Four & Thor 5

A comrade of mine (hey, Bruce!) pointed out in the Comments section, that I've been a bit hard on Stan Lee in these little blogs.  Aaaaand he's right.  I will admit, I've been a bit bitter about how Stan Lee gets all the public glory, while Jack Kirby is only known in comic circles, and only to the die hards.  Having said that, at the very least, Lee's dialogue skills gave early Marvel a unified voice that helped to establish the Shared Universe aspect of the company.  Plus, as Bruce pointed out, Lee's editorial skills helped to reign in Kirby's more eccentric tendencies.  So, yeah, he did more than just fill in word balloons.  Sorry.

Fantastic Four #9
Story/Art: Jack Kirby.  Inks:  Dick Ayers.  Plot/Dialogue:  Stan Lee

Story:  The FF are broke.  Turns out, Reed spent alla the money on the stock market and lost his shirt.  Oops!  With the Repo Men barking at their heels, the FF get an offer from SM Studios to star in a movie for a cool Million Bucks (big money in 1960).  The FF have to hitchhike out to LA (really).  When the FF arrive they discover that Namor owns the movie studio.  Namor wants to help the FF out by putting them in a flick and paying em big bucks.  Subby drops Reed off on an island which just happens to have a Real Cyclops.  Reed beats the Cyclops.  Meanwhile, Johny is dropped off with an African Tribe (uncomfortable...) who possess a Magic Potion that makes them immune to fire.  Yut-oh.  Johny escapes by sparking a volcano.  In the third "scene" Namor attacks Ben on the beach.  The Thing survives the beatdown, but transforms into Ben Grimm at the last second and gets knocked out.  Having beaten everyone else, Namor goes to Sue, gloats, and then proposes to her.  Unsurprisingly, Sue is not thrilled to hear her pals have gotten tricked and killed.  Sue fights Namor, but Namor uses his Electric Eel Powers (huh, he did use it again) and Sonar (yep) to defeat Sue.  Before Namor can do anything...unsavory, the other three show up and chase off Namor.  In the end, the FF movie comes out, and our heroes score big money.  Huzzah!

Notes:  Namor's got Sonar?  Okay.  Also, at one point, Johny uses a new trick, creating an army of flaming doubles.  Kirby was always coming up for new tricks for the FF.  Cool.

The Art:  Dick Ayers is still blorping the inks, but Kirby's Pencils keep evolving.  The scene in Hollywood features a bunch of what I assume are celebrity faces.  Since I wasn't alive in the late 50s, I don't really know for sure who any of these people are.  Still, they're well drawn.  Perhaps the best thing about this issue is the fight between the Thing and Namor.  This is a full fledged, hardcore Jack Kirby Fight Scene.  It's a little short, but it's still a nice little vision of what is to come.

Whatta I Think:  This is a goofy story.  Very goofy.  It's almost a parody story in a way.  Still, it's not without its merits, as once again Namor proves to be a formidable enemy, and we get a nice fight scene.  Odd, but nice.

Fantastic Four #10
Art/Story: Jack Kirby, Inks: Dick Ayers, Plot/Dialogue: Stan Lee

The Story:  After a brief interlude at Alicia's house, we swing by the Marvel Studios, where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (yes, you heard me) are working on a new issue of the Fantastic Four.  Dr. Doom shows up and threatens them, forcing Stan to call up Reed Richards.  Reed shows up and Doom sleep gases him.  Doom kidnaps Reed and demands that Stan calls the rest of the FF to meet Doom at Doom's Castle (still not openly referred to as Latveria...).  Doom reveals that when he was lost in space, he landed on the planet of the Ovoids.  The Ovoids have all sorts of neat powers and technology.  Doom learned from them, and then returned to Earth for revenge.  Using his new Ovoid powers, Doom switches bodies with Reed.  The rest of the FF show up, beat up Reed/Doom, and lock him in an air tight bubble with a few air tanks.  The FF return to their HQ, where they discover Doom/Reed is shrinking animals.  Doom/Reed has a ridiculous story about how if he shrinks them and then regrows them they'll gain new powers (Wha????).  The FF are like, cool.  Meanwhile, Reed/Doom breaks out by smashing oxygen tanks together (SCIENCE!).  Reed/Doom goes to Alicia, but an Invisible Sue knocks him out.  Ben and Johny show up, but Ben can't bring himself to KO Reed/Doom.  The FF take Reed/Doom back to HQ.  Doom/Reed tries to shrink the FF down to nothingness, but Reed/Doom interferes.  There's a whole weird thing where Johny uses his fire to create a mirage of that causes Reed and Doom to expose their true natures.  Doom is exposed, and accidentally loses his mental hold, causing Reed and Doom to switch bodies again.  Doom accidentally gets shot with his own Shrinking Ray and shrinks away to Nothing.  Wa-Wa.

