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1963-02-01 00:00:05
Previous:
Tales To Astonish #39 (Ant-Man)
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Main

1963 / Box 1 / Silver Age

Next:
Tales To Astonish #40 (Ant-Man)

Strange Tales #105 (Human Torch)

Issue(s): Strange Tales #105 (Human Torch story only)
Cover Date: Feb 63
Title: "The return of the Wizard!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Plot
Larry Lieber - Script
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Dick Ayers - Inker

Review/plot:
The Wizard escapes from jail...

...and the Human Torch goes after him, despite a Fantastic Four policy of not getting into fights for personal pride. The Invisible Girl tags along again, but this time she's not much help.

There's a great scene where Reed is talking to Sue over a video phone (or maybe it's just a regular phone - not sure what those lightning bolts are meant to represent), and the Thing is in the background eating a giant piece of cake and shouting stuff.

It's worth noting that at this time the Wizard is just a very smart guy. No power suit or anything. So once you get past his traps, it doesn't take much to defeat him.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 3

Chronological Placement Considerations: There's nothing specific here, but the MCP places this between FF #10 and #11 and i'll follow suit.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Human Torch #5

Inbound References (2): show

  • Strange Tales #108 (Human Torch)
  • Strange Tales #110 (Human Torch)

Characters Appearing: Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Wizard

Previous:
Tales To Astonish #39 (Ant-Man)
Up:
Main

1963 / Box 1 / Silver Age

Next:
Tales To Astonish #40 (Ant-Man)

Comments

I think the lightning bolts are just meant to indicate an inset panel.

The Wizard seems to have got his beard under control.

Posted by: Mark Drummond | July 31, 2011 1:19 AM

I love the Wizard's early appearances. He's so cocky and super villainy in a very old-school mustache-twirling kind of way.

Posted by: Robert | January 27, 2016 4:41 PM

Lightning bolt borders for inset and split panels were an old convention for showing both sides of a phone conversation, often seen in old Archie comics as well as in juvenile fiction books like Tommy and the Telephone by Ellen MacGregor.

Posted by: James Holt | July 31, 2016 1:14 AM

I agree with your placement of this story. That is where I have it on my reading order.

Posted by: Bobby Sisemore | October 22, 2016 10:30 PM




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