Random Review #3: Avengers #17, June 1965

Random Review #3, Avengers #17, June 1965

“Four Against The Minotaur!”

Stan Lee, writer
Don Heck, artist
Dick Ayers, inker

This issue marks the very first adventure of “Cap’s Kooky Quartet”, the second major Avengers line-up. Powerwise, the team of Cap, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are a far cry from the days of Thor, Hulk, Giant Man, Wasp, and Iron Man, but the Kirby-drawn cover depicting the new guys squaring off against a rock-rending monster while an ethereal image of the Hulk looms behind them was probably enough to sell plenty of books all by itself.

A scene similar to the cover (minus the Hulk) is used for the splash page. The story really gets underway on page two, with Captain America concluding his new charges’ introductory tour of Avengers Mansion. Quicksilver and Hawkeye both think that they will soon replace Cap as leader. Cap observes the group is obviously short on raw power, and suggests they seek out the Hulk to provide the strength they need to replace that lost when Giant Man, Iron Man, and Thor left. Cap is also canny enough to realize the newcomers doubt his ability to lead them, and is forced to quash Hawkeye’s suggestion that the right of leadership be put to a vote. The Scarlet Witch speaks out on Cap’s behalf, citing his experience as his primary qualification.

Soon, reports of the Avengers’ search for their former ally appear in the media. The Hulk, though, is involved in his own fantastic adventure, as indicated in a panel form Tales to Astonish #69.

Cap ushers the three new Avengers into the mansion’s “Play Room”, designed to serve as their training facility. Hawkeye and Quicksilver put on an admirable display of their abilities, but a sudden attack by a huge green robot interrupts the session. Cap pits himself against the intruder first, expertly avoiding the machine’s blows, but proves unable to damage it, even with his shield. The other three Avengers come to his aid: Scarlet Witch causes the thing to fall with her hex power, Quicksilver pries open a control panel, and Hawkeye fires an arrow into the exposed innards, destroying the robot. As it lies in wreckage, the robot informs the Avengers they will find the Hulk in the desert.

The reader learns that the robot was sent by the Mole Man, who is still smarting from his last run-in with the heroes in Avengers #12, January 1965. He orders his subterranean subjects to prepare his Minotaur to await the arrival of the Avengers.

The team flies west in their “newest model jet-stream cruiser” (this was some time before the introduction of the Quinjet). Their search initially proves fruitless, and readers discover why in a panel showing the Hulk smashing through a glass-like partition to go after the Leader, presumably again from Tales to Astonish #69.

Without warning, the Mole Man springs his trap, opening a concealed pit directly under the Avengers’ feet. They arrest their fall thanks to Hawkeye’s suction-tipped cable arrow, and lower themselves to the bottom of the hole. Quicksilver speeds off to investigate the cavern but returns moments later scared out of his little green booties.

The cause of his consternation soon follows, a gigantic ape-like monstrosity with huge horns. Cap’s shield proves ineffective against the thing, as does Hawkeye’s blast arrow (in spite of his bravado). The monster pursues them, causing a rockslide that cuts Quicksilver off from his sister and the others.

Cut back to the Hulk’s battle with the Leader. Nothing seems capable of slowing the Jade Giant’s progress as he tears after his quarry, “less than one mile away”.

Quicksilver attempts to breach the rockslide and is attacked by the Mole Man’s slaves. His eludes their grasp with his super-speed, but is felled by a gas gun and brought before their ruler. Displeased with the white-haired mutant’s defiance, Mole Man orders Quicksilver thrown in the dungeon.

Back on the other side of the cave-in, Cap orders Hawkeye to hit the Minotaur with his flare arrow, reasoning that a subterranean creature would be vulnerable to intense light. Sure enough, the monster is blinded by the flare and Cap follows up the attack by hurling his shield at overhead rocks which drop onto the Minotaur. As anticipated by Cap, the creature butts at Cap with its great horns, and, with a timely hex-powered assist from the Scarlet Witch, the horns get hopelessly stuck in the rocky wall.

Meanwhile, Mole Man subjects Quicksilver to “ultrasonic vibro-waves” in an effort to force Quicksilver to reveal the secret of his super speed. Quicksilver bravely endures the torture long enough for his teammates to come to his rescue. Hawkeye frees Quicksilver with a pair of arrows and Scarlet Witch destroys the vibro-wave device with her hex power. Mole Man is forced to dodge Cap’s shield and sends his little yellow slaves after the red, white, and blue Avenger, but Hawkeye’s stun-blast arrow stops them cold. The Mole Man then falls back to his control panel and sends the four fighting mad Avengers back to the surface within a glass-enclosed elevator. As they leave in their jet, the Avengers realize that although they never found the Hulk, they did learn that with proper teamwork they were “strong enough for any foe”.

