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[November 23, 1963] President Kennedy returns to D.C. one last time

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[Early this morning, the body of our slain President was flown back to Washington D.C.  Now he lies in state in the East Wing of the White House, where he will remain until 24 hours have passed.  Then will come the funeral.

Where do we go from there?]


by Jason Sacks

Camelot is over. A titan no longer walks the earth.

John F. Kennedy is dead.

Will our country — will our world? — ever be the same?

President Kennedy represented the dreams of all us. Manifested in his success and the shimmering images of his family, we saw the dreams of a perfected post-war world. In watching JFK and his family, we became participants in a triumphant America reaching its full potential, spreading our secular gospel of capitalism and freedom throughout the world.

For all of us born during or after the War, Kennedy represented everything our parents fought for, everything we aspired to as a nation, and everything the world dreamed of becoming.

And now he is gone.

Will America survive?

Of course we will. Our country is more than a single man, no matter how influential or important he is.

But JFK’s savage assassination, in front of his beloved wife Jackie, our country has lost some of its innocence. We will always feel his loss. After all, when we lose a titan, we lose a lot of what makes America its greatest self.

President Johnson is a great American, a man who I’m sure will help America transcend its weaknesses and become a more perfected version of itself.

But we will never be the same again.

Goodbye, President Kennedy. Goodbye, Camelot. We will always miss you.

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[September 11, 1963] Has Marvel Comics become Mighty?

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[While you're reading this article, why not tune in to KGJ, Radio Galactic Journey, playing all the current hits: pop, rock, soul, folk, jazz, country — it's the tops, pops…]


by Jason Sacks

Fellow travelers, I have a confession to make.

No, I’m not moving to Russia to work for Khrushchev, I’ll never give up my anger about the Dodgers moving to Los Angeles and I will always hate the music of that ugly-voiced Bob Dillon. But I’ve changed in other ways. See, I’ve had a change of heart with my comics book collecting ways.

Though it pains me to admit it after my previous posts to this fanzine, I’ve grown to enjoy the latest offerings from Marvel Comics. 1963 has been a very good year for Stan Lee’s small publishing line. That growth makes me wonder if Marvel just might emerge as one of the premier publishers of the 1960s.

I know that comment may come as a shock, after I’ve relentlessly mocked and ridiculed that quirky, homegrown comics company in previous articles on Galactic Journey. Those feelings were honest. My complaints were sincere. But time has a way of changing things.

They say some cigarette smokers would rather fight than switch, but sometimes life throws you surprises.

Why am I changing my mind about a topic about which I seethed just a few months ago? It’s simple. These comic books are good. Amazingly, in the span of the last few months, Stan Lee and company have produced comics that are almost as compelling as some of my favorite television shows. (Heck, some of these comics are better than Bonanza or good ol’ Dr. Kildare.)

Last week’s edition of Fantastic Four, issue #21, shows the growth that creators Lee and artist Jack Kirby have brought to this title of late. Featured villain Hate-Monger is one of the spookiest villains to appear in comics since Captain America’s vicious enemy the Red Skull.

When I first saw the cover of this issue, with a giant image of the Hate-Monger zapping the Fantastic Four with his ray-gun, it really took me aback. With his ersatz purple Ku Klux Klan hood, the Monger immediately catches the eye and brings a suitable level of terror to the proceedings.

Flipping to the first page of the story, its splash delivers a tableau of dramatic intensity. The Hate-Monger, clad in chain mail and boots with his eerie hood, is situated against a background of fire and barbed wire. His body, shown in an aggressive stance, is surrounded by cameo faces of the Fantastic Four, all looking furious and spoiling for a fight. This bold image sets the tone for one of the most memorable tales of the year.

As the story begins, the Fantastic Four are hanging out in their skyscraper tower, each occupying themselves with their hobbies. One member works on an invention, another throws darts at a picture of Spider-Man, a third tries on wigs. But their daily reliquaries are interrupted by anger from the brutish Thing. “I’m so cotton pickin’ mad, I’ve gotta do something,” he rants. “That crumb who calls himself the Hate-Monger has been causin’ trouble wherever he goes because he’s too smart to break any laws.” Mr. Fantastic replies, “He’s the worst kind of menace! He preaches class hatred, race hatred, religious hatred!”

In that moment our heroes show what is at stake in this story and show that the stakes are higher than mere super-hero battles. This is a story that could have been ripped from the headlines, as the John Birchers do their best to try to stop Democratic efforts to improve America’s immigration and race relations. (I just hope President Kennedy can succeed in improving those aspects of our country, even if it takes his entire second term to do so.)

