I am still working on my 2012 New Year’s resolution to read all of the Marvel Silver Age comics in the order in which they were printed. It’s been slow going, but today I finished the titles published in
August 1964.
Previously I had posted that August 1963 was a milestone month. Exactly one year later, here's the next one, with Editor Stan Lee finally getting all the pieces of his publishing engine together for maximum efficiency and entertainment. Remembering that Marvel was limited by the distributor to the number of titles that could be published each month, and that Stan had just a small pool of artistic talent available at page rates Marvel would pay, August 1964 was a great time to be reading Marvel comics.
After a couple of years of trying unsuccessfully to find other experienced writers who could tell stories the way he wanted, Stan was writing everything himself. Of course he was working “Marvel Method” by now, which allowed the artists to contribute pacing and even plotting while Stan supplied editorial direction, plotting and the finished scripts.
Artistically on the super-hero titles this month:
- Journey Into Mystery with Thor – Jack Kirby with Chic Stone and Vince Colletta
- Daredevil - Joe Orlando and Vince Colletta
- Tales to Astonish with Giant-Man and Incredible Hulk - Steve Ditko and George Roussos
- Fantastic Four – Jack Kirby and Chic Stone
- Amazing Spider-Man – Steve Ditko
- Tales of Suspense with Iron Man – Don Heck, and Captain America – Jack Kirby and Chic Stone
- Sgt. Fury - Dick Ayers and George Roussos
- Avengers -Don Heck and Dick Ayers
- Strange Tales with Human Torch and Thing – Dick Ayers and Paul Reinman, and Doctor Strange - Steve Ditko
This was the strongest Marvel had been up to this point. Stan had editorial control of it all so that the characters could interact, and he had put together an attractive blend of artists and inkers. Magneto could show up in Thor’s strip. Human Torch could guest star in Amazing Spider-Man. The Avengers appeared in nearly all of the strips of the individual members. Marvel had just come through a successful summer annual season and was showing they could do it on a monthly basis across the line. All of the iconic Silver Age characters had been introduced or reintroduced and, with the exception of Sub-Mariner, had been placed in ongoing titles (Hulk the previous month, Captain America this month). It was time to begin exploring this new world.
Of course, there were weak spots. Giant-Man and Daredevil were struggling with any kind of artistic continuity (Stan later was able to fix Daredevil but not Giant-Man). Daredevil and X-Men (Kirby and Stone again) were still bi-monthly while everything else, including Sgt. Fury, had gone monthly after just a few issues. The Human Torch strip had just added the Thing as a co-star, but the art and plotting were weak and the characters were pale shadows of the versions that appeared in Fantastic Four.
On the other hand, Stone was a great inker for Kirby, whose art had suffered under less impressive inkers the previous few years. Kirby was drawing the equivalent of three books a month. Ditko was finally inking himself on Doctor Strange as well as Spider-Man, and doing great work on the new Hulk strip. Ditko even did a quick fill-in on the Giant-Man story this month when the announced artist, Dick Rockwell, couldn’t do it. Don Heck looked great on Avengers and Iron Man. Dick Ayers was perfect for Sgt. Fury, but not so much on Human Torch.
This also was the month that Stan instituted letters pages in all of the titles “(except the Westerns and female titles)” as he said in one issue, which later helped cement the relationship between Stan and the readers and loyalty to the publisher. Finally, this is the month Stan started teasing readers to come up with what M.M.M.S. might stand for.
I submit that August 1964 is the month that the Marvel Age of Comics really came together for the first time, paving the way for the glory that was to come in 1966, by Mr. Silver Age’s reckoning.
Hoy
Replies
Must have been an interesting time in the marvel offices.
I think 1964 was possibly the strongest year in the Silver Age altogether, and definitely the beginning of a great era. Both Marvel and DC had figured things out, the characters were still fresh and villains were still new, and even the old ones like Superman and Batman had strong artwork and good stories. I think 1964-1966 was the key era that made the SA so great. The Marvel comics will make that clear as they progress, but they were only a part of the bigger picture.
