posted
Tales of Suspense #63 – Suspense #63 features a solid 12 page story about a saboteur whose identity is fairly obvious, but more importantly at long last resolves the “Tony Stark is Dead” storyline, one of Marvel’s (and comics in general) earliest long-running subplots causing our hero heartache. Something more noticeable is there is a House-Ad for Tales to Astonish #65, in which Giant-Man becomes “the new Giant-Man”, gaining the short-lived blue armor on top of his traditional red costume. What this means (for me) is that the next level of change is about to begin for Marvel: new Avengers line-up, Namor replacing Giant-Man in Astonish, and SHIELD replacing Torch & Thing in Strange Tales among other things. This is always something I find fascinating but a little said, because the Torch’s solo adventures and Giant-Man are things I love about early Silver Age Marvel. I still am holding out for a great Giant-Man comeback one day, without Hank being written in the shitty manner Jim Shooter, Dan Slott and others have done.
Tales of Suspense #64 – Hawkeye and the Black Widow return for their final battle against Iron Man before the two experience major changes, and it’s interesting to see how far they’ve come (mainly Natasha). This is Hawkeye’s third battle against Tony and within about 3-4 months he will join the Avengers (on Iron Man’s recommendation after it’s been cleared up). Here, he remains a good person caught in a bad position, driven by being a sucker for love. What’s noticeably different is how much the Black Widow has softened up since her first appearance; this mainly all occurs right here in this issue, though in her last appearance she did reveal a side of her that loved Clint. Here she is much more open about it and even willing to leave the Soviets for using her. They only manage to keep her working for them by threatening her parents.
Also important is the Black Widow goes from a non-costumed Red assassin to a costumed super-villain at long last. The Soviets equip her with tools and weapons that make her very similar to a female Spider-Man (adhesiveness to walls, shoot nylon webbing-type material to swing through the city). Her costume is actually quite sexy for the Silver Age, considering they couldn’t show cleavage back then and other too-sexy things. It’s very much like Black Canary’s but slightly darker. This is a big change for Natasha: gaining a costume & powers and also softening up in a big way. By the time she reemerges again it will be several stories into Hawkeye’s run in the Avengers the intention right from the get-go will be her gradual move being more heroic (she doesn’t really become a ‘super-hero’ until after the Silver Age in Astonishing Tales and her one-off story in Spider-Man). Still, the end of this story has Natasha blaming her love for Clint as the reason she failed once again in destroying Iron Man, so she’s not quite there yet.
The removal of Hawkeye and the Black Widow from Iron Man’s rogues gallery actually leaves two major holes! It will take quite a bit to replace them, although one good one is around the corner.
Tales of Suspense #65 – When I was a kid this was one of my favorites and I suspect the same for many others when it came out: the old Iron Man vs. the new Iron Man! My favorite tidbit was the cover is slightly misleading, in you think someone may have taken Iron Man’s old armor; the story is in fact the opposite, where Iron Man’s armor is stolen and he’s forced to use his old armor to get it back. It plays on nostalgia and continuity in a huge way, decades before that was the only thing Marvel and DC Comics cared about—in fact, this is the perfect way to address it: reference it’s memory, make it essential to the story’s solution but don’t dwell on the past too much…by issue’s end, Tony has clearly moved on from his old armor and we the readers agree, even though we’re glad to have seen it.
I also realized something really big here! The ending is almost the exact same ending to Spider-Man #137 when Harry Osborn knows Peter is Spider-Man and announced it to the police, but he’s so crazy they don’t believe a word he says (he claims he’s always been the Green Goblin). “Weasel” Willis, the hood who took the Iron Man armor, has turned crazy under the strain of using the armor and though he knows Tony is Iron Man, he tells the police that he, in fact, has always been Iron Man. The panel of them leading him away is almost EXACTLY the same as the Ross Andru’s panel with the same facial expression and all. He must have had this issue in mind when he drew that panel (or at least Gerry did—or both).
Also notable is the beautiful house-ad for Daredevil #6, the battle against Namor, which is also the first time Daredevil changes his costume to the classic red costume we all know him as having. This issue has so many things: Wally Wood’s beautiful art, the new costume and what I consider the single-best Daredevil Silver Age comic, the battle with Namor. It is hands-down one of the greatest superhero battles of all time, and the ending is incredibly moving in my mind. Namor has beaten DD but proclaims him as the most courageous man he’s ever faced, which is high praise from Namor of all people. It’s a major turning point for DD, as my father always attested—kids during the Silver Age always considered DD the weakest and least important of all of the Marvel comics, until this issue. DD literally won the respect of fandom at large and solidified himself as part of Marvel’s echelon of icons.
The Cap story in this issue is the first time the Red Skull jumped from the Golden Age of yore to the “Marvel Age of Comics”. Great stuff. In the previous issue the letter’s page hinted at who was appearing by saying “The Dr. Doom of the Golden Age was coming back”. He really was too—definitely the best of all Marvel’s Golden Age villains, if not all of comic’s Golden Age villains.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Peculiar thing about the "Red Barbarian" cover-- apparently, it started life as the "Dr. Strange" cover. Note how the weapons pointed at Iron Man are so similar to the ones on the splash page of the previous issue!
In my Jack Kirby comics re-reading (which led into my 60's Marvel re-reading), I noticed a interesting similarity between Blue Bolt & The Green Sorceress (who ruled an underground kingdom bent on conquering the surface) and Iron Man & Kala, Queen of the Netherworld (ditto). Never throw away any ideas! I love the way Jack designs buildings.
"By now it was Fall 1963 and Stan was hitting his stride on dialogue. It was not quite as over the top as it would become but it was getting there"
Don't forget, from SUSPENSE #40-46, Robert Bernstein was the one writing the dialogue... and possibly supplying Don Heck with plots, though legend has it most of "his" plots he got verbally from Jack Kirby! Lee began dialogue on IRON MAN with #47, the first of the 3-issue run with Steve Ditko, and presumably Don Heck begun plotting himself when he returned in #50-- which is when, for me, everything finally clicked into place!