In one last aside, Bruce Banner is shown being examined by military personnel in a wrecked laboratory. They pronounce that he has “no pulse at all”!

This story marked the debut of the Avengers’ second-generation lineup, and showcased their abilities quite well. All four of them played an integral part in the action, something that was not always the case when Thor and Iron Man were around to overshadow the others.

Stan Lee’s ability to give each character their own personality and voice made this an enjoyable stretch in the Avengers series. Reading Hawkeye’s dialogue and thought balloons, the reader can easily recognize that this is indeed the same cocky hothead Iron Man previously battled in the pages of Tales of Suspense. Cap’s doubts about his ability to keep the three ex-villains under tight rein made him seem all the more human, and the scene where the young and still relatively inexperienced Quicksilver came running into Cap’s arms in fright was a nice contrast to his swell-headed thoughts of replacing Cap as leader back on page two.

The Don Heck art is serviceable, but he was never one of my favorites. Still, he does deliver some splendid action stuff like Cap against the robot on page six, and the renewed assault on the Minotaur on page sixteen.

Bottom Line: A landmark book in a lot of ways, but not an especially memorable story in and of itself.

The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part Three

The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part Three

I know a pretty high percentage of Spider-Man foes have been animal-themed, but the Kangaroo, from Amazing Spider-Man #81, February 1970, has to be one of the all-time worst. Against a guy with the speed, strength, and smarts of Spider-Man, you’ve either got have some serious power of your own, or be crafty enough to manipulate circumstances so that Spidey doesn’t just swing up and punch your face in. Kangaroo had no super powers and, to make matters worse, didn’t have much in the way of brains either. His “master plan” consisted of stealing a case just because there were armed guards protecting it. The case contained deadly experimental bacteria but, figuring it was “jewels or something”, this loser just stuffed into his fur vest and started pulling other strong-arm robberies. The only reason Spidey didn’t totally hammer this idiot was because he afraid of accidentally opening the bacteria vial.

On top of all that, Kangaroo’s origin takes the cake, or should I say, vegemite sandwich. He was (no fooling!) an Australian who used to spend his vacations in the outback studying kangaroos…living where kangaroos lived, eating what kangaroos ate, traveling where kangaroos went, drinking what kangaroos drank, pooping where kangaroos pooped, etc. Exactly why he did this is never stated, but, in some twisted comic book way, all this kangaroo time made him really, really strong and able to bounce around like Skippy from that old TV show. By that line of reasoning, I should have become fluent in Spanish by now from having tacos every Tuesday night for dinner!

DC’s lamester this go ‘round is the Cannoneer from The Brave and the Bold #77, May 1968. This guy’s shtick was to load himself into a cannon and have his assistant, Dum Dum, fire him “halfway across the city” through the exact window of the room from which he wanted to steal. I don’t know why his toady was called Dum Dum, the guy had to be some kind of ballistics super genius to pull that crap off! Also assisting the Cannoneer was “beautiful circus midget” Lilli de la Pooche. He gave her a pill that shrunk her down to a few inches tall, mainly it seems to give Batman’s team-up partner of the month, the Atom, something to do while Bats battled Cannoneer and Dum Dum. For the record, Cannoneer actually managed to KO Batman in a one-on-one fight (Bats of course bounced back and won in the end), and Lilli and Atom’s fight featured such out of the ordinary (for a comic book super brawl) weapons as a yoyo, perfume atomizer (no pun intended), a wax flower, and a powder puff (wielded, surprisingly, by Atom not Lilli!). If Cannoneer, Lilli or Dum Dum ever showed up in another comic, I’m not aware of it.

Random Review #2: World's Finest #176, June 1968

Random Review #2: World Finest #176, June 1968

Last time out we looked back at a Marvel comic from the late Sixties, this time we’ll try our luck with DC.

“The Superman-Batman Split!”

Cary Bates, writer
Neal Adams, artist
Dick Giordano, inker

The splash page of World’s Finest #176 is split vertically right down the middle. On the left, a shadowy figure has dissolved Clark Kent’s clothing, revealing him as Superman; and on the right, a similar scene depicts another darkened figure confronting Batman in the Bat-Cave and calling him by his real name.

The story opens with Clark Kent visiting the mansion of movie star Ronald Jason, a favorite of his for years. Jason interrupts the tour of his home to reveal that he knows Clark is secretly Superman, and exposes Clark’s costume with a chemical bomb that dissolves his outer clothing.

