Strange Tales 105

The Return of the Wizard!
by
Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

In the few weeks since his incarceration, the Wizard has displayed model behavior. So good that the warden has granted him access to the prison's medical facility. Using chemicals found in the medical lab, the Wizard is able to concoct a potion to free himself; his real goal the whole time. Once he returns to his prison cell, the Wizard splashes the potion onto the stone wall. As the chemicals eat away at the wall, creating a large, escapable hole, the prison guards take notice. They all rush outside the destroyed wall, taking no notice of the Wizard who is hiding in a corner of his cell. With the guards all gone, the Wizard simply walks out of his cell door with none the wiser. The Wizard returns to his Frank Lloyd Wright-esque home in Glenville. He plans to get revenge on the Human Torch. As the police arrive to his house, the Wizard creates a forcefield around the domiscile. He then phones the local TV station to broadcast a challenge to the Human Torch.

In their Glenville home, the Storms receive the news broadcast. Johnny is all ready to flame on and meet the Wizard's challenge, but his sister Susan forbids him. She says that members of the Fantastic Four do not get into fights simply out of pride. Johnny defies Sue's wishes, creating a flame duplicate to trick his sister while he goes off to battle the Wizard. Sue returns shortly to apologize for being so frank with him, when she almost instantly realizes the Human Torch she is talking to is a fake.

Fearing for her brother's safety, the Invisible Girl contacts the rest of the FF. Reed tells her that her brother is old enough to fight his own battles. He and the Thing, who is nearby munching a piece of cake, refuse to interfere. As the Torch arrives on the scene, the Wizard lowers his invisible barrier only for him. The moment the Torch appears face to face, the Wizard fires a single, heavy mortar shell at him. As the metal hits his flame, it instantly melts. They both jibe back and forth as the Wizard attacks. He lowers the floor the Human Torch is standing on, but the Torch remains in flight above the hole. He shoots the Torch with nerve gas, but the Torch creates a flame barrier around himself to avoid its effects. Suddenly an alarm alerts the Wizard to another intruder. Looking at a monitor of Room 34, where the alert is coming from, he sees nothing. The Wizard realizes that the Invisible Girl must have entered with the Torch.

The Wizard makes his way to Room 34. He uses a spray can device he invented to reveal the Invisible Girl. Now that he has exposed her, the Wizard triggers automatic walls that come shooting out of the floor and close around the heroine. As she frantically tries to get free, her brother bursts in to renew his fight with the Wizard.

Before the Human Torch can attack, the Wizard explains the trap the Invisible Girl is in. There is a bomb inside the walls set to go off in 5 minutes. The Wizard allows the Torch to enter the room if he flames off. The Torch complies and joins his sister in the room set to explode. The Wizard warns Johnny if he does flame on again to attempt a rescue, it will trigger a thermometer attached to a bell hammer. If the temperature goes up one degree, the hammer will strike the bell, which will make the bomb go off before the 5 minutes are up. After Sue and Johnny struggle to reach the bell mechanism, Johnny flames just a finger on to shoot a fireball at the hammer before it can reach the bell.

With only 10 seconds remaining on the bomb, Johnny works quickly. He finds the bomb hidden in the wall and creates a fire catapult to launch it out of the building. The bomb flies into the sky, exploding harmlessly above the Wizard's home. In the Human Torch's anger, he burns through the Wizard's walls in search of the villain. He shoots fire at the sprinkler system to make his foe slip on the water. The Wizard pulls out a gun, but the Torch saws a section of ceiling with his flame to collapse on the Wizard's head. With the Wizard unconscious, Sue lowers the forcefield so the cops can come in. The police rush to take the Wizard back into custody. When Sue and Johnny return home they playfully quip about the adventure and Sue throws a pillow at her brother.

Notes

The Wizard has come back to menace the Human Torch and the Invisible Girl. He feels like a really poor imitation of Doctor Doom in this issue. He is still adament about outsmarting the Human Torch for no discernable reason.

There's some family stuff with Sue & Johnny Storm, but not enough to make anything that happens in this story relevant. Johnny's "secret identity" seems to have been forgotten this issue.

