From here to Eternity!

 Week Ending 16th March 1974

The Mighty World of Marvel #76

In all honesty this week's covers aren't very good. Picking a Cover of the Week will be a problem because of that. This one is by Ron Wilson and Mike Esposito. It's a bit bland but one feature that I do like, or at least it makes me smile, is the way Wilson has drawn the Hulk holding Maximus by the seat of his pants, like an impetuous child.  

The Incredible Hulk "The deadliest robot of all!"

Writer: Stan Lee and Roy Thomas

Artist: Herb Trimpe

Inker: Herb Trimpe

Originally published in The Incredible Hulk #120

Cover date October 1969

(Published in July 1969)

This week's episode starts off with the fourth, fifth and sixth panels reused from the last page of last week's Hulk story, with some re-cap re-lettered text boxes added. Don't worry Betty, General Ross, Major Talbot and the pilot escape the crash thanks to their trusty US army parachutes. Right out of the frying pan and into the fire as Maximus orders their deaths. Hulk hates to be hounded by the army but he's no killer and he tells the evil Inhumans as much. Forced to take action against the green friendly giant, Maximus introduces his latest creation "the most deadly robot of all!" You can see where the title has come from. It's a prototype version of the statue whose will sapping ray held the locals under his will, not quite as big but still a handful. The Hulk basically throws a fortress at it, burying it under the rubble. Now faced with the angered Hulk and the awaking US troops Maximus and his fellow evil Inhumans flee in an escape rocket. The Hulk follows suit and leaps off into next week's adventure to discover "What lurks...within the swamp!"

The strip has found a nice vain of form, with Roy Thomas as new writer finding new interesting ways to tell fairly typical Hulk stories and Trimpe growing more comfortable with each issue as the Hulk artist. Can't wait to read more of these classics. 

Daredevil "The Fury of the Sub-Mariner!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Wally Wood 

Inker: Wally Wood

Originally published in Daredevil #7

Cover date April 1965

(Published in February 1965)

Daredevil's re-cap opener uses the fourth panel from page 20 of last week's issue, which does cause a little jarring as it goes from DD leaping off a shop awning striking the Sub-Mariner with both feet, to the next page that sees a civilian clothed Matt Murdock unable to persuade Namor from fleeing jail. It's a fairly reasonable action filled story, even with DD being completely mismatched against the superior opponent. In a futile attempt to subdue the Atlantean prince DD uses an electrical power cable from a broken street lamp to shock him.  It's fair to say that the blind hero never read the Fantastic Four story seen in MWOM #13, in which Namor absorbed the electric shock given off by Doctor Doom's booby trapped door, acting like an electric eel. Daredevil takes the brunt of the feed back and lies weak and exhausted, but noting Daredevils courageousness Namor leaves without anymore conflict, flying above the awaiting armed troops to return to his own people and crush the rebellion lead by the Warlord Krang. 

I have to say that even with the simpleness of the plot that doesn't take the lead or guest character anywhere it still produces a pleasant read. 

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

Trevor Main RFO, from Morayshire is another reader who wants to see the Silver Surfer in one of the mags, or in a new mag with Daredevil and the X-Men. Derek Beech from London got his wish of seeing Daredevil back in MWOM before his letter got printed. John Allen RFO, KOF, from Staffordshire points out some discrepancies between the stories featuring the Thing and some of the replies given to readers letters about him and the Hulk. John is pleased with the new Avengers weekly though. He hopes both the Earth mightiest heroes and Doctor Strange will be around for sometime. John Taylor from Kent has some quick questions, 1) Where does Spidey put Peter's clothes when he's Spider-man? 2) How come Mr. Fantastic never gets electrocuted when working on his electrical equipment? 3) Does the Hulk get tired? 4) How strong is the Thing's muscles? The editor answers are 1) in his bedroom or a handle spot, 2) He's too smart to touch a live wire, 3) Hulk never gets tired, 4) No real answer to this one, other than on a bad day he might take two attempts at punching a hole in four-foot thick wall. Stephen Cantley RFO, KOF, from the Wirral has just bought a US edition of the Ghost Rider and wants to see him in MWOM. Chris Sutor from Birmingham asks if members of the FF or the X-Men get jealous of their individual powers? The editor answers "No!"