“Jason” himself then unmasks, revealing himself as Dur, a blue-skinned alien from “the fifth planet in the Sirius solar system”. He claims he’s come to Earth to hide from the assassin(s) who murdered the planet’s leader, whom Dur is scheduled to succeed after a 10-day period of mourning. Dur says he chose Earth because his people have studied our world from afar for many years and know its languages and customs. These long-distance studies are also how Dur knows Superman’s secret. Dur says he has chosen to reveal his own secret to Superman because he has reason to believe the killer(s) have tracked him to Earth to finish him off. Superman whisks Dur away to the safety of the Fortress of Solitude, but has to leave him there alone to undertake a mission of mercy to a distant galaxy.

“Later that same day”, Batman discovers a blue-skinned alien intruder in the Bat-Cave. The intruder introduces himself as Tiron, a law-enforcement officer from another planet. He says he has come to Earth by way of a molecular transporter, in pursuit of a dangerous criminal from his world. Tiron asks for Batman’s help in apprehending the fugitive, whose name is Dur.

Batman wants to bring in Superman for help, but Tiron vetoes the plan because he has learned that Dur has already tricked Superman into aiding him. Instead, Batman and Tiron fly in the Bat-Plane to Stanhope College to recruit the aid of Supergirl. The Maid of Might suggests that if Superman is indeed aiding Dur, the most likely place to hide Dur would be the Fortress of Solitiude. Bats and Supergirl set out for the Arctic, but Tiron elects to stay behind to rendezvous with some other agents from his world.

At the Fortress, Supergirl uses her Kryptonian strength to heft the huge key that unlocks the great door, but Superman arrives to warn them off. Supergirl throws the key at her cousin while Batman slips inside to search for the alien criminal. Batman gets the drop on Dur, but Superman has already overpowered Supergirl and tossed her away. Superman catches Batman in a cage from his interplanetary zoo and escapes with Dur…both heroes believe the other has been duped. Supergirl returns and frees Batman. They decide to contact Tiron and bring him up to speed.

Superman scoops out a cave for Dur to use as a new hiding place, informing his alien ally that he’ll need help if he’s to hold off both Batman and Supergirl again. Superman heads to Gotham City Park and attracts the attention of Batgirl (whose secret identity he doesn’t know) by posing as a statue from the park come to life. They return to Dur’s cave and, after hearing them out, Batgirl decides to join their cause.

“The next day, in Metropolis”, Robin confronts Jimmy Olsen in his apartment and they head to their own headquarters, the Eyrie, to investigate why their adult chums are at odds. Using the secret, unauthorized video feeds they’ve established in both the Bat-Cave and the Fortress, the lads make a startling discovery about the aliens. They rush to alert their pals of the truth, but are waylaid by knockout gas and fall unconscious in their own base.

Meanwhile, Batman, Supergirl, and Tiron have traced Superman’s Justice League of America signal device to the cave where he has hidden Dur. Donning kryptonite gloves, Batman sets out to battle Superman while Supergirl slips around back to retrieve Dur. Tiron lures Superman out with a ray gun blast, then Batman strikes unexpectedly and takes Superman to the ground. Batman lands a solid green-K punch on his old friend.

By then, Supergirl has reached the rear of the cave and is slugging her way through the solid rock when Batgirl catches her unawares with a thick spray of “synthetic adhesive”. Supergirl frees herself with her heat vision.

Batman spots Batgirl falling from her perch atop the cave and, with Superman weakened by the kryptonite, he has to break off to save her. That leaves Batman vulnerable to Superman’s counter attack, a makeshift lasso fashioned from Superman’s cape, that allows the Man of Steel to incapacitate Batman without coming within range of the kryptonite.

Suddenly Tiron collapses. He announces that he is dying, and reveals himself to really be Ronald Jason after all. In fact, Jason is both Tiron and Dur! He explains that his brother Desmond Jason, a brilliant scientist, had recently made some unique breakthroughs including a fabric-dissolving chemical bomb, a miniature jet-pack, an artificial, lighter-than-air radioactive element, and, most astonishingly of all, voice print scans which revealed the true identities of both Superman and Batman.

Unfortunately, the radioactive element was highly unstable, and went critical as Ronald and Desmond were touring the laboratory. Desmond was killed, and Ronald was dosed with fatal radiation levels. With his own death sentence hanging over his head, Ronald salvaged his brother’s inventions and decided to make his last days the most exciting of his entire life. Using his own expertise with makeup and disguise, he crafted his alien masks and uniforms, then set his hoax in motion. He used the jet-pack to travel back and forth between identities, and spent his last days on Earth giving “the greatest performance of all-time”.

