Felicity Jones to play The Black Cat in Amazing Spider-Man 2

This movie is becoming extraordinarily full of characters. I hope that this overload of characters will not hamper a good character driven story.

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Why Skrulls Are Pathetic Villains …

The Story I Read: “Skrulls From Outer Space” (The Fantastic Four #2, Jan 1962)

The Skrulls.

I mentioned in the tail end of my review of the Fantastic Four #1: Stan Lee’s writing of this period was wildly inconsistent. One issue could be titanically brilliant and the next would be utter swill. It is amazing how fast that theory was proven, for this issue is the latter. The Skrull’s invasion were the first of what would become a plethora of alien invasion stories that were hastily thought out pulp of the worst kind. Yet, in some of the later issues the aliens would prove to be greater threats. The Skrulls, however, are laughable frog like beings who are more reactionary then the Thing on his worse day, which makes them pretty pathetic beings, indeed.

The funny thing about Skrulls is on paper they are not pathetic beings for much of their makeup is actually quite novel. They can change their molecular structure into any living thing. Not only does this give them the ability to frame any member of any team for crimes they did not commit, as they do to the Fantastic Four here, but they can morph into gigantic destructive beasts. However, the gigantic behemoths that they morph into near the end are easily taken care of by ingenuity and fast movement. The Skrullish serpent, is easily made mince meat by Thing. It seems the deck is unnaturally stacked high, in favour of the Four. They are not written as a threat by Stan and this makes the conflict rather pointless.

What is interesting, is how the story develops the team. In this issue, more is made of the underlying emotional problems Ben is going through. Ben suffers a feeling of inadequacy because he looks like a pile of rocks, so he covers up with a long trench coat and dark glasses when venturing into public. Keep in mind, this is the period when Thing was depicted without a neck or strong brow. He very much resembles a yellow stone ogre-like creature. As the comics evolve, so does Ben’s look, to the point he is sleek and human looking. I much prefer the former rendering of Thing, as it shows him as a beauty within the beast.

In the beginning of the story, when the Skrulls are acting as doppelgängers for the the Four, and perpetrating crimes, the comic brings up some wonderful points about fame. This comic demonstrates how when a character puts themselves out to the public as a hero everyone will gun for their destruction. The vulnerability of fame becomes a reoccurring theme in later Fantastic Four comics and indeed Marvel as a whole, esp. Spider-Man. Everyone and the kitchen sink comes out of the wood work to claim victory over those who stress that they are the best at something. Humans have a natural animalistic need to show their dominance and the Marvel Superheroes/villains are no different.

By this point, I am sure you are wondering why I consider this story so shoddy, if I approve of the developments in Thing’s character. My disapproval stems from the climax. After the Four finally catch up to the Skrullish framers and after a pointless battle between two extremely weak “indestructible monsters,” Reed fools the Skrulls into thinking the Fantastic Four are omnipotent, omniscient weapons of the Earth. This successfully dupes the naive Skrulls and they retreat to the stars in fear. If the Skrulls, truly believed that the Fantastic Four were omnipotent, then how did they frame them so well at the beginning? Wouldn’t a truly omniscient weapon have foreseen the framing attempt and stopped it while it was happening? Furthermore, wouldn’t the Skrulls, a “super intelligent race with interstellar traveling capabilities” have been quick enough to pick up on the lie?

Am I asking too much for a narrative to make sense?

I must say, in spite of all these narrative flaws, I have to give great admiration to Jack Kirby. His character construction of the frog-like Skrulls, is some of the best in the Silver Age. Some of the panels, particularly the ones with the Skrull monsters, are gorgeous. Too bad Stan Lee’s contribution is nowhere near his partner’s. It’s always one or the other that is good. It is never the both of them together.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Pros: The Art, the alienation of the Four, The Thing’s struggle with self esteem and opening framing plot.

Cons: The Skrull’s coincidental idiocy, the lack of sense Ending, no Sue Storm, and no Human Torch.

Previous Review: “The Fantastic Four Meet The Mole Man, The Moleman’s Secret” (The Fantastic Four #1 Nov 1961)

Upcoming Review: “The Man in the Ant Hill” (Tales to Astonish #27 Jan. 1962)

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The Fantastic Quality of the Early Fantastic Four

Story I Read: “The Fantastic Four Meet The Mole Man, The Moleman’s Secret” (The Fantastic Four #1 Nov 1961)

Perhaps, it was unfair of me to review the story: “The Fantastic Four,” on it’s own, as it really is the first chapter in a larger saga. Published directly after the masterfully written, Fantastic Four origin story, “The Fantastic Four Meet The Moleman”  is where the real adventure begins. In the story, the Fantastic Four go up against the Mole Man resulting in, by far, one of their best conflicts. This greatness is the result of a few aspects: team and character cohesion, a fully developed villain and a satisfying ending.

