Posted on by slickdungeon

Comic Books for Fighting Fascism – Captain America

Captain America #1 by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby

This series of posts was inspired by the Popsmart Instagram series Films for Fighting Fascism by Professor Shannon Mancus. She’s much smarter than I am and has more degrees than I do but I bet I’ve read more comics than her.

(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)

American Hate Rallies

Madison Square Garden holds 20,000 people. It’s been a venue for musicians, artists, comedians, sporting events, and has been home to at least two American hate rallies. These rallies centered around a buffoonish leader who worshiped a foreign authoritarian and wanted to spread a message of violence, othering, and fear to the American people.

In 1939, a man named Fritz Julius Kuhn, head of the German American Bund, spoke on stage with a huge portrait of George Washington behind him. Framing the portrait were two American flags and two banners with large swastikas emblazoned on them.

At the time, the mayor of New York, Fiorello LaGuardia had been warned that this rally could be dangerous. This was before America entered the war and the government had thus far assumed an isolationist position. The goal of the Bund was to sway sentiment to bring America to war on the side of the Nazis. LaGuardia allowed the rally to proceed, noting free speech rights. He did believe the rally would be the downfall of the hate group, later stating, “I believe in exposing the cooties to the sunlight, and we recently had an exhibition of international cooties.”

While the mayor had a point in letting the buffoonery play out, there was one man who directly stood up to Kuhn in the moment. Isadore Greenbaum had seen the advertising for the rally and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. He was well aware a hateful little man was going to be speaking in front of a large crowd. What Greenbaum did not expect was what he observed in the crowd. As the rally went on, he saw the speakers become more hateful, more antisemitic by the minute, and he saw several of his neighbors, friends and colleagues cheering for the speaker. Greenbaum did not plan any sort of protest but observing what he knew to be wrong, he rushed the stage and unplugged the microphones. He was promptly beaten by members of the Bund for it. This was exactly the kind of violence Kuhn wanted to stir.

The rally received international attention. There was an atmosphere of fear and anger brewing on both sides of the rally. While there were definitely more people strongly opposed to Nazism, there were pockets of America where the ideology was gaining ground. America’s position on what to do about the war taking place in Europe was not truly cemented until after the Pearl Harbor attack in December, 1941. The debacle of the Bund rally may have changed some minds. But mostly in favor of fighting rather than joining the Nazis.

Far ahead of the curve in standing against Adolph Hitler and his Nazi goons were Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The cover of the first issue of Captain America featured a man wrapped in an American flag punching Adolph Hitler directly in the face. To add insult to Hitler’s injury, Captain America was not only unabashedly anti-Nazi, he was a blond-haired Adonis-like figure, one of the ideal pictures of humanity and masculinity that Hitler believed was superior. Much like Greenbaum, Simon and Kirby saw what was happening and decided to do something about it.

In 2024, Madison Square Garden was home to another buffoonish leader who wanted to stir up the crowd with violent and racist language, hoping to make a direct connection between the 1939 Nazi rally and current feelings of hatred towards several out groups. This is not just my opinion. Leading scholar, researcher and historian who specializes in understanding the authoritarian play book Ruth Ben-Giat also believes there is a direct comparison between the two events.

The Bund rally was exposed for what it was by a single man taking action. Yet the MAGA rally attempted to work on two levels. First and foremost, it was a dog whistle to anyone who truly believed in the racist component of the America First, isolationist, anti-immigrant policies Trump would go on to enact. Secondly, it operated as a mechanism of attempting to discredit anyone trying to condemn this rally as being anything like the 1939 rally. It was not technically held in the same structure, as Madison Square Garden had been rebuilt in the intervening years. This rally didn’t require any kind of formal membership in an organization for someone to be a speaker. There were not uniforms for everyone onstage. However, most of the audience members were wearing the same red hats.

If someone on the left mentioned this was a hate rally, the MAGA movement attacked back by stating they were “trolling the libs” or saying they were offended to be compared to the hateful groups of the past. Yet the language used there reflected much of what the American Bund was saying in 1939. One speaker at one of the rallies said, “America is for Americans and Americans only.” A speaker at the other said, “…restore America to the true Americans.” Without looking it up can you tell which one came from which rally? They are both anti-immigrant, American isolationist statements. And Ruth Ben-Giat’s comments on Trump trying to normalize violence and violent rhetoric have become disturbingly prophetic. One only needs to view how certain television networks defend any kind of violence against immigrants, protestors, or anyone else MAGA hates to understand how this has taken hold.

To bring this back to Captain America, he was in part inspired by the rally in 1939 as well as other pro Nazi news and sentiments that continued in the following years. And today, in 2026, this character would still punch a fascist in the face. That has never changed. If it was as simple as standing up to bullies, Cap could already teach us a lot. But, Captain America has never been the perfect vehicle for delivering anti-authoritarian messages. In fact, we can learn much from the creator’s mistakes as well as from the successful actions of Steve Rogers and other characters who have taken on the mantle of Captain America. 

The Early Days of Captain America

If you look at the earliest issues of the comic book you will find lots of war stories, plenty of action, a superhero ready to defend his country along with his young counterpart Bucky Barnes, and far too many racist depictions of anyone who was not white. Especially bad depictions are made of Asian and Black characters in the book. While fighting the Nazis was and remains a laudable goal, the book is filled with jingoism from cover to cover in the early days. The book never really addressed things like Japanese-American internment camps in the country, nor did it provide any nuance to the evil bad guys. Which, in part is fair. Nazis were and are evil. It’s probably not up to a comic book like Captain America to convince us how normal people can be swept up in the atrocities that came out of World War II.

It’s also important to note that the creators of the book didn’t only make comics. They themselves served in the war. Jack Kirby even had a hand in helping to free people imprisoned in a concentration camp. Because of his artistic skills he was often sent out to scout ahead and draw maps of locations. He was a valuable asset to the war effort and he was fighting fascism before it was cool and he still helps us to do so now. The character he created has had an immeasurable impact on the fight against authoritarianism. Unfortunately, because he is draped in the American flag, sometimes those same authoritarians try to claim this character as being on their side. He is not, has not ever been, nor ever will be on the side of fascist ideals.

Early mistakes aside, Captain America has always fought not for what America is, but what it could be. Steve Rogers was experimented on and became the first super soldier. Immediately after, the man who developed the serum was killed by German spies. This makes Steve Rogers a uniquely American hero in the Marvel universe. But he does not become an instrument of the government. In the earliest issues he fought the good fight during the war. He was part of the military so he did work for the government in that way. But that never meant he had to fully comply and agree with everything our government did.

