MARVEL ISSUES: JULY 1967

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at Marvel’s publications from July 1967.

SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #50 (Jul 1967)

Title: Spider-Man No More

Villain: Kingpin (FIRST APPEARANCE)

Synopsis: Spider-Man stops the robbery of an armored car and bystanders’ wary reaction to him makes him angry about how thoroughly J. Jonah Jameson’s media lies about him have tainted his image in some people’s minds.

That, combined with Aunt May’s latest turn for the worse health-wise (yawn), makes Peter Parker feel even worse, especially since he hasn’t spent as much time checking on his aunt ever since he moved into Harry Osborn’s plush apartment with him.

The next day at Empire State University Peter fails a biochemistry test, prompting Professor Miles Warren (yes) to express disappointment since Peter is such a brilliant student. Privately, Peter blames every bad thing in his life on being Spider-Man and he decides to never again don the costume.

Over the next few weeks, the crime rate in New York City skyrockets with no Spider-Man getting in the way of villainy and only Daredevil fighting street-level wrongdoing. Our hero’s absence is noted in criminal circles, inspiring the Kingpin to at last operate openly.

He clashes with Spider-Man’s old foe the Big Man in a war over control of New York’s rackets. This makes Peter Parker realize that it’s more important to be doing the right thing even if the media attacks you for it, so he swings back into the fray as Spider-Man.

X-MEN Vol 1 #34

Title: War in a World of Darkness

X-Men Roster: Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Woman, Angel and Beast

Villains: Tyrannus and Mole-Man

Synopsis: Picking up from the previous issue’s cliffhanger, the X-Men are still shocked over Professor X’s abduction by their current foes – the team of mutant supervillains called Factor 3. The X-Men’s mutant-locating computer Cerebro was trashed during the kidnapping, and the Beast uses his scientific genius to begin rebuilding it.

The X-Men are anxious to get on the trail of Factor 3 and regret the fact that their member the Mimic lost his powers and left the team a few issues ago. Our heroes get distracted from repairs to Cerebro and finding Professor X by a sudden development. 

The Hulk’s old foe Tyrannus, leader of a subterranean kingdom of Tyrannoids, has turned out to still be alive. He and his army have spirited away Ralph Roberts, the X-Men villain Cobalt Man, to his underground land to make use of Ralph’s mastery of cobalt technology.

The X-Men trail Roberts to Tyrannus’ kingdom, where they get caught in a high-tech war between him and the Fantastic Four villains Mole-Man (at right) & his Moloids over the rule of subterranean realms. The winner will then attack the surface world in a war of conquest.

Tyrannus’ huge cobalt android constructed by Cobalt Man gives him and his Tyrannoids an advantage but the X-Men manage to defeat both villains, destroy the android and return to the surface with Ralph Roberts in tow. 

TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #91

Iron Man Title: The Monstrous Crusher

Villains: Fidel Castro and the Crusher

Synopsis: Cuba’s communist dictator Fidel Castro has been pressuring his scientists to create a superpowered being capable of defeating American superheroes. They at last succeed when one transforms himself into a giant being called the Crusher.

Castro has the Crusher attack Stark Industries on Long Island but naturally Tony Stark becomes Iron Man and ultimately defeats the Crusher with his latest invention. Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts then show up and inform Tony that they eloped and are now man and wife.   

Captain America Title: The Last Defeat

Villain: The Red Skull

Synopsis: At the end of the previous issue, Captain America stopped the Red Skull’s attempt to “steal” the city of New York with his new force-field device. However, the Skull has made the nation think Captain America has turned traitor and is now his ally.

Undeterred by that public misconception, Cap keeps fighting his archenemy and thwarts his attempt to steal America’s latest nuclear submarine. Our hero clears his name, and the Red Skull seems to have been killed but naturally turns up alive in the near future.

DAREDEVIL Vol 1 #30

Title: If There Should be a Thunder God

Villains: The Cobra and Mr. Hyde

Synopsis: Thor’s old foes the Cobra and Mr. Hyde reunite and go on a new crime spree. Matt Murdock aka Daredevil gets the weird idea to masquerade in public as their foe Thor in hopes of drawing them out. (Yeah, and THEN what?)