As the story proceeds, our heroes wander through New York, following the noise to hear the Hate Monger preach his hate. “We must drive all the foreigners back from where they came from! We must show no mercy to people we hate!” The Invisible Girl comments, “Reed, it’s unbelievable! He seems to have the crowd in a trance! They — they’re actually agreeing with his un-American sentiments!” Thank goodness our heroes are exemplars of our post-War consensus on race and immigration. They represent sanity and our great respect of diversity. In that way they show themselves to be real heroes.

That is, until the Monger zaps our heroes with his all-powerful H-ray.

Very quickly the Fantastic Four begin fighting each other, and rapidly the team parts ways with each other due to their anger at each other. Thankfully Reed Richards’s old war buddy Nick Fury, now working for the CIA, shows up and sends the team to help stop a revolution in the South American country of San Gusto.

What ensues reads like a comic version of Castro’s revolution, though with the Fantastic Four on one side of the battle instead of President Batista’s troops. Nick Fury, yelling about how the CIA won’t interfere in other nations’ affairs is able to help Richards escape the power of the H-ray, and soon the rest of the team is healed of its pernicious effects. As they finally defeat the Hate-Monger, our heroes unmask the arch villain. A last page climax reveals the Monger has the face of… Adolf Hitler.

Fantastic Four #21 is a dervish of a tale, a wild mix of politics, heroic action and surprising twists. This story feels both young and traditional with its focus on good and evil juxtaposed against real world concerns. It’s hard to imagine National Comics producing a comic that even mentions any level politics, let alone one that shocks readers with a cameo from Adolf Hitler or revolutions in banana republics. This issue also demonstrates another charming feature of Marvel at late: inter-character continuity. Lee and Kirby throw readers treats by including moments featuring characters like Nick Fury (whose World War II series premiered just last month) and Spider-Man. It’s almost like all these Marvel characters live in one universe!

Though not every issue of FF is so overtly political, most recent issues have been as kinetic and action-packed, and have featured equally adroit character moments. I’ve been bowled over by how thrilling these reads have been.

I’ve also come to enjoy Amazing Spider-Man, a series I once loathed. Before I was frustrated with the angsty life of problematic Peter Parker, but now I’m beginning to gain a love for this humble hero. In issue 7 of the series, former villain The Vulture returns from an earlier appearance and escapes from jail, seeking revenge against Spider-Man.

In a delightful demonstration of the small man become large, bespectacled Peter Parker finds he must sacrifice his social status at his high school in order to fight the Vulture. He also must take photographs of the battle between Spider-Man and the Vulture for a New York newspaper so he can help his elderly aunt pay her mortgage. This element gives the fight higher stakes than another hohum battle between the Flash and Captain Cold. Peter even breaks his arm during the battle with the Vulture, forcing him to lie to everyone in his life about the injury and his secret identity.

I’ve read heroic fiction for most of my life and can’t remember any hero going through such a level of personal pain in order to triumph in battle. This is a brave step out of the norm. It took some time for that angst to move from goofy pastiche to true drama, but creators Lee and Steve Ditko are continuing that journey. Ditko’s brusque art can’t compare with the slick work of Infantino or Kane on DC’s headliners, but it seems fitting for the grittiness of the story.

Thus far we’ve looked at two Marvel books released the week of September 10th that offered intriguing combinations of rough grittiness and seat-of-the-pants storytelling. But the highlight for me from last week comes in the pages of Tales of Suspense #48.

Previously, the millionaire Tony Stark dressed himself in a bulky golden suit that ill-suited our super-heroic Rockefeller. That monochrome monstrosity seemed a magnet for any villain who could melt, smash or mangle metal — or who was blinded by the sheer hideousness of a hero who dresses like a banana.

In contrast, Lee and Ditko debut dynamic new duds for Iron Man in this story. His new red-and-gold armor is a surprising and delightful treat. I love the new modern design, with its complementary colors, its open eye-slits and its nicely placed rivets. The suit looks like millionaire Tony Stark commissioned it from Pierre Cardin. If Steve Ditko of Spider-Man fame designed this suit, he’s delivered another winner.

Sadly, the story in which the suit is introduced is nowhere near the level of last week’s Spider-Man or Fantastic Four. it’s a paint-by-numbers yarn involving an evil puppet master with odd hoodoo powers. In fact, aside from the change in clothing, this issue could pass for one of the better National Comics edited by Julius Schwartz, whose work I praised in previous columns. That’s a high level of quality, one I wish the other National editors could keep up, but isn’t as good as the core Marvel books I’ve grown to love.

