MARVEL ISSUES: MAY 1966

This weekend’s escapist and light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at all of the Marvel Comics published in May 1966 except for reprints.

SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #36 (May 1966)

Title: When Falls the Meteor

Villain: Meteor Man

Synopsis: A meteor comes crashing down in upstate New York and is retrieved by unscrupulous scientist Norton Fester. He discovers microscopic organisms inside the meteorite and those organisms grant him incredible strength.

Fester dons a costume and begins robbing banks on a daily basis as Meteor Man. Meanwhile, Peter Parker is continuing his classes at Empire State University where his interest in science over dating intrigues fellow student Gwen Stacy.

She makes a point of showing up at an astro-science exhibit that Peter is visiting and is exasperated once again as the fragments of meteorites and other displays capture Peter’s attention instead of her blonde hotness. (Save your own life and just walk away, Gwen!)

The villainous Meteor Man, however, has noted that his personal meteorite no longer shows signs of microorganisms or unearthly gases. Worried that this means his powers may wear off some day he goes to the Empire State exhibit to steal some of the meteor fragments hoping they contain more.

While the villain tries to pull off the robbery in broad daylight, terrorizing the students, Peter slips away to become Spider-Man. Naturally, he defeats the wanted Meteor Man and turns him over to the police.   

TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #77

NOTE: Shared by Iron Man and Captain America at the time.

Iron Man Title: Ultimo Lives

Villains: The Mandarin and Ultimo

Synopsis: At the mainland China castle of Iron Man’s archenemy the Mandarin, the villain mistakenly believes he has killed our hero and turns his attention to the alien android Ultimo that he has just repaired after finding him dormant inside a volcano.

Once again the Communist Chinese government has its army attack the Mandarin’s lair, no longer recognizing his area’s sovereignty. To test Ultimo’s effectiveness in battle, the villain has the giant android fight the communist army.

Ultimo easily defeats the army, and as Iron Man flies onto the scene the Mandarin has the android battle our hero. Ultimo is gaining the upper hand in the cliffhanger ending, while in Washington D.C. corrupt Senator Harrington Byrd wants Tony Stark declared in contempt and his defense contracts forfeited for failing to appear at his scheduled hearing. 

Captain America Title: If a Hostage Should Die

Villains: Nazi soldiers and Gestapo Agents

Synopsis: At Avengers Mansion, Captain America is watching an old documentary about his activities during World War Two. (This guy is the Norma Desmond of superheroes.) The documentary is set in wartime France, which triggers a memory for Steve Rogers/ Cap. 

Around the time covered in the documentary, he and Peggy Carter’s happy romance was again interrupted by their separate duties. She was sent on a mission against the Gestapo while Cap was sent to help soldiers take another French town from the Nazi army.

They each succeed at their separate missions but a bombing at Peggy’s location leaves her in an amnesiac state. Unaware of why he never saw her again, Steve Rogers wonders if Peggy lived through the war. NOTE: Cap and Peggy are at last reunited when Cap frees her from the clutches of his recurring foe Dr. Faustus (at right).

X-MEN Vol 1 #20

Title: I, Lucifer

Villains: The alien supervillain called Lucifer is once again sent to Earth by his ruler the Supreme One on a mission of conquest. Lucifer wants to avenge his loss to the X-Men the last time around while carrying out the Supreme One’s orders. 

The alien from Quist recruits the X-Men’s old foes the Blob and Unus the Untouchable to launch a crime wave in hopes of flushing out the team of mutant superheroes. It works, but when the X-Men show up, they defeat the Blob and Unus.

However, an anti-mutant mob attacks the villains AND the X-Men, so Unus and the Blob escape in the confusion. Professor X is able to detect Lucifer’s involvement in the affair and after recounting how he long ago lost the use of his legs while fighting Lucifer before the X-Men were formed, he and the team head for the alien’s headquarters to take him on. 

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #79

NOTE: Shared by the Hulk and Sub-Mariner at the time.

Hulk Title: The Titan and the Torment

Opponent: Hercules

Synopsis: This crossover story ties into the ongoing Thor and Hercules story over in Thor’s own series. Hercules is headed by train for Hollywood with his agent to star in a movie about himself.

The trip is disrupted when the Hulk, irritable as ever, happens to tear up the railroad tracks in his anger. Hercules exits the train and fights the Hulk to protect the passengers.