Instead, Thor himself hears news reports about what he feels is a villainous imposter and attacks him. Daredevil barely survives long enough to convince Thor why he cosplayed as him.

Thor is annoyed and tells Daredevil not to do it again, then leaves. As himself, Daredevil combs the city for Hyde and Cobra and winds up attacked by the two vastly more powerful figures in the cliffhanger ending.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #93

Hulk Title: He Who Strikes the Silver Surfer

Villain: The Silver Surfer

Synopsis: Following their brief skirmish in the previous issue, the Hulk demands that the Silver Surfer take him to another planet so he can finally be rid of the humans who always try to destroy him. The Surfer tries to explain to the brute how Galactus’ Exile Barrier prevents him from flying more than mere miles away from Earth.

The slow-witted Hulk doesn’t understand and simply perceives that the Silver Surfer has said no and attacks him. After a battle over several miles, the Surfer defeats Hulk and probes his mind, learning his origin.

He tries to befriend the Hulk and offer to cure him when he regains consciousness. Hulk doesn’t understand and attacks again, so the Surfer gives up and flies off.

Sub-Mariner Title: The Monarch and the Monster

Villain: It the Behemoth

Synopsis: Sub-Mariner’s battle with the giant subaquatic entity called It the Behemoth continues. The creature was awakened from its long sleep by radioactive waste dumped in the Atlantic Ocean by the surface world nations.   

Ultimately, Sub-Mariner saves Atlantis, himself, Lady Dorma and a U.S. submarine from It by defeating it. For the cliffhanger, Namor (Subby) is furious at the surface world for its role in the Behemoth’s awakening and organizes Atlantis’ armies for an invasion of the surface nations. 

AVENGERS Vol 1 #42

Title: The Plan and the Power

Avengers Roster: Wasp, Goliath, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Black Widow and Hercules

Villains: Diablo and Dragon Man

Synopsis: Picking up from the previous issue, the Avengers (minus the Black Widow) pursue the escaped villains Diablo the alchemist and his android lackey Dragon Man to Diablo’s castle in the Carpathian Mountains.

A monumental battle follows, in which the Avengers thwart Diablo’s plan to mystically create an entire army of Dragon Man androids and take over the world. With the villains defeated, the Avengers return to the U.S.

In the cliffhanger, Nick Fury updates the team on the fact that the Black Widow has fallen into the clutches of Communist China and must be extracted.   

STRANGE TALES Vol 1 #158

Dr. Strange Title: The Sands of Death

Villain: The Living Tribunal 

NOTE: The cover of this comic book is famous for the way that PINK FLOYD used artwork from it on the cover of their album Saucerful of Secrets.   

Synopsis: Picking up from the previous issue’s cliffhanger, the Living Tribunal introduces itself to Dr. Strange and informs him that the measures he took to defeat the ancient mystic menace Zom have empowered evil sorcerers around the universe.

The Living Tribunal sentences Strange and the Earth to death as punishment. The battle between Dr. Strange and the Living Tribunal ranges from Stonehenge to New York City. Ultimately, unable to defeat his opponent, Strange convinces him to let him try undoing the empowerment of universal Dark Sorcery before destroying the world. The entity agrees, giving our hero 24 hours.

Nick Fury Title: Final Encounter

Villains: Baron Strucker and Hydra

Synopsis: Picking up from last time, Nick Fury’s battle with the new Supreme Hydra – his old World War Two villain Baron Strucker – continues, with his high-tech gauntlet the Satan Claw giving the villain the advantage.

Naturally, Fury triumphs in the end, defeats Strucker and rescues Laura Brown, the daughter of the former Supreme Hydra turned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. After thwarting Hydra’s biological warfare plans, they escape Hydra Island before it blows up.

THOR Vol 1 #142

Title: The Scourge of the Super-Skrull

Villains: Super-Skrull and Loki

Synopsis: Loki is still banished to a lifeless planet to prevent further villainy from him. Or so Odin thought. Loki manages to send his astral form throughout the universe like Dr. Strange often does.

