MARVEL: JANUARY 1970

For this weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post let’s do something different. Here’s a brief look at all the Marvel Comics publications from January of 1970. Reprints excluded.

AVENGERS Vol 1 #72 (January 1970)

Title: Did You Hear the One About Scorpio?

Avengers Roster: The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Goliath (Clint Barton), Yellowjacket (Hank Pym, PhD), the Vision (not applicable) and Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell, Kree Captain)

Villains: Zodiac (first appearance)

Synopsis: At Avengers Mansion, Captain America reconciles with Rick Jones, explaining that it was really the Red Skull and not him who savagely beat Rick when he was serving as the new Bucky. NOTE: The Red Skull had used the Tesseract/ Cosmic Cube to transfer his mind into Cap’s body and vice versa.

During a briefing from S.H.I.E.L.D. the Avengers are informed that three high New York officials have been abducted by a costumed supervillain called Scorpio, a recurring foe of S.H.I.E.L.D. back then. Scorpio was really Nick Fury’s evil brother Jake Fury.

This leads to the Avengers learning that Scorpio is not alone – he is a member of a global, astrology-oriented team of supervillains called Zodiac. Each member rules their own crime empire in various locations around the world.

Our heroes clash with Zodiac, whose members wield powers based on their zodiacal signs. The Avengers thwart the villains’ plan to seize the capital cities of a dozen nations as part of a plan to take over the world.

Zodiac is defeated in battle, but they escape to face the Avengers multiple times in the future. NOTE: The Zodiac member Libra will be revealed as Mantis’ father in Avengers #122 (April 1974).

X-MEN Vol 1 #64 (January 1970)

Title: The Coming of Sunfire (despite what the cover says)

Villain: Sunfire (first appearance) 

Synopsis: The X-Men’s mutant detecting device Cerebro picks up a new mutant in New York City. This leads to the team clashing for the first time with the Japanese mutant Sunfire at the U.N. Building.

Sunfire is being manipulated by his uncle, who wants revenge on the world at large for the fall of the Japanese Empire at the end of World War Two. The X-Men drive off the young mutant then trail him to Washington D.C. where he strikes again.

The villainous uncle’s death during the chaotic battle leaves the saddened Sunfire with a lot to mull over. This sets up the mutant’s future as a sometime hero and sometime villain in the Marvel Universe.

SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #80 (January 1970)

Title: On the Trail of the Chameleon

Villain: The Chameleon

Synopsis: Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy get back together after Flash Thompson explains to Peter that he and Gwen are not dating. The newly reunited couple visit the Midtown Museum to take in a display of priceless paintings.

Gwen’s father Captain George Stacy is overseeing security at the event, so Spider-Man’s old foe the Chameleon impersonates Captain Stacy in order to steal and escape with one of the paintings. The next time that the villain plans to strike is during the transport of a million dollars in bonds in New York City.

Peter becomes Spider-Man and defeats the Chameleon when the villain tries to steal the bonds. Our hero leaves the Chameleon for the authorities.

FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #94 (January 1970)

Title: The Return of the Frightful Four

Villains: The Frightful Four (The Wizard, Medusa, Sandman and the Trapster)

NOTE: This issue marks the very first appearance of Agatha Harkness.

Synopsis: Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and Invisible Woman (Sue Storm Richards) take their toddler son Franklin to the Whisper Hill mansion of Agatha Harkness, who will go on to be a frequent ally of the Fantastic Four. (And later, the Scarlet Witch’s tutor in magic.)

Franklin’s parents decide that Agatha is their best alternative for childcare given their hectic and dangerous lives. The Thing (Ben Grimm) and the 2nd Human Torch (Johnny Storm) accompany Reed and Sue to Whisper Hill, where the team spends the night.

Unknown to our heroes, their frequent foes the Frightful Four have surreptitiously followed them to Agatha Harkness’ mansion. Overnight, the villains launch a surprise attack on the Fantastic Four.

The bad guys defeat the F.F. and have them at their mercy. Too late, the Frightful Four realize that the greatest threat in the Whisper Hill mansion has been Agatha all along (see what I did there). Miss Harkness uses her magical powers to safeguard Franklin and defeat the villains.

CAPTAIN AMERICA Vol 1 #121 (January 1970)

Title: The Coming of the Man-Brute

Villain: The Man-Brute (first appearance)   

Synopsis: A mad scientist named Silas X. Cragg has devised what he believes is a superior version of the elusive super-soldier process which created Captain America during World War Two. Silas recruits a violent drunk named Bart Dietzel as a human guinea pig.

The process is a success, so Cragg arranges a charity appearance by Captain America at which he plans to unleash Dietzel under the nom de guerre Man-Brute. On the day of the charity event, Cap shows up and begins performing for the spectators.