Notes:  First off, if you think the whole thing about me being involved in my comics is weird, Jack Kirby was slipping himself into his books on and off ever since the 1940s (there's an issue of "Boy Commandos" featuring a cameo by Jack and Joe Simon).  Besides the new Psychic Powers, Doom also has a Mental Teleporter Device.  That's cool.  Also, this issue features the Greatest Doom Death Scene Ever!  Death by Shrinkage!

The Art:  The Ovoids are uninspired, but otherwise the art is solid Kirby.  The bit with the tiny animals is neat, plus in a page or two we get a neat shot of Dinosaur Astronauts.  Gotta love that.

Whatta I Think:  This is one of those "What Makes a Man?" type of stories, and not a bad one.  It's a little awkward and goofy in spots, especially the spot where EvilDoomReed comes up with his ridiculous plan to get the FF to stand in front of a Shrink Ray.  Still, not too bad.

Journey Into Mystery featuring Thor #91
Plot: Stan Lee.  Script:  Larry Lieber (sigh).  Art:  Joe Sinnott

Story:  Loki's stuck in Asgard.  He finds a psychic on earth named Sandu, and boosts his power so that he's got God-like powers.  He levitates banks and money and makes stuff disappear and other crazy stuff.  Thor tries to fight him, but Sandu EASILY beats him, chaining him up and dropping a house on him.  Thor begs Odin for help, and Odin sends Valkyries to Thor with Thor's Belt of Strength.  Juiced up on his Belt Power, Thor easily bashes his way out and fights Sandu again.  This time, Thor throws his hammer, and Sandu traps the Hammer in another dimension.  Sandu tries to pick up the hammer, but he can't, and when he tries to pick it up with his mind, he blows a fuse and loses all of his powers.  That's it.  Thor wins.  Hurray?

Notes:  Still no Jack Kirby.  Sandu easily defeats Thor, and Thor does literally nothing to actually defeat Sandu.  Really?

The Art:  The Good News?  Joe Sinnott's a pretty decent artist.  He's no Kirby, but there's a reason he was one of Kirby's best inkers.  Long story short, the art is much better than last issue.

Whatta I Think:  Ugh.  The art is better.  That is all.  Sandu is lame, and the story is lame.  Super lame.  Next.

JIM #92
Plot: Stan Lee.  Script:  R. Berns (Who?).  Art:  Joe Sinnott.

The Story:  Loki's stuck in Asgard, chained to a Rock.  The Chains are made of Uru Metal.  Thugs show up at Dr. Blake's office (wait, haven't we done this?), and force Dr. Blake to patch up their boss.  Blake turns into Thor and easily whoops the thugs.  Now, Thor is in a movie.  Wait, wasn't that the plot of the issue of FF I just covered?  Wha?  Anyway, Thor throws his hammer, and somehow Loki magnetizes the hammer so that it travels all the way to Asgard (huh?) and shatters Loki's chains, and then Does Not Return to Thor because it's magnetized now (wait, what?).  Odin takes Thor to Asgard (cause, without his Hammer, Thor can't get there).  Being subtlely manipulated by Loki, Odin sends Thor into Loki's trap (wait, Loki can hypnotize Odin?  What?  I'm so confused.).  Anyway, Thor goes to the woods and the trees come to life and attack Thor.  Thor makes a wooden hammer and smashes trees.  Loki uses magic to burn the wooden hammer and creates dragons out of clouds.  Thor creates a Stone Hammer and fights off the dragons.  But after he throws the hammer, the hammer flies away.  Thor follows, and discovers that the Improv Hammer is actually made of Uru (wait?  WHAT?), and it is drawn to the Uru Chains and Thor's real Hammer.  Thor gets his hammer back, but instead of beating up on Loki, he TATTLES on Loki to Odin, and Odin punishes Loki.  Oy vey.

Notes:  This story makes no f*****g sense.

The Art:  Again, solid Joe Sinnott artwork.  I liked the bit with the giant wooden hammer.  That was cool.

Whatta I Think:  Wow.  Just horrible.  How can Loki not beat Thor?  He can apparently control Thor's hammer at will (while chained to a rock).  He can manipulate Odin.  He can create Dragons out of Clouds.  Seriously, how can he not defeat some blowhard with a hammer?  My head hurts.  It's amazing they didn't cancel this book at this point.  The only bright side is this:  Sooner or later, Jack Kirby will return, and he will eventually get a handle on Thor, and this will start to rule.  Just not right now.