As Jason passes, Robin and Jimmy Olsen finally arrive, excited with their discovery. Superman confesses that it was he who gassed them, though, because he knew all along he was being tricked. Jason gave himself away with his choice of the aliens’ homeworld, which Superman had once explored and knew to be uninhabited. He used his x-ray vision to learn who was truly behind the alien mask, and devices in the Fortress of Solitude diagnosed Jason’s fatal illness. Superman and Batman opted to play along, but left Batgirl and Supergirl in the dark so Jason’ act could be considered a success.

In the final panel, all six heroes gather to pay their respects to Ronald Jason, and to treasure the private performance he gave for their benefit.

In those days, World’s Finest books included a reprint back-up story under the “Editor’s Round Table” imprint. The story chosen for this issue is the second ever appearance of John Jones, the Manhunter from Mars, from Detective Comics #226, December 1955. In “The Case of the Magic Baseball”, John is tasked with protecting an aspiring big league pitcher from blackmailers threatening to reveal his criminal record. The pitcher, Big Bob Michaels, genuinely wants to go straight, so John uses the vast powers at his disposal (including Martian "molecular hypnosis") to control the game and prevent Michaels from succumbing to the gangsters’ pressure. In the end, Big Bob not only pitches a shutout but also hits the game-winning home run, and John invisibly nabs the crooks who inevitably confess to their wrongdoings.

WOW! This is one of my all-time favorites issues of World’s Finest. Everything is just right in the tale of doomed actor Ronald Jason and the greatest performance of his career. Superman, Batman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Robin, and Jimmy Olsen all in story? Readers certainly got their 12 cents worth. The Adams art was fantastic, particularly the panels where Batman catches the falling Batgirl and the one with Supergirl smashing the giant Fortress key into Superman. Pitting the heroes against each other was a nice touch by Bates, too, especially the way he paired off Supes/Batgirl and Bats/Supergirl. The scene wherein Batman pretends to hammer Superman with gloves made fron green kryptonite is oddly prophetic. Comics fans may recall a similar, non-faked scene played out in the pages of Frank Miller's 1986 mini-series, The Dark Knight Returns.

The Martian Manhunter back-up tale was fun, especially for a baseball fan like me. As I mentioned in my “Was the Flash First?” blog entry awhile back, John in those days was much more of a detective with a gimmick than a super hero, but what a gimmick he had! He manages to pack no less than nine super-powered feats into the six page story.

Bottom Line: Great story + great art + great cast = Great Book!

Random Review #1: Amazing Spider-Man #71

Random Review #1: Amazing Spider-Man #71, April 1969

In this first of a new series of articles, I will review a randomly selected comic from my own Silver Age collection.

“The Speedster and the Spider!”
Stan Lee, writer
John Romita, artist
Jim Mooney, inker

As the tale opens, Peter Parker is sitting on his bed, halfway through doffing his Spider-Man costume. On the floor beside him is the Lifeline Tablet, which Spidey barely managed to keep out of the Kingpin’s meaty mitts in the previous issue. Peter is worried that the scare he put into J. Jonah Jameson at the conclusion of the previous story may have given the Daily Bugle’s irascible publisher a fatal heart attack, thus proving that he is the menace Jameson always claimed he was.

Peter’s then-roommate, Harry Osborn, comes in from a date with Mary Jane Watson, and Peter barely has time to throw on a robe over his costume. Alone after Harry goes to bed, Peter is glad to learn that the pictures he snapped of his battle with the Kingpin came out very clearly, but his exultation is short-lived as he realizes that, with Jameson in the hospital, he has no one to sell them to.

Meanwhile, on a New York street, the former Avenger Quicksilver has finally returned to the city after his adventures on Magneto’s island fortress, which was destroyed in Avengers #53. A brief flashback shows how Quicksilver and his sister, the Scarlet Witch, crash-landed along with the Toad in the Adirondacks. Eager to prove that they are not truly evil, Quicksilver speeds off toward New York to explain his and his sister’s part in the Magneto affair to the Avengers. Back in the present, he reaches Avengers Mansion, only to learn from Jarvis, the Avengers’ butler, that the entire team is in Africa on a mission.

Leaving the mansion disappointed, Quicksilver chances to spy a new edition of the Daily Bugle, whose headline reads “Spider-Man Wanted!” Deciding that fate has presented him with an opportunity for redemption, Quicksilver begins his hunt for Spider-Man.

At the hospital, a doctor informs Joe Robertson that J. Jonah Jameson did not have a heart attack, only a case of shock. Jonah’s son, Colonel John Jameson shows up, too, and Robbie leaves John to watch over Jonah while he goes home to his wife, Martha.

At the Robertsons’, Joe and Martha talk about their son Randy and worry about the state of the world Randy has to grow up in.

