Best and Worst of the Complete Marvel Reading Order #6

Best and Worst of the Complete Marvel Reading Order #6

Best - 981: Thor (1966) #160

Also 982: Thor (1966) #161

Honestly, there is only one thing I need to say about this short arc.  Ego vs. Galactus...

'nuff said.

Ok, not really, because there is so much more to this.  This is the first time you really see the catastrophic cost of Galactus' appetite.  We see a whole civilization made homeless by the World Devourer, the Wanderers, driven nearly insane by their sorrow and desperation.  

They are really fun, and in the end Ego gives them sanctuary on his own surface.  They should have been a cool continuing thing in Marvel.

But we don't hear from them again until 1981, when John Byrne comes along and in a throw away panel is like "oh, yeah, Ego ate them all after Thor left. Psych!"  Uggh, John Byrne.  He only has excellent or horrible ideas, and sometimes its hard to tell which predominates.

Worst - 755: Daredevil (1964) #41

So, the phrase "The Death of Mike Murdock" is one I longed to read by this point.  Seriously, Mike Murdock...he had to die.  Cue the Dixie Chicks...Goodbye Mike Murdock.

(Man I love that song)

In case you didn't know, "Mike Murdock" was this inane alter-ego of Matt Murdock's, allegedly his brother, that he came up with because...honestly, I have no idea.  I've repressed the memory.  But by this point everyone thinks that "Mike Murdock" is actually Daredevil because people in Daredevil comics are dolts in 1968.  It was a horrible idea, and finally they were correcting it.

But trust Roy Thomas to screw up what should have been a celebratory moment.  First of all, there is the "Unholy Three", the Ani-Men, unimaginatively named Ape-Man, Bird-Man and Cat-Man.  

Here we see them having a hard time kidnapping Foggy Nelson.  Masters of Evil they are not.  Masters of Vaguely Unsettling, maybe.  Are they the worst Marvel villains ever?  Not even close, but they are certainly in the most boring top 20.

And we also have the Exterminator.  Who is the Exterminator, you ask?

That's right, you get it.  Nobody cares who the Exterminator is.  He is simply a placeholder taking up the "Villain" space in the vague script outline Lee handed Colan while both were facing the deadline for printing this story while hungover from martinis the night before.

So we have Daredevil fighting who cares villains to get rid of a who cares plot idea.  Whatevs, Marvel.  I guess you met the printing deadline.

Best - 997: Fantastic Four (1961) #91

Also 998: Fantastic Four (1961) #92 and 999: Fantastic Four (1961) #93

So, let's get this out of the way first.  It seems impossible that Stan Lee wrote this without at least subconsciously remembering the Star Trek original series episode "A Piece of the Action".  You know the one...

This three issue arc has an identical premise; an alien world where the locals emulate American gangster movies.  However, in this case, Ben Grimm = Captain Kirk, Skrulls = Aliens.  If that doesn't make you say "you have my attention", I fear you have no soul.

The first issue is the only that is truly 5 stars, but the whole arc is such great fun.  It has little touches of brilliance, like this sequence of Ben struggling and failing against the gangster Skrull's Neuro-Ray...

and also great new characters, like Torgo!

and wonderfully goofy bits, like this Skrull biplane vs. Skrull Model T truck bit...

The basic plot-line is essentially "Gladiator with Skrulls in it" with the rest of the FF trying to figure out where Ben has been kidnapped to.  Its not rocket science, but Kirby is at the top of his game.  The down side in the 2nd two issues is that the coloring seems off, dank and muddy.  There is no colorist credited, so maybe Kirby was trying to do everything?  Also, even I have limits to goofiness, apparently...

I just feel sorry for that poor guy. 

Worst - 896: Not Brand Echh (1967) #12 [F Story]

You know how Mad magazine is supposed to be funny, but really is just boring and inane?  Well, Not Brand Echh made Mad look like it was written by Terry Pratchett and P.G. Wodehouse in a rare time-travelling pairing of sparkling wit.

I would never have read it if it weren't for the fact that some clever dick at Marvel decided it would be fun to have Hawkeye reading the magazine's parody of the Avengers ("The Revengers"...get it? Get it? *nudge* "The Revengers"?) inside the context of the actual Avengers.  So this little bit of annoying meta-fiction ends up in the Order due to the arcane inclusion criteria.

So, rather than subject you to any element of this awful farce, I give you this wonderful page of advertisements from 1968.  This is perhaps the most "super-hero comic book" page I have ever seen, because it captures the essence of reading comic-books back then more than the actual story and art ever could.

I mean, holy crap, what a crazy bunch of stuff.  How many homes were destroyed by that "New Ram Jet Engine Burns Gasoline" ad?  How many budding neo-Nazis got their very first Iron Cross from the "Famous German Medals" ad?  What the hell is pictured in that "Ugly Blackheads Out in Seconds" ad?  Can it even be legal?  How many nerds looked at the "Hercules Wrist Band" and thought "this...this is what I need to make my way in a dangerous world.  This is how I will prove my worth to the girls and the bullies in my school.  Nothing will stop me with these super-cool wrist bands!"  Which, actually, is a line from an Aquabats song, come to think of it...