Prototypes, schmototypes: Part 1

THE IDEA OF PROTOTYPES FIRST STARTED APPEARING DURING THE 1980s, in the Overpriced Street Guide. Given that many Big Name comic dealers in the US are listed as "Advisors to the Guide", you have to wonder who it is that benefits from some pre-hero Marvel books being priced at two or three times the value of the issues on either side.

Though not listed in the Price Guide as a "prototype" as such, I would make a strong case for Kid Colt's Panther being a genuine prototype for The Fantastic Four's Panther, appearing a full ten months later.

So first, let's be clear what a prototype is. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (as good as any) gives the meaning as "an individual [item] that exhibits the essential features of a later type". So, a test version, if you will. Which means that almost none of the comics listed in The Guide as "prototypes" are prototypes. Coincidental or superficial resemblances, maybe. Re-use of names, sometimes. Capitalising on earlier accidental successes, occasionally. But prototypes, I think not.

I've managed to count 38 instances of what others have claimed to be prototypes in the pre-hero Marvel fantasy titles which Bob Overstreet and the editorial team appear to have accepted without question or investigation. Looks like I'm going to have to do the digging myself.

STRANGE TALES 67 (Feb 1959)

This is the earliest pre-hero book that is claimed to feature a prototype, in the story "I Was the Invisible Man". Adam Clayton gains the ability - by scientific means - to move at super-speed, making him essentially invisible.

In both stories drawn by Jack Kirby, the intention in the Strange Tales tale is that Adam Clayton moves so fast, he's invisible. But in X-Men 4 (Mar 1964), Pietro is visible as a green blur.

The speed power is the only similarity to Pietro Maximoff (aka Quicksilver). Adam Clayton is not a mutant, doesn't have silver hair and doesn't have a sister called Wanda (that is revealed). If anything, Clayton is direct steal from DC's The Flash (who had already appeared in four issues of Showcase by this time) as both acquire their powers in a science laboratory.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

STRANGE TALES 69 (Jun 1959)

"The World that was Lost" is another Jack Kirby story that some would have us believe features a prototype for the X-Men's Professor X, though I can't see it myself. Yes, I'll grant you that Linus Vermeer is bald and in a wheelchair, but the resemblance stops there.

Again, both strips are drawn by Jack Kirby, though the Strange Tales script is credited to Carl Wessler, so it's unlikely there's any connection between the two stories at all.

Far from being a powerful telepath, Vermeer turns out to be not even human. Can you guess his secret? Did you notice the faint smell of fish?

Verdict: Not a prototype.

FIRST GIANT MONSTERS (Autumn 1959)

During the autumn of 1959, the post-Atlas titles took a change in direction and began featuring giant monsters menacing the world. Some have speculated that this was just publisher Martin Goodman clambering aboard the Godzilla bandwagon, and in fairness that's a real possibility.

Strange Tales 70 (Aug 1959) led the charge a little earlier than the others (Sep 1959), but the colossal creatures came to define the pre-Marvel comics and in my part of London, even the non-comics kids called these "monster comics".

So, not exactly prototype issues but certainly the first of a trend that would last until the monsters were pushed aside by Stan and Jack's roster of superheroes in the early part of the 1960s.

STRANGE TALES 70 (Aug 1959)

"A Giant Walks the Earth" is listed in the Price Guide as being a prototype for Giant-Man. Admittedly, the vertically-challenged Wilbur Fiske does become a giant man during the course of the tale, but claiming him to be a forerunner of Giant-Man is a bit of a stretch. You'd have just as much luck claiming he was a prototype for The Kingpin.

So yes, he is a giant and, yes, he did take a self-developed serum to become huge, but it's not like Wilbur is the first ever giant in comics.

There are many precedents for giants in fiction, any one of which could have sparked the inspiration for Stan and Jack to transform Ant-Man into Gi-Ant-Man. And, of course, this wasn't the first time a giant had appeared in a Marvel fantasy tale.

Strange Adventures 28 (Jan 1953), 76 (Jan 1957), Journey into Mystery 55 (Nov 1959) and Amazing Adult Fantasy 14 (Jul 1962) could all be said to have inspired Giant-Man ... if you're that desperate.

Rather than inspiring Henry Pym's superhero alter ego, these tales were more likely inspired by such contemporary sci-fi movies as Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and Attack of the 50ft Woman (1958).

As a counterpoint, Hank Pym is a little less stratospheric than Wilbur. He also wears a costume and does, like, superhero stuff.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

TALES TO ASTONISH 5 (Sep 1959)

As well as being the first issue of the title to offer giant monsters on its cover - an event more noteworthy than any alleged prototype appearance - it's also claimed by some to be the forerunner of the Stone Men from Saturn that featured as the villains in the first ever appearance of Thor in Journey into Mystery 83 (Aug 1962).

Were the Stone Men featured in Tales to Astonish 5 a trial run for the aliens faced by the newly minted Thor in Journey into Mystery 83? Based on the evidence I'd say, No.

But that's a claim that's difficult to justify, given that very similar stone men were featured in an issue of DC's House of Mystery several months earlier, also drawn by Jack Kirby during his brief stint at DC before joining Marvel in late 1959.