The Human Torch can make constructs out of his flame, like a Green Lantern, but with fire. Here he makes a fire catapult and a fire saw

Review & Ranking

I'm really not feeling this story. There's some stuff between Johnny & Sue's relationship as siblings and Sue being a surrogate mother figure for Johnny, but even that is a bit of a stretch to make with what we see in this one. The Wizard's plan is completely convoluted, all over the place, nonsensical and they don't even result into any entertaining action sequences between The Wizard and Human Torch or Invisible Girl. It also features one of my least favorite tropes in comics, the bomb countdown. The best I can say is that this story establishes The Wizard as a recurring villain, but he doesn't become all that interesting a villain for awhile.

I am putting this issue just one rank higher than the bottom at #35. Only because The Wizard is a recurring villain who gets better later on, compared to the communist spy who didn't make any sense in Strange Tales #101.

Next Time: Don Blake & Jane Foster are kidnapped by gangsters.

Tales To Astonish 39

The Vengeance of the Scarlet Beetle!

by

Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby

Henry "Ant-Man" Pym has been recieving strange signals from his friends, the ants. Based on the erratic patterns, he suspects something dangerous going on in the local insect kingdom. Releasing a vial of his shrinking gas, Pym becomes minute and launches himself out of his lab to investigate. Landing on a pile of waiting ants, Ant-Man mounts one of the insects and heads towards a storm drain.

Deep underground, Ant-Man spies an insect revolt. A large, red, glowing beetle is inciting a mob of insects of every type to attack mankind. As it goes on to explain, the Scarlet Beetle has grown intellegent due to atomic experiments. Overhearing all of this through his helmet, Ant-Man can't help but feel panicked. He starts fighting through the insects to reach the unruley beetle, but is held back by more of the creatures. The bugs trip him, knocking his communication helmet off. Before they carry Ant-Man away, the red beetle steals his growth serum. The enemy beetle uses Ant-Man's growth serum to become as big as a small person.

As Ant-Man struggles to get free of the hole the insects have imprisoned him in, the Scarlet Beetle's minions prepare to take over the world. Termites destroy telephone lines, assorted bugs steal dynamite from the army, spiders poison public officials and the big, red beetle itself leads an army of bees to take over television & radio stations.

Meanwhile, Ant-Man's pleas for help have been heard. His discarded helmet is close enough to his hole prison, that the ants have picked up on his distress. Ant-Man mounts one of the rescuer ants and they all head to the surface. Quickly spotting the Scarlet Beetle in a nearby park, Ant-Man commands the ants to take him up a drinking fountain. With a popsicle stick in hand, he gets the beetle's minions attention. They all rush to attack, but Ant-Man has a strategy in place. He has sent the honey producing ants to the front lines in order to slow the enemy bugs down. As the grasshoppers spring up to attack him, Ant-Man uses the popsicle stick to blast the fountain water in their way.

In a nearby store, more ants carry out Ant-Man's plan. They carry out a cannister of DDT pesticide and bring it out to the battlefield. Ant-Man blasts the chemicals at the enemies, forcing them to leave. Suddenly the Scarlet Beetle springs into action. Ant-Man leads the giant bug on a chase through the streets. Inside a toy store, Ant-Man avoids the insect's attacks until he reaches a toy jeep. He drives the jeep over to a mounted toy knight and grabs its jousting sword. He hurls the sword into the cannister of reducing gas that is strapped to the red beetle's chest. The puncture releases the gas, shrinking the insect back to a normal bug size.

As the red beetle shrinks, Ant-Man spots a balloon. He uses it to drift to the floor and then imprisons the red menace inside. With the beetle defeated, Ant-Man commands the ants to take it back to his lab for further analysis. Back at the lab, Ant-Man puts on his Henry Pym pants and cures the bug of all radioactive effects. While Henry Pym returns the now harmless insect back to the ground, the police question Ant-Man's bravery as he was not around when the insects attacked.

Notes:

The cops are starting to get suspicious of the super heroes already.

Henry Pym shrinking and growing potions are in a gas form now. I don't know how this prevents everything else from not shrinking/enlarging. This nitpick is not explained.

Nothing happens with Henry Pym that we don't already know about and there are no character developments beyond his being superheroic.

Thoughts:

This is a pretty so-so issue. It's not terrible, it's just a bit silly. Nothing huge happens, the art isn't incredibly interesting, but I'm still more entertained by this than random commies/aliens every other story. It's just a bit of cat & mouse, but with a big red bug as an allegory for Soviet Russia.

