Showdown at sea!

 Week Ending 2rd March 1974

A quick bit of tiding up from last week before I go on to make more holes in looking at this week's mags. Last week's Spider-man Comics Weekly featured a pin-up of Spider-man villain the Rhino by John Romita Sr, it was a piece of artwork I recognised but could't quite place it. Facebook group UK Marvel in the Seventies top contributor Alan Russell was the first to spot that the Rhino image was taken from the cover of the Amazing Spider-man #43 cover dated December 1966, published September 1966, with Spider-man and the background crowd removed. POTB regular commenter Rod Tough also made the same observation, while adding that Jameson's face on the Spider Slayer seen on the cover of SMCW #54 is a paste-up of the one by John Romita from the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #58. I zoomed in on both covers and I have to say I think Rod is right, it is a paste up. Great spotting from you both. 

The Mighty World of Marvel #74

This week's cover for MWOM uses the original US cover from the Incredible Hulk #119 by Herb Trimpe, with help from John Romita Sr. and Marie Severin. Slight colour alterations have been made, such as the Hulk's trousers are more pinky/purple than the blue/purple colour seen in the US version. But the biggest alteration is Maximus is "shocking" the Hulk with lightning bolts from his hands, a power that as far as I know he doesn't possess. 

The Incredible Hulk "The rage of battle!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Herb Trimpe

Inker: Herb Trimpe

Originally published in The Incredible Hulk #119

Cover date September 1969

(Published in June 1969)

 

The opening page uses a blown up of the second pages third panel with the dialogue cut and pasted from both second and third panels, with a large blown up Hulk head placed there for no reason. This is a fine reuse of panels to start the second half of the strip, but it does feel jarring when you read the same dialogue twice. 
At this point we get reintroduced to the League of Evil Inhumans, although they are never called that in this comic at all, whom we last meet in MWOM #60 , they haven't lost any of their evil ways.

Maximus orders Falcona to execute the informer who Bruce Banner talked to last week with her falcons which does look very convincing. Alfred Hitchcock would be impressed, Herb Trimpe is on top form, nailing the fight scenes. The only thing that starts to get very repetitive is the number of panels where the Hulk is seen leaping. But that is what the Hulk does so I shouldn't be surprised.  

The Hulk takes on each Evil Inhuman one at a time, pulling Stallior off his feet with his ball and chain, then chomping through the chains iron links with his jaws. He out wrestles Leonus by breaking his grip and hurling him against a wall. Timberius with his power over vegetation binds the Hulk with vines so that Aireo can lift him aloft to be dropped from a great height into an area of bottomless sands.

 Before he can the savage Hulk shatters the bonds only to fall into Falcona's flock of falcons that peck and claw at him, however the jade giant disperses these with a powerful "thunderclap" from the most powerful hands on earth. Just then Maximus spies an armed task force arriving by planes as troopers and tanks are parachuted in. Maximus offers the confused Hulk a chance to join him and his evil Inhumans against the newly arrived force or face both Inhuman and US army against unbelievable odds. Next week "The dread decision!"

 

Daredevil "Killer's castle!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Wally Wood and Bob Powell

Inker: Wally Wood

Originally published in Daredevil #9

Cover date July 1965

(Published in May 1965)

The opening splash page uses the original cover of Daredevil #9 by Wally Wood (without the Bob Powell finishing pencil work,) but with added text boxes that get the reader up to date with how Matt Murdock arrived in the country of Lichtenbad as the guest of Duke Klaus Kruger, who like every "good" evil villain should is telling Daredevil how he plans to gather the greatest minds in the world through trickery and deceit, and use them to build and army of robots to conquer the world. 