Yep, that the Stone Men again, also drawn by Jack Kirby, though here the Kirby inks a quite a bit more attractive than the below-par job offered by Christopher Rule in the Astonish story. 

The trope was one that Marvel and Kirby would go on to use several more times before the Thunder God made his superhero debut a couple of years later, which I think casts serious doubt that this is nothing but a re-used comics cliche and a special favourite of Jack Kirby's.

Did you ever have a feeling of deja vu? The whole "Stone Men of Easter Island" would get hauled out and re-used by Kirby many times during the pre-hero Marvel years. Click image to enlarge.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

TALES OF SUSPENSE 7 (Jan 1960)

"I Fought the Molten Man-Thing" is cited in the Overstreet Price Guide as featuring a prototype for Thor's foe The Lava Man from Journey into Mystery 97 (Oct 1963). And in all fairness, both are living creatures composed of lava. But at the same time they bear little physical resemblance to each other.

Not only is he a Molten Man-Thing, he's a hyphenated Man-Thing as well. Nice Ditko inks on the art job, by the way.

I think I could just as easily make a case that Suspense's Man-Thing creature was a prototype for Marvel's much later Man-Thing, if there wasn't already ample evidence for the Muck-Monster being a swipe from Hillman's 1940's character The Heap.

It's a tough decision ... which would you say was inspired by the monster in Tales of Suspense 7? I'm going to go with, Neither.

So for me, not something I would seek out because of any tenuous similarity to a later Marvel supervillain.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

TALES TO ASTONISH 7 (Jan 1960)

As with many of these early Marvel tales that are listed as prototypes, "We Met in the Swamp" does have a couple of similarities to the later story it is supposed to have inspired. Both strips were scripted by Stan Lee, pencilled by Jack Kirby and inked by Steve Ditko, but of course that's not enough on its own.

OK, these aliens are hobbit-sized, like the Toad Men ... and they wear hats, like the Toad Men ... and they're both drawn by Kirby and Ditko. Erm ... that's it. 

I supposed there is a slight similarity between the unnamed aliens in Tales to Astonish 7 and the later Toad Men in Incredible Hulk 2 (Jul 1962), but that's to be expected from the same art team depicting pint-sized invaders.

If there are any perceived similarities between to two sets of aliens, I seriously doubt that while drawing Hulk 2 either Kirby or Ditko remembered drawing the earlier ETs, let alone trawled though back issues of Astonish to find an alien race to re-use.

But I think we can all agree that it's a bit of a stretch to claim that the little uglies from Astonish are an early appearance of The Toad Men from Hulk 2, yes?

Verdict: Not a prototype.

STRANGE TALES 73 (Feb 1960)

Oh, come on ... this is just getting silly now. How is a giant-size ant any kind of inspiration for Ant-Man, an ant-sized human? 

Grottu is a house-size ant that is actively attacking humans in continental Africa. He's defeated when the resourceful humans dowse him with sugar, causing the smaller ants to swarm and attack their leader.

If anything, "Grottu, King of Insects" is a low-rent swipe of the outstanding Atom-Age science fiction movie Them (1954), the key difference being that the ants in Them continue to behave like ants regardless of their increased size.

Like Grottu, the ants in Them were the result of atomic testing causing the creatures to mutate and grow in size. Unlike Them Grottu had also evolved sentient intelligence.

I can think of at least one earlier Marvel story that resembles the concept of Ant-Man more closely than this. In the story, "I Landed on the Forbidden Planet" in Tales to Astonish 5 (Sep1959) spaceman Tim Corey lands on a planet where he is comparatively insect-sized and even rides on the back of an ant.

Here's a Marvel pre-hero character riding on the back of an ant. However, this isn't listed as a "prototype" in the Price Guide. 

It's possible that no one noticed the Ant-Man parallel in the Astonish story, but unlikely. So I'm even more puzzled as to what's driving this prototype narrative.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

TALES OF SUSPENSE 9 (May 1960)

In the Overstreet Price Guide, next to Tales of Suspense 9, it says "Iron Man prototype". But when you actually take the trouble to read the comic, you'll find that the protagonist and his quarry are both robots. Iron Man is not a robot.

This has to be the most desperate "prototype" so far ... even though the main character John is a robot, not a human in an iron suit, Tales of Suspense 9 is listed as a dry run for Iron Man ... except it's not.

Even odder, this is a sequel to the story "It Walks by Night" in the previous issue of Suspense, featuring the same robot, John. Yet Suspense 8 is not listed in the guide as a prototype.

Verdict: Definitely not a prototype.

STRANGE TALES 75 (Jun 1960)

Undeterred, the Price Guide takes another stab at labelling a pre-hero Marvel story as a prototype for Iron Man (Note to Bob Overstreet - they can't all be prototypes. Only the first one can.)

H'mm ... "The Hulk". That would be a great name for a monstrous anti-hero, perhaps one possessed of great strength. But instead of grey, we could make him green - oh, wait ...

"I Made the Hulk Live!" features a giant robot, piloted from the inside by its inventor, Albert Poole, a bit like the manga character Gundam and not very much like the Marvel character Iron Man.

It's strange that the Price Guide doesn't consider this story a prototype for The Hulk. It's the earliest use of the name by Stan that I have found so far. There may be earlier examples, and there's certainly later ones. 