Rankings:

I'm putting this down as the new #25 on the list. I like it a little bit more than the issue with Egghead and it's about even with the General Fang story in Incredible Hulk #5 in my eyes. The Hulk story wins out just a nudge for the artwork being a little more tighter and interesting to look at.

Next Time: The Wizard Returns!

Fantastic Four 10

The Return of Doctor Doom!

by

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

In the laboratory of the Fantastic Four's headquarters, Reed Richards is conducting experiments with Sue Storm to better understand her powers. With her brother Johnny standing by to aid their leader in his research, the room starts getting too hot for Sue. Johnny forgot to turn his flame off. Looking outside, Sue spots the Fantastic Four "4" flare in the sky. They realize it must be Thing shooting an emergency, since he isn't there. As the three of them try to exit, Reed struggles opening the nuclear lock he has built on the lab door. Johnny prepares to flame on to fix it, but Reed has to remind him that nuclear, plus fire, equals bad. Reed stretches his arm into a vent, but ends up in the wrong room trying to find the Fantasticar to save them. Luckily, Johnny has learned how to flame his finger on without causing heat in his fight against Paste-Pot Pete, which he can use to open the door.

Outside, the team rushes through the crowded Manhattan streets. They inadvertantly cause chaos as they rush over to the apartment of Alicia Masters, where the Thing has shot the flare from. There is no real emergency, Thing just wanted to show off Alicia's talents to the group. Despite being blind, she is a very gifted sculptress. Her latest work is creating busts of all of the Fantastic Four's villains. Sue wonders why Namor is included since he isn't really a villain, just misunderstood. This sparks Reed to contend with her thoughts of Namor and where he stands, but Sue makes it clear she's not ready to have a conversation about it yet.

In the studio of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, creators of the Fantastic Four and many other Marvel features, the pair have only gotten as far as the past two paragraphs of this story. They struggle to come up with a dynamic new villain for the piece. They lament having stranded Dr. Doom in space, when suddenly he enters the room. Lee and Kirby stare dumbstruck, when Doom demands that they phone Reed Richards. He wants them to say they want to discuss a new story idea with him and then when Reed arrives, Doom will capture him. The creative team complies.

Back at the Baxter Building, Reed recieves a phone call. It is from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Apparently, Reed and them have been working together to create new stories for awhile now. Thing thinks they need to stop drawing him so ugly. Reed heads over to the studio. The moment he arrives, Doctor Doom springs his trap. He shoots Reed with a gas that knocks him out and they leave to Doom's fortress by means of Doom's mental teleportation.

Now in his captivity, Doctor Doom explains to Reed his newfound powers. While he was drifting through space clutching onto the meteor, he was rescued by an alien race called the Ovoids. To them using their mental powers is an everyday occurence. They can teleport, lift objects and transfer their mind to prepared bodies to virtually live forever. They are a very trusting race, which Doom took advantage of in order to learn these mind tricks himself. The Ovoids used their mental energies to send Doom back to earth. With these new powers, Doom plans to dominate the world. His first step is exchanging his mind with Reed Richards's.

With the transfer complete, Doctor Doom, whose mind now possesses Reed's body, attacks Reed Richards, whose mind is now in Doctor Doom's body. As the two of them battle, the rest of the Fantastic Four show up. Not privy to the mindswap, the team quickly rescue "Reed." The fake Reed rips a mechanism off of "Doctor Doom's" body, so he cannot teleport. They then quickly imprison "Doom" inside a glass dome, that "Reed" says has enough oxygen in it. After the team is out of earshot, "Reed" reveals it only has enough oxygen for one hour. "Reed" leaves, gloating in his triumph over his foe.

Shortly, the Fantastic Four laboratory is overflowing with tiny animals stolen from the local zoo. As Sue, Johnny and Thing try to gather them all up, they become suspicious of Reed. Reed explains that he has created a device to shrink organic beings. He had to test it on live animals first to make sure it would work on people. He goes on to give a bizarre story about the dinosaurs and how they simply got too big and grew themselves out of existance. If they had remained much smaller, they might have been able to colonize other planets. He wants to use this device to shrink the four of them and then when he resizes them, their power will increase. The three of them are completely won over by this absurd notion. What "Reed" has failed to tell them is that the ray will shrink them, but he won't be able to resize them.

