Happy 4th of July- Marvel Style!

I thought I'd celebrate our nation's independence by celebrating the Silver-Age debut of comicdom's greatest patriot- Captain America!

So, Happy 4th of July and SUCK IT, GEORGE III ! No Taxation without representation, BEE -YOTCH!!



Right off the bat, let me apologize. I had this post in mind for some time, thinking I had a reprint of Avengers#4. Turns out, the book I have that reprints it reprints a 6-page, abridged version of it. Near as I can tell, it mostly leaves out a big, Kirby fight.

In issue #4, The Avengers acquire a new member. A guy with all the charisma and leadership any superteam could ever ask for; Captain America.

This issue begins by reminding us of a big fight between the Avengers and the Sub-Mariner that took place last issue. We rejoin the Sub-Mariner on yet another rampage. After brooding about how much he hates the Human race, he decides to stop and hassle some Eskimos. These Eskimos are minding their own business, worshiping their idol; a dude frozen in a block of ice. Silly Eskimos.

Because he's just that big a jerk, Subby takes their idol and throws it into the ocean, where it just happens to drift into the Gulf Stream. The lump of ice slowly thaws out in the warm, Gulf Stream waters and reveals the floating body inside just as it happens to pass by a submarine (with the biggest interior any sub never had) filled with-you guessed it- The Avengers.

The Avengers marvel over the frozen corpse they've found and ponder his strange costume. Just then, the body springs to life and reveals himself to be Captain America.

When the Avengers question his authenticity, Cap challenges them to a fight. It's ALWAYS a fight with these people!

The Earth's Mightiest Heroes then get their asses handed to them by a guy who's been frozen for 20 years. You would think he'd have frostbite and muscular atrophy, at least.

Cap then recounts the strange tale of how he came to be there:

In 1945, while trying to defuse a flying bomb that is aimed at the U.S., Cap and his kid sidekick, Bucky are carried out over the North Atlantic Ocean. Something goes horribly wrong and the bomb explodes early, killing Bucky outright and throwing Captain America into the icy waters below. Cap is flash-frozen and slips into a state of suspended animation. He remembers nothing else, but, for some reason conjectures that he must have become frozen in a block of ice and then been found and worshiped by some Eskimos as a supernatural object...

Sure. Why not?

The Avengers dock their sub in New York Harbor and are greeted by a mob of reporters. Two seconds later, a bright flash occurs and the heroes are turned to stone. The ever-vigilant representatives of the Fourth Estate decide it must be some trick the Avengers used to dodge an interview.

Captain America emerges and puzzles over the odd poses of the "statues" of the Avengers, and then goes sight-seeing. At some point he checks into a hotel. I have no idea what he used for money. Cap does what any guy who just woke up in 1964 New York would do; he watches hotel TV.

His vegging out is interrupted by Rick Jones, who Cap mistakes for Bucky. Apparently Rick is a dead ringer for the late, lamented sidekick. I had just assumed that he looked similar because he was another Kirby drawing. To me, Rick always looked more like Snapper Car. Anyway, Rick has come to find Cap because the Avengers are missing.

The good Captain snaps out of his Rip Van Winkle funk and becomes a decisive man of action. Looking at photos taken at the dock that morning, Cap spots a guy with a device he's absolutely sure isn't a camera. Seems to me, since in Cap's mind people should be riding in flying cars by 1964, he would defer to Rick on that.

Cap is right, however, the "camera" is a ray gun in the possession of a stranded alien who was hired by the Sub-Mariner (Cap comments that he seems "to remember that name from the dim past"- "the dim past"? You mean the day before yesterday, when you and Subby were on the same side in WWII?) to turn the Avengers to stone. In exchange, The Sub-Mariner was to help the alien free his sunken ship from the ocean floor.

The alien explains that he has been stranded for thousands of years and gives hints that his frightening appearance and ability to petrify may have inspired the legend of Medusa. Oh! Good, I needed someone to rationalize Medusa for me.. now, where did we leave Thor??

Cap and Rick get the spaceman to revive the Avengers who help free his spacecraft and send him home. There are references to a big battle, but my copy skips all of that. *sigh*

For some reason, Captain America seems to act like he's really old. I mean, if you'd been frozen in a block of ice when you were 20 for two decades and suddenly revived with no memory of time passing, wouldn't you still be, like 20? Geez! at the most he's in his early 40's.