-- MSA
I always thought my view of 1964 - 66 as the Silver Age peak was colored by nostalgia, since I had just begun reading comics in 1963 - glad to read you share that view Mr SA. During that period DC was still the dominant publisher producing many very good titles and Marvel was just hitting it's stride, plus you had Gold Key, Dell, Harvey and the other publishers providing additional variety in styles and genres.
My opinion is no doubt colored by nostalgia, too, as I was definitely into my more formative comic-reading years in there (10 to 12). But I think it holds up objectively, as much as I can look at it that way. Everyone has their Golden Age, but those Silver Age comics had a lot of new excitement that you can't get 10 years later with the same characters. Nothing was established then, it was still forming. And there was a lot of variety to support it.
-- MSA
Exactly. That's why I wrote "It was time to begin exploring this new world." It was another a year or so before I started buying Marvels off the newsstand as they were published, and although I've read all of the previous stories as reprints or back issues, reading the August 1964 issues in one sitting really clarified how Marvel had put itself together into a comic book company force. This month, everything just clicked right.
This same month at DC was also a good time for comics because, as Mr. Age says, all the super-hero stuff was still new and exciting. The big difference to me is that with Marvel you could "buy the line" for a buck and a half and enjoy the beginnings of a shared universe, but with DC you couldn't. Being forced to stay small with one editor/writer turned out to be an asset for Marvel. When they expanded in 1968 and after, the "excitement" went away.
Hoy
Mr. Silver Age said:
...Let me say something that I've never?? , I think , gotten around to spelling out here ~ It does appear to have been Conventional Fannish Wisdom that the height of the SA was reached about late-'65/early '66 (Dates right ?????) , especially at Marvel , with the - ahemph -
GALACTUS TRILOGY !!!!!!!!!!
and
SPIDEY LIFTING THAT COLLAPSING WHATEVER-IT-WAS OFF OF HIS BACK !!!!!!!!!!!
marking the high points of Marvel's Big Two , and , even if by coinkydink , followed by Ditko leaving ASM and Kirby's relationship with Lee beginning to break down -
How could you look at these house ads and NOT want to buy the whole line?
Hoy
Here are the covers for the Marvel comics published in October 1964, as seen in the house ads scanned from Avengers #11. Spider-Man guest-starred (sort of) in the Avengers, Captain America appeared in Sgt. Fury's magazine, and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch appeared in Strange Tales. Doctor Strange got his new cloak and Ditko started inking his own pencils, a big improvement. Ir
on Man still had the best soap opera going, with Tony Stark's "death" having repercussions in the Avengers. Thor was well on the way to becoming "cosmic" with Asgard becoming a big part of the ongoing story. J. Jonah Jameson financed his first attempt at getting rid of Spider-Man be paying for the creation of the Scorpion. Wally Wood was hired to save Daredevil, and he did. Carl Burgos was brought in to save Giant-Man, but that one didn't work out as well. Fantastic Four had a real clunker issue, but that happens once in a while. Chick Stone inked Kirby in Thor, FF, Captain America and Sgt. Fury, as well as Don Heck in Avengers! Major Glen Talbot was introduced in the Hulk strip, which had quickly found its footing in Tales to Astonish. While Stan and Jack obviously loved Captain America (he appeared in three titles this month!), his solo strip was struggling without the other Avengers to play off of. Still this was another good month to be a Marvel fan.
Here are the covers for Marvel comics published during November 1964, another good month. It was guest star/crossover month, with Avengers fighting the X-Men, Hulk fighting Thor, and Human Torch battling Spider-Man. The Howling
Commandos got their Nazi counterparts with Baron Strucker's Blitzkrieg Squad. Torch and Thing fought the aptly-named Terrible Trio. Attuma fought Giant-Man in a bad story written by Leon Lazarus and drawn by Carl Burgos. I think Stan had about given up on the series by this time, although Giant-Man was the featured character in this month's Avengers. Dragon Man debuted in Fantastic Four, but Diablo was such a terrible villain he didn't make the cover. And we get the origin of the Mandarin.
Hoy
Let's not forget that the Spider-Man issue introduced the senses-shattering Beetle!
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