Curiously, Stan has long claimed that he wracked his brains to think of a name for his new, Thing-like anti-hero. In his autobiography Excelsior, Stan would describe how the name came about. "I needed a name for this monstrous, potentially murderous, hulking brute, who ... whoa! 'Hulking brute' is the exact description, and instantly I knew 'hulking' was the adjective. Well, it wasn't much of a stretch to go from 'hulking' to 'hulk', which sounded like the perfect noun." This despite having used the name three or four times before Dr Banner ever turned green. But I digress ...

All in all, just another case of someone, somewhere, trying to boost the value of a pre-hero Marvel book with the slenderest of links to a later superhero character.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

STRANGE TALES 76 (Jul 1960)

I might be imagining it, but as I go through the list in chronological order each of these alleged prototypes seems more absurd than the last. In the case of "I Am Dragoom, the Flaming Invader", the Price Guide claims that fiery alien Dragoom is a prototype for The Human Torch. What? Wait ... isn't, um, The Human Torch in Marvel Comics 1 (Oct 1939) a prototype for The Human Torch in Fantastic Four 1 (Nov 1961)?

If there's anything human about Dragoom from planet Vulcan, I must have missed it. The only similarity I could see was in the way Jack Kirby draws fire.

Call me crazy if you like, but I'm not the one pretending that Dragoom is anything other than a flame monster, predated by 22 years by Carl Burgos' wildly successful creation for Martin Goodman's first foray into comic book publishing.

Hey, what's this? I do believe it's the source for the ret-conned Fantastic Four version of the Human Torch.

Verdict: Nope, not a prototype.

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 62 (Nov 1960)

This is one of my favourite alleged prototypes. Believe it or not, this is supposed to be a prototype for The (Incredible) Hulk.

One of the first pre-hero characters to be named as a prototype, even though Stan Lee had already used the name for another metal monster five months earlier in Strange Tales 75.

Yes, easy mistake to make. They're both named "The Hulk", they're both quite big and ... okay, you got me. There aren't any other similarities. In fact, the Journey into Mystery Hulk is a metal alien called Xemnu who escaped from a prison planet and hypnotised the citizens of Earth to build him a huge spaceship. The other Hulk ... well, you wouldn't like him when he's angry.

And he's back ... not quite sure how the second appearance of a character can in any way be a prototype for another character down the line. Maybe one of the Price Guide "advisors" can explain it.

Xemnu is one of the few Marvel Monsters who returned in a sequel, just four months later in Journey into Mystery 66. Laughably, that's labelled as a prototype issue in the Price Guide, as well.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

STRANGE TALES 78 (Nov 1960)

OK, I'll grant you, there are some similarities between Worm Man in Strange Tales 78 and the later appearance of Henry Pym in Tales to Astonish 27 (Jan 1962). Both use scientific methods to shrink to insect size and both find themselves trapped at that size. But the Henry Pym character is better fleshed out and even in this first appearance manages to strike a bond between himself and one of the ants he encounters while tiny. And Pym isn't a criminal.

I don't think you'd get many takers for a super-hero called Worm Man. Lee and Ditko's tale of karmic retribution is typical of the five-pagers the pair were knocking out in the early 1960s, with nary a whiff of superhero intent.

In a way, Hank's first appearance in Astonish 27 is actually the true prototype - a first appearance by a character who would later go on to become a superhero. There's no indication in that first story that the character is any different from any of Stan's other protagonists in the pre-hero Marvel fantasy tales. Whether it was reader reaction or Stan having a brainwave that later prompted Marvel to develop Dr Pym into Ant-Man we'll never really know.

Verdict: Probably not a prototype.

STRANGE TALES 79 (Dec 1960)

This one really has me puzzled. The Price Guide clearly states that this is "79-Prototype ish (Dr. Strange)(12/60)". But I've been through that issue cover to cover twice and I cannot see any indication of anything that looks remotely like it might have inspired Doctor Strange. 

The Thing is Here, but there's no sign of anyone resembling Doctor Strange. And this cover doesn't bear any resemblance to anything in the stories in this issue.

"I Was in the Clutches of the Living Shadow" tells the tale of a UFO believer who is captured by two-dimensional shadow aliens.

"The Ghost of Grismore Castle" has a a practical joker challenge his friend Victor to stay overnight in a haunted house, then sets up a bunch of fake apparitions. It's Victor that turns out to be the real ghost.

"I Found the Perfect Hiding Place" Harry Stubbs plans a jewelry heist then tries to escape into the past in his time machine. But he ends up trapped in an alien dimension where his stolen jewels are worthless.

"The Thing on the Moon" The first earthmen on the moon find a fertile area, then encounter a giant robot who tells them the moon has been claimed centuries before by the people of Atlantis.

I can only guess that the cover art by Kirby and Ditko is meant to represent the story "The Thing on the Moon", though the creature on the cover is very different to the monster in the story.

So we might have to park this one as ... a mistake.

Verdict: Definitely not a prototype.

TALES TO ASTONISH 14 (Dec 1960)

I know, right? We did a Giant-Ant-as-a-Protype-for-Ant-Man in Strange Tales 73, and I wasn't convinced then that Grottu was any kind of prototype for Ant-Man. Here we have another giant ant with intelligence - essentially a re-tread of the earlier story, with the Price Guide claiming that this is a prototype for Ant-Man.