Captain America Reborn

There are two basic phases when it comes to Captain America the comic book. First, the war phase. G.I.’s in the actual war would receive care packages and they were often filled with comic books. Captain America for obvious reasons was one of the most popular titles. This continued through and a little after the war. But by 1949 the book felt less relevant and Cap had his first hiatus. He disappeared from newsstands until 1953 when he was brought back to fight the “commies” for a while but it was short-lived and the title went away again in 1954.

The main phase of Captain America, the one we all know and recognize now actually debuted in Avengers #4 in 1964. Stan Lee brought him back by explaining that Steve Rogers had been frozen in ice for 20 long years. Because of his super soldier serum he was able to survive and went on to be one of the most important, recognizable, and powerful superheroes of the Marvel age. In the MCU this gets extended to match our current timeline showing him as frozen for 66 years in the films. I suspect this will continually get recontextualized because the character simply works best if he is a man out of time who is trying to understand our current era.

From this rebirth of the character is where things get interesting with Steve Rogers. He always sticks up for others, he’s a good leader because he empathizes with everyone, and he’s willing to make his voice heard whether the government thinks it is a good idea or not. In the 1970’s during the height of the Watergate scandal the book heavily implies but just doesn’t quite show all the way that Steve opposed corruption in the White House. Just like he would now. This story was Captain America #169–175 (“The Secret Empire”). And it remains one of the greatest Cap stories of all time.

In fact, Steve Rogers sticks to his principles so much that he is willing to walk away from his own title in the story The Captain (#332–350). Written by Mark Gruenwald, this story shows what happens when he refuses to become a weapon for state authoritarianism. Steve gives up his uniform and shield, operating instead as an independent hero named “The Captain” while a violent, state-sanctioned replacement takes his place. You can see where the conflict comes from with that one.

In 2005, Ed Brubaker had a legendary run on Captain America where he brought back Bucky Barnes as The Winter Soldier. In that story, a corporate-fascist executive named Aleksander Lukin weaponizes elements of the U.S. military-industrial complex and S.H.I.E.L.D. from within. It highlights how easily bureaucratic institutions can be subverted by totalitarian interests. Which is exactly what we see now when we see that the Trumps invest in drone companies and then those drones are literally used to kill people in wars we had no business starting. It’s all done for control and profit.

Another notable instance of Steve Rogers fighting against the status quo was the events of Civil War. This story doesn’t tie directly into fascism in America, but it does show that Steve will stand on principle over orders. For this story, I strongly recommend reading the comics over watching the movie because the film loses most of the nuance that gave meaning behind Cap’s actions.

While I could continue listing stories that involve Steve Rogers and are great starting points for fighting fascism, there are two recent stories that highlight the worst and best ways to fight fascism. The Secret Empire remake was a backfire of epic proportions while Truth: Red, White, & Black is a masterclass in recontextualizing and adding to the rich history of comics that shows us knowing history is vital for fighting against authoritarianism.

The Secret Empire Remake Debacle

One of the fascist institutions in Captain America comics right from the first issue was Hydra. This is an evil organization run by Nazis and headed by the evil Red Skull. Think of him as the Joker to Steve Rogers’ Batman. In the 1970s the creators of Captain America had the foresight and integrity to call out what the American government was doing and force Steve to confront the implications of a corrupt White House. This is one of the reasons it is considered amongst the best Captain America stories ever told. It’s no wonder there was an attempt to remake this in 2017. But the creators of the modern series made huge mistakes.

Remakes, rewrites, and re-imaginings are frequent in comic books. Sometimes they provide new context, sometimes they revitalize a forgotten character, and sometimes they are better stories than the originals. 2017’s Secret Empire was none of that. This is where we get the Nazi Steve Rogers. It was supposedly not an alternate reality, not a dream, not anything that could easily be waved away by a writer. In the story the creators reveal that Steve was, and had always been, part of Hydra. Pushing the envelope in comic books is good. But shocking for shock value when it comes to fascism? Well, that was a mistake. Readers did not take kindly to this version of Captain America and for good reason. We could all see what was happening with the Trump administration. Even in the first term they were restricting travel, caging families, and becoming more isolationist than is healthy for any country. To have a symbol like Steve Rogers suddenly side with people like that? It tore at the hearts of comic book readers in a way that felt unforgivable.

As I am sure you can guess, if you read comics, there was a long and complicated route that brought back our beloved Steve Rogers. We still, now, have the man who will fight Nazis, not be one.

This story was also counter to the depiction of Steve we see in the films. He does watch Hydra surround him in some of those movies. The organization penetrates S.H.I.E.L.D. from within but Steve himself? He is on an elevator and watches several of these agents get on with him. He knows what is coming and he just lets them keep loading up the elevator. He not only fights his way past them while inside of a crowded elevator, he beats the hell out of them so they will never forget who stood up to them. He goes on the run from the government until he can clear his name. He fights Iron Man, one of his closest allies, just to stand up for what he believes in. And in Chris Evans’ depiction of the character is where we get one of the most memorable lines Captain America ever says. He gets knocked down over and over both physically and metaphorically. But what does he do? He stands back up and says, “I can do this all day.”

It was a strange whiplash to have that character on film while in the comics he was saying, “Hail Hydra.” As far as the mechanics of the story, it was a solid foundation but the timing and the execution were simply terrible. And it made readers who love the character walk away from him.

If you left the books because of that, I can tell you it is safe to return because we do have the real Steve back now. But if you can’t forgive it for taking an icon of independence and even temporarily turning him into a fascist, well, I can’t blame you either.

One thing to note about Captain America whether we are talking about the comic books, the movies, or almost any other iteration, is that these stories are told from the white, straight, American male perspective. Steve surrounds himself with people from all backgrounds and to those of us, like myself, who share Steve’s ideals and skin tone, we should remember that he has a whole team around him who help him to succeed. He cares about all of them but sometimes, he must be the one to speak because those with less representation are often not heard. It’s why having this white, blonde, American man punching Hitler in the face was so effective all those years ago. We might look like some of these fascists but that sure as hell does not mean we agree with them.

But there is one incredibly impactful story that was told from a different perspective and is simply incredible in the delivery is Truth: Red, White, & Black.

