Marvel Comics Cover Gallery - 1959

AS 1959 HOVE INTO VIEW, we would see fewer covers by Joe Maneely, as the last of his work filtered through the system, and more by Jack Kirby, as he bedded in as Stan Lee's go-to artist.

Publisher Martin Goodman continued to fiddle with the line-up, cancelling romance and kiddie titles to make way for science fiction and fantasy books that he thought would sell better.

JANUARY 1959

Marvel's eight titles cover-dated for the first month of 1959 were on sale between 2 Sept and 2 Oct 1958.

Fans of Homer the Happy Ghost and of Patsy Walker Miss America were due to be disappointed by the lineup. Both of those titles were deep-sixed to make space for two new fantasy books - Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish - forging a new look for the company's output that would shape it for the next eight or nine years.

Unusually, the cover art for Suspense was by Don Heck, who drew few covers during this era. The cover for Astonish was by the Kirby/Rule team.

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These two new books would last a hundred issues before Marvel next big transformation in 1968. The rest of the month's titles were stalwart sellers and would, for the most part, survive Goodman's incessant tinkering.

Interestingly, the newer additions to the line didn't sport the vestigial Atlas corner-flash on their covers, an anachronism that would cling on to the older titles until well into 1960.

FEBRUARY 1959

The lineup for the second month of 1959, on sale between 2 Oct and 4 Nov 1958, looked exactly like the Dec 1958 roster. Not a single change, which seems odd given the non-stop tinkering that Goodman was inflicting on the lineup during this unstable time for his company.

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Once again, the western covers were by EC stalwart Jack Davis, who also drew all three stories in Two-Gun Kid 46, but no interior art for Wyatt Earp 21. Davis had started drawing for Martin Goodman's company after the failure of Harvey Kurtzman's Humbug magazine, in which several of the former EC artists were also part-owners. Davis wasn't an investor but did hold the post of Assistant Editor. The sudden loss of income meant that Davis had to find work wherever he could and even Goodman's miserly rates were better than no money at all.

Joe Sinnott drew the covers for Battle and Strange Tales. Steve Ditko supplied art for the Strange Worlds cover and Carl Burgos contributed the cover art for World of Fantasy. As usual, Al Hartley was in charge of art chores on the two Patsy books.

MARCH 1959

The first March cover-dated comics on sale from Goodman's Magazine Management, on 4th November, were Kid Colt Outlaw, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish. The last one was Journey into Mystery which was available on 2nd December. The remainder would have been released between those two dates, though I've not been able to find reliable data on those.

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Jack Kirby and Christopher Rule supplied art for both the Gunsmoke Western cover and the Kid Colt Outlaw one. It was a bumper month for Steve Ditko as he supplied covers for another pair of second issues, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish. Dan de Carlo did the Millie the Model cover and Vince Colletta (studio?) provided the cover for My Own Romance. The remaining two covers - Journey into Mystery and Love Romances - were drawn by Russ Heath, making a rare return to Stan Lee's bullpen. 

Heath had been a fixture at the company from 1948 till about 1955, when he added DC Comics as a client and also provided to odd job to EC's fledgling Mad magazine. During 1957, his output for Stan Lee dwindled and by the end of that year he was working almost exclusively for DC. Those two covers, plus a four pager for Love Romances and another for Tales of Suspense, were Heath's sole output for Stan in 1958 ... after that Heath was pretty much exclusively a DC artist until, in the early 1960s, he began to acquire other clients, like Harvey and Dell. And let's not forget his unforgettable "204 Revolutionary War Soldiers" ad artwork ...

Who didn't want to have a 204-piece Revolutionary War set?

APRIL 1959

Strange Tales 68 was one of the first April cover-dated Magazine Management comic books on sale, hitting the stands on 2nd December 1958. The last would have been Patsy Walker, on sale 2nd January 1959. The others would have been scattered between these two days, but the only other confirmed on sale I could find was for Patsy and Hedy on 29 December.

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As Jack Kirby's assignments began to ramp up, he had four cover assignments for April - Strange Tales, Strange Worlds 2, World of Fantasy 17 and Wyatt Earp 22 - all inked by Christopher Rule. 