Meanwhile, "Doctor Doom" has escaped. Using the metal mask of Doctor Doom, he makes a small crack in the glass dome. He then grabs one of the oxygen capsules and stuffs it in the crack. He takes another oxygen container and flings it into the other, causing an explosion strong enough to shatter the glass. From Doom's lair, "Doom" makes his way to Alicia Master's apartment. As he tries to explain the situation to her, a visiting Invisible Girl slams a vase over his head.

As "Doctor Doom" stumbles to the ground of Alicia Masters' apartment, the blind sculptress rushes to him. She tells Sue that she can sense an aura of goodness about him that doesn't make sense if he is Doctor Doom. After a call from Sue, Thing and the Human Torch arrive. Outraged, Thing prepares to punch Doom's lights out, when some gut instinct holds him back. They return to Fantastic Four headquarters where they meet up with "Reed."

Bound up, the real Reed is desperate to convince his teammates that he is the real Reed Richards. He sees what Doctor Doom has prepared for his teammates and leaps into action. After Doom stops him, Human Torch comes up with a plan to reveal the truth. He uses his flame powers to create a mirage of a stick of dynamite from a nearby construction site. The real Reed in Doctor Doom's body jumps right for the dynamite, risking his life to pull the fuse out. The real Doctor Doom in Reed's body uses his stretch powers to stretch out of the room. saving only himself. This action convinces the group of who their true leader is. When Doctor Doom realizes his plan is falling apart, his grip on on their mind exchange relaxes and they both go back to their true bodies.

Doctor Doom shoots a blast at Mr. Fantastic. Reed dodges the blast, which triggers the shrinking device to hit him. Doctor Doom shrinks away to the fate he had planned for the group. Before anyone can save him, Doctor Doom becomes so small he simply disappears. Thing admits his appreciation of Reed as their leader.

Character stuff:

Reed Richards - Mr. Fantastic is more than capable of taking care of himself in a pinch. He shows that he still cares for Sue, despite her confusion regarding Namor

Human Torch - Needs to be reminded how dangerous his powers are. I don't know if his heatless flame trick is the same one he used in the Paste-Pot Pete intro story, but it seems pretty similar to how he freed himself from the rocket in that one.

Invisible Girl - She still has feelings for Reed, but clearly also has feelings for Namor.

Thing - Is very sentimental in this story. He wants to show off Alicia's artwork to his friends and he shows how much he respects Reed as their leader.

Alicia Masters - Appears to have an ability to read peoples auras. This was displayed in her first appearance when meeting the Thing for the first time. Here she seems to be able to use it on Reed/Doctor Doom too.

Doctor Doom - Doctor Doom's plan to conquer the earth is foiled yet again by Reed Richards being more clever than him.

Notes & Thoughts

Doctor Doom learned a new trick using his mind from some strange aliens.

This is the first time we see the creative team of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby within the story. We know Marvel Comics exist within the universe from FF #2 when Reed beat the Skrulls with clippings from the monster titles and in FF #5 when Johnny is reading Hulk #1.

I wonder if Doctor Doom heard of Ant-Man and this gave him the idea to shrink the Fantastic Four. He seems really outlandish after returning from space. His notion that the dinosaurs outrgrew themselves doesn't make much sense. The fact that the rest of the Fantastic Four go along with the story makes even worse sense. Maybe Johnny and Sue who don't seem to have science backgrounds of any kind, but the Thing is a smart guy. He should be able to tell this massive lie Doom is spewing.

Review & Rankings

This is a really fun story, with some well done turmoil & emotional depth for Reed. However, there are some extremely odd choices along the way. The beginning sequence of opening the FF lab door is a little clunky. The meta bit with Kirby & Lee is just on the border of being cheesy, but I think it's done in an interesting enough way that they can get away with it. The art is really good on Reed's face after the switch is made, he has more shadow lines indicating his malevolence. Doctor Doom's plan of shrinking the FF is fine, but stealing the zoo animals is a touch too far. It's funny seeing the tiny animals, but it really doesn't lead anywhere beyond some silly visuals. Doom's explanation to the FF is truely baffling. Dinosaurs would become spacemen? Where did that come from? The final caveat, the Human Torch's mirage trick is very convoluted and reeks of the sorts of strange stuff he can do with his flame in his own title. This is the biggest blunder of the whole story to me. It just doesn't work.