By the way, just last week I watched the 1st & 2nd NICK CARTER movies which starred Walter Pidgeon. In the 2nd, PHANTOM RAIDERS (1940), who should turn up but ex-wrestler turned actor Nat Pendleton. He'd been a regular in the Lew Ayers DR. KILDARE series as an ambulance driver, but in this one, he plays an ex-boxer turned bodyguard, working for a suave playboy businessman. I saw this, and thought, "It's HAPPY HOGAN!"
You know, it's the strangest thing, I know legend has it Jack Kirby often did covers in which he introduced new characters & villains for artists like Don Heck to draw the stories from, but some of these costumes that appeared in Don Heck stories seem very unusual. I find myself wondering if Kirby really designed these suits, or if Heck did them himself (or just "modified" them as he did with Iron Man's armor-- TWICE!).
posted
Well, I took a little breather to catch-up on some modern day comics but now that I’m about a third of the way through that pile, I wanted to get back to a little Iron Man.
Tales of Suspense #67 – This is an off-beat story that has Iron Man going to Ireland to retrieve Happy Hogan, who stormed off last issue. (Also, I note that I love that so many Marvel Icons are Irish-American, like myself: Daredevil, Spider-Man, and supporting players like Happy Hogan). I had totally forgotten about this story, and namely that this is Count Nefaria’s second appearance. Nefaria has kind of emerged as one of the very best Avengers villains over the decades: not quite on par with Ultron and Kang, but probably the next best. In the Silver Age and early Bronze Age, though, he had many less epic stories, like this one. And as always, it’s awesome to see many foes of a hero all appear in one issue even if it’s a dream.
Tales of Suspense #68 – I had forgotten (or maybe never realized) that following the first Count Nefaria story, there was a second one the following issue. More specifically, it was a story with Count Nefaria’s influence looming, in which Iron Man once again questions his sanity, this time based on the schemes of Tony Stark’s ne’er-do-well cousin, Morgan. To be honest, this may have been the story I’ve enjoyed least of the entire set of Silver Age stories so far. I found it to be a bit too similar to the prior issue, only this time compiled with the incredibly annoying Morgan Stark. All this issue really did was serve to amp up Senator Byrd’s continued involvement in the strip, as he now becomes an influence in the series similar to what Jonah Jameson is in Spider-Man (which is fitting considering Iron Man in the Silver Age was the most like Spider-Man in terms of pure soap opera drama). The major difference is we keep hearing about Senator Byrd actually being a good man, despite not trusting Tony (which we can understand since Tony puts up a bit of a front to protect his Iron Man identity). However, we still haven’t seen it; we will shortly IIRC.
Also at this time, Iron Man has now left the Avengers. This was actually quite huge for the Marvel U as I’ve said many times in the past. What is interesting is the original reason for removing Thor & Iron Man is the individual stories had trouble matching up with Avengers continuity. Marvel was the very first company to ever care about that sort of thing before.
Tales of Suspense #69-71 – #69-#71 kicks off what I consider the truly greatest era of Iron Man history, and does so with what I consider my favorite Iron Man story of all time. When I was a kid, I would reread these three issues over and over, and every time just soak it all in, awing at Iron Man and crying out for Happy Hogan when he almost makes the ultimate sacrifice. This is the first Titanium Man story, and the first time that a truly grandiose sense is installed in the series.
At this same time, the Fantastic Four was on the verge of hitting it’s grandiose years of the Inhumans & Galactus. Spider-Man was about to have his best story of all-time, #31-33 of ASM; Thor was also about to jump from Earth-bound stories to more grandiose ones. And in Iron Man, the series also took it to the next level: Iron Man suddenly seemed to rise up and be the beacon of American ‘know-how’ more than ever, standing up to Communism and other foes. You can really get that sense here.
For a 3-parter, the story perfectly fits into 3 acts: the build-up is super-intense; the middle part is incredible action with a big game changer at the end; and the third part has a ‘this ones for all the marbles’ sensibility. Within, the Titanium Man feels like the very biggest threat and greatest villain Iron Man has faced so far. It’s unfortunate that so many bad stories have been written about him over the years and basically put him into ‘B-level’ mode (a trend Prof & I have discussed many times regarding Silver Age great villains). In this story though, the Titanium Man is a threat level that only the Mandarin has been equal too so far.
Beyond the huge scope of the threat, the best part of the story is what happens to the supporting cast. Happy Hogan’s story takes a great turn as he rushes to help Iron Man in the midst of battle and is knocked into a coma, on the verge of death. Coming close to making the ultimate sacrifice he tells Iron Man “go get ‘em boss”, showing he now knows Tony is Iron Man. It’s great stuff—and if Happy had died, the sequence would be almost exactly the same as when Captain Stacy died in Spider-Man several years later. It’s a truly moving scene and when I was a little kid around 12 years old, I’m pretty sure I would cry. Meanwhile, Pepper realizes she loves Happy, while also blaming Tony for what happened, making Tony think Pepper despises him. Great stuff. Senator Byrd also shows he’s more than just a pain in the ass, as he has grown to admire and respect Iron Man, while still not trusting or liking Tony. Even an old flame of Tony’s shows up to cause problems, Countess Stephanie Di Espinosa (I screwed up the last name, I’m aware). She makes for a great recurring annoyance to Tony and the way he dismissed her when he rushed to Happy’s side makes you know she’s coming back with a vengeance.
The whole story is beautifully drawn by Don Heck, with a different inker each story. Interestingly, legend Wally Wood inks the final chapter and the effect is actually pretty cool! It’s still definitely Don Heck, but it has a cleaner, more classic feel. I also noticed that at certain times, Pepper is being drawn to look a little like Ann Margaret! Unless that was Wally Wood’s influence?
Hereafter, the level of drama reaches new heights in Iron Man. I know the Happy Hogan story is leading to the Freak; the Tony / Pepper / Happy love triangle is reaching new heights; Happy knows Tony is Iron Man now; and the idea of Tony running out of power has been used enough now for a story to occur where it actually really happens this time. Can’t wait.
