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What's that, Barry? You say you don't want to talk about my SPACE BLIMP Of CHRISTMAS?! Hey, what's wrong with you, man? All Crivs everywhere are enthralled by the subject. Okay, then - you write about whatever you want, but don't blame me if people ask "Hey, where's the Blimp?"
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I believe there were many reasons why Marvel achieved such great popularity in the 1960s. At the time they were travelling a unique route and it drew me in. People refer to the “Silver Age” beginning with The Flash and they often discuss the complete DC reboot in Crisis, but Marvel had a major reboot in 1961. And it drew me in.
First, over the years I have been nicely asked, and also very rudely asked, why I wrote about Marvel in the Silver Age and not DC. An interesting question con-sidering I read twice as many DC books as Marvel. (Mainly because DC published twice as many books!) Simply, I had been paid to write about Marvel. If they pay me I would write about DC. Hell, pay me and I'd even write about Casper, the Friendly Ghost!!
The original reason I wrote about Marvel has all to do with... Batman! Yes, Batman!!!!! In the early 1960s a Batman letter column questioned a reader who claimed to be an authority. “Do you know that Batman carried a gun?” the editor asked. Well, I didn’t. Batman was 22 years old when I started reading him and he had a long history that I knew nothing about.
Batman #171 (May 1965) introduced The Riddler to Silver Age readers. In a footnote, the editor suggests reading his appearance in Detective Comics #140, published in 1948, as if I could just go and pick that issue up at the local stands. There were no reprints or comic book stores then.
You write about what you know!!! With Action Comics up to issue 300, Wonder Woman in the 150s, I knew I would never be able to catch up - or understand what they represented in their original time of the 1940s. For Marvel I felt I was there in the beginning, with Fantastic Four #1 and Amazing Adventures #1 with Dr. Droom. They didn’t have a 20 year history and many different writers ands artists. They were new.
Batman #171 (May 1965) introduced The Riddler to Silver Age readers. In a footnote, the editor suggests reading his appearance in Detective Comics #140, published in 1948, as if I could just go and pick that issue up at the local stands. There were no reprints or comic book stores then.
You write about what you know!!! With Action Comics up to issue 300, Wonder Woman in the 150s, I knew I would never be able to catch up - or understand what they represented in their original time of the 1940s. For Marvel I felt I was there in the beginning, with Fantastic Four #1 and Amazing Adventures #1 with Dr. Droom. They didn’t have a 20 year history and many different writers ands artists. They were new.
Or so I thought. Although it was ignored, Marvel did have a very Timely history. And an Atlas one, but unlike DC, which carried on with the Batman and Superman continuity and introduced Earth II with the JSA, Marvel ignored their past. During the “Silver Age” Marvel referred to their Golden Age continuity only three times: Fantastic Four Annual #4 and Sub-Mariner issues #8 and #14. They referred to their Atlas history twice - Captain America #153-155 and with the arrival of the “newest” Black Knight in Marvel Super-Heroes #17. Note that Stan Lee did it only once, in a Fantastic Four Annual, and Roy Thomas, who loved Marvel’s past, did it in all the others. (As editor he gave the assignment to Steve Englehart on the Captain America story.) Near the end of the Marvel Age, Roy added The Invaders, but with a different “history,” mostly, than the Timely era.
People don’t discuss this much, referring to the “Silver Age” beginning with The Flash and often discussing the complete DC reboot in Crisis, but Marvel had a major reboot in 1961. And it drew me in.
People don’t discuss this much, referring to the “Silver Age” beginning with The Flash and often discussing the complete DC reboot in Crisis, but Marvel had a major reboot in 1961. And it drew me in.
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Great stuff, Barry. Hopefully, all dutiful Crivs will respond with an appreciative comment to say how much they enjoyed reading your post. But, like I said, don't blame me if they ask about the Blimp.
"Hey, where's the Blimp?"
ReplyDeleteSee, Barry? Told ya so. You should've fitted the Blimp in somewhere.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, folks - what did you think of Barry's post?
ReplyDeleteGreat article.
ReplyDeleteI would humbly include FF# 4 (introduction of Subby in the Marvel Age) and Avengers# 4 ( return of Cap) as two comics where Marvel linked itself to the Golden Age. I still love the fact that the Human Torch discovered the amnesiac Namor who inadvertently causes Cap to be freed from his ice incarceration. Tales of Suspense #63 retold Cap's origin from CA#1. Its the 50s reboot that was completely airbrushed from Marvel's storybook until the Thomas/Englehart trilogy from Cap #154-156.
Looking forward to more insightful articles from Barry
Spirit of '64
ps didn't Stan and Jack bring back golden age villain Agent Axis ( along of course with the Red Skull), except that Agent Axis was in fact a golden age DC villain!!!!! Golden age characters completely re-invented were the RingMaster and the Vision the Black Knight of course was from the '50s). there may have been more....Stan loved re-using old names ( eg Ka-zar), and Jack never threw away old ideas!
ReplyDeleteSpirit of '64
That's an interesting comment, S64, in that it makes one wonder if it was Jack who suggested reusing Agent Axis, thinking (mistakenly) that he was a '40s Marvel character instead of a DC one. Or did Marvel/Timely have an Agent Axis as well back then? I'm sure Barry will know, and, if so, lets US know too. You paying attention, Barry?
ReplyDeleteShould one include faux-?continuity, like the death of Bucky and the wartime existence of the first Baron Zeno?
ReplyDeleteI'd imagine that those kinds of retro-continuity examples could be considered 'reboots', GP. Perhaps Barry will weigh in with what he thinks?
ReplyDeleteAgent Axis, who appeared in an hullicination in Giant Size Invaders #1 was a DC character, not Marvel, from the Golden Age of Comics. She was a Nazi spy and foe of the Boy Commandos. Perhaps Lee or Kirby forgot that. He will appear again in an hallucination in Captain America #162. In Invaders Annual #1 Roy Thomas “reconned” him and give him a proper history.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to put in that Agent Axis first appeared at Marvel in Tales of Suspense #82, drAEN BY Kirby. And it's Hallucination.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure what you're saying here, Barry. Is it that the DC Agent Axis from the '40s appeared in a '60s Marvel comic in a hallucination, or that the name was used for a different character, the DC one being female and the Marvel one being male? I think that's what you mean, but I'm not certain.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, Marvel's Agent Axis was a male, and so must have been a different character with the same name.
ReplyDeleteThanks, TC. I looked it up and sorted it out in my head, but it's good to know you're out there, willing to share your knowledge when I need it.
ReplyDelete