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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 7, 2015 22:48:52 GMT -5
 Journey into Mystery #109 "When Magneto Strikes" Lee/Kirby/Stone Plot: Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants part their sub in New York Harbor.. Magneto is sure the X-Men's base is nearby. He sends his Brotherhood out to hunt for them, while he practices with his powers. His practicing makes lots of things float about... which get's Dr. Donald Blake's attention. He breaks his date with Jane for the evening and goes to investigate.. tracking the strange magnetic emanations to a piece of driftwood in the bay, that hides Magneto's sub. Magneto tries to recruit Thor first (assuming he's a mutant), then they fight. Thor is mostly on the defensive, then gets angry when Magneto holds up his hammer and charges. After another 60 seconds or so of battling (where Magneto tries the walls closing in trick), Thor realizes he lost the hammer, and turns back to Blake. As Dr. Blake, he dodges a plethora of attacks, and finally gets the walking stick/hammer back, which Magneto has discarded as unimportant. Just as he is about to go on the offensive, the X-Men arrive, and Magneto runs. Thor heads over to Jane Foster's plan for a celebatory dinner... The End. Rating 3/5: While Magneto vs Thor was a fun battle, the rest of the story was... strange. (see below) Notes: -- It's pretty unclear when this is supposed to have taken place, since it's never mentioned in the X-Men comic... while it's published between X-Men 7 and 8... Magneto is already in New York and seems to have a pretty good idea where the X-Men are, while it seems ot be a new thing here... so I think I might place it before #7. -- Fun little plug at the beginning, Thor is viewing a statue of himself at a 'fair', and he's shown statues of the other Avengers and the FF, and told the X-Men, Spidey, and Daredevil are in the next room. -- Interestingly, the X-Men defeat Magneto and the Brotherhood here more decisively that they ever do in their own book, and do it all off panel. We only see Mastermind sending and SOS to Magneto, then Quicksilver running from an eye blast from Cyclops (but not the man, just the blast). Later, we see Magneto's superbomb du-jour frozen, and the hairy tops of Beast's feet as Magneto flees... that's it. Too bad, it'd be nice to see the team look good for a change  -- It's a little odd Thor has no idea who Magneto is, since it's already been established the X-Men and the Avengers chat. There's a part of very clunky panels where they introduces themselves that threw me right out of the story. -- This is still another HQ for Magneto... clearly either there was a big sale at Conquering Suppliers, Unlimited, or the Brotherhood uses most of their down time to rob banks. - We get the 'Magneto is brought to you by the editors of the X-Men' on the first page again.. that must have really cracked those guys up at the time.  |
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Post by the4thpip on Apr 8, 2015 2:05:46 GMT -5
I re-read most of the old Thor stories in Essentials a while ago. I found it odd how the hammer sometimes does not come back to Thor for no reason at all other than allow for the "60 seconds to transformation" drama.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 8, 2015 9:12:12 GMT -5
Well, this time it actually had a reason... Magneto held it with his powers. I agree alot of times it was totally false drama though.
I actually am planning on reading some of those today (I upgraded my essentials to the epic collection... mycomicshop gave me like $10 for the essential).. I recall that happening alot... I also remember that 60 seconds sometimes being 10 seconds and sometimes being 10 minutes.
Never mind the variety in the physical prowess of Don Blake... in this issue, you could have sworn he was Captain America the way he was dodging Magneto's attacks. Of course, Magneto didn't actually see him (he was wary of a trap, so he stayed in the next room), but still...
I think that was just the silver age... just like everyone having a chunk of Kryptonite, or every Green Lantern villain being Yellow... a 'fatal weakness' was just the norm.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Apr 10, 2015 19:00:46 GMT -5
I was completely unaware of this early Magneto appearance. Loving this thread and all its teaching me, wildfire!
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Apr 10, 2015 19:06:13 GMT -5
I really liked this one - In fact, I believe that Cei-U said this was where the THOR series in general turned good, and who am I to argue with him? I thought the X-men "guest appearance" was quite clever - one of those things that had probably never been done before in comics.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 10, 2015 21:59:53 GMT -5
I really liked this one - In fact, I believe that Cei-U said this was where the THOR series in general turned good, and who am I to argue with him? I thought the X-men "guest appearance" was quite clever - one of those things that had probably never been done before in comics. I thought it was really creative, too.. almost like testing to see if they could get away with putting DC characters 'in the book' if they were subtle |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 10, 2015 22:02:04 GMT -5
I was completely unaware of this early Magneto appearance. Loving this thread and all its teaching me, wildfire! As was I, until I noticed it in Cei-U's index. I think the essential stopped an issue or two before. It's a shame it's got some much of the bad silver age stuff, as it could be a real classic otherwise. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Apr 10, 2015 22:22:51 GMT -5
Ah, Cei-U's indexes. Where would any reviewer be without them!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 10, 2015 22:25:07 GMT -5
Indeed! It's surprisingly hard to find appearance lists on the internet... I want Comic Vine to work for me, but between listing collections and all the international reprints, it's just a mess.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 16, 2015 23:06:26 GMT -5