Sure, his slang and his world view would be different. But instead of acting all morose and grandpa-ish, wouldn't he be more likely to attack the staff at Benihana and make them pay for Pearl Harbor? Wouldn't he go to record stores looking for 78's of Glen Miller? Also, I don't remember anyone issuing you a discharge, Captain. Shouldn't you report for duty or something?

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!

Green Arrow hangs out with the Green Arrow of Mexico. From "The Green Arrows of the World", by Bill Finger and Jack Kirby from Adventure Comics #25, July 1958

Hypnosis. It Doesn't Work That Way!- Rawhide Kid #30

Anyone who's ever read any of Marvel's Silver Age comics series for any length of time knows that Stan Lee LOVES a good hypnotist. And Le's hypnotists are capable of convincing people to do ANYTHING! See for yourself:




Okay, I understand how he hypnotized the bartender into the free drink, but how did he accomplish finding a decent bottle of wine in an Old West saloon? Spade Desmond's antics attract the attention of the saloon owner, who he makes act like a monkey. The saloon owner is popular enough that a fight breaks out. Since everyone is packin', the outcome is not too surprising:


The Rawhide Kid is not one to stand idly by while people are endangering each other with reckless gunplay, so he logically stops them with some reckless gunplay:
Which draws the attention of the Hypnotist.

Spade Desmond sees the potential of having his own, personal gunfighter in his pocket,

And soon, he's making good use of his new toy:


Desmond takes things too far, however, when he orders the Kid to shoot the local Sheriff:


The Sheriff explains the Kid's sudden change of heart:


Maybe someone should explain to Stan Lee that "you can't make a man do something that he would never do normally!". Didn't we just see a cheap bartender give away a drink and a saloon owner act like a monkey? Is the Kid really a bank robber at heart?

I'm so confused. I can suspend my disbelief enough to pretend you can hypnotize people to do crazy stuff, but then to turn around in the next-to-last panel and tell me it's impossible?? What the Hell did I just read?

Can We Stop Reprinting This Story Already?

This being St. Patty's day, I decided to treat you all to a story that has a tenuous connection to the "wearin' o' the green". And nobody wears more green than Green Arrow. Some of you may not know this, based on previous posts, but I actually like Green Arrow. Really. I also like Jack Kirby. A lot. So, you would think that Green Arrow drawn by Jack Kirby would just be like Christmas in July for me. Not so.

Not only does Jack Kirby draw the butt-ugliest Green Arrow of all time, but for the longest time, you couldn't ever find reprints of gold and silver-age Green Arrow stories- except THIS one. I don't know how many times I've bought an 80-page giant or an annual or a World's Finest collection which promised a "Vintage Green Arrow Story Inside!" just to get another copy of this freakin' story!

So, to further the chain of abuse, here it is:


Yep, giant arrows falling from space. How often do you see that? Certainly a few less times than we've seen this same reaction shot from Kirby:

"Some kind of spaceship, isn't it? Is it?" Are you sure it's not Galactus, or Darkseid, or Superman? But don;t worry, the media is on top of things:

Well, I thought it was a job for Ambush Bug, but if you say so...



After doing battle all over town, trying to minimize the damage done by these giant arrows, G.A. and Speedy discover a giant arrow in the park with a giant rope tied to it, they're dragged back through a tear in the fabric of space into an alternate dimension and become...

Yes, that's right, the "Prisoners of Dimension Zero". Except they're not prisoners. And I'm not sure who decided to start numbering alternate dimensions at zero. But, hey, they meet a kindred spirit:

??? What the F*** does "Xeen" mean? Seriously! I mean, Green Arrow wears green. It's a color theme. So does Xeen Arrow. Are we to believe that in Dimension Zero there's a color called xeen that we perceive as green? Do the inhabitants of D-0 speak English which is the same in every respect except they say xeen instead of green? I don't get it. Still, he's a more original imitation of Green Arrow than Hawkeye!

G.A. and Speedy help X.A. fight a bad guy and then he sends them home and patches the tear in the universe. End of story.

