You get to see a surgeon for crushed testicles. 

Fantastic Four #11(a) “A Visit With the Fantastic Four”

Written by Stan Lee
Pencils by Jack Kirby
Inks by Dick Ayers

Cover: (Kirby/?)



To me the only thing interesting about this cover is that it's called a “collectors' item” complete with misplaced apostrophe. I definitely haven't seen that before on a Marvel book. I guess it's marginally noteworthy that Ben is not in any way aggressive on the cover.

The Story:


We open with a crowd queuing up to get the latest issue of FF while the FF walk down the sidewalk in civvies. They stop and talk to some kids who are playing Fantastic Four and give a demonstration of their powers. They then go to The Baxter Building where we first meet Willie Lumpkin carrying a huge sack of fan mail and Sue shows us again how the secret elevator works. The four decide to read through the fan mail which includes a spring-loaded boxing glove from the Yancy Streeters for Ben. Since Ben is upset Reed tries out a new formula which turns him from the Thing into Ben Grimm and allows him to run around in his underwear while human.



At this point the gang, minus Johnny who has gotten bored, breaks the fourth wall to tell the fans how Ben and Reed met at “State U” and then fought in WWII with Ben being a fighter pilot and Reed a member of the OSS. And Reed mentions the girl he was dreaming about...which is only creepy if you do the math. We then get a two page recap of the origin before Sue talks about some “disturbing letters” she's been getting. It seems that the fans have been writing in that she doesn't do anything to help the team in their adventures. So instead of Stan and Jack actually using her in a reasonable way, Reed decides to lecture the readers with a bizarre diatribe about Abraham Lincoln's mother, complete with Lincoln bust in the background. Why Ben even gets so upset he changes back in to The Thing. But all's well that ends well because Johnny has actually been setting up a birthday party for Sue. Awwww!!

Thoughts…

This is a really odd story. There's tons to like. And there's tons that is just plain bizarre. I wouldn't want a habit of breaking the fourth wall, but I guess it works in this context. And it's actually cool to get some background on Reed and Ben and see a bit of a glimpse in to the lives of the gang when they aren't adventuring. But...damn...there's some weird stuff here.

Tying Ben and Reed to WWII is interesting and kind of cool. Especially Reed being in the OSS. But if you do the math...factor in that Reed and Ben are in their thirties and Sue is in her twenties...then Reed was crushing on Sue when she was a pre-teen. And that's pretty creepy.



The specter of Sub-Mariner puts a damper on Reed's professions of love.

Look...let's face it. Sue has been useless. Add in the Torch's solo series and she's occasionally been a menace. So how about instead of a truly bizarre diatribe about Lincoln's mother you actually make her useful. Nahhhh...that would never work.



And JEEZ! No wonder Ben has a complex. These people are assholes to him. Reed: “Welcome back to the Human race, Partner.” Sue: “Oh Ben. You're a real living doll again.” Sue: “I realize what a fool I've been indulging in self pity when I should be comforting you.” Because you're a hideous freak who isn't human. With friends like these who needs enemies?

On the other hand, it was kind of cool the way they interacted with the kids playing FF...well except Ben was kind of a dick.

The plot…There's good and there's bad. It's a terribly mixed story. And I absolutely wouldn't want one of them often. But the background info and the Day in the Life feel was fun. Grade: C+

The art...Fairly standard for the time...though The Thing looks particularly weird in some panels. Grade: C.

The toll: A light pole that Ben crushes while showing off (one count malicious injury to municipal property). Ben crushes another dumbbell.

Grade for historic importance: C. It's the first appearance of Willie Lumpkin. And there's some cool background info. It's not a super important story...but its got merit.

And thus we end the comics cover dated February 1963. Marvel published 10 comics cover dated Feb. 1963. Four superhero books, four romance books, a western, and an Atlas monster mag.

I would call this the end of the proto-MU. Why? Well, because I don't think it's any hyperbole to say that the books cover dated March 1963 ushered in the full on Marvel Universe. How is that for foreshadowing, True Believers?

I've seen it credited to Kirby as well.  But the GCD credits it to Kirby with a question mark.  So I'm not going to go out on a limb.  

