Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Artie Simek
“A Visit with the Fantastic Four”
November 1, 1962
And the meta continues as it’s time for a new issue of The Fantastic Four and people are lining up at the newsstands to get their copy. Even the real FF have to wait their turn. They then show some neighborhood kids playing FF what it’s really like. Ben gets a short time being human again as he tries one of Reed’s formulas. Sue gets maudlin about not being as useful as the others. It’s just a day in the life of the Fantastic Four, complete with a retelling of their origin. It all culminates with them celebrating Sue’s birthday, making her feel better, especially after she comforts Ben when he returns to his Thing form.
I don’t know if any comic would indulge in such a story these days. But for its time, the kids probably ate it up.
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Artie Simek
“The Impossible Man”
November 1, 1962
And the second story is just as simple as the first one as The Impossible Man is introduced to the Marvel Universe. He arrives on Earth for a vacation and quickly discovers only he has the power to change his form at will. He quickly finds himself at odds with the Fantastic Four and the National Guard as he easily manages to foil any attempt they have to take him.
Then Reed comes up with the solution. The alien is looking for attention, knowing he is the most powerful being on the planet, so Reed suggests ignoring him. It seems crazy and there is some damage done, but eventually The Impossible Man becomes bored with no one paying any heed to what he does and so he departs for home.
There’s a reason there are two stories in this comic, both simplistic, but, interestingly, one of the more known characters in the Marvel Universe would get such a simple introduction in a short comic. Was this originally supposed to be a one-and-done story?
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Artie Simek
“Beauty and the Beast”
November 1, 1962
Like Fantastic Four, this issue features two stories. I have to wonder were they trying to bring the comics into the anthology format they and DC Comics had been following for so many years, even with their own solo hero comics? Frankly, the multiple stories in these comics are often short and don’t have much substance. Some are fun like the recent Ant-Man story against the Scarlet Beetle, but then others are pointless, like Thor’s trip behind the Iron Curtain. They remind me of the six minute cartoons we got with DC’s Superheroes in the 60s. They provided a moment of entertainment and then they were forgotten. Perhaps that’s all the publishers wanted, but as we’re about to see, the Marvel Universe will take shape.
The story opens with General Ross turning to Bruce to help him capture the Hulk as all means of military weaponry have proven useless. Meanwhile, Betty pines away for Doctor Banner, worried her father will find out. Her thoughts are picked up by Tyrannus who determines that her feelings are the gateway for his invasion of Earth.
This is a very interesting character. Tyrannus was banished beneath the Earth by Merlin, but he lives on thanks to his discovery of the Fountain of Youth. He commands an army of underworld creatures who look like they belong with the Mole Man. (This character never returned, but imagine a war beneath the planet where the Fantastic Four or even the entire Marvel Universe are forced to take sides?)
He sets himself up as a visiting archeologist who captures Betty’s eye and Bruce’s jealousy. She offers to take him on a tour of the nearby caves where he captures her and contacts General Ross with his demand that his attacking army meet no resistance. The Hulk catches up to the two, but Tyrannus knocks him out with volcanic gas. When he comes to, he’s too weak to fight.
With Betty Tyrannus’ prisoner, the Hulk is forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena against a robot with fire weaponry and a mean left hook that comes out of nowhere. The more the Hulk fights, the more brutal he becomes and the intellect of Bruce Banner slips away to the point that the Hulk advances on Tyrannus who knocks him out with a paralyzer ray.
In all the confusion, Rick manages to escape and bides his time to make his move as the Hulk is forced into slave labor. At one point though, Tyrannus becomes bored and orders his execution. This is when Rick makes his move and gets a uniform to free Betty. Once safe, the Hulk is able to ask. He tears down the two pillars that support the entrance to Tyrannus’ kingdom, sealing him and his subjects in there, never (never say never, Junior) to be freed.
Now, after all I said about these short stories, I really liked this one. The only thing that perhaps would make it work even better is if Tyrannus himself were super-powered and went toe-to-toe with the Hulk instead of the robot. And I really could see a twelve-part series called “Underworld War I” happening in Marvel’s future. Years of brooding in the darkness of his sealed kingdom have driven Tyrannus mad and when the Mole Man comes to conquer Tyrannus’ “lost kingdom” (like Atlantis), the conflict ensues, the tremors of which affect the surface world and bring in the heroes.
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Artie Simek
“The Hordes of General Fang”
November 1, 1962
The story opens with the Hulk bounding about the desert, getting in some exercise, when he’s attacked by General Ross’ latest weapon that traps him in ice. But he frees himself before Ross can move him to containment.
Once back at the cave and transformed, Bruce notes the Hulk’s reluctance to change grows stronger. He needs Rick to ensure that Bruce always comes back.
Meanwhile, the hordes of General Fang advance on a village and a nearby monastery. The news gets out to the world and Bruce decides the Hulk should step in. Now, one might think the Hulk would just leap there, but I guess he can’t handle the great distance of the ocean, so he has Rick book a flight where he covers himself. But it’s not long before some spilled coffee causes him to reveal himself and the two are leaping from the plane. (What happened to the passengers with that open door? Hope they had their seatbelts on.)
He arrives in China where he puts on a costume of the thing they fear most, the Abominable Snowman. It works, scaring them as he tears through their weaponry. Fang responds by projecting a dragon which the Hulk attacks and then falls into a trap with an electrical field that holds him in place.
But Rick manages to short-circuit it and once free, the Hulk can defeat the troops, capture Fang, and leave him on a nearby island occupied by American troops. This is more of the read it, enjoy it, and forget it story. There is nothing interesting about Fang. You could replace him with the now-nameless Russian enemy that Thor fought in his last story. (That would be Journey to Mystery #87, True Believers.) Onward.
Writer: Stan Lee
Scripter: Larry D. Lieber
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Artie Simek
“The Vengeance of Loki”
November 1, 1962
Loki has been seething since his last defeat by Thor. He looks in on him from his prison in Asgard where he sees his last adventure (That would be Journey to Mystery #87 again, True Believers.) There, he learns how the hammer brings Thor his power and without it, he’s a mortal being. He sneaks past Heimdall by turning into a snake and slithering past him.
A bit of a side track here – Heimdall. Is he the most useless guard of note in all of the history of literature? It’s bad enough that there’s only one person who stands at the entrance to the Rainbow Bridge, but then he allows so much to get by him? Idris Elba was poorly served as an actor with a role like that in the MCU.
Loki arrives at church, gets Jane under his control, and issues his challenge to battle in Central Park to Thor. In the park, Thor hurls his hammer at the God of Mischief as Jane arrives. Loki changes the tree into a tiger leaving Thor with a dilemma – save Jane from the tiger or retrieve his hammer. He saves Jane, but his hammer is placed in a magical field he cannot reach and he reverts to Don Blake.
With his victory, Loki travels the city, toying with the population. Blake comes up with a plan where he issues a challenge to Loki. Loki returns to the park to find the hammer gone from his shield and Thor standing before him. He removes the shield to find the hammer is still there as Blake steps out from behind the Thor mannequin.
As Thor, he captures Loki and returns him to Asgard where Odin ends the story with a “What are you going to do?” shrug as Loki is becoming more and more difficult. The story itself is fine – simple enough, but that ending with the All-Father shrugging and saying he is helpless to deal with Loki and his only hope is that Thor is always there is ridiculous.
