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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.)
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| 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)?
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 ...
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| 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