The Man-Brute attacks, and our hero battles the new supervillain. As the battle goes on, by a comic book coincidence Man-Brute’s son gets jeopardized by the violence. To avoid further endangering his child, the villain escapes.

After Man-Brute causes Silas Cragg’s death, he goes into hiding. S.H.I.E.L.D. investigates Cragg’s lab after his corpse is reported and they inform Captain America that the person who created the Man-Brute is now dead.

NOTE: In the future, Man-Brute renames himself Blockbuster and resumes his criminal career, only to be slain by the 2nd Foolkiller with his Purification Gun.

IRON MAN Vol 1 #21 (January 1970)

Title: The Replacement

Villain: The Crimson Dynamo

Synopsis: Tony Stark visits his current true love Janice Cord at her company’s industrial offices. When Iron Man’s recurring foe the Crimson Dynamo attacks Cord Manufacturing once again, Tony secretly dons his armor and battles the villain.

Iron Man succeeds in driving away the Crimson Dynamo, and spends that night and the next day brooding over the way his double life stands in the way of him and Janice (who does not know his secret identity) settling down to have a happy life, maybe even getting married.

Tony confides in Happy Hogan that he wants to find a replacement to wear the Iron Man armor and serve as his bodyguard. He and Happy decide that popular African-American boxer Eddie March would make an ideal new Iron Man, since he has publicly made clear his admiration for the superhero.

Eddie eagerly accepts the offer but withholds the fact that he was just diagnosed with a blood clot in his brain. March is secretly trained and at last becomes the new Iron Man. Tony hopes for a life married to Janice, while Eddie as Iron Man breaks up a smuggling ring, but winds up battling the ringleader – the Crimson Dynamo.

Flukishly, Tony learns about Eddie’s blood clot just as he’s watching news coverage of March’s ongoing clash with the Dynamo. He puts on one of his duplicate sets of Iron Man armor and flies off to try saving Eddie March as the much more experienced Crimson Dynamo is on the verge of killing him. This is the cliffhanger ending for this issue.

NOTE: Naturally, Tony saves Eddie and resumes being Iron Man himself. Janice Cord soon dies while getting caught up in a clash among Iron Man, the Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man. Iron Man and the Dynamo blame each other for Janice’s death for years.

        Eddie March nearly gets killed a second time while impersonating Iron Man against the supervillain Dr. Spectrum.

SILVER SURFER Vol 1 #12 (January 1970)

Title: Gather, Ye Witches

Villain: The Abomination

Synopsis: The Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) once again works up the nerve to try forcing his way through the energy barrier that Galactus erected to keep him exiled on Earth. Once again, the Surfer fails and, weakened, plummets back to Earth.

This time, Norrin Radd lands near Stonehenge. A coven of witches and warlocks abduct the barely conscious Silver Surfer and take him to their secret lair. The coven’s leader wants to prove their worth to the forces of Hell by demonstrating that they can destroy a being as powerful as the Surfer.

By the time that our hero has recovered from his fall, the coven has mystically transported the Hulk’s foe the Abomination from his captivity on the Stranger’s World, just as the Black Knight’s mystic brazier once freed Magneto and the Toad from that planet.

The Abomination is glad to be back on Earth but has no intention of doing the coven’s bidding. Instead, he sets out to ravage the world with his strength, which is greater than the Hulk’s.

The Silver Surfer heroically takes on the Abomination to prevent him from harming innocent people. Eventually, he defeats the villain and has him sent back to the Stranger’s World.

DAREDEVIL Vol 1 #60 (January 1970)

Title: Show-Down at Sea

Villain: Crime-Wave

Synopsis: District Attorney “Foggy” Nelson’s fiancee Deborah Harris calls off their engagement after another argument with Foggy about the way her being an ex-convict is a scandal that hinders the D.A.’s office from operating effectively.

The costumed villain Crime-Wave, who has been warring with Daredevil AND the D.A.’s office in recent issues, tries to recruit Deborah as an agent to use against District Attorney Nelson. Matt Murdock learns that Crime-Wave is running a high-stakes casino on a yacht out beyond the 12-mile limit, in international waters.

Matt becomes Daredevil, fights his way through Crime-Wave’s thugs and reaches the yacht. From there, he saves Deborah Harris from being killed by Crime-Wave for refusing to work against Foggy. (She’s fine with working against Partly Cloudy, though.)

Our hero finally defeats and unmasks Crime-Wave, exposing him as Assistant District Attorney Hollis, Foggy’s right-hand man. Sounds like another scandal incoming!