Marvel’s mighty releases make for a spectacularly good week for new comics, made all the more so when one considers what my former favorites at National delivered the same week. In comparison, “The Human Starfish” in Blackhawk #190 and “The Terrible Tree-Man” in Tomahawk #89 are embarrassingly juvenile.

National has delivered some wonderful comics in the last few weeks, with the pairing of Hawkman and Adam Strange in separate anthology stories in Mystery in Space #87 providing a tremendous frisson. However, it seems increasingly obvious that, with few exceptions, National’s comics are intended for children as opposed to the more adult-oriented feel of Marvel’s new heroic line. This growth in presentation has resulted in a growth in my appreciation for them, and shows that maybe, just maybe, The Traveler was right about his opinion on these comics (which I shoulda known since I value his opinions on sci-fi so much).

So yes, I’ve changed a bit as I’ve read more Marvel Comics over the last few months. The more I read comics like Fantastic Four, the more I appreciate them. With the super-hero line expanding in recent months with The Avengers, The X-Men, Dr. Strange, and the Master of Black Magic, maybe we will move into a Marvel Age of comics over the next few years after all!

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[March 4, 1963] Smart and Scientific (March 1963 National Comics Roundup)

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[While you're reading this article, why not tune in to KGJ, Radio Galactic Journey, playing all the current hits: pop, rock, soul, folk, jazz, country — it's the tops, pops…]


by Jason Sacks

I like and admire the work of our dear friend, the Traveler. His insights into science fiction are outstanding (he’s turned me on to some of my favorite writers, including the delightful Keith Laumer) and his passions are infectious.

But last month, dear Mr. Marcus published an article so dunderheaded, so wrong in its conclusions, that it read like an essay by Dobie Gillis rather than from a mature and well-read adult. I’m astounded Mr. Marcus actually professed that the output of mediocre Marvel Comics was “compelling”, “on the crest of a wave”, and reaching a “fever pitch.”

Yes, these comics induce a fever, but to me it’s a fever much like the onset of polio.

With rare exceptions, I’ve always found Marvel Comics to be poorly drawn and poorly plotted, lacking the discipline of good science fiction and frequently breaking the most important rule of good science fiction; namely, getting the science right. Marvel insults their readers’ intelligence continually, especially in their origin stories. Having origin stories based on such amorphous, deus ex machina ideas as cosmic rays, gamma bombs, and the pièce de résistance, a radioactive spider, Marvel (particularly head writer Stan Lee) present a world in which science is treated as a trump card overriding all rationality. Beyond that, the art in Marvel Comics is clumsy and amateurish compared to the work appearing in both DC and Archie Adventure titles. That awkwardness is no surprise because Jack Kirby illustrates many of those titles. Kirby’s rough and tumble style may have worked in the 1940s and ‘50s, but he’s clearly behind the times in the ‘60s. He’s lucky to have found work at one of the worst publishing houses in America. It’s hard to imagine that style having much influence on future generations of comic fans, unless he tamps down the grandiosity and operatic emotions he portrays.

Characters like the bickering Fantastic Four, the brutish Hulk and the neurotic Spiderman are no heroes, not in the sense of the great men we look up to on television and the movies. They are not role models, men about whom to be inspired. Instead they are insipid antiheroic leads, out of touch with the mood of the 1960s. That may appeal to the Beats and poets, but Alan Ginsburg ain’t reading comic books.

Marcus can champion these characters all he likes, but mark my words, by 1969, Marvel Comics will be a mere footnote in comics history while the great heroes at National Comics thrive.

As I mentioned in my last essay for this journal, the costumed characters edited by Julius Schwartz at National embody all that is right and true about valor in American comic books. In Green Lantern, The Flash and the delightful “Adam Strange” in Mystery in Space, Schwartz and his team combine true heroism with real facts, giving Stan Lee and his staff of amateurs a lesson in professionalism, science and bravery.

Take the March's Flash, issue #135, as an example. The story in this issue is a disciplined, scientifically-based yarn in which The Flash and Kid Flash beat back an invasion from Korydon, “the sixteenth dimension of the cosmos.” The exciting tale begins with Kid Flash hearing a message from a beautiful (and stylishly coiffed) woman from another planet because his cellular frequency is set to her wavelength. The woman reports that her enemies have selected Earth as their next invasion location. Thankfully she is able to intercept Kid Flash and send this message. Even more thankfully, the Science Institute calls on The Flash to track down the mystery behind several strange weapons sent to Earth as part of the invasion.