Oh that the world were perfect and all following Fantastic Four stories possessed this quality! Which, sadly, we all know is not the case. 

The great thing about this story is that the later, nauseating, egocentric character ticks that became the soul theme, have not yet reared their ugly head; meaning the Four are a group the feeds off eachother. That is not to say they don’t squabble, there are plenty of moments where Thing has a playful go at Reed or Torch tries to goad Thing into hilarious rage, but there is none of the malevolent posturing that later flooded and sometimes, crippled, the group. Everyone seems to be a family. I often wonder in later issues why the Fantastic Four stays together, for they clearly hate each other. The Human Torch has not yet been forced to hold the Marvel Universe on his back single handedly and he remains just the youngest member of the group. When he saves everyone at the end, it feels real and not a moment of desperate writing.

On the subject of desperate writing, I can ably say without a doubt that it is not page constraints in later issues that cause the writers to not fully develop their villains. This is a normal length issue and not only is there a considerable time devoted to the origin of the group, there is also a great deal of paneling devoted to the development of the Mole Man. The Mole Man is a disgruntled, people hating (for good reason), half blind, mastermind who discovered a far away island called ‘Monster Island’ (King Kong reference, I am sure) where he founded an empire of mutated subterranean monsters. The complexity in his character is not equaled until, maybe Namor, two years later. Why is so much time spent, and I do not begrudge this as it makes for a more satisfying conclusion, on the villain? This is just the first issue.

Could this detail, be because Stan Lee wasn’t yet sure that these comics would take off, so, he had to put a lot of work and thought into it? I think that likely. The care in the issue could only be from fear of failure. We’ll see this again in other planned debuts.

The story in this one really is, well done. It begins with a simple inquiry from Reed as to why earthquakes were breaking out all over the world and then exploding into a giant underground monsters destroying nuclear power plants. Kevin Bacon, eat you heart out!

The Attack on the FEA.

One of the monsters assaults a French platoon in French Equatorial Africa (again the detail in location that we’ll loose in later issues). This scene has to rank with the best moments in all comic history. Even though Jack Kirby’s classic undetailed background is present throughout, the complexity in the character design is evident in every panel. I love the way Thing has no neck. He is hideous. I can see why he thinks he is deformed. In later issues, his contours and face were softened and that is detrimental to the character.

Though I respect Stan Lee, as every self respecting fanboy should, I seriously wonder why so much of his work is inconsistent. Here we have a very well conceived story, (well one that lacks a female presence like Sue Storm, but this is clearly a problem in most 60s comics) but in the next comic the same writer gives us swill.

How is this possible?

Perhaps, it’s because, as one of my colleagues relayed to me, that Stan was behind most of the greatest comic heroes of the 20th century. He couldn’t possibly be expected to crank out brilliant work after brilliant work, in such high quantity, without some hiccups. Certainly, no one was meant to read these comics in marathon, like I am doing, so perhaps his laziness wasn’t as obvious upon first reading. At least we have these bastions of fantastic writing, to out weigh the gutturally terrible.

One well written comic can make you forget twenty poorly written ones.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Pros: Well developed villain, a satisfying climax and great team cohesion.

Cons: Lack of Sue Storm. Did the Mole Man blow himself up?

Previous Review:  “The Fantastic Four” (Fantastic Four #1 Nov 1961)

Upcoming Review: “Skrulls From Outer Space” (The Fantastic Four #2 Jan 1962)

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Investigating the Sub-Mariner’s Soviet Connections

The Story I Read: “Sub-Mariner Versus The Human Race! (The Fantastic Four Annual #1 Sept. 1963)

The Coronation of King Namor.

Americans of 1963 lived in a very threatening atmosphere. I’ve alluded to this before in a former article about the xenophobia of the Cold War and its effect on the construction of comic books, especially in the issues of the Fantastic Four. Though this fear is prevalent in other contemporary comic book lines, no Marvel superhero issue, before the first Fantastic Four Annual, depicted a full invasion of the American homeland. Not to mention, a comprehensive backstory that fully explains the origin and grievances of a villain. This is a very special issue. Special, because it is an allegorical illustration that depicts how much the threat of  thermo-nuclear war penetrated every facet of the Sixties’ American society.

