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 #43

 "Old-timers like yourself no longer fit the bill! Your ideas are unimaginative and out-dated!"

This issue is, like all the others, utterly bonkers... but there is, in fact, a rather touching little moral to it. Our "baddie" is a scientist who is fired for no reason other than being over sixty-five years of age, thus showing the poor workers' rights laws in whatever part of the United States this is (again, we're told it's "Center City", which feels very DC) in 1963. Naturally, he wants revenge.

Splendidly, this revenge takes the form of a ray that can age people... and, fortunately, reverse the process. The story doesn't address the obvious implications of this, though- can he permanently rejuvenate people and thus conquer aging for good? We simply don't go there.

This is a rather enjoyable little tale, beginning with the diminutive Ant-Man attracting an admiring crowd before his faithful ants alert him of the problem so he can get straight to action... via his normal method of, er, firing himself from a miniature cannon and landing on an impromptu ant hill. And that's literally only so he can confer with the police.

Our antagonist proceeds, his blackmail having been refused, to make Ant-Man an old man and then fire his ageing ray into the crowd... cue dialogue like "Oh no! I'm growing older!" as though you'd in some way know what was happening to you in the moment,

But all is redeemed by the ending, in which our antagonist is let off, a reformed character, and his erstwhile employer regrets his appalling ageism. This gives me a warm glow, so this is one Ant-Man tale that I'll actually praise.

Just this once... 

Tales to Astonish #42

 "We don't even have a dog, but we can eat it ourselves!"

For an Ant-Man tale, despite the odd bit of silliness... this one was actually ok. Ant-Man is still supposedly based in the very DC-style "Center City" though. Not New York, or at least a real city of some sort, as is usual with Marvel? I suppose that tradition hasn't quite solidified yet.

So Jason Cragg (who will reappear in a couple of decades as "The Voice") is an interesting villain, prefiguring the Purple Man with his power being that of a voice which must be obeyed. So we start with Cragg turning people against our diminutive protagonist before we briefly flash back to his origin which involves- you guessed it- radioactivity. And, naturally, Cragg just hates Ant-Man and wants to destroy him because... reasons.

It's fun to see Ant-Man on the run, not least because,  as superheroes go, Henry Pym is not exactly the most prepossessing and so he seems to suit the role of underdog. But for Cragg to order him to jump into the river, and make no attempt to swim or otherwise save himself... that's dark.

The ending is nicely done, though... infect him with laryngitis. And, highly conveniently, for some reason the chances are "a million to one" that his powers will return. All right then. Still, for Ant-Man, this was decently entertaining for a change. 

Journey into Mystery #91

 "That brainless mortal!"

And so, alas, we come to another early Journey into Mystery from the pen of Larry "nepotism" Lieber. This is a fairly ho-hum example, but at least the plot is passable. Thor, up to this point, is hardly one of the stars in Marvel's firmament however.

Loki's back for a third time. Odin too, still not quite appearing in the form that will become familiar, either facially or in the fact that he's sporting- yes indeed- a horned helmet. And there are some nice emerging bits of lore- we have valkyries, Odin's personal magic item delivery service, although at this stage they look nothing like what they will eventually become. And, of course, from the pages of the Eddas, we have Thor's belt of strength.

And, yeah... the first couple of panels amused me, using said belt of strength as the most blatant example of the Chekhov's Gun trope in comic book history. Thor needing the macguffin to get out of a tight spot was bound to happen. As for the story overall, it's silly but fun. I liked how Loki's proxy carnival show villain was defeated because he mentally "short circuited" after fruitless attempts to magically wield Thor's Uru hammer. 

By the standards of Thor, this is one of the good ones. But we're still so very, very early.

Tales to Astonish #41

 "I can hardly wait to turn them on those liberty-loving fools who attack my fortress.

Another Ant-Man story in Tales to Astonish. Oh dear. Let's just try and embrace the bonkersness and hang on for dear life. 

So, we begin with Henry Pym, who has now decided that all his clothes should be made of unstable molecules, an entirely practical thing to do on a scientist's salary, I'm sure. We follow him as he investigates a locked room mystery, a scientist friend of his having vanished. He then spends a few days investigating a spate of missing scientists while smoking his pipe as the reader ponders, as we often do with Ant-Man, the enormous number of editor's notes in this and every issue. 

The kidnapper is, of course, an alien scientist who needs to invent a death ray to deal with a rebellion and, naturally, turns to scientist from Earth, a planet explicitly said to be much less advanced in technology than his own.