Truth: Red, White, & Black

You’d think after decades of comic books about Steve Rogers there wasn’t anything new to learn. But in 2003, we got one of the most impressive Captain America stories ever and it had almost nothing to do with Steve. Written by Robert Morales and illustrated by Kyle Baker Truth: Red, White, & Black tells the story of a group of black soldiers who receive early versions of the super soldier serum that worked on Steve Rogers.

The difference? These men didn’t volunteer to become a superhero. No, they were experimented on and used by their own government even as they were trying to fight for freedoms they never fully enjoyed at home. It mirrors the real life events of the Tuskegee Syphilis study where 399 Black sharecroppers who had Syphilis were told they were being treated for their “bad blood.” This was done simply because the government wanted to see what would happen if they let the disease play out without real treatment. The government could have cured these men but chose not to. It remains one of the most shameful incidents of American history and if you don’t know about it, look it up before this administration erases all the records of it.

As far as the comic goes, this group of black soldiers is injected with the serum. Several of them die immediately. The white officers show no compassion for these soldiers and the experiments continue. Eventually, a few do survive the process. They end up with super strength but they also look like mutated abominations as a result. Soon, most of them die as well as the long term impacts of the serum are not yet understood.

Finally, one soldier seems to take well to the serum. His name is Isaiah Bradley. And if you go by his timeline, he’s technically the first Captain America despite the fact that Steve Rogers is making appearances in his uniform in the U.S. at this time. And Bradley is assigned a mission from hell. He is tasked with liberating a Nazi death camp. He’s supposed to go with Steve Rogers who is unable to show up through no fault of his own. Bradley decides to take the uniform meant for Steve and free the people in the camp. He is successful although he can’t save those who died already and those who are too near to death to make it for long.

And there’s a heartbreaking scene where a fair number of people die as Bradley, try as he might can’t save them and he himself is captured by Germans.

One would think that a war hero of that caliber would return home to a grand welcome with a parade and a celebration. Instead? Bradley is court-martialed and imprisoned for 17 years for stealing the uniform. Steve Rogers has no knowledge of any of this. And because of the effects of the serum, Bradley is mentally compromised and in a very sorry state when Steve does finally find out about the “Black Captain America.”

The story is moving and does not shy away from the atrocities of war, of American government, from institutional racism, and it still allows us to know that fighting fascism is worth the effort. It doesn’t try to hide or change history the way this administration wants to. It shows the flaws of America and the strengths. It’s a story that without ever saying it explicitly allows the characters to get knocked down over and over just to get back up and say, “I can do this all day.”

This is why we need to fight to preserve all of our history, not just some of it. When we find out new information that we didn’t fully understand, we can acknowledge there are good fights to be had that sometimes we execute poorly. The main thing we have to do is not lose hope. We all need to be able to do what both Isaiah Bradley and Steve Rogers did. We might take some punches. We might get knocked down. Sometimes, we even pick the wrong fight. But as long as we are fighting against fascism? We’ll get back up again and punch a Nazi in the face.

How We Can Learn From Captain America

It’s not always easy to know what to do when you are confronted with true evil. I grew up thinking people with fascist ideas were far off somewhere in the past, already dealt with. But now, when I see things like the rally at Madison Square Garden, when I hear people like Stephen Miller, as I watch ICE capture, beat, and kill citizens and non-citizens alike, I know that was a false version of reality. Fascism is here and now in America.

It’s trying to gain strength. It’s trying to amass crowds and overrule those of us who think, look, or are different. Fascism is in our headlines every single morning now. And the media companies keep falling prey to the idea of capitulating to authoritarians. They should remember how well that worked out for those who surrounded Hitler. It was not a kind end for any of them.

There are some things we need to remember. First, the idea of reading, making, and sharing something like a comic book with an anti-fascist message scares the hell out of these people. And for good reason. Comic book fans are a community. We talk to one another. We share common interests and most of us understand the subtext of what we read. This makes us more educated than the Trump administration would like us to be. When you read a Captain America story, especially one of the great ones, you are committing a small act of defiance against this regime.

Second, let’s remember not to give up hope. Steve Rogers doesn’t. Isaiah Bradley had every reason to but he doesn’t either. Even when Steve leaves his uniform behind, he’s still fighting for what this country could be. He sees those Hydra agents and welcomes them to the elevator and gives them a chance to change their minds before he beats them down.

But the biggest lesson we get from Captain America isn’t even the line from the movie, “I can do this all day.” It’s what you watch him do when he says it. Captain America stands up. Every time. He stands up when they knock him down. He stands up for others. He stands up for freedom. He stands up to fascists. And yes, he punches them in the face and does not apologize for that.

Remember to always stand up for what is right, even when it feels hopeless, even when you are running out of steam. They are afraid of anyone willing to get off of their knees.

Recommended Reading for Captain America

Marvel Unlimited has all of the Captain America comics you can read except for the most recent three months. Below are my recommendations for the greatest Cap stories of all time for fighting fascism.

Captain America Comics #1 (1941) – Steve Rogers punches Hitler in the face on the cover and this starts the whole thing.

Captain America #193–200: The Madbomb – Jack Kirby returns to the title and tells a story about a secret society of wealthy elites who plot to overthrow the U.S. government on the Bicentennial. They use a device called the “Madbomb” to strip citizens of their free will and reduce them to a state of mindless, violent rage. It remains one of the ultimate allegories for how fascist structures exploit chaos to seize power.

Captain America #247–255: Dawn’s Early Light – This run features Steve Rogers facing off against Baron Blood and his arch-nemesis, Baron von Strucker. It shows Captain America’s definitive ideological rejection of fascism, emphasizing that true patriotism means defending the freedom of all people, not blind obedience to a state or dictator.

Captain America: Sam Wilson (2015) #1–6 – Sam Wilson (aka the Falcon acting as the new Captain America) takes up the shield, facing a resurgence of the Sons of the Serpent, a fascist, white-nationalist militia operating along the US-Mexico border. Written by Nick Spencer, this run explores how modern fascism wraps itself in corporate messaging and internet culture, testing what the shield stands for in a deeply divided, modern landscape.

Captain America #1–14 (1998): Heroes Return – Written by Mark Waid, this run features a storyline titled “Man Without a Country.” The Red Skull uses a reality-warping Cosmic Cube to trick the world into thinking Captain America has turned fascist, resulting in Steve being exiled from the United States. It is a brilliant examination of how easily nationalistic fervor can be weaponized and manipulated by fascist propaganda.