The next morning, at the Bugle, Joe tells Jameson’s secretary Betty Brant to scratch his appointments for the day, as he expects to be busy doing his own job and Jonah’s as well. Peter Parker arrives with his photos, and Robertson is delighted with them. Not only do they show that Spider-Man tried to prevent the theft of the Lifeline Tablet, they also prove that the college protestors, Randy Robertson among them, had no part in the crime, either. Peter leaves, happily clutching a hefty check cut by Joe Robertson.

Still eager to rid himself of the precious tablet, Spidey webs his way over to George Stacy’s apartment. He delivers the tablet and hastily departs, ignoring Stacy’s pleas for him to come back and talk.

Web-slinging high across the city, Spidey is alerted to danger by his Spider-Sense. His web shot is blocked by a green blur that he realizes is Quicksilver, who announces his intention to bring Spider-Man to justice. Spidey takes refuge under the marquee of a hotel, but Quicksilver spots him and yanks him down by spinning at “ultra-high speed”.

Spidey tries to persuade his opponent that he is also one of the good guys, but Quicksilver insists on continuing the battle. Spider-Man manages to grab his fleet-footed foe by the legs, but Quicksilver scoffs at Spidey’s so-called sped and, punching his way free, boasts that Spidey is moving in slow motion compared to the green-garbed mutant. Quicksilver rains blow after super-speed blow on Spider-Man, claiming that even Spidey’s vaunted Spider strength cannot save him.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Bugle reporter Ned Leeds delivers the latest copy of the Bugle to J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson explodes when he sees the article and photos exonerating Spider-Man, and his son struggles to calm him down while Ned goes for the doctor.

Back at the fight scene, Quicksilver finds himself admiring Spidey’s heart even while administering the beat down. Spidey tries in vain to connect with a super strong punch. Realizing that his physical strength is not enough to overwhelm the vastly stronger Spider-Man, Quicksilver changes tactics, running in super-speed circles around Spidey to create a “whirlpool of air” that will rob Spidey of breath.

Battered and on the verge of defeat, Spidey manages to throw his arm into Quicksilver’s path. The impact knocks the mutant speedster out cold. Just then, the cops show up, and Spidey flees with his unconscious opponent in tow. He adjourns to a nearby rooftop and stays with Quicksilver until he wakes up.

Quicksilver, acknowledging that Spidey could have killed while he was out, declares a truce and proclaims he will find another way to earn his redemption. Spidey webs away, hoping his run of bad luck is over while simultaneously fearing that even worse troubles are on the horizon.

I only recently added this book to my collection, having picked up a decent copy at FX 2009. It has no major plot points or revelation, just the usual excellent characterization Lee had virtually invented for that particular series plus a pretty entertaining fight scene between two good guys.

The fight was uncommon in that the general rule of the day was that there would be no clear cut winner when two heroes met and, inevitably, mixed it up a bit. Standard procedure called for both heroes to get some licks in then call a draw and team-up to go after some common threat. This story, though, shows Spidey withstanding everything Quicksilver could throw at him then downing Quicksilver with a single blow.

The art is excellent, with Romita at the peak of his powers. He does an especially good job of depicting Quicksilver in motion. For the most part, he chooses not to rely on the Jack Kirby and Don Heck method of just showing a humanoid green blur, instead using multiple images, action lines and dynamic poses to convey the speed of Quicksilver’s movements.

Romita’s pencils are very suitably inked by Jim Mooney, who was a pretty talented Spidey artist in his own right on books like Marvel Team-Up and Spectacular Spider-Man.


Bottom Line: An enjoyable read with appropriately “amazing” art.

The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part Two

The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part Two

Like last time, we'll discuss two lamesters, one from Marvel and one from DC.

Marvel’s pick this time around is the Acrobat, from Strange Tales #106, March 1963. Somehow, this guy convinced the Human Torch to quit the Fantastic Four and join him as half of the Torrid Twosome. He had no real super powers. He was, like the Tumbler in Part One of this series, just an athlete and “the world’s greatest acrobat”. He did carry some weapons, including a “liquid asbestos” gun. In his first appearance, he tricked the Torch into helping him rob a bank, even though his lifestyle and equipment indicated he was already loaded. He got caught by the FF.

In his second appearance, he once again targeted a bank, but only after an elaborate ruse. He amped up the audacity meter to the nth degree by dressing himself up as Captain America! It didn’t help his success rate any, and he ended up back in the crowbar motel. His criminal success rate was equaled by his fashion success rate. His costume was a yellow jumpsuit with a green beret. (Later, a green jumpsuit with an orange beret). How the heck did he keep the beret on while doing all that running and jumping? Hair pins? If you’re a dude, your super villain costume should not rely on hair pins! Man law!