I consider it a classic, whenever I think of mindswap stories, this issue springs to mind. It's a must-read if you are interested in the Doctor Doom/Reed Richards dynamic. I want to put it just under Journey into Mystery 83, Thor's first appearance, right above FF #2 at ranking #12. Both fun and classic stories that get a little muddled with exposition and odd aliens.

Next Time: Ant-Man faces the red menace. Not that one.

Strange Tales 104

The Human Torch Meets Paste-Pot Pete!

by

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

At the Glenville bank, Johnny Storm waits in line to cash a check while worrying that his secret identity will be exposed. Suddenly a man who appears to be wearing army fatigues, a big purple bowtie and a purple beret enters the bank. Wielding a gun attached to a metal pot in his other hand, he demands the bank to hand over all of its money. This is Paste-Pot Pete. He proclaims that paste is the superior weapon as he shoots a super powerful adhesive out of his gun, sticking the guard's gun in its holster. Unable to change because of his secret identity, Johnny makes his finger burn until it creates a flame clone of the Human Torch to chase the fleeing villain outside.

Outside of the bank, Paste-Pot Pete makes his escape. The Human Torch clone chases, but cannot attack since it is only a flame image created by Johnny Storm. The people seeing this start to think the Human Torch is a coward. Pete pastes the lot of them to the ground and takes off on a motorcycle, as the Human Torch image follows close behind. With everybody distracted, Johnny hides in an alley where he can finally ignite into the Human Torch.

The Human Torch follows the heatwave trail left behind by his fiery image to Paste-Pot Pete's abandoned motorcycle. While he gets his bearings, Pete uses a truck to barge into a U.S. missile base. Rendering the soldiers powerless with his glue, Pete plans to steal a new missile the army is testing and sell it to the highest bidder. As the army prepares to test launch said missile, Paste-Pot uses his glue to keep it grounded. Soldiers rush to stop him, but are beaten back by the villain's sticky, white adhesive as he leaves with the missile in his truck.

Finding his flaming image again, the Human Torch chases right after Paste-Pot Pete's truck. He shoots flaming spears down to stagger the vehicle. When that doesn't work, the Human Torch encricles the truck with a burning ditch in the ground. Paste-Pot Pete uses his paste gun to grab some nearby wood planks that he uses to safely drive over the ditch. As the Human Torch dive bombs the truck, his flame falters after using it for too long. Pete shoots his paste out at Johnny, trapping the lad to the missile's warhead.

Suddenly the missile blasts off. Paste-Pot Pete's paste has accidentally seeped inside the missile, triggering it to take off. The heat from the nose of the cone is absorbed by Johnny, giving him his flame back. He fears to fully flame on because his heat would cause the rocket to explode. As he did in the bank, Johnny ignites just a single finger to carefully burn the paste that is keeping him stuck without burning the missile itself. Succeeding at this, Johnny ignites and flies off before he can land in the ocean with the exploding missile.

The Human Torch returns to Paste-Pot Pete's truck, hurling fireballs at the villain. Utterly destroying the vehicle, the Human Torch does the same to Paste-Pot Pete's paste-pot. Too hot to hold the metal container, Pete drops it. The Torch creates a ring of flame to trap Pete. As he approaches the villain, Pete sees an airplane. Pete uses the remaining paste to shoot up at it to make his escape. His flame too weak again to chase Pete, the Human Torch goes to the plane's control tower to warn the pilot. As the pilot spots the man attached to his plane, Pete drops off into the ocean where a boat is waiting to take him out of the country. The Torch informs the military and the bank of what happened. He remains wary if Paste-Pot Pete should return.

Notes

The first appearance of Paste-Pot Pete who later becomes the Trapster and forms the Frightful Four with previous Human Torch rogue, The Wizard.

Characters

Human Torch - Still worried about his secret identity being revealed. The public is quick to turn on him.

Paste-Pot Pete - He has created a super paste and he knows how to use it.

