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Marvel 616 Review – Journey Into Mystery #95

Journey Into Myster #95
Journey Into Myster #95
Journey Into Myster #95 Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, Artist: Joe Sinnott

In Journey Into Mystery #95 the only thing Thor has to fear is Thor himself as he takes on his diabolical double! That’s right, Thor has to fight a version of himself in this issue. It gets pretty wild but more for the setup than the action. And what’s more, the other Thor has not one but two magic hammers. So what’s going on here? How did Thor get into this predicament?

The start of the issue gives us a teaser page with Thor in disbelief over the evil double of himself attacking with two hammers. But the story itself begins in Asgard. Odin has summoned Thor back to the land of the Norse gods because there is a terrible drought. Thor can literally make it rain so he taps his magic hammer twice on the ground and a thunder storm begins. Thor tells Odin it will last for seven days. On the seventh day he’ll come back, stamp the hammer on the ground three times and the storm will end.

Thor then returns to Earth telling Odin he has to help a human with a vital science experiment. Heimdall watches Thor as he flies over the rainbow bridge and Thor muses about how he would stay in Asgard if he wasn’t so used to humans.

When Thor gets to Earth he heads to a science convention where a scientist named Professor Zaxton is about to give a demonstration. Dr. Don Blake, Thor’s other identity, has invented an android. I still find Thor to be the superhero least in need of any kind of secret identity but apparently Dr. Blake is not just a good medical doctor. He’s so good at science he can create an android duplicate of a human. But he’s decided to let another scientist run the demo.

Professor Zaxton is all set to do his demonstration. When Thor shows up he demonstrates how he can rip apart a safe. Inside the safe is a green android. Zaxton uses a remote control to make the android move. Then he has another scientist put up an impossible math equation. The android solves it. Blake built the android to have an I.Q. of 375 “…twice that of the brightest human being!”

But this thing is not just smart, its strong too. Thor whacks it a couple times with his hammer but the thing takes no damage. Blake designed this thing with impenetrable skin. And Zaxton goes on to describe how these things could survive a nuclear blast and be used as ultra-intelligent soldiers. But Zaxton does something to the remote control and the android says his entire mechanism is being short circuited.

The android is on the brink of explosion. Zaxton figures that’s fine because the skin is impenetrable so it will only explode on the inside. But Dr. Blake also made the interior of the android with the same material. The android tells Zaxton that when he explodes his skin will disintegrate like shrapnel. Not ideal. Zaxton begs Thor to do something.

Thor, being the hero, wraps the android up in steel left over from the safe and hurls the android into the sky. I guess we’ll just ignore all the debris and impact that will come back down to Earth. This incident ends the demonstration. Thor goes back to Blake’s office and turns human again. But he’s quite annoyed with Zaxton. He suspects the man sabotaged the demonstration.

When Don Blake comes out of the office, Professor Zaxton is waiting for him. Zaxton has his own invention in hand. Blake tells Zaxton he heard about the botched demonstration. He also asks Zaxton how he could be so stupid. Zaxton just goes on demonstrating a duplicating machine. He makes a duplicate of the office couch. He duplicates the typewriters. But he does need Blake’s help to perfect the machine. Zaxton wants Blake to help him duplicate human beings. Blake tells him he can’t tamper with human life. I do have to say, the android Blake made was pretty close to doing that on it’s own but we’ll let that go.

At first, Blake refuses to help. But Zaxton reveals he has taken Blake’s nurse (and love interest) hostage. Blake has to help now. Zaxton also admits he did deliberately destroy the android out of jealousy. He just didn’t think the explosion would hurt him. Blake thinks about changing to Thor and forcing her whereabouts out of Zaxton but he says, “…it’s against my code to harm human beings except in self defense!” I’m not sure how accurate that statement is given some of his past adventures.

Blake agrees to help Zaxton but he’s mostly buying time. The good doctor fixes up the machine. He figures he’s done but Zaxton won’t tell him where Jane is until he’s made sure the machine works. They go out in the street. Zaxton uses the machine on an alley cat. It works just fine. Blake demands to know where Jane is. Zaxton tells him she’s locked in the cellar of his house.

Blake decides to change into Thor and rescue Jane. But Zaxton sees him do it. This is the first human to know Thor has a dual identity. What does Zaxton do? No surprise, he duplicates Thor. Turns out this machine doesn’t just duplicate people. It also creates the opposite personality of the person duplicated. And these duplicates are under Zaxton’s telepathic control.

Thor tries to smash the machine but his duplicate protects Zaxton. And to make it more of a challenge, Zaxton duplicates Mjolnir for the evil double. A fight ensues. Zaxton confesses he is after absolute power. Zaxton tries everything he can to slow Thor down, including duplicating a building so Thor crashes into it. Thor throws his hammer at the duplicate but Zaxton makes another Thor just to absorb the impact. This one disappears after the hammer hits. But there is still the first duplicate to take care of.

Zaxton duplicates a plane so Thor has to block his duplicate’s hammer throws to save innocent lives. But these hammer hits do nothing to Thor. Can you guess why? Yep, the duplicate is not worthy.

Thor hits his duplicate with the real Mjolnir and the duplicate disappears. To save himself, Zaxton makes a duplicate of himself. But right after that, the real Zaxton slips and falls onto a highway. Thor tries to save him but he’s not fast enough. But this is convenient for Thor. Now there is a good version of Zaxton walking around. And he has no idea Thor is actually Dr. Donald Blake.