What follows as part of the generous 26-page action tale is a delightful hodgepodge of science, story and super fun. We witness the power of mind over matter transforming Kid Flash’s costume, watch a super-scanner work like a color TV into another dimension (I wish I could persuade my parents to buy a color TV, whether or not it sees into another dimension!), and watch a revolution overthrow the warriors for another dimension.

Every month, editor Schwartz and artist Infantino join with their uncredited writer (or writers) to deliver stories that could come directly from the pulps, thrilling tales that tempt with action and delight with scientific fact – as in the editor’s note that mentions that “even paper can penetrate an oak tree if driven fast enough by a tornado!” Their heroes are steadfast and emotionally strong. They don’t bicker. They do what is necessary to win their wars.

Best of all, unlike the rough and tumble Jack Kirby style, “Secret of the Three Super Weapons” contains gorgeous clean line art by an artist I recognize as Carmine Infantino. Unlike Kirby’s rough designs, Infantino delivers sleek and smooth depictions of his characters. The Flash and his protégé are not muscle-bound monsters. Instead they are slick speedsters whose lean bodies carry them at superhuman speeds.

Mr. Infantino also delivers the lead “Adam Strange” story in Mystery in Space #82 (also the March issue) and again Mr. Infantino delivers his distinctively impeccable artwork to this take of a terrifying space threat that could destroy both Strange’s home planet Earth and his adoptive planet Rann.

In fact, “World War on Earth and Rann” opens with a scene that could come from those ugly creators at Marvel Comics and shows the difference between the two companies. Natives of backwards city-states of Rann are protesting Adam Strange’s presence on their planet, claiming that threats only began when he landed on their planet. Though these scenes are reminiscent of ugly moments in Marvel’s frightfully frustrating Fantastic Four series, this scene comes across as an elegant bit of real-world charm. Adam’s beautiful and beloved Alanna quickly tells Adam to move on from the complaint, so the couple can spend a romantic week together.

And so they do. After a ceremonial event, in which Adam is gifted a radiation detector, we get a tour of Rann, from its beautiful landscapes to a wonderful hunt to an amazing lunch in the ice caves of a tropical region of the planet. These sorts of charming travelogues would never appear in a Marvel Comic. They’re a delightful moment of characterization and world-building that allow the reader to breathe before the action starts in earnest.

That action starts during the lunch, as the ice caves become under threat from a giant flying lens. We witness Adam and Alanna flying and fighting the lens as equal partners (no sad wimpy Invisible Girl is she!) but Adam’s Zeta beam fires and he is returned to Earth. It’s an elegant transition to the threats Earth receives as a parallel threat is happening on our planet.

The tale flows in high action and dudgeon from there, with scenes of future fighter jets, visions of nuclear annihilation, and pneumatic technology fueling a human detective story. In a very satisfying ending, the villain of the piece is revealed not to be some craven, strange-costumed adversary but a scientist gone wrong. There’s a parable in the noble scientist driven mad by the destructive power he controls, and Infantino, Schwartz and the writer all display that story nobly. In the end, the citizens of Rann are proven wrong by the greatest power of all: the power of heroism.

In just 15 pages, readers receive an epic tale that spans two planets and multiple cities. The aliens are much more credible than those Stan Lee creates in his ridiculous tales, and science is always at the heart of these science fiction tales. In fact, science is so much at the heart of this comic book that readers also receive a one-page bonus “Giants of the Telescope” feature describing the incalculable impact William P. Rosse had upon the scientific world. Who says kids don’t want to learn as they read their comics?

For my final example of the superiority of National’s offerings I give you “The Defeat of Green Lantern” from March's Green Lantern #19. Again edited by the superior Schwartz, with art as always by Gil Kane, this tale again combines scientific knowledge with superior storytelling to deliver a tale Stan Lee’s cohorts can only dream of.

As happens so often with Schwartz-led tales, the core of the story lies with science. On the first story page, we witness an ally of Earth’s Green Lantern try to inform his colleague about a cosmo-storm that can increase “sunspot activity, atmospheric lights and odd magnetic disturbances.” As any faithful “Galactic Journey” reader (and anyone who passed a freshman high school science class) would know, these events are much more realistic than vague “cosmic rays” as a means for creating problems in the universe. It also is logical, as the writer depicts, that those disturbances should also cause problems with Green Lantern’s amazing ring.