And, yeah, hi-jinks ensue, and all that. It's Ant-Man. What can I say? All we can do is embrace the bonkersness and hope that there aren't too many of these left, 

Tales of Suspense #39

 "Have you never seen an Iron Man before?"

At last we get Iron Man- it really does feel as though it's been forever. Now we just need the X-Men, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and the Silver Age debut of Captain America, and the main initial Marvel cast will be more or less assembled. 

It's basically the well-known origin story here, but interesting to read this story on its own terms as opposed to the origin of a well-established character. Tony Stark's face is not quite yet recognisable. And the character... it's a brave move to make Stark a glamorous playboy, a "millionaire bachelor", and an inventor of weaponry for the US government- hardly an underdog. But this, of course, is why he must be cursed with the shrapnel close to his heart, forcing him to wear an iron breastplate in order to stay alive. 

It's all very of its time, though- South Vietnam, in the years before the draft. The art is, at times, well, more than verging on racist caricature. And it feels at times as though every other word is "transistor". But this, as an origin, is simple yet solid, and it's already clear that this is an idea with potential.

There's a later short story about Vikings on a desert island, part of the Order only because of references to Odin, that is entertaining enough for what it is. But I'm curious to see the first steps of Iron Man as a character now we've established the origin... 

Journey into Mystery #90

 "Arrest that costumed pest!"

This... may be the most inconsequential comic yet, more skippable Larry Lieber stuff, this time without even the art of Jack Kirby, even if on these stories he phones it in a bit, to make it better. Basically, it's neither good nor particularly interesting, and the Xartans (another alien race) will be making only token, novelty future appearances. In short... Thor, at this point, is not very good.

There's more of the tiresome love stand-off between Donald Blake and Jane, each afraid to declare their love to the other... although, this time, Odin officially orders Blake not to reveal his identity, which is unhelpful.

The baddies are, well, a precursor to the Zygons in Doctor Who in that their plan for world conquest involves an ability to impersonate people, as long as they hold the original person as prisoner. Their plan is bonkers, though- impersonate those in power, implement ridiculous laws, and they invade with their battle fleet in confusion!

This issue has the most bonkers ending yet. Thor throws the alien warlord into the sky, right into space so the battle fleet turns around and goes after him. As for the Xartans on Earth, it's the old Skrull cow trick again, getting them to turn into trees and, as trees, lose their sentience forever. Blimey, that's dark. 

But yeah, moving swiftly on... 

Strange Tales #107

 "Oh well... boys will be boys!"

Two Strange Tales Human Torch stories in a row... sometimes that's just how it goes. As a reminder, I'm going by the Complete Marvel Reading Order. It's early days as yet, but I'm hoping to get at least as far as the early '90s.

Anyway, this issue is good fun. It's pretty much entirely the Torch challenging the Sub-Mariner to a fight, nothing too serious or acrimonious, and having fun with that while giving both of them bizarre one-off powers (Namor with, er, puffer fish powers?) just because Johnny wants to prove himself to the rest of the FF... but then proceeds not to tell anyone when he beats the Sub-Mariner. This is top japery, though.

And once again there are interesting points to note. Reed is still smoking that pipe. The FF are taking notes of their exploits to Stan and Jack... and Sue did the typing, naturally! The Torch doesn't know how long his flame will last until it goes out, so he'd better not be in the air at the time!

Oh, and you know how this issue acts as though the bends is not a thing? Don't try this at home, kids... 

Strange Tales #106

 "You landed your fish!"

So the story here is meh, and the forgettable baddie- the Acrobat- is barely a recurring villain. This is eminently skippable... almost.

Because there's one thing here that really is awfully clever in how it subverts the secret identity trope. I've commented before on how Johnny's secret identity is absurd and here we have confirmation, from the mouth of Sue, no less, that... yeah, everybody blatantly knows that he's the Torch, and he's the only one who didn't know that they knew. I love that.

Oh, and Johnny very briefly leaves the FF in order to very briefly join the, er, Torrid Twosome(!) because an arrogantly pipe-smoking Reed (wonder when he'll be last soon doing this? It's hard to notice when something is done for the last time.), who incidentally is a millionaire, refuses to allow Johnny a salary (from "reward money"- the early FF are still crime fighters as opposed to explorers) in favour of scientific research. Is it me, or is that totally unreasonable? Is being on the team not a commitment that would preclude a full time career?

Not a particularly great issue, then, but this certainly raises some questions about the FF. Oh, and another baddie with a beret? Is it open season on Bohemian existentialists? Will Johnny be battling Jean-Paul Sartre next?

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?