And in the next panel we get what is so far my absolute favorite narration of all of the Thor stories. “After Thor disposes of the dead man and frees Jane Foster…” I love the casual mention of a Norse god just tossing a body like he’s a mob boss.

True to his word, Thor returns to Asgard and ends the storm there.

All in all this was a pretty silly story and it took quite a few odd turns. I thought the android was going to be the Thor duplicate but instead we had yet another evil scientist in Marvel 616. And the scenes in Asgard seemed entirely unnecessary but I’m sure they were trying to fill up enough pages.

Next up we’re getting small again as we catch up with Ant-Man and The Wasp in Tales to Astonish #46!

P.S. I’ve had a few people ask recently where I am getting my order of issues from. It’s on this awesome website here. And they have reading orders for all kinds of stuff so go check them out!

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Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in!

black and white dartboard

Hello internet people! Welcome to Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! In this post I’ll be going through the progress I made on my movie, book, and ttrpg challenges for the year so far. If you’re doing any of the challenges as well, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check in for movies!

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! Movie challenge
Slick Dungeon’s Movie Challenge. Download your copy by clicking the image!

I watched a few movies this month but only one met a challenge requirement. I was recommended I Saw the TV Glow by a friend. And it was a great recommendation. If you didn’t see my review already, check it out here. But I will say, the best film I watched in January was Hereditary. Great movie if you like horror. I also watched Nosferatu which I thought was fine but not groundbreaking. And I watched We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. To me, that one is not worth your time. It does have a decent performance by Anna Cobb though.

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check in for Books!

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! Book challenge
Slick Dungeon’s Book Challenge. Download your copy by clicking the image!

This one is going to be a little bit of a cheat. I read a book of short stories which is not yet released. It is called Four Dark and Stormys and a Hangover by Dan Kaminski. It’s a book of horror novellas but I’m counting it as a book of short stories. My review will come soon so watch for that this month. I think for next month I’ll be reading a fantasy book called Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check in for TTRPGs!

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! TTRPG challenge
Slick Dungeon’s TTRPG Challenge. Download your copy by clicking the image!

In January I read the rule books for a TTRPG called Along the Leyline. I’ll be doing a review of it on this blog later this month. And once I’ve gotten a chance to play it, I’ll do a more comprehensive rules breakdown of the game. There are a lot of similarities between this one and Dungeons & Dragons but I will say the rules for Along the Leyline are more streamlined and easier to follow. There are lots of strengths here and a few spots for improvement but I’ll go into detail more on that in a post later this month.

How is your progress going?

Now that I’ve shared my updates with all of you, I would love to know if any of you have taken these challenges. Watched any movies, read any books, or done any of the TTRPG challenges? Please let me know in the comments!

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Marvel 616 Review – Fantastic Four #17

Fantastic Four #17
Fantastic Four #17 Photo Credit: Marvel, Writer: Stan Lee, Artist, Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four #17 Photo Credit: Marvel, Writer: Stan Lee, Artist, Jack Kirby

Fantastic Four #17 continues the story from the last issue. Dr. Doom is now loose in America and our heroes have a lot to contend with. This is the first continuing story in Fantastic Four and it really starts to feel like a connected universe is starting.

The first page juxtaposes a happy Fantastic Four saying farewell to Ant-Man who helped them last issue with an ominous title. In big red letters it says “Defeated by Doctor Doom!” We’ll see about that. We see Ant-Man catapulting away and he will not return this issue. But we’ll catch up with him again soon.

Reed Richards puts away the little launcher he built for Ant-Man and Johnny Storm muses about adding him to the team. The Thing responds it would be an improvement over Johnny. Their bickering is a running theme. But something interesting here is that The Thing is reading an Ant-Man comic as he speaks.

The Thing reads about The Ant-Man
The Thing reads about The Ant-Man

I love it when we get in universe little gags like that. But then in typical early Marvel 616 fashion, they do a flashback of what happened in the previous issue. I’m not going to rehash it here but if you didn’t read my last post, that issue was wild.

Reed then pulls out a complicated contraption as he often does. This is a radar set, “…extra sensitive to human flesh covered by steel!” I hope no one is using steel to cosplay as a knight at the moment. But it should track Doom.

While Reed listens to his signal, the rest of the group split up to scour the city and see if they can find the bad guy. None of them find Doom but The Thing does find a guy in a green cape dressed in armor advertising a movie. There was someone cosplaying as a knight! But it wasn’t Doom.

Johnny has no luck. Sue Storm disrupts what she thinks is an arms deal but turns out to be a toy demonstration. The group meets up to compare notes but no one found anything. When they try to leave the building there is a huge crowd of fans.

A helpful janitor leads the group to a freight elevator. He only asks to shake their hands in return. I bet you know where this is going don’t you? If you thought the janitor was Dr. Doom and he placed a tiny, tissue-thin plastic disc to each of their hands, you were right!

Doom goes back to his headquarters and releases balloon like robots that follow each member of the FF. These things interrupt Johnny’s date, distract The Thing from his date, puts a halt to a photo shoot for Sue Storm, and disrupt an award ceremony for Reed Richards. No matter what the team does, they can’t destroy these things. And they won’t stop following either.

Reed has a gadget that discovers the discs on their hands. They figure out Doom must be monitoring them but the flying robots go away. But this was only the first phase of the bad doctor’s plan.