Now, why can't I get a nice Green Arrow story drawn by Lee Elias in color??

Black Panther- Now You're Talkin' !

In 1966, the first Black superhero hit the shelves. Again from Marvel, the Black Panther was and still is a unique character in the annals of black superheroes. BP debuted in Fantastic Four #52 which was published months before the founding of the controversial and openly militant Black Panther Party.

The Black Panther is T'Challa, ruler and spiritual leader of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. His costume is one traditionally associated with his role as protector of his people. He derives his superpowers (enhanced strength and reflexes) from a special herb which is reserved for the holder of his office. Out of all the black heroes who would follow in his wake, Black Panther is remarkable for his role as an example of the dignified ruler of a prosperous nation, rather than a disenfranchised citizen protecting the common man in a world that has forgotten him. He's also the first African hero depicted in comics who's not a transplanted white guy.

Gabriel Jones- A Big Step Forward.

During WWII, U.S. fighting forces were segregated, rather than integrated. This meant that Japanese Americans would serve in all Japanese-American units, African Americans would serve in all African American units. The U.S. Army was not racially integrated until President Harry Truman signed an executive order to the effect in 1948. This fact notwithstanding, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby decided to integrate their elite, fictional combat unit "The Howling Commandos".

In 1963, for the debut of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, Jack Kirby drew Gabe Jones as a realistic-looking black man. He gave Gabe the same human dignity he gave every other member of his commando squad (maybe more than he gave Dum-Dum Dugan). Only one problem: The printers thought there had been a mistake.


See, the printing company who printed the comics for Marvel were confused by why this one guy was brown. They thought it was a colorist's mistake and kept color correcting when they stripped the film for the color press plates. Finally the editorial office had to contact the printer and explain that Gabe Jones was a black man and was SUPPOSED to be brown. Since Jones had not been depicted as a stereotype, the printers had been horribly confused.

I think the preceding story illustrates how far America had come in it's understanding and treatment of it's African America citizens and how far it had yet to go.

Lee and Kirby Did WAAY Too Many Monster Comics- Rawhide Kid#22

There was a time when Westerns were some of the most popular comics series around. Heck, there was a time when Westerns, War, Romance and Horror all outsold superhero comics. Problem is, how do you do an interesting Western when the Comics Code won't let you show anybody getting shot??

Well if you're The Lone Ranger, you shoot the guns out of the bad guys' hands and move on. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby found other solutions. One was they threw in a lot of what we would now recognize as supervillains; hypnotists and magicians and the like. The other was a natural for Marvel c. 1960: Monsters.

Marvel had been making it's bread with monster comics for some time. Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were drawing comic after comic, month after month featuring big, ugly lumbering monsters, all of which needed to be stopped to save the world from total destruction.

So, this issue of Rawhide kid took the logical step of making the Kid face a monster. Which is great, 'cause he's allowed to SHOOT monsters.

Now I'm going to let Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers tell you the story, through the miracle of Splash pages:


Okay, here's our setup. Rawhide Kid vs a walking totem pole. Pretty much a retelling of the cover. Incidentally, totem poles are only found amongst the tribes of the Pacific Northwest and are not indigenous to the Southwest where this story takes place. I like how the face in the middle looks a little embarrassed.



Now here's a classy, old-Hollywood composition. The monster is only hinted at as a shadow, leaving you to experience the horror through the eyes of the onlooker. Nice.



Well, some stuff has clearly happened between chapters, since the lift is partly raised. Apparently being a living totem pole doesn't mean you are invulnerable to getting dirt thrown in your eyes. Who'd've thought?



Okay, now this one's my favorite! I especially love how the third guy from the left takes the time to shout "LUCKY WE GOT OUT OF THE COACH IN TIME AND HAD TIME TO UNHARNESS THE HORSES!" I know that's what I would say if I found myself suddenly fleeing for my life from a sentient, evil totem pole.



And finally. the last page, so you can all rest soundly, assured that everything came out okay.

See. You didn't even really have to read the comic. A whole story summed up in five pages.

Thank The Gods 'Tis Thor's Day! Journey Into Mystery #85

We are treated this issue to the first appearance of Asgard, home of the Norse gods.