Thoughts

At least the villain is not some random Commie again. This issue starts off convoluted, bringing up the whole secret identity thing and stays that way for awhile with his Human Torch fire image thing. I'm still not completely sure how it's supposed to work. The scenes of Paste-Pot Pete using his paste were done well for the most part. The thing with the wooden planks seems a bit clunky though. The best sequences are Johnny strapped to the rocket while tryng to get free and Paste-Pot Pete's initial attack on the bank was pretty effective. His choice of weapon is hard to take very seriously and could lead to some lewd jokes. His name is Pete and he sprays his white, sticky goo all over the place.

Rankings: There's not a lot redeeming this story. Some of the action sequences are good, but a lot of them are confusing with how Human Torch's flame is supposed to work. I like that Paste-Pot Pete gets away at the end. So I am putting it pretty low on the list. It's not quite as boring as I found Incredible Hulk #3, and Paste-Pot Pete is more memorable a  foe than The Protector in TTA #37. I like the Mongu story a little more because at least it was funny seeing the little Commie coming out of the Mongu suit in Incredible Hulk #4b. So, this is my new #30.

1. Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
2. Fantastic Four #1
3. Fantastic Four #4
4. Incredible Hulk #1
5. Fantastic Four #5
6. Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
7. Fantastic Four #6
8. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
9. Fantastic Four #9
10. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #88
11. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
12. Fantastic Four #2
13. Fantastic Four #8
14. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
15. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
16. Incredible Hulk #5a
17. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
18. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
19. Incredible Hulk #4a
20. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
21. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
22. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
23. Incredible Hulk #5b
24. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #38
25. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
26. Fantastic Four #3
27. Incredible Hulk #2
28. Fantastic Four #7
29. Incredible Hulk #4b
30. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #104
31. Tales to Astonish #37
32. Incredible Hulk #3
33. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101

Next Time: Doctor Doom returns from space with a new trick.

Journey into Mystery 88

The Vengeance of Loki!

by

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

Having been beaten by his brother Thor, Loki was sent back to Asgard tied to his enchanted hammer, Mjolnir. In Asgard, Loki is forbidden by their father Odin to travel back to Midgard. As the days in Asgard pass, Loki is desperate to return to Midgard and enact revenge upon Thor. Using an incantation, Loki burns some leaves of a sacred tree in order to spy upon his brother. He sees Thor struggling against massive chains as he is breifly held captive by Soviets. With Mjolnir just out of his reach, Thor struggles at his bonds until 60 seconds have passed, turning him into his human form of Donald Blake. Loki realizes that not only are Thor and Don Blake the same person, but all of Thor's power relies on his hammer. With this knowledge, Loki seeks an escape.

To leave Asgard, Loki tranforms into a snake. As a snake, Loki is able to quietly slither by the ever watchful eye of Heimdall; he who guards the rainbow bridge, Bifrost, which connects Asgard to Midgard. Down on earth, Loki poses as an old man. Entering the clinic of Doctor Blake, he immediately spots his nurse, Jane Foster. Before she can protest, Loki gazes into Jane's eyes, putting her into a trance. Now entranced, Loki whispers a command to her before entering Don Blake's office. Loki removes his old man disguise before the doctor, forcing him to remove his human disguise and become Thor.

Loki challenges Thor to a battle in Central Park. As the two of them take off from Don Blake's office, the still dazed Jane Foster follows as well. Now in the park, Loki and Thor square off. As Loki predicted, Thor starts off by hurling his magic hammer at him. Loki side steps the weapon just in time for Jane to make the scene. He quickly uses a magic spell to transform a tree into a tiger ready to pounce on the nurse. The sight distracts Thor from retrieving his hammer as he goes to defend Jane, who has fainted at the sight of the beast. As Thor defeats the tiger, the 60 seconds on his hammer fall away and he reverts back to the form of Don Blake. Loki casts another spell that creates a force field around Thor's fallen hammer, leaving Thor powerless as Don Blake.

As Don Blake rouses Jane Foster from her unconscious state, Loki wreaks havoc around the world. In the city he turns people into blank beings, where they appear as just white outlines. After that wears off, he turns all inanimate objects into sweets; buildings and vehicles become candy and ice cream. As Mjolnir still lays inert, Loki sees a Soviet missile test in the arctic, but makes the test bomb a dud. The people of earth begin to panic at Loki's mischeif, calling on Thor to help them before things get worse.