Krang (great name, Marvel should re-use that sometime) is a giant ant with human intelligence ... a bit like Grottu ... or The Scarlet Beetle.

What Krang might be a prototype for is the Scarlet Beetle that appeared in Tales to Astonish 39 (Jan 1963) as the villain in the Ant-Man story (coincidently one of my favourite Ant-Man adventures. I mean, both are red, both are big, both are smart enough to talk ...

I covered this story in more depth in the third episode of this very blog, way back in 2013 - definitely a fond favourite of mine.

But Krang as a prototype for Ant-Man? I don't think so.

Verdict: Not a prototype.

AN APOLOGY

I had hoped to wrap this up in one entry, but there's just too many of these prototypes to cover in one go. So I hope I'm not testing your patience by cutting this short here and continuing with the second half of my analysis of Marvel pre-hero prototypes (1961 - 1962) next time.

Next: Yet more (alleged) prototypes

The Best Marvel Annual: Fantastic Four 1

MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE COMIC ANNUAL IS AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 1, which I covered here nine years ago. But running it a close second is the first Fantastic Four Annual.

My second favourite Marvel Comics annual.

On the newsstands in the U.S. on 3 Sep 1963, this is Marvel's fifth 25-cent annual (tying with Patsy and Hedy Annual 1) although, as noted in my earlier post, DC had been pumping out reprint 25-centers from mid-1960 onwards. It features the sixth Silver Age appearance of Namor the Sub-Mariner in an epic-length clash with the entire human race, and is almost all-new material.

Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner was reintroduced during the Silver Age in Fantastic Four 4 (May 1962), then returned in issues 6 (Sep 1962), 9 (Dec 1962) and 14 (May 1963), making a sidebar appearance in Strange Tales 107 (Apr 1963) along the way.

It's interesting that editor Stan Lee decided to go with the Sub-Mariner for the first FF annual rather than Doctor Doom (who would be the antagonist for the following year's annual) but it's likely that Stan felt Namor's backstory allowed for more spectacle than the still under-developed Doctor Doom.

With much pageant and heraldry, Namor arrives in the newly-restored Atlantis for his own coronation, though we never get to find out just how The Sub-Mariner was able to track down his people.

And spectacular it is, opening with a vista of the restored kingdom of Atlantis, and its blue-skinned inhabitants back in their rightful abode. But wait ... hasn't Namor been searching for his lost people since Fantastic Four 4? Yet Stan and Jack choose to gloss over the reunion, merely mentioning it in a caption box on page 2 - "The mighty Sub-Mariner has finally found his long-lost undersea kingdom." It's a bit of a missed opportunity, but I can see why Jack would want to get straight into the action.

Probably Jack Kirby's first double page spread for Marvel Comics, the two pages look to have been drawn separately, as they don't quite match up in the way a single drawing would. Pretty cool all the same.

So, in order to demonstrate himself worthy to lead the Atlanteans in their battle against the surface people, Namor incites some of his pet sea monsters to start harassing the shipping lanes of the Atlantic. By sheer coincidence, it's exactly at this time that Reed Richards decides the team needs a holiday, and books them on to a restful sea cruise, with one eye on investigating the strange goings on across the world's oceans.

Investigating the appearance of sea monsters, the FF's rowing boat is captured inside an organic air-sac and dragged to the bottom of the ocean. If only Sue Storm had been able to throw a force field round them ... but she wouldn't get that power until Fantastic Four 22 (Jan 1964).

We don't have to wait long until the monsters show up and the FF take to a small boat to investigate. This was one of the problems I have with Jack's plotting details. Nobody in their right mind would go after a sea monster in a rowing boat ... except maybe for Captain Ahab ... oh, wait. Of course, they're easily captured by Namor, who simply insists they present his demands to the United Nations and he'll leave the surface people alone. And with that, he uses one of his implausible undersea contraptions to hurl them back to New York.

The origin sequence, narrated by "Dr G W Falton", is the first mention in the Marvel Age of the idea that Namor is a mutant. I'd argue against that, as Namor is the  result of combining two different sets of genes, rather than having slightly altered DNA to his parents.

Reed loses no time in setting up a special session at the UN and invited speaker Dr G. W. Falton offers a capsule history of Atlantis and the origin of the Sub-Mariner. Quite how he knows so much about Namor and his people isn't called into question. So it's not a massive surprise when the true identity of Dr Falton is revealed.

If Reed's supposed to be able to squeeze his entire body through the tiniest pinhole, I'm not convinced now that heavy equipment falling on him would hurt him in any way. A No-Prize is on offer if you can explain it to me.

Prince Namor must have been expecting the meeting at the UN to go badly, as he has his troops standing by in New York harbour for immediate deployment. With the element of surprise it's only a matters of hours before the Atlanteans are in control of Manhattan. And before the Fantastic Four can formulate an effective response, Reed is injured while preparing a device to combat Namor and his troops. Luckily, Reed just about managed to complete the device and Ben and Johnny know where the On switch is.

With his armies driven back into the sea, Namor tries to take on the FF alone. But even his power isn't enough and he resorts to escape instead, taking Sue Storm with him. 