Al Hartley drew covers for the two Patsy books and the Battle cover was credited to Carl Burgos, though you could be forgiven for thinking it looks like a Russ Heath DC cover. Jack Davis did the cover for Two-Gun Kid, though the interior stories were all drawn by legendary "good-girl" artist Matt Baker.

MAY 1959

The first May cover-dated comics on sale from Goodman's company - Kid Colt Outlaw, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish - were on the stands on 2nd January 1959. A month later, the May Journey into Mystery went on sale. The remaining titles were, presumably, on sale between those two dates. I'm not sure what the logic was here. I could understand if the titles were on sale a week or two apart, but a full month does seem excessive.

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Jack Kirby drew three covers for this month - Gunsmoke Western, Journey into Mystery and Tales to Astonish - all inked by Christopher Rule. The Kid Colt cover was by John Severin, and the Tales of Suspense art was by John Buscema, making a rare early appearance at the fledgling Marvel. The Millie cover was by Dan De Carlo, the Love Romances was drawn by Jay Scott Pike and the cover for My Own Romance was by the Vince Colletta studio, with possible pencils by Dick Giordano.

JUNE 1959

The June issues of the Magazine Management comics line hit the stands between 3rd February and 3rd March 1959. There was no change in the lineup from the February and April issues, so Marty must have been happy with the spread of genres, at least in these even-month titles.

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Month by month, Jack Kirby's share of the cover chores was increasing. This month, he drew five of the eight covers published - Battle (his first on that title), Strange Tales, Strange Worlds, Two-Gun Kid and World of Fantasy. Only the two Patsy covers (by Al Hartley) and the Wyatt Earp cover (by John Severin) were assigned to different artists.

JULY 1959

Most of the July dated issues were on the news-stands on 3rd March. For whatever reason, Journey into Mystery went on sale pretty much a whole month later.

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It was another bumper month for Jack Kirby. All but three of this month's covers were by Jack (with his inker de jour Christopher Rule). Millie the Model was a cover-to-cover Dan de Carlo fest, while the two romance books had cover art from the Vince Colletta studio.

AUGUST 1959

The earliest title on sale for this month was the Strange Tales, hitting gthe stands on 3rd April. The latest was the August cover-dated issue of Patsy Walker, going on sale on 5th May. The others would have scattered between those two dates, but I wasn't able to confirm any of the other release dates.

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Jack Kirby seemed to settling in as Stan's go-to cover artist, contributing, once again, five of the eight covers for this month. The Patsy titles sported covers by regular artist Al Hartley, and the Two-Gun Kid cover appears to be a re-purposed Joe Maneely inventory cover, originally drawn for Kid Colt - Outlaw, and likely fished out of a drawer and redrawn by production man Sol Brodsky.

Kirby's Strange Tales cover is probably the first to qualify as a Giant-Monster cover. There had been other Kirby-drawn monsters on previous anthology covers, but these were distinctly science fiction aliens. Here, we see the accent on the main fantasy titles moving away from sf towards a more Kaiju-style take on the genre.

SEPTEMBER 1959

The still-not-Marvel comics cover-dated September started going on sale on 5th May. Confirmed books on the stands on that day were Gunsmoke Western, Millie the Model, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish. I can't vouch for any of the others, though I can tell you that Journey into Mystery arrived, stylishly late as usual, on 5 June.

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Jack Kirby was still knocking out covers at a rate of knots, pencilling Journey into Mystery, Love Romances, My Own Romance, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish. The two western comic covers were by a pair of EC alumni - Jack Davis and John Severin. Can you tell which is which? And Dan De Carlo was still making Millie look like an Archie book.

OCTOBER 1959

Finally, as the end of the 1950s peeped above the horizon, Magazine Management publisher Martin Goodman decided to shake things up a bit. Strange Worlds and World of Fantasy were both dropped. An odd move, because the new fantasy titles, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish by all accounts were doing quite well. In their place were an all-new teenage character book, Kathy (the Teenage Tornado) and, in another odd decision by Goodman, a new Millie title, A Date with Millie, making Millie effectively a monthly. So why not just make Millie a monthly title and save himself the cost of revving up a new title?

