Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Steve Ditko
Letterer: Artie Simek
“The Red Ghost and His Indescribable Super-Apes”
January 3, 1963
Now, here’s something. Ditko inking Kirby? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Does this make this issue a little more valuable than some earlier issues? And it’s the introduction of what should sound like a goofy villain, but is actually very cool – The Red Ghost and his Super Apes. I’d love to see the MCU take them on.
Our story begins with Reed discovering a new source of rocket fuel from a meteor that fell to Earth. He plans to test it with a rocket that will take them to the moon and help America get ahead in the space race with the Russians.
Meanwhile, behind the Iron Curtain, Ivan Kraggoff works with an orangutan, a gorilla, and a baboon to help him pilot a rocket to the moon. They respond to his every command with ease. (Why is it that as I read this I was thinking this was the inspiration for the Enforcers that we’ll see later in Spider-Man, three beings with unique talents that when combined create a problem for our hero?)
The two groups launch their rockets simultaneously, but the Russian craft has one distinction: Kraggoff removed certain shielding against cosmic rays. The ship passes through the field and Kraggoff hopes it will gift him and the apes with powers like the FF. The ship is spotted by Johnny, who uses a specially designed web mesh that will allow him to keep his flame in space while generating an atmosphere, to fly over and investigate. All right, that’s a cool idea and a nice explanation. The question is, does he use it in future stories?
Once at the rocket, he finds the apes have changed. The gorilla has super strength; the baboon can shape change; and the orangutan has the ability to manipulate magnetic fields. Johnny races back to report to the others as they approach and then land on the moon.
There, they discover an ancient city and an atmosphere, proving there was once life on the satellite and humanity will not be the first to set foot on it. Johnny, Sue, and Reed race off to examine one structure that looks fairly new while Ben tries to keep up with them. He encounters the apes and Kraggoff, now calling himself The Red Ghost. He has to ability to make himself not only invisible but incorporeal as well. Ben is ready to go toe to toe with all of them when he is stopped by the Watcher.
And there we go with the first appearance of another mainstay of the Marvel Universe, the Watcher. He tells of his people and their code of non-interference. But with the two teams getting ready to fight on his world, the moon, he will not have it. He collects them both and deposits them in a part of the city where they can have that fight and not disrupt his peace. I do like Reed being the peaceful one saying they shouldn’t fight but should relish the victory of them both having made it to the moon.
They battle briefly, but the Russians prove to be more powerful and Reed and Johnny are quickly contained and Sue captured. They retreat with their prisoner with the rest of the FF following in a crude cylinder powered by Johnny’s flame. Reed raids the abandoned city’s laboratory to find something to stop the untouchable Red Ghost.
As Sue sits in her cell, she wishes she were free and taking on the apes rather than waiting for Kraggoff. She compares them to the people of the USSR who are as helpless as the apes were in the experiments and she sympathizes with them. Nice piece of US propaganda there.
Sue manages to escape and stop Johnny and Ben from walking into a trap. Meanwhile, the Red Ghost manages to enter the Watcher’s domain in the hopes of learning the secrets of the universe. He’s caught and thrown from the inner chambers and into Reed’s paralysis beam. As the four talk with the Watcher, the apes free the Red Ghost, but then run him off as they want revenge for what he has done to them.
The Watcher proclaims he will travel into the universe and find a new spot to observe humanity since they now have the capability to travel to the moon – seven years ahead of real-time! I love this one. I love the message about the dangers of the USSR. I love the apes and the Red Ghost. I love the artwork. Overall, a great introduction to some major characters in the Marvel Universe. I wonder if we’ll ever get the Red Ghost and his apes in the MCU?
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko
Letterer: Artie Simek
“The Metal Master”
January 3, 1963
The Hulk tries to return to his hideaway to change back to Bruce Banner. It proves difficult as the army is in the desert on maneuvers. They are all ordered to return to base as an emergency has developed. The Hulk makes it back, but this time a side effect of the change to Banner is that the scientist has a greater musculature than usual. It doesn’t last long and he quickly returns to his weak self.
As he rests, he checks the base through a video monitor and finds his latest experiment he is supposed to be attending a test of is melting in front of everyone. The culprit is an alien exile who calls himself the Metal Master. He demands that the base be turned over to him. Attempts to stop him fail as he can control metal on a molecular level.
Rick manages to escape and finds Banner changing to the Hulk. The problem is, for a moment, the Hulk’s body has Banner’s head and face. He places a Hulk mask over his head and confronts the Metal Master. The alien knocked him out with a blow to the back of the head.
Metal Master races off, but the Hulk winds up captured by the army. He rails at Rick, blaming him for being captured. In a scene where we see the Hulk totally losing it mentally as he allows that misconception to consume him, he pounds away at his cell door. He eventually gets loose and makes his way back to the cave.
Meanwhile, Rick meets with some local friends who have become interested in ham radio. He realizes the power of having such a network of operators around the country and so he forms The Teen Brigade. They are pressed into service with Bruce says he needs supplies to stop the Metal Master. The parts arrive and the Hulk creates a massive gun that the Metal Master is not able to control. He is so frustrated, he leaves the planet behind.
The story, and literally this run of the comic, ends with the Hulk not being able to change at first. The Hulk flies into a rage, especially when he finds he only receives a pardon for all his troubles. But then he slowly changes back to Banner. Bruce returns to the base where he is reunited with Betty Ross. If this was to be the end of the series, it would end with Bruce as Bruce and reunited with Betty while pretty much swearing off using the machine to become the Hulk. The thing is, this isn’t the end and one would assume his appearances in Tales to Astonish provide more details on how it is anger that triggers Banner. The Hulk will appear next in Avengers #1 nine months later and then will begin his run as an installment of Tales to Astonish a year later.