Carl Prime from Hertfordshire wants to know how Marvel manages to fill their comics with great stories and great art for 52 weeks of the year? Charles S. Trott also from Hertfordshire writes to answer Peter Crawfords letter in MWOM #39 in which he criticised the way different artist drew the Hulk. Charles make a point that the effect of the gamma rays could have different reactions to his metamorphism each time they occur. Peter Robinson from Surrey criticised the lack of action in the "posters"seen in the weeklies. Ian Jarvis thinks that Marvel mags are marvellous and anyone who tries to spot mistakes isn't a true Marvelyte. At the bottom of this week's mailbag is a teaser for a fistful of posters on offer next week as week a reserve form for "Marvel" I'm sure that next week the advert for those posters doesn't appear.

The Fantastic Four "Dragon Man lives!"

     
Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Chic Stone 

Originally published in The Fantastic Four #35

Cover date February 1965

(Published in November 1964)

 

Another enlarged panel makes the opening re-cap page for this story, this time it's taken from the final panel for last week's FF story. The title is a nice play on the US Marvel/Curtis magazine Dracula Lives, which was originally published from February 1973. A title that British Marvel fans will get their own version of the Lord of Darkness's mag just before Halloween in 1974. Diablo has used one of his potions as the catalyst to animate Professor Gilbert's creation, the Dragon Man. Kirby has a lots of fun crowbarring the artificial monster into the story. He absolutely loves drawing monsters. 

Ultimately Diablo loses control as the monster turns on him after the alchemist attack Sue Storm. Diablo and the Dragon Man fall through a frozen lake and are pulled away by the strong undercurrents. Dragon Man isn't the only one to take a shine to Miss Storm, Reed finally follows through on his lovesick emotions and proposes to his sweetheart in front of the University's Lover's Lane tree that has been cut into a heart shape. According to tradition any couple who hold hands and kiss in front of it will be married within a year. Best get a new suit then Marvel fans. 

It's been a great story over the last two week's,  that connects different parts of the Marvel universe together and plants seeds for the future too. 

All three weeklies have a teaser advert for a special competition coming up next week. Your chance to win a "Gladding inflatable boat", or dingy as I would call it, or five mask, snorkel and flipper sets, or even twenty mask and snorkel sets. More details next week. 

  Two more Marvel triumphs, in the Avengers Goliath takes on the "Terrible Trio", while in Spider-man Comics Weekly Spider-man finds out what is "the Brand of the Brainwasher!" Coming up next!

Spider-man Comics Weekly #57

This week's cover is a re-coloured John Romita Sr piece of art, originally from the Amazing Spider-man #59. It's not one that I can rave about, but it does have the gorgeous Mary Jane dancing in a 60's fashionable short sequin mini dress and knee high boots, which does pique my interest. Well I'm only human.

Spider-man "Who is the Brainwasher?"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: John Romita Sr and Don Heck

Inker: Mike Esposito

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #59

Cover date April 1968

(Published in January 1968)

It's a cut and paste splash page that asks the question "Who is the Brainwasher!" which does sort of feel a little strange as the page made up of an illustration of Spider-Man swinging on his web surrounded by floating heads of Doctor Winkler, (never named in this story,) Mary Jane Watson, Captain Stacy, Gwen Stacy and the Brainwasher himself, only slightly silhouetted out with grey tone and a question mark on the side of his face, but it clearly is the Kingpin, thus spoiling the surprise and rendering the question pointless. 