Some other interesting things I noticed during this 3-parter: In the Letter’s Page, Stan refers to DC Comics as ‘Brand Ecch’ for the first time! This will become a huge inside joke for several years on first the Letter’s Page and then the Bullpen Bulletins Page before inspiring a parody series “Not Brand Ecch”.
Also on the Letter’s Page the “Mighty Marvel Checklist”, which gives solicits for each comic on the stands, is removed to make way for more letters. Within a few months, readers will demand its return. The solution? The creation of the “Bullpen Bulletins” page, a second page in every Marvel Comic that readers could use to catch up on what Marvel was up to, while also become even more involved with Stan Lee and the company (furthering the expansion of “Marvel Zomies”). This would be a staple for YEARS.
Marvel Tales returns for a 2nd Annual issue. This is the start of the Marvel reprint comics which will soon begin in earnest and be a huge staple of Marvel’s line throughout the 60’s, 70’s and for some, the 80’s.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
"Cobaltus"? What have you done with Cobalt Kid?
"The design is from temporary penciller Steve Ditko and it is very Ditko-esque in it’s look: the bulkiness is removed and despite being armor, it’s very smooth and apt to give a more fluid look when Iron Man is in battle. In the long run, a lot of Iron Man’s staying power IMO comes from this armor: it’s more colorful and the sleekness of it really lends itself to placing Iron Man within group shots—he just really looked great among the Avengers!"
Yep, the "classic" armor debuts here, although, as Don Heck did with Kirby's design, he later does with Ditko's-- modifies and IMPROVES it. To me, "THE" classic IM design is the one with the big eye holes that make the faceplate look like a skull.
"Mr. Doll" (a little too close in M.O. to The Pupper Master) was originally called "Mr. Death" (I've seen this somewhere) but changed at the last minute.
"I have a theory for the very early ‘recast Pepper’: Natalie Wood with red hair. Something about her personality and her smile/eyes just screams Natalie Wood to me. But Heck sometimes draws her a bit different. Happy also gets recast; I recalled Prof saying Happy would be recast once more later on as a more handsome version. Here, he goes from roughneck to sourpuss, which lasts awhile (I forget the actor who he resembles here, it’s a former boxer)."
Nice idea! I gotta look up Natalie Wood and see how she measures up. What's cracked me up for some years now was when I was watching reruns of WINGS. On that show, red-headed actress Amy Yasbeck played Casey Chappell, and in both look AND personality, she reminded me of the "classic" version of Pepper Potts. Gorgeous, but hot-tempered, and sometimes, just nuts!
The "sad" Happy always reminds me of Maxie Rosenbloom. Check out, among other things, THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU, where he gets entangled with Boris Karloff & Peter Lorre. "Dat's MOIDA! It ain't RIGHT ta moida! My MUDDA tol' me so!"
"there have been enough bad Mandarin stories to kind of make him less than he once was"
I'm of the opinion that most or all of his stories under Don Heck and Gene Colan can be considered "Classics". This would include AVENGERS ANNUAL #1, although the short episodes in that tend to dimisish EACH of the returning bad guys who appear, as they each get beaten much easier than previously. Once you get to George Tuska, the shine starts to go off...
"The Mandarin is very much in the tradition of the Yellow Peril villains, but IMO a lot more respectful than the previous 50 years worth."
What was wild was when Mike Freidrich was writing the book, his "War of the Super-Villains" story (mostly illustrated by newcomer Arvell Jones) had The Mandarin facing off against The Yellow Claw... and LOSING. If I recall, Bill Mantlo had to figure out a way to bring the guy back from the DEAD...!
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/suspense/TOS%20052.jpg This was the last one of these I read, because for many years, I never had a copy. A friend in Oregon MAILED me the issue as a "thank you" for a job I did for him gratis. Nicest "Christmas present" I had in years!
"the Origin of the Watchers, in a really great story by Larry Lieber. It’s very epic and has a classic science-fiction message about not every group of people deserved technology if they are going to use it to destroy."
This idea was "borrowed" for the DOCTOR WHO story, "UNDERWORLD", where The Doctor (Tom Baker) reveals that HIS people, The Time Lords, did the exact same thing The Watcher's people did, giving advanced technology to a relatively primitive planet. They used it to create weapons, start a war, and wound up DESTROYING their entire planet! He runs into some of the only survivors of the long-gone planet, thousands of years later, and when they find out WHO he is, they're STILL PISSED.
The "classic" facemask makes it debut, though it took a bit to refine it (the corner image shows rivets down the center of the face! wouldn't that hurt?)
THIS was the very 1st IRON MAN solo story I ever read! Decades later, I'd like to think it isn't just nostalgia that makes me think it's one of the all-time HIGH points of the entire series. Don Heck's art is BRILLIANT-- the storytelling so perfect, the soap-opera so funny (and sometimes sad), the action scenes so EXCITING! And it's the BEST INKS I've seen from him... well, maybe ever. (At least, from the 60's on.)
Anybody notice that on every single one of these covers, Jack Kirby NEVER draws the "hip pods"?? They only appear on the cover patched together from Don Heck's interior panels!
It was watching the movie ARABESQUE that made me realize who Natasha MAY have been based on...
And you're totally right about the early Black Widow / Sophia Loren connection! Dead-on, I'd say!
Doug McClure might also be right in regards to Hawkeye (I had to google his image). He's harder to tell because of the mask, naturally.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Tales of Suspense #72 – well the Countess storyline wraps up with a Mad Thinker story that was one of those stories I generally forgot about over the years. It was a solid one issue break after the 3-parter of the Titanium Man, but like readers of the day I suspect, I wanted to get back to the drama with Happy & Pepper. I like the Mad Thinker quite a bit though and think she’s woefully under-utilized. Recently in Hulk they used him to great effect with his fellow Intelligensia.
I was surprised at how quickly my above prediction came true: the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page arrives exactly one month later and it begins as a combination of the MMS page (which listed merchandise like t-shirts kids could subscribe to) and the Mighty Marvel Checklist. It also begins listing “ITEM!”s where Stan would talk about upcoming projects, behind the scenes editorial stuff and insight into the creators personal lives. All in all, it very quickly becomes a must-read for diehard Marvel fans every month.