Doom decides the weak spot in the team is Thing’s girlfriend Alicia who is blind. Doom has a pretty sad moment where he admits he has never fully understood other human beings. And he says, “Even now I cannot comprehend how one as lovely as Alicia can feel affection for the grotesque Thing!!”

He’s bummed someone loves The Thing but not him. Doom has a scarred and damaged face under the mask, although we don’t see it here. Pretty sure it’s not your face, it’s your personality and, you know, obsession with being a horrible person that is the problem, Doom.

Regardless, Doom wants to take revenge. He uses a “grappler ray” to lift Alicia into the air and fly him to his headquarters. His headquarters is a flying base hidden by a cloud.

The Human Torch shows The Thing a newspaper with a picture of Alicia flying in the air. For a smart guy, I really don’t think Doom thought how angry this would make The Thing. Needless to say, he’s big mad.

Doom contacts the team and tells them different ways he plans to terrorize the city. And warns them not to oppose him or Alicia is in trouble. Reed is not afraid. But The Thing is worried something will happen to Alicia.

Doom is not after money, he makes that clear in the next panel. But he sure would like some power. He sends a film reel to the white house threatening war. We even get a panel of JFK’s… forehead. It’s the first time a sitting president is depicted in Marvel 616 comics. And JFK isn’t backing down. He has to put his kid to bed!

Marvel presents, JFK's forehead
Marvel presents, JFK’s forehead

With JFK not responding, Doom wreaks havoc by interfering with all electronic devices and firing off our missiles. These actions disrupt American industry. The Kremlin is thrilled until one of them points out that Doom will come for them next.

Someone from the joint chiefs of staff comes to ask the FF for help but Reed says he already has a plan. But he can’t share it with anyone because he thinks it would be safer just for his team to be in on it. I guess now it doesn’t matter that Doom could be listening?

Reed used his radar to discover Doom’s headquarters and this thing has disintegrator ray guns on it! And those rays will target the FF because the robots that followed them mapped their atomic structure. But Reed Richards is the smartest man alive, so he has a plan.

The Thing has sometimes turned from The Thing to plain old Benjamin Grimm. The plan is to have him take a formula turning him human and then change back to The Thing and go on the attack. It’s a close call but Ben is able to get onto the headquarters just before he turns back into The Thing. He tosses out the disintegrator ray gun and his pals can now come on up and help too.

They split up, looking for Doctor Doom. Doom traps The Human Torch in a spinning room that douses his flames. Reed finds himself trapped in a room that fills up with wet cement. But he can escape because he can make himself thin enough to “fit thru the pockets of porous cement.” The Thing falls down a hole with a greased pole that could drop him all the way back to the city. But he manages to claw his way back up.

The three team members meet up together but Doom launches power spheres at them. Not real clear what these do but it can’t be good. Somehow they are supposed to transfer the heroes to a different dimension.

But Doom had it all wrong. Those figures were flame images created by The Human Torch. The Thing demands Doom tell him where Alicia is. The Invisible Girl finds her first. And she hatches a plan. She trades places with Alicia. I think it would have been smarter to hide Alicia and turn invisible in the first place. Instead she turns invisible when Doom enters the room. There is a scuffle but Sue Storm wins because Doom should not, “…ever forget that I was taught Judo by one of the world’s greatest experts: Reed Richards!” This guy can do anything.

Just as Doom thinks he will overcome Sue, the rest of the team bursts in. And boy is Ben Grimm pissed. Doom jumps out of his flying headquarters. I’m sure that’s the end of him.

The issue ends with Doom gone and the team and Alicia reunited. Doom is an impending threat but he’s gone for the moment.

This issue was not as thrilling or wild as the last one. But it is a decent story with a few really fun moments. Doctor Doom proves to be a competent villain by escaping at the right time. And the world feels a little more real in the story with the involvement of the white house.

I’m sure we’ll return to Doctor Doom soon but for the moment we are leaving the Fantastic Four.

Net up on the reading list we check back in with the god of thunder himself, Thor, in the pages of Journey Into Mystery #95!

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Mistborn

This year the Cosmere role playing game is going to release at the end of the year. I thought now would be a great time for me to dive back in to the Cosmere books and I decided to start by re-reading Mistborn.

(Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)

If you want to get your own copy to read this year, it would help my blog out a lot if you purchased through the image above or clicked here.

Synopsis:

Once, a hero arose to save the world. He failed.

Ever since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist controlled by the immortal emperor known as the Lord Ruler.

But hope survives. A new uprising is forming, one built around the ultimate caper, the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind, and the determination of an unlikely heroine: a street urchin who must learn to master the power of a Mistborn.

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The first book in the Mistborn series introduces us to the main players and sets up the world they operate in. And it establishes the rules of magic for the world. This is a dystopian world where ash falls from the sky and the despotic Lord Ruler has governed for a thousand years. He stays in power by oppressing the Skaa people and making sure the nobility is beholden to his whims.

But in this world there are people with special gifts. They can do a kind of magic called Allomancy. The way this works is they ingest a small amount of metal. Then they use that metal to allow them to do things like enhance their senses an strengthen their bodies. And even, in one case, they can see briefly into possible futures.

Out of this world a few characters come up with a bold plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler. Kelsier, a famous thief recruits Vin, a teenage urchin, to put his plan into action. The story is from Vin’s point of view as she learns about the nobility, the Skaa, the Lord Ruler, and Allomancy.

But there is a reason this Lord Ruler has reigned for so long. He has every resource at his disposal. The bold plan of Kelsier’s may be doomed.