The lengthy battle ends inconclusively as military jets arrive on the scene and the Hulk leaps off into the distance, too annoyed to fight the aircraft AND Hercules. Herc carries all the train cars to where the rails resume and continues his trip to Hollywood.

Sub-Mariner Title: When Rises the Behemoth

Villains: The Puppet Master and Warlord Krang

Synopsis: Picking up from the previous issue, the Sub-Mariner aka Prince Namor of Atlantis is still under the control of the Fantastic Four’s old foe the Puppet Master. Namor is fighting the army units which arrived to stop his rampage.

Our hero’s beloved Lady Dorma arrives from Atlantis to tell Sub-Mariner that the underwater kaiju-sized monster called the Behemoth has broken loose and is attacking Atlantis. She tells Namor he is obviously under outside control and that makes him concentrate intensely enough to shatter the Puppet Master’s puppet control figure of him. (Again.)

The Sub-Mariner and Lady Dorma return to Atlantis so that Namor can battle the Behemoth. Meanwhile, Sub-Mariner’s recurring foe Warlord Krang allies himself with the Puppet Master. He has PM construct a puppet to control the Behemoth to provide intelligent direction so that it can kill Namor this time.   

THOR Vol 1 #128

Title: The Power of Pluto

Villains: Pluto and Hippolyta

Synopsis: In Hollywood, Hercules is signed by a studio head who is secretly the disguised Greco-Roman god Pluto/ Hades. Pluto uses flattery, lots of booze and the sex appeal of the mask-helmeted Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons to make Herc let his guard down.

We readers are shown that Pluto wants revenge on Hercules for the damage he inflicted on his Netherworld kingdom when abducting the three-headed dog-monster Cerebus as one of his Twelve Labors long ago. The disguised Hippolyta wants revenge on him for loving her and leaving her as part of his Labor to steal her girdle back then. 

The villains trick Herc into signing a contract to relieve Pluto of the rule of Hades for all eternity, then reveal their true identities. While Hercules fights some of Pluto’s Netherworld minions, Thor arrives from saving Asgard from Siedring the Merciless in the previous issue and helps Herc fight them. For the cliffhanger he learns the fate now facing Hercules.   

STRANGE TALES Vol 1 #144

NOTE: Shared at the time by Dr. Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury Title: The Day of the Druid

Villain: The Druid

Synopsis: S.H.I.E.L.D. is targeted by future Captain America foe the Druid and his cult. The villain uses his combined magic and science to unleash a flying drone-type device to attack and kill Nick Fury and his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. officer Dum Dum Dugan.

In a running battle between Fury and Dugan in Fury’s gizmo-laden car and the flying Druid Drone, our heroes ultimately emerge triumphant. Back at headquarters, they meet Agent Jasper Sitwell, making his very first appearance. 

Dr. Strange Title: Where Man Hath Never Trod

Villains: Dormammu and Tazza

Synopsis: Continuing from the previous issue, Dr. Strange is trying to locate his abducted love interest and student Clea, who has been banished to another dimension by Dormammu (below right). Thanks to Asti the All-Seeing, an entity that Dr. Strange does not yet know is a servant of Dormammu, the Sorcerer Supreme is tricked into searching for Clea in the forbidden Kingdom of Tazza.

Once there, Strange realizes he has been deceived and that Clea is not there. Tazza is a sinister entity who permanently imprisons every mystic from any world or dimension who dares to enter his kingdom either physically or in their astral form.

Naturally, Dr. Strange is able to defeat Tazza and forces him to free all the prisoners he has taken over the millennia.

Our hero then resumes his search for his beloved Clea (who was played by Charlize Theron in the movies).

AVENGERS Vol 1 #28

Title: Among Us Walks a Goliath

Villain: The Collector

Synopsis: At this particular time, the Avengers’ membership had been reduced to just Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Quicksilver. A powerful alien called the Collector, making his first appearance, has come to Earth to add all the Avengers to his interstellar collection.

He has just abducted the Wasp, prompting her romantic partner Hank Pym, PhD to return to the Avengers to get help finding her. Abandoning his former Giant-Man code name he rechristens himself Goliath.