The Secret Empire (#172–175) – Written by Steve Englehart, Cap discovers a fascist shadow group has infiltrated the highest levels of the White House. The storyline ends with the villainous mastermind committing suicide in the Oval Office. The shock causes Steve Rogers to temporarily abandon the Captain America identity entirely.

The Captain (#332–350) – Written by Mark Gruenwald, a corrupt government committee demands Cap report directly to them and follow political orders. Refusing to become a weapon for state authoritarianism, Steve surrenders his uniform and shield, operating instead as an independent hero named “The Captain.”

Winter Soldier / The Red Menace (#1–14, 2005) – Ed Brubaker’s legendary run shows a corporate-fascist executive named Aleksander Lukin weaponizing corrupt elements of the U.S. military-industrial complex and S.H.I.E.L.D. from within. It highlights how easily bureaucratic institutions can be subverted by totalitarian interests.

Civil War (2006) – The U.S. government passes the Superhuman Registration Act, turning the country into a surveillance state that strips citizens of due process. Cap refuses to enforce the law, leading a underground rebellion against his own government and former allies.

Truth: Red, White & Black – Written by Robert Morales and illustrated by Kyle Baker, this groundbreaking historical fiction series unearths the tragic secret history of the Super-Soldier program. It serves as a direct comic book allegory to the real-life Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Next up on Comics for Fighting Fascism: Persepolis

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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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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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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!

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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.

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Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game Combat Part 1

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game by Matt Forbeck

Combat is essential in the Marvel Multivers Role-Playing Game. This post will be part 1 of a series breaking combat down into simple steps. Here we will cover ways to play, timing, sequence of play, positioning, initiative, taking turns, delaying turns and reserving actions. In the next post we’ll go over standard actions, reactions, movement actions, falling, and dealing damage. In the final combat post we’ll go over weapons, healing, conditions, team maneuvers, and objects.

If you want to see more about how to play the game, start here. The best resource will always be the core rule book for the game so definitely check that out.

What are ways to play the Marvel multiverse Role-Playing Game?

Like most role playing games, the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game involves a lot more than combat. There are always going to be conversations and actions revolving around the characters which don’t need to be adjudicated in any way. Going through a door? Well, if it’s unlocked, just open it. But, this is a super hero game we’re talking about. There is going to come a point in this game where conflicts become physical. This is the point when combat breaks out. When that happens there are rules to follow to make sure the game plays out fairly. But how you represent these rules can vary greatly. The book suggests several ways to play this game. If you have played Dungeons & Dragons you’ve probably played one of these ways.

Theater of the Mind

This method involves no extra setup. There are no maps or miniatures needed. The Narrator describes the situation, players describe what their characters do, and the scene plays out. Groups can and do use this method even for combat. However, for this game it can get tricky because there is no true way to measure what someone imagines in their own mind. This can be advantageous when playing online if you aren’t on a virtual tabletop.

Before combat breaks out I would say this is a perfectly valid method and the one you’ll use most often, even when using miniatures. But for this game in particular, I think having some form of physical representation of the combat is helpful whether that is online with a map on a screen or with miniatures on a physical map in person.

On a map

This is the opposite of theater of the mind. Here you rely on a map of some kind, usually with representations of characters, NPC’s and locations on the map. The neat thing about playing this way is there is a host of different kinds of maps to play on. You can use physical maps with grid lines. If you do, the core rule book gives you measurements to use for estimating distances and it even has rules for vertical movement. These can get a little tricky so we’ll go over those in a later post when we give some actual examples of combat.

You can also play on a physical map with miniatures and no grid. This feels a bit more realistic sometimes but there will be instances where you need to break out a ruler for measurement.

You can even just use a whiteboard or projector to put a tentative map on a screen and kind of estimate the action. There’s not a wrong way to use a map but do make sure whatever your group uses, the Narrator is consistent with the rules of how movement and actions work on that map.

On a virtual tabletop (VTT)

One of the most popular ways to play any TTRPG lately is on a virtual tabletop. There are several of these to choose from for Marvel’s role playing game. The most notable is Roll20. They have the core book, virtual character sheets, and all of the expansion books for the game. Of course, you will need to pay to access these materials. You could also just use Discord voice chat with your friends and play that way. Other VTT’s will probably support the game at some point but for now the main one is Roll20. If you live a long distance from your friends, or any of you have reasons you have to play from home rather than in a group, Roll20 can be a great option. Just be aware if you buy the physical books, you’ll still have to buy the VTT books on Roll20 to play the official version. You can, however, access the basic rules there for free.

Timing

When combat does break out, it is important to keep track of timing. The game tracks this through a series of rounds and turns. Each person in the fight has five seconds per round (in game time, not real time) to do something. There are some rules in the game which affect this timing based on things like powers or locations but in general, each person in the fight has five seconds of action time. Then the round starts again and each person gets another turn until the combat completes. Characters and NPCs can also sometimes take reactions but we’ll go over those in a future post. If you have ever played Dungeons & Dragons this system will feel quite familiar. Even if you have played a turn based RPG video game, you’ll likely catch on quickly.

Sequence of play

One of the things I find most helpful when combat breaks out in this game is to refer to the 6 steps of the sequence of play listed in the book. They are as follows.

  1. Determine positions.
  2. Roll initiative checks to determine the initiative order.
  3. Start a new round.
  4. Each character takes their turn in initiative order.
  5. If any combatants are still able and want to fight, go back up to step 3.
  6. Otherwise, the combat ends.

Once you reach step 6, the game usually goes back to more of a theater of mind state where characters can act a bit more freely.

Determine positions

Before getting into the thrill of the fight, you have to figure out where everyone is. In theater of the mind, this is more of a description where you’ll tell the Narrator about where your character is. If you’re using a map, you’ll put a marker of some kind (miniature or token or whatever) to signify the space your character is in. The Narrator will need to do the same for any NPCs involved in the combat. Before the fight starts, make sure everyone is in agreement about where the characters are but remember the Narrator has the final decision here.

Line of sight

Line of sight is what it sounds like. Can your character see a target in combat? Sometimes this is obvious like if you are having a fight out in an open field on a clear day. According to the core rules anything within 200 spaces is considered in line of sight. But, if there’s bad weather, it’s late at night, there are obstructions in the way, etc. this could be reduced by the narrator. If it’s not clear if the character has line of sight, the Narrator will call for a Vigilance check against a Target Number the Narrator assigns.

One thing to remember is, even though your character can see something, that doesn’t mean they are in reach to attack it. We can see the Hulk coming at us from a long way off but you might not be close enough to punch or even shoot him with an energy blast at 200 spaces.

