Marvel Read-Through: Origins Part 3
Doing all this exploration of Marvel’s history, I’m really learning to appreciate how prolific and creative the team at Marvel in the 1960s was. They were coming up with new ideas nearly every week, most of which have stuck around and are still the characters we read today. I didn’t expect to spend this much time on the 1960s, since there aren’t many ongoing arcs or linewide crossovers, but there are just so many origins and first appearances to explore from this era. I’m trying to focus on the characters who will go on to play a role in bigger things, like main Avengers members for example, and even then, there is just SO MUCH. It’s inspiring how talented and creative the 1960s minds at Marvel were.
This time around I started by checking out Doctor Strange’s first appearances in Strange Tales. The stories themselves were only several pages long, but they accomplished what they were doing. We all know Strange goes on to be quite a big player in Marvel, exploring dimensions and abstract concepts such as the sentient embodiment of Eternity, so I enjoyed the humble beginnings of him casting simple spells to fight off his arch-rival Baron Mordo. Due to the very short nature of these stories, there isn’t a lot of substance to delve into, and it’s the art that stood out the most to me. Steve Ditko drew in a way that made the magic feel mystical and real all at once. After reading mostly Jack Kirby-drawn books, seeing another artist’s style was not only a breath of fresh air, but it truly made me appreciate Ditko’s talent. I believe that without his contribution to these early Doctor Strange tales, the character would not have gone on to become the success that he is.
I know I said earlier that I’m focusing on characters who will go on to play a large role in the overall scheme of things, but I couldn’t help myself and had to check out Daredevil’s origins. He’s one of my favorite characters, probably top 5, and even though he’s not usually facing world-ending, status-quo-changing threats, I had to read a couple of his early issues. Again, I have to point out the art. Bill Everett’s style was grittier than Kirby’s and Ditko’s, and fit the street-level action of Daredevil perfectly. Current Daredevil comics have the benefit of years of knowledge of his powers that allow him to “see” despite being blind, and what stood out to me the most from Daredevil’s beginnings with Stan Lee was how he explained Daredevil’s senses and actions with the character’s thoughts, but it didn’t feel over-explained or unnecessary due to the fact that there are pictures. I’ve noticed that a lot of older comics have the characters narrating their actions as if we can’t see what they are doing, and it feels really dated, but Daredevil’s inner monologue avoided this trap by feeling necessary and relevant.
Returning to major Avengers characters, I checked back in on Iron Man for the introductions of Black Widow and Hawkeye. I knew they both began as villains, but I thought there was a lot more ambiguity to their moral alignments than there turned out to be. They were both straight up villains, especially Black Widow as a Russian spy trying to take down Tony Stark. Unfortunately, she did almost nothing in her first appearance while her partner Boris did the heavy lifting in that issue. I was disappointed in her weak beginning, but Hawkeye’s origin took me by surprise in a really good way. He was a fun villain and his character was nicely explored for a new villain in a 15 page story. I’m looking forward to seeing Hawkeye join the Avengers very shortly, and I’m hoping Black Widow gets her time to shine soon as well.
Of course, the exploration of Marvel’s origins is incomplete without S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra. I read the first story featuring the two organizations, and it was pretty standard but nice to read. My favorite part about it was how Nick Fury acted throughout the story. I’m used to the tough-love take-no-shit Director Fury so I enjoyed seeing him as a fresh-faced Corporal learning about S.H.I.E.L.D. and their advanced tech for the first time.
Very quickly, I also want to discuss the first appearance of future Avenger Hercules. I liked that he was introduced through a Thor story as part of another world of immortal gods, but it was a very standard Silver Age story with not much to it other than two strong guys trading blows. I’m not very familiar with Marvel’s version of Hercules so I’m looking forward to seeing how they develop his character beyond big-strong-man once he becomes an Avenger.
That’s all for now, be back next time as we check back in on Spidey!
Issues Read:
Strange Tales #110–111, #114–115 (Note: only the Doctor Strange portions)
Daredevil #1, #7
Tales of Suspense #52, #57 (Note: only the Iron Man portions)
Strange Tales #135 (Note: only the Nick Fury portion)
Journey Into Mystery Annual #1
Favorite issue: Strange Tales #111. The art elevated this issue, which was already exciting as the doctor took on Mordo for the first time.