While I don’t think this is the best book of the series, it does a great job of establishing the heroes, villains, and mysteries of the world. As with a lot of Brandon Sanderson books, the magic system is complicated. But it works well and makes for some really memorable scenes. The opening scene of the book alone is one of the most epic in fantasy novels.

If you like fantasy books and you haven’t read Mistborn I highly recommend checking this one out. To take away any confusion, this book is known as Mistborn but you’ll also see it titled Mistborn: The Final Empire. You might even find it as just The Final Empire.

If you like heroic fantasy set against impossible odds, this book is for you.

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Marvel 616 Review – Fantastic Four #16

Fantastic Four #16 (Photo Credit: Marvel, Writer: Stan Lee, Artist: Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four #16 (Photo Credit: Marvel, Writer: Stan Lee, Artist: Jack Kirby

There is so much to talk about in Fantastic Four #16. This issue brings back one of the best villains in all of comics, is the first meeting between Ant-Man and the team, and introduces Reed and friends to the microverse. While there have already been some fun stories, this is the first time it feels like Fantastic Four has real staying power and begins to tell a connected story for Marvel 616.

The opening page of the issue feels more like a film poster than a comic book page. It’s reminiscent of those amazing B movie posters from the 50s and 60s featuring strange stories about monsters and adventurers. It promises us the return of, “The world’s most dangerous super-villain!”. It has a huge title which says, The micro-world of Dr. Doom with doom himself looming over a microscope as The Thing and Johnny Storm attack it. A banner at the top advertises a special guest star, “The amazing Ant-man!” And at the bottom of the page we see Reed and Sue looking up in shock while Ant-man rides a flying ant next to them.

The artwork by Jack Kirby conveys so much through movement and perspective that it’s immediately interesting. Each glance back at it gives me something new to appreciate here. And we haven’t even gotten to the story!

Getting into the story itself a few things happen and they all relate to Johnny Storm. First an amateur rooftop astronomer in New York city is overjoyed at finding a new comet. A doctor in an operating room is able to complete a surgery despite the power being out when a streak of light crosses the window. And a group of thugs is caught red handed when the same light allows cops to see what they are up to. What’s the cause of all this? The Human Torch streaking through the air. He’s headed to the Baxter building. Why? no one is answering his signal.

He knows there is something wrong but he can’t think of any power strong enough to overwhelm the rest of his team. Inside the building there are no signs of life. But eventually Johnny sees the outstretched arm of a tiny Mr. Fantastic. His team mates have been shrunken down to the size of toys and they are in danger of being pulled into an air duct.

Johnny welds the duct shut. His friends are safe. But they are small. Suddenly they grow to regular size. Johnny asks how it all happened but none of them seem to have a clue. But then an odd thing starts to happen. Each member of the team tells about an incident when they also shrunk in the recent past.

Personally, I think this is something you’d want to share with the group. But they all say they were too afraid of no one believing them. I mean, these people have incredible powers, have encountered super villains, aliens and underground civilizations, but apparently shrinking is too weird to be believed.

Anyway, just as they all start to share, they hear a voice say, “Hah! You fools! You are helpless as putty before my power! This is only the beginning of what I have in store for you!”

None of them know who spoke but it seems like Reed and Johnny suspect. One by one the heroes tell their tales of shrinking. Johnny was working on his car when it happened. The Thing was working out with a 3 ton weight when it happened. For Sue Storm the incident occurred when she was on a talk show but the audience just assumed she turned invisible. And for Reed Richards, he was testing out the fantasti-car when it happened to him. They all suddenly grew back to normal size with no real explanation.

After everyone tells their tale, Reed has a good thought. He could contact Ant-man. Sue isn’t sure he even really exists. I guess all those newspaper stories about him must have been made up? I don’t know.

Conveniently for the team, Henry Pym’s ants were listening. They relay the incident to Ant-man who rushes over to the Baxter building. He leaves The Wasp in charge while he is gone.

The Fantastic Four are shocked when Ant-man shows up just as they’re trying to figure out how to contact him. Reed uses what he calls a “crystal magnifying amplifier” to allow the group to see and hear the tiny Ant-man better. It’s basically a clear box of some kind but it gets the job done. Ant-man then gives the team a solution with two drops of fluid. One drop is for shrinking and the other is for growing. Henry then goes back to his own lab to learn what he can.

For a moment Reed wonders if Ant-man could be behind the whole thing. I think that’s a reasonable suspicion given the circumstances. But Sue Storm gives irrefutable proof that it could not be him. She says, “Oh no, Reed! He’s much too cute!” Well, I guess that’s proof then.

The next day Ben Grimm is helping out his friend Alicia. Reed comes up and excitedly pours a formula down The Thing’s throat, telling him it’s a cure for him. He won’t need to be the rocky Thing anymore. But out of all people in the 616 universe, Reed Richards has the absolute worst sense of timing. He gives this stuff to Ben while he is… literally holding a piano. Reed lets Ben know it’s only temporary but the piano goes crashing to the floor. Alicia, who is blind, is a little upset to feel Ben’s face in human form. She loves him for him. Ben asks Reed to basically stop trying to change him back from being The Thing and start helping Alicia to see again instead.

But just then a voice speaks again. It says, “…Beware of Doctor Doom! He’s trying to— ohhh!! Help!”

Meanwhile, Johnny entertains his friends by showing off his powers. He does this a lot by the way. But he also hears a voice warning him about Doctor Doom.