Characters also block line of sight for other characters. Although, if The Punisher is on the ground and Ant-Man is in front of him in ant form, that’s not going to block Punisher’s line of sight. And if we add Storm to the mix and she’s flying, she probably has better line of sight than anyone on the ground. It will vary based on your character’s powers and position.

Characters may have Trouble against a target who has cover but can still be seen. This works the opposite way as well, so if you need to, make sure your character finds their own cover!

Earshot

This is similar to line of sight. Can your character hear what someone is saying? That’s going to be easier in a quiet library than it will in a wind tunnel. It’s also easier to hear the Hulk than it is to hear a shrunken Ant-Man. Anytime it’s unclear if a character is within earshot, the Narrator will have you make a Vigilance check against a Target Number.

I don’t find earshot to come up a lot but it might depend on the character you play. Daredevil has pretty good hearing compared to everyone else. But that will be impacted by sudden loud sounds right next to his ears. Unless you are playing a character like Daredevil, this won’t come up a ton.

Range

There are powers in the game that have a range. The power should list this for you and it will be on your character sheet once you have filled it out. Attacks within the range are normal, you just roll the check like you do for any other attack. If you are trying to hit something up to double this range you have Trouble when making the check. Anything beyond double range is impossible.

I sometimes find ranges a little tricky (not just in this game either), so I am going to quote an example directly from the book, found on page 27.

“For example, if the range is 20 spaces, attacks at targets within 20 spaces are treated normally. From 21 to 40 spaces, they have trouble. Beyond that, the attack can’t be made.”

Once you’ve done this a few times in your game, you’ll catch on.

Initiative

Once you have everyone in position, and you know where the lines of sight and earshot are, it’s time to figure out who takes what turn. To do this, the players will roll an initiative check. You roll your d616 and then add your Initiative Modifier. This should be on your character sheet.

Players roll for their characters but Narrators roll for the NPCs. The book suggests if there is a large group of identical combatants, the Narrator can make a single roll for the group and have each member in that group act on the same initiative number in whatever order the Narrator wants. This is beneficial and saves time but if there is an overwhelming number of NPC combatants, it can lead to a long turn for the Narrator.

Once the players and Narrator have made their initiative checks, the Narrator puts them all in order from highest initiative to lowest.

But what about ties? Here’s where it can get a little complicated. For a tie, if one of the combatants got a Fantastic result, they go first. If neither or both got a Fantastic result, the combatant with the highest Initiative Modifier goes first. If those are tied and it’s between a player and an NPC, the player wins. However, if the tie is between players, they can decide how to break the tie (often times this just means talking to one another about what makes the most sense) or they can roll off and whoever gets the highest result goes first between the two.

Bonus round

If you get a Fantastic result on your initiative check, you get to participate in the sweet, sweet bonus round! Players and NPCs in this round basically get to take a turn before everyone else who did not get a Fantastic result. It’s hugely to your advantage as a player to have high initiative with a Fantastic result because there is a good chance you’ll be able to land the first blow. But on the other hand, if NPCs end up with high initiative, they’ll get to get a jab in first. Narrators, don’t forget to check this as this is something that can be easily missed when combat starts.

Surprise

There are circumstances where someone in a combat can be surprised. This will be determined by the Narrator. An obvious example is when someone is invisible. Those characters are going to surprise a combatant in most situations. When this happens to a character, they are surprised. In this instance the character has Trouble on their initiative check if it is before the combat begins. Think sneaking up on someone. This can either be the players or the NPCs. Anyone who is surprised can’t participate in the bonus round.

When a character is surprised later in combat, the character who causes the surprise gets an Edge on their next attack. Characters like the Invisible Woman can do this often to great effect and sometimes turn a combat around just through this element of surprise.

Taking turns

Once the initiative order is figured out and we know who is surprised and who is in the bonus round, it’s finally time to take turns. What can you do on a turn? In general there will be two types of actions which can be done. A standard action and a movement action. Characters can perform their standard action first (often this is an attack), their movement first, or they can do some movement, make the standard action, and then continue with their movement. As a player in TTRPGs one of my weaknesses is forgetting to complete my movement so make sure you pay close attention to how much movement you have used.

We’ll go more in depth into standard and movement actions in the next post.

Your character doesn’t have to take an action at all if you don’t want them to. Not usually recommended in a fight though. And there are other things your character can usually do that may not be considered a standard action. Like speaking or reading a sign or maybe pulling on your mask real quick. The Narrator will tell you if what you are trying to do requires a standard action. Anything that requires an Action Check would be considered an action.

Reactions

Each round of combat, characters also get a reaction. This doesn’t have to happen in initiative order but it is usually a response to a trigger of some kind. Once the reaction finishes, the round goes back to initiative order and the character has no more reactions until the next round. A character’s reaction can interrupt another character’s reaction. This can get a bit fuzzy so the Narrator needs to keep close track of things when this happens.

Delaying turns

There can be some instances where you want to wait to act. There are two basic ways to do this, holding a turn, or reserving an action.

Holding a turn

To hold a turn, a player voluntarily reduces their initiative check number. The player can either state what the new number is immediately, or they can leave it secret until they decide to take their turn. Narrators may have rules against this so make sure they are on board here. A held turn can’t interrupt a character’s turn. Once the held turn happens, the character’s initiative becomes the new, reduced number. If you hold for a full round and end up going before you would have with your original initiative check, your new initiative may be higher than it was originally. Either way, the new number is your initiative for the remainder of the combat. You won’t be able to take two turns in a round, no matter how you hold your action. And you don’t get the time back from holding. If two characters are holding and want to act at the same time, the one who started holding first goes first.

Reserving actions

Rather than holding a turn, a player can reserve an action. To do this you’ll typically use a standard action your character could perform but as a reaction when some event happens. The example given in the book is Captain America hiding in a corner out of sight, and waiting to punch the next Hydra agent who comes around the corner.

When this gets really tricky is when there are multiple characters reserving actions. For this, a new initiative order is rolled, but only for this sequence of actions. There’s no bonus round here and after the reactions are complete, the initial initiative order resumes.

In Conclusion

Combat is a huge part of this game. It can often take up the bulk of play since heroes and villains do have a tendency to fight. I tried to break this down into understandable components but you can find the full rules for combat in Chapter 4 pages 25 – 42 in the core rule book.

