Hi anons, let try out a new type of storytime. As most probably know, the Marvel Universe proper debuted in August 1961 with the release of Fantastic Four #1... but that was of course not the only comic book Marvel was publishing at the time.
During the 1950s, Marvel, then known as "Timely" or "Atlas" (they didn't really market their books under a specific label and had a ton of different publishing labels) was publishing an absolute ton of titles, but in 1957 Martin Goodman in his infinite wisdom decided it would be a good idea to shut down his distribution company and have his books distributed by American News Distribution instead. American News Distribution went bankrupt very soon after signing their deal with Marvel, and a scrambling Goodman had to settle for having his books distributed by the DC Comics-owned Independent News instead. Independent News limited Marvel to only 8 comics a month, so Goodman ended up canceling pretty much his entire line of comics and change the few titles he had left to bimonthly books so he'd at least get 16 different titles on the shelves. This is known as the Atlas Implosion and was a pretty significant milestone in Marvel history.
In 1960, Goodman eventually managed to talk his way into getting 10 books a months, and in 1961 he had just managed to argue forth an increase to 11, which in actuality ended up being alternating months of 10 and 12 books each. August 1961 was the first of these 12-book months, and one of the new bimonthly books he added to his lineup was of course Fantastic Four.
But why don't we take a look at EVERYTHING he was publishing at the time? These 10 and 12 book months are pretty easy to split up into 5 and 6 books per thread, so this time we'll check out the first 6 books from October 1962.
Previous threads August 1961, part 1 August 1961, part 2 September 1961, part 1 September 1961, part 2 October 1961, part 1 October 1961, part 2 November 1961, part 1 November 1961, part 2 December 1961, part 1 December 1961, part 2 January 1962, part 1 January 1962, part 2 February 1962, part 1 February 1962, part 2 March 1962, part 1 March 1962, part 2 April 1962, part 1 April 1962, part 2 May 1962, part 1 May 1962, part 2 June 1962, part 1 June 1962, part 2 July 1962, part 1 July 1962, part 2 August 1962, part 1 August 1962, part 2 September 1962, part 1 September 1962, part 2
Matthew Rodriguez
The first 6 September 1962 books were all published October 2nd, and are the same titles we remember from the first week of August:
The Mighty Thor!: "Prisoner of the Reds!" by Stan Lee/Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby/Dick Ayers, lettering by Artie Simek
The Thor stories finally start crediting the letterer. And look, the feature is now called "The Mighty Thor" like on the covers instead of "Thor the Mighty".
This issue's text story. Reprint from Journey into Unknown Worlds #45 from 1956. We've read this one before when it got reprinted in Tales to Astonish #33 back in April.
It's incredibly difficult to read Don's pining for Jane as anything but ridiculously pathetic. >she'd never love me and I don't dare confess because she'd just quit and I'll no longer be able to be around her This is not appealing in any way, and I can't believe Stan thought it was either.
>especially that one who brought me here Wait, is he supposed to be someone in particular? This story does a poor job actually differentiating between the commies, they feel pretty interchangable to me.
Especially when you consider she saw him stand up to goddamn Fidel Castro 2 for her sake. If she's not interested, that would at least get her to respectfully tell him so.
>Many have fought you! But only I have defeated you! This caption is pretty dumb as it makes this character out to be something important when he's not even named in the story and is nothing more than just a mook.
It's not the ingredient I mind, it's the way it's handled. Apparently Don has spent the past few years feeling so sorry for himself he's content with just looking at his nurse all day because he's convinced asking her out will just make her quit her job in annoyance. It just makes him feel like a spineless loser.
Julian Watson
I've regained the expertise to immediately tell if art is by Dan de Carlo, Stan Goldberg or Al Hartley.
Recently, I started reading these teen humor/glamor titles from before the starting point of these threads. Honestly, the Patsy comics before Hartley are not as engaging. His art makes a huge difference and I think he did much of the basic plotting after the first few years, too.
Why did he spin his hammer to "create shock waves" instead of just... smashing through the door? Maybe that's a Code thing? Like, they didn't want kids to smash doors with hammers, but spinning around with a hammer was considered okay?
His dialogue shows he thinks he's something special. if it were a caption saying that, it might carry more weight but this Red Commie rat fink is just gloating,
>straight up just dumped their boyfriends so they could flirt with their teacher I genuinely love how unapologetically horrible role models these teen protagonists are allowed to be.
This feels like a very forced, pointless way to create drama. For a couple of panels you wonder how Don will use his wits to get out of this and turn into Thor without the scientists noticing but then it turns out he doesn't have to because they're taken away anyway. What was the point of setting up this problem to begin with then
Cameron Harris
Oh, agreed. You wonder how long this has been going on before the first story. It seems that after a while, someone like Jane would have a few dates and Blake would have to deal with it.
Could make a nice story for a romance comic. Don Blake eating his heart out over Jane's dating, set a month before he finds that cane.
Yeah but in Golden/Silver age, whenever the villain said things like this, they were meant to be taken at face value. Remember that this comic is from an age where if Stilt-Man or Paste-Pot-Pete said they were the most powerful thing alive, you were supposed to take them at their word for it and worry how the hero is going to cope with their incredible power.
David Torres
My guess is that was a Jack Kirby detail. He loved showing the heroes find new uses for the powers or do things in a roundabout way. It does provide some variety in the super-feats,.
Reading tons of Patsy Walker stories lately and you're right. She tosses Buzz aside to blatantly chase some guy, she breaks date and cancels plans without any explanation.
And he never gets mad! The worst he says is a puzzled remark about how he'll never understand women. To me, the guy is whipped, if you know what I mean.
i don't think so. Villains did a lot of bragging that wasn't supposed to be taken at face value. "Nothing can stop me!" was said constantly and the reader didn't think it was literally true,
This story from last month was kind of like that It's not a happy ending, but at least it makes the protagonist feel sympathetic. Don's whining does NOT.
Owen Adams
Well, this was the other side of the sexist coin. While women were often treated with unfair dismissal and condescendence back then, it was also considered more normal for them to openly mess with the men's feelings and expect men to jump through hoops to win them over. So no one really benefitted from this.
So, if Blake is making up that story about not serving in the Korean War, what does he really think about his actions in that era?
As a kid, I wondered how far back Don Blake's went. Was everything Blake before Odin created him as a medical student? Did Odin give him false memories of his family and childhood? Friends must have asked him sometimes if he had any brothers or sisters, or even how he injured his leg.
True. Both sides had to play by uncomfortable rules and not be their honest selves. "It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind" was the only reason that needed to be given.
Yep. And that guy in the splash page DID have Thor chained up and helpless, so he was right in that he did defeat Thor.
Aiden Ward
He's technically right, though, this is the first time Thor has been completely overwhelmed like this. Kinda absurd that modern day tech could bind him like that, while Zarrko had nothing comparable in 2263.