Also in the Cap back-up, which I’m generally skipping, the stories at last go from WWII era stories to modern day ones and it starts with a bang by having “Cap’s Kooky Quartet” surrounding him, so Suspense readers get a rare glimpse of the Avengers (Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver). Great stuff! One day I’ll do a full Cap reread as well.
Tales of Suspense #73 – Though you would not know it by cover alone, IMO Suspense #73 is a major turning point for the Iron Man series in the Silver Age, as it kind of bridges the gap from “Early Silver Age Proper” to the “Late Silver Age Proper”, and along the way, gives one hell of a great story. It’s now 1966 and Marvel is firmly in it’s “Grandiose Years” as the excellent website often referred by Prof calls it; meanwhile, DC Comics was in serious decline as a company as Marvel sales were rising while DC’s were falling. But what marks the shift is at this point, longtime Iron Man artist has left the series, focusing on his Avengers run, and “Adam Austen” comes on as penciller. While Heck’s artwork would in my mind, see a bit of a decline from this point onward, “Adam Austen” was just getting started—and that’s because “Adam Austen” was a penname by none other than the legendary Gene Colan.
Gene Colan is without a doubt the *other* great Iron Man artist of all-time, and this marks the start of his run here. Iron Man had the good luck of having two great artists during the Silver Age. With Colan’s arrival, the entire strip takes a bit of a turn as well, though it remains of great quality. Namely, Colan’s pencils are much more fluid than Heck’s, and the look goes from the classic comic book style to something that is more moody and atmospheric. It is a very welcome look for Iron Man. This is furthered by the action in the issue, in which Iron Man hunts for the Black Knight through his castle, which involves a lot of shadowing and background images with Iron Man lurking around corners, each panel more and more building the intensity until we get a beautiful splash page with Iron Man walking down a hallway with suits of armor along the wall.
Also noticeable artwork-wise is the coloring takes on a newer, more shadowy ton, with some background images not colored at all, creating a very intriguing effect that heightens the mood. Colan gets a new inker, “Gary Michaels” which is also a penname, this one used by Jack Abel, who was major part of the DC Comics Superman and War titles.
The final few pages were done by Marie Severin, whose artwork you can recognize instantly because of her beautiful style. The first page says “everyone had a hand in creating this one”, listing a whole slew of Marvel Bullpenners, including Roy Thomas, who was now part of the Bullpen, showing that Marvel was still evolving quite a bit in these years internally.
In this issue, Iron Man battles the Black Knight for a second time, and in it marks a big turning point for the Black Knight, as by the issue’s end, the Black Knight dies. We don’t actually learn that until about 2 years later when Dane Whitman arrives, which by the way, is one of my favorite Avengers stories because Dane Whitman is one of my all-time favorite superheroes. What is intriguing though, is that in this issue, Iron Man is more than happy to un-horse the Black Knight high up in the sky so he will suffer the same fate as Iron Man—and much later, we learn that fate was HIS DEATH! So Iron Man actually kills the Black Knight! That’s pretty heavy! The battle itself is a really good one, one of the better battle sequences I’ve read thus far and the Marvel Silver Age *always* had good battle sequences.
The dialogue is super-intense, as most Marvel dialogue would become increasingly from 1966-the early 70’s. In the opening scenes, a cop looking for Happy Hogan tells Iron Man he better not take the law into his own hands and Iron Man quickly snaps back at him, telling him he wants in, in such a way that the cop immediately backs down and agrees. There is tension all over the place!
Something I also liked was the Black Knight’s HQ was right outside Washington, D.C., and so we get to see Iron Man traveling there. This is something that fits Iron Man’s series—traveling to other locations & cities. You don’t often see that with Spider-Man (in NYC only) or Thor (either NYC or somewhere far, far away).
By now the series has taken a huge shift: Pepper Potts basically hates Tony because she thinks he doesn’t care that Happy Hogan is on the verge of death; meanwhile, she has begun to truly admire Iron Man. Even Senator Byrd feels the same way, though he’s still trying to have Iron Man unmasked. This is what I call the classic “Stan Lee Soap Opera Flip”, something he would employ on Spider-Man all the time. Every so often, people would begin to love and respect Spider-Man while in Peter Parker’s life, he would emerge as enemy #1 among his supporting cast. The same thing has happened here; eventually, the status quo will flip back in Spider-Man, but in Iron Man, you get the sense it goes back and forth in perpetuity.
This issue pretty much kicks off the “Freak Saga” of Iron Man which is a direct follow-up of the Titanium Man story earlier in which Happy almost sacrifices his life. When I was a kid, this story meant quite a lot to me, and was one of my favorites (I basically saw it as a continuation of the Titanium Man story, which it is). I was so terrified for Happy and was scared he wouldn’t change back. My Dad sometimes will tell me he could see the actual stress on my face as I would have to read all of these right in a row until I was positive Happy was okay.
In the Bullpen Bulletins page, there is an interesting announcement: “We Goofed Up Again!”. Here Stan explains how Marvel wanted to change the name of the company to “Marvel Pop-Art Productions” but thousands of fans wrote fan-mail requesting they keep the “Marvel Comics” name, proving their loyalty to the brand. This is just one of many examples of the sheer dedication of the Marvel zombies of the Silver Age.
Tales of Suspense #74-76 – As I said above, the “Freak Saga” in #74-76, in which a dying Happy Hogan is transformed into a freakish Frankenstein like creature in an attempt by doctors to save him, is one of my all-time favorite stories, much like the story which led into this one, the Titanium Man Saga. When I was a kid, I would read these issues over and over, from the Titanium Man to the in-between issue to the Freak story and thrill to what was inside. And always, I would be terrified poor Happy Hogan wouldn’t make it. Rereading this story now for the first time in at least 15 years, I can only say that not only does it hold up, it’s far better than my little pre-teenage mind could ever really comprehend!
Just like Don Heck proved he was a master on the Titanium Man story, Gene Colan proves he’s a worthy successor and master in his own right with this one. The level of mood and atmosphere is apparent as ever and this actually feels like a strait-up horror story, or at the very least a Hammer sci-fi movie of the same era! The level of quiet intensity just builds and builds throughout the three issues until it is no longer quiet but simply exploding off the page. Happy as the Freak is terrifying in the sense that someone you love could be transformed into a monster (which terrified me as a kid), but it’s the way Stan dialogues the issue and Gene builds the tension that makes it feel like you’re reading something strait out of Frankenstein.