Verily, 'tis a trippy place!


As well as the first appearance of Thor's rival, enemy and half-brother, Loki- the god of Mischief.

Loki has been imprisoned by the gods in a tree for ages, as punishment for some past misdeed. Loki blames Thor for his plight, and plots to free himself. The only catch is, Loki must remain within the tree until someone "sheds a tear for Loki". Loki knows no-one will weep for him intentionally, so he wills the tree to shed a leaf just as Heimdall, guardian of the rainbow bridge passes by. The leaf pokes Heimdall in the eye, causing his eye to weep and Loki is freed!

Loki then heads to Earth to seek his vengeance on Thor. There's a lot of trickery involved, including Loki hypnotizing Thor into giving his hammer to a duplicate of himself and a scene where Loki rides around on a bunch of pigeons. A person on the street who witnesses Loki's arrival on the backs of a flock of pigeons declares that it "must be an advertising stunt". What could anyone possibly be advertising with a dude in an operatic Viking superhero getup riding a flock of pigeons?

Loki causes all kinds of trouble, including making Thor save several citizens from being run over by a train. A train Loki pushed them in front of. (Kinda pedestrian for the trickster god of Norse myth) Thor finally catches back up to Loki and ties him to his hammer, which he flings back to Asgard, where Loki is once again imprisoned.

Jane Foster finds the whole clash of gods in downtown Manhattan to be "romantic", hinting that she is becoming more and more attracted to the dashing Thor. And subsequently less dazzled by her shy employer.


ACK! I forgot! For more issue-by-issue coverage of Silver Age Marvel- tune in to "Fantastic Four Fridays" over at one of my favorite blogs- Silver Age Comics.

Wait! Was Captain America Even Missing?

Captain America Veterans' Day Special, part two.

In 1964's Avengers #4, wherever Cap goes, people get all weepy to see him returned to them. Even though the Avengers didn't seem to recognize Captain America, the rest of the world seems to have never gotten over his loss. Which brings us to an interesting point. Was Cap ever actually missing??

See, the thing is, Captain America first appeared in comics in 1940, punching Hitler in the face! Which is pretty bold, considering we wouldn't enter WWII for another year.


That's for Poland and France!

The good Captain continued to be a big seller throughout the War, and then, after 1945 sales began to decline.

An attempt was made to bring back the comic in 1953 as "Captain America: Commie Smasher" but the book folded by 1954. Maybe the McCarthy Hearings made Cap seem more paranoid than timely?



So, when The Avengers find Cap in 1964, and he was MIA since 1945, somehow everyone overlooked the fact that Cap and Bucky were alive and well as late as 1954.

I'd like to wish a happy Veteran's Day to all our service-men and -women who HAVEN'T been frozen in a block of ice for the last 20 years! Your sacrifice is appreciated.

Being Frozen Makes You Kind Of A Downer- Avengers #4

Captain America Veterans' Day Special, part one.



Right off the bat, let me apologize. I had this post in mind for some time, thinking I had a reprint of Avengers#4. Turns out, the book I have that reprints it reprints a 6-page, abridged version of it. Near as I can tell, it mostly leaves out a big, Kirby fight.

In issue #4, The Avengers acquire a new member. A guy with all the charisma and leadership any superteam could ever ask for; Captain America.

This issue begins by reminding us of a big fight between the Avengers and the Sub-Mariner that took place last issue. We rejoin the Sub-Mariner on yet another rampage. After brooding about how much he hates the Human race, he decides to stop and hassle some Eskimos. These Eskimos are minding their own business, worshiping their idol; a dude frozen in a block of ice. Silly Eskimos.

Because he's just that big a jerk, Subby takes their idol and throws it into the ocean, where it just happens to drift into the Gulf Stream. The lump of ice slowly thaws out in the warm, Gulf Stream waters and reveals the floating body inside just as it happens to pass by a submarine (with the biggest interior any sub never had) filled with-you guessed it- The Avengers.

The Avengers marvel over the frozen corpse they've found and ponder his strange costume. Just then, the body springs to life and reveals himself to be Captain America.

When the Avengers question his authenticity, Cap challenges them to a fight. It's ALWAYS a fight with these people!