Tales to Astonish 41 (Ant Man story) “Prisoner of the Slave World”

Plot by Stan Lee
Script by Larry Lieber
Art by Don Heck

Cover: (Kirby/Ayers)



I'm of two minds about this cover. On the one hand it definitely gives you sense of the size of Ant-Man and plays to those strengths. On the other hand it looks like he's trapped by a bug in a janitor's closet...and that ain't too cool.

The Story:

Hank Pym is going to visit a fellow scientist. The gent doesn't open the door so Hank decides to do a bit of unlawful entry as Ant-Man. He finds that the scientist isn't there, but the door was locked from the inside. Hank ponders how he could have gotten out of the house, conveniently forgetting he got in with the door locked. Upon returning home, he hears on the news that eminent scientists are coming up missing and figures he'll be next. He's so sure that he pays no attention when a window washer comes in to give a free washing to his labs windows and uses a “paralyzing liquid” on him. Pym is then transported to another dimension where a military strongman, Kulla, wants the Earth scientists to create an Electro-Death Ray to help him defeat the freedom lovers.



Pym almost instantly mouths off and is sent to solitary confinement where he can change into Ant-Man. Hank shrinks down and has to fight and then control alien bugs after he is able to figure out their frequency. He then sneaks out of the cell just as the death ray is completed (guess they didn't need Pym after all). He breaks an electric eyebeam and is found out, whereupon he has to fight Kulla and his guard. Kulla is about to squash Pym with a hammer when Hank orders his alien bug friends to kill Kulla. YEP...they kill him with the death ray. Dead. The other scientists can't figure out where Ant-Man came from...because Hank Pym gets dragged off to the dungeon and Ant-Man serendipitously shows up. Nope...can't figure that one out at all. Marvel scientists are really dumb.

Thoughts…

This is probably the third time in the nascent MU that we've had a story of scientists being kidnapped by aliens or extra-dimensionals to do science for them. And again they're very scientifically advanced but somehow need the Earthers to do that one thing for them...in this case a death ray. They can move between dimensions and have a paralyzing formula, but can't create a frickin' death ray.

And why don't they kidnap Reed Richards and Bruce Banner while they're at it. Banner, in particular, seems to be right up the alley for a death ray.

Hank now can control alien bugs. Which makes no sense. It used to be that the ants helped him because he could talk to them. Just two issues ago he had to fight all the insects around because he couldn't control them but the Scarlet (Pink) Beetle could. Bu t now he can control alien bugs.



We actually get someone trying to squish Ant-Man with his foot for the first time...which is actually pretty cool.

The death ray really doesn't seem to be any better than a regular gun when it's used on Kulla. So I”m not sure why they really needed to kidnap those scientists.



Yes...Hank acts in self defense. But I'm still shocked the Comics Code allowed him to kill Kulla.

As to the art...Heck's panel layouts are a LOT more interesting and diverse than anything we've seen from Kirby so far. I don't know if Jack was just horribly overworked at this point or what, but overall his work on the early MU has been...weak. Heck is doing some interesting stuff in this issue.

The Story. Ummm...another repeat plot. With a ton of nonsense. Bah! Grade: D-

The Art: Don Heck makes his super-hero debut. I know a lot of people don't like Heck's work. I know that I've not cared for it at times. But I also find that not only has it grown on me, but that his work is very dependent on inkers. Bad inkers absolutely butcher his work. Overall, I'd say he is a breath of fresh air at this point in the MU. My only complaint is that Ant-Man was consistently Kirby's best Super-hero book to date, so I'd rather Heck had taken over something else. Art – B+

The toll: Hank KILLS a dude!!!!

Grade for historic importance: B+/F I'm giving this two grades. The first is for the fact that its Don Heck's debut on super-hero books. The second is because this is a nothing story that had no effect whatsoever on Marvel history.

Heh, I wonder if they just simply realize the secret id thing was silly, or they were responding to fans... seems almost 4th wall breaking the way you describe it.

Journey Into Mystery #90 (Thor story) “Trapped by the Carbon-Copy Man”

Plot by Stan Lee
Script by Larry Lieber
Art by Al Hartley



Cover: (Kirby/Ayers)

Thor is in peril, being encased in ice by some creature that looks like a walking ruby, but is apparently the Carbon-Copy Man. There's nothing here that says carbon or copy...but okay. It's a perfectly okay cover that might have made a kid buy it to find out if Thor would escape. But it's nothing special.