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For anyone keeping score the line was now: five teen titles, four westerns, four fantasy/monster books, two romance comics and a war book.

Kirby's cover output took a bit of a hit as a result. Down from his usual five covers, Jack only contributed two for the October issues - Battle and Wyatt Earp. The remaining 75% of the cover art was supplied by Al Hartley (Patsy Walker and Patsy and Hedy), Jack Davis (Strange Tales), John Severin (Two-Gun Kid), Dan De Carlo (A Date With Millie) and Stan Goldberg (Kathy).

NOVEMBER 1959

The comics for the penultimate month of 1959 maintained the status quo. No more dispatching and hatching - at least for the time being. The earliest on sale date for this batch was 1st July (Kid Colt Outlaw, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish). Journey into Mystery followed a full month later on 31st July.

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The Gunsmoke Western cover was patched together from two old Joe Maneely covers (Wyatt Earp 18, Aug 1958 and Kid Colt 75, Nov 1957). Jack Kirby pencilled Journey into Mystery, Kid Colt, Love Romances, My Own Romance, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish. Stan Goldberg was left with the Millie cover, as Dan De Carlo was pretty much exclusive with Archie Comics from the November cover dates onwards.

DECEMBER 1959

The last Magazine Management comics cover dated for 1959 were on sale during September of that year. Except for Strange Tales which was on the stands for the end of July. Go figure. The even months were now down to just one fantasy book, and overloaded with teen titles, but I guess Marty must've known what he was doing.

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Kirby contributed pencil art for the Battle, Strange Tales and Wyatt Earp covers. Stan Goldberg stepped into Dan De Carlo's shoes for the Date with Millie and Kathy titles and Al Hartley continued to soldier on with the Patsy titles. That left John Severin to pick up the art chores on the Two-Gun Kid cover.

Here's a bit of wild speculation. What if Martin Goodman launched A Date with Millie and Kathy, thinking that Stan Lee would get De Carlo to draw them. Of course, that would have meant De Carlo giving up his Archie work, as he wouldn't have time to do it all. If I'm right, then the plan backfired mightily when Dan packed up his pencils and moved over to Riverdale, leaving Goodman without his star teen-book cartoonist.

Next: Teenage Mutant Marvel All-Stars

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 completely 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

Thor - The Legend Years: Part 2

LAST TIME, WE LEFT THOR standing amid the ruins of deserted mansion, having defeated Mr Hyde and The Cobra, holding the stricken form of Jane Foster in his arms. Jane would recover, of course, but we wouldn't be party to that in the very next issue of Journey into Mystery.

Journey into Mystery 112 (Jan 1965) featured the "untold" story of Thor's epic battle with The Hulk during the earliest days of The Avengers.

Strangely, Thor's next outing in the title would be a kind of filler issue which gave us a flashback to the events of Avengers 3 (Jan 1964), a year earlier, in which Thor and his teammates battled former Avenger The Hulk and his new chum, The Sub-Mariner.

Quite why Stan and Jack chose to run this flashback at this particular time is lost in the mists of history. But in retrospect, I've wondered if it didn't start with Stan saying, "Hey, let's have Thor fight The Hulk in the next issue of Journey." Then Jack came up with the resulting 13 pages of carnage - and three page framing sequence - on his own. I can't help thinking that if this were Stan's work, there would be more storytelling, a reference to Jane's health and some glimpse of Thor's life as Dr Don Blake. But, no ... what we get is a brawl, full of sound and fury (and not a little rage) that goes, well, nowhere, really. It's great fun, but doesn't advance the saga of Thor one bit.

Stan and Jack use an argument between the Thor and Hulk fan clubs to frame a flashback to the time of Avengers 3 and an "untold" battle between the Thunder God and the Big Angry Green Guy.

But what it does do is mark the beginning of a transition in the Thor strip. For me, this and the next couple of issue denote a watermark, where I see Stan stepping back a bit from involvement in the overall direction and plotting of the Thor feature and the hand of Jack Kirby being more evident.