The effect is immediate and devastating. Namor's troops are deprived of their life-giving water and are forced to abandon the battle and return to the sea. Now the FF just have The Sub-Mariner himself to deal with. Taking the fight to the Baxter Building, Namor goes a few rounds with the FF members until, outclassed, he's also forced to flee back to open waters, but he takes a hostage with him. Quite literally hot on his heels, The Human Torch gives chase while Ben and Reed get the experimental U-Car ready to follow.

The fighting is brought to a halt when the Fantastic Three and Namor realise that Sue Storm's life is in danger.

While Namor battles the FF above the waves, below aboard the Atlantean flagship, Sue Storm's presence has sparked rivalries and jealousies. Lady Dorma, realising that Namor and Sue have feelings each other floods the ship with seawater. Interestingly, it's Warlord Krang who seems concerned for Sue's safety. By the time the Atlanteans next appeared (in Fantastic Four 33, Dec 1964), Dorma is a more sympathetic character.

The various plotlines are wrapped up in a very hurried fashion, as though Jack Kirby saw the 37th page cantering up and had to squeeze what should have been four or five pages into two. The story might have been better served by dropping a couple of the pinups.

Not surprisingly, Sue almost drowns unnoticed by the combatants above, until Ben spots her trapped in kelp at the seabed. Their grudge-fest momentarily forgotten, the two combine forces to free The Invisible Girl and bring her to the surface. Over the FF's objections, The Sub-Mariner orders his people off the Atlantean flagship and hastens to deliver Sue Storm to a New York hospital for the proper medical attention. And that's pretty much it.

What seemed at the time like an epic, widescreen spectacular, doesn't seem to hold up quite so well today. With my reading of it for this blog entry, it definitely has Jack Kirby's plotting fingerprints all over it and isn't terribly well-structured.

Breaking it down, it goes like this:

Scene 1 - Namor in a restored Atlantis (4 pgs)

Scene 2 - Horseplay in the Baxter Building, Reed mentions the sea monster sightings (4 pgs)

Scene 3 - The FF take a cruise, see the Monsters, take off after them in rowboat (2 pgs)

Scene 4 - FF Captured by Namor, who orders them to present his demands to the UN, then frees them (3 pgs)

Scene 5 - At the UN, expert "G W Falton" lectures on the origins of Namor and Atlantis and is revealed to be Namor (6 pgs)

Scene 6 - Namor's army invades and takes NY, Reed uses a super weapon to drive them back to the sea (6 pgs)

Scene 7 - Now alone, Namor grabs Sue and returns to Atlantis (2 pgs)

Scene 8 - FF follow and give battle, Sue is injured (7 pgs)

Scene 9 - Namor rushes Sue to NY for medical treatment but is gone by the time Reed catches up (3 pgs)

It's only my opinion, but I think Scenes 3 and 4 just slow the story down. I'd rather have seen the FF investigating in the Fantastic-Car, perhaps having a battle with one of the sea monsters. As it is Namor captures them a bit easily, and then releases them with a message for the UN. Why not just address the UN himself? Why the folderol of posing as an "eminent" expert (who no one's heard of) to tell the story of Atlantis? It would have been more powerful if Namor had told it as himself. And Scene 9 could have used another couple of pages to show us that Namor has saved Sue Storm but lost his kingdom, rather than glossing over that big event in a caption box.

I think Stan left Jack too much on his own with this one, and by the time the art showed up in the Bullpen, it was too late for do-overs.

THE EXTRAS

One of the funnest parts of these old Silver Age annuals is the extras Stan would throw in, something we never got in the DC Annuals. And this one is no exception. We get 11 pinups of old foes, three pages explaining the FF's powers and a schematic of the Baxter Building, a bonus retelling of Spider-Man meeting the Fantastic Four from Amazing Spider-Man 1, all rounded out with the first 13 pages of Fantastic Four 1 for any latecomers.

As a listing of what had gone before, these pinups might be interesting to some newer readers, but they don't give much insight into what any of these foes were capable of ... they don't tell the story. An opportunity missed. Click to enlarge.

The pinups are okay, but look a bit like Jack Kirby knocked them off in a single day. I was never the sort of kid who ripped out pinups and stuck them on the wall. Also the pinups here didn't all have ads on the other side, so you'd be faced with some tough choices about which side to display.

What struck me in looking at this handy-dandy guide to the Fantastic Four and their skyscraper HQ is how the characters and set up owe quite a bit to the team dynamics of the pulp characters Doc Savage and his team.

Much more entertaining to me were the two pages explaining the powers of the Fantastic Four and the guide to the Baxter Building. What did occur to me when revisiting these pages was just how much the FF draws upon Doc Savage and his band for inspiration. It's especially apparent when you compare the Baxter Building to Doc's HQ on the 86th floor of "Manhattan's tallest building", which also had express elevators, science labs, a library and living quarters.

While Doc Savage had other companions he relied on - Renny, Johnny and Long Tom - Ham and Monk were by far the most popular, constantly insulting and playing tricks on each other. Though Pat was often seen as a "pest" by Doc, she was every bit as capable as the others.