The story centers around the craven villain Sonar, who has the nucleo-sonic ability to draw energy from sound and use that sound in a solidified manner. Sonar uses this amazing ability to try to bring recognition to his tiny European homeland. Brilliantly Schwartz and team give credibility to Sonar’s megalomania in a richer and more thoughtful way than Lee and Kirby do for the shallow Doctor Doom. (They also choose a much better name for their villain, but, again, what do you expect?) Of course, Lantern is able to defeat Sonar because his strong instincts make him realize his ring is acting strangely. Green Lantern’s heroic abilities win out over the shallow craven villainy of Sonar.

Mr. Marcus, you’re a smart man. That’s why I’m shocked and saddened by your professed ardor for some of the worst comics out there. You’d be better off reading the schlock of Archie Comics than the antiheroic, unscientific junk of Marvel Comics. On the other hand, maybe you should enjoy the adventures of the unfortunately named Spiderman as long as you can. Nobody will want to read the threadbare adventures Lee & co. are delivering. It will only be a short time till the name of the Fantastic Four reaches the dustbin of long-forgotten champions.

[P.S. If you registered for WorldCon this year, please consider nominating Galactic Journey for the "Best Fanzine" Hugo.  Your ballot should have arrived by now…]




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[June 7, 1962] Third-rate (the State of Marvel Comics)

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[Famed comics expert Jason Sacks returns with a not-unmixed appraisal of the current state of Marvel Comics – in particular, evaluating the raft of new heroes they've unleashed on the universe.

Jason is not a man to mince words, you'll see…]


by Jason Sacks

Tiny Marvel Comics is at it again. Less than a year after comics’ shoestring publisher launched the rough-and-tumble Fantastic Four, Marvel has expanded their offering of new action heroes. In fact, when I visited Spencer’s Drugs in beautiful Snohomish, Washington this Tuesday, I found three premiering costumed characters with adventures to consume. I’m happy to say these offerings are more entertaining than Archie Comics’s dull Adventures of the Fly and Adventures of the Jaguar, but they are nowhere near as entertaining as most of the comics published by National.

If you remember from my last visit to Galactic Journeys, I described how Marvel is an upstart company, mostly presenting giant monster comics for bratty young children while their larger counterparts National and Dell dominate in terms of both sales and quality. A longstanding rumor has it that Marvel is even distributed by the same company that has partial ownership of National, and that parent company limits editor Stan Lee’s small enterprise to no more than eight titles per month.

Heretofore, most of Marvel’s male-oriented offerings have been either of the giant monster or cowboy variety. For example, the May number of Tales to Astonish offered A Monster at My Window – a giant-headed green monstrosity instead of a Peeping Tom – while the same month’s Strange Tales offered an orange variation of the same idea called Mister Morgan’s Monster. Meanwhile, Rawhide Kid and Gunsmoke Western offer adventures similar to Maverick or The Rifleman.

After a rocky first few issues, in which scientific concepts were handled in haphazard manners and artwork by Jack Kirby was loose and awkward, Marvel’s Fantastic Four seems to have settled into a pleasantly fun beat. In the February issue, Lee and Kirby revived the classic Sub-Mariner, last seen about five years ago in a short-lived revival of his classic comic from the 1940s. The new yarn presented a delightful revival of the Sub-Mariner/Human Torch battles from the pages of the happily-remembered Marvel Mystery Comics. In FF #4, the hep, young Human Torch finds a down-and-out Sub-Mariner living on skid row. That then triggers a delightful epic tale in which Lee and Kirby return the former king to Atlantis, where he is reunited with his subjects. Namor also falls in love with Sue Storm, the distaff member of the Fantastic Four. Though he is defeated quickly, the revived Sub-Mariner seems an ideal adversary for the Fantastics.

That is, if the new villain Doctor Doom, who premiered in the April issue #5, doesn’t take that role first. This man in the iron mask has a connection with Mr. Fantastic, the leader and scientific genius of the Fantastic Four, and their relationship gives the story much of its fuel.

If Marvel gives the rest of their books this level of care and attention, they may be able to carve out a small niche on the stands next to the super-popular Dell and National lines. My spies at the circulation houses tell me that many Dell Comics, as well as National’s Superman line, often sell over a million copies per month while Marvel’s line sells barely a quarter of them. If Dell is Coca-Cola and National is Pepsi, then Marvel is more like Royal Crown Cola, a pleasant flavor that barely registers on most peoples’ attention spans.