The Story:

On another planet far beyond our galaxy, human-like aliens are preparing for an invasion. We have to assume they're going to invade Earth, or else we wouldn't have much of a story. Why they want to invade a planet in a distant galaxy is another matter...it just doesn't matter. We see around three dozen spaceships take off...this may become an issue later. Meanwhile Don Blake has decided to tell Jane Foster how he feels about her. But just as he starts, Odin reminds him that he is bound to never reveal his secret identity. So he goes off and Jane thinks he's been frightened by the thunder, unlike that brave handsome Thor. As he wanders off Blake finds that the laws have been changed. Cars now drive on the sidewalk. People must walk in the gutter. The bridge is being painted polka dot. Returning to his office he finds that Jane thinks this is all perfectly rational. It also appears that Jane has become a Republican and quits her job because Blake has been treating people without charging them.



Blake turns into Thor to find out what is going on. But he's chased out of the mayor's office by armed guards. He decides to use the mystic powers of his hammer to “send his mind back in time and space to Asgard on a day when Odin counseled his sons.” The rest of us call this memory and don't need a mallet to access them. Using this advice and the power of logic and deduction, Thor determines that people are acting weird because they've been replaced by duplicates. Occam's Razor works again.

Thor searches the city and finds a “hidden” spaceship. He conveniently decides to put his hammer down for a moment to check out the ship so that when it springs a magnetic trap on him, he will turn into Don Blake. The aliens come back and capture Blake who finds they've also captured the mayor and Jane Foster. The Skrulls....I mean The Xartans, can imitate anything. And it only makes sense to impersonate a nurse. They plan to impersonate key people to confuse the populace while a huge invasion force awaits and after the Earthers are “confused and frightened” they will attack. Confused and frightened by painting the bridge polka dotted. Blake tells them they won't succeed while Thor is around and offers to lead them to Thor if they give Blake his freedom.



Blake sends them on a wild goose chase and grabs his hammer allowing him to become Thor again. He then battles Zano, the son of the alien leader, who turns into an ice monster and then a giant gladiator. But Thor and his hammer prevail, only to have to fight Ugarth, the leader who turns invisible. But Thor makes it rain, revealing him, wraps him in a net and then throws him out into space where the armada is, which will somehow scare them away for some unknown reason. Thor then tricks the five...or maybe four remaining Xartans into changing into trees. And since trees can't think, they are trapped forever as shade for Skrull cows.

Thoughts…

It really makes zero sense for aliens from a distant galaxy to conquer Earth. It makes less sense for them to try to do so in an utterly ridiculous manner. It makes even less sense for them to come in force and then deposit a few individuals to masquerade as such important people as a nurse in a private Doctor's office. Because that's a lot better than the President or an important General. These are some really stupid aliens.

The Don Blake secret identity still makes no sense. And it's not helped by Odin telling him he's “bound not to reveal it.” Why? What purpose does any of this serve. Ultimately...it serves no purpose other than to try to shoe-horn in some drama.

Memory is a super power...who knew?

Occam's Razor tells us that if people aren't acting like themselves...they must have been replaced by exact duplicates. That's clearly the most likely and logical answer.

Oh look. He put down his hammer. What could go wrong? Oh look....magnets work on humans.

There is pretty much no part of this story that makes any sense. It's largely a re-hash of FF #2 only with a lot stupider plan by the aliens.

The Story. This is just awful. Honestly there's no redeeming value here at all. A waste of wood-pulp. Grade: F.  

The Art: As bad as the story is...and it's really bad...the art is worse. Al Hartley was a pretty good romance and teen comic artist. But he had zero business doing super-hero books. The only redeeming part of the art is that Jane looks pretty attractive. Other than that it is a total mess.  Grade: F.    

 This poor chump has extra joints in his left arm.  

The toll: Thor doesn't seem to have destroyed anything at all in this one. Weird.

Grade for historic importance: D-. Apparently Zano and the Xartans reappear in X-Factor. I have no idea why. It can't possibly have been a good idea.  

I truly believe this is the worst story of the Marvel Age thus far.