Marvel Monday: Terrorists, Communists, and Carnies

In September of 1962 Fantastic Four became monthly. Added to the monthly titles of Journey into Mystery and Tales to Astonish (both now linked to Superheroes), and the bimonthly Incredible Hulk, Marvel Comics was starting to look like a true superhero lineup. And that started with the return of a familiar face in a new superhero context.

You know he's a superhero this time, because the bad guys are Communists.

Marvel Monday: Ouch! My Science!

Look, I get it. Science and comic books are like oil and water. Comics are a world where FTL is easily attainable, where radiation may as well be magic, and Nuclear Bombs Are Minor Inconveniences.

But sometimes the suspension of disbelief is snapped so completely that you have to wonder what kind of drugs the writers were on. This being July of 1962, I'm going to guess LSD. Welcome to Marvel Monday.

This is almost entirely unlike the actual cover. There was no disco in 1962.

Marvel Monday: Everybody Loves Namor

In May of 1962 Marvel launched their second title exclusively taking place within the Marvelverse, and brought back a Golden Age hero, forever tying the Marvel universe into the Golden Age continuity.

And one of these comics actually was pretty good! Let's look at that one first.

Hulk smash preconceptions of comic book protagonists!

Doctor Whosday: Message In A Bottle

In television parlance, a "Bottle Show" is a show that requires no new sets, and can be made for somewhat cheaper than a normal show. Fresh from their ordeal with the Daleks (as reviewed last week), the Doctor and company deserve a bit of a break, and so they are sent into a two-episode Bottle Show normally referred to as "The Edge of Destruction."

Obviously not actual dialog. In the show, Ian is more of a Jem fan.

The plot of this two-parter is not the greatest. It's got plot holes, a lot of twists that aren't really ever explained, and a conclusion that seems unsatisfying and petty. But the plot is almost incidental. The real joy of this serial is seeing our regular cast cooped up inside a TARDIS plagued by mysterious malfunctions, forced to deal with their tensions and develop as a group. They enter as disparate, and often antagonistic characters. They unite as a team of heroes that will weather the next year together.

And all it took was them almost getting blown up.

Marvel Monday: Character Development Without Character

With the story of Henry Pym being just a one-off, March of 1962 saw only the Fantastic Four published in the Marvelverse. Issue #3 saw the introduction of a lot of Fantastic Four paraphernalia, and also saw the tensions between team members come to a head. If only they had done a single story that made me care about any of them. As always, you can get a non-critical synopsis of the issue over at the Marvel Wiki.

Sue made the uniforms, because woman's work and all that. After seeing them, Reed
suggests she could work for Dior. Lying to Sue keeps her from realizing she's a tool.

When last we left our intrepid heroes terrorists, they had been pardoned by the New York Police Department, who apparently can override the military in Marvel's mixed up topsy turvy universe. So, having escaped the consequences of their horrifically destructive actions, the Fantastic Four decide to spend their downtime taking in a stage magician's show.

Marvel Monday: I Was A Teenage Ant-Man

After a difficult, but definitely ground-breaking start, there were no new Marvelverse comics in 1961. But they made up for it in January of 1962 by publishing not one, but two Marvelverse comics... although one would only become part of the Marvelverse retroactively.

I am speaking of Tales to Astonish #27, which introduces fandom's favorite punching bag, Henry Pym. Wait, what's that? Referring to Pym in any way that mentions punching, striking, or hitting is in incredibly poor taste? Okay then.

If I seem to be harping on this for a bit, it is only because, as a non-Marvel reader, Henry's wife-beating was practically all I knew about him before reading this. Oh sure, I'd seen him in some episodes of Saban's Avengers, but he was so bland in that rather bland cartoon that I cannot recall anything about him.

So in many ways, this is my first introduction to the character. And it is an odd one.

Marvel Monday: One Giant Leap for Comics, One Small Step for Art

A possibly slightly altered version of the original cover.

In November of 1961 a comic would be released that would change comics forever.

At least, that is what everyone has said since then. And to be fair, Fantastic Four #1 is a big step out of the golden age and into the modern age of comics. They fight with each other! They don't have secret identities! They fight with each other! They have complex relationships! Did I mention that they fight with each other?

Because these guys get along like Putin and the Ukraine. Hah! Topical humor! By the time I get to current Marvel Comics we can all look back and laugh at how dated that makes this blog.