As I mentioned, three new costumed characters premiere this week from Marvel. Amazing Fantasy #15 debuts Spider Man, while Tales to Astonish #35 marks The Return of the Ant Man! and Journey Into Mystery #83 presents a bold take on the Norse God Thor.

One has to wonder why the obsession at Marvel with many-legged creepy crawlies. Does Archie’s The Fly sell so well that Marvel feels the need to jump into the marketplace for heroes based on multi-legged critters? People, especially girls, hate spiders, so why would anybody would want to read the adventures of a spider man. My sister is terrified of spiders so whenever one of those eight-legged monstrosities ends up behind the icebox, my father always has to kill it. Why would my sister or anybody else want to read the story of a boy with spider powers?

Especially when that boy, Peter Parker by name, is such a nebbish? As Lee and artist Steve Ditko portray Parker in his debut, the boy is a bespectacled scientific genius, hated by his fellow high school classmates and living a cloistered life with his elderly aunt and uncle. Though he attends a public school, young Parker wears a suit and tie and attends a giant scientific exhibit of radio-activity, at which he is bitten by a radioactive spider. You have to give Lee credit for smartly using the scourge of our time to create the background for this hero.

Unfortunately, Lee then takes his debuting hero down a low road when he becomes – of all things – a pro wrestler. Parker puts on a mask and confuses an almost mindless pugilist. This shows the depravity and low levels that Lee is willing to put his characters through. Rather than having his hero nobly take up the hero’s game, as would happen in a DC Comic, Lee has Peter Parker don an absurd red and blue costume (with a full head-cowl – nobody loves full head cowls) and fully embrace a career as a wrestler.
Tragically, Parker’s greed gets the best of him, as his Uncle is killed by a robber who he easily could have stopped. After a quick battle, the hero discovers his failure, and this first appearance ends on a depressing down note.

This blatant rip off of Batman’s origin is the icing on the cake of this lame and frustrating story. There are many markers here that this Spider Man will never take off as a hero, from this unappealing civilian character, drawn by S. Ditko as a complete loser, to the unappealing storyline around professional wrestling, to the awful costume and the lack of a good villain. Any attentive observer of comic books has to question why Lee and Ditko believed this character would have (eight) legs that would stick to readers’ hearts.

Even the comic he appears in shows that Marvel understands Spider Man is a loser: this comic was titled Amazing Adult Fantasy for its previous several issues and presented fantasy tales slightly better than Marvel’s normal pablum. This month, Marvel removed Adult from the title in a tacit implication that these stories are for kids only. Next time they can remove the word Amazing as well. Give me an issue of National’s Challengers of the Unknown or Sea Devils over this pap any day.

Also appearing this month is another hero inspired by creepy-crawlies. This hero, who Marvel hopes will attract a buzz, is Ant-Man. (Incidentally, recent Marvels have also featured a giant scorpion and the story The Man in the Bee-Hive; has editor Lee been studying for an insect-keeping examination?)

Though ants are loved even less than spiders, at least the origin of Ant-Man makes more sense than the Spider Man story. As presented in Tales to Astonish #35, Ant-Man is simply a scientist who discovers a special formula to shrink himself, which triggers an adventure that could have come from the outstanding 1950s flick The Incredible Shrinking Man.

See, scientist Henry Pym has developed both a shrinking formula and an anti-radiation formula. The Commies thus want to kidnap Pym to gain his knowledge of the anti-rad ability so they can safely launch a nuclear war. Pym fights back, donning a flashy red suit as the Ant-Man. Of course he defeats the baddies in the end. The story has some effective scenes – there’s a great moment in which stinger ants crawl up a commie’s leg and defeat him – but this story is only marginally more successful than the one introducing Spider Man. At least it stars a more conventional leading character, since a brilliant scientist is inherently much more interesting than a sad teenager who dresses as a spider. In any event, this Ant-Man is much less interesting than the brilliant Atom (one of Julius Schwartz’s proud publications) at National Comics – and his name is silly, too.

Thor, premiering in Journey into Mystery #83, is the best of these three premiering heroes, but that’s like comparing a Perry Como song to a Bobby Vinton song. I’d rather be listening to The Loco-Motion and reading National Comics than Vinton and Marvel, but when you have to listen to music, Vinton will do.