As far as the Sub-Mariner is concerned, the question has always been: is Namor actually a villain or is he legitimate in his vendetta against humanity? Surely, he has a lot of valid complaints. In his backstory, for whom five pages of this very special thirty-six page issue are devoted, we learn that Namor is the child of star crossed lovers; an Atlantean princess and a Human fisherman. The actions of this fisherman destroyed the first underwater city and caused the war between Atlantis and the land. This callous disregard for the underwater civilization continues to the point where the Atlanteans are relegated to under water nomadism. No wonder the first act of the new king, Namor is crowned at the outset of the story, is to declare war on Humanity.

True to Fantastic Four form, as things get heated under the water, the Four go on vacation. As always, they seem to live in a bottled up selfish world. While on vacation, Namor drags the Four down into the pits of the Atlantic and extorts them to become heralds for the coming invasion. The Sub-Mariner Prince then bans all humans from the oceans creating a standoff with the world powers. This sea blockade is very timely, as it had only been a year since the Cuban Missile crisis and the power of a blockade is fresh in the minds of the readers: though nuclear weapons are replaced by aquatic monsters and Soviets are replaced by Atlantean water breathing hordes.

Naturally, an international stalemate like this, leads to a discussion at the UN. However short sighted it is for Namor to release the Fantastic Four back to North

This happened in 1960.

America, the United Nations debate is the most inspired writing I have experienced in Marvel, thus far. At one point during the call to war, led by Richards, Kruschev bangs his shoe upon his desk. This actually happened in 1960, although nobody really knows why. This ‘call to war’ by Mr. Fantastic comes from a more selfish place then an logical plan. Reed is doing this out of his selfish need to destroy Namor, who’s obsession with Sue Storm is well known, because just a few panels earlier, Reed, admitted that the Atlanteans had vastly superior technology; meaning he is knowingly raising an army to be slaughtered.

That superior technology is ably shown when the Atlantean forces take New York with out a single casualty. The Atlanteans easily repel the meagre defense organized by the Four and enforce under water law on the air breathing New Yorkers. This is the ultimate fear for the Americans of the time: an invading force with a provisional government that changes how civilians live. Of course, it’s unknown if this is what would happen if the Soviets ever hypothetically did invade, but it would safe to bet that this scene aligns with what they thought would happen.

Reed easily repels the invasion with his own advances in technology but this invasion is not the main battle of the issue. The later skirmish between the Four and Sub-Mariner over the Atlantic is the meat of the issue. As the superhero fireworks ensue over the Atlantic, Sue Storm deals with incarceration deep beneath the waves. When she escapes she doesn’t quite make it to the surface and is on the brink of death. This stops the fireworks above and both sides immediately turn to rescuing Sue. This rescue is the best part of the issue. When Reed and Namor put their issues aside in an effort to help Sue, they are laying down their selfish ideologies to save the innocents that got caught in the middle. This war pretends to be about an ancient grudge, but it is actually driven by the love of a woman making it irrational. By extrapolation, if this comic is read as an allegory for Sixties issues, perhaps the creatives are suggesting that the ‘Red Scare’ is irrational. Irrationality does nothing but hurt both sides. The Fantastic Four nearly looses Sue Storm and Namor looses his kingdom (and also Sue, as well.)

The most frightening part of this whole thing is how the cycle of irrationality continues. When Namor leaves the hospital after rescuing Sue, the newly liberated New Yorkers attack him. Because of this, the prince vows to fight another day. The cycle of hate is infinite. Even though Namor has lost everything for his people’s revenge and his need to be loved by the Invisible Woman, he is willing to loose even more to save face.

Hate begets hate. Namor is no villain. He is the victim of hate. A hero without a home makes a villain.

A powerful and important issue.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Pros: The allegorical nature of the story. The fully fleshed and honest depiction of the characters. Namor’s and Atlantis’ back story.

Cons: Jack Kirby’s lackadaisical regard for background.

Previous Review: “The Icy Finger’s of Jack Frost” (Tales of Suspense #45 Sept 1963)

Upcoming Review: “…When Cyclops Walks The Earth” (Tales to Astonish #46 Aug 1963)

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Discover the Micro-World Within the Fantastic Four

Journey Into Marvel  

Story I Read:  “The Micro-World Of Doctor Doom” (Fantastic Four #16 July 1963)

The new Micro-King!

