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 December 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 October 1962, part 1 October 1962, part 2 November 1962, part 1 November 1962, part 2
Liam Martinez
The first 6 December 1962 books were all published December 3rd, and are the same titles as those from the first weeks of August and October... with the tiniest little change:
Henry Brooks
Journey into Mystery #89
Here's something quite unique for the time - a superhero cover that just shows a generic illustration of the hero with absolutely no indication what that issue's story is going to involve.
This issue's text story. Reprint from Strange Tales #38 from 1955. We've read this one twice, when it got reprinted in Tales of Suspense #27 back in December '61 and in Tales to Astonish #36 back in July '62.
I know this story often gets criticized for pitting Thor against an ordinary gangster, but I really like how they work Don Blake's role as a doctor into it. The Replicus/Slugger Sykes story in #141 also makes surprisingly good use of the gangland tenement setting.
>even though I haven't the body of Thor, I still have his brain... His thought processes Pretty key moment, the first time it's really been implied there's more to this than just Blake gaining the power of Thor. Him being able to summon Odin and ask for divine assistance like that is very fascinating.
Blake Roberts
Gotta admit, he puts up a decent fight against Thor.
Oliver Brown
Stan actually teases the next issue's story for a change. Are you excited yet?
I don't see a problem with it, none of Thor's previous opponents were portrayed as any real match for him either. They all mostly used hostages to prevent Thor from attacking them.
Jacob Lee
I'm legit interested in what Yea Forums's reactions to Hartley drawing Thor is going to be. Hoo boy.
That IS funny. Early Thor, Ant-Man and the Torch solo strips have so many DC elements that those stories seem, well, un-Marvel looking back,
I'd make a terrible Marvel citizen, though. Seeing the huge super-powered Thor show up wouldn't make me wonder if he was actually the frail doctor with a bum leg. DC did have some amusing stories where someone thought Hal Jordan's brother was Green Lantern, so that's probably how well I'd do figuring things out.
Owen Price
Why would you put an untested guy on such a delicate job?
Camden Rodriguez
"When the Switch is Pulled..." by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, lettering by Artie Simek
This feels like a retread of older, better stories. Brodsky's art is nothing to write home about either. Stan really seems to be losing interest in these scifi stories.
It's kind of confusing at this point. Looking back from the eventual explanation, we can say that Thor's consciousness is reasserting itself over Blake's, But at the time, it didn't make all that much sense,
I think this is my favorite Thor story so far. Thug is pretty fleshed out as a villain and Blake gets into some pretty dangerous territory without his cane here. The Odin sequences add a new dimension to the book that wasn't really there before too.
