Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1964-12-01 00:01:09 |
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Strange Tales #127 (Human Torch)
Issue(s): Strange Tales #127 (Human Torch story ony)
Cover Date: Dec 64
Title: "The mystery villain!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Dick Ayers - Penciler
Paul Reinman - Inker
Review/plot:
Mr. Fantastic sure hates having his leadership challenged.
So when Johnny and Ben get out of line...
...Reed dresses up in an anonymous costume...
...and beats the crap out of them for the whole issue to prove that he is their superior...
...and that his orders require instant obedience.
The boys dutifully fall back in line.
Reed's villain arsenal includes, of course, liquid asbestos.
Stan Lee makes one of his Sloppy Seconds references.
It's mentioned in this story that at this point the Avengers don't have an official leader.
And here's a random Aunt Petunia reference which i submit for your analysis in light of the John Byrne revelation that Petunia is really a younger woman (no contradiction as far as i'm concerned).
Quality Rating: D+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between FF #30-31 and before FF annual #2, but because Johnny is shown returning home from this issue in Amazing Spider-Man #19, i've pushed this forward in publication time a bit. It's context free so that shouldn't be a problem.
References:
- Johnny lists some of his accomplishments to Reed, including:
- Beating the Wizard in Strange Tales #118.
- Beating Paste Pot Pete in Strange Tales #124.
- Fighting the Sub-Mariner with the Thing in Strange Tales #125 (this is actually the best argument for Mr. Fantastic's leadership. In that issue Namor was not actually a threat; he was heading to the Baxter Building for a diplomatic meeting with Reed. But Johnny and Ben blew it and attacked him).
- Beating the Wizard in Strange Tales #118.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: Essential Human Torch
Inbound References (2): showCharacters Appearing: Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Willie Lumpkin 1964 / Box 2 / Silver Age Previous:
Hulk Smash Avengers #1Up:
MainNext:
Amazing Spider-Man #19
Comments
Johnny calls The Thing B.J. Is Ben's middle name something starting with J or is this a typo
Ayers is underappreciated. Moody pencils, if a little simplified, but he really does use lots of dramatic angles and interesting storytelling devices
Ben's middle name is Jacob.
The plot is similar to the cover story from BLACKHAWK #109, in which (spoiler warning) a villain called the Question Mark is revealed at the end to be Blackhawk, testing the other Blackhawks to see who could take over from him.
In Planetary, Ben Grimm's counterpoint is named Jacob Green.
I meant counterpart not counterpoint.
I think Ben gets his middle name of Jacob from his uncle Jake Grimm, who was the husband of Aunt Petunia. Petunia (or Penny) was closer to Ben in age than she was to Jake. All or most of this was revealed much later, during the John Byrne run on Fantastic Four, but it had been long established that Ben's middle initial was "J.," as his name had often been written as "Benjamin J. Grimm" many times before this 1975 story was written.
Oops, I should have written "1964" instead of 1975 as the date of this story. (I had just linked to this story from 1975's Fantastic Four #154).