Marvel’s reborn Thor is the Norse god reborn in the body of frail doctor Donald Blake, “helpless without his cane”, who journeys to Norway for unknown reasons and becomes enmeshed in a battle with the rocky green Stone Men from Saturn. The Stone Men resemble the statues from Easter Island and are the same old hokey Marvel monsters, but this new hero seems like he could be an up-and-comer.  The uncredited artist – who seems to be the same man who drew the adventures of Ant-Man – delivers a dynamic tale that uses storytelling that’s different from the clean lines I’m used to seeing in the pages of The Flash or Green Lantern. The approach is bold and intense, with frequent use of blackout panels.

Of course, the storyline with the stone men from Saturn is a typically rotten Marvel storyline, still another kiddie kreation of giant monsters battling to destroy the Earth. This terribly cliched plot would have fit comfortably in previous issues of Journey into Mystery. Hopefully Marvel will bring the whole background of Norse mythology into this comic and allow readers the chance to see Loki, Odin and the amazing Asgard. Hopefully, too, Marvel will rectify their coloring mistake and color Thor’s hair red, as it should be.

Mark my words: June 5, 1962, will be a date that is quickly forgotten when someone one day writes the history of comic books in America. Thor might be remembered by a few, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this Spider Man will be quickly forgotten. Thankfully I was able to pick up this month’s issue of The Flash this week to wash the awful taste out of my mouth.

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Comics

[Nov. 28, 1961] Friendly Competition (The Case for National Comics)

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Erica Frank and I have both extolled the virtues of superhero comics; I pumped Marvel while she was a National fan.  Now, famed comics expert Jason Sacks weighs in, mostly to tell us that Erica's taste is far better than mine.  He's probably right…


by Jason Sacks

Several weeks ago, the Traveler posted a short, mostly complimentary review of the new Marvel Comic The Fantastic Four. He liked the comic’s heady mix of fact and science fiction, as well as its inclusion of a female character in its cast.

That review troubled me because it praises material I consider to be second rate. Marvel is, unfortunately, a schlock-house. Several years ago Marvel specialized in Twilight Zone-style twist-in-the-tail yarns (which the Traveler discussed in 1959). Recently, though, Marvel’s output has descended into juvie monster stories. The Fantastic Four #1 is not much more than a full-length version of those same moribund tales with the addition of derivative super-powers. The ugly art from Jack Kirby only makes things worse. He should go back to drawing love comics and leave heroes alone. I can confidently say Jack Kirby has no future in costumed-hero comics.

A look of the covers of any month’s releases from this second-rate publisher proves this point.  The enormous monster on the cover of The Fantastic Four#1 is similar to the titanic creature featured in nearly every other Marvel book released recently. The outrageous Monsteroso from the October Amazing Adventures #5, the Mohawked Brutto in the October Tales of Suspense #22, and the ridiculous green giant Fin Fang Foom in that same month’s Strange Tales #89 all fit the same general template.


the Marvel monster who wears shorts!

These Marvel creatures are all bites from the same rancid apple. They represent a juvenile collection of clichés and ridiculousness barely suited for even the most dilapidated drive-in.

Conversely, industry leader National Comics is delivering truly outstanding science fiction comics. In comics like The Flash, Green Lantern and the new Atom a team of talented creators deliver tales that combine fiction and fact in ways that should make people like John W. Campbell smile.

I beg a little indulgence as I tell you about the fascinating Mr. Julius Schwartz, the editor of those comics. Schwartz is one of the leading lights of older style science fiction fandom and pro-dom. In fact, he was a pioneering fan. With Forrest J. Ackerman and Mortimer Weisinger (himself an editor at National, on the Superman titles), Schwartz co-published one of the first “fanzines,” The Time Traveler, in 1932. That mimeographed masterpiece caught the eyes of fans and pros alike. In it, the writers and editors praised the writing of many of the greatest writers of the field while also presenting fiction by aspiring pros.

A rare copy of the fanzine that started the career of the brilliant Mr. Schwartz, Time Traveler. Note future National Comics editor Mortimer Weisinger is also listed on the masthead, as is the famous “pro-fan” Forrest J. Ackerman.

That ‘zine caused a small sensation among fans and professionals. It led to all three men moving into the field full time. Schwartz opened the Solar Sales Service agency, where he represented writers such as Howard Philips Lovecraft, Alfred Bester and Ray Bradbury. After a decade as an agent, the owners of All-American Comics tapped Schwartz to join their staff as an editor on their line of super-heroes including Green Lantern, Dr. Mid-Nite, Hawkman and The Flash. As he gained experience at All-American, and as AA merged with National Comics, Schwartz moved into science fiction comics. He established himself there as a notable editor on such brilliant sci-fi titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space. Those latter two series were perhaps the finest sci-fi comics published since the amazing E.C. Comics disappeared in 1954.