For me, this issue marks the end of Thor as a super-hero series, pitting the two strongest Marvel characters agains each other. Journey into Mystery 113 would see the start of more Asgardian characters showing up in the storylines at least for the next twenty or so issues.

The way Kirby's art breaks down the story also gives Journey into Mystery 112 the feel of a filler issue. Lots of big, impactful panels means less drawing for Jack, perhaps buying him time while he pondered where to take the storyline next. Not that he'd need it ... for in the very next issue, we get a lot more Asgard, without treading on the toes of the "Tales of Asgard" series ...

At first glance, Journey into Mystery 113 (Feb 1965) probably looked a lot like the superhero Thor tales that came before - the cover certainly pitches it that way - but as you get into the story, you realise there's a lot more mythology going on here than previously.

Journey into Mystery 113 sports a fairly standard superhero cover, yet more than a third of the 16 page lead story is devoted to action and machinations in Asgard ... yet not even mentioned in Stan's cover lines.

The story opens with a spectacular action prologue, where Kirby really pulls out all the stops to immerse us in Asgardian mythic action. It's not clear who the Demon Men of Jotunheim (whom the Asgardians are fighting) are, but it doesn't really matter too much. All we need to know is that Thor acquits himself admirably in the eyes of his father, which make his almost instant fall from grace more of a surprise.

Battle action in Asgard: Odin and his warriors attack the Demon Men of Jotunheim (whoever they are) and bust a few heads. Not quite sure about Thor's cry of "For Asgard and freedom", as it appears the Asgardians are the aggressors here ...

Doggedly, Thor returns to Midgard, determined to reveal his true identity to the object of his affections, Jane Foster. It was always a bit of a mystery to me - I would have first read this comic when I was almost 11 years old - why Don Blake would give up being Thor for a girl. Not even a cool girl, but a complete wimp like Jane Foster. I don't know whether it was Stan or Jack who bears responsibility for the way Jane is portrayed and that Thor is so drawn to her. In retrospect, it seems more in keeping with 1950s sensibilities than those of the 1960s. Perhaps the intention was to deliberately make Jane unheroic and "normal" to create a greater contrast between her and Thor. Or perhaps it was the last glimmerings of Don Blake's personality that caused the attraction. Or maybe Jack (or Stan) just got it wrong. Whatever the cause, we'd see an effort to tie up that storyline over the next year or so.

"No really ... I'm Thor. Look, I'll show you ... wait, what? My hammer doesn't work!"

So Thor tries to show Jane that he and Don Blake are one and the same, but Odin - a bit cross - has removed Thor's power and he's stuck in his Don Blake persona. This is the point where The Grey Gargoyle crashes through the window of his surgery. And for the next few pages, a powerless Blake tries to protect himself and Jane Foster from the seemingly unstoppable villain ... which is a bit of a flashback to Journey into Mystery 107 (Aug 1964), where Thor was also forced to battle the Gargoyle in his Don Blake identity.

But Blake has friends in Asgard, and a mysterious helper is watching over Blake and Jane Foster. Odin isn't quite as hard-hearted as we're led to believe, and has despatched an Asgardian warrior, Honir the Hunter, to help Blake in his near-hopeless battle against his super-powered foe.

Just when things look darkest, help arrives in the form of an Asgardian warrior, Honir, who restores Thor's power long enough to deal with the pesky Grey Gargoyle.

It all ends with Don Blake thinking that it may be rash of him to give up his Thor identity for the love of a mortal ... though he'd continue to waver over the next several issues.

Journey into Mystery 114 introduced a terrific new villain, The Absorbing Man. A career criminal, Crusher Creel is all powered up by Loki solely for the purpose of defeating Thor.

Journey into Mystery 114 (Mar 1965) has Loki once again coming up with a plot to defeat his hated adopted brother. This time, though he uses his Asgardian magic to give a sociopathic mortal - the criminal Crusher Creel - the ability to absorb the characteristics of anything he comes into contact with, including living beings.