The heroes track down and battle the Collector, freeing the Wasp and thwarting his plans to capture the rest of them plus nab Thor, Iron Man and Hulk to complete his collection. However, the Collector escapes to menace the Avengers again in the near future. The Wasp and Goliath rejoin the team, making it a sextet. 

DAREDEVIL Vol 1 #16

Title: Enter: Spider-Man

Villain: The Masked Marauder

Synopsis: An enigmatic new villain called the Masked Marauder and his army of thugs manipulate Daredevil and Spider-Man into fighting each other as a distraction while they steal a new high-tech engine called the XB-390 and make their escape.

The heroes eventually part, still angry with each other but Spider-Man slipped a Spider-Tracer on Daredevil’s person. The next day, while Daredevil, in his secret identity of lawyer Matt Murdock, is with his law partner “Foggy” Nelson and their legal secretary Karen Page, Spider-Man follows his tracer to their location.

He swings in through the window and declares that he knows one of the men is really Daredevil and wants to know which one.   

FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #50

Title: The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer

Villain: Galactus

Synopsis: Continuing from the previous issue, the Silver Surfer arrives at the Baxter Building, effortlessly passing through the force field that Galactus has surrounding the skyscraper. The Surfer tries to talk his master into sparing Earth and moving on to an uninhabited planet.

After exhausting all the arguments that the Thing’s love interest Alicia Masters used on him last issue, the Silver Surfer has no choice but to use his own Power Cosmic, granted him by Galactus himself, against his master. The Surfer is powerful enough to actually put up a half-decent fight against Galactus, but in the end even he proves unable to defeat the world-devourer.

However, the battle between Galactus and his herald has bought enough time for the Human Torch to obtain the alien weapon which the Watcher Uatu sent him to steal last issue. Mr. Fantastic interrupts the ongoing clash between the world-devourer and the Silver Surfer by brandishing that weapon, the Ultimate Nullifier.

Galactus panics, recognizing the device and realizing the Fantastic Four and the Watcher somehow managed to steal it from his own base. If activated, the weapon will destroy the entire universe, and even if Galactus winds up being powerful enough to survive, there will be no more planets for him to feed upon, and he will starve. 

Galactus promises to forever spare the Earth in exchange for the Ultimate Nullifier being returned to him. That is done, but before leaving, Galactus banishes the Silver Surfer to Earth, the planet he betrayed him to preserve. 

EPILOGUE: As life returns to normal all around the world in the days ahead, the Human Torch begins his first day at Metro College, where he meets Native American Wyatt Wingfoot, who will be a recurring character in Marvel Comics.

The Silver Surfer goes on to his own series and then becomes a member of the Defenders alongside Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Hulk and Valkyrie. 

SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS Vol 1 #30 (March and 132 in later reprint)

Title: Incident in Italy

Villains: Mussolini’s troops

NOTE: Before he needed an eye patch, Nick Fury led this series set during World War Two. His commandos were the same basic walking cliches that many B-Movie actioners rehashed in war story after war story.

Synopsis: Fury’s elite unit is sent on a Top Secret mission to Italy to link up with an undercover agent posing as a POW camp commandant. (It’s only a comic book, just go with it.)

That agent blows his cover to help Nick and the Howling Commandos steal a huge shipment of gold that Mussolini was trying to sneak out of the country for himself.

TWO-GUN KID Vol 1 #81

Title: The Hidden Gun

Villain: Eric Cartwright

Synopsis: Tombstone, TX (NOT AZ) lawyer Matthew Hawk is secretly the masked vigilante called the Two-Gun Kid. Astride his white stallion Thunder the Kid takes on the forces of evil in the 1870s.

Out on patrol in his mask and costume, the Two-Gun Kid saves the passengers of a stagecoach from a gang of bandits trying to rob them. Back in town he resumes his Matthew Hawk secret identity and learns that the passengers are wealthy Europeans arrived in Tombstone for the land a late relative left to them.

In the days ahead, the villainous Eric Cartwright tries to kill off these distant cousins who stand between him and the land. The Two-Gun Kid saves lives and corrals the killer while, as Matthew Hawk, he handles the legal matters for the Europeans.

FOR EVERY MARVEL ISSUE FROM JANUARY OF 1967 CLICK HERE.

FOR EVERY MARVEL ISSUE FROM JANUARY OF 1968 CLICK HERE.