The pacing of the battle scenes is terrific. The opening of the first part, in which Iron Man is dying from his battle with the Black Knight and Pepper must save him is a great start. (However, Stan must have forgotten Iron Man is right outside D.C., or less Pepper drove really fast from Long Island to save him). The first battle and then Iron Man attempting to bait Happy into going to Stark Industries all the while running out of juice. And then when it looks like he’s done for and the Freak is on top of him, the Freak hears Pepper’s voice and moves on to find her—even more terrifying. Very well done, and very horror-esque.
Iron Man is never more heroic and yet never more vulnerable than in this story, and it adds to the tension. Beyond Iron Man and Happy as the Freak, the other major supporting cast players get scenes as well: Pepper Potts is as important as ever and even Senator Byrd shows his heroic side by jumping between Pepper and the Freak.
Something I noticed about Pepper: she’s always wearing green!
The story essentially ends with #75, with #76 serving as a bridge to the next story. I’ll cover parts of #76 when I do #77…
Some other things I noticed from Marvel at this time: (1) On the Bullpen Bulletins Page, Stan proclaims that unlike their competitors, “we’ll always be honest with you”. Whether true or not, this was something Marvel always proclaimed into well into the 70’s. The Bullpen Bulletins page would often explain why certain titles were cancelled, why some artists left, why certain things were happening. It created the aura of accountability, further instilling loyalty in the Marvel zombies.
(2) On the Letter’s Page, one reader ends his letter with “Yours until Namor gets sea sick!”. I remember this *always* being a major part of Marvel Comics, where fans would end their letters with something similar, in the “yours until ___ gets ___”. This lasted well into the 90’s. Losing that long tradition is probably one of the minor things that distilled the Marvel brand loyalty during the mid-90’s (one of the majors being they had too many comics for one fan to collect them all).
(3) During these months, Marvel was smart in amping up its next round of guest-stars that would go between various comics. Ka-Zar appeared in Daredevil, after his first appearance in X-Men, showing he was sticking around the MU. Hercules showed back up in Thor showing he was not just a one-off. The Silver Surfer was introduced in Fantastic Four, and in Avengers, Giant-Man and the Wasp returned at long last now that they weren’t appearing anywhere (the former as Goliath). This sense of no character being forgotten and following various guest-stars from title to title (much like the Hulk & Namor before they got their own feature) helped build the sense of cohesiveness to the Marvel Universe that DC did not have until the Bronze Age.
Tales of Suspense #77-78 – Really beginning about half-way through #76 and running through 77-79, Iron Man undergoes the next major saga of his career, the original “Ultimo Saga”. The fact that the series is continuing to move from one ‘saga’ to another really shows how the level of drama has reached new levels and things have moved to the grandiose.
While I don’t think the Ultimo story is as good as the previous two big stories, the Freak & the Titanium Man, it is still very good. Not so much Ultimo himself, who is a kind of generic large monster, but rather, the sheer awesomeness of the Mandarin, who in his fifth appearance has still not any of his luster. He is incredibly clever, very powerful and every bit the equal of Tony Stark. That is played up here, as after Iron Man defeats Ultimo, the Mandarin is convinced he killed Tony Stark and basically lets Iron Man run away. So while Iron Man is victorious in the sense that he beat Ultimo, he absolutely did not beat the Mandarin. I’ve been keeping count and in my mind, Iron Man has yet to have a full-on solid victory over the Mandarin. They all are basically ending in draws, with some level of Iron Man thwarting the Mandarin’s plans but then escaping while he still can. The Mandarin in the Silver Age was truly one of the premiere villains in comic books.
An element I also liked quite a bit was Iron Man suddenly found himself stuck in the middle of ‘Red China’ and had to get home, and over a few pages we see him having to go through all of that. It really brought the series back down into reality, and we see there is no quick fix. So while Iron Man is in China, Tony Stark’s life comes crashing down as Senator Byrd & the Congressional Committee shut down his plants, end his contracts and put a hold on Tony until he turns himself in to go before the Committee. At long last, that plot is going to reach fruition.
Ultimo hereafter kind of becomes Iron Man’s “gargantuan enemy” that returns for many of the milestone events, like a 100th issue or 200th issue. Thor has the same in Mangog and Captain America had the same in the Sleepers—throughout the entire Bronze Age, the three of them would hit a cycle every time a milestone approached where these enemies would return. To be honest, while Mangog in Thor is one of the greatest cosmic enemies of all-time, Ultimo and the Sleepers can’t really compare.
During the course of these issues, Gene Colan sheds his Adam Austen nom de plume and one issue later Jack Abel sheds his Gary Michaels one as well.
During these issues, I also happened to glance at the Captain America story in #78, which is the first time Nick Fury and Cap meet back up since Cap was unfrozen from suspended animation. In continuity at that time, Cap & Nick had only met one time previously in SGT Fury #13; over the decades it’s been retconned that they basically met all the time and had adventures together. In this story, it’s a very brief bit of reminiscing about the war days, but its still a nice, albeit subtle, scene that invokes some emotion.
On the Bullpen Bulletins page, Marvel announces that not only are all of their titles monthly—making them the only company that does that—but now they are going to start releasing reprint titles on a bi-monthly basis. Subsequent bulletins reveal that the reprint titles are selling like hot cakes! Marvel zombies who came in late ate these right up…and would continue to do so for years.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
"I’m pretty sure hereafter Heck would not ink his own work as much, probably because he was now very busy as penciler on the Avengers. Either Ayers or Chic Stone would ink him (later others) and the end result was much better looking."