The issue opens with a slam-bang action sequence that ladles on the excitement. An "enemy agent" is escaping at high speed in a modified racing car pursued by Thor. Quite why Thor - a Norwegian god - would care about an enemy agent escaping from American authorities with some artefact that isn't explained or identified is a bit of a mystery, in retrospect.

Who is the "enemy agent"? Why is he fleeing from Thor? Where did he get the racing car from? Who gave him a high tech blaster to threaten Thor with? Does it really matter?

It does however, serve to lead into yet another failed attempt to ruin Thor's day by Loki, self-styled god of mischief. And no sooner has Loki applied the power pill to Creel's water glass, than we switch to Dr Don Blake's surgery where an injured reporter is promising to let the doctor know when he locates the recently escaped super-convict. Though, again, it's not explained why the reporter thinks Blake would be interested.

"Button nose"? Really? Even as a ten-year old I thought this was pretty mushy stuff. I was counting the days till we saw the back of Blake's nauseating infatuation with the wimpy nurse.

Nevertheless, that snippet of information is enough to get Doctor Don to transform into Thor and nose around in the Black Mountain Swamp area, looking for the super-powered crim.

Show rather than tell - Jack Kirby's storytelling skills quickly allow us to see the full extent of Creel's abilities and that the pesky reporter just gets in the way.

Then just when we think this is a standard, Thor-battles-another-super-strong-villain yarn ... it all takes a sharp left turn to Asgard, where the wily Loki has kidnapped Jane Foster (again) and brought her to the realm of the Norse gods. So Thor takes off to rescue Jane, leaving The Absorbing Man thinking he's beaten Thor.

Just as Thor is realising that The Absorbing Man can match his power, Balder arrives with a message that Jane Foster has been carried away to Asgard by crafty Loki ... and there will be much rueing of the day ...

All of this sets us up for a longer storyline, with more mythology and a little less superheroics, as the action shifts away from Midgard and things get out of hand in Asgard. But first, Thor has to deal with Crusher Creel ...

Not the best cover of the run, and I do wonder that if there'd been more time in the schedule whether Stan would have asked this one to be reworked.

Journey into Mystery 115 (Apr 1965) opens as Thor arrives in Asgard to confront Loki and rescue Jane Foster. Unusually, Loki actually takes on Thor in a physical fight. Not known for his courage, this is an out-of character move for the God of Mischief. Though the outcome is never in doubt, the battle is interrupted by Odin, who puts a stop to the fighting in his own omnipotent way ... though for an omnipotent being, he's a bit easily taken in by Loki's clumsy lies.

I would imagine that the physical fight between Thor and Loki is something Jack would have put in to add a bit of action to the story, but for me it doesn't sit well with the cowardly, sneaky persona Stan had built up for Loki over the previous couple of years.

All of this results in Odin ordering the "Trial of the Gods". Whatever that is, it completely blew my tiny 11-year-old mind. Who knew that gods could be put on trial? But before that happens, Thor is granted permission to return Jane Foster to Midgard, and to settle up with Crusher Creel, The Absorbing Man.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the rather unpleasant Crusher Creel has staged a home invasion, and is currently terrorising a defenceless suburban couple. Fortunately, Thor and the reporter Harris Hobbs arrive just in time to save the hapless husband from being crushed by Crusher.

This home invasion scene is a little brutal for a kids' comic. Again, this feels like something Kirby would have added, and indicates that he's putting a bit more into the story development at this point.

A mighty battle ensures, in which Creel absorbs an escalating variety forms - iron, fire and, penultimately, "every element from the earth beneath". But Thor has a sneaky trick up his sleeve (I know he doesn't have a sleeve). Using some hitherto unmentioned power of his hammer, he converts Crusher Creel into helium and watches as the villain floats away ... indeed, a tonitrua deus ex machina (look it up).

The ending is a bit convenient. It's never been mentioned before that Thor has the power to transmute elements, and I suspect the ending would have been different if Stan had been plotting this.

All that remains is for Thor to swing his hammer majestically, check up on the still-unconscious Jane Foster, then hie to Asgard where Odin, Loki and the Trial of the Gods awaits.