 X-Men #8 'The Uncanny Threat of Unus the Untouchable' Lee/Kirby/Stone Plot: First off, a training montage! After the traditional pranks, banter, and romantic angst, it's free time! Hank saves a kid stuck on the top of a water tower,but he and Bobby nearly get lynched because they're mutants. Beast is pissed, and quits! Cyclops called Professor X, who kinda doesn't care.. he's busy hunting Lucifer in the Balkans (Foreshadowing!) Beast decides to go into wrestling, and runs into Unus the Untouchable, who he quickly guesses is a mutant.... one who seems to know Mastermind. Backstage, we leade Unus really wants to join the brotherhood, but Magneto wants to test him first...so off the fight the X-Men he goes. He doesn't have long to wait... he robs a bank robbery in process, and the X-Men arrive. The fight to a stalemate, and Cyke calls the troops home to make a plan. They find Beast back and at work in the lab. He makes a device to increase Unus' power, and the X-Men freak out. Of course, Mrs. McCoy's baby boy isn't evil, like they all think. The boost makes Unus unable to touch anything! He goes to the X-Men and begs them to fix it. Beast does, on the condition he never doesn't anything evil again, and keeps the ray, just in case.. The End! Rating: 4/5 - Nice showcase on Beast, even if Unus is alot like the Blob in good shape, and the magic ray gun is not a great plot device... lots of good long term stuff. Notes: -- Wow, that title is a new record for Stan Lee Illiteration... funny, I just watch the Big Bang Theory episode where Raj makes fun of that. -- Slight change to the X-Men box.. Bobby's shooting ice instead of snow..he also shifts to the more streamlined, icy look we're all used to... apparently, it was all about practice. Calling him 'Sue Storm' when Cyke mentioned you could almost see through him (which isn't true, but whatever) was a cool little shout out... but no editor's note! -- Weird seeing Cyclops in a suit and not training... but not as weird as the model pose Jean's in while lacing stuff with her powers... sexist much? Gotta love the 60s. -- I think this is the first time we're SHOWN people hate and fear mutants.. much better than just being told... very well done, actually. -- Beast packs a suitcase when he quits, as if he lives there, even though just a couple issues ago they talked about commuting. I wonder if that was a conscious decision to change things, or Stan just forgot. -- A bit of recycling with the wrestling angle... which seems to get used quite a bit in the MU... where's Crusher? Would have been a nice touch to show Unus beating him. -- So the X-Men left him on a roof, and the cops don't scoop him up? I guess they can't, but should they try? -- I love the 'play calling'.. Quick, plan x-17.. hike! -- At least Unus was evil first this time, before the X-Men blackmailed him into submission. -- Scott's 'I knew it all the time' was pretty funny at the end. |
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Post by paulie on Apr 17, 2015 12:35:06 GMT -5
Best part about the early X-Men for me? The Kirby-Stone team. Very dynamic.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 17, 2015 12:45:41 GMT -5
I agree.. and I'm sure people at the time did, too, since about 1/4 of each issue so far has been 'training'.... otherwise known as an excuse for Kirby to draw cool stuff  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 23, 2015 16:25:53 GMT -5
 Strange Tales #128 Lee/Ayers/Ray Untitled Plot: Quicksilver has his bags packed and is ready to leave the Brotherhood, but Scarlet Witch hexes him to slow him down so they can discuss it. Wanda's not sure Magneto isn't right, even if he is evil. They decide they should ask the opinion of other super heroes, and settle on the FF as their contact. Meanwhile, Johnny and Ben are enjoying a quiet day in the 'ole HQ while Reed and Sue are out, when the news shows pics of the most wanted criminals, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which leads to a chat about the X-Men and Iceman in particular. Down in the lobby, the Maximoffs have arrived in civvies.. the office security won't let them in, so Wanda has to hex them (with a cood fire hose maneuver). For some reason, this leads Pietro to burst in on Thing and Torch, in costume, and is confused when they attack before he gets a chance to chat. Wanda has to hex Ben to stop him from flattening Pietro, but it semi backfires, leading to a pause while everyone makes sure she's ok. Pietro then goes wild, angry they attack when 'we came in peace' (even though he came in by smashing the door at super speed) Finally the Torch encloses Quicksilver while Thing puts on an asbestos suit to clobber him, but Wanda gets back in on the act before he can get a good lick in. Her rain storm pauses the fight, and they mutually decide to call it quits, with Quicksilver convinced their best bet is to stay with Magneto. Analysis: Some great, expressive faces by Ayers here, but some of them are colored weirdly... Quicksilver is red in more than a couple panels. Scarlet Witch's costume seemed off, too. For a story that gives some great development to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch(some of the best to date, really) boy is the plot silly! Ben and Johnny just let wanted criminals walk away? They don't question at all why the came there in the first place? I guess this is why Reed is the brains of the operation. I also found it very odd that Quicksilver burst into the Baxter building in costume, at super speed... why try to get in like a normal person then? If he had WALKED into the room in his jacket, he might have been able to have the conversation he wanted instead of a random brawl. The Thing-Torch dynamic is really fun, even in a silly story. Silver Age Johnny Storm was just a great guy to have around to interact with others. Too bad they couldn't manage a decent plot for him most issues! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 23, 2015 22:07:58 GMT -5
I still have a really beat-up copy of Strange Tales #128, and I have fun reading it every once in a while.
It is wonderfully silly. And it is so odd, a major development for Wanda and Pietro - they don't want to be mutant terrorists anymore - and it gets thrown into a trivial Thing-Torch story in Strange Tales.
They shoulda had a Marvel Offices cameo where Pietro shows up and beats up Lee and Ayers while Wanda stands around and says: Do not beat them too badly, my brother.
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Post by Farrar on Apr 24, 2015 8:24:00 GMT -5
I also have an old beat-up copy of ST #128--bought it a few years ago and finally read this story. I agree it's interesting to see the development of Wanda and Pietro. Even when the Brotherhood did not appear in the X-Men issues, Stan wanted to keep the siblings fresh in readers' minds and as we've noted, was clearly grooming them for something bigger. The X-Men lettercols at the time contain lots of letters about Wanda and Pietro (other popular X-Men lettercol topics back then: Jean's changing mask and Iceman's boots  ). And everyone probably already knew this, but Frank "Ray" (inker for this story) was a pen name for Frank Giacoia. |
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