It's only re-reading the original printings that Don's inks look good to me. In reprints, the linework's destroyed more than Vince Colletta's. And whether it's deadlines or erratic print quality, Don's inks varied greatly between episodes. "HAWKEYE THE MARKSMAN" was the BEST he ever looked ot my eyes (which is so bizarre, considering it was the very first Don Heck story i ever saw!). Even if he had time to ink himself, others could usually do better. Ayers' lines come very close to Heck's own style-- there were a few episodes (the really bad ones) on SHIELD where it got hard to tell who did the inks over Heck, between Heck, Ayers & Esposito.
I wish Wally Wood could have done the entire run. it's amazing how he cleans things up for Heck WITHOUT overpowering him (just like with Kirby).
"I also think this is the start of what Prof calls the “third Happy Hogan”, which is the more handsome version based on Jim Braddock, the great boxer who was pretty good looking in real life."
My recollection is, it was when Mike Esposito debuted that Happy got recast. Pepper also looked better than ever then. Espo's 1st IM episode, the linework was so precise, it looked like a machine did it. Only 6 months later, he started to HACK it out, and almost never looked that good again (except in instances where he inked John Romita, because his lines were ALWAYS sharper than Romita's lush, "fat" lines.)
"So it appears Tuska returned to Marvel at this time and this was his first story back. Only at Marvel did the artists get such top billing! No other company would allow something like that. I did check though, and I see he really didn’t do too much more Silver Age Marvel work…a few pencil jobs here, a few ink jobs there but often with months between them."
Yeah, it seems he jumped around here and there, a few CAPs, a few AVENGERS. It wasn't until he replaced Johnny Craig on IRON MAN (and where Craig started inking Tuska) that Tuska REALLY found a long-time home, doing I think 3 different runs on the book (and later, some Subby's and of course HERO FOR HIRE, which may be his masterpiece).
Someone said there were 3 really "great" super-villain origin stories from this period-- Dr. Doom, Red Skull, and Mandarin. I'd agree. The cliffhanger inspired my brother to pay tribute to it back in 1971 (when reading reprints of these was new to us), and many years later, for me to assemble an alternate version of the cover.
After what I thought was a VERY rough start, Dick Ayers finally seemed to get a handle on how to finish Don Heck's work. His inks on these episodes is MUCH better than when he started. Even so, I wish a Wally Wood or Joe Sinnott had been around full-time. (Dick Ayers probably feels the same; repeatedly, in interviews, he's always said that to him, inking someone else's work was "just a job". And to me, his inks never looked better than when he inked Jack Kirby.)
[ August 11, 2010, 08:48 PM: Message edited by: profh0011 ]
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
That's an alternate cover you created Prof, for #61? That is AWESOME! When I clicked on it, I suddenly had a 'flip out' moment where I thought there was a secret Tales of Suspense Annual or something that I never knew about. Really cool! I think it's better than the original!
And the Metal Man cover is awesome. Funny thing, my father also used to create his own superhero comic books as a kid and they were all basically Marvel superheros: Size Man instead of Giant-Man, the Challenger instead of Daredevil, and also, Metal Man instead of Iron Man. Metal Man is a natural analogue name. Love the way your brother puts 'Zycron' in the bottom right hand cover. Kids drawing their own comics is always awesome.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've noticed that the big difference between my characters and my brothers was, he tended to do his own versions of a single, particular character, where I tended to try harder to create my own, in one case borrowing elements from 7 different series at the same time (all TV series, no actual comics!).
Zycron was originally the name of one of my villains, my brother re-created him from scratch. His version has nothing to do with mine (who is an alien terrorist-conqueror). His is more the deformed scientist-villain, and the design, more than anywhere, came from the SPIDER-MAN cartoon villain "The Phantom". (It was only on re-reading the Don Heck run of IRON MAN that I realized Iron Man had a one-shot villain called "The Phantom"-- but my brother had no way of knowing that! Wild.)
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Tales of Suspense #79-80 – Of all the Sub-Mariner appearances and battles with other superheroes in the Silver Age, in my opinion there are two GREAT ones that stand out above all others: the battle with Daredevil in DD #7 and the battle with Iron Man in these issues of Suspense, as well as Tales to Astonish #81. And that is saying something, because generally when the Sub-Mariner showed up, it was always a damn good comic.
Suspense #79 is more of a set-up issue all the way through, though it contains some great scenes of Iron Man realizing his entire life has fallen apart during the time he spent battling Ultimo and the Mandarin. The “Tony Stark on the run” sequences are very suspense-filled, and that is done by the excellent moody artwork of Gene Colan and the bleak dialogue of Stan Lee. But it’s in Suspense #80 that things really get underway as Namor arrives and battles Shellhead, and basically is giving him the beating of his life, as Iron Man tries to recharge. Colan’s Sub-Mariner is just pulsating with power! He probably draws the most threatening, strongest looking Namor of all time! What was a great part of the story, being the first half, is that throughout the issue, Iron Man is attempting to recharge himself and eventually does it so he’s at full power—and pissed and looking for a fight to let Namor know no-one gives Iron Man a beating like that; meanwhile, Namor’s strength is sapped so he goes to the ocean to refresh himself, so he’s at full power. And thus by the first part’s end, both Namor and Iron Man are at full strength and both beyond pissed—setting up a titantic battle to come!
The story concludes in Tales to Astonish #81, which I unfortunately don’t have on me right now (it’s at my Dad’s with the rest of the collection). But I’ve read it before, and I remember very well how awesome it truly is. The best part is the King himself, Jack Kirby, stops in to complete the story and deliver what I consider one of the crowning moments of the Marvel Age of Comics. Great, great stuff.
I figure the reason for the Iron Man / Namor battle is because Gene Colan was drawing both series at the time. Whatever the case, it’s kind of established a long-standing connection between the two characters. When the anthology titles ended and all of Marvel’s heroes got their own title, Iron Man and Namor spun-off into their own series, while Cap & the Hulk took over the anthologies. During that one-month transition period, Iron Man and Namor were without titles and so appeared in the really odd/obscure “Iron Man / Sub-Mariner #1” issue in 1968, further giving the sense that these two characters were connected (and generally dislike one another). In recent years when Marvel was doing its Civil War build-up with the Illuminati, it was appropriate that Namor immediately get furious with Iron Man at what was done to the Hulk and attack him—the two of them getting into another huge battle is really par for the course! (Of course the rest of Civil War I’d rather forget).