After seeing Thor battle "the Reds", Mr Hyde and The Cobra and The Lava Man, this version of Thor was strange and oddly disturbing.

Journey into Mystery 116 (May 1965) wasn't the first Thor book I bought as a kid, but it's the one I have the strongest memories of. I'm fairly sure I came to it without having seen the issues immediately preceding it, because I can remember being a bit confused by the story, and thought the environment Thor found himself in was completely alien to the other Thor stories I'd read.

The premise is that Loki has kidnapped Jane Foster and brought her to Asgard then, when found out, blames it on Thor. Odin, for his part should be a bit more sympathetic to his son, but strangely isn't.

Bong! Let the Trial of the Gods begin. Though, in reality, all this could have been avoided if Odin has just listened to his decent son and not to his scallywag son ... but you know parents.

Instead, he insists the two foes undergo a trial by combat (not a trial in courtroom, as I had surmised from the cover), and dispatches the pair, weaponless, to the hostile land of Skornheim. From there, they'll have to fight there way home using only their natural strengths and wits.

Except that Loki is a cheating little sh*t and has brought some magic gems to rig the trial in his favour, and uses them to show Thor Jane Foster being menaced by The Enchantress and The Executioner (again!).

Fortunately, Thor's friend Balder the Brave, gets wind of Loki's little scheme and interrupt's Odin's yearly bath to inform him of this rotten ruse to sway the outcome of the Trial. Clad in his bathrobe and fluffy slippers, Odin confirms Balder's story, and despatches him to head off The Enchantress and The Executioner at the pass.

Back on Earth, Jane Foster is being dragged off by two Asgardian allies of Loki. Strangely, the passersby in the street rush to Jane's aid, which is strangely out of character for Kirby's Kast of Kharacters, who usually think unearthly happenings are either publicity stunts or none of their business.

Meanwhile, a member of Rick Jones' Teen Brigade has also spotted to two Asgardian villains menacing Jane Foster and desperately radios around, trying to enlist the aid of some other superheroes, but to no avail. I'm not really sure what the point of this sequence is as it doesn't add much, other than to showcase cameo appearances of some of the other Marvel characters, perhaps by way of product placement.

Finally, Balder arrives to help Jane Foster, but will he prevail aganst the two villains? And at the very end of the Trial, Thor struggles to catch the cheating Loki. (Apologies for the poor scans, but Colletta's scratchy inking doesn't reproduce well in these collected editions.)

We leave the story with Thor in Skornheim, trying and failing to catch up with Loki, and Balder preparing to intercept The Enchantress and her cloddish companion. Strangely, The Executioner makes no mention of having been turned into a tree by The Enchantress back in Journey into Mystery 103. Other than that, things aren't looking too good.

This issue marks quite a few changes in the path of the Thor strip. First, 12 of the 16 pages are set in Asgard, or adjacent realms, with just four page of Earthly action. Though this was far from a smooth or even transition, it would continue as (I'm assuming) Kirby began to distance Thor from his ties to Midgard.

The next change was that we lose the smooth inking of Chic Stone and instead are inexplicably lumbered with the spidery penmanship of Vince Colletta, an inker whose work I never liked. Reading later accounts of the period, I gather that Colletta ran an inking shop and always guaranteed to do the cheapest work for publishers ... which explains a lot. Notorious for erasing pencil art he couldn't be bothered to ink, Colletta always managed to make the worst of any penciller he was inking.

And finally, here is where the Thor strip begins to turn away from Earth-bound adventures and, by setting the action in strange and wondrous locations, emphasises to idea that Thor is a god, not a superhero. And aside from the unfamiliar terrain the stories are set in, the other thing that disturbed me a little when I was a kid was the stern and cold demeanour of Odin towards his supposedly favourite son. Maybe that was deliberate, as it definitely made me empathise with Thor's plight. Because what kid hasn't felt fear and frustration over not being believed by a parent? All in all, and unsettling but compelling read for an eleven year old.

The episode in Journey into Mystery 117 is a brief diversion from the main plotline, in which Thor becomes involved with a hapless family, victims of the war in Vietnam.

