Are you mad, Sorcerer? The box is only a Greek myth!"

It's amusingly ironic to see Johnny Storm muse about quitting school here, as he gave a speech to the students of Peter Parker's school in Amazing Spider-Man #3, the last issue in the order, to stay in school and never give up. It's only a small inconsistency, but perhaps it can also be seen as a sign of how inferior this issue is to that one.

There's no need to say much about this issue's one-off, one note villain, the Sorcerer, who lives in a mansion and so surely must have wealth, yet is basically treated by a tramp by all and sundry. He finds Pandora's Box, and uses this legendary artifact to... rob banks. Is that all? Let us move swiftly on.

Still, this issue, skippable though it is, raises a few interesting points. For one, do I misremember or is this the first time the Torch says "flame off"? For another, five hours of homework at night? Really?!!! Oh, and "Holy heatwaves"? The Torch is using the adjective "holy" like this a lot, three years before the advent of a certain television programme relating to the Distinguished Competition.

Then we have Johnny ruefully describing himself as "Mr. Bookworm 1963" which opens the can of worms that is "Marvel Time"- these characters will persist for decades without aging, yet Marvel titles are tied to the early '60s, whether by explicit references to the year, Mr. Fantastic and the Thing being stated flat out to be veterans of the Second World War, or Thor fighting in the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The Torch will be in his 80s in 2026, the other characters older, in the case of Reed surely well over one hundred years old...

Then we have the first explicit reference to Greek mythology being true in the proto-Marvel Universe, beyond a brief reference to Medusa. And "Circe"... is this later to turn out to be Sersi, the Eternal...? And Pandora's Box, I note, is lying at the bottom of the sea, a dangling plot thread...

The story may be forgettable. But there's stuff here for the enquiring/nerdy mind. 

The Amazing Spider-Man #3

 "Is this the end of Spider-Man?"

Once again we see why The Amazing Spider-Man is absolutely the flagship title in these early years. It's got fun, it's got action- but, with Peter Parker's youthful angst, this issue is a proper character study and that gives it a level of depth that, as of Spring 1963, no other Marvel title quite has.

It's only issue #3 and, as such, it's fun to see a few firsts. We have the first use of what will become known as the Spidey Signal. We have the first use of the title "Daily Bugle", with J. Jonah Jameson still said to be "publisher". And, of course, we have the introduction of Doctor Octopus, or Otto Octavius, who is both an absolutely top tier Spidey baddie and Marvel's foremost example of nominative determinism.

It's the early '60s, so Doc Ock's origin story absolutely has to involve exposure to large amounts of radiation, which is very much in fashion for origin stories at this point, and probably not exactly a good thing for Doc Ock's health a couple of decades down the line.

We never really learn exactly what Doc Ock plans to do with the atomic plant that he seizes, but that isn't the point here- the point is the self-confidence of our talented but very young hero, whose crisis of confidence after his initial defeat to Doc Ock is extremely well handled. It's perfect how it should be a school pep talk by an unwitting Human Torch (who responds to Peter's enthusiastic thanks with a casual "Huh? Oh, sure, sure! Glad you enjoyed it, fella!") that galvanises Spider-Man to defeat Doc Ock with a combination of both the cleverness and the perseverance that we will come to know him for... and, incidentally, Steve Ditko is really good at showing his determined persistence.

Another thing again worth mentioning is that, so far, we've had no real strong sense that this is all occurring in a shared universe. So far it's been like DC of the time- crossovers happen, yes, but there isn't really a rigorously maintained continuity. But it's still very early, and there's no need to define things yet. But I'll note that, after the appearance of the Fantastic Four in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 and the use of the Hulk in Fantastic Four #12, Johnny Storm's cameo appearance here gives us a hat trick of crossovers.

That digression aside, though, this is as good as it gets for early '60s Marvel. 

Journey into Mystery #93

 "The penalty for failure is death! Am I understood?"

This issue is, I supposed, best known for introducing Radioactive Man, a so-so recurring villain, although not really one who will remain particularly associated with Thor. But my impression upon reading is that it perfectly encapsulates why these early Thor stories feel so misjudged. 

