They Might Be Giants! (The REST of 1966) ~~ A "Comical Wednesday" Post!

The illustration above is of the only giant-sized title in this Comical Wednesday series that wasn't from Marvel or DC! Issue #1-and-only of Fighting American was published by Harvey Comics, better known during the 1960s for such "kiddie" titles as (take a deep breath, here) Casper the Friendly Ghost, Playful Little Audrey, Spooky, Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Baby Huey, Little Lotta, Wendy the Good Little Witch, Sad Sack, Little Dot, as well as many others, including that horrifying example of capitalism-gone-wild, Richie Rich, who eventually (meaning, in the course of approximately thirty years) spawned over four dozen different titles!

Fighting American was a superhero. In fact, he was a very subtle parody of superheroes. And I am really embarrassed to admit that since nine-year-old David almost never read the text pages in comics (except for the DC and Marvel "Letters to the Editor" pages), he -- well, I -- didn't realize that these "Fighting American" stories were reprints from the 1950s! And even more embarrassing than that is the fact that I didn't recognize that these stories were created by the very same team that had crafted the early Captain America tales which I was devouring on a bi-monthly basis in Fantasy Masterpieces, namely Joe Simon and Jack Kirby!

In late 1966, Marvel released a one-shot "special" called Marvel Super-Heroes. This was an all-reprint title featuring the first issue of Daredevil, which I'd searched the newsstand racks for but missed, two years earlier. I almost had a crack at an original copy a few months after it came out, since I often traded various comics with my friend Kevin, and he had one! Unfortunately, the book was ruined because his older brother had... ummm... cut out several pictures of... ummm... half-naked, muscular men working out in a gym.

Marvel Super-Heroes #1 also contained a reprint of Avengers #2. But the best treat for li'l ol' me was a story from the Golden Age, featuring a battle between the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch!

And yes, I said "the original Human Torch." The modern-day Human Torch from the Fantastic Four comic, Johnny Storm, is actually the second superhero to have that nom de guerre. The first Human Torch was an android -- hence, not really "human," but why quibble? -- who debuted in 1939 and was a contemporary of Captain America and Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, during the Golden Age.

But Marvel Super-Heroes #1 and Fantasy Masterpieces weren't the only exciting "giants" Marvel churned out in '66. For the fourth year in a row, the Fantastic Four Annual (or, if you prefer, Fantastic Four Special) was another blockbuster issue.

In that issue, Marvel reprinted a two-part story (from F.F. #25 and #26) that I'd only caught the second chapter of when it first hit the stands. This great two-parter featured a knock-down, drag-out battle between The Thing (the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four) and the Incredible Hulk. And the Avengers showed up in part two!

But the lead feature in F.F. Annual #4 was an all-new epic that reintroduced the original Human Torch to the Silver Age!

The final giant/annual/special/whatever that made an impression on me that year was the sixth issue of Fantasy Masterpieces, which again featured three Golden Age Captain America stories by Simon & Kirby, including an original tale of none other than Cap's eternal nemesis, the Red Skull! In this reprint, from Captain America Comics #7, Cap and his young sidekick, Bucky, fought the "real" Red Skull, and not that ineffectual idiot mentioned in my previous post, George Maxon.

Fantasy Masterpieces #6 also had a Captain America tale entitled "The Phantom Hound of Cardiff Manor," which owed a lot, shall we say, to the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

One thing I didn't learn until many years later is that several of the 1940s Captain America stories reprinted in the 1960s had text and/or artwork that was censored to appease the censorship board known as the Comics Code Authority. The following two illustrations show a scene from the original version of "The Phantom Hound of Cardiff Manor" and the censored version which appeared in Fantasy Masterpieces #6.

And don'tcha just love the way they re-drew Bucky's mouth in that first panel? Wonder why they bothered to do that.

Now, to end our look(s) back at 1966 -- finally! -- I'm just going to shut up and present six more pairs of sequences from another story censored and reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces #6. This was a gruesome little tale called "Meet the Fang, Arch-Fiend of the Orient" which first appeared in Captain America Comics #6. Scenes showing or even suggesting extreme violence were expurgated in '66, plus they deleted one objectionable reference to "China boys."

Pretty thorough, weren't they?