Strange Tales #104

 "Paste is the supreme weapon!"

Er... what did I just read? 

Paste-Pot Pete is easily the most bonkers and rubbish returning villain Marvel have given us so far and, incredibly, he's going to be sticking around for decades... albeit with a rather less bonkers relaunch in the near future.

Still, let's summarise... his modus operandi is to shoot a special sticky paste from a paste gun. He has a purple beret. Oh, and the paste? He literally carries it around with him in an open bucket. Surely the bonkersness of this cannot be topped. Oh, and the name? Words quite fail me. And he uses said, er, powers to not only rob a bank but to steal a missile in order to sell it to "any red nation".

And, well... what else is there to say? It's a Strange Tales Human Torch story. The Torch still has his secret identity for some reason. There's a fun little predicament with an ICBM. And Pete, joy of joys, escapes in the end.

I think I've seen enough to conclude that Larry Leiber, as a writer, just isn't very good. 

Journey into Mystery #88

 "The Sun is melting my convertible!"

Let's start by briefly running through the plot, shall we, and marvelling at its bonkersness as we often do?

So... after the events of issue #85, Loki is returned to an Asgard that now shows some hint of how superbly Jack Kirby will one day render it. He's grounded by Odin, but spies on Thor, essentially by reading last issue in an almost metatextual touch(!), and learns all about Donald Blake and the sixty second rule. He then tricks Thor and seals away his hammer, forcing him to remain as Blake while Loki gets to all sorts of magical mischief in New York. Unfortunately for Loki, though, Blake has a cunning plan involving a suspiciously realistic plastic dummy of Thor and what can only be described as ventriloquism superpowers.

So far, so bonkers. But there are a few things about this issue to make us ponder. One is that, at long last, they've finally settled on a surname for Jane Foster. We also have an intriguing contradiction as to the ongoing question of which is the true self- Thor or Blake? Loki describes Thor as "his accursed true self", yet Blake refers to himself as "my normal self". And then there's Loki- at this point they're still leaning heavily into the "god of mischief" side.

Thor is still, like much of what will soon become the Marvel Universe, working out what it wants to be, issue by issue. And that's fascinating.

Tales to Astonish #37

 "I'm caught inside a vacuum cleaner!"

And so we turn again to Tales to Astonish, and Ant-Man. What can we do other than to embrace the bonkersness? 

I know this happened last issue, but... well, Ant-Man hears of trouble via his ant agents, has himself transported to the scene of the crime by miniature catapult, with ants on top of a shop awning breaking his fall. Shall we just pause here and marvel at the sheer magnificent insanity of this?

Then we have the villain, the Protector. He is, essentially, just a bog standard protection racket, but nonetheless he has a supervillain costume and name, because of course he does. Oh, and a disintegrating ray, although to be fair the Scooby Doo ending makes clear that this is just an elaborate conjuring trick, so that's all perfectly sensible then.

Oh, and before Ant-Man can save the day he has to face the twin perils of a water pistol and a vacuum cleaner. That is not a sentence that I expected I'd be writing when I woke up this morning, to put it mildly.

Embrace the bonkersness. What more is there to say? Are all these Ant-Man stories going to be like this? 

Strange Tales #102

 "I... I challenged the Human Torch and I lost! I am beaten!"

Oh dear. I know Marvel will get good fairly soon, but still... 

We get the introduction of long-running FF baddie the Wizard here but... he's rubbish. This is a genius, wealthy inventor, home full of his own futuristic inventions, chess champion, escape artist, celebrity... yet he can't even work out the Torch's blatantly obvious secret identity, what with his sister Sue openly being the Invisible Girl...?

The opening immediately dates this, with cinema newsreel footage(!) recounting the events of last issue. But we then devolve into the Wizard's rather dull attempt to frame the Torch (why?) in a typically lacklustre script from Larry "Nepotism" Lieber. I did chuckle, though, at the fake Torch writing "Down with law and order" in the sky.

But... well, not much else to say about this throwaway bit of rubbish which, despite all else, at least introduces a baddie with staying power. And (not for the first time) featuring a disturbing quantity of asbestos. 

Journey into Mystery #86

 "I'm happy to play a part in keeping the free world strong and secure against the forces of tyranny."

Yes indeed, those are Thor's words as he happily helps the US military test out a "cobalt bomb". Welcome to 1962, folks. 