Thor is the god of thunder, with awesome levels of power, and from the fantastical (and, already, trippy) place that is the Asgard of Norse myth. And yet the comic has him used either fighting Earthbound crime or- as here- fighting in the Cold War. The text at the very beginning describes him as "Mighty Thor, protector of democracy" and has him literally fighting for India versus Red China in the very real Sino-Indian War of October-November 1962, which must have been raging when the script was being written. This is... how they're choosing to use Thor? And lets not get into how Indians are described as "the Hindus" and the depiction of Chinese people is sprinkled with more than a little racism.

We see Mao himself obsessed with destroying Thor. Scientists must find a way, or die. Fortunately for him, one such scientist, Chen Lu, has an idea. Which is... to bombard himself with radioactivity, which definitely gives him enormous power and in no way kills him horribly... er, don't try this at home, kids. As for immunising yourself for months against radioactivity... yeah, don't try that either. Ah, communism and radioactivity... you can tell it's the early '60s.

And so to New York, and an amusing little confrontation between Thor and a seemingly invulnerable Lu, in which both of them basically have whatever powers the script wants them to have at any given time. At one point, interestingly, Thor is hypnotised and told to throw away his hammer... and when, after sixty seconds, he's Don Blake again, he's no longer under Lu's power, as it was Thor who was mesmerised, not Blake. Evidence that the two of them are separate individuals with a timeshare in existence, as opposed to one person with two identities? This continues to be a fascinating question. And I like the sheer peril of Don Blake having to do a death-defying river dive in order to retrieve the hammer... yeah, let's just handwave away the existence of the bends, shall we?

And then, after Thor seemed helpless against Lu earlier, we get a literal deus ex machina ending... in which, er, Thor literally nukes China. I have no words. This issue is utterly, utterly glorious in its bonkersness. 

Tales of Suspense #41

 "Above all else I crave my daughter's love and affection! I must make up for all the years I've neglected her while I devoted myself to a fantastic life of crime!"

As soon as I read the above quote I obviously knew exactly what thus week's antagonist's Achilles' heel would turn out to be. Basically, though, said baddie is basically an over-the-top Bond villain type or, rather, a Dr. Evil type in how over the top he is, with his desire to take over the world, amusedly hanging out under a force field with his fellow evil geniuses as the nations of the world uselessly hurl loads of atom bombs at it. Ah, wasn't the atomic age lovely?

This is, of course, the first appearance of Doctor Strange... but not that one. Rather, it's the name of this rather hilarious, bonkers new baddie, whose failure to return is likely due to the fact that his name will soon be hijacked by a certain character whom, I suspect, we'll be meeting very soon indeed. 

Still, this is a fun little story, and it's fun seeing all those little Iron Man tropes and so forth develop in these early stories. Here, for example, we get the first mention of Stark Industries, and the first time Stark uses an attache case to carry his armour around. There's also, yet again, a bit of exposition at the start to explain the basis premise, in which it's really emphasised that Tony is not merely a scientific genius but a scientific polymath across various fields.

And... yeah, he also goes to absurdly extreme and expensive lengths to entertain sick kids. But I suppose Tony must be able to afford it. This issue may not try to be big or clever, but it certainly is enormous fun. 

Fantastic Four #14

 "Why don't you go get a job as a food tester in a poison factory!"

Another strong issue here, and fascinating in many ways. But the sexual politics? Ouch, the 1960s were certainly another time... 

The opening is cool- the FF literally became the first to land on the Moon last issue, that should be a big deal, and so it is, with huge, adoring crowds and lots of publicity. It's a fun little scene, complete with what can only be described as Reed-mania, a full year before the Beatles, already establishing themselves in the UK as Macmillan's premiership is fading away, arrive in the USA.

After an amusingly hi-tech exit, though, it's back to the Baxter building, where they all relax... except Sue, who does some cleaning, because, er, naturally no one questions that it's women's work. And, after a moment where we're reminded of how Sue is torn between Reed and the Sub-Mariner, she types up Reed's notes for him!!! 

We now turn to the actual threat, as the Puppet Master decides to control Namor, who is still searching for his people, to indirectly seek revenge against the Fantastic Four. Of course, it would be far easier to just control the FF directly, but no, apparently not, because "my revenge will be all the sweeter". Ok then.

So what's the plan? He gets Namor to lure Sue to him, alone, and then uses her, the only female, as a peril monkey. Oh dear. So the FF take the bait... alongside Alicia, whom the Thing decides to bring along, ostensibly to stop her crying (sexual politics again with the hysterical woman trope!), but in reality because the plot will later require to suggest her father may be controlling Namor. Naturally, no one objects to putting a blind young woman in danger, because, er, all hail the almighty plot. 