Mary Jane is payed to dance and take pictures of VIP guests at the Gloom Room A-Go-Go club, who unknown to her are mesmerised by the special camera she uses and then lead of to a back room where a special machine completes their brainwashing. At one point she takes Captain Stacy's picture before he informs her he "enjoyed her dancing", now-now Captain, she's old enough to be your daughter! The old dog, sorry I mean the old police captain is escorted away, causing Gwen to worry. Peter investigates as Spider-man, but finds instead a group o armed gun men, who use Mary Jane as a hostage. Spidey "webs" up the thugs gun and swings to MJ's rescue. This is the first time she's been rescued like that, it's an iconic scene that gets reused again and again in both the comic and on film. MJ certainly has more fun swinging with Spidey, more so than Gwen does. I guess one is date material the other is wife material.

This story hasn't really thrilled me much. A brainwashing plot doesn't feel very Spider-man(y), but add the Kingpin and suddenly I'm interested. What trouble will Spider-man have to face when the mass of muscle that is the Kingpin of crime, exerts his operation on New York we'll have to wait till next week to find out. 

This special Spidey Pin-up was taken from the Amazing Spider-man Annual #5, cover dated November 1968, published in August 1968. Drawn by John Romita Sr over Larry Lieber's layouts, as Romita once indicated he worked very closely with Lieber on this annual, page by page, including this pin-up feature. Stan Lee added the dialogue to the piece. The right hand edge to the pin-up has been extended slightly to fit the UK dimensions. 

The page top headlines have returned for this page with another small plug for the Master of Kung-Fu, starting in the pages of the Avengers #28. We'll be hearing more on that later.

The Web and the Hammer

Nigel Edwards from Stoke-on-Trent thinks that SMCW #44 was an accolade of Marvel's remarkable talents but also a revolution in the world of Peter Parker. He love's seeing Peter and Gwen together as part of something new maybe? And the inclusion of the Kingpin. Well I guess he'll like this week's story. He does criticise the need to edit out American grammar, adding it isn't necessary. George Kourtellaris from London thinks it's unfair that Thor only gets four or five pages. Alan Tilmonth from Northumberland has made up a new foe called the Defeater and wants to see Doctor Octopus and the Sandman's return. Paul Bailey from Birmingham asks some weird questions like "Does the Earth's atmosphere affect Thor?", "Does Thor get his hair cut, or wear a wig?", "Are the Wasp wings real?" and "What would happen if you fell off the Rainbow Bridge?" Answers in the letter page. Christopher Taylor from Yorkshire has some questions about Spidey's webbing, what's it made of and how many shots does each web shooter have. Well it's a special formula and how long is a piece of string? Well that's answered that.

Jack Lacordes from London says it's crazy how much skill and detail is put into each comic. David Thomas from London has never missed a copy of SMCW and MWOM but wonders why the Tales of Asgard story that was promised for SMCW #36 never appeared. The answer from the editor is they boobed. D.R.C. from Preston wants to know how far Spidey can jump? No straight answer other than he would break all known records. Mark Archer from Birmingham is a fan of Spider-man and Thor and gets all three weeklies. Nicholas Marchmont from Leicester asks whose idea was it to put two pin-up pages back to back? Well if you cut it out at least it wouldn't ruin a story. Paul Monaghan from Wigan can't wait till next week to find out what happens to Spider-man or Thor and asks do the writers not know themselves? His Dad can't wait too. 

Iron Man "the Netherworld doom!"

Writer: Stan Lee and Robert Bernstein

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in Tales of Suspense #43

Cover date July 1963

(Published in April 1963)

   

It's a nice use of the cover from Tales of Suspense #43 by Jack Kirby as the opening splash page to this week's half of the Iron Man adventure. Tony Stark agrees to help Kala in her plans to invade the surface world, by inventing something that will get her forces to the surface, but he needs a workshop. In that workshop he builds a replica Iron Man suit and sets about beating her troops and their futuristic weapons. Iron Man takes Kala to the surface with his "nuclear-powered"/"transistor powered" "clippers" slicing through the earths core, where on reaching the surface air Kala ages into "an hideous old hag!" Returning to the Netherworld her good looks return, I guess it's true the sun can age you but still that's a little far fetched. She agrees to rule with her General, Baxu and release her prisoners. Until next time that is.