It's easy to match scientific genius/inventor Reed Richards to Doc Savage. Doc's most popular companions, Monk and Ham, appeared in more adventures than any other team members and just like Ben and Johnny, were constantly "friendly feuding". Pat Savage was Doc's cousin and often invited herself along on Doc's adventures. Both Ham and Monk thought she was a "peach", though Doc felt that dangerous adventures were no pastime for a female.

The Kult of Kirby have long claimed that the case for Jack being the sole creator of the FF can be proved by how similar The Fantastic Four are to Challengers of the Unknown (actually a Simon & Kirby creation). In my view the characterisations of Reed Richards' band of heroes are much closer to Doc Savage's team, which neither Stan nor Jack have claimed any close affinity to.

In Amazing Spider-Man 1, the second story pit Spidey against the forgettable Chameleon. But in there somewhere, he tried to apply for membership in the FF ... and we all know how that turned out.

Another interesting feature is this annual was a re-telling of the FF's first encounter with Spider-Man, which originally happened in the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man (Mar 1963), occupied barely three pages.

Rather than simply re-using some of the panels from Amazing Spider-Man 1, Kirby redrew almost exact copies of much of the art, reworked slightly to fit in to the expanded continuity.

For the Annual, Stan and Jack expanded the scene to six pages and Ditko was drafted in as inker to give the art some visual continuity, probably because Kirby's Spider-Man was never terribly convincing.

While Ditko's inking helps with the Spider-Man figures, I don't think his work over Kirby's pencils is especially good. He did a better job on FF 13 a few months earlier, but still wasn't getting The Thing's hide right.

I had speculated in an earlier blog entry that this retelling was a substitute for another six-page Spider-Man/Human Torch encounter which ended up in Amazing Spider-Man 8 (Jan 1964). But in retrospect, this no longer seems plausible. The key evidence is the Job Numbers, which I admit I never thought to check before.

The Job Number for the six-page "The Fabulous Fantastic Four Meet Spider-Man" in the FF Annual is X-344. This is consistent with the other Job Numbers we can see in the Annual:

• X-324 - "The Sub-Mariner vs the Human Race", main story
• X-343 - Questions and Answers About the Fantastic Four
• X-206 - The Mad Thinker Pinup

The story in Amazing Spider-Man 8, "Spider-Man Tackles The Torch" was likely created some considerable time later, as its Job Number is X-529.

The Mad Thinker pinup Job Number is quite a bit adrift from the others, and was probably created right after Kirby finished up on Fantastic Four 15 ("The Fantastic Four Battle The Mad Thinker and his Android of Doom", Jun 1963), as that story has a Job Number of X-191, and several weeks before he started on the FF Annual in earnest. I note that the Job Number on Fantastic Four 17 (Aug 1963) is X-315, and for Fantastic Four 18 (Sep 1963) it's X-361, so Kirby would handed in the art for the FF Annual in right between those two FF issues.

And finally, the reprint of the first 13 pages of Fantastic Four 1. Except that it's not just a reprint. As often happened with the evolving appearances of characters in the Marvel Silver Age, just doing a straight reprint would probably have confused readers a little.

Above left: Dragoom from Strange Tales 76. Centre: The Human Torch as he appeared in the original printing of Fantastic Four 1. Above right: The Torch as depicted - altered by Sol Brodsky - in the reprint of FF1 published in FF Annual 1.

Back in Fantastic Four 1, The Human Torch was a shapeless mass of flame, not unlike the fire creature "Dragoom" in Strange Tales 76 (Aug 1960). Kirby had probably drawn him this way to look less like the original Human Torch from the 1940s' Timely Comics. But as the months went by, the look of Johnny Storm's flaming alter-ego changed quite quickly and by FF3 had become the red humanoid figure we're most familiar with. At the time Fantastic Four Annual 1 was published, the main FF title was already up to issue 17, and if Johnny's flame form had been left as is, most readers would be wondering who the fiery guy was and what happened to Johnny.

EDIT: Kid Robson sent me some scans from the first issue of Fantastic Four 1, so I've taken a moment to edit them together so you can directly compare the other alterations that were made to the reprint in FF Annual 1.

Though it's not the most significant change, Marvel's production department altered the masthead of page 1 to remove the inset pictures of the FF and replace them with giant lettering.

A little more interestingly, you can see here how Sol Brodsky (and his team if he had one at this time) made changes to reduce the height of Ben Grimm and to make Reed a little fuller in the face, to match their appearances in later FF stories.

The Thing's stature is considerably reduced in the reprint, making him more like six foot tall (noticeably shorter than The Hulk during the same period). And in the panel on the right, Reed's face has been made less gaunt. Yet weirdly, Ben is the same height as Reed and Johnny in FF1 and only Sue's height has been increased in the reprint.

And here's another image of the Fantastic Four, from both issue 1 and the altered version from the Annual, where the art changes on Reed are more apparent.

So in Fantastic Four 1, Reed was depicted as thin in the face and with more grey hair. In the altered reprint, Brodsky has filled out Reed's features and toned down the grey above his ears.

Coming back and looking over Fantastic Four Annual 1 with fresh eyes, I think I may have been swayed by other historians in my assessment of it. I still don't think it's as good as Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1 (Sep 1964), and Fantastic Four Annual 3 (Sep 1965) might actually be more fun. As spectacular as the 37-page epic is, it's not without its problems in pacing and general storytelling. And the pinups, inked for the most part by Kirby himself, seem rushed and lacking in detail, though none of that would have bothered me when I first saw this annual around 1966.