For her part, Sue Storm is experimenting with perfumes. She believes her only weakness is that even when she is invisible, dogs can sniff her out. She’s trying to make a scent that will deaden a dong’s sense of smell. It doesn’t work. But she also hears the voice just as the rest of the team arrives. They discuss things for a while and decide it’s possible Doom is still alive so they take the reducing serum.

They start shrinking but it’s so fast they have to take the enlarging formula to slow it down. And the group enters what Sue Storm calls a, “micro-world — a world which might fit on the head of a pin!”

An interesting tidbit about the microverse here. While this is the first time the team has experienced this world, this is not the first time it appeared in Marvel comics. In fact, it debuted way back in 1943 in the pages of Captain America #26. This is technically outside of the timeline of Marvel 616 so, like the Sub-Mariner, this existed before the current heroes we are reading about did. And at the present moment in Marvel 616 there is no Captain America to tell the team what they are getting into here. This doesn’t really change the story in any way but I just find it interesting when things from even older comics pop up in the pages of Marvel 616 stories.

As much trouble as this place sounds like, it’s worse. As soon as they land, the team discovers Dr. Doom has overthrown this world. And Doom has been waiting for the team to show up. They try to attack but Doom activates a shrinking ray from his throne.

Being a true villain, Doom can’t help but explain how he came to power in this place. We get a short recap of how he was shrunk down back in FF #10. Doom was quite angry to find himself in a place where people were… living in peace and happy. You can’t really accuse the Marvel 616 comics of the 1960s of subtlety can you?

Doom impresses the king and the princess Pearla by crafting a telescope and they think he’s a wizard. They make him the court scientist and he promptly invents a shrinking ray and shrinks the king and princess. You know, as you do. he then invents a whole machine just so he could send his shrinking ray and project his voice to taunt the Fantastic Four.

Despite their small size, Doom’s guards have a tough time capturing the team as they use their powers. But Doom captures Sue under glass and uses a sleeping gas on the rest of the team. When they wake up they find they are imprisoned with the king and princess Pearla.

They are in what looks like an underwater apparatus but it’s actually an acidic fluid surrounding the place. And it’s filled with mechanical sharks spying on them the whole time. Johnny flames on and that startles Pearla. Johnny gets a bit flirty with her saying, “Heck! I wouldn’t scare a living doll like you!” Pearla seems pretty impressed by him. And I gotta say, Johnny is not, at least at this point, a one girl type of guy.

They figure out the voice warning them about Doom belonged to Pearla. Doom wants Pearla to marry him. He’s forcing her into marriage by contacting a planet called Tok. This is a planet of lizard people. And Doom has decided the Fantastic Four will be slaves to these aliens.

We get a description of how our heroes will be used. Reed will be used as a bridge for their troops during their invasions! The Thing will be forced to pull out riches from their diamond mines! The Torch will be forced to attack their victims with his flaming powers! And Sue Storm will be… a scullery maid! Come on Lizard men of Tok, you can think of something better for her.

Back at the Baxter building Ant-man returns to find the team gone. He shrinks himself down until he ends up in the micro-world as well. He puts up a good fight but Doom’s guards capture him.

From their prison, Reed has Ben tear out pieces of the wall to make a shelter for the good guys. They turn this into a sort of floating capsule that can take them to the surface.

While they make their escape, Doom is handing off Ant-man to the aliens from Tok. But the Invisible Girl frees Henry Pym. The team gets themselves and the king and Pearla up to regular size. Well, regular for the micro-world.

The team runs to the landing area where the lizard men are about to land. But The Thing grabs a control tower and uses it as a baseball bat to swat the ship away. Ant-man fights his way past the guards. Sue Storm stays invisible and snags Doom’s gun. Doom ducks through a trap door and takes off running. He heads back to our world to, “…give them a reception they’ll never forget!”

With Doom gone the guards are a piece of cake. To repay them, the king allows our heroes to use his enlarging ray to go back home. Pearla doesn’t want Johnny to go and calls him the most fascinating man she’s ever met. Johnny says he’s gotta go back to his “pards” but says he might be back.

And with that the group steps in front of the enlarging ray and… the issue ends!

For the first time in Marvel 616 history, we are embarking on a continuous two-issue story. It’s a huge step towards the longer narrative that is building.

There are a lot of really interesting things going on in this issue. We’ve got a major villain who is becoming an incredible threat. We have a true crossover with the FF and Ant-man. And we’ve been introduced to a whole new world. It’s one that will come up over and over again. The artwork is out of this world good here and really broke boundaries at the time. And the story, while silly at times, really is engaging. And at the very end of the issue, there is a pinup page detailing the powers of Mr. Fantastic.

Can the story be topped? Can it come to a satisfying conclusion? We’re ending on a cliffhanger. So you’re going to have to wait until next time to find out. (Or you could, you know, read the comic yourself if you want)

Next up on our reading list, we’re going to find out what happens with our heroes in the pages of Fantastic Four #17!

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Marvel 616 Review – Strange Tales #111 (C Story)

Strange Tales #111 (C Story) Photo Credit: Marvel, Writer: Stan Lee, Artist: Steve Ditko

When Dr. Strange first appeared there hadn’t been much out there like him. Sure, there were some comics that featured magic or magic users. But the groundbreaking artwork of Steve Ditko left an impression on first glance with this series. It was like looking at a surrealist painting and falling into a world where the rules of physics did not apply.

