Ditko's Iron Man!

Iron Man is credited to Stan Lee and Don Heck. Heck along with Jack Kirby and later Gene Colan all had hefty runs on the character. But a crucial but brief tenure on the series was held down by Steve Ditko. Ditko debuted on the Tales of Suspense series under a Kirby cover when Shellhead confronted the weird menace of Mr. Doll. 

To combat Doll's strange voodoo-like curse, Iron Man adopted a new sleeker armor. Designed by Ditko, this red and gold armor became the standard look of the character for many decades with various small changes over time.

In the next issue Ditko drew a story in which Iron Man battles a deluded Angel. This battle is strangely even as clearly Marvel thought they might have a future star in the high-flying X-Man. 

 

Marvel was getting excellent at cross-promotion of its comics, using every series as a chance to suggest another character to a potential reader. Paul Reinman inked both issues of Tales of Suspense that featured Ditko's art. And just like that, Ditko was gone, but not forgotten. 

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Fin Fang Foom Day!

Jack "King" Kirby was born on this date in 1917. It's almost impossible to overstate his influence on the modern comic book. Kirby in tandem with Joe Simon was a force in the Golden Age co-creating such features as Captain America, Boy Commandos, Newsboy Legion, among others. Later the duo brought out Fighting American and Boy's Ranch. Teaming with Stan Lee, Kirby was instrumental in empowering Marvel Comics with his work on Fantastic Four. He left Marvel to create "The Fourth World" at DC and later moved into independent comics and animation. Today I want to remember one of my favorite Kirby creations -- Fin Fang Foom. 

He is without doubt Marvel's greatest monster. A product of the Cold War, Fin Fang Foom was a weapon, a sleeping mythical behemoth roused to defeat the Communist Chinese by the hero but then put down again when the deed was accomplished. Stan, Jack and Dick created a legend intentionally, and they created a monster that has stood the test of time, both in the story proper and in the greater memory of fandom.

It's hard to pin down why Fin Fang Foom is better than all the rest. But maybe it's the voice. The fact that he can talk and somewhat eloquently is maybe one reason. In the original story as he's surging forward at the hero, he constantly bellows threats as he advances assaulting the confidence on all levels. He is unstoppable and completely lethal. Talking was something none of the movie monsters could do. It gave a leering evil to Fin Fang Foom that they are missing. He almost becomes a blend of the classic giant monster and the more insidious yellow peril like Fu Manchu.

Whatever the reason for his success, Fin Fang Foom was first published in Strange Tales #89 and then reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces #2 (that's where I first encountered him). Later the story was reprinted again in Where Monsters Dwell and even years later in Monster Masterworks, an early Marvel trade.

Fin Fang Foom was folded into the Marvel Universe properly when he met up with and battled IT The Living Colossus in Astonishing Tales. Later his story was blended with the origin of Iron Man's arch nemesis the Mandarin. He also was linked in Thor to the Midgard Serpent.

I learned putting together this post that he's even mixed it up with Iron Man in the movie-universe though in a comics story. These days too he's been shrunk to human size and works in a Chinese resturant -- Arrrgggh. (And you have to ask why fewer folks read comics these days.)


Whatever becomes of him though, whatever indignity he's forced to endure, I know that ultimately the unstoppable force that is Fin Fang Foom will prevail.

Fin Fang Foom remains my all-time favorite monster. Though modern interpretations insist on finding ironic twists, his original awesomeness seems able to penetrate the snark and still come across as menacing despite all attempts to make him a mere joke, a snide old-fashioned reference to a time when comics were considered only child's play. Fin Fang Foom remains greater than the disparate sum of his many parts.

And finally, there's this. 

Here is that splash page as reworked by Jim (Priest) Owsley, and with John Tartaglione inking over "King" Kirby's pencils. This version of the tale appeared in Crazy magazine.


I was planning to link out to the story, but some of it seems to have gone away into the internet mists. Fortunately, I saved it to my computer a while back and here it is in its entirety. I have little to say about this gem, but that even the mighty fall victim to satire. It's a hoot!

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Ghost Rider Day!

Dick Ayers was born on this date in 1924. Ayers is likely most famous as an artist at Marvel and many companies before that during the Golden Age of Comics. He was the mainstay artist on Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos. 

Perhaps the character most associated with the late great Dick Ayers, which he had a hand in creating, is Ghost Rider. The character debuted for Magazine Enterprises in the pages of Tim Holt in 1949.

Soon enough he had his own title, and after the debut issue featuring this cover by Ayers, the great Frank Frazetta stepped in to do the cover art for several issues. See this for more on that.

After Frazetta departed though, Ayers was back on the task beginning with the sixth issue.

After the demise of the character and the title and the company, the Ghost Rider waited many more years before riding again. He did with a somewhat different origin and back story for Marvel. Dick Ayers had been a stalwart for the company for many moons, as an inker and penciller. He assumed the art again on his signature character and the title lasted another seven installments.

Marvel revived the name a few years later, but without the western setting and brand new talent. Ayers wasn't connected to the adventures of Johnny Blaze. This new Ghost Rider proved so durable that when the original (sort of) western version (both vintage and modern) was revived his name was changed to "Night Rider" and later to "Phantom Rider".

I've frankly lost track of what they call him now, if he even still exists in some form. AC Comics still reprint his original adventures from time to time, but he's called "Haunted Horseman" when he appears over there.

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