Tales of Suspense #81-83 – Since the first battle was so momentous and so damn good, you knew there would be a sequel…and thus, the second great Iron Man / Titanium Man battle takes place in #81-83. I have a feeling when this came out, the fans must have went wild, as already the Titanium Man had emerged as Iron Man’s *other* great major enemy besides the Mandarin.
Something I like is that this battle also takes place in Washington D.C. There was a sense that Iron Man was often in 3 different locations: New York (Long Island at the factory or Manhattan), Washington D.C. (for Government interaction) and China (or other Communist countries as well).
#81 opens with Tony Stark at long last deciding to go before Senator Byrd’s committee to testify about the Iron Man armor, moving that subplot along, which had been running for almost 2 years by this time! I know full well this will continue for at least another 5-6 issues before Tony actually gets there…and by that time, he has a heart attack before he can testify! So it ends up being something like 3 years worth of stories.
The battle between Iron Man and the Titanium Man is as calamitous as the first battle (though I’m not sure any subsequent battle between them could ever equal the awesome tension-building and pulse-poundingness of the first). The Titanium Man brags that not only is his armor better but Russian scientists have been giving him steroids and hormone drugs to increase his own natural strength—now I see where Rocky IV got it!
Way back when Tales of the Watcher ended, there was a one-issue “Secrets of Iron Man” back-up which showed all these different ‘just in case’ gadgets Iron Man in his armor. At long last, in this issue, we get to see him use them, though they are completely different than what we’d seen (no more ray-gun, but we do get roller skates).
Something that also happens within is Happy loses his amnesia, which we hardly saw at all. In fact, it was almost as if it existed to get him off-screen for a few issues as Iron Man battled Namor and then the Titanium Man and Stan decided—hey, why don’t we get back to that plot we started 12 issues ago where Happy knows Iron Man is Tony Stark. They didn’t need the amnesia at all, it turns out!
The battle ends with a bang (literally), and it’s a very satisfying end indeed. And typical of those Commies ( ), rather than rescue the Titanium Man, who tries desperately to get to the Sub waiting to pick him up at sea, they let him land in the ocean and submerge, since “there is no place for failures in our Nation!”. A very Silver Age ending if there ever was one! After hating the Titanium Man, you gain respect for him (as Iron Man does) and then feel bad for him when he’s betrayed by his own.
Captain America Even though I’m not reading the Cap stories, I’ve been glancing at them and something I noticed that I liked is in #82, Jarvis, the infamous Avengers Butler, has some nice scenes with Cap. This is noteworthy because up until now, Jarvis has had almost no scenes at all in the MU other than brief, funny interactions with the various Avengers. He would not actually become an essential part of Avengers lore until later, when the Ultron/Masters of Evil story took place in which he was the ‘fake Crimson Cowl’. So Suspense #82 is one of the earliest Jarvis sequences where we see his actual emotions / thoughts / personality.
Credits During the 2nd Titanium Man battle, I also noticed something else: Irving Forbush makes the jump from Bulletin in-joke to in-joke appearing right there on the credits! Usually titled “referee” or something silly, it’s amazing how the Irving Forbush joke was such a monthly mainstay for Marvel for years and years.
Letter’s Page One of the best letters ever written to a Marvel comic, dealing with the symbolism of hatred in the Red Skull is in #83—and written by none other than Marv Wolfman, who was a teenager at the time! The Marvelous one was on the verge of joining DC in these years IIRC, and you can see he was quite the comic book fan already. Soon enough, he’d not only make his mark on Marvel, but be one of the short-lived EiCs. It’s groovy to check his letter out, in which he compliments Marvel’s attempts to make their stories mean something larger about peace & eliminating hatred in mankind “in the tradition of EC Comics”.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
(Please note, there was TERRIBLE color registration printing problems on the actual comic, including the lettering where it reads "The Origin Of The Mandarin!" This is an extreme case where I did a LOT of clean-up, to make the image look BETTER than the real thing, while staying true to the actual colors used-- something NO reprints have ever even attempted to do!)
I believe "The Phantom" here was-- LOOSELY-- the inspiration for "The Phantom" on the 1967 SPIDER-MAN cartoons. Except the TV villain dressed in purple, not green, and had 2 very different schticks (women robots with shrinking rays, and goggles that created "living shadows"). But then, he also had 2 completely different voices only a couple months apart...
(The GREEN on The Phantom's cape was SOOOO dark on the printed comic, it almost obliterated the linework detail-- I had to go to some extremes to get make it a lot "clearer" here.)
Strange but true: DAREDEVIL and the BLACK WIDOW both adopted retractable lines they could swing on-- the SAME MONTH!! Amazing, considering they became partners (and lovers) years later.
Chic Stone's inks on Don Heck were VERY slick-- but almost eliminated Don's line style in the process. I love how it looked-- but feel Stone was a more natural match with Jack Kirby, whose style was always more "cartoony", while Don's was more "naturalistic".
"The removal of Hawkeye and the Black Widow from Iron Man’s rogues gallery actually leaves two major holes!"
Imagine if Iron Man had had to deal with Hawkeye when he joined The Avengers-- instead of leaving it all in Cap's hands! (Having fought several times, would Hawk have had more respect for Shellhead-- or less?) And how would Iron Man have felt about the Black Widow turning up, when Natasha seemed to be giving Tony the big eye early-on?
An aside: the visual on Cap & Bucky vs. Sandor & Omar seems like it might have been one of the inspirations for the 1969 (3rd season) SPIDER-MAN cartoon, "SUPER SWAMI", which had a visual of Spidey trapped inside a giant "mysttic" crystal ball!
The first of several "New Iron Man" vs. "Old Iron Man" stories over the decades.
"I also realized something really big here! The ending is almost the exact same ending to Spider-Man #137 when Harry Osborn knows Peter is Spider-Man and announced it to the police, but he’s so crazy they don’t believe a word he says (he claims he’s always been the Green Goblin)."
In the early 70's, Gerry Conway almost made a career out of "duplicate" character stories (fake Scorpion, fake Mr. Hyde, fake Vulture, fake Green Goblin, fake Mysterio, and finally, fake Gwen Stacy and fake Spider-Man!).
