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1960-01-05 00:00:44
Previous:
Amazing Adult Fantasy #11
Strange Tales #67
Tales Of Suspense #15
Up:
Main

Box 1 / Monster Age

Next:
Strange Tales #97

Tales of Suspense #17
Adventures Into Terror #11
Tales of Suspense #14

Tales of Suspense #17 - May 61
     "Beware of Googam, son of Goom" - Jack Kirby with Dick Ayers (writer unknown)
Adventures Into Terror #11 - Aug 52
     He who laughs last, gets... the horselaugh" - Jack Abel (UHBMCC says Abel inks, GCD says he pencils. Other credits unknown.)
Tales of Suspense #14 - Feb 61
     "I am ... Gorak!" - Steve Ditko (writer unknown)

Review/plot:
On;y two issues after the appearance of Goom, we get a sequel with his son, Googam.

Googam is no better than his father. While we learned that Goom's people were generally not bad guys, Googam wakes up from his cave ready to "fulfill the sinister dreams of his father".

The plot of this issue has a different scope to it, however. While Goom went on a typical giant monster rampage, Googam is still too immature for that, so he winds up taking that Langley family hostage (Mark Langley, Silver Age Scientist, is the guy who first contacted Goom). It's pretty menacing.

After several failed attempts at getting word out about Googam...

...young Billy Langley eventually uses triple-reverse psychology to get Googam to drown himself in quicksand.

Googam's wings are weird. From the back, they seem to be transparent.

Also in this reprint, a guy who plays a horse's ass on a vaudeville television show....

....murders his partner so he can be the head (what small dreams we have), but he's mysteriously trampled by the front half of the horse costume.

The best thing about this story is the title.

Lastly, there's a Steve Ditko wizard (tell me he doesn't look like Baron Mordo)...

...who thinks he's controlling his dreams but then he learns he's just a comic book character.

It's kind of sad, really. He's made out to be a bad guy, but really he's just controlling his dreams; basically making up little stories in his head. So when he gets his comeuppance, it's not as deserved as you might think.

Always good stuff, but i don't know why Marvel in the 70s spent the extra effort to cut up these stories and then re-assemble them in a different order in various reprint titles. I've got a story from Tales of Suspense #14 here, and another in Monsters on the Prowl #17. Why not just reprint the whole issue at once?

Quality Rating: 2 - first Googam

Historical Significance Rating: C+

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

  • Googam's father Goom appeared in Tales of Suspense #15.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Where Monsters Dwell #16

Characters Appearing: Googam, Helen Langley, Mark Langley

Previous:
Amazing Adult Fantasy #11
Strange Tales #67
Tales Of Suspense #15
Up:
Main

Box 1 / Monster Age

Next:
Strange Tales #97

Comments

The Ditko and Kirby stories were most likely by Stan Lee.

The Jack Abel story probably has full art by him. Is the date correct on the Adventures Into Terror story? I think the code banned usage of the word "terror" in comic titles after 1954, and the panels look distinctly 1950s Atlas-ish.

Posted by: Mark Drummond | December 24, 2011 7:36 PM

You were right about the date; i've fixed it. Thanks.

Posted by: fnord12 | December 24, 2011 9:10 PM




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