So one would think the introduction of one of Strange’s main rivals would be just as groundbreaking. Strange Tales #111 (C story) introduces us to Baron Mordo. He will go on to be a thorn in Strange’s side for years to come. But this story feels rather mundane for such a villain.

Probably the most interesting thing in the story is the narrator comments on the scroll at the beginning of the story which says, “Men call him Dr. Strange, and speak his name in whispers! But there is another– One who is still more dreaded! In this tale of the occult you are about to meet Dr. Strange’s arch-foe, the dreaded Baron Mordo!!”

The story begins in a heavily guarded castle in the heart of Europe. Baron Mordo is at home and is angry there is still one man who knows more secrets of black magic than he does. No, it’s not Dr. Strange. It’s the Master. Mordo wants to know all of this man’s secrets and he’s willing to kill for it. Mordo figures once he has this knowledge, he can do away with Dr. Strange.

Mordo goes into a trance and enters the astral plane. This is a key component of Dr. Strange stories. What does Mordo do? He finds the servant who prepares the Master’s meals. He hypnotizes this servant and gets him to put poison in the Master’s food.

Sure enough, The Master eats his food and is poisoned. Perhaps Mordo doesn’t have the best planning skills though. He demands the Master give up all his secrets but the Master is willing to die to guard them. If that happens, Mordo is left with nothing.

Coincidentally, Dr. Strange has just finished a black magic experiment and projects into the astral plane to tell his Master about it. Through Strange’s enchanted amulet he can tell the Master is in trouble. His astral projection races to Tibet to protect his mentor.

Mordo and Strange have what amounts to a metaphysical fist fight. Strange can’t understand why Mordo wouldn’t want to help his fellow man and Mordo can’t understand why Strange wouldn’t want to rule over them. Strange uses a bit of trickery telling Mordo his amulet can trace Mordo’s spirit to where his body is. Mordo’s astral projection races back to his body. This was just a ruse, Strange’s amulet couldn’t do that but the trick enabled Strange to follow Mordo to where he actually was. Since Mordo is no longer on the astral plane, his control over the servant is severed.

Mordo vows never to rest until he has destroyed Dr. Strange and the Master. Dr. Strange knows he has won this round but also knows Mordo will be back for more. We’re then promised more tales of the occult in future issues of Strange Tales.

While this issue does introduce a big villain, it’s largely uninspired and doesn’t show the flare of future stories. There’s not artwork in this one that is truly groundbreaking and if you took the astral projection out, this would essentially be a fist fight between two students who hate one another.

There are much bigger, much more interesting, and far more revolutionary stories in store for Dr. Strange but that’s where we must leave him for now.

Next up we’ll be checking in on our family of heroes, The Fantastic Four in the pages of Fantastic Four #16! And they’ll be joined by the Ant-Man himself in this issue!

Posted on by slickdungeon

Rogue One: Cassian & K-2SO Special

Rogue One: Cassian & K-2SO Special Photo Credit: Marvel Writer: Duane Swierczynski, Artist: Fernando Blanco, Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo, Letterer: Clayton Cowles, Cover Artist: Julian Totino Tedesco
Rogue One: Cassian & K-2SO Special Photo Credit: Marvel Writer: Duane Swierczynski, Artist: Fernando Blanco, Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo, Letterer: Clayton Cowles, Cover Artist: Julian Totino Tedesco

One of the most amazing things about Star Wars is whenever we see a story we wonder, how did we get here? And Star Wars is always willing to answer that question. We know where Darth Vader comes from because people wanted to know and George Lucas had an answer. A lot of times this works exceedingly well. The film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is one of the best examples of this. I didn’t know I needed that story but I was blown away by it. Andor the television series is another example.

The Star Wars comics have even more room to tell stories to fill in gaps. I was curious about the Rogue One: Cassian & K-2SO Special comic so I decided to give it a read. Like almost all of the cannon Star Wars comics the artwork is incredible. My favorite way to read is to throw on the soundtrack from one of the movies and make it feel even more immersive. It’s like I have gone to a galaxy far, far away.

As far as the artwork of the piece, I have no notes, It’s perfect. As for the story, well, that’s a little different. It’s not that this is a bad story. There’s a good amount of action. There are characters who communicate by emitting smells which is something I have not seen before in Star Wars. And there are good, funny quips and dialogue like you might expect. I felt like there could be a lot of potential with those two olfactory characters but there’s not really time here to go into their backstory and it doesn’t feel like we’ll be seeing them again anytime soon so they do end up feeling a bit wasted.

The problem with the story is that it is a story we don’t necessarily need. I never wondered how Cassian ended up with K-2SO. It doesn’t bother me that I have an answer to that question but the oversaturation of Star Wars is a bit of a problem. I’d rather we have an all new comic story about characters we haven’t met than this one. In the same way explaining the fuzzy dice on the Millenium Falcon in Solo feels unnecessary, so does this story. It’s a little indulgent but still fun.

Still, if you love Star Wars, there are much worse ways to spend 15 minutes of reading time.

In conclusion, if you are looking for an entertaining Star Wars read with amazing art that has a story with fairly low stakes (we know who will live here) then this is a good comic. And there is only the one shot so once you’ve read it you are done with this particular story.

May the force be with you!

P.S. if you want to check out another of my Star Wars reviews, take a look here.

Posted on by slickdungeon · 1 Comment

Marvel 616 Review – Strange Tales #111 (A Story)

Strange Tales #111 (A story) Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, Artists: Dick Ayers, Jack Kirby
Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, Artists: Dick Ayers, Jack Kirby

Well, we’ve come to it. The first appearance of the unforgettable villain, Asbestos Man.