DC’s latest lamester is Headmaster Mind, from Justice League of America #28, June 1964, and #69, February 1969. This guy somehow managed to get the marginally less lame trio of Matter Master, Tattooed Man, and the Top to work for him while he was dressed in an academic gown and mortarboard hat! He also had no real super powers, just a degree of scientific genius and, apparently, no shame.

The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part One

The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part One

In baseball, all you have to do is succeed about 1/3 of the time to make it into the Hall of Fame. Try messing up two out of every three tasks your boss gives you at work and see how long you last!
Comics, obviously, are a more demanding medium than the National Pastime. No book can last if the vast majority of its stories are inferior. That being said, even all-time Silver Age greats like Gardner Fox and Stan Lee didn’t hit a home run every time up to the plate. In this series, we will examine some of the Silver Age’s lamest do-badders.

First up is…cue drum roll…The Tumbler, from Tales of Suspense #83, November 1966. He isn’t that bad a villain, really, I guess. He was a good match for Captain America powerwise, a well-trained but non-super-powered athlete and acrobat much like Cap himself. But his costume is just awful. I can just imagine what went through this guy’s head when he decided to embark on a life of crime…

“Hmmm, I’ve spent years getting in shape for this gig. I’m gonna need an outfit that tells people right up front that I’m a genuine threat not to be taken lightly…I know, I’ll go with pink long johns!”

He didn’t get a cover appearance in his debut, because it was Iron Man’s turn to be on the Tales of Suspense cover that month, but check out his one and only cover appearance from Captain America #169, January 1974. (And his costume is really a lot pinker than it looks in this scan…it’s literally the color of the human tongue.)

And, just in case you think I’m picking on Marvel, let’s look at a DC loser, too…

…Generalissimo Demmy Gog, from Justice League of America #66, November 1968. Come on! His name alone tells you this guy is nothing more than a joke! And his homeland is called Offalia? No series of negative adjectives is sufficient to describe this stupidity! And the story behind the issue just makes it that much worse. The previous issue was the last written by long-time JLA scribe Gardner Fox, and featured a heart-rending final page with the newly-introduced android Red Tornado lamenting his lack of humanity. This idiotic story was written by none other than Denny O’Neil! Yes, the selfsame Denny O’Neil who a few years later would turn Batman from a TV show-inspired parody of himself back into a fearsome creature of the night! The plot and characters for this tale seem more appropriate to a Jerry Lewis or Inferior Five comic than DC’s flagship team book!

There are plenty more where these two came from, so pop in frequently to see if your favorite ridiculous villain is profiled!

How Green Was My Villain?

How Green Was My Villain?

I was perusing my Silver Age comics collection recently and for the first time came to a rather disturbing realization. Probably because so many Marvel heroes of the era wore red and/or blue, a hugely disproportional number of villains ended up in green costumes (or skin). Green-clad Silver Age Marvel heroes, on the other hand, were few and far between.

Let’s go book by book and see just how many Mean Greenies there really were…

Iron Man: Dr. Strange¹, Kala, Melter, Mr. Doll, Mandarin, Scarecrow, Unicorn, Phantom, Titanium Man, Demolisher, and Cerberus

Dr. Strange: Nightmare and Baron Mordo (two of his three main recurring villains)

Nick Fury: Every Hydra agent and Nazi soldier (so in other words 99.9% of everybody he ever fought)

Avengers: Kang, Immortus, Wonder Man², Living Laser, Whirlwind

Hulk: Abomination, Leader, Ringmaster (Hulk probably didn’t have many green foes being green himself)

Daredevil: Electro, Jester, Leapfrog, Matador, Owl, Starr Saxon’s robot

Thor: Loki, Enchantress, Replicus, Cobra, Mr. Hyde, Hela, Radioactive Man, Tomorrow Man, Merlin³, Sandu the Great

X-Men: Quicksilver, Vanisher, Dominus’ ultra-robots, Locust, Banshee, Warlock aka Maha Yogi³, Mekano, Frankenstein Android, Polaris, Living Pharaoh, Sauron, Stranger

Captain America: Red Skull, Madame Hydra, Super-Adaptoid

Fantastic Four: Dr. Doom, Mole Man, Skrulls, Psycho Man, Red Ghost, Mad Thinker, Monster from the Lost Lagoon, Puppet Master, Rama Tut, Impossible Man, Molecule Man, Sub-Mariner, Plantman⁴, Infant Terrible, Invincible Man, Ronan the Accuser, Eel⁴, Beetle⁴

Spider-Man: The Burglar who killed Uncle Ben⁵, Vulture, Tinkerer, Tinkerer’s aliens, Sandman, Lizard, Living Brain, Mysterio, Green Goblin, Scorpion, Doctor Octopus, Guy Named Joe, Strom’s Pseudopod Construct, Kingpin, Prowler, Schemer, Princess Python