This story stretches credibility, especially scientifically, but if you can live with the 60's style of storytelling you can get something out of this story.

The Thing asks fans do they want a fistful of posters of their favourite heroes in full colour? It says more news next week on the big poster promotion, but in this ad we get a teaser of which heroes will feature with the mighty Thor, Daredevil and the amazing Spider-man posters partly shown. They've been promising this offer for quite a bit so will we finally see the offer? As a teaser I'll tell you that these beauties are by Spanish artist LOPEZ ESPI.  

 

    The Mighty Thor "When titans clash...one must fall!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in The Mighty Thor #126

Cover date March 1966

(Published in January 1966)

Well this is the "battle-fest" you've been waiting for. Opening with the impressive clash of titans that originally was the cover of the Mighty Thor #126 by Jack Kirby. One must fall for one to win but these Gods are so evenly matched no ground is given and none can be taken. So how does Stan and Jack get out of this plot cul-de-sac? Well as the plot also contains a very seething father who has the power to half his son's strength but cannot bring himself to do so.

 Odin's advisor, Seidring the merciless, cajoles the All Father into carrying out Asgard justice and smite his son for his disobedience in informing Jane Foster of his human identity. Still unwilling to carry out the punishment Odin gifts Seidring his power so that he can carry out the punishment in his name. I bet that won't end well. Seidring sends a bolt of energy that saps the Thunder gods strength by half, giving Hercules an advantage. As the battle continues Thor grows weaker, tiring to a point that a single punch floors him. 

Hercules is greeted by a crowd of people including a movie producer who offers him the chance to star in his own movie.  Jane Foster rushes to tell Thor that she only wanted to make him jealous, but Thor feeling that he has lost honour in the face of this defeat leaves, telling her he will not return until he has restored it in his eyes. Odin contacts Jane telepathically, telling her that his son has fought like a true Asgardian. Feeling remorseful towards his son he commands Jane to go to him. Heeding the request Jane follows after the Thunder God. What happens next will have to wait till next week.

These two pages came from the same Amazing Spider-man Annual as the "A day at the Daily Bugle!" pin-up. Larry Lieber drew these two pages that featured versions of Spider-man as drawn by other artists for other publications. If you can't guess who they are here's a quick run down, Dick Tracy, Li'l Abner (a satirical newspaper strip drawn by Al Capp), Mickey Mouse, Superman, Archie or Reggie from Archie Comics and Charlie Brown. 

If you zoom in on the top of both of these pages you get the headlines "Shang-Chi is coming to make Britain's greatest even better!" and "Fist of fury! Heart of steel!"Shang-Chi in Avengers #28", subliminal lines used to promote the Master of Kung Fu. As I said before I'll get to that later in this blog.

Spider-man Comic Weekly's back page features an in-house advert for the Avengers and the  Mighty World of Marvel. Both on sale in this week 50 years ago. Let's take a look at "Britain's Greatest" weekly next!

The Avengers #26

This cover, originally from the Avengers issue 29 (US edition), is a Don Heck (pencils) and Frank Giacoia (inks) creation. With only slight colour variations to Power Man and the Black Widow's costumes. It has a fair shout at being this week's Cover of the Week, but I'll still give it to Romita's Spider-man cover with the hot dancing Mary Jane. In saying that the Black Widow looks smoking too. May be a little too much Golden Age hero look but still. You decide, there's no wrong or right answer.