In many TTRPGs combat is one of the most complex parts of the game. In Dungeons & Dragons it’s roughly a third of the rule book. Once you play a few times, you and your group will get a hang of the flow of the action and it will soon feel natural. You’ll still need to check rules on occasion but you’ll learn something each time you do.

There are more rules to combat to understand. My next two posts in this series will continue with combat but after that we’ll create a character.

Thanks for reading and if you want to grab a hold of the character sheet, you can download it for free right here!

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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!

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Marvel 616 Review – The Fantastic Four #15

The Fantastic Four Issue #15. Writer: Stan Lee, Artist: Jack Kirby
The Fantastic Four Issue #15. Writer: Stan Lee, Artist: Jack Kirby

One of the interesting things about the Fantastic Four is they all live separate lives independent from the team. This is a superhero group that breaks up and gets back together more than your favorite band. And while they all are heroes in their own right, deep down we all know, just as they do, these four are best together.

In the 15th issue of the FF, a villain with intellectual prowess has a plan to separate the group and defeat them. The Mad Thinker makes his first appearance but is he enough to defeat the smartest man in the world, Reed Richards? Don’t count on it.

Before I get into the plot of the issue, let’s just take a moment to appreciate the cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. I love this cover. The artists not only convey a frenetic sense of movement with our heroes pinned down in what looks like an impossible position, it’s also as if this action is so intense it has literally broken through the cover of the comic itself. It’s a visual 4th wall break and man does it work. Say what you will about artists today, Jack Kirby in his time was a true innovator.

As for the issue itself, the first page promises a showdown between the Fantastic Four and someone called the Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android! While the FF have gone up against quite a few foes already, naming a character “The Mad Thinker” makes me think he’s meant to be a match for Reed Richards specifically.

The story shows us the Baxter Building in New York where Reed fires off his signal gun. This device unleashes a fiery 4 in the sky to call his team home. And at this point the team is famous enough, the pedestrians on the ground know this is a red alert for the super hero group.

The first of our heroes to see the signal is Johnny Storm who is on a date with a girl named Peggy. This is her first official appearance but it won’t be her last. She’s upset with the interruption of the date as ol’ flame head flies off. This seems to be repeat behavior on Johnny’s part but hey, a super hero has obligations.

We then move on to Sue Storm who is getting her hair done with one of the most sought after hair stylists in New York, Pierre. He’ll return to the pages of the Fantastic Four as well. Sue decides to turn invisible for what, in my opinion, is a pretty silly reason. She doesn’t want anyone to see her with curlers in her hair.

The last member of the group to see the signal is Benjamin Grim, aka, The Thing. He’s on Yancy Street where the Yancy Street Gang is making fun of him. Yancy street has been mentioned a time or two so far but this is the first direct showdown between The Thing and the Yancy Street Gang who grow to be a consistent rivalry for Ben. Why is Ben mad at these guys? They sent him a drawing of himself in a tutu. We don’t actually see the faces of any of these guys but they do taunt Ben and throw flowers at him. In response, the Thing picks up a bulldozer and is about to hurl it at them when he sees the emergency signal. He abandons the fight to help his friends. Of course this makes the Yancy Street Gang think he’s scared of them and they taunt him further on his way down the street.

The three members who have been summoned to the Baxter Building express their displeasure with being interrupted. But Reed says he didn’t want to stop what he was doing any more than they did. Reed was experimenting with D.N.A. and has “managed to create a primitive form of one-celled life which lived for a few seconds!” He asks, “Do you think I feel like stopping now?” Hmmmm…. I don’t know Reed, I feel like this whole line of experiments might come back to bite you in the end.

Anyway, the reason Reed summoned everyone is he got a tip from the chief of police. It seems a bunch of big shot “mobsters and gang leaders” from all over the country have converged on New York. And the police chief wants the FF to keep an eye out. I’m not sure the FF is actually the right team for this job since they tend to deal with things on a more cosmic scale but they should be capable of stopping a little crime right?

We’re next introduced to our villain. The Mad Thinker declares down to the half second when his visitors will arrive. Sure enough three tough looking thugs walk through the door. Apparently the Thinker has summoned these folks to help him create a “kingdom of crime.” And who’s to lead this kingdom? The Thinker, naturally.

He lays out a plan to take over New York, going so far as to imagine himself making treaties with other cities to negotiate terms of trade. But, of course, the mobsters want to know what will be done about the Fantastic Four. They all describe how any one of the members of that team could defeat the Thinker.

The Thinker flies into a rage and shows them all his huge computer array. With it he’s figured out a way to break into the Baxter Building and take over the heroes’ headquarters. He even claims his computer not only knows everything that ever has happened but can also predict everything that will happen. And he goes on to describe some crimes he’s committed with impeccable timing because he knew of strange incidents that would happen at precise moments. He got away because of a hot dog cart, a water main bursting, and an organ grinder’s monkey starting a fire. All things his machines predicted.

One of the mobsters isn’t buying it and decides to leave. The Thinker says he knew that would happen and that the mobster would regret it in 18 seconds. Eighteen seconds later the mob boss is arrested by the police and does regret his decision. Now, it could be the Thinker’s machines truly predicted this but as a skeptic myself, I think the safer bet is the cops saw famous mobsters come into their city and followed them, waiting for them to come out to be arrested. That’s just my hunch though. But it’s enough to convince the rest of the gangsters and thugs to join with The Thinker.

The Thinker’s plan to defeat the famous super heroes boils down to a divide and conquer scheme. He’s got plans for each one of them.

First, The Human Torch is visited by his cousin, Bones, who runs a circus. Business has been bad for Bones and he needs a sensational act to bring the audience back.

Next, the executives at General Electric need someone to head up their electronic research division. A well placed magazine makes them decide to reach out to Reed Richards himself with the job offer.

The Thing is offered a chance to wrestle someone named Fatal Finnegan who also happens to be the idol of the Yancy Street Gang.

Meanwhile, Sue Storm is spotted by a director working on a new show and wants her to star.

All of these offers are enticing for our heroes. And ultimately they decide what they need right now is a little vacation from each other. This isn’t the first and it’s far from the last time the group splits up but it is notable because they aren’t splitting up out of anger this time. It’s not just an impulsive decision, it seems more calculated. And like fate has dealt them the perfect set of circumstances for this to happen. Of course, this is true because the Mad Thinker has been putting these plans into motion for months.

The four heroes go their separate ways to pursue their interests. The Mad Thinker knows a meteor is about to strike the waters of New York’s lower bay. This causes a temporary panic in the city and in the confusion the Thinker is able to enter the Baxter Building because the electricity is out.