Silver Age Marvel Heroes in Green: Quicksilver⁶, Polaris⁶, Vision⁶, Banshee⁶,
Sub-Mariner ^6,7, Hercules⁸, Captain Marvel⁹, Falcon¹⁰, Marvel Girl¹¹, Hulk¹²

1-No, not the good Doctor Strange, the other, evil, less successful one
2-Listed here as a villain because he was Zemo’s pawn before he died
3-I believe these are all the same guy
4-Listed under FF but originally appeared as foes to Human Torch in his solo stories
5-Wore a green cap and green pants
6-Introduced as a villain but later reformed
7-Wore red in first few appearances before switching to green
8-Outfit is mostly orange and brown with green trim
9-Started out in green and white but later switched to red and blue
10-started out in green and orange but later switched to red and white
11-started out in blue and yellow before switching to green and yellow
12-grey-skinned in his first appearance

So, to sum up, there were literally billions of green-clad or green-skinned bad guys in the Silver Age, but not even one good guy who started out a good guy, wore green from the get go, and stuck with it!

Was the Flash first?

Was the Flash really first?

Most comic book historians regard the advent of the Silver Age of Comic Books as the debut of the Barry Allen Flash in Showcase #4, Oct. 1956. But was Barry really the first Silver Age super-hero? Some say no. Let’s examine the case a little more closely…

It is indisputable that the “Whirlwind Adventures of the Fastest Man Alive” no doubt breathed new life into a comics genre that had been wheezing along for several years. At the time of the Flash’s debut, Marvel / Timely / Atlas had no super-hero comic book titles in their line, and DC only had three being published under their own names, the so-called “Big Three” of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. One has but to examine the stories being published about these three characters during the mid-Fifties to see that the post-Comics Code years were not exactly the peak era for the medium. The Batman tales that took him off the grim and gritty Gotham streets to send him to alien worlds and different time periods were, in my opinion, particularly damaging to the image of a once-hard edged crimefighter and master sleuth.

The Flash’s popularity led to DC re-creating a number of their other Golden Age heroes in “modern” form, including Hawkman, Green Lantern, and the Atom. But was the Flash really there first? Some historians say he was beaten to the Silver Age punch by not one but two other heroes.

Captain Comet first appeared in Strange Adventure #9, June 1951. Since this could technically be considered the tail end of the Golden Age of Comics, calling the good Captain the first Silver Age hero is at the very least debatable. Some say he would better be described as one of if not the last Golden Age hero. But let’s take a closer look at the character…Captain Comet is described as a mutant born a hundred thousand years before his time. Unlike other Golden Age heroes with their gimmicked planes, cars, and motorcycles, the Captain has his own spaceship. His powers include telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinesis, electricity control, super strength, invulnerability, photographic memory, and an immense IQ. This makes him quite unlike the vast majority of Golden Age heroes who mainly hit people and/or blasted stuff. A Space Age mutant flying around in a rocket just plain sounds more Silver Age to me. Golden Age heroes often got their powers from supernatural sources, Silver Age heroes from scientific means. See Green Lantern Alan Scott’s magic green ring versus Hal Jordan’s alien-powered one, or Carter Hall’s reincarnated Egyptian prince Hawkman versus Katar Hol’s alien policeman for perfect examples of this phenomenon.

A strong case for Captain Comet’s place as the first Silver Age hero came in James Robinson and Paul Smith’s excellent 1993 mini-series. In the climactic final issue, set on January 8, 1950, all of the DC heroes converge on Washington, DC and become involved in a battle with Dyna-Man, an almost unstoppable force in human form. A young, never-before seen hero throws himself into the fray, and ends up on the cover of Life Magazine when the dust clears. The young man is Captain Comet. It would appear that no less a personage than James Robinson, a writer noted for his love and esteem for comics history, considers the Captain and not the Flash as the first Silver Age hero.

The other contender for the title of first hero of the Silver Age of Comic Books is J’onn J’onzz, the Manhunter from Mars, who debuted in Detective Comics #225, November 1955. J’onn is another science-themed character in that he is a Martian who was brought accidentally to Earth by an experiment gone awry, and he too was loaded with super powers. His tales, though, while entertaining enough, were not really the stuff of what most people consider super hero comics. He was, for all intents and purposes, more of a detective who used his powers to solve cases than he was a super hero. The “detective with a gimmick” was a popular character type for DC in the late-Forties through the Fifties. Some examples of this type include Roy Raymond TV Detective, Detective Chimp, and Pow Wow Smith Indian Lawman.

Of the two, I feel that the case for Captain Comet is far stronger than that for J’onn J’onzz, for the reasons detailed above. Of course, proclaiming the Captain the first Silver Age super hero would mean cranking back the Silver Age starting date by five whole years, and I doubt most comic book history buffs would be willing to accept that radical a change. Looks like the Flash keeps his title, whether he really and truly deserves it or not.