Daredevil escapes from Kruger's dungeons and frees the other prisoners of conscience in a minor rebellion. Resuming his Matt Murdock identity the blind lawyer arrives at the surgery of Doctor Van Eyck for the results of his eye test. Van Eyck tries to warn Murdock of the danger he is in, even if the operation was a success the Duke wouldn't allow him to leave. Hidden microphones pick up the treasonous remarks and robot guards enter to take Van Eyck away to the "Killer's castle." Daredevil follows and fights the evil Duke, managing to beat every weapon Kruger can throw his way. DD hears explosions that signal the people destroying the robot army as in the duel between DD and the Duke, the man without fear had smashed Kruger's robot army control panel. The tyrant's last trump card was a cobalt bomb hidden in the castle. Doctor Van Eyck now freed overhears the Duke boasting and manages to find the bomb control, risking his life he disconnects the cobalt rods, stopping the explosion but ending his own life with the deadly radiation. On the high castle walls Kruger makes a final attempt to defeat DD, but our hero ducks under the Duke's lunge sending the madman falling to his death. Matt has to return to the US without recovering his eyesight. This story is fine but doesn't move the lead characters story on much at all.   

A page of poster offer teasers, adverts and pocket money competition results. "Guess what?" Next week there'll be details on an offer for posters featuring the Hulk, Spidey and the Silver Surfer. I'll let you into a secret, next week there won't. 

In fact readers will have to wait weeks before this teaser comes true. Under the Charles Atlas and Stamp Quiz advert we do find out who the winner of the third Pocket Money competition from the Marvel mags published week ending the 15th December was. David Norman from Surrey, who gets one pound a week, very week for a year starting from the first of March. The answers to the five questions are 1) Loch Ness is thought to be the home of a Scottish sea-monster, 2) Lions can be found in Longleat, 3) Ireland is sometimes called "the Emerald Isle", 4) Rick Jones is the Hulk's best friend and finally 5) the largest Avenger is sometimes know as Ant Man. 

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

Uran Goyal from London asks why Daredevil was removed (obviously this letter was written before his return,) and thinks that Daredevil should star in his own comic together with the X-Men and the Defenders. Mark Tizard from Southampton writes also asking why Daredevil was removed and the Hulk was given two stories. Mark things that the Fantastic Four should have been removed and the Sub-Mariner should have been their replacement in a line up of the Hulk, Daredevil and the Sub-Mariner. Other questions from Mark are "why miss out the Silver Surfer story from the Hulk?" "Where are the X-Men?" "Why are there so many adverts in Marvel Comics?" and why in the American comics Medusa stars with the Human Torch, the Thing and Wyatt Wingfoot in the Fantastic Four, instead of Reed Richards and Sue Storm?" The editor dodges the superhero questions, I guess British readers will have to be more patient to find out those answers. As for the advert question, it keeps the cover cost down. James Slaney from Brighton who wants to know "How old is the Hulk?" "Who's the strongest the Hulk or the Thing?" "Why does the Thing fight the Human Torch?" and "When is Spider-man's birthday?" The editor answers that the Hulk, like Bruce Banner is in his mid-twenties, the Hulk is stronger than the Thing, who doesn't as much fight with the Torch but become irritated by him. As for Spidey's birthday, who knows.

"From the Bullpen to you" column gives the names of the Marvelytes who solved the FOOM Code from the pre Christmas week mags. the ten smart winners are Wirgial Edwards from London, A.J. Pether from Middlesex, John Hutchinson from Selby, Tim Rose from London, Ian Peach from New Addington, Martin Lennon from Edinburgh, R. Slack from Leeds, Andrew Milojevic from Lancashire, Ross Stephens from York and finally Nicholas Anderson from Kempston, who received a mystery prize.  

On to the letter writers, Philip Whelans RFO, KOF, from Kent explains what the initials RFO, TTB, QNS, KOF, PMM and FFF mean. Ruth Katkus from Berkshire who thinks she is Marvel's "best fan" ask six questions. 1) When will Namor battle the FF again? 2) Where has Daredevil gone too? 3) Why not bring all the heroes and villains together for a massive fight 4)Why doesn't the Thing get hurt when hit by bullets? 5) Why not have posters with adverts on the back so that they don't spoil the story? 6) Have some more T-shirt offers? The last three are more like requests than questions.