Those of you who have read my past reviews will have noticed the amount of poor writing I have encountered recently. As it is still quite early in the construction of the Marvel universe and it has still not been fully decided if these characters are all going to exist in the same universe some characters, naturally, are all over the place. The Fantastic Four on the other hand are usually the most structured and canonically sound. It’s obvious Stan and others seem to want to create a structured mythology for the quartet. By this time Sub-Mariner had made many appearances and Doctor Doom was well established as the archenemy. There had been three crossovers as well: two with Spider-man and one with the Hulk. The campy quartet of heroes can usually be depended on to have passable, detailed and sometimes enlightening writing. This story in the spectrum of FF is somewhere in the middle. Not too astounding but not Incredible Hulk level ineptitude either.

Until now in the stories of FF, the narrative had largely been linear, meaning beginning at the beginning. In this issue however epic structure is employed and thus the action begins in  the middle. Torch enters the penthouse to find his partners “shrunken to the size of toys.” After some shock and awe by the Storm boy they all regain their normal size. The story hits the ground running and immediately wets my appetite for mystery.

Shrinking seems to be a favourite mechanism of the early Four having been used at least three other times in prior tales. Otherwise, in Marveldom up to now, changing size had also been the favourite theme of Hank Pym, so naturally this lends for a perfect opportunity for a cameo. Sadly his cameo feels empty. He shows up to give Reed an enlargement serum and this makes no sense as Reed has already used his own version of shrinking juice. Somehow Richards is bowled over by the idea of a chemical that can play with mass. Perhaps it is still too much to ask for canonicity in a world that paints every character with a broad brush. That brush’s work is most obvious in the female characters.

To find broad strokes look no farther then the women. Princess Pearla of the Micro-Atomicans is a vacuous piece of property traded between Doom and Torch. Sue Storm not only refers to the three other members of the Fantastic Four as “her children,” she doesn’t even consider herself part of the team just an invisible tag along. She too has a moment of vacuous writing when upon seeing Ant-Man for the first time, promptly falls in love with him. I look forward to the moment my Marvel journey takes me out of the socially inept early 60s.

Excitingly not all social and sexual mores are backward in this one. The relationship between Alicia and Thing is really blooming. Ben exclaims that she “loves him for him.” It is heartwarming to see an attempt at writing a compelling woman, though I am sure it’s more a crass joke about the ugliness of Ben Grimm. Only a blind girl could love Thing. The weird abuse hurled at Thing from his three partners may explain some of his sour mood. The Four can be really dysfunctional.

Also dysfunctional in this comic is the art. In contemporary Marvel publications, some drawn by Jack Kirby

Notice all the Background Fogginess.

himself, detailed backgrounds have begun to appear. In this one, however, the bland blue background is back whether in New York or Micro-Atomica. Perhaps Jack’s hand doesn’t have the stamina to detail a 22 page issue. Maybe Marvel doesn’t have the cash for all the ink. Whatever the reason, in Stan’s stories, there always seems to be a thick fog beyond the action.

Whatever fogginess is present in the art there are great strides in the style of action presented. Clearly Stan is attempting to experiment in story structure, however at times narrative seems to get in the way of the whole issue’s arc. The amount of flashbacks really hamper the progression of the tale from the barn burning beginning to the petering retreat and disappearance of Doom. When the Micro-Atomicans make their debut not enough time is given to explaining how their existence really works. I spent most of the story wondering if they were still in the same plain of existence, being really small, or in some parallel universe. The hampering quandary in my mind was ascertaining clear locations of two planets within the sparse floor of Reed’s lab. Is there a full universe on the floor of Reed’s laboratory? I’m still confused. I’d except that idea if only someone had have made it clear.

Dr. Doom, luckily, is extremely clear in his motivations for tyrannizing these small people. All the hate stems out the events in Fantastic Four #10. Not only is Victor clear and well fleshed out. The idea that former events have a bearing on the present is astounding and harkens for great things to come!

For experimentation, Alicia and Thing, and a story that feels more like a tale and not just a series of obstacles for heroes to overcome, I award this story with a 3 out of 5. I won’t give it a higher score because of the sloppiness in structure, sexism and shoddy art.

<— Previous Review: “The Demon Duplicators” (Journey Into Mystery#95 Aug 1963)

—>Upcoming Review: “Defeated by Doctor Doom” (Fantastic Four #17 Aug 1963)

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