The Earth's Mightiest Heroes then get their asses handed to them by a guy who's been frozen for 20 years. You would think he'd have frostbite and muscular atrophy, at least.

Cap then recounts the strange tale of how he came to be there:

In 1945, while trying to defuse a flying bomb that is aimed at the U.S., Cap and his kid sidekick, Bucky are carried out over the North Atlantic Ocean. Something goes horribly wrong and the bomb explodes early, killing Bucky outright and throwing Captain America into the icy waters below. Cap is flash-frozen and slips into a state of suspended animation. He remembers nothing else, but, for some reason conjectures that he must have become frozen in a block of ice and then been found and worshiped by some Eskimos as a supernatural object...

Sure. Why not?

The Avengers dock their sub in New York Harbor and are greeted by a mob of reporters. Two seconds later, a bright flash occurs and the heroes are turned to stone. The ever-vigilant representatives of the Fourth Estate decide it must be some trick the Avengers used to dodge an interview.

Captain America emerges and puzzles over the odd poses of the "statues" of the Avengers, and then goes sight-seeing. At some point he checks into a hotel. I have no idea what he used for money. Cap does what any guy who just woke up in 1964 New York would do; he watches hotel TV.

His vegging out is interrupted by Rick Jones, who Cap mistakes for Bucky. Apparently Rick is a dead ringer for the late, lamented sidekick. I had just assumed that he looked similar because he was another Kirby drawing. To me, Rick always looked more like Snapper Car. Anyway, Rick has come to find Cap because the Avengers are missing.

The good Captain snaps out of his Rip Van Winkle funk and becomes a decisive man of action. Looking at photos taken at the dock that morning, Cap spots a guy with a device he's absolutely sure isn't a camera. Seems to me, since in Cap's mind people should be riding in flying cars by 1964, he would defer to Rick on that.

Cap is right, however, the "camera" is a ray gun in the possession of a stranded alien who was hired by the Sub-Mariner (Cap comments that he seems "to remember that name from the dim past"- "the dim past"? You mean the day before yesterday, when you and Subby were on the same side in WWII?) to turn the Avengers to stone. In exchange, The Sub-Mariner was to help the alien free his sunken ship from the ocean floor.

The alien explains that he has been stranded for thousands of years and gives hints that his frightening appearance and ability to petrify may have inspired the legend of Medusa. Oh! Good, I needed someone to rationalize Medusa for me.. now, where did we leave Thor??

Cap and Rick get the spaceman to revive the Avengers who help free his spacecraft and send him home. There are references to a big battle, but my copy skips all of that. *sigh*

For some reason, Captain America seems to act like he's really old. I mean, if you'd been frozen in a block of ice when you were 20 for two decades and suddenly revived with no memory of time passing, wouldn't you still be, like 20? Geez! at the most he's in his early 40's.

Sure, his slang and his world view would be different. But instead of acting all morose and grandpa-ish, wouldn't he be more likely to attack the staff at Benihana and make them pay for Pearl Harbor? Wouldn't he go to record stores looking for 78's of Glen Miller? Also, I don't remember anyone issuing you a discharge, Captain. Shouldn't you report for duty or something?

Thank The gods Tis Thor's Day!- Journey Into Mystery # 84

As promised, Thor returns. And so does "Lame Doctor Donald Blake"...to America.

We get to see what things are like for Dr. Blake when he's not vacationing in Northern Europe. Seems like he's a kindly, caring physician who still makes house calls. Also his nurse, Jane Foster (In this issue, she's referred to as Jane Nelson- maybe they lost the notes from this issue going forward?) is desperately in love with him. Or, she wants to be, but thinks he's coldly indifferent to her. Oh Jane ! How wrong you are!

See, Don Blake is madly in love with Jane, but he's afraid she would reject him because he's "a cripple". Yeah, Don, what girl could possibly look past that limp of yours to see the handsome, young doctor who can afford a private practice in Manhattan?

Showing that Thor is not the only hero in this comic, Dr. Blake volunteers to go to the war-torn Central American nation of San Diablo (Saint Devil?? Yeah, THAT's likely) to provide medical relief. Before Don and Jane can even arrive, however, their ship is attacked by Commie jet fighters who want to stop the "Yankee doctors" from providing aid and comfort to the Democratic forces. If you were having any doubts, yes, this WAS scripted by Larry Lieber.