The Fantastic Four "The invasion of Atlantis!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Chic Stone 

Originally published in The Fantastic Four #33

Cover date December 1964

(Published in September 1964)

 

This opening splash page is actually the enlarged fifth panel of the 11th page of issue 33 of the Fantastic Four, with text boxes added to fill-in readers of last week's events. The other four panels from that page have been removed. They were basically Mister Fantastic assuming the shape of a giant stingray to sneak the team above a patrol so that the Thing can leap down on to an enemy  sub-marine, with the results seen in the enlarged panel. Does this jar with last week's ending? Well it does a little but many readers may not have noticed the difference. 

Namor and Attuma battle for the right to become ruler of Atlantis as the Fantastic Four secretly keep Attuma's deceitful and despicable minions from interrupting the contest in a number of ways. Sue forms an invisible shield around a "subsonic sound wave projector" causing it to implode. The Thing smashes a "Ionic Ray cannon", Reed deflects a "titanium wire shell" back at Attuma's troops, while the Torch stops the undersea hordes from destroying all of Atlantis with a "Nutro-nuclear dissolve-bomb" as the Oxy-Spray begins to wear off. Namor has the advantage over Attuma as he destroys the Warlord's sword. As a last resort Attuma removes his head appendages to reveal hidden disintegrator rays. Sue secretly turns the King of Atlantis invisible giving him the upper-hand, allowing him to subdues Attuma just as the Oxy-Spray fully wears off, forcing the Fantastic Four to flee to the surface leaving Namor none the wiser to the part they played in today's events. At the end of the story Sue calls Reed "darling" even after her encounter with Namor, could this moment be when she realises that Reed is the one she truly loves?

Action in the mighty Marvel tradition as two more Marvel masterpieces are also on sale this week. The Avengers weekly #24 gets a full cover shot while Spider-man Comics Weekly #55 uses some colour panels from the Spider-man strip to grab the casual readers eye with the delights from that issue. Speaking of that issue....

 Spider-man Comics Weekly #55

Penciler Ron Wilson and inker Mike Esposito craft this week's cover, showing a Spencer Smythe operated Spider-Slayer crush a telephone box just as the web-slinger leaps safely out. Superduper-man never has that kind of problem when he uses a phone-booth to do a quick change. As I type that last sentence out I realise that someone somewhere has probably seen that happen to Superduperman but as I don't like that red undies wearing weirdo I'm not that bothered if there are any.

Spider-man "Attack of the Spider-Slayer!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: John Romita Sr

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #58

Cover date March 1968

(Published in December 1967)

 

The first thing to notice about this opening splash page is that Don Heck is credited as inker, last week's credits listed him as "Fabulous finalising: dashing Donny Heck" and under that "Exotic embellishment: mighty Mickey Demeo". I took embellishment to mean inker as Mike Esposito (Demeo was a pseudonym of his,) is a well know inker and there is no colour in the UK version. Marvel Fandom.com lists Heck as the inker and Esposito as the colourist. Romita in last week's credits is "brilliant breakdown" and not "perfect penciler" so I took it to mean he laid out the roughs for Heck to finish off the pencils. I'm open to correct guesses of who did what from anyone. The final panel of last week's strip has been enlarged for this splash page with an added text box for a quick re-cap.

The Spider-Slayer with Jameson at the controls chases Spidey around town until Smythe takes over its operation, activating the robots "destructo-beam". The crazy scientist bent on having his personal revenge has the Slayer follow Spider-man back to Smythe's lab, where the stored spiders confuse the Slayers tracking circuits, forcing Smythe to increase the power to "absolute maximum" causing it to over-load. Later Peter changes to his civilian clothes to visit his aunt, on the way he crosses paths with Ka-Zar who says "not to be alarmed" as he thought "he sensed a familiar figure" but he was mistaken which is "strange for the aura of Spider-man is not easily forgot!" Was that Ka-Zar's way of saying hello and goodbye friend?

Iron Man "Showdown in a strange land!"

