sonotadream

Let’s meet Marvel’s no. 2 team (until the X-Men take off)! This section of the list alternates between 4 series written in 3 different time periods (and I didn’t read them in the right order), so forgive me if things are a bit jumbled.

Avengers (1963) #1-3- Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

So, what brings the Avengers together? Loki!

He’s imprisoned in the Isle of Silence and wants to lure Thor, so they can fight and Loki can escape. He takes a look around Earth and sees the Hulk, who is perfect for his purposes. Loki sends him a mental image of a bomb in a train track. Hulk leaps to grab it, but accidentally destroys the tracks, just as a high speed train is approaching. He avoids a train wreck, but still gets the blame.

His buddy, Rick Jones, calls on his team - the Teen Brigade - for help. If the Hulk is innocent, he’ll need help to prove it; if he’s guilty, he’ll need to be stopped. The teens figure only the Fantastic Four are up to the task and send them a message on the radio. Loki interferes with the radio waves to prevent the FF from hearing the message, but making sure it reaches Dr. Blake. Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp - who gets credited on the splash page, but not the cover, btw - also get the message and make their way to the Brigade’s base in New Mexico.

( Read more... )

Fantastic Four (1961) #12-15 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

We meet the Fantastic Four again, just as they're about to face the Hulk.

General Ross comes to the Baxter Building because he needs the team's help to apprehend the Hulk, who is suspected of sabotaging a new defence system designed by Dr. Bruce Banner. He and Rick Jones are the only ones defending the Hulk, for obvious reasons.

Banner also has a new assistant. He's the only other named character. He also carries his membership card for a subversive, communist organization in his wallet.

Anyway, the important thing is that the Thing and the Hulk get to fight and- it's a tie! As their aiming their final punches, the Hulk gets hit by a ray and is knocked out, so the Fantastic Four go and apprehend the real culprit and the Hulk walks away.

Then it's time to meet the Red Ghost and his Super Apes. Ivan Kragoff is the greatest Russian scientist. He wants to be the first man on the Moon and defeat the Fantastic Four by getting his apes and himself bombarded by cosmic rays. He gets the power to get intangible, the gorilla gets super strength, the baboon is a shape shifter and the orangutan has magnetic powers.

He and the Fantastic Four end up in a race to the Moon, since Reed has developed a new fuel and they wasted no time in testing it.

In the Moon, they find a breathable atmosphere and the remains of an old civilization.

They are found by the Watcher, a member of an ancient alien race who are dedicated to watch everyone else in the Universe. They have never allow themselves to be seen until just now, when the Watcher interrupts a fight between the Thing and the Red Ghost because - while it’s okay for humanity to destroy itself - he doesn't want all out war in his backyard.

He uses his mental powers to transport everyone deep inside the city, so they can fight by themselves. Kragoff manages to kidnap Sue, but she escapes thanks to her wits and the way Kragoff treats his apes. See, he uses access to food to control them, and they’re more interested in eating than in Sue. In the end, the apes turn on the Red Ghost, which was gratifying to see.

There was quite a bit of political commentary in the Cold War set, space race story.

Now that humans are capable of reaching the Moon, the Watcher leaves in search of a new home (why he broke tradition to interfere when he could have left it’s not explained) and the Fantastic Four return to Earth to great acclaim and to face the return of Namor and the Puppet Master.

The Puppet Master didn't die, he's just been hiding in a convalescence home. Now, he's ready to leave and get revenge on his greatest enemies, the Fantastic Four.

He decides to use Namor for his plan and forces him to trick Sue into meeting him (with the help of a telepathic fish).

Sue and Reed are still having relationship problems. Reed is ready to commit, but Sue isn't so sure about her feelings. So, when she gets Namor's message she runs to him and gets kidnapped.

Namor projects his image into the Baxter Building to talk with the rest of the Fantastic Four, a thing he could always do, according to Reed, and lure them underwater. Reed and Johnny do borrow a submarine while Ben goes to say goodbye to Alicia. She’s so distraught at the thought of not seeing Ben again that he tells her to come with the team.

And it's a good thing she does, because she's able to sense a presence in Namor’s lair that reminds her of the Puppet Master.

Seeing the Fantastic Four on the verge of defeating Namor, the Puppet Master decides to intervene and orders Namor to kill them. He resists, mostly because he doesn't want to hurt Sue. That, and the giant octopus that attacks the Puppet Master’s submarine, are enough to break the mental control. Namor doesn’t remember what happened and even thinks that Sue is finally ready to be with him. She's not, but she also prevents the rest of the team from hurting Namor.

And, finally, the Mad Thinker shows up to destroy the Fantastic Four. His gimmick is that he uses a super computer to calculate every variable, to the point where he can predict events to the second. Unfortunately, he forgot to account for the unpredictable human factor and that's what Reed uses to defeat him.

Some random notes:

Johnny keeps getting more inventive with his powers - he makes a fire lasso, a tornado, fire malabarisms.

Ben's feud with the Yancy Street Gang keeps going strong.

He would reign his temper, but that would disappoint the fans.

Reed has two rival gan clubs.

There's a new Fantasticar, it no longer looks like a flying tub.

Bruce Banner doesn't know what Reed knows about his relationship with the Hulk.

Sue is getting good at taking advantage of her invisibility to steal people's guns.

No one abandons the team this time, but they agree to take a vacation as part of the Mad Thinker's plan. Ben becomes a fighter, Sue goes to Hollywood, Reed works at General Electric and Johnny joins the circus; no one enjoys their new careers.

The Incredible Hulk (1962) #1-6 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko

Another iconic Marvel character, although, I have to be honest and say I never really cared about the Hulk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

According to Stan Lee, the main inspirations for the Hulk were Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.

We start in the desert, where a Gamma bomb, designed by famous scientist Bruce Banner, is being tested. General Ross is not happy about the delays and Banner’s colleague is not happy about his secrecy - he’s right about how someone else should have checked Banner’s numbers, but he turns out to be a Russian spy…

Security at the site turns out not to be great, because, just as the test is about to start, a teenager drives by. Banner races to stop him, leaving the spy in charge, who continues the test.

Banner manages to throw the teenager, Rick Jones, into a protective trench, but he gets the full blast of radiation. Everything seems fine at first, but, as evening comes, Banner is transformed into the Hulk.

The Hulk is the opposite of Bruce Banner in every way: strong, not very intelligent, more concerned with power than anything else. He causes destruction around him and is quickly being persecuted by the US army.

Grateful that Banner would save his life - no one else ever really cared for him - Rick Jones stays by both Banner’s and Hulk’s side, despite the latter’s protests that he doesn’t need a friend. Rick is capable of calming the Hulk, so maybe he protests a little too much.

The series was cancelled after 6 issues, but the character of the Hulk proved popular enough to guest star in other books and would get another series a year later.

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Entries tagged with hulk

MRL - Avengers Assemble

MRL - Fantastic Four (1961) #12-15

MRL - The Incredible Hulk (1962)

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