After the Thing conducts some petty vandalism in the car park it's down into the depths of the ocean, where the FF seem to find the Sub-Mariner rather easily. We end, after some enjoyable and creative combat scenes, with the FF suspecting the truth, following Alicia's inevitable prompt, as the Puppet Master is undone by- and I can't believe I'm tying this- Chekhov's octopus.

Bonkers. Utterly bonkers. And magnificent. 

 

Tales of Suspense #40

 "Any girl who'd stand you up, darling, would have to be stark raving ma-a-ad!"

Only the second outing for Iron Man here, and second outings are always interesting. We've had the origin, so now we must solidify and settle on the title's status quo. Hence spending quite a bit of time on exposition at the start, clarifying who Tony Stark (who still doesn't quite look as he will) is and how he lives.

So we're reminded that he's a scientific genius, but very much on the cold warrior side, the Cuban Missile Crisis being mere weeks ago at this point. Hence the, er, 60mph roller skates for the US military.

We reminded that he's a millionaire playboy... but also that he must wear his iron breast plate 24/7. Yeah... I have some questions here. How does he wash his torso? We see him ducking out of swimming with one of his many ladies, as he can't ever be seen bare chested. This is... not great for his sex life, surely? I mean, his girlfriend Marion hugs him at the end, apparently without feeling the whopping great big iron breastplate.

Swiftly handwaving all that away, we have a nice little set piece with Iron Man dealing with some leopards and other big cats that have escaped from a circus... yeah, 1963. It was definitely another time. But he realises here that his drab iron suit will look scary to the public. Fortunately, Marion suggests a makeover- a gold paint job so that he looks like "a modern knight in shining armour". This is bonkers, but fun.

And then... yeah. A town that's built a wall around itself, predicting Dementia Donnie half a century early! A robot neanderthal with powers of mind control! Cartoon little green aliens in a flying saucer being behind it, because it's bound to be either them or communists! Said aliens conveniently resolving never to return! It's all such fun, and I love it. If this tone continues, it'll be fine by me.

Fantastic Four #13

 "Stop tryin' to worry us, you blasted animated rubber band!"

The premise of this issue seems to contain a large quantity of bonkersness- a Communist scientist, not content with trying to beat the USA to the Moon as part of the space race, also wants to get bombarded with cosmic rays and get powers greater than those of the Fantastic Four. So far, so sensible. But his three companions on this journey are not three fellow Soviet citizens... but a gorilla, a baboon and an orang-utan. Er, why? Still, bonkers it may be... but this issue really, really works. And we seem to be in a real sense of transition into the FF being explorers more than crime fighters.

As we begin, Reed has invented a new kind of meteorite-based rocket fuel which will enable him (not NASA!) to get to the Moon, six years before 1969 and just two years since President Kennedy (still alive at this point) had pledged to put a man on the Moon, and bring him safely home, by the end of the decade. Well, job done. 

Naturally, this is done to "keep up with the reds" and... what's this? Our simian-obsessed Soviet scientist, similarly independent of his nation's space agency, launches a rocket of his own at the exact same instant as Reed and, at their firm insistence, Sue, Ben and Johnny? 

This is cool, though. Said scientist becomes Red Ghost, to be a moderately successful villain with the ability to phase through objects and, um, the less said about the other primates the better. But then the comic takes a turn for the awesome- the blue area of the Moon, with air and the ruins of a mysterious lost civilisation! And, while hi-jinks with the Red Ghost continue, we meet the Watcher, unnamed at this point. On the one hand, he's as we expect- like all of his kinds, pledged definitely never, ever, to interfere. Well, except this one time, but this is a one off, and we'll certainly never find him doing anything of the sort ever again. Interestingly, though, he's shown as extraordinarily powerful here, almost omnipotent.

We conclude, after a captive Sue had earlier compared the apes to the "communist masses, innocently enslaved by their evil leaders", with the unsubtle and inevitable sight of the apes revolting against the Red Ghost which is... yeah. still, this is possibly the best Fantastic Four issue so far with its hints of a more cosmic perspective.

Strange Tales #108

 "Before I'm through crime, not justice, will prevail on Earth... and I'll be the king of crime!"

This is Saturday morning cartoon stuff even by the usual low standards of the Human Torch stories in Strange Tales, from a writer unknown to me who is, on the evidence of this, even worse than Larry Lieber. And those are strong words.