According to Wikipedia asbestos is “a group of naturally occurring, toxic, carcinogenic, and fibrous silicate minerals.”

In 1963 when Strange Tales #111 debuted, asbestos was seen as a nearly miraculous substance. It was fire resistant and in America it was promptly used in everything in the building process from cement to paint. It was not widely known at the time that asbestos also has very negative effects such as causing lung cancer, mesothelioma (a cancer of the lung lining), and asbestosis (lung scarring). Buildings built in the 1980s and earlier often used the stuff for insulation as well. In other words, asbestos was everywhere. It wasn’t until 2024 that the EPA finalized a ban of the substance.

So, it seems ridiculous to have made a character named Asbestos Man. But at the time it totally made sense. It was a revolutionary and modern material thought to reduce the number of deaths from fire. What if there was a man who could master this material? Who better to be a villain for our hot headed hero Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch?

In walks Asbestos Man in our Marvel 616 story. Who is this guy and what is his deal?

The first page is a teaser panel showing Asbestos Man fighting Johnny Storm. The press around them are in disbelief as Asbestos Man has the upper hand. The narrator asks, “Will the Asbestos Man ring down the curtain on the brilliant career of the teen-age torch?”

Even Johnny himself thinks, “… nothing, even my most intense flame, affects him in the least! It looks like I’m beaten at last!”

Seems pretty dire. So how did we get here? Well the story proper starts by introducing us to Professor Orson Kasloff walking down the street deep in thought. This guy is up to no good.

Why would a scientific genius need to contact the underworld? We’ll find out in a moment. The professor sees a commotion in the street and wants to find out what all the fuss is about. It seems The Human Torch has just stopped some jewel thieves. Kasloff sees him in action and realizes the power of fire is too much for the common criminal.

At the same time, Blackie Barker “of the underworld” is watching on wishing there was some way to get rid of our hero. He’s the mastermind of this little robbery but he escapes without Torch knowing he was involved.

At this point Kasloff decides to “review the past” giving us a glimpse into his troubles. He’s a brilliant and valued chemist but he doesn’t think he’s being paid what he is worth. He’s big mad that his company profits from his ideas while paying him a mere pittance.

I think a lot of us can relate to this problem but it seems to me filing some patents or asking for a raise might be the way to go here. Instead, Kasloff decides he’s only going to work for himself. That’s also a fine option if you want to go into business for yourself. Kasloff even has a product that might sell. He’s invented a liquid solvent that can melt steel and iron upon contact. Rather than sell that, Kasloff thinks about using it to melt the company safe. I don’t know how much is in the safe but I bet it’s less than he would get for selling his formula.

Naturally, Kasloff decides his best answer is to become a criminal.

Kasloff thinks of other criminal ideas he could pull off too. He thinks he can invent a pen that can mimic any signature as a perfect forgery. He also thinks he could make a machine that will reproduce any bill, bond, or legal paper, making perfect counterfeits.

Personally, I think between the forgery and counterfeit he could stop there. I mean if you can literally print your own money and not get caught, why do you need to do anything else? But Kasloff is just full of ideas. He thinks about ways to raid Fort Knox and plunder world treasures.

We then come back to current day where Kasloff makes his first attempt at crime. He does try to rob the company he works for. But an alarm sounds and he escapes just in time.

Say what you will about Kasloff, he knows his limitations. Although he is a scientific genius he has no experience in crime. He concocts a plan. He goes to the city slums and tells shady looking people in bars (Blackie Barker himself in fact) that he is, “…looking for a member of the underworld to take into partner-ship…” That goes about as well as you’d expect.

Once Kasloff sees The Torch, he has an idea. Defeat the superhero and the criminals will come to him. To implement the plan he first buys a literal castle far from any other habitation, yet in a rural area close to town. It’s a bargain because everyone thinks it’s haunted.

Kasloff gets to work and invents his own form of asbestos which he says is made from, “chrysotile, calcium, and iron.” He makes a whole suit of this stuff and includes a net and a shield which are also fire resistant. And we finally get our first full glimpse of Asbestos Man in his suit.

Kasloff may be a villain but he’s also impolite. He sends a letter to Johnny Storm and addresses it to “The cowardly Human Torch.” It’s a challenge to face off against the guy. Johnny is furious but he’s talked down by Reed and The Thing. But then those two go off to, “work on our tax report with Sue!” Johnny tries to burn the note but it doesn’t work and now the teenager is intrigued. He does his research and realizes that asbestos is, in fact, fireproof for all intents and purposes.

Asbestos Man then has the gall to call Johnny directly and challenge him to a fight. There’s no way he’s backing down now. Johnny is invited to the castle for a knock down drag out brawl in front of the press.

Johnny arrives and starts fighting. His fire stream can’t break past Asbestos Man’s shield. He tosses fire balls only to have them caught by the fireproof net. These get thrown right back at Johnny. The Kasloff drops Johnny through a trap door.

Just an aside here but there are so many times members of the Fantastic Four end up falling through trap doors. You’d think they’d be more cautious of where they step when they see giant levers in a room.

This trap door drops Johnny into a moat filled with water which extinguishes his flames. And the press now has pictures to prove the defeat. This really gets to Johnny and I don’t think I’ve seen a panel where he looks more dejected than this one.