Writer: Stan Lee and Robert Bernstein

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in Tales of Suspense #42

Cover date June 1963

(Published in March 1963)

  

The opening splash page makes good use the Jack Kirby penciled cover from Tales of Suspense issue 42. Continued from last week the Mad Barbarian (not Red Barbarian as that might offend left leaning readers,) as ordered the Actor to impersonate Tony Stark to gain access and steal all his weapon secrets. And it works too if not for the returning Stark who is saved from the spy's accomplices gunfire by his iron chest plate. Suited up Iron Man stops the Actor before he can divulge Iron Man's identity to the Barbarian. Iron Man takes his place pretending to be the Actor in his latest disguise. Keeping the stolen plans with the outrageous scenario that Stark's case can only be opened after another 4 hours or a small miniature Atomic bomb in the lock will go off. Iron Man releases the Actor who tells the Barbarian that he no longer has the plans as Iron Man has them, but he does know the golden Avengers true identity. Thinking this is all a trick to keep the plans for himself the Barbarian has the Actor shot! This story stretches credibility somewhat but on the whole it passes time with a charming early 60's Cold War theme. 

The Web and the Hammer

David Burford from Leicestershire has read in books that Thor has a long beard and had died, well there's the stuff of myth and  legends, then there's Marvel legends. Mark Danneau from Corydon has never seen the Silver Surfer in any American mags he's read, but he has heard about him and wants to see the character in SMCW. Shaun Flynn from Teeside says that the Beast Fromm the X-Men should have been added to the number of Marvel Heroes who are stronger than Spider-man, as shown in the pin-up of Spider-man holding a disc with those heroes on it, that was actually seen in SMCW #36 , not issue 39 as Shaun thought. Boy that disc would be really heavy! 

Christopher Hammond writes that SMCW is fascinating and what's to congratulate Stan on comic. Neil Robinson from Darbyshire says that MWOM and SMCW has re-awoken his interest in British comics as previously he was getting bored with comics that were full of stupid cartoons. Robert Murphy from Glasgow has been a fan of Spider-man for three years but doesn't know what happens to Spidey's webbing after he uses it? It just fades away Robert. Manuel Gonzalez from London would rather have colour inside the mags, the return of Daredevil and Spider-man un-masking himself in front of Flash Thompson.

The Mighty Thor "Hercules walks among us!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in Journey into Mystery #125

Cover date February 1966

(Published in December 1965)

This opening splash page is a slightly blown up panel from last week's final page, that page only had two panels, so it was quite large anyway. A fresh text box re-caps how far the story has gone. Very quickly the strip jumps from Thor's predicament to Hercules enjoying himself in a New York restaurant until the place is robbed. 

The gun men have picked the wrong place to hold up as the Greek Demi-god makes short work of them and in doing attracts the attention of Jane Foster. 

Thor flees Asgard by the Rainbow Bridge but is confronted by Heimdall, who Thor slips past with the force of a sonic boom created by striking his enchanted mallet. 

Returning to Earth Thor spies a milling crowd across the street from the hospital where Jane Foster had rested. They are interested in a couple inside a soda parlour who are sharing a drink. It's Jane and Hercules. Jane thought Thor loved her, but he had left without any explanation. Thor tries to explain but Hercules interrupts by offering his greetings adding that he knew one day they would meet again! Jealous seeing Jane with the Greek god, Thor insults him which leads to the Prince of Power striking the Thunder God. Hammers at the ready next week promises a "battle of titans!" No what's going to be great.

Tales of Asgard "The Jaws of the dragon!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vincent Colletta

Originally published in Journey into Mystery #123

Cover date December 1965

(Published in October 1965)

 The last Tales of Asgard "Heimdall guardian of the mystic Rainbow Bridge!" was printed in SMCW #35, originally from Journey into Mystery #104, this tale comes 21 issues later, undoing so misses out some cool and important instalments, including the five earlier chapters that start this, what has been called "Odin Sword Quest." In this tale Odin observes the signs of the coming of Ragarok as Thor and his Asgardian allies sail into dangerous waters in an adventure very similar to the classic tales of Jason and the Argonauts. In fact the end text box says that next week "a new race will be meet by the Argonauts." Stan and Jack just love the classics. I really like these short tales, they fill gaps and are pretty cool too.

Carrying on with the new style of in-house adverts for the weeklies the Mighty World of Marvel gets the lions' share of the page with a re-coloured version of the cover, which I think I might slightly prefer to the actual cover colour scheme. Above that is the cover for this week's Avengers mag, again with slight colour variations. Most noticeable difference is the colour of Quicksilvers costume which is blue in this ad but green on the actual cover. Hawkeye's costume is mainly purple here, unlike the purple and blue version seen on the comic, Attuma's hordes outfits change colour slightly and the churning sea is frothy white in the comic but here it's mostly blue. So let's take a look at that weekly in closer detail.  

  The Avengers #24

This is a cracking cover that tells a story and gives you strong emotions of jeopardy as the sea rushes in with Quicksilver and Hawkeye out of control in an undersea craft, Cap (sort of,) rescuing the Scarlet Witch while Attuma's men sneak up on the two Avengers. Plus there's a giant octopus also attacking Attuma's men. Jack Kirby uses every inch of the page. While I mentioned colours before, this version is better than the original US version, in that the Scarlet Witch wore a purple and pink costume, which I always thought clashed with Hawkeyes, the giant octopus was orange, I like my giant sea-monsters to be green, the undersea craft was a dull blue instead of the bright orange one and also the crashing water was just blue. Like I said before the UK version's foamy white torrent adds massively to the drama. This is the best version of the artwork and is my Cover of the Week! Frank Giacoia applies the inks to Kirby's artwork.

The Avengers "Four against the floodtide!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Frank Giacoia

Originally published in The Avengers #27

Cover date April 1966

(Published in February 1966)

This adventure starts off with Hawkeye trying to remember a four digit code to gain access to the Avengers new "visi-projector". It turns out the code is 1313! How easy is that to remember! I sometimes think Hawkeye is as dumb as he looks, but later he remembers the coordinates to find the other Avengers location. If truth be told Hawkeye is possibly my favourite Avenger, well next to the Vision. I guess I relate to Hawkeye's human failings more. The figure from the shadows, seen last issue, is revealed as the Beetle. 

The Spider-man villain last seen in the pages of SMCW #15, for UK readers anyway. Hawkeye traps the fiend, more on the reason for his appearance next week, before setting off to help his teammates with the aid of an "Aero-sub" from the Fantastic Four. I remember the Avengers did have their own sub-marine that they used when they fought Sub-Mariner and rescue Captain America from the icey waters, as seen in the Avengers #1, but I guess the FF's "Aero-sub"is quicker.

Cap, Wanda and Pietro fight against Attuma and the overwhelming odds as the sea waters crash into Attuma's damaged undersea craft. Quicksilver thinks he's found a safe tunnel, but it turns out to be an ejector tube that sends him to the surface. Luckily the unconscious mutant is rescued by Hawkeye and they both set off to help their teammates. Attuma's craft is gone but he left a number of patrol craft that chase the "Aero-sub" right into the clutches of a giant octopus, with only the quick reflexes of Quicksilver at the controls to pilot them safely past the sea-monster.   

Quicksilver spots Attuma's giant craft and rams the hull with the "Aero-sub" causing Attuma to postpone the execution of Captain America and the Scarlet Witch, preferring to execute four prisoners instead of two. While escorted to the crafts dungeon Wanda creates a diversion that allows cap to overcome their guards. 

The odds look poor for Quicksilver and Hawkeye as the archer is down to his last arrow and the speedster takes a second to catch his breath while they are surrounded by Attuma's barbarian hordes, until the arrival of the freed leader of the Avengers and his female companion. The united Avengers turn the tide against Attuma and his army with the use of Attuma's own "Y-ray" tank. 

   

 

The Avengers make their escape nicely and tie up some plot lines in the process such as destroying Attuma's "Flood-tide machine" and explaining why the Wasp wasn't seen in this issue with a line that Quicksilver had searched for her at top speed, leaving an opening for next week's adventure. When they return to the Avengers mansion they find the Beetle gone and another message is left which concerns the Wasp! Next ish, more on the Wasp and the Beetle. The introduction of the Collector and the return of Giant Man! 'Nuff said!

Avengers Unite!