Then, after all the breathless action in issue 116, Journey into Mystery 117 (Jun 1965) is a bit of a pause in the story. Stan and Jack use it to clean up the loose ends from The Trial of the Gods, which takes up about seven pages. 

To cover up that he'd cheated in the Trial of the Gods, Loki sends the Norn Stones to Midgard where "Thor will never find them." Meanwhile, just by showing up, Balder spooks The Enchantress and The Executioner into abandoning their attempt to kidnap Jane Foster. 

The remaining nine pages are taken up with Thor travelling to Earth where Loki has concealed the Norn Stones. His quest takes him to South-East Asia and there follows the nearest thing Stan gets, so far, to criticising the war in Vietnam, with a subplot about a family torn apart when the eldest son joins the Communist cause.

Thor quickly tracks the hidden Norn Stones to Vietnam and is befriended by a South Vietnamese family, which results in tragedy and death. 

For the most part, Marvel in the Silver Age mostly avoided commenting on the touchy political topics of the day, and Vietnam was an especially hot potato. Stan finally addressed the matter of political commentary a couple of years after JiM 117, in the first few Bullpen Bulletins - April and October 1967. I've already covered those editorials in an earlier instalment, so I won't rehash them here, except to say that though Stan first protests that Marvel is simply here to entertain, he'd get a bit more serious in the later bulletin, asking readers if they thought Marvel should take a stance on contemporary political issues. But the question went mostly unanswered, until incoming younger scripters like Denny O'Neil, Steve Gerber and Steve Englehart were able to make their own views on The Issues of the Day plain in the stories they were writing.

So impressive as a villain is The Destroyer that he was chosen as the antagonist for the first Thor movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Journey into Mystery 118 (Jul 1965) introduced a new and terrifying foe for the God of Thunder. There was a hero of that name during the Golden Age, appearing in All-Winner Comics 2 (Oct 1941) and cropping up in various Timely comics until the end of WWII. Thor's version of the character would be comparatively underused, appearing in Thor Annual 2 (1966), Thor 151 (Apr 1968), controlled by Sif, and Thor 228 (Oct 1974), where he becomes the herald of Galactus to free Firelord. The name would be adopted by Jim Starlin for his version of The Destroyer, Drax, in Iron Man 55 (Feb 1973).

From the opening encounter with a US Army helicopter, Thor manages a couple of lines of dialogue before he lands and encounters the hunter. So, still in Vietnam, then.

After his run-in with the Viet Cong in the jungles of Vietnam, Thor is about to leave the area, when he decides to stop and check that the Norn Stones are safe. This is a poor decision because a "renegade hunter" happens to be nearby and figuring Thor might be worth something on the open market, tranquilises our hero with knock-out gas. Guided by Loki, the hunter is compelled to have his bearers tie up Thor with a few ropes and then, following an irresistible urge, he sets off to find a nearby temple. Loki causes the temple to be revealed and the hunter enters to find a weapon, The Destroyer, concealed there eons before by Odin. The hunter's life essence is absorbed by the Destroyer, activating the metal monster. Meanwhile, Thor revives and snaps his bonds like so much spaghetti. He follows the hunter to The Temple of Darkness and finds the paralysed mortal body of the hunter. Without warning, The Destroyer attacks and Loki, watching from afar, realises he may have made a mistake. Fearing that Thor will be killed rather than just humiliated, he rushes to confess to Odin before too much damage is done. But Odin sleeps the Odin-sleep and cannot be awakened for fear he will forfeit his immortality. A ranting Loki is locked up by Odin's guards and the end seems inevitable for Thor, as his hammer is damaged and, trapped by The Destroyer, he's helpless to escape the creature's "elemental destructive" bolts.

So here's an epic villain fail ... tie one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe to a bamboo bed. With ropes. And how is it with all the clamour in the doorway of his bedroom, Odin sleeps right through it?

Now, because we're seeing a much greater emphasis on the Asgardian side of Thor's life by this point in the series, I'm presuming this is around the time in which Jack Kirby is pretty much plotting the strip and handing the pencil art to Stan for dialoguing. I'm fairly confident about that because the plotting is pretty terrible.