I'll be posting another entry this weekend, for those of you who may be hoping for something other than Comical Wednesday posts, although I must admit, the next post won't be a very cheerful one.

Thanks for your time.

My Keys to the Kingdom ~~ A "Comical Wednesday" Post ~~ Part One (of Two)

On August 28th, 1917, a child named Jacob Kurtzberg was born in New York City. There is apparently no truth to the rumor that he was born with a pencil in his right hand (and a cigar in his left), but his decision to become an artist certainly wasn't made too long after that!

Entering the field of comic books roughly at the same time as the need for all-new material became apparent, young Kurtzberg toyed with a handful of "pen names" before deciding on "Jack Kirby," and it was under that name (which he later "made legal") that he became the most influential comic book artist ever.

Jack Kirby would have turned 94 years old last Sunday, if he were still with us.

Heh. What am I saying? As long as comic books -- or even characters that were spawned in the comic books -- exist, Kirby will never really leave us.

Jack Kirby has been called "The King of Comics" by many -- although he never called himself that -- and his astounding career spanned more than fifty years. He created, co-created, and/or drew more characters than I could list without writing an article which even I wouldn't have the patience to read, much less write.

The list of only those characters which he created or co-created, according to Wikipedia, stands at 304 as of today... and I'll bet they missed a few! They include Captain America, the X-Men, Kamandi, the Fantastic Four, the Fly, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Red Skull, the mighty Thor, OMAC, Doctor Doom, Etrigan the Demon, the incredible Hulk, Darkseid, Fighting American, Mister Miracle, the "Kid Cowboys" of Boys' Ranch, Sgt. Nick Fury, Captain Victory, the Newsboy Legion, Stuntman, the Boy Commandos, the Silver Surfer, Big Barda, Captain 3-D... and I probably left out one or two of your own Kirby favorites, if you follow comics at all!

 Writer Mark Evanier, who was both friend and assistant to Jack Kirby, has said "If [Kirby] wasn't your favorite artist, the odds were good that he was your favorite artist's favorite artist." I would twist that little quote around a tad to say that if Kirby didn't have a hand in the creation of your favorite character, the odds were good that he drew your favorite character at one time or another. And that includes characters such as Superman, the Shield, Blue Bolt, the original Captain Marvel, and dozens -- if not hundreds -- more! 

So. What should I do to commemorate such a man's birthday in this Comical Wednesday post? (I won't even try to provide an overview of the man's spectacular career.)

I suppose I can do what I so often do, which is give my own slant on Kirby... the man, the artist, and his work... and how "they" all affected me.

As I told in much greater detail here, in 1963 I was still a good year or so away from being able to appreciate the differences between comic book publishers (as well as comic book artists). But when my older sister came home with a copy of Fantastic Four Annual #1, my young eyes -- accustomed to DC Comics titles like Batman, Superman, Action Comics, and Detective Comics -- immediately discerned that something here was different. It was my first exposure to the art of Jack Kirby... although I certainly couldn't have told you that then!

A year or so later, when I started buying Marvel titles like Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Tales to Astonish (featuring Giant-Man and the Wasp), I started catching on that guys named Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck were drawing them... and that some guy named Stan Lee seemed to be writing all of these titles, and more!

And then (for me) came Captain America!

The Avengers was not a title that I read (yet) when Captain America was brought back from comic book limbo in its fourth issue. But only two months later, I got a double shot of Cap when the Avengers guest-starred in Fantastic Four #26 (which was my very first "regular" issue of FF), and a couple of weeks later, when my mother brought home a bunch of new Marvels, including Avengers #5!

As much as I enjoyed some of the DC and Marvel heroes like Superman, Thor, the Flash, and their ilk, as a little boy I tended to identify more with the so-called costumed athletes. That's why I formed such an early infatuation for heroes like Batman and Captain America. Somewhere in the back of my young mind, I felt that by the time I grew up, I too could be a "superhero" in the same way they were. (But boy, was I ticked off when I learned Cap's full origin, which included his being subjected to a "Super Soldier" formula! What a cheat! But I digress.)

And hey, cut me some slack, here, fellow babies. Throughout most of 1964, I was only seven!