Martin Yule from Sunderland thinks that Thor should ride a winged horse and Cap should ride a motor bike. The editor makes light of those crazy ideas but Valkyrie will ride a winged horse and in the future Cap does ride many motor bikes so they're not far fetched. He also asks who is stronger the Thing or Kraven the Hunter? Which group is more powerful the FF, the Avengers or the X-Men? And will Captain America make Rick Jones his partner? The editor won't get into the argument of "who's the strongest", but the Thing is easily stronger than Kraven, as for the teams its anyone's guess. Rick Jones as Cap's partner, well eventually. Another Martin, this time Martin Skye's from Oxfordshire thinks that the Doctor Strange stories from the Avengers #14 and #15 was the best he's ever read. Yeah the Dormammu story was great but the latest Doctor Strange epic is getting better and better. David H. Baber from Lancashire thinks that the UK mags are the biggest con going, with the American mags being the real thing. He asks why they have stopped their good distribution. He says he cannot see Stan Lee's plan, what happens when the UK versions catch up to their American counterparts? He does praise the British comics for one thing and that is the letter pages. 

 Patrick Hennessy from Surrey thinks the Avengers are fab. Tere Bowes from Bradford has spotted a mistake in Avengers #7 in which on page 16 it says Thor is fighting Atlas but on the next page it says he's fighting Hercules. Yeah in the US edition it was a version of Hercules but the British editors didn't want UK readers to get confused when the real Hercules turns up in the coming weeks so they renamed him Atlas, but they missed the second name check. Paul Ferrely from Eire wants to see more pages given to Doctor Strange, but he's a little confused when he is titled the "Master of Black Magic!" as since Paul was a kid Black Magic was evil. Personally I alway thought of Black Magic as being not very good chocolates, that's one for the British readers. Modest Alan Oliver RFO, KOF and FOOMer spotted on the cover of Avengers #9 Cap with white ears, while in his experience Cap never had white ears, so he wants a No-Prize for it. Not a good enough reason modest Alan, my ears in the early 70's were always white as my Mum used to clean them with her finger and a handkerchief. Finally this week Derek Wigley from Hampshire made some targets to fire his Spider Tracer Plane and Avengers Wonder Weapon at. Other things he mentions is he wants Models of Marvel heroes and the return of Daredevil.

Doctor Strange "What lurks beneath the mask?"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Steve Ditko

Inker: Steve Ditko 

Originally published in Strange Tales #136

Cover date September 1965

(Published in June 1965)

Dormammu traps the woman who has been helping Strange by distracting the dark lord. Still she isn't named yet but you all know her as Clea. Meanwhile Doctor Strange continues his search for the secret of Eternity by asking any practitioner on the Mystic Arts if they can help solve the puzzle, encountering a female mystic who we've never seen before but she remembers the Doctor as he has saved her life before. Stan and Steve writes in a text box "Remind us to tell you about it some time", but they  never do, which is a shame as I would've love to have found out more. 

A senile old mystic gives Strange an old faded scroll that mentions eternity, which leads him to a weird dimension Strange filled with lifeless masks and a being bound to a plaque. Unmasking the being who turns out to be a demon that tricks others into gazing into his eyes so he can steal their bodies and imprison their spirits. Trapped on the Plague with his hands bounded and his face and mouth covered tightly Strange is unable to cast any spells.  

Strange still has mental control over his cloak of levitation which renders the Demon helpless. The Demon removes the Doctor's mask hoping to over power him once again but this time Strange is prepared for him. Once freed Doctor Strange uses the Eye of Agomotto to easily overpower him and  set all his victims free before returning to his own dimension. With another failed attempt to discover the secret of Eternity Strange must wrest the secret from the comatose mind of the Ancient One, next week in the Avengers. I can't wait.

The final in-house advert for this week shows yet another re-coloured version of the Mighty World of Marvel #74 cover. This one looks like the Hulk is fighting Maximus in a desert and not the lush Costa Salvador. The Spider-man Comics Weekly advert is pretty much the same as the one seen on the back of the MWOM but with a blue background and slight changes here and there to the backgrounds of each panels. Some apprentice colourist must have had a field day trying different colour schemes out. 

And so ends another week of British Marvels from fifty years ago. More of the same next week? Yeah why not.

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.