Astonishing Tales, No.2, Featuring Ka-Zar and Dr. Doom

Written by - Roy Thomas

Art by - Wally Wood

Letters by - Jean Izzo

Editor - Stan Lee

Published in October 1970 by Marvel Comics comes 'Astonishing Tales' which, initially, featured to stories per issue at 10 pages a story. Featured in Astonishing Tales #2 is 'Ka-Zar' the jungle lord, and 'Dr. Doom' the master of menace. The Ka-Zar story is written by Roy Thomas with art by legend Jack Kirby. However, it is the Dr. Doom story I am most interested in, which is again written by Roy Thomas but this time the art is supplied by Golden Age master Wally Wood.

Wallace Allan Wood started drawing comics from an early age and claimed that following a dream in which he found a pencil that could draw anything, he knew early on what his future held for him. Wally Wood is probably best known for his work during the 1950's that he did for EC comics, particularly his work on Weird Science and Weird Fantasy (science fiction comics that he himself convinced EC publisher William Gaines to produce). Between 1957 and 1967, Wood also created a host of cover images for great science-fiction writers such as; Isaac Asimov, Jack Vance, Jack Finney and Philip K Dick.

Throughout the silver and bronze age, Wood created art for many different publishers including; Marvel, DC, Warren, Avon, Charlton, Fox, Gold Key, King and Atlas. It was during this period that Wally Wood pencilled and inked issues #5-8 and inked #9-11 of Marvel's 'Daredevil', which established Matt Murdoch's distinctive red costume.

Continuing from the previous issue, Prince Rudolfo (leader of Latervia) has escaped from his cell, Dr. Doom confronts him and reveals that he knows he's isn't the real Prince but a robot clone; a Doombot then destroys the robot. In a cave, the real Prince Rudolfo plots to overthrow Dr. Doom and take back his kingdom with the help of an alien creature known as the Faceless One...

Iron Man & Captain America, No. 72

Tales of Suspense number 72 is from 1965 and contains two stories featuring Iron Man and Captain America respectively; the cover art is by legend Jack Kirby (Nazi robots, nice...)

Hoorah For The Conquering Hero!

This is the first story in the comic and follows Iron Man as he returns to America from battle with Titanium Man. Tony Stark is kidnapped by the Awesome Android and taken to the Mad Thinker's lair who has in turn been hired by Countess Stephanie De La Spiroza as she seeks revenge for being spurned by Tony.

The Sleeper Shall Awake!

The second story features Captain America and appearances by Avengers; Hawkeye (a personal favourite), Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Cap thinks back to the 2nd World War and remembers when the Red Skull, on his death bed, had told Cap that 20 years after the wars end, three Nazi sleeper agents would awaken and restart the Third Reich all over again. That date is now almost upon him...

Fantastic Four, No. 67

This issue of the Fantastic Four, issue 67, was published in 1967; written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. When I say written by Stan Lee, I guess it's hard to know exactly how much he actually wrote, but that is a subject that has been discussed a thousand times on internet forums; I personally think he was an integral part of Marvel, however, the majority of the actual stories he was supposed to have written I find to be very hit and miss. The real talent on show here is the work of Jack Kirby, a man who's distinctive style I will be most definitely posting more of in the near future. I love the way Jack Kirby draws the human face, his male characters always look suitably rugged and chiselled, and the women have a strange beauty to them (I think it's in the cheekbones). Also, his use of shadow is very distinctive with large areas of black used to great effect; it usually only takes just one panel to know that it was drawn by Jack Kirby.

This issue also tells the origin of Warlock (Adam Warlock) who is originally known as simply 'Him'. The character is an artificial human created for personal gain and power by the scientific group 'The Enclave'. The Fantastic Four are on the Enclave's island base rescuing Alicia Masters, when 'Him' hatches from his cocoon and destroys the island. Him abandons his masters and departs Earth for space.

Not Brand Echh

'Not Brand Echh' was published by Marvel from 1967 to 1969; the issue I'm presenting is number 7 from April 1968. The credits are as follows:

'Not Brand Echh' is a satirical comic that not only satirises itself, but also other comic publishers of the time. There are two stories in this issue; the first is 'The Origin of The Fantastical Four' (featuring the characters; Weed Witchards - Mr Fantastical, Bim Grimm - The Thung, Shrew Storm - The Inevitable Girl and Sonny Storm - The Human Scorch), and the second is 'The Origin of Stuporman!' (which takes some none-too-subtle digs at DC).

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way

Originally published  in 1978 was the book every young wannabe comic book creator was waiting for - How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Then 10 years later in 1988, Stan (the man) Lee and artist John Buscema released a video which entailed them working through the contents of the book with visual examples drawn by John Buscema himself. The only problem with the programme really is the majority of the drawings are from the book already, and so John Buscema is basically just tracing over them. However, there are a couple of chapters on the video that show him drawing from scratch and they can be found below. The first is from the chapter on how to draw heads, I particularly like the part on drawing the female head (it's much harder, you know!). The second part is the section on how to 'ink' (embedding is disabled for this video).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H05IHhlS_o&feature=related