"I had totally forgotten about this story, and namely that this is Count Nefaria’s second appearance. Nefaria has kind of emerged as one of the very best Avengers villains over the decades: not quite on par with Ultron and Kang, but probably the next best. In the Silver Age and early Bronze Age, though, he had many less epic stories, like this one. And as always, it’s awesome to see many foes of a hero all appear in one issue even if it’s a dream."
There has been some speculation among fans that Stan SCREWED UP on this one, as "The Dream Master" (wasn't that what he called himself?) doesn't look ANYTHING like Count Nefaria before or since, and his M.O. is completely different. Wha' hoppen??? It might be best just to figure Stan got his baddies confused, and pretend the guy here was somebody else entirely...!
"I had forgotten (or maybe never realized) that following the first Count Nefaria story, there was a second one the following issue."
See above comments.
"To be honest, this may have been the story I’ve enjoyed least of the entire set of Silver Age stories so far. I found it to be a bit too similar to the prior issue, only this time compiled with the incredibly annoying Morgan Stark."
I forget, did Morgan ever turn up again after this?
In my case, this was a favorite of mine, moreso when I re-read it, in large part because AL HARTLEY, mostly known for humor and romance books, filled in as "writer" (which in this case probably means he just filled in the word balloons). Al's style of humor is QUITE different from Stan's especially in the narrative blocks, which give this story a more light-hearted feel than any other from this era. I especially liked the bit of narration just before (and after) the VERY REAL flying saucer almost lands right on top of Shellhead.
Apparently, outside of that one (INFAMOUS) early episode of THOR that he pencilled (and possibly plotted or co-plotted), this may be the only time Hartley only wrote dialogue for a story he didn't draw himself. I kinda wish he'd done more. His light touch here might have been a very good fit on, say, X-MEN-- maybe more than the heavy-handed and excessively-wordy Roy Thomas was.
[ August 12, 2010, 07:36 PM: Message edited by: profh0011 ]
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Taking a little break from Iron Man's past, I've recently caught up on Iron Man's present:
Iron Man: Legacy continues to be excellent. Fred Van Lente does a great job as I expected he would. Within the story we're getting Dreadknight, Radioactive Man, Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man and even Dr. Doom! Awesomeness all around! On top of that, its been a solid story hitting a lot of the beats that good Iron Man stories usually have, as Tony becomes embroiled in the politics of Eastern Europe.
Iron Man seems to be heading in the right direction with the current story, as Iron Man and War Machine deal with the family of Justin Hammer. Better than that is we're getting some real development with the supporting cast and subplots, something which the title was lacking throughout the last year. New members of the cast are joining Pepper, Rhodey and Ms. Abogast (welcome back in a big way!), and one of the few things I've felt Matt Fraction has done a great job with--the interaction between Maria Hill and Tony Stark--is still an ongoing part of the series.
All in all, I'm enjoying the current Iron Man series, though Legacy is a solid step ahead of the main title (which is gradually improving).
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
One day after praising the current two Iron Man series, I’ve read the Iron Man Annual by Matt Fraction. And my thoughts: This is the single worst comic book I have read all year.
Quite frankly, I’m disgusted.
Some of this may be due to the fact that I’m currently rereading the Silver Age Iron Man stories, which are quite excellent and I hold them in high esteem. Part of it also I’ve basically dropped any comic book I felt was a stinking pile of crap (Outsiders, Power Girl, Mighty Avengers) and so when I do end up with a bad comic, I feel like I’ve personally been tricked. But whatever my own personal reasoning, I feel most other people would agree that the recent Iron Man Annual was about as low as it gets, and a level of quality that only Dan Didio at DC would like.
The Mandarin’s origin was something I reviewed recently because of how damn good it was in the Silver Age. Here, in the annual, Fraction completely annihilates that origin to present his own more grim n’ gritty version complete with being born in the slums, raised by pimps and prostitutes and all other 1980’s era story tidbits we’ve come to see time and time again. The Mandarin, who always was an enemy of the Communists, is now shown to be their lapdog—in other words, yet another once proud and great Marvel super-villain is reduced to nothing more than a political war criminal who thrives on rape and murder.
The Mandarin’s origin isn’t the only part of the story however; the idea is his abduction of a filmmaker and his wife and forcing the filmmaker to create a fictionalized film about his life. In the process he tortures the wife, hooks her on heroin and forces her into prostitution. Yeah, great stuff for a superhero comic. The filmmaker also has a fun time as he’s hideously scarred and mentally tortured all issue. Reading this story was the equivalent of watching the film Hostile. It must have been written for the torture porn audience.
In my reviews I’m often tough on DC Comics because they, quite frankly, have hit an all-time low in level of quality of their stories in their long history. But Marvel Comics often is equally as bad, and this serves as evidence Exhibit A of how bad Marvel can get as well. Reading this comic was the equivalent of getting mugged, being in a car crash and stepping in a steaming pile of dogshit all at once.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Obviously, current Marvel continuity has no connection with anything from the 60's-80's. Wouldn't it just be better if they stopped publishing the old series, and created brand-new characters for modern audiences? Oh, wait-- they'd insist on owning those, and modern creators aren't crazy about the idea of just turning over creations to greedy, soulless corporations these days. So instead, they're forced to either toil in obscurity, or work on new, corrupted versions of characters the companies ALREADY OWN. (sigh)
I buy so few comics these days... just got another batch from AC Comics, including FEMFORCE SPECIAL #1 (from 1984!!). Not sure how I never picked up FEMFORCE when it started back then. The first story was set in WW2, and was BETTER than 90% of the WW2 stories Roy Thomas ever did! http://www.comics.org/issue/39135/cover/4/?style=default
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
), rather than rescue the Titanium Man, who tries desperately to get to the Sub waiting to pick him up at sea, they let him land in the ocean and submerge, since “there is no place for failures in our Nation!”. A very Silver Age ending if there ever was one! After hating the Titanium Man, you gain respect for him (as Iron Man does) and then feel bad for him when he’s betrayed by his own.