The next day the other members of the FF offer to help Johnny but this is one fight he feels the need to win on his own. For his part, Kasloff breaks Blackie Barker’s gang out of prison. They go back to Kasloff’s castle. The gang is worried about being caught by The Torch but Kasloff assures them he has plenty of escape routes for them. The group starts to plan their next heist.

Being a good sister, Sue Storm reminds Johnny he was depending on his flame alone. That’s not going to work when someone is fireproof. Johnny realizes he can’t use a direct attack. He goes back for another round. This time he’s planning on using the things around Kasloff to defeat him.

He starts by melting the iron handle of Kasloff’s net. Johnny next melts a chandelier above Kasloff’s head making it drop on him. Kasloff throws some of his steel melting formula at The Torch but Johnny melts the bottle in mid air. Then The Torch melts the floor right under Asbestos Man’s feet. Finally Johnny creates enough flame around Kasloffs head to suck away the oxygen until the criminal gives up.

The story ends with the police capturing the criminal and Johnny saying, “Rember professor, you can never play with fire without… getting burned!“

Not to worry Johnny, you also can’t play with Asbestos without having some seriously negative health issues.

It’s certainly odd to read a story about a man whose powers are based off a substance we know to stay away from. But as far as the story goes it was fairly entertaining. I still can never quite wrap my head around why any member of the FF is dealing with crimes as mundane as burglary. And I still find it hard to figure out why some of these criminals don’t just sell some of this stuff they invent. The stories will get more sophisticated and we haven’t nearly seen the end of Asbestos Man.

This isn’t exactly a landmark issue for Marvel 616 but it does set up one of the main antagonists for our favorite teenager on fire. We’ll be checking back in on the whole Fantastic Four again soon. But for now it’s on to the next story.

Next up we’ll be catching up with the Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Stephen Strange in the pages of Strange Tales #111 (C story) where we will meet another new villain in the form of Baron Mordo!

Posted on by slickdungeon

2025 Book Challenge!

person standing on stacks of books
Photo by Nothing Ahead on Pexels.com

2025 Book Challenge!

The 2025 book challenge is simple. Pick an item on the list. Find a book that matches. If you are reading a book and realize it fits an item, check it off! Download the list right here or from the image below to get started!

Slick Dungeon's 2025 Book Challenge!
Slick Dungeon’s 2025 Book Challenge!

Here’s how I plan to meet the challenge!

  1. My favorite book is Lord of the Rings.
  2. For a book assigned in High Schools I will re-read 1984.
  3. For a book with a blue cover – I haven’t decided what book to do here. But one of the ones I read in 2025 is bound to have a blue cover.
  4. I’m in the middle of the Mistborn series. Finding a fantasy book should be easy.
  5. For a non-fiction book I’ll either read a biography (probably about a musician) or something about the comic book industry. I love learning more about both of those.
  6. A book you saw someone reading in a movie – This will be a surprise. I’ll just pick the next book someone reads in a movie I am watching.
  7. For a book of short stories I’m reading You Like it Darker by Stephen King.
  8. For a book with an amazing first line – Technically two lines but The Restaurant at the End of the Universe starts like this – “The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” How great is that?
  9. Most people know the end of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It ends with the perfect line – ‘He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.’
  10. For a book that is not on a best seller list, I’ll decide the month I read it. To make sure it’s not on a best seller list. There are plenty to choose!
  11. For a book with only a few characters I will read This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
  12. I reserve the right to change this one. But I’m planning to read Carrie Fisher’s memoir The Princess Diarist.

Let me know how it goes!

I hope you enjoy the challenge! Don’t forget to let me know if you read along. And how it goes if you do.

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

Posted on by slickdungeon

Challenge Yourself! Books, Movies and RPGs for 2025

black and white dartboard
black and white dartboard
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Hey Everyone, Slick Dungeon here. 2024 had plenty of challenges for most of us, a lot of them not the fun kind. So I decided to bring back my book, movie, and TTRPG challenges. This year I invite you to challenge yourself!

For the next three days come back here to find out what the challenges are and download a copy for yourself.

When I started this blog I used to do a book, movie, and TTRPG challenge every year. That got to be a lot so I took a break but I’m bringing them back. When they are all out you can download not one, not two, but three absolutely free challenge checklists. Whether you love movies, books, tabletop role playing games, or all three, there is something for you.

Each list has 12 challenges. One per month should be doable but if you are an overachiever, feel free to knock these out in 12 days or less. If you do take up any of these challenges let me know how it went. And if you happen to post it on your social media, feel free to tag me so I can follow your progress.

Challenge yourself! The Rules

  1. There are three separate challenges, one for books, one for movies and one for tabletop role playing games. I’ll tell you about each one and give suggestions for how I plan to meet the challenge.
  2. Once I finish a challenge I will check it off and then post about it. This challenge is for you so feel free to post about it or just enjoy it on your own. If you do post somewhere, let’s compare notes!
  3. These can be done in any order. I’m not judging you and there’s no grade here.
  4. If you want to double dip on any of these feel free. I’m not going to do that but it’s your life, do what you want.
  5. This is not a rule but these will be downloadable PDF’s so feel free to download and print them or pass them on to friends, relatives, neighbors, or office mates looking for something to do! Share, share, share!

How can I get these?

Just come back here tomorrow and you’ll see the movie challenge. The next day grab your book challenge. And on 1/5 get your TTRPG challenge. That’s it!

I hope you enjoy the challenges I made. Don’t forget to let me know if you plan to play along and how it goes if you do.

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

PS. Want to see my challenges from previous years? Check them out here and here.