The Avengers "This power unleashed!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Frank Giacoia

Originally published in The Avengers #29

Cover date June 1966

(Published in April 1966)

  

I'm not sure what "power" is being "unleashed" but Stan Lee wouldn't have let any logic or connection get in the way of an impressive title. Continued from last week Quicksilver manipulates a "Thermo-reviver disc", what ever that is, to revive the fallen Goliath, now stuck at 10 feet tall. Cap calls an old army doctor friend who manages to stabilise Hank Pym, but also delivers bad news, Pym must stay ten foot tall forever. Meanwhile in the far east General Hu Chen orders the now fully brainwashed Madam Natasha, also know as the Black Widow to destroy the Avengers. 

For many British readers this was the Widows first appearance as her first true appearance would be in an Iron Man story from Tales of Suspense #52, cover dated April 1964, published January 1964, called "The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!" that would see print in Spider-man Comics Weekly #71, the week ending 22rd June 1974. No explanation of who this character was or what her connection to Hawkeye was given leaving the reader to connect the pieces. The Widow enlist the services of the Swords Man and Power Man to accomplish her task. 

By attacking each Avenger one by one with carefully planned traps the trio of villains capture all the Avengers except for the newly returned Goliath and the Wasp. Goliath had been sulking but when the chips are down the big man steps up. The Wasp frees the captive Avengers and the tables are quickly turned leaving the villains no option but to flee.

The artwork in these current stories has been improving, Don Heck's pencils have been sharpened up and much of that must be credited to the ink pen or brush of Frank Giacoia, a much under rated inker. You might not jump for joy when you read his name in the credits but he's a steady pair of hands, who leaves the art in a better place.

Avengers Mailbag

William Stone from Worcestershire makes a few points about continuity errors between the Radioactive Man's appearance the Avengers #3 and his first appearance in SMCW #11, the missing Tales of Asgard story that should have been printed in SMCW #36 and how SMCW has been "spoilt" by the drop in page count and the removal of the black and white with red tint pages. William does add that he thinks the Avengers are fantastic and Marvel should print some Captain America stories. E. Burke RFO, KOF, FFF, from Edinburgh has gotten all the Avengers issues but his favourite one was the Avengers #6 which featured the debut of Wonder Man adding its a pity that he didn't become a proper Avenger. Don't worry Mister Burke Wonder Man will get his chance.

Andrew McIvor from Belfast had just bought Daredevil issue 24 (US edition) and noticed that there were offers of eight Marvel super-hero posters for one dollar and you could also get Aurora kits of "Spider-man tracing Kraven", "the incredible Hulk" and "Captain America" for the price of 98 cents each. He asks why can't these offers be available in the UK. The editor hints that those posters will be coming our way shortly. Shad(rack) Mehmet RFO, KOF, QNS, enjoys reading Marvel mags but also thinks the shading in the comics is terrible. He says he's a comic art scratcher and is looking for a book on comic art or anatomy, could Marvel suggest any? The editor takes his early criticism to heart suggesting that may be as a "budding art genius" could it be that his eye is a slightly over-critical one. He isn't, the shading had been terrible but it did improve. They couldn't recommend any particular art book, but did give him some good advice about how to start in the art industry, such as becoming an "art bodger" in a magazine art studio. They go on to explain that an "art bodger" is a junior jack-of-all-art-trades who copes with such tasks as re-lettering speech balloons, re-sizing pictures, adding to the size of a picture that's too small, making minor corrections to correct any boob before it goes to the printer and possibly inserting the "hated shading." Shad(rack) had also suggested that the US versions of Spider-man, the Hulk and maybe in the future the Avengers are being held back from the British public. The editor takes umbrage with that suggestion. 