The three other Marvel Annuals for 1963 - Millie was all new material; Strange Tales Annual 2 had an 18-page Torch/Spidey story pencilled by Kirby and the Patsy and Hedy Annual was all reprint, still a lot to manage on top of the regular titles.

That said, we should also consider what else was going on in 1963, a massive expansion year for the burgeoning Marvel Comics. Around the same time that Jack Kirby was working on the FF Annual, he was also crafting the first issues of The Avengers and The X-Men, issue 18 of Fantastic Four, Sgt Fury 3 and the Human Torch/Spider-Man cross-over for Strange Tales Annual 2. And although Stan had given him some respite by taking him off the Thor strip in Journey into Mystery for the mid-part of 1963, he still was expected to draw covers for that title, along with Kid Colt Outlaw, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Two-Gun Kid. So, yes, some aspects of the Fantastic Four Annual may have looked a bit rushed, but not without good reason.

I still have a couple more Annuals on my list to look at, but that can wait until another time.

Next: Prototype, Schmototype

Marvel Comics Cover Gallery - 1958

COMPARED TO 1957, MARVEL'S OUTPUT FOR 1958 was a pretty sorry-looking affair. From a high of 45 titles in April 1957, their output had plummeted to just eight comics a month, a consequence of Martin Goodman's attempt to chisel a few extra dollars by folding his own Atlas Distribution and signing a contract with the doomed American News Company (ANC). It didn't end well.

JANUARY 1958

Although cover-dated for the first month on 1958, this batch of titles - no longer Atlas, but not yet Marvels - went on sale during September 1957.

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The lineup consisted of two romance books, two teen humour titles, two westerns, a war book and a kiddie comic, Homer the Happy Casper ripoff. This would remain the lineup for most of the year.

Though Stan had been made to let most of the Bullpen go, Joe Maneely was still one of his go-to artists, providing the cover art for Gunsmoke Western and Kid Colt. The romance titles continued with covers by the Vince Colletta studio. Dan De Carlo, not yet departed for Archie, drew covers for Homer and Millie and the war comic cover was by Bill Everett. These may have been inventory pieces, but as the year wore on, Stan would have to start commissioning again.

FEBRUARY 1958

Similarly, the even-numbered months in 1958 carried on with the same lineup that Goodman had instigated at the end of 1957, when his comic line was up and running again. Of these February-dated books the earliest on sale was Strange Tales 61 on 27 Sep 1957 and the latest was Patsy Walker 75 on 28 Oct 1957.

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That month gave us a pair of war books (covers by Bill Everett) and couple of teen humour titles (art by Patsy regular Al Hartley), two westerns (covers by Joe Maneely) and a brace of mystery books long-time Marvel stalwarts Bill Everett on Strange Tales and Carl Burgos on World of Fantasy.

Looking at the output for these first two months, it dawned on me that there was a reason why, in the early 1960s just as the superhero books were getting started, Stan hired second-string writers to script the superhero stories in Journey into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, while keeping the westerns and the Millie and Patsy books for himself. He must have feared the superhero bubble would burst and that his time was better spent keeping the sales of the non-heroes books on track by writing those himself. Later in the 1960s he would do the opposite, farming out Millie and Sgt Fury to new assistant Roy Thomas while handling all the super-hero books himself.

MARCH 1958

The March-dated Marvels continued in very much the same vein, the lineup matching January's exactly, and on sale late October to early November 1957. I would imagine Goodman would have been very reluctant to change his portfolio this early into the process. He'd be waiting for initial sales figures to come in before doing any tweaking. But he would start tweaking. Any guesses as to what got deep-sixed and what got the old Goodman "match and hatch"? No peeking, though ...

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The western covers were again by Joe Maneely. Dan De Carlo drew the Homer and the Millie covers, and Colletta was responsible for the art on the two romance covers. Patsy Walker artist Al Hartley drew the Miss America cover and the Marines in Battle cover was by another of Stan's close personal friends, Fred Kida.

APRIL 1958

It's not a surprise, then, that the April post-Atlas comics were the same titles as we saw in February. On sale from late November to early December 1957.

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The Battle and World of Fantasy covers were by Bill Everett, the Navy Combat, Two-Gun Kid and Strange Tales were Joe Maneely efforts. The two Patsy covers were, as expected, by Al Hartley. The Wyatt Earp cover was by John Severin.

MAY 1958

With still no change in the lineup, the May cover-dated titles went on sale across the holiday period, from late December 1957 to early January 1958.

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The Gunsmoke Western, Kid Colt Outlaw and Marines in Battle covers were by Joe Maneely. Dan De Carlo did the Homer and the Millie covers. The two romance covers were by Vince Colletta, or his studio. Al Hartley provided the cover for Miss America.

JUNE 1958

The post-Atlas titles cover-dated for June went on sale between 28 Jan 1958 (Strange Tales) and 25 Feb (Patsy Walker). Presumably, the rest fall somewhere in between.

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Bill Everett contributed cover art for the two mystery titles, and Joe Maneely was responsible for the Navy Combat cover and the two western books. The other war cover was by John Severin. The two Patsy covers were, of course, by Al Hartley.