After Loki escalates things by making military weapons grow wings and fly away, Don Blake finally comes up with a plan. The next day the press announces that Thor vows to defeat Loki by the end of the week. This information confuses Loki, so he decides to go check on Thor's hammer. Loki sees a figure of Thor holding his hammer. Baffled, Loki removes the magic barrier to see the hammer still laying on the ground. Suddenly, Don rushes out from behind the plastic dummy of Thor and grabs Mjolnir. Weapon in hand, the god of thunder goes after his brother.

Loki transforms into a pigeon to hide amongst the other birds nearby. With Loki lost among the pigeons, Thor hurls a bag on peanuts onto the ground, watching all of the real birds going after the food and the fake one flying off into the sky. Thor tears out a net from a nearby tennis court and flies after the trickster god, capturing him the net. Loki realizes his defeat and turns back to normal. With Loki his captive, Thor travels back to Asgard where their father Odin praises his favorite son and remains cautious of Loki's growing contempt.

Characters:

Thor - has his second encounter with Loki since he was reawakened in Don Blake. Briefly visits Asgard for the first time since the series began.

Jane Foster - Is tricked by Loki and rescued by Thor. Her affection towards Don is downplayed a lot compared to previous issues. None of this will we or won't we plot, just two people who obviously care about one another. Subtly done in a single panel..

Loki - Loki is an interesting villain, but then it turns out he has no idea what to do when he's not battling Thor. He finally defeats him and the best that he can come up with for the world is to turn it into candyland.

Odin - Praises his son Thor above all else, but keeps doubts and caution against his son Loki.

Notes

Good continuity: references to both JIM 85 when Thor first defeated Loki and JIM 87 when Thor was captured by the Soviets, Loki was watching.

Bad continuity: There is a small thing that bugs me. Thor's hammer should have turned back into Don Blake's cane after Loki entrapped it in his barrier. A no-prize explanation could be made that somehow Loki's magic left the hammer unchanged, but nowhere is this stated and it feels like they just forgot about that part.

Thoughts

I really like this story. It's pretty straight forward and not a lot of confusion or convoluted ideas to get in the way. The oddest part is what Loki decides to do once he has depowered Thor. Turning cities into ice cream seems pretty random. Last time he was throwing people into train tracks. Nothing quite as vicious here. The romance between Don and Jane was done much more subtle than previous issues, which is a huge bonus. It also works on the level of "Loki took away Thor's favorite toy and then Loki gets put in time out." which is the sort of story kids with siblings who might have read this can relate to.

Rankings: Somewhere below Loki's first appearance. I almost want to put it higher because of the lack of romance stuff, but Loki's mostly safe form of mischeviousness really misses a mark, he doesn't feel dangerous after he bests Thor, when the opposite is what we should be feeling. Fantastic Four #9 is a little more fun and iconic, and although Namor's plan his outlandish, he still feels threatening as a villain should. So, I think this goes right below that at #10, right before Thor's first appearance.

1. Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
2. Fantastic Four #1
3. Fantastic Four #4
4. Incredible Hulk #1
5. Fantastic Four #5
6. Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
7. Fantastic Four #6
8. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
9. Fantastic Four #9
10. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #88
11. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
12. Fantastic Four #2
13. Fantastic Four #8
14. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
15. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
16. Incredible Hulk #5a
17. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
18. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
19. Incredible Hulk #4a
20. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
21. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
22. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
23. Incredible Hulk #5b
24. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #38
25. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
26. Fantastic Four #3
27. Incredible Hulk #2
28. Fantastic Four #7
29. Incredible Hulk #4b
30. Tales to Astonish #37
31. Incredible Hulk #3
32. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101

Next Time: Things are going to get a bit sticky for the Human Torch in Strange Tales #104

Incredible Hulk 5b

The Hordes of General Fang!

by 

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

Over the American southwest, the Hulk hurtles through the twilight sky. He is quickly spotted by General Ross and his men. As they prepare to fire the Iceberg rocket, a sneaking Rick Jones darts off into the desert to warn his ally. Failing to see his flailing arms, Hulk collides right into the missile. The impact triggers a foam that encases Hulk in solid ice. The army rushes to retreive him, but the ice melts just in time for the Hulk to escape. Rick follows the Hulk back to their secret base, where he turns back into Bruce Banner. Exhausted, Bruce takes a rest.