This is, I suppose, a pleasingly early introduction of a lasting villain, albeit a fairly minor one, so a welcome relief from all these one-off alien and communist baddies we seem to be getting at the moment. But, I mean, it's not actually very good. Basically, the year 2262 is some kind of generic peaceful utopia but Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man, is an evil scientist with a lust for war and conquest as his only personality trait. He travels back to 1962 (and yes, it's explicitly 1962 here, and I'll be commenting on the "Marvel Time" theory as we go) to nick the cobalt bomb, uses it to conquer the Earth of 2262, but Thor time travels to stop him, after a few ho-hum set pieces. That's it. Not much cop, really.

Some potentially interesting things, though. Zarrko has "Earth's only time machine", so either Doctor Doom's time platform has been forgotten or this isn't all quite meant to be a shared universe yet. Thor summons Odin so he can time travel, our first extended look at the All-Father... and appears, at this point, to be the actual Thor of Norse legend. Is he just Don Blake with Thor's powers? Is he actually Thor? Is this a case of dissociative identity disorder? Things are getting confusing. Donald Blake certainly pops up at the end, and the sixty second rule is in play...

Not a great comic, then, but arguably an important one. 

Tales to Astonish #36

 "Welcome, yankee! I have been expecting you!"

Not a bad story from Larry "nepotism" Lieber here, with a nice twist at the end about the identity of our latest communist baddie, the rather unimaginatively named Comrade X. But crikey, this is bonkers. 

We fully explore the expansive and increasingly absurd ways that Henry Pym can get ants to do his bidding. He ends up trapped in a glass jar, not the most dignified of situations. And he ultimately saves the day by... untying the villain's shoelaces. I kid you not.

Not only is the plot bonkers, though, we get some extra background here, and it's utterly mad. Ant-Man always knows when he's needed, because the ants tell him... best not to think too hard about the details there. 

Even madder, though, is his lab, which is equipped with an "ant sized elevator" as well as a catapult(!) to transport him to his situation, with ants breaking his fall. Ok then...

Not sure what to say about such levels of bonkersness as this. What can I do other than just go along with it? 

Strange Tales #101

 "A commie sub!"

So now we have a regular solo instalment for the Human Torch in the pages of anthology book Strange Tales... and it begins with the Torch racing, rather alarmingly, an "atomic powered guided missile". What could be more atomic age than that?

And yet... it's quite good. We have a one off villain called the Destroyer who, given the nature of his dastardly scheme, has absolutely no reason to wear a supervillain costume, but let's go with it. Because the plot, while not completely free of bonkersness (we are, naturally, facing communists), is actually pretty solid, and I was impressed by the twist at the end.

But that's about it- a nice little one-off tale. What's interesting is the set-up, though- Johnny is living with Sue in the small town of Glenville. Hilariously, and alarmingly, he has an asbestos room to sleep in, and we even get a plan of it. And... Johnny has a secret identity, which he spends much of the story frantically trying to hide from his friends... why? Sue doesn't have a secret identity, they're siblings, so surely it's obvious that Johnny is the Torch?

 Still, overall, this is decent enough.

Journey into Mystery #85

 "Well, eh, it's all in your point of view!"

After last issue being a fairly dull story about Communists while setting up the dynamic further between Donald Blake and Jane Nelson(?), this time things are pretty damn good. And seem to be heralding a significant change in the status quo.

Thus far, Thor has just seemed to be Blake inheriting the powers and form of the ancient Norse god, with no suggestion that the Thor we see here literally has the mind of the actual deity. I don't think that unambiguously changes here by any means, but things start to blur.

And that's right from the start. Because we suddenly see the rainbow bridge of Asgard, where the booming heavens roar. And we behold with breathless wonder... a tree. Loki has been trapped there for a very long time by Odin, and naturally the consequences of this in terms of mental health are just handwaved away, as this is ruled by the logic of myth. But he plays a clever trick on a freshly introduced Heimdall, and he's off to Earth for revenge on Thor... whom he seems to believe is his actual stepbrother.

And... the contest between them is very wacky but huge fun. Loki turns three New Yorkers into, er, negatives. Thor resolves this by using his hammer (said for the first time to be made of uru) to create. er, "anti-matter particles", which in no way smells like a one-off power just made up for plot convenience. Loki hypnotises Thor, but he's saved by the hammer's sixty second rule. And... well, Thor, or Blake as Thor, whichever he is, says Loki is "According to the ancient legends, the most cunning and wicked of all the gods". So... does he know of Loki only by legend? Does Thor, at this point, have only the mind and memories of Blake? At this stage, I still think so.

We end with Loki (water is his weakness, apparently) returned to Asgard, with cameos from Odin, Balder and Tyr. This is a rather good issue, and the world of Thor suddenly feels much bigger.