We begin with a sort of montage of the Torch thwarting various crimes, often involving property damage on his part, despite which he seems to be very pally with the police. He even reminisces with a cop over the truly rubbish baddies he's recently face.

Cue a very silly villain with an absurd origin (this careless painter can tell from the "style" that some alien underground pictures are a million years old, and happens to be able to read hieroglyphics...!) who has some magic paint that allows his speed paintings to come to life. Yes, really. Come back, Paste Pot Pete, all is forgiven.

And this baddie actually has a few repeat appearances...

The whole thing is awful, with this ridiculously overpowered baddie ending up defeated because of his own carelessness. This is... wow. Just how many of these Torch stories are there to go...? 

Fantastic Four #12

 "Miss Storm, a pretty young lady can always be of help- just by keeping the men's morale up."

Ah, General Thunderbolt Ross. Such a feminist paragon. So is Reed, who replies "That's just the way we feel about Sue, General!"...

Anyway... ladies and gentlemen, with this crossover, between what are, as of the beginning of 1963, Marvel's biggest properties, we can sort of say that this is a shared universe. A caveat, though: the existence of crossovers, nothing new in comics in 1963, does not a fully formed shared continuity make. Yet. But it'll be fun to see that emerge, develop and evolve.

Anyway, we start with some fun little moments. Ben and Alicia have been to see a performance of Beethoven's Fifth, although Ben prefers New Orleans jazz. And, when Thunderbolt Ross hires the FF to get the Hulk, blamed for a naughty bit of sabotage, Reed comments, after seeing some footage, that the Hulk seems to exist, implying that this had been in doubt. Er... pot, kettle, Reed? 

Johnny, teenage auto whiz that he is, has redesigned the Fantasti-car, by fan demand(!) with a very impressed General Ross as its first passenger. And the FF meeting Bruce Banner and Rick Jones is a big moment.

Of course, the Hulk is innocent, the true culprit is- you guessed it- a communist spy, caught by the Torch after, er, leaving a membership card in his wallet. If only today’s Russian spies were this rubbish.

The fight between Hulk and the FF (and especially the Thing!) is both enormous fun and no longer than it needs to be. All is satisfactorily resolved- and it’s left nicely ambiguous whether Reed suspects Bruce of being the Hulk.

Excellent stuff, and a real watershed.

Fantastic Four #11

 "I haven't exactly got any super powers, but I can wiggle my ears real good, and..."!

Here we have the debut of Mr. Mxyzptlk the Impossible Man, an omnipotent yet irresponsible trickster. I suppose the half of the issue dealing with him is amusing and entertaining enough. And, although I know this is an incidental detail, I'm surprised to see a police officer in New York referred to as an "inspector". This is the usual term here in the UK at least, but I get the impression that the USA (San Francisco aside, I think?) largely uses military type titles like "lieutenant" or "captain" instead?

Be that as it may, the first story, supposedly depicting a day in the life of the FF and with no external threat, is much more fun and interesting- even if it does have the Thing turning back into Ben Grimm for five minutes yet again, and yet another origin retelling. 

We get some comic relief with some fan letters, and then we meet "Mr. Lumpkin"- no first name as yet. 

The FF are all dressed in very Mad Men type fashions- this is still (just!) 1962, after all. And Reed is seen smoking a pipe once more! 

We get some fascinating backstory. Reed and Ben are old mates from uni, so therefore of a similar age, and both are veterans of the Second World War, so can't be any younger than about forty. Sue, meanwhile, is described as Reed's childhood sweetheart- so the age gap must presumably be less than we might have previously assumed, despite Sue having a (much) younger brother in his late teens? But we're reminded, once again, of the love triangle with the Sub-Mariner that is sadly keeping them apart. This may not exactly be deep and three-dimensional relationship drama, but at least it convinces more than certain parallel situations. Looking at you, Donald Blake and Jane Foster...

This is good stuff. At this point, after a wobbly start, Fantastic Four is the best Marvel ongoing title, although no single issue has reached the heights of the Spider-Man story in Amazing Fantasy #15. 

 

Journey into Mystery #89

 "A girl so beautiful would never marry a... a weakling like me."

This is, it has to be said, an entirely skippable issue, but the whole point of this exercise is to skip nothing and read every comic set in what will soon be the Marvel Universe for as long as I want to keep going- and, at the moment, I expect that to be, at least, the early '90s. After that, we'll see.