Finding the Fantastic Four foe Super-Skrull, Loki mystically implants the idea in the villain’s mind to return to Earth and kill Thor in hopes of regaining the Skrull Emperor Dorrek IV’s favor.

Meanwhile, Thor’s human alter ego, lame (as in limping) physician Dr. Donald Blake continues treating his patients. When Super-Skrull reaches Earth and rampages through New York demanding that Thor come out to face him, Blake becomes the thunder god and attacks the villain.

Because the Super-Skrull possesses all the powers of the Fantastic Four and can use them in combinations he puts up quite a fight but Thor wins in the end and banishes him back to space. In exile, Loki is furious.

FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #64

Title: The Sentry Sinister

Villain: Kree Sentry 459 (FIRST APPEARANCE)

Synopsis: At the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Thing leave for a presumed pleasure jaunt to a South Pacific island where a scientific expedition has uncovered ancient evidence of alien visits to Earth. 

The Human Torch, who has recently been reunited with his girlfriend Crystal of the Inhuman Royal Family, stays behind to spend time with Crystal and her horse-sized dog Lockjaw. Back on the island, the expedition members have discovered a long-buried giant made of metal, mistaking it for an ancient statue.   

It turns out to be Sentry 459, buried there nearly 100,000 years ago by the alien Kree race, mentioned here for the VERY FIRST time in Marvel stories. It puts the expedition members in stasis. Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Thing arrive and get attacked by Sentry 459.

The three fight the Sentry and contact the Human Torch, so Crystal has Lockjaw teleport the Torch to the island to help his teammates. The Fantastic Four defeat Sentry 459 and free the expedition members. Before going inert, Sentry 459 broadcasts a message of some sort into space. 

NOTE: It will turn out in the very next issue, when the Kree Ronan the Accuser makes his first ever appearance, that when the ancient Kree explored the universe they would bury huge robotic Sentries on planets with promising life forms.

        When a planet’s life forms grew advanced enough to find and engage with a Sentry, that Sentry would shoot a message across space via Kree Omni-Wave Projector, which can reach the Kree home planet Hala instantly. When that happens, the Kree send an Accuser to the planet in question. 

        Those Accusers analyze the planet’s life forms which engaged with a Sentry and pass judgment. If the life forms were deemed ready to be conquered by or allied with the Kree they were permitted to live. If they were judged to pose a potential threat to the Kree Empire they would be subjected to planetary genocide.

        Ronan the Accuser judges Earth to have so many superpowered life forms that they may eventually pose a threat to Kree dominance and tries wiping out humanity. The Fantastic Four defeated him, however. The Kree Supreme Intelligence, the AI that ruled the Empire by then, overruled Ronan’s judgment and spared Earth for study and conquest.   

        At the end of the Kree-Skrull War (1971-1972) the Avengers learned the Supreme Intelligence wanted to blend Kree and human genes to save the Kree from evolutionary stagnation. His overruling of Ronan the Accuser’s judgment started the long feud between them.

        And yes, the whole “buried high-tech object broadcasts a message to its creators when formerly primitive life forms advance enough to engage with it” concept was obviously based on Arthur C. Clarke’s short story The Sentinel. However, since Marvel already featured androids called Sentinels they instead named the Kree androids “Sentries.”

TWO-GUN KID Vol 1 #88

Title: The Revenge of the Rattler

Villain: The Rattler

Synopsis: In 1870s Tombstone, TX (NOT Arizona), a bank is robbed by the costumed villain called the Rattler, who uses six-guns which shoot bullets dipped in rattlesnake venom.

Lawyer Matthew Hawk secretly becomes his masked alter ego the Two-Gun Kid and sets out on the Rattler’s trail. He remembers from newspaper stories that the Rattler performed in a circus before clashing with one of Marvel’s other western heroes the Rawhide Kid and going to prison.

The Two-Gun Kid finds the Rattler’s secret identity working with another traveling circus and captures him alive after a running fight under the Big Top in the town hosting the circus’ latest shows.