HULK Vol 1 #123 (January 1970)

Title: No More the Monster

Villain: The Leader

Synopsis: Having just been cured by Reed Richards of becoming the Hulk involuntarily, Bruce Banner’s life as a fugitive seems to be at an end. After a few weeks of normal life, he proposes to Betty Ross and she accepts. Even General “Thunderbolt” Ross is civil with Bruce now that if he becomes the Hulk, he will still have his Bruce Banner mind.

NOTE: Yes, this is one of the many storylines over the decades in which Bruce seems cured of his problems.

A condition for the government not prosecuting Dr. Banner is that he must undertake missions for it. General Ross and Major Glenn Talbot assign Bruce to accompany a convoy transporting the Defense Department’s new Top Secret weapon, the Tripodal Observation Module.

The Hulk’s archenemy the Leader shows up in one of his aircraft to steal the T.O.M., which he rechristens the Murder Module (his first use of what will become his major means of transportation in the years ahead).

Bruce becomes the Hulk and shocks the Leader by possessing Banner’s brilliant mind and no longer being a rampaging brute. As the fight goes on, Hulk fears he is getting too angry and might lapse back into savagery.

Our hero defeats the Leader and trashes this edition of the Murder Machine. Calming himself down, he is able to become Bruce Banner again, but the Leader escaped.

NOTE: In the very next issue, at Bruce and Betty’s wedding, the Leader gets a measure of revenge against his longtime foe by attacking the wedding and causing the Hulk to once again become an uncontrollable monster unable to transform at will.

SUB-MARINER Vol 1 #21 (January 1970)

Title: Invasion from the Ocean Floor

Villain: Lord Seth

Synopsis: Despite having recently saved the world from Dr. Doom, the Sub-Mariner (Prince Namor of Atlantis) is still regarded with suspicion by the surface nations. While Prince Namor is dealing with the latest military attempt against him, Sub-Mariner’s true love Lady Dorma has had enough and authorizes Atlantis’ army to invade the surface world.

Lord Seth is in command of the Atlantean forces and conducts the campaign with excessive zeal. Trying to avoid a war of mutual destruction between Atlantis and the global powers, Sub-Mariner attempts to reign in Lord Seth.

Seth disobeys Namor and uses the Horn of Proteus to summon enormous sea-beasts from the ocean floor to help Atlantis’ army. Sub-Mariner battles the sea monsters, saves Lady Dorma’s life, and sees Lord Seth realize his grave mistake and sacrifice his own life to end the battle.   

THOR Vol 1 #172 (January 1970)

Title: The Immortal and the Mind-Slave

Villain: Kronin Krask

Synopsis: When lame (as in limping) Donald Blake MD learns that his longtime love interest Jane Foster has been abducted by reclusive tycoon Kronin Krask (a buff Howard Hughes type), he strikes his cane on the floor. As always, this transforms him into Thor and the cane into Thor’s hammer Mjolnir.

Thor flies to Krask’s estate, where he learns that the villain kidnapped Jane Foster because Thor has a long history of being involved with her and he wanted to lure the thunder god into a trap. Thor is routing Krask’s high-tech mercenaries, but ultimately is subdued when they flood our hero with chemicals which can temporarily immobilize even beings of Thor’s or Hulk’s strength.

Krask swiftly has Thor bound to equipment in his scientist’s laboratory so that he can use an experimental device to transfer his mind into Thor’s body and vice versa. Because of Thor’s dual nature, this results in the pair fighting it out on the astral plane in facsimiles of their bodies.

Thor wins the battle of wills manifesting as a physical clash. This forces Krask’s mind back into his own body, but the strain of the experiment was too much and Krask dies. Thor frees Jane Foster as the story ends.

NOTE: Believe it or not, Kronin Krask has not turned up alive yet after all these decades. 

SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS Vol 1 #74 (January 1970)

Title: Each Man Alone

Villains: Nazis

NOTE: This series depicted the adventures of Nick Fury during World War Two when he led an elite commando team against the Axis Nations. Back in the 1960s and early 1970s it was still plausible that a WW II veteran was still active as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. but as the World War Two era became further and further away, Marvel started retconning Fury’s military service, etc.

Synopsis: Captain “Smilin’ Sam” Sawyer sends Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos out on their latest mission – Operation Jigsaw. Rather than work as a team like they usually do, this mission is so intricate and so delicate that it will require each of the seven commandos (including Nick himself) to strike individually.

They are to simultaneously steal designated classified documents from seven different Nazi officials and return with them to England so that intelligence experts can piece together what big project the Nazis are planning.

Naturally, amid much unbelievable punching, shooting and exploding, the Howlers accomplish yet another mission.

NOTE: The Howling Commandos consisted of assorted figures who would later join Nick Fury’s staff at S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 1960s – In addition to Nick himself, there was Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Foster, “Reb” Ralston, Izzy Cohen, Dino Manelli and “Pinky” Pinkerton.