Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962)

I hate ants. No, I REALLY hate ants. I seen some horrors in life that revolve around ants. I remember when I was about 7 years old, and there was a kid screaming bloody-murder across the street. His mom had him stripping his clothes off while she sprayed him with a water hose. The screaming continued, followed with, "they're going up my butt!" Horrible. I've also woken up covered in ants, as a friend's little brother had left a peanut butter and jelly sandwich under my bed. Seeing them gathered in massive amounts crawling all over each other is enough to make me sick. I hate ants.

Fantastic Four #6 (September 1962)

The Diabolical Duo! - a name that only Stan Lee could come up with.

When I saw the cover, MAN was I excited! This is the first 'team-up' issue that I've gotten to, and it's the two best villains so far that are teaming up! Before opening this comic, I was already jumping to figure out how this sort of alliance would take place. I GUARANTEE that if I were a reader of the FF back in the day, I would have snatched this issue without so much as taking a second breath. THIS is what comic books are all about! It's the ability to cause excitement, being able to connect to the characters, and having a frame of reference to put it in. These villains have already appeared before, and we know as readers how they fit into the grand scheme of things. This will help to flesh out a little more of the epic story that's taking place (slowly building the Marvel Universe into what it eventually would become), and really is the start of team-ups that will come to make comics great. Obviously, this is only a small taste of things to come!

The Incredible Hulk #3 (September 1962) PART TWO

While he may remind look a little of The Riddler, The Ringmaster is a HELL of a lot cooler than just another Commie villain. Also, he's surrounded by henchmen who look like they came out of the movie Freaks - pretty creepy.

The Incredible Hulk #3 (September 1962) PART ONE

Another trait that is becoming more and more apparent with each of these early character issues is that they continue to discover new powers. The cover of this issue hints at the fact that the Hulk can now fly! Instead of a lumbering land-based monster, the Hulk has now taken to the skies! It turns out that his "flying" is just jumping REALLY high because his leg muscles are so strong. This Incredible Hulk series is a mess though, and by issue 3 it's not difficult to notice that no matter what they try to do to try and make him interesting, he is nowhere near as cool as Thor and the Fantastic Four.

CCA - The Comics Code Authority!

Hrm...is this comic MISSING something?

Another thing that I'm NOW discovering is the meaning behind a symbol that I've been so used to seeing on the front of comics in my youth, that I've never even questioned what it meant. I'm talking about this logo:

Journey Into Mystery #84 (September 1962)

Dr. Don Blake's story is, like Bruce Banner's, is one of living a double life. Sometimes you just have to keep your true identity a secret. Bruce Banner HAS to hide because he turns into a monster at night. If he didn't keep his identity a secret, he would be hunted down during the day when he transforms back into your average Joe (this situation becomes a plot element in future Hulk stories once people start figuring out who he is). As for Donald Blake, I can understand why someone would go to great lengths to keep his power a secret. My only gripe is with the scenario depicted on the cover. If I were to find myself in a life or death situation, surely at first I might try and think of a way to escape WITHOUT making my secret known. However, in the worst case scenario where all hope is lost, a man has to do whatever it takes to live another day and continue to save the world. Right? So my problem with the predicament on the cover is that Donald Blake is shown saying, "It's hopeless! Even Thor can't save me know!" All he has to do is tap his cane on the ground!

The Incredible Hulk #2 (July 1962)

The terror of...THE TOAD MEN! (Didn't we just have toad-like aliens in a recent Fantastic Four issue?)

Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962)

The first thing I saw was Doctor Doom on the cover, and I was ready to go! Dr. Doom has always been the epitome of "the Marvel Villain" to me, alongside Magneto and Thanos, so I was very excited going into this issue. The cover was probably a little misleading to people originally, as it seems to make Doom appear to be a giant behind a plate of glass. Contrary to this, he's actually just your typical human height - and I bet people were a little disappointed once they found out further into the comic. To make matters worse, the first page features a towering Dr. Doom with miniature statues of the Fantastic Four, which makes him look like some sort of puppet master or something.

Journey Into Mystery #83 (August 1962)

Here we have the very first introduction of Thor, God of Thunder. "THE MOST EXCITING SUPER-HERO OF ALL TIME!!" graces the cover, so we already have some pretty high expectations - thanks again Stan Lee!!!!! The cover is actually my favorite so far, and slowly, the art direction is continuing to become more and more dynamic.

Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962)

So here we are, back to the action/villain-oriented cover. This time we know what to expect, and that is Namor: the Sub Mariner.

The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962)

Question: Is he man or monster or...is he both?
Answer: HE'S BOTH! OH MY GOD!


This is yet another one of those origin comics that I'm familiar with, but have never read. I've always been able to picture the cover art, with the giant gray Hulk looming over Bruce Banner. I figured that it was just the cover though, and was shocked to see that the Hulk was still gray on the inside. I quickly thought back:

I have some comics from the 80's where the Hulk is gray...but I know that I've seen comics in the 60's where he's green, so what's the deal? After reading about it further, it turns out that there were printing problems, and I was happy to see the Hulk turn his normal green color in the second issue. As for the later gray Hulk - that will be intention, but I have yet to discover what the Hulk differences are (I know there are several versions, even including a really dumb Hulk, and a really smart one).

Fantastic Four #3 (March 1962)

Ugh - that's the first thing that comes to mind.

The interesting thing is the saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover." The first two covers gave you a good idea of what you'd expect (the conflict, the villains, a dramatic situation), this one, not so much. Instead they use the cover as a means to focus on their new costumes, the Fantasti-car, and secret hide-out. When I first saw the cover, I was a little taken back, but I pushed forward.

Fantastic Four #2 (January 1962)

Wow! The Skrulls!

I've always thought of them as one of the more popular Marvel Universe villains, but had no idea that they entered in so early on. When I think of Skrulls, I always picture the Super Skrulls (for whatever reason), so seeing them here was a little difficult for me to wrap my head around. They just looked so different in their early iteration, with more frog-like features. To be honest though, they really reminded me of some weird aliens out of The Outer Limits or something. I was a little disappointed by them, and this story felt more sci-fi fantasy than superhero. As I'm reading these, I'm noticing more and more that, yeah, it IS more like sci-fi fantasy. There's something that feels reminiscent to Flash Gordon serials with the Fantastic Four - though, as I said previously, the characters are more fleshed out.

Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961)

THIS is THE comic book that started it all for Marvel. It wasn't their first comic (that was actually 22 years before! - Marvel Comics #1), and they weren't even the first Marvel Superheroes (Captain America Comics #1 in 1941). This comic, however, brought realism into the fold of comics - and was one of the first that featured more true-to-life dynamics and storylines.

For example, most comics in those days featured archetypal cardboard cutout heroes. They would save the day, and that was pretty much it. The Fantastic Four was a group of unlucky people who were transformed beyond their control. While three of them were happy to use their powers to help others, the fourth member (The Thing), saw his "blessing" as a curse. He was depressed, bitter, and unappreciative towards the other members of the group. Simply, it made for a great dynamic!

I've grown up reading comics, so I've always known the synopsis for this first issue. I also remember the cover quite fondly - though I had never gotten a chance to peek inside until now. I was surprised by the overall feel of the story. It definitely feels like another era - with callbacks to the Red Scare, the Arms Race, and the overall early Cold War era mindset.

One particularly interesting thing about this story is that it's set up to almost make them seem like villains at the beginning. Mr. Fantastic is a man holding a flare-gun in the shadows, and The Thing is running amok on the streets. Near the end of the first chapter we finally get to see a flashback that describes the events leading up to their biological changes.

The main antagonist of this story is The Moleman - whom I've never found frightening (until now). He commands a horde of strange cave-dwelling monsters that live on a secluded island, and it reminded me of something out of King Kong. I found his origin story to be pretty sad, akin to The Penguin from Batman. He was too ugly for the world around him, so after being shunned by society, he left in order to find a new world in which he could be King (a legendary land in the center of the Earth). He eventually found the cave that lead to the supposed center of the earth, and was so excited that he screamed for joy. The scream caused a cave-in, and he was left blinded by it.



At the end of the story we find out that The Moleman gets away (darn!). Overall, it was a great introduction into the world of Marvel, and it left me wanting more!

Progress for the Month of April

Not much happened.

Went to Coachella. It was awesome!

Going to start up on reading some Marvel comics now in order to get ready for Thor, Captain America, X-Men First Class, and Avengers.