Strange Tales #112

Cover Date: September 1963

Plot Overview: The Torch flies over Glenville and realizes the people are annoyed with him. He heads home and Sue shows him a broadcast with a Tom Braddock running him down. The Torch leaves to confront Braddock but only makes things worse for himself.

Meanwhile, the Eel steals a secret project from a local scientist. The Eel plans to sell the device. Unknown to the Eel, it's a mini-nuke and he's failed to turn the device off. He's a Living Bomb. Everyone sets out to find Eel including the Torch.

The Eel has set down the bomb in a remote wooded area and is set to escape. The Torch arrives on the scene and the fight is on. The Eel briefly has the advantage until the Torch melts his gun. The Eel tries to convince the Torch to help him conquer the world but the Torch declines. The police arrive and tell the Torch that the bomb was placed near a Veteran's Hospital.

The Torch springs into action and uses his powers to absorb the bomb blast. He falls to the Earth and is saved by Reed at the last moment. Johnny is dying and the FF rush him to the Baxter Building. Reed tries a radical new treatment to try and save him. The world holds its breath and celebrates when Johnny Storm is saved.

My Take: This was a decent issue. It was a little different from some of the other books I've read in this time frame. I liked how the Eel stumbled into a nuclear device and how he actually tried to place the device where it wouldn't hurt anyone. It was a nice touch for him to not be a super evil guy.

I really liked how the Thing was broken up by the Human Torch potentially dying. It was a really good way to develop his character. Whenever these situations come up, you always see that the Thing really has a giant soft spot for the Torch. I really like the way their character dynamic has developed thus far.

The art was solid for this issue as always.

I'd give this ** out of *****.

Notes: This issue features the first appearance of the Eel. He would hang around as a minor villain throughout the 60s and into the 70s. He'll usually be involved with a team of guys though.

Next Issue: X-Men #1

Journey Into Mystery #96

Cover Date: September 1963

Plot Overview: Thor returns to the office and becomes Dr. Don Blake to start things off. Jane Foster is upset because Blake again disappeared and all of his patients gave up and went home. She thinks that Blake needs to be more responsible while Blake wonders what she would think if she knew he was Thor. There's a brief flashback of Thor saving a bus that had fallen into the river.

We switch scenes as the casket of Merlin has been discovered and brought to New York. Scientists open the casket and leave. Merlin immediately revives as he had used a spell on himself centuries ago. Merlin reflects on his days in Camelot and how his powers came from within himself, not the potions he used. He makes an interesting comment about being a mutant. Extremely interesting since the X-Men make their debut around the same time as this issue. Merlin decides that he will find the ruler in this time and become their adviser as well.

Merlin decides to show off his powers and knocks a rocket off course. Thor springs into action and rights the rocket. Thor suspects Loki to be involved and seeks him out on Asgard. Loki claims innocence and shows Thor that Merlin is the one responsible.

Back on Earth, Merlin entered the White House in search of the President. He passes JFK but assumes he is too young to be the President. Thor confronts Merlin and the battle begins.

Merlin hypnotizes Thor and throws the Washington Monument at him. The spell breaks and Thor rights the Monument with relative ease. Merlin then tries to bury Thor under the Pentagon but Thor escapes as well. Merlin finally tries the Lincoln Memorial but Thor uses his Hammer to defeat that as well. Thor decides to gamble and becomes Don Blake. He claims to be a great magician that can take many forms and threatens to destroy Merlin if he continues. Merlin begs for mercy and Blake has him cast a second spell to go back to sleep.

My Take: This was an okay issue. It was a quick read and had a decent fight. The dialogue was also solid enough. I would classify this issue as mostly average. Nothing great or memorable but it wasn't overtly bad either.

The art was a solid effort yet again but I've said that ever since Joe Sinnott took over the art duties on this book.

Ultimately, nothing of importance happened in this issue. I would call it a total status quo issue. Thor meets a threat and defeats it. This issue was solid, very solid, there's probably just better stuff to read from this time period.

I'd give this **1/2 out of *****

Notes: This is the first appearance of Merlin. I looked him up and he appears a handful of times over the years.

Next Issue: Strange Tales #112

Amazing Spider-Man #4

Cover Date: September 1963

Plot Overview: The issue opens with Spider-Man foiling a couple of crooks about to rob a jewelry store. They claim that they were attacked and that Spider-Man has no proof that they were up to no good. They call for the police and Spider-Man realizes he's made a mistake and leaves the scene. Spider-Man complains that The Daily Bugle articles undermining his work as a super hero.

Later, Spider-Man comes across a police chase and sees a man climbing the building. Spider-Man confronts the man and quickly realizes it's the Sandman. The Sandman demonstrates his ability to become nothing but sand and to become hard as a rock. Spider-Man unsuccessfully until the Sandman knocks him over and Spider-Man's mask tears. He fears being recognized and flees the scene. The Sandman continues on with his plans to rob a bank.

Peter Parker tries to sew his mask up when he sees a special report on the news. The Sandman is Cain Marko and escaped from a prison. During his flight from the police he hid in a nuclear testing facility and was exposed to radiation. The radiation gave him his special powers.