JULY 1958

Of the July cover-dated comics, Kid Colt was on sale earliest on 25 Feb 1958. Almost a month later, readers got to peruse the Gunsmoke Western on 27 Mar 1958. Goodness knows when the rest hit the newsstands, but it'll likely have been between those two dates.

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Vince Colletta provided the pencils and ins for the two romance titles. The western books and the Marines in Battle comic all had cover art by Joe Maneely. The covers for Homer and Millie were drawn by Dan De Carlo and Al Hartley contributed the cover to Miss America.

AUGUST 1958

The only definitive on-sale dates I could find for the August pre-Marvel comics were for Patsy Walker and Strange Tales, both hitting the stands on 27 Mar 1958. My best guess is the remainder would have been before the end of April.

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Joe Maneely was especially busy this month, drawing the covers for Battle, Navy Combat, Strange Tales, Two-Gun Kid and Wyatt Earp. Al Hartley came second, pencilling and inking the two Patsy covers. Limping along in the rear was Bill Everett with his cover for World of Fantasy.

SEPTEMBER 1958

Of all the September cover-dated issues, only Kid Colt - Outlaw is given an on-sale date by GCD - 25 Apr 1958. Judging by some of the above on-sale date ranges, it seems safe to conclude that the remainder of the September titles would have been on sale from end of April to end of May. Unless someone knows differently.

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Of these covers, the westerns were both by Joe Maneely, Homer and Millie were both by Dan De Carlo. The Marines in Battle - which would be the final issue - featured Carl Burgos art and Miss America's cover was by Al Hartley. While the My Own Romance is probably entirely Vince Colletta, or at least his studio, there is some speculation that the Love Romances cover may have been pencilled by Matt Baker. Baker did a fair bit of work for Atlas (and Charlton) after the Comics Code shut down his main customer St John. Ironically, it was Baker's cover for Phantom Lady 17 (Apr 1948) that gave weight to Frederic Wertham's case that comics needed regulating.

OCTOBER 1958

I was only able to find definitive on-sale dates for Patsy Walker (26 Jun 1958) and Strange Tales (24 June1958). The rest of the titles would likely have been on the newsstands earlier in the month. As the sales figures started to come in, Goodman began tweaking his lineup. The war books would have been the lowest sellers, as this month he also cancelled Navy Combat.

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In another bumper month for Joe Maneely, Stan commissioned him to draw covers for Navy Combat, Strange Tales, Two-Gun Kid, World of Fantasy and Wyatt Earp. That same month he also drew 19 interior pages for Two-Gun Kid, 17 interior pages for Charlton's Wyatt Earp title, another five pages for Charlton's Tex Ritter and five pages for Cracked magazine (no surprise as editor Sol Brodsky used many Marvel stalwarts at that time). The other Marvel covers were picked up by Al Hartley on the two Patsy titles, and Fred Kida contributing the cover for Battle.

NOVEMBER 1958

With Marines in Battle out of the way, Goodman was free to replace it with something he thought might sell better. It's a safe bet that the mystery titles were doing well, because Uncle Marty took the opportunity to reinstate a veteran Atlas title, Journey into Mystery, noted by GCD as being on sale 27 Jul 1958. The same source has Kid Colt on the newsstands on 26 Jun 1958. The rest would have fallen between those two dates.

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Stan's go-to guy Joe Maneely drew the covers for Gunsmoke Western, Kid Colt - Outlaw and Journey into Mystery (though I'm really not sure about the face on the guy at bottom right). Matt Baker (with Colletta on inks) was the credited cover artist for the Love Romances, and probably for the My Own Romance, too. As before, Millie and Homer were drawn by Dan De Carlo and Al Hartley provided the Miss America cover.

DECEMBER 1958

The year was rounded out with another substitution. Martin Goodman took Navy Combat off the field and brought on a new mystery title, Strange Worlds. It's an odd decision, because skinflint that he was, Goodman might have saved a few dollars by reviving one of his cancelled mystery titles. Yet he went to the time and trouble to fire up a new comic starting with number 1. Yes, Strange Worlds had more of a science fiction slant (Marty was always late the the party, as the sf movie boom had really gotten underway in the early 1950s), but still ... money is money. I wonder if it might have had something to do with the new artist Stan was welcoming to the Bullpen ... Jack Kirby.

The December pre-Marvels went to the news vendors between Strange Tales' 25 Jul 1958 and Patsy Walker's 2 Sep 1958.

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Naturally enough, the cover for Strange Worlds was pencilled by Kirby and inked by Atlas regular Christopher Rule, as was the cover for World of Fantasy. The production dates for these issue would have been around late May to early June, so it would have been just a couple of weeks before Joe Maneely's terrible fatal accident. 

The covers for Battle, Strange Tales and Wyatt Earp would have been some of the last pieces he drew for Stan. The two Patsy covers were by Al Hartley, as you might expect and EC's Jack Davis was the cover artist for Two-Gun Kid, and drew two interior stories, one of which had a Joe Maneely splash page. It's likely that was Joe's last bit of work for Stan, and that Davis drew the remaining pages of the story. Joe Maneely was just 32.

Next: The Other Best Marvel Comics Annual