I formed an immediate attachment for the Captain, fueled by the same dynamic artwork which Kirby imbued in all the characters he drew, and rejoiced when C.A. got his own series in the rear of Tales of Suspense, as a back-up to Iron Man's feature.

 

Kirby's art and Stan Lee's dialogue may both have been more than a bit "over the top" in terms of realism, but who the heck wanted realism? These were comics, after all!

Try to imagine the mid-1960s, a world without comic shops, nor even -- to my knowledge -- any mail-order back-issue dealers! I did everything I could to find as many old Marvels as possible, and ended up relying on the collection my best friend Kevin shared with his older brother, local barber shops, and in one instance, my cousin Curtis.

I lucked out, all told, and in the space of a year or so, I was able to obtain the following "oldies but goodies," among others! (I even acquired a couple of "pre-Marvel" Atlas Comics, which came out before Fantastic Four #1!) Here they are, in absolutely no order. And notice, if you will, that every single one of them had Kirby art (and a Kirby cover!), although not all of them contained only art by Jack!

Uhhh, no. Not the Magneto you X-Men fans are thinking of! He came later!

Well! After that flurry of images, I'm going to give both of us a week-long break from this story. I guess it only goes to prove that a subject such as Jack Kirby can rarely be confined to just one post.

Next week's Comical Wednesday post will detail my young self's further immersion in Marvelmania -- and... Kirbyana? -- and my conversation with The Man himself!

So, Happy Birthday, Jack... even if I am a couple of days late!

Thanks for your time.

$1.56 ~~ A "Comical Wednesday" Post

Assuming that all goes smoothly, fellow babies, next week's "Comical Wednesday" post will be the first of a three-parter talking about the creators of Batman! Therefore, today's post -- a  relatively short one, text-wise -- is about one of the more eventful nights in my checkered childhood!

Seven years ago, long before I even had a "Comical Wednesday" designation for my comic-related articles, I wrote a post entitled My "Golden Age". In it, I told how I started reading Marvel Comics when I was about seven years old.

Up until I was 7¹⁄₂, however, I'd only read a handful of Marvels: Fantastic Four Annual #1 (which my sister had bought for herself, but let me read it), Tales to Astonish #49 (the issue where Ant-Man first became Giant-Man), and Amazing Spider-Man #10.

One night, somewhere around March of 1964, my mother was going to the local pharmacy for one reason or another, and, as my mom usually did, she asked me if I'd like her to get anything for me. It shouldn't surprise any of you that my answer was "comic books." (This, of course, was long before the advent of comic book stores, when newsstands were pretty much the only place you could buy comics.)

Well! I was extremely lucky that night. Evidently, the pharmacy/newsstand had just received their shipment of Marvel Comics, and the clerk must have informed my mother of that. My mom didn't know what I liked, so she bought every single Marvel that had arrived! (Well, except for the obvious "girl" titles, like Millie the Model, Patsy and Hedy, and the like!)

And now, I'll show you exactly which comics I received that night, with only a small caption to accompany each!

This was the second issue of Amazing Spider-Man that I ever owned. It was the second

part of a two-part story. I didn't get to read the first part until a couple of years later!

I pretty much overdosed on the Avengers that month! I'd never heard of them before (although

I did know Giant-Man and the Wasp). Not only did Thor, Giant-Man, and Iron Man appear

in their own titles, but the Avengers also showed up in that month's issue of Fantastic Four!

I had seen Daredevil #1 advertised a month or so earlier, but didn't find it on the newsstand.

Another conclusion of a two-parter where I'd missed part one! This comic and Avengers #5 introduced me to

Captain America, who quickly became one of my favorite heroes of all time! What a great all-around battle issue!

Part two of another freakin' continued story. Need I bother to say that I missed part one?

One of three Western titles Marvel produced. This was my introduction to Western comics, though!

Another Marvel Western. I quickly discovered that Marvel's Westerns

were written much like their superhero titles, which won me over.

Sgt. Fury called itself "The War Mag for People Who Hate War Mags!" And it was! Again,

Marvel made this war comic more like its superhero titles, so I was immediately hooked!

I knew the Human Torch from Fantastic Four, but this Dr. Strange guy? He was new to me! And

I soon realized he was drawn by the same guy who drew Spider-Man's adventures, Steve Ditko!