Fantastic Four Annual #3

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #3 October 1965
Reprinted in Fantastic Four Annual #9
Reprinted in Fantastic Four Annual #10
Reprinted in Fantastic Four Omnibus #2
Reprinted in Essential Fantastic Four #3
Reprinted in Fantastic Four 40th Wedding Anniversary Special


The oft-reprinted tale of Reed and Sue’s wedding featured just about every Marvel hero and villain of the era. The splash page touted it as “The most sensational super-spectacular ever witnessed by human eye!!” With the line-up in this book, it was easily the biggest single- issue Silver Age event Marvel had produced to that point. I was only one when this story was first published, and read it for the first time in its second reprint, but it has always stuck with me as a work of incredible complexity. I guarantee if you gave this assignment to a modern writer-artist team, they would make it an eight-part mini-series (at least) and only get six of the eight issues (at most) out on time!

Let’s review the guest list, starting with the good guys. Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben are obviously the stars of the show, but they don’t hog the pages by any means. Also in attendance are Tony Stark (who later dons his Iron Man armor) and an unnamed but lovely date-du-jour, ingenues Patsy Walker and Hedy Wolfe, a pack of SHIELD agents including Nick Fury, Gabe Jones, and Dum Dum Dugan, Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Beast and Angel, Alicia Masters, Doctor Strange, Thor, Daredevil, Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Captain America, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Quicksilver, the Watcher, and no less than Stan “The Man” Lee and Jack “King” Kirby!

Wow! With that many heroes in one 23-page story, it may have been easier to just list the Marvel stars of that era who weren’t there! For the record. the major characters who didn’t put in an appearance were the Wasp and Giant Man, Hulk, Namor, and the Scarlet Witch. Now, Subby and Hulk got the equivalent of a written excuse by virtue of footnotes on pages 18 and 19, explaining that both of them were otherwise occupied with their own adventures in Tales to Astonish #72. And Giant Man and the Wasp were effectively in limbo for the last part of that year, having left the Avengers in Avengers #16, May 1965, and having been ousted from the pages of Tales to Astonish in #70, August 1965. The most curious absence is the Scarlet Witch’s…all of her Avengers teammates got in some good licks against the villain horde, but she was nowhere to be seen! (At least until Marvels #2 in 1994, and the cover of the 40th Wedding Anniversary Special in January 2006.)

Of course, the book’s cover is another matter altogether. Several characters not appearing in the actual story manage to make a cover appearance, including the aforementioned Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Wasp, and Scarlet Witch. Also on the cover but not in the story were the Leader, Kid Colt, Crimson Dynamo, the Red Skull, Medusa, the Wizard, Loki, and a WWII-era Sergeant Fury!

The book’s villain line-up is equally impressive. Needless to say, the main man behind the wedding crashing madness is Doctor Doom, who causes the others baddies to attack en masse with his “Emotion Charger”. His “veritable army of the most deadly villains alive” included the Puppet Master, the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, the Mole Man and a few dozen Moloids, the Mandarin, the Black Knight, Kang, the Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android, Grey Gargoyle, Super Skrull, a Hydra attack squad, Cobra, the Executioner, the Enchantress, Mr. Hyde, Electro, Unicorn, the Melter, Diablo, the Beetle, the Eel, the Human Top, Attuma and a full-scale Atlantean invasion force!
With the multitude of characters involved, there were some unfortunate but forgivable coloring issues. Kang, for example, is shown wearing an orange tunic instead of his usual green, and Mr. Hyde’s usually green suit is depicted as blue and brown. But all in all, this book is an artistic and story-telling triumph. (In retrospect, it’s conceivable that the coloring changes were intentional. With the plentitude of green-clad villains that were a hallmark of Marvel’s early Silver Age all appearing in one story, maybe the colorist just decided to make a few of ‘em not so green, just for variety’s sake.)

Welcome to The Silver Agency!

Hello and welcome to The Silver Agency, a blog dedicated to the Silver Age of comic books. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, the Silver Age is regarded as the time period extending from the debut of the "new" Flash in Showcase #4, October 1956, until the infamous "death of Gwen Stacy" in Amazing Spider-Man #122, June 1973. (The actual end of the Silver Age has been a topic of debate amongst comic fans and historians, and will be addressed in more detail in a future post.)
In my posts, I hope to be able to share with my readers and fellow comic fans my love for the comics of my youth in a way that will also prove to be informative and, hopefully, entertaining as well. Topics will include issue and storyline reviews, creator profiles, debates, and character bios, plus loads of other stuff!