Bear with me ...

So, conveniently, there's a hunter (with a full entourage of bearers), of questionable moral character, hunting, for goodness sake, in the jungles of Vietnam while the war rages around him. He knocks out Thor with some gas and ties his captive up with rope. A hunter, who knows who Thor is, who has presumably hunted elephants and maybe rhinos, and he thinks a few ropes will hold Thor. The bit about finding the Temple I can swallow, as Loki's doubtless guiding him, but my main problem with this is that Odin hid a supremely destructive weapon, still active it would seem, on Earth. Where any dodgy character could find it. And then, in the mother of all coincidences, Odin is asleep and can't be disturbed.

Thor trapped, his hammer sliced in half and deadly bolts of elemental destruction creeping steadily towards him. Now that's a cliffhanger ending.

Don't get me wrong ... I still love these stories. And The Destroyer is one of the greatest of Thor's adversaries. But my problem with the plotting here is exactly the same as I would have with Kirby's later Fourth World books for DC. Tons of great ideas, not very well thought through, not played out to any kind of logical conclusion, and all driven by coincidence and deus ex machina. It's left to Stan to paper over the cracks with his dialogue. Which almost - but not quite - works.

Not the best cover of the run - made up of art lifted from interior panels, the chances are the lack of an actual cover from Jack Kirby was some sort of deadline crunch.

Fortunately, the following issue wrapped up the tale in a style that relied a little less of forced plot machinations. In Journey into Mystery 119 (Aug 1965), even though Loki contrives to have the Norn Queen awaken Odin from his sleep, and though Odin is prepared to step in to aid Thor, The Thunder God prefers to defeat The Destroyer himself. By using the hunter's mortal form as a shield, he's able to force the hunter's life essence back to his own body and The Destroyer once again becomes immobile.

Even though Odin offers to shut down The Destroyer Thor, in true hero style, prefers to get himself out of the mess and initiates his human shield plan.

I'm not entirely convinced by Thor's ploy of trusting that The Destroyer wouldn't destroy his human shell. After all, if he controls The Destroyer, why would he ever return to his vulnerable original form? But Stan literally doubles down on it by having The Destroyer say that Thor is pledged never to take a mortal life (panel 1, page 8) and have the hunter repeat it as thought it's a new thought in panel 4 on page 10.

Loki's punishment is to be indentured to Odin's imperial warlock ("a wizard," Stan footnotes helpfully), and Thor is left with a wonky hammer. He'd have to repair it next issue, in a scene that may have inspired the creation of Stormbreaker in Avengers: Infinity War.

Sometimes I really do wonder just how smart Odin is. Locking Loki up in a sorcerer's workshop doesn't seem to me to be the best way of keeping a cunning master of magic like him out of trouble.

All-in-all, an improvement from the previous issue ... except for that cover. Obviously hastily cobbled together by the production department, it's pretty disappointing. And knowing that Jack Kirby wasn't one to miss a deadline, I had a little trawl around to see if I could spot a reason for this.

 Here's the panels from the story used by the Marvel production department to create the cover for Journey into Mystery 119 ... the real mystery id why this was necessary.

I noticed that Kirby was only supplying layouts for August's Captain America story in Tales of Suspense 68. And beginning in the following month's Tales to Astonish 70, he would again only be supplying layouts for the Hulk story. It didn't take me long to notice that both Journey into Mystery Annual 1 (Sep 1965) and Fantastic Four Annual 3 (Oct 1965) were cantering up in the schedules (due on sale in the July), and with an extra 40 pages to pencil, Jack was probably a little squeezed for time. And all of that might explain why Stan didn't have time to fix the questionable plotting in Journey into Mystery 118 ... because we know that Editor Stan Lee wouldn't hesitate to have Jack redraw something if it didn't fit Writer Stan Lee's standards of storytelling.

Just like Jack, I'm a little squeezed for time as well, so I'll leave it here and pick up with the remaining six issues of the Journey into Mystery run, along with the Journey into Mystery Annual, next time.

Next: Hello Hercules