I was immediately impressed by Iron Man, who was also an Avenger.

And this was the Black Widow when she looked like a "real" widow!

I'd first encountered Giant-Man six months earlier. This issue

and Avengers #5 were my second and third exposures to him.

Yep, a cowboy with a secret identity, fighting an honest-to-God super-villain.

Didn't I tell you Marvel's Westerns were like superhero comics?

My first exposure to the X-Men, a group which wasn't truly popular until a newer version of the team came

out in 1975! The person who colored this comic book cover was pretty clueless, by the way. Quicksilver's the

guy with the white hair; his blue costume is supposed to be green. And the young lady with the green suit and

the goofy headgear? Why, that's the Scarlet Witch, who, as you may rightly assume, should be outfitted in red!

By the way, I have absolutely no idea why books dated May, June, and July arrived on the same night!

And now the punchline, dear readers: I no longer have any of the comics my mother brought home that night. And at today's collectible prices, these books list for a total of anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on their condition. But guess what? They cost my mom a whopping $1.56!!!

(And even allowing for inflation, that's quite a bit less!)

As the Fantastic Four's Thing would say, "What a revoltin' development!"

Thanks for your time.

My "Golden Age"

Warning: If you don't give a rat's patoot about comic books, you may want to skip today's little semi-autobiographical post, and its follow-up. I'll forgive you.

Among comic book aficionados, the term "the Golden Age of Comic Books" refers to -- dates vary according to the collector's personal preferences -- the period from 1938 (the debut of Superman) to 1954 (the year before the start of the so-called "Second Heroic Age").

On the other hand, there's an oft-quoted line saying that "the Golden Age of comics is eight," or "twelve," or whenever the comic book fan in question first started "overloading" on that particular hobby.

Keeping that second thought in mind, I'd have to say that my personal "Golden Age of Comic Books" was during the so-called Silver Age (roughly 1955-1968, to comic book collectors). My earliest attempts at reading were when I devoured comics from the DC Comics line, mostly Batman and Detective Comics (which featured Batman), and occasionally Superman and all of his off-shoot titles.

In 1963, however, I discovered the relatively-new Marvel Comics characters, as described in a long-ago Foxyblog post. I'll save you some time, and instead of linking to it and expecting you to read the whole damned thing, I'll reprint the following relevant passage, with a few edits.

*  *  *  *  *

I was too young to know one comic publisher from another. I'd only read one comic later identified as a Marvel Comic... Fantastic Four Annual #1. And I'd read about a new character named Spider-Man in that same issue, but didn't get to see a copy of Spidey's own title until #10.

It's interesting -- to me, anyway -- but I might have started reading Marvel Comics somewhat later if it hadn't been for DC!

In 1963, DC published an issue of Batman which featured a villain called Ant Man. Ant Man was a one-shot character. I wasn't aware of Marvel's Ant-Man, Henry Pym, in their Tales to Astonish title. A few months later, however, Tales to Astonish #49 cover-featured a story in which "Ant-Man Becomes GIANT MAN!"

Of course I bought it.

Then, when I got it home and started reading it, I found that there was no mention of Batman, and that this "Ant-Man" was not a dark-haired villain, but was, instead, a blonde-haired hero!

And the art was like nothing I'd ever seen before, either.

But I loved it! And if I recall correctly, house ads inside the book mentioned that Spider-Man guy I'd only heard about up until now (except for having read his brief appearance in Fantastic Four Annual #1). That meant that these "Marvel" guys did those Fantastic Four comics, too!

So this was an entirely different publishing company. Cool.

It wasn't until about four months later that I finally got hold of an issue of Amazing Spider-Man (#10), and started buying Marvel Comics in earnest. "End of story. Beginning of story."

"Beginning" of story? Well, yeah... This actually started out to be an image-heavy post about Marvel's Iron Man character, but it characteristically got out of hand. (Okay, okay, I characteristically got out of hand! Whatever!)

Next time around, no off-topic digressions, fellow babies. The whole durned article will feature the so-called "Golden Avenger," Tony Stark! And here's a friendly warning: The post won't discuss the Iron Man movie at all. It'll focus on the Iron Man comic books which I read as a child... and after. (And it's already done and scheduled to post on Sunday evening!)

Thanks for your time.