Don transforms into Thor and smashes the Commie jets. He then changes to his "rightful self " of Don Blake under water -See? I told you two weeks ago he wasn't supposed to really be Thor!- and calls for help from the ship. After Don is rescued, Jane begins to think about how handsome that Thor guy was.

When the medical team from the U.S. finally arrives in San Diablo, they are once again targeted by the Communist forces of "The Executioner".

Note: this Executioner is just a beret-wearing Che Guevara look-alike, not the Asgardian of the same name from later Thor comics.

Commie guerrillas attack the medical convoy, only to be stopped by a violent thunderstorm summoned by Dr. Blake and his magic stick. Once the weather clears and the convoy resumes, the commies send in tanks.

Blake once again changes to Thor and smashes up the entire tank squad, only to learn that Jane Foster was captured in the melee. Jane is taken back to Commie headquarters where Comrade Executioner tries to put the moves on her. He is interrupted by news that his men have caught another Yankee- Dr. Don Blake. The Executioner takes Blake's stick and orders him shot as a spy, but Jane says she'll do anything if Blake is set free. The Executioner says he will let Blake go if Jane will marry him (if that's not a euphemism, I don't know what is).

Blake challenges the Executioner to a one-on-0ne fight, then tricks him into tossing away the magic cane, which Don catches and immediately transforms to Thor.

Thor mops the floor with the Commies and the Executioner is caught by his own men trying to make off with all their funds (in big, Scrooge McDuck-style bags with "$" on them!) and meets his fate at the hands of his own death squad. All the Commies have an immediate conversion to Democratic ideals and Don and Jane get to treat the sick and injured.

We close with Jane asking Don where he went when Thor showed up. Don tells her he hid behind the execution wall, planting the seed in Jane's mind that she wishes Don was more like Thor. Dames!

Thank The gods Tis Thor's Day!- Journey Into Mystery # 83

As the good folks at Marvel Comics began to crank out a line of superhero comics, one question was hanging at the backs of their minds: "How can you top Superman?" I mean, for any hero to be more powerful than Superman he'd have to be... well, a god.

Enter The Mighty Thor, Norse god of thunder, hero of legend, scion of Asgard, user of leave-in conditioner.

While on a walking tour of Norway, "lame Doctor Donald Blake" (I LOVE how they describe him like that. He has a severe limp and walks with a cane, but it always makes him sound like he's a sub-standard physician.) is witness to a terrifying invasion by Stone Men from Saturn.

Seeking shelter in a nearby cave, Dr. Blake finds himself trapped in a cave-in. After stumbling through the dark, looking for an alternate exit, Don finds an old, gnarled walking stick laying on a stone slab. Don tries to use the stick as a lever to pry away a large rock blocking a potential exit, and in his struggles bangs the stick against the stone. Suddenly, lightning crashes within the cave and frail Dr.Blake is transformed into Thor.


The stick, it seems was the mighty hammer of Thor, Mjolnir, in disguise. Inscribed on the head of the mystical hammer are the words "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR".

Using his new-found super strength, Thor hefts the boulder out of the way of the exit and leaves the cave. Setting his hammer down, Thor discovers that, after sixty seconds away from the magic of the hammer, he reverts to Donald Blake. He soon discovers that the hammer returns to his hand when thrown, is indestructible and can control the weather.

Thor quickly routs the alien invaders and transforms back into Lame Doctor Donald Blake.


The Hammer turns back into a walking stick. The story ends with the promise of further Thor adventures to come.

For anyone familiar with this comic from its later incarnations, I would like to note a few points of interest. Firstly, it seems pretty obvious (to me, anyway) that at this stage of the comic, Doctor Don Blake is really Doctor Don Blake and he only summons the power of Thor. The Hammer Mjolnir sort of functions like an Aladdin's lamp. Secondly, that being said, Thor reminds me very much of Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel, who was secretly young Billy Batson. Batson would say the magic word "Shazam!" and transform into the super hero Captain Marvel.