Schwartz brings his same passion for science fiction to his editing of super-hero comics. He also evokes fond memories for longtime fans. The great editor mines for creative gold in places that revive memories of the past while evoking the jet age in which we live. He has set to work reviving the names of some of the members of the much beloved Justice Society of America (moribund since 1951). As part of that effort, our man Schwartz has delivered to readers sleek new versions of such revered names as the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and (his latest revival) The Atom.

On “The Atom”, Schwartz collaborates with writer Gardner Fox (a veteran of such magazines as Amazing Stories and Weird Tales) and artist Gil Kane. The background of our new hero has a solid foundation in the same sorts of ideas you might discover each month in the pages of Worlds of If.

The Atom is scientist Ray Palmer (named after the editor of such notable publications as Amazing Stories, Imagination and Other Worlds). He is a researcher at Ivy University investigating matter compression as a means for fighting overpopulation. Palmer has a breakthrough and finds he is able to shrink matter. In typical style, when he sets aside his research to indulge in a little fun, Palmer finds himself in an emergency. To save himself and his girlfriend, Palmer uses the shrinking ability and discovers he has amazing abilities. I anxiously await the second part of Palmer’s saga next month in Showcase #35.

Ray Palmer represents the destiny of America as an outgrowth of scientific discovery. Green Lantern represents our aspirations in space. As President Kennedy reminds us, America will be going to the moon and beyond in the next century. If that is true, I want our astronauts to be like Hal Jordan. He is a test pilot who has no fear. Jordan is ready to battle whatever evil comes his way – even in the far future.

In his September/October issue number 8, Jordan travels into the 58th century. The residents of that long-away century draft Jordan to become the leader of their great society.


Green Lantern travels into the far future to fight these surprising beasts

In fact, Green Lantern is already a member of another great society. Hal discovered in Green Lantern #6 (May/June 1961) that he is the member of a kind of extraterrestrial police force led by a group calling themselves the Guardians of the Universe. That idea seems ripped right from the pages of many classic pulp magazines, but with a modern twist. With sleek art by Kane, this series has rocketed to the top of many fans’ reading lists.

While The Atom and Green Lantern present some of the smartest sci-fi action comics of all time, Schwartz’s crown jewel has to be The Flash.

This new Flash takes his cue from the much-beloved 1940s Flash. As with Green Lantern, however, this is a modern Flash tailored for Baby Boom readers. The new Flash is crewcut cop Barry Allen, who donned a sleek red suit to become the fastest man alive. Since moving into his own solo comic in 1959, The Flash has presented some delightful science-oriented tales. That has included clever descriptions of friction, atomic cohesion and even the theory of continental drift. Each of these adventures have been drawn by Carmine Infantino, a brilliant cartoonist uniquely equipped to deliver sleek, delightful line work.


The cover to the brilliant “Flash of Two Worlds”

The story par excellence, the chapter that shows Schwartz’s incomparable intelligence, is The Flash #123, the September 1961 issue. That month, the creative team pulled off an idea I never expected to witness: the chance to see Barry Allen and Jay Garrick racing alongside each other. Though Barry imagined the original Flash was just comic book star, he actually was able to meet his idol.

How did Barry manage that amazing trick?

Through one of the cleverest ideas I’ve ever come across: parallel worlds.


an explanation of parallel worlds

Parallel worlds! What a clever concept. This idea is a brilliant revelation for a reader such as me. Imagine a counterpart of yourself, the same but deeply different, existing in a dimension vibrating at a different frequency from ours. Imagine how their experiences would vary from yours, and how their world might contain subtle changes.

This clever, innovative idea struck me like a revelation. For us long-time readers of comics this seems a clear signal that the revival of the august Justice Society of America may be coming soon. That means we could witness Green Lantern and the Atom meet their counterparts. It also means the possible resurrections of classic heroes in new guises. If the Atom can be revived, how long will it be before we see Black Canary, Dr. Fate, even The Spectre?


Left to right, Mr. Schwartz, writer Otto Binder and editor Raymond Palmer.

Yes, my friend the Traveler can celebrate that badly drawn kid stuff over at tiny, decrepit Marvel. National Comics is the place to find brilliant science fiction in comic book form. Drop your dime for some of the comics edited by Julius Schwartz and tell me if you don’t agree.

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