The last time we saw Luthor, he was trapped on Roxar, a planet ruled by a sentient race of robots called the Automs. In Action Comics #294 (Sep 1962) we catch up with Luthor, who has decided to make himself useful so that he can escape his prison. I appreciate the attempt at continuity here. […]
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The Human Torch continues his solo adventures in Strange Tales #102 (Aug 1962), getting his first recognizable villain in The Wizard. The Wizard’s shtick is that he’s a super-genius, a chess champion, an inventor, and has a long craggy face a bit reminiscent of The Ringmaster. Having proven his “mental superiority”, he decides that his […]
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Journey Into Mystery #85 (Aug 1962) begins to build out Thor’s mythology by introducing Asgard, the rainbow bridge Bifrost, and Thor’s biggest nemesis: Loki, god of mischief. Poor Loki has been trapped in a tree until someone sheds a tear. Along comes ol’ Heimdall, Bifrost’s Warder, and Loki is able to manipulate one of his […]
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The Fantastic Four #8 (Aug 1962) introduces another classic FF villain: the creepy-looking Puppet Master, who moulds radioactive clay into the likeness of a person which then gives him the ability to control that person. He first tests his ability with a “nameless nobody”, commanding him to climb up to the top of a bridge […]
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In Green Lantern #16 (Aug 1962), we get a complex back-up story wherein Hal Jordan explains to Pie-Face the story that the Power Ring told him about why Abin Sur was using a spaceship when he died. Got all that? Yeah, me neither. Get ready for some made-up name soup! Incorporeal energy beings called Larifars […]
Read More »Speaking of new villains, Green Lantern meets Star Sapphire in Green Lantern #16 (Aug 1962). Star Sapphire happens to secretly be the beautiful and shapely Carol Ferris, Hal Jordan’s girlfriend, who has been learning to pilot her own aircraft, thanks to Hal’s teachings and fell afoul of some Zamarons (space Amazons, of course). The Zamarons […]
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In Adventure Comics #301 (Aug 1962), it’s the first non-Superboy/Supergirl story of the Legion after their debut as the Adventure Comics backup feature last month. In this issue, we catch a glimpse into the Legion of Super-Heroes recruiting, which shows how Legionnaires like Cosmic Boy treat con artists and fakers. That is: pretty harshly. Then […]
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Third-rate heroes like The Atom only deserve third-rate villains like Chronos the Time Thief, who debuts in Atom #3 (Aug 1962). Naturally, Chronos’ schtick is all about time, and in this story, I think literally every panel has him using the word “time” in his dialog, to the point of utter ridiculousness. Chronos is visually […]
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As DC did before with its teen heroes Superboy and Robin in the 1940s, Marvel attempted to spin the Human Torch out into solo adventures in Strange Tales #101 (July 1962). The story itself is pretty forgettable, but they do establish a few facts: Johnny Storm is still in high school and is (somehow) still […]
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Thor gains a supporting cast member in his next adventure in Journey into Mystery #84 (July 1962): Jane Nelson (not Foster, yet). Jane is Dr. Donald Blake’s sweet, easily-smitten girl who doesn’t have much to do, keeping in that early 1960s Marvel tradition of very poorly written female characters (looking at you, Sue Storm). Donald […]
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