The Sandman flees the cops but needs a place to rest and decides on Parker's school. Sandman enters a room and finds it full of students and the principal. The principal stands up to Sandman and just as things are about to get ugly, Spider-Man makes the save.

Spider-Man still can't do much to hurt the Sandman and tries to keep him distracted long enough for the police to arrive.

The battle continues until Spider-Man finds an industrial vacuum cleaner and uses it to capture the Sandman. Spider-Man turns over the Sandman much to the chagrin of J. Jonah Jameson.

Peter Parker approaches Liz Allen at the end of the issue and almost gets in a fight with Flash Thompson. He backs off at the last second and gets mocked as a coward. Parker leaves dejected and hears the people on the street commenting on Spider-Man. He wonders if he should have his head examined as the issue comes to a close.

My Take: This was a pretty good issue. The fight between Spider-Man and Sandman was really long and fairly detailed. It felt like a hopeless situation for Spider-Man and he found a way to defeat Sandman. The side plots were also really good in this issue. Parker losing out on a date with Liz Allen because of being Spider-Man. Spider-Man leaving webbing in the chair of J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson later sitting in the chair and greeting Parker in his boxers. This had a lot of what makes Spider-Man such a memorable character.

This issue also did a great job of establishing Spider-Man as the underdog. He was against a foe he had no chance of beating. He found a way to win. That's always going to be a common thread with a lot of the Spider-Man fights over the year. He's always going to be the underdog beating bad guys that he has no business beating.

The art was good in this issue. The Sandman had a distinct look and the J. Jonah Jameson look is down pretty well at this point.

I'd give this ***1/2 out of *****

Notes: There were a lot of first appearances in this issue. The biggest first appearance would be the Sandman. He is one of the more well known Spider-Man villains. He switches sides from good guy to bad guy over the years but he stays a pretty consistent player in the Spider-Man books for a really long time.

This issue also features the first appearance of Betty Brant. She will be a love interest for Peter for several years and pops up here and there over the years. She's a big supporting cast member for the first several years of the book.

This one is a retcon but this is also considered to be the first appearance of Jessica Jones now. She's the brunette in the last panel of page 12. She's not mentioned by name and I had to Google where she was in the issue. She's really just a nameless character cheering on Spider-man that was later made more important. Anyways, here's a picture... you decide!

Next Issue: Journey Into Mystery #96

Tales of Suspense #45

Cover Date: September 1963

Plot Overview: Tony Stark enters a race with a car created by his own technology. During the race, his chest plate begins to run out of power and his heart stops beating. Stark crashes the car and is trapped. A man named Happy Hogan comes out of the crowd and saves Stark from the car. Stark has Hogan take him to his hotel so he can recharge his chest plate.

Stark offers Hogan money to show his gratitude and Hogan says he would rather have a job than money. Hogan explains that he's a former boxer that didn't have the heart to finish off his opponents. Stark hires Hogan as his new chauffeur. They arrive at Stark's Office where he introduces Hogan to Pepper Potts. They take an immediate disliking to each other as Stark sneaks off to test out his armor.

The alarm goes off and Iron Man catches Professor Shapanka stealing from the vault. Iron Man captures Shapanka. Later, Tony Stark decides to let Shapanka walk but also fires him. Shapanka essentially vows revenge as he leaves.

Shapanka gets the idea from Stark saying cold feet and develops a cold suit to make himself immortal. Shapanka goes on a crime spree before finally approaching Stark for revenge. He freezes the guards plus Potts and Hogan. Hogan almost catches Stark changing into Iron Man just before being frozen. Iron Man tries to catch Shapanka with a trap door but he freezes the gears and manages to climb out. Iron Man can feel his suit freezing during the fight and decides to make a gamble. He creates a heat ray with his suit that melts the ice on Shapanka's suit. Shapanka surrenders and Hogan decides that he should also be Stark's bodyguard as the issue comes to a close.

My Take: This was a really good issue. The addition of consistent supporting characters immediately pays off as the book has more personality and Stark has more characterization. Happy and Pepper have a good dynamic between them and it has made Tony think about his changes into Iron Man a little more.

The expansion to 18 pages for this story was a huge help here. Everything was able to breathe a little bit. The characters got some time to develop and the story seemed to progress naturally. Sure, the Jack Frost stuff was probably 4 pages of an 18 page story but he wasn't important.

I really liked seeing Stark bring Hogan into the fold and meeting his assistant Pepper and how all three characters are going to interact with each other. Honestly, I don't think this issue even needed a super villain to be an enjoyable read. The characters were able to carry the story that will for the first 10 pages.

Jack Frost as a character is a good idea. He's an actual super villain which has been rare so far in the Iron Man books. He has a power that will provide some problems for Iron Man and his bad heart. And he's generally a good second tier villain to throw out there for the hero to beat in a one shot story here and there.

I'd give this **** out of *****

Notes: This is the first appearance of the villain Jack Frost. He eventually becomes Blizzard who is a consistent Iron Man C list villain throughout the 70s and early 80s. He's actually one of my favorite Iron Man villains.

More importantly than the Blizzard, this issue introduces Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan. They will of course become two of Iron Man's main supporting characters through his entire existence.

Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #4