Journey Into Mystery #85 (October 1962)

Right off the bat, it might just be the cover, but there's already a lot of reading.

I've begun to realize that the Thor stories are always a lot of fun, the Fantastic Four are hit-and-miss, Ant Man is just weird, the Hulk is never good but has promise, and I still hate the Human Torch. Here is yet another fun Thor story.

Strange Tales #101 (October 1962)

Starring the "Fabulous Human Torch", this was about as exciting as an issue of the Incredible Hulk. The issue begins by telling us (once again) why Johnny Storm is a cool kid. We get another glimpse of his origin story, followed by an explanation as to why his identity is still a secret, despite the fact that he made it a very public thing in other stories.

Tales to Astonish #35 (September 1962)

It took eight months after Henry Pym's first appearance in Tales to Astonish #27 for him to return, and from then on he remained an enduring character in the Marvel Universe (at least until the 80's when Bob Hall drew him striking his wife across the face in Avengers #213). People probably reacted the same way I did after reading that debut issue: "it's such a great story, but that's it?" As with many other Marvel creations in that era, there WAS a great concept hiding beneath the surface, but it was going to need some fine tuning before it could become anything special. OK, Henry Pym was going to need a LOT of fine tuning.