Meanwhile, Johnny is a sensation at the circus but he is getting tired of doing the same old act day in and day out. Sue Storm is making her movie but finds it tedious as she has to do take after take. Reed is great at his job but has unorthodox methods and realizes he’s not happy working for anyone but himself. The Thing is in a fairly even wrestling match but his opponent has his eye on Alicia, Ben’s girlfriend. This enrages the Thing who puts a quick end to the wrestling show.

All of our heroes return back at the same time. But things are different here. The building has been transformed into some kind of impenetrable crystal. As the group tries to figure out a way in, the Mad Thinker projects an image of himself onto the building. He tells the team he’s used, “an electronic hypno-ray field around the building!” so the general population doesn’t notice the changes. He introduces himself to the team and says they are to be his greatest conquest because once they are defeated no one on earth can stand in his way.

While quite a few foes have challenged this team already, the Thinker does have one advantage here. He’s got Reed’s scientific research. He allows the team to enter, assuming he will be able to defeat the team. Johnny melts some traps waiting for them at the entrance. But then the mobsters show up with, “vibra-guns.” Things look bleak until the Thing wraps up the mobsters by bending steel walls around them.

The Thinker tells the group he expected them to pass their first test but tells them they need to get to the 35th floor. They head up the elevator shaft when Thinker tosses some canisters at the group. It’s something of Reed’s making and it gives Jack Kirby another chance to show off his art skills with a bit of distortion. The gas is meant to be non-lethal and make you lose balance while everything you see becomes distorted.

Sue gives Ben the idea of twisting up Mr. Fantastic’s body and letting him go so he acts like a giant fan. This does the trick and the team ends up on the 35th floor. Once there, the team is confronted with the living android that was promised on the cover. The Thinker has used Reed’s research to create this thing. Johnny attacks it but it blows out his flame. The Thing tries to stop it next but when Ben punches it seems to absorb and adopt the properties of The Thing himself. Reed feels responsible so he tells the team to stay back while he tries to find a way to nullify its power. Sue turns invisible as Reed wraps himself around the android. Reed tells her where to push to turn off the computer terminal of the android and she does.

When the team finally makes it to the Mad Thinker he’s not surprised. Johnny threatens him with flame but Thinker is confident. He’s got a gun that shoots a chemical which can douse Johnny’s flame. Even worse, he’s got anti-matter shells zeroed in on all the heroes. This is an invention of Reed’s making so it’s likely to work. But at the exact moment Thinker believes he will win, the shells misfire and Reed and team grab and deactivate them.

The Mad Thinker is left to wonder how he was beaten. Reed explains Thinker didn’t think of the x-factor (hmm sounds like a good name for a future comic) that can’t be accounted for. When Reed and friends saw their building they communicated to the postman Mr. Lumpkin and asked him to ring a special bell at exactly four o’clock. This button is an electrical circuit breaker meant to render all of Reed’s equipment useless. He rigged this knowing it was a possibility someone might take over his lab someday.

The Mad Thinker is taken off by the police vowing that next time he’ll take into account the x-factor. And with that the heroic family is back together once again.

The ending here is definitely a bit of a deus ex machina but at least Reed rigged it up ahead of time. Off panel of course.

The Thinker will go on to be a repeat villain and he does have some good tricks up his sleeve. He never will quite reach the levels of a Dr. Doom but he’s an interesting foil for Reed in particular and he’s no doubt dangerous. The issue cements further the bonds of family and friendship in the team. It’s a good issue but it does not have the flair of one of the great FF stories. It’s adequate but the drama is a bit slow. However, the artwork is, for lack of a better word, fantastic in this one.

We’ll have plenty more adventures to talk about with this team but for now they are relatively safe and happy all together.

Next up on the reading list we’ll be checking in on Johnny Storm’s own adventures in Strange Tales #111 [A story] quickly followed by a run in with Dr. Strange in Strange Tales #111 [C story].

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Marvel 616 Review – Tales of Suspense #43

Tales of Suspense #43 - Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, Artist: Jack Kirby
Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, Artist: Jack Kirby

We all know Iron Man is the wealthy industrialist Tony Stark. He’s faced a few foes so far. But Kala. Queen of the Netherworld is a new deadly villain who comes from below the surface of Earth.

The issue opens up with a preview panel where Kala tells Iron Man he’s made the mistake of his life by entering her Netherworld. And she has a disintegrator cannon that will vaporize him into nothingness. But Iron Man has other plans.

Strange Tales continues to be an anthology book at this point, but the only 616 cannon story here is Iron Man. He’s becoming the star attraction in the comic and while the other stories can be interesting, the ones in this issue are ho-hum at best. In fact, even the Iron Man story is not all that enticing but there’s a bit of fun action involved.

To start the story in full, we see two scientists in the wind tunnel of Anthony Stark’s private lab. The problem? The wind velocity control exploded. The force of the wind is blowing the poor scientists all over the place. A guard comes in to check what’s going on and gets sucked into the wind. The scientist delivers a great order to him… if the guard wasn’t also being blown around everywhere.

As if the wind wasn’t enough of a problem, it tears the missile these scientists are testing off the mountings. I’m no scientist, but that sounds dangerous to me. The guards do frantically signal Mr. Stark but even they think there’s nothing he can do. But thankfully, Tony tells his crew not to worry, because someone is visiting Stark. Who could it be? That’s right, Iron Man is there. And the guards say over the phone, “Iron Man?! Gosh, what a break for us!” Totally coincidental and extremely lucky.

Tony puts on his Iron Man costume which is somehow made of armor that is also, collapsible. He muses to himself that no one dreams Iron Man is really Anthony Stark. If no one is figuring this out, I think Stark is overpaying his guards to be honest.

Iron Man has no trouble walking down the wind tunnel but how in the world can he stop the wind? If you answered, Iron Man will spin at super high speeds to become a human fan, you are spot on!

Doing this stops the wind. But it also destroys the blowers in the wind tunnel. Iron Man tells the workers there not to worry about it because Stark can afford to build new ones.

You’ll notice during the emergency at Stark’s lab, Anthony Stark never showed up. But he’s an intelligent scientist so he has a plan. He goes back to his office, changes out of his Iron Man armor, leaves it behind and goes to see the men working at the wind tunnel.

Anthony reasoned with a crisis happening so recently, there is no way a new one pops up. For a smart guy, Stark sure misses the mark here. Out of nowhere, a guard disintegrates. This man vanishes before everyone’s eyes, leaving only his gun behind. Next, a scientist named Evans vanishes. This is getting to be a real problem.