The story, concerning a bog standard thug and the complications of Thor's secret identity, is... forgettable. Thor should be about bigger things than this, but the series has yet to work it out. Hence this story, with yet another origin retelling and more focus on the deeply uninteresting love triangle between Donald Blake, Jane and, er, Thor.

Things worth noticing? Well, Thor literally steals from a mannequin shop, however much he may insist that he intends to pay later. Jane daydreams of life with Thor, said dreams  consisting mainly of household chores and... cutting Thor's hair short? Begone with thee, Delilah! We men with long luscious locks want nothing to do with your sort.

Interestingly, Odin recognises Blake as his son. And... Thor now officially has ventriloquism powers! But ultimately... my fellow completists aside, you can skip this one.

Strange Tales #105

 "A trick? The Wizard needs no tricks!"

We seem to be getting quite the spate of return appearances by villains at this point, showing that Marvel has been around for a good year or so and is no longer quite so new. But still, this is very early days by any standards, as illustrated by the fact that we still have these Torch stories in Strange Tales.

To be fair, though, this is fairly decent stuff, and even fun. We get to see the Wizard in the Order's first prison break. And the rest of the issue is a fun little duel between the Wizard and the Torch, with Sue joining in for good measure. it's essentially set piece after set piece until it's time for the story to end, but all good fun. It is, of course, absolutely bonkers, and everything tends to rely on the Torch demonstrating some highly convenient one-off powers, but I'm sort of used to that by now.

But... well, not much more to say. At least Larry Lieber managed to entertain me this time. 

Tales to Astonish #39

 "You impudent midget, I'll snuff out your life as I would a candle!"

There's only so many times that I can say that these Ant-Man stories are bonkers and... well, silly, but not that good. And, while there's some amusement in the concept of radioactivity (what else?) given a beetle superhuman intelligence, something from the monster stories for which Tales of Suspense had mostly been known, and rather reminiscent of certain B movies...

Well, this is just a bad comic. The beetle acts as a demagogue to other insects, except ants which remain conveniently loyal to Ant-Man. It enlarges itself in a way an insect simply couldn't do, given the air's current oxygen content. And the defeat of the beetle involves the use of... DDT? Wow. Still, it's October 1962, and Rachel Carson literally only published "Silent Spring" a couple of months ago. Still... wow.

I say this with a bit of a side eye at the Torch stories in Strange Tales, but these Ant-Man stories are very poor. Then again, I haven't really got any impression of what Marvel's competition was like in 1962. Perhaps this kind of quality is par for the course?

Fantastic Four #10

 "Lead me to that little ol' ray, daddy-o!"

It's fascinating seeing the evolution of these early issues- and, overall, Fantastic Four is by now a far superior comic to Ant-Man in Tales of Suspense or the Torch stories in Strange Tales, especially. Oh, there's bonkersness, certainly, but also moments of real quality.

So the plot is fairly straightforward- after being thrown into space in #6, by a million to one chance Doctor Doom was rescued by the extra-galactic and extremely powerful Ovoids, an alien race we'll be encountering a handful more times in the future. He learns body swapping powers from them and swaps bodies with Reed, and hi-jinks ensue, hi-jinks which seem to come to an abrupt end as Doom's body swap is ended by the shock of his being found out, and it seems to have been a one time deal...? Anyway, he's shrunk out of existence, so we definitely won't be seeing him again, right?

This is more than a little bit bonkers, but it's also fun. And there are quite a few fascinating little details here. The opening scene, with Reed studying Sue's invisibility, is a nice moment. Alicia is described as Ben's "girl friend" and by this point is considered a friend to the whole team. And, er, Sue at one moment has to deal with a sexual pest who, even though it's 1962, the comic makes clear is intended to disgust us... and then causes a motor accident through sheer carelessness. Yeah.

Reed and Sue have a fascinating discussion concerning the love triangle with the Sub-Mariner, in which Reed states that "I thought we had an understanding" for "when the time was right". Yet, in these early issues... Reed seems to be, say, in his forties? And Sue, the Invisible "Girl" has a teenage brother, so are  we looking at a twenty year age gap? Nothing wrong with that, of course, provided that the younger party is old enough to give fully informed consent, but it's very striking.

We also have our first instance of the fourth wall being broken, as Stan and Jack appear, albeit with faces obscured. These are still early days, but the feeling of potential with this book is getting stronger and stronger.