In an Asian village of Llhasa, news of a Communist warlord named General Fang is received. He and his horde are coming to take over the village. The Lama of the village decides the only way to stop the General is to appeal to other nations for help. As the hordes march closer, word is sent out and picked up by Bruce's army radio transmitter. Quick to help, Bruce changes into the Hulk. Still retaining his intellect as Banner, the Hulk looks through his library for a book on myths and legends.

The Hulk and Rick Jones board an airplane. On their ill-conceived flight to the orient, the Hulk is quickly noticed through his disguise. Before he can cause too much damage, Hulk bursts out of the emergenct air lock with Rick holding on to him for dear life around his shoulders. They fly down to a small chain os islands. Hulk uses the momentum to bounce off of each island until they reach Formosa. On Formosa, they are quickly surrounded by soldier who think he is an enemy. After carefully dispatching the men, the Hulk takes a major leap over the coast of China and into the Himalayas.

Now at the correct location, the Hulk puts his plan into action. Both he and Rick don furry costumes to look like the Abominable Snowman. Hulk immediately spots General Fang's tanks inbound to the village and grabs a tree. The General's men flee for their lives as "the Abominable Snowman" attacks. In a nearby outpost, Fang's men send out a distress message to their general. Fang has his men setup a projector to create the false image of a dragon to distract the Hulk. Hulk hurls himself through the dragon image, but lands inside an electronically-charged prison.

With the Hulk trapped, General Fang prepares to fire missiles on the village. As one of his men starts the launch, he is unaware that Rick Jones has rewired the equipment. He pulls a lever to release the missiles, but is electrocuted by the short circuit created by Rick's rewiring. Rick frees the Hulk, who jumps into the air to catch missiles that have gone off.

Still in command, General Fang sends mounted units after the villagers. The Hulk uses the missiles he has gathered to blow the ground up,creating a huge chasm in their way. Fang calls down the paratroopers, but the Hulk uses his strength to bend a group of trees back which generate a big wind that blows them out of the sky. Now in retreat, General Fang is stopped by the Hulk plugging up a geyser which then causes it to overflow underground where it causes too much pressure on the road that Fang is driving away on. The road busts open, flinging Fang's vehicle up under the water pressure. Hulk grabs the general and carries him off to the island where he had fought the American soldiers. As the soldiers pursue Fang, Hulk and Rick Jones return home.

Characters

• Hulk is still retaining Bruce Banner's intellect, but is displaying a more gruff personality

• Bruce Banner is still suffering from exhaustion after all of the Hulk's activity. Still fearing the day he should go berserk.

• Rick Jones is helpful yet again in freeing the Hulk from captivity and showing he's not afraid of doing some damage himself.

• General Ross doesn't do much. He finally captures the Hulk, but only for a few minutes in ice.

• General Fang is pretty much your stereotypical Commie villain again. Pretty interchangeable with the Executioner from the Thor story in JIM 84

Thoughts/Notes

There is a little bit of good continuity. We saw General Ross testing his Iceberg rocket back in Hulk #5. This brings me to my theory that General Ross' attempts at capturing the Hulk have failed because he's having Bruce Banner build the equipment.

A thing that bugs me about Hulk's plan is why would the local people be any more scared of the Abominable Snowman than they would be of the Hulk showing up.

The plane sequence is silly.

Rankings: Given that we have seen almost this exact plot only with Thor at the helm in Journey into Mystery #84 and the action sequences are a bit more convoluted in this story, I'm placing it somewhere below that issue. It has a little bit of charm, but not enough to make the story interesting enough for me. So, I am placing it just under Henry Pym's first appearance at #22 on the list. It is certainly better than the Egghead story below it.

1. Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
2. Fantastic Four #1
3. Fantastic Four #4
4. Incredible Hulk #1
5. Fantastic Four #5
6. Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
7. Fantastic Four #6
8. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
9. Fantastic Four #9
10. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
11. Fantastic Four #2
12. Fantastic Four #8
13. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
14. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
15. Incredible Hulk #5a
16. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
17. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
18. Incredible Hulk #4a
19. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
20. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
21. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
22. Incredible Hulk #5b
23. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #38
24. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
25. Fantastic Four #3
26. Incredible Hulk #2
27. Fantastic Four #7
28. Incredible Hulk #4b
29. Tales to Astonish #37
30. Incredible Hulk #3
31. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101

Next Time: Loki returns to get revenge on Thor.