Welcome to Make Ours Marvel, the weekly show where Michael Kaiser and Jon M. Wilson read chronologically through Marvel Comics’ spandex adventures and discuss their thoughts with little to no authority.
In this episode…
- The Fantastic Four #38 (May 1965)
- The Avengers #15 (Apr 1965)
- Amazing Spider-Man #24 (May 1965)
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FF #38 vs the Purple I mean Frightful Four. Jon’s take that Medusa is being sarcastic to the rest of the Fright-Four is perfect, especially if you try to sound like the Queen of England, where it’s a mixture of dignified and haughty, so it can easily sound either sincere or sarcastic, but the listener can’t be sure which.
That issue was pretty great, and an amazing ending. Based on your comments, I’m looking forward to the following issues even more!
Avengers #15: I have a semi-serious question. Maybe you’ve discussed it before and I missed it. Is Cap suffering from PTSD? The extreme mood swings. Reliving traumatic moments. Mistaking Rick for Bucky, fallen war buddy. From things I’ve heard, these symptoms would be right in line with PTSD, although called shellshock at this time. I also would doubt that was the intention of Stan and Don. It reads just as much like soap opera drama. But boy, the PTSD angle would make so much sense.
Amazing Spider-Man #24 goes mad! I read this story long ago in a Treasury Edition. I’m sure nostaglia is a factor, but I still love it. Peter and Betty by her desk is adorable. The villain images “attacking” Spider-Man. The upside-down rooms. (Note the fishbowl! Yeeeee!) Jonah and Flash ruining Mysterio’s plan. Love it!
A different Treasury had the Sinister Six issue, so something about seeing the villains again here really worked for me, even with the eerie silence. Those images of Doc Ock and Sandman were especially effective to my young eyes. I also didn’t mind fishbowl-less Mysterio, as I first knew him from the Spider-Man
’67 cartoon, where he trapped Spidey in an amusement park and he was a giant! But it was actually a giant robot. Man, Mysterio has some serious dough to pay for these revenge plans. If I had that scratch, I’d be retiring somewhere. Guess that’s why I’ll never be a super-villain. I can’t carry a grudge far enough.
Now about ASM #400 and Aunt May knowing Peter is Spider-Man. Forgive the Tim-splaining. The May that died in that issue was retconned to be an actress brainwashed into believing she was May, including the knowledge of Spidey’s identity. When the real May returned, the status quo returned to her not knowing Peter’s secret, until she discovered it in ASM Vol 2 #35. And then the later deal with Mephisto to save May’s life undid it again. So the retcon was retconned and the unretcon became un-unretconned. (My head hurts.) BUT! If there was a turning point for May putting the pieces together, I believe the next issue would be it. I’ll be interested what you both think.
Until Peter Parker winds up in a sanitarium, make mine Make Ours Marvel.
You could say that Madam Medusa was mainly responsible for the FF’s defeat in issue #38, as it was her capture of Susan Storm that made it all possible. The evil FF were at their best when they had Medusa on the team. It is a shame that Stan made her into a heroine. She was much better as thoroughly evil female foe!