Just as the guards are wondering if they are having a mass hallucination, Anthony Stark is enclosed by some invisible force. And it’s sucking him underground somehow. Stark tries to break out but it’s no good. One of the scientists tries to smash it but that doesn’t work. And a guard shoots it. Luckily for Stark that does not work either.

This glass elevator Tony is in drops him into a strange underground world. When the elevator stops, a woman orders Stark released. And, I have to say, she is wearing some A+ headgear. Stark, for his part, is not intimidated whatsoever.

To Stark’s surprise his employees are also in this underground city. And although they have only been there for mere moments they already know, “We’re at the mercy of a brilliant, ruthless race!” Kala basically takes this as a compliment and brags the Netherworld has scientific secrets the surface world does not.

As advanced as these people may be, they are not perfect. The reason they have two of Stark’s employees is they were aiming for Stark but missed. Tony knows these people want something from him. Kala explains first who they are. The Netherworlders are descendants of the people of Atlantis. I don’t know if they have any relation to Namor or if we will find that out in time but it would make sense. These people survived an enormous tidal wave by hiding under a huge, unbreakable glass dome. But it ended up at the bottom of the sea. Eventually, that dome sank to the center of the Earth where they now call it Netherworld.

Now, Kala wants to invade the surface world. But before she does that, she shows the United States most prominent weapons manufacturer her cache of military weapons. I’m not sure how bright of an idea that is for her. Regardless, what she wants is for Stark to invent “…transistor powered machines such as you alone can create!” These machines will be used to power the deadly weapons to the surface.

Despite the fact Kala says they have been monitoring all countries of the surface world for some time, she doesn’t seem to know what happened the last time Anthony Stark was forced to design a technology against his will. In case you don’t remember, that’s how he got his Iron Man suit to begin with.

Kala is smart enough to know Stark won’t just do this so she threatens the lives of Stark’s employees. Thinking fast, Stark tells Kala there is someone on the surface who could defeat all of her forces. Who? Iron Man, of course. He doesn’t mention there is a literal god of thunder who could do that also. And there’s an angry green guy who’d have a shot too. But I digress.

Stark goes on to describe some of the amazing feats Iron Man can do. Kala’s general, a man named Baxu, thinks the Netherworld should hold off since Iron Man is rather invincible. But Kala says he has a machine that can literally reverse the Earth’s axis. This would be a huge problem for surface dwellers but not for the Netherworlders since it’s at the center.

Stark’s employee’s beg him not to cooperate with Kala, figuring their lives aren’t worth the rest of the world. But Stark agrees. You can probably guess how this goes. Stark agrees but we know he’s not really going to doom the world.

But first, Baxu complains to Stark that he hates taking orders. “…from a woman!” And also says he is in love with Kala.

Inevitably, Stark recreates his Iron Man armor. And to smoothly cover his tracks, Iron Man says to Baxu, “Stark tricked Kala! He spent the night making his escape to the surface, and then sent me down here to foil your invasion plot!”

A tip to villains in the Marvel 616 universe, when you throw Tony Stark in a lab, put some cameras on the guy so you can see what he’s doing. Somehow, I don’t think this advice will be heeded in future issues.

Iron Man makes short work of Baxu and his sexist ways, tossing him to the ground. Baxu is sure Iron Man will kill him but he lets Baxu live. And he says Baxu should be the one in charge, “…instead of that beautiful but vain creature… Kala!” Yeah, Stark holds some rather sexist beliefs himself. But then again, Kala did threaten to kill a whole bunch of people so, maybe Baxu is a better leader here.

Baxu warns Iron Man Kala’s weapons might still destroy him. But Iron Man shows what he can do with electronic powers. Kala tries to kill Iron Man with her disintegrator cannon. Iron Man aims an electronic reverse energy beam at the bolt coming at him. Yeah, I have no idea what that is either but seems like it works. The beams collide and explode and the deadly weapon is no more.

Kala is not out of tricks. She has a, “super-sonic flame-thrower” she fires. Iron Man tosses “concentrated chemical crystals” at the flames and they turn into a block of ice. I have no idea what kind of chemical crystals could do that. Yet, Kala is still not done. She has a “magnetically-directed-machine-gun which fires atomic bullets!” Sounds serious. But Kala didn’t know about Iron Man’s “tiny transistor-powered magnets.” Those redirect the bullets upward, rendering them useless.

Iron Man has, up to this point, been defending, not attacking and he reminds Kala of that. Next he asks her to imagine if he protected all “earthmen” by multiplying them electronically with countless images. He creates mirror images of himself. This is enough to confuse and distract Kala. Iron Man grabs her and flies up, breaking the supposedly unbreakable glass dome and through the ground up to the surface using, and I am not kidding here, “nuclear powered clippers.” Aren’t gadgets fun?

After arriving on the surface, Iron Man reveals to Kala that the surface atmosphere is much different than the one down below. This ages her tremendously. She begs to go back so she can be young and beautiful once more. Down below, Iron Man all but commands Kala to marry Baxu and never return to threaten the surface world again. Baxu, for his part, says Iron Man is welcome back any time.

And we end on an awkward panel meant to show off the playboy status of Anthony Stark. A man looking at Stark says, “…at least his adventure under the earth kept him away from the girls for a while.” To which Stark thinks to himself, “That’s what you think, Bub!” Bub. That’s a good nickname, maybe a Marvel character should use that more often sometime in the future.

Thus ends another epic journey of Iron Man’s. I’ll admit there is a lot left to be desired in this story. It’s pretty silly, the technology mentioned here is borderline magic at best, the misogyny comes through in heavy doses from two of the main characters in the story. We can say, this was closer to what the attitude of the time was but that doesn’t excuse it.

As far as a science fiction story goes, it’s got its fun moments and there are much worse stories (I’ll be reviewing them eventually). The art is great but this one feels more like it was thrown together just to get something out there. Totally understandable if that was the case because Marvel was putting out an incredible volume for the time.

The story does cement Iron Man more as a powerful figure, as someone who has a secret identity to protect, and shows Anthony Stark as a wealthy, brilliant, playboy who will ultimately make the right choice when the time comes. Other than that, this doesn’t do a whole lot to progress the overall story of Marvel 616 but each small piece adds up to a larger whole.

Next up on the reading list, we’re checking back in with America’s space faring family in The Fantastic Four #15!