Doctor Strange "If Eternity should fail!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Steve Ditko

Inker: Steve Ditko 

Originally published in Strange Tales #138

Cover date November 1965

(Published in August 1965)

 

Finally Doctor Strange has learned the secret of Eternity from his mentor's mind, granting the knowledge to open a doorway that allows him to travel to Eternity's realm. It does feel like meeting Eternity has been a long time coming but Steve Ditko's art makes the wait worth it as he really pulls it out of the bag with the psychedelic trippy backgrounds of this strange realm. I love these black and white mags, the artwork gets to breathe and we get a mass of comic stories at a reasonable price. But it's artwork like this that I really wish British Marvel mags were in colour. I wish they made a giant sized Marvel Treasury Edition that featured this saga. I know that Marvel Treasury Edition issue 6 does feature the last story in this saga "The end..at last!" but the whole saga is worthy of it. I might later dig my copy of that Treasury out for a re-read.

The master of the mystic arts walks through the weird landscape as his attention is drawn to a shimmering light, that turns out to be no mere light, but an actual universe, a microcosm, a galaxy  within a world that expands and assumes the form in the image of a man cut from the silhouette of a cosmic universe. The living embodiment of Eternity. Doctor Strange asks to be granted with the power to defeat Dormammu and save his master. Eternity bathes Strange in a mystic glow, a power beyond human measure that reveals the very fibre of his soul. After much deep consideration Eternity decrees that Strange needs no additional power to complete that task, as he has the means to defeat Dormammu on his own. That may seem like a cop out but there's lots of profound inner contemplation during these scenes that gifts Strange the motivation and wisdom he needs. 

Returning to Earth's dimension the Doctor finds the Ancient One gone. Taken by Baron Mordo. The Baron's phantom-like spirits followers escort Strange to the shadowy sanctuary of the sinister Baron Mordo. Dormammu holds all the cards as Strange must face overwhelming odds, making next issue a must read.

The final text box on this end page reads "Don't miss our next issue, packed with more amazing adventures of the FF, Cap, Shellhead and the Master of magic! Till then..Shalom!" I wonder if readers of this weekly expect the FF, Captain America and Iron Man to turn up in next week's mag or even to help Doctor Strange against the forces of evil? They would be disappointed next week when neither Iron Man or the FF appear. This version of the Doctor Strange strip was taken from its US reprint in Marvel's Greatest Comics #27, cover dated June 1970, which had featured reprints of stories about those heroes. That issue also coincidentally featured the reprint of this week's FF story "Calamity on the Campus!"

A teaser that would anger many Power of the Beesting followers, but may have at the time intrigued many Avengers weekly readers is the news that "coming to the Avengers" was a new character titled Master of Kung Fu. The early to mid 70's was certainly a period of hot interest in Kung Fu action. Movies like Bruce Lee's "Enter the  Dragon"(1973) , the "Kung Fu" TV series which ran from 1972 to 1975, James Bond's "The man with the Golden Gun" (1974) which featured scenes in Hong Kong played on the martial arts boom, even Hammer films used this trope in their 1974 film "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires", granted "Golden Gun" was released in December of 74 and "7 Golden Vampires" in August of 74 but there definitely was a cultural swing towards that genre. Marvel jumped on the bandwagon but not to everyone's delight. 

I want to thank those who have given their well thought out reasons why they disliked Shang Chi's inclusion in the Avengers. If you've got good or bad memories of it from that time I'll like to hear more. I must be in the minority of one, who actually likes the strip, if not it's placement or the cover hogging, I'll give my reason's when it debuts, but I can't be the only one. Does anyone have any positivity towards the Master of Kung Fu?

The colour in-house advert for Spider-man Comics Weekly and the Mighty World of Marvel on the Avengers back page actually shows what should have been last week's cover and preview. I've only just noticed that last week's ad shows this week's SMCW cover and previews this week's Hulk strip. I think the editor or may be the printer mixed the two house ads up. I should have spotted that earlier but I'm only human, not an  abstract entity which embodies the Universe like say... Eternity. I have to go and start my research now, so I won't miss anything. So in the words that end this week's Doctor Strange tale...Shalom! And oh yeah...

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.