Next Thor's Day will be a Hallowe'en-related post, but after that, I will pick up with Journey Into Mystery #84.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who are the "Strangest Heroes" of All?

So it goes like this: In September, 1963 Marvel Comics published X-Men #1 with the byline "The Strangest Super-Heroes of All!". Back in June 1963 DC comics published My Greatest Adventure #8o which debuted a new Super Team, the Doom Patrol with the byline "The World's Strangest Heroes!"

The X-men featured five teenage heroes with unwanted powers who answered to a mysterious leader in a wheelchair. A man named "Professor X". The Doom Patrol were three heroes with unwanted powers who answered to a mysterious leader in a wheelchair. A man named "The Chief".

There has been some controversy over the similarities of these two super-teams for the last 46 years. DC says Marvel, in essence ripped off the Doom Patrol, citing the wheelchair-bound leader and unwanted powers. Also, the DP fight the Brotherhood of Evil and the X-Men fight the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Marvel says that the Doom Patrol was just a rip-off of Marvel's Fantastic Four.

After all, there are FOUR of them and four members of the Doom Patrol. Negative Man is a little like the Human Torch, Robotman is similar to the Thing, The Chief has Mr. Fantastic's intellect, while Elasti-Girl is like the Invisible Girl but with a power sort of like Mr. Fantastic's...

Of course, if DC ripped off Fantastic Four creating the Doom Patrol, then Marvel certainly ripped off DC's Challengers of the Unknown when creating the Fantastic Four.

The Challengers were four men brought together by fate, united by a common accident (the crash of an experimental plane) who team up to combat, well, the Unknown. They even wear matching purple jumpsuits not unlike the spacesuits worn by the FF in their first appearance. Of course, Challengers was originally drawn by FF artist extraordinaire, Jack Kirby, so no big shock that the two books would look similar.

Another great similarity between the Doom Patrol and the X-Men is that both titles were cancelled due to poor sales. Of course, in the 1970's, the X-Men came back in a HUGE way with the New X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1.


The Doom Patrol also staged a come-back, but with far less success. But, fear not, DC managed to rip off the New X-Men with the New Teen Titans.

The Teen Titans were reinvented as an angstier group of young people, many of whom were not so keen on having super powers. Heck, even Doom Patrol alumnus Beast Boy (No relation to X-Men's Beast) joined the New Titans.

Not to be outdone, the good folks at Marvel brought us The New Mutants a comic about the teenage mutant students who were training to be future X-Men. The New X-Men, after all were no longer teenagers.



The thing is, folks- comics companies, writers and artists have ALWAYS ripped each other off. From Sub-Mariner to Aquaman. From Superman to Captain Marvel. From The Flash to the Whizzer...

Personally, I'm just glad I live in a world where I can read and enjoy reprints of BOTH the Doom Patrol and the X-Men

What Kind of Pompous Ass Names himself "Mister Fantastic" Anyway?

One of the defining moments of the Silver Age would have to be the publication of Fantastic Four #1 from Marvel Comics. Marvel had been more or less out of the superhero business at the time, focusing primarily on monster comics. This fact is pretty obviously demonstrated by the big, subterranean creature on the cover battling the fledgling superteam and by one of the team's four member, The Thing.

Originally conceived as a way to cash in on the success of DC's new title Justice League of America, the FF soon took on a life of their own, becoming one of the most iconic and recognizable comics of the 1960's.

But back to the topic at hand. What kind of pompous ass names himself "Mister Fantastic"?

I mean, the other three members of the Cosmic Quartet have named themselves after their new-found super powers and characteristics. "The Human Torch" catches on fire, "The Invisible Girl"-you guessed it- turns invisible. "The Thing" is...well, a thing. But a straightforward moniker like "stretch" or "the human rubber band" isn't good enough for Dr. Reed Richards. His ego is so huge that only "Mister Fantastic" will do.

Which is kinda funny, in and of itself. You'd think he'd have gone for "DOCTOR Fantastic". I mean, he didn't go through twelve years of college to be called "Mister" anything. Heck Doctor Doom calls himself Doctor and he dropped out.

All I can guess is that the name is foreshadowing for what a jerk he's going to be to his future wife, Susan "Invisible Girl" Storm.