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Editor's Note: The Rise and Fall of The Marvel Age of Comics
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As I suggested in Part II of this article, not eveything at Marvel worked as well as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. There were some failures, but they were noble failures. Noble, because they really didn't fail. The Hulk was the only cancelled book of the sixties, a remarkable record. The X-Men also failed, but in the 70's. The Hulk returned quickly and was a major success. The X-Men took a little longer but eventually returned, and we all know what happened then. The Torch continued uninterrupted in the Fantastic Four after his strip was cancelled in Strange Tales. As Ant-Man, Henry Pym made several unsuccessful comebacks but was never abandoned (he continued in the Avengers), nor was Tales to Astonish cancelled.
Not letting go of an idea that didn't work was definitely a Marvel trademark. But Marvel did not let go of an idea if it did work. Here are three examples: When a villain or hero was successful, Lee came up with a duplicate. The Puppet Master was followed by (no joke) Mr. Doll; the Thing was followed by the Hulk; the Crimson Dynamo by the Titanium Man, and so on. If I ever had to write a thesis for "Comics 101," I would use Thor as the example. Thor was the best example of what Lee and Kirby could do. When Thor was introduced, believe or not, I saw him as a copy of Green Lantern. Both got their powers by "serendipity" because they were worthy. Abin Sur, in 1959, sent for a man who would be worthy to be his successor; Don Blake found a hammer, giving him powers, "if he be worthy"; both had time limits; and other similar gimmicks. For two years, very typical stories were published. The change started in Journey into Mystery #97. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby became the permanent creative team. The first thing they did was to give Thor a back story. Not a typical "things you did not know about the hero's origin" type story, but a fully-fledged feature, Tales of Asgard. These stories gave the mythological history of Odin and Asgard; it introduced characters like Heimdall, Hogun, and Sif; it showed the boyhood of Thor and Loki and started the epic tales that would eventually become part of the main story. Thor had spent two years fighting Earth-bound bad guys like the Cobra and Mr. Hyde. When Lee and Kirby teamed, slowly Thor's speech became archaic, his stories became longer, and he would fight villains far removed from Earth, introducing into the stories characters who had already appeared in Tales of Asgard. The final separation from that original character from issue #83 came in two stages. The first had Thor end his relationship with Jane Foster, a mere mortal, and develop a relationship with Sif, a goddess also introduced in the Asgard series. The second, in one of the most brilliant stories of the Marvel Age, was presented in issues #157-158. We learned that the character had always been Thor; he was only briefly Don Blake! Marvel reprinted the original story, but with a forward and a preface that changed everything about the character. To teach him humility and to have his son grow, Odin banished his son to Earth to live as a man whose life revolved around helping others (a doctor). He also gave him a handicap (and that's another idea that would be re-used, six months later, in Daredevil). Many plot elements from Tales of Asgard were weaved into the new Thor stories. It was great fun, and I was glad I was there for the ride. During the 1960's Marvel produced a finite 10 or 11 super-hero titles (along with Millie the Model and some Westerns). Marvel was limited by distribution problems to print only 16 bi-monthly titles. Slowly, they became 16 monthly titles. Lee, unable to add more titles, could not expand the line. But it worked out well - he had to concentrate on what he had. As a result, Stan edited all and wrote most titles, and the Marvel Age had great continuity. Characters guest stared in each other's titles; story lines, such as one involving Hydra, appeared in several titles at the same time. Also, since new books could not be published, Stan created a great many new characters who could not get their own books. That's why most of Marvel new characters were villains. Hawkeye, the Black Widow, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, the Silver Surfer and even the Black Panther. All these characters existed in the same world. For $1.50 a month, you could buy all the Marvel comics. When new writers and artists were brought in, like Roy Thomas, Jim Steranko and John Buscema, they could be developed, as if it were a farm club, to the Marvel style. This, of course, ended in the late l960's when, with a new distributor, Marvel was greatly able to expand its titles. Artists and writers, with varying levels of talent, were quickly brought in. They often gutted the characters, redid old story lines, and lost the continuity so well established. A good example of this process was Spider-Man. Spidey was a loner and appeared in one comic, one story line a month. As a loner, Spider-Man tried, but could not join the Fantastic Four or the Avengers. All of a sudden, in the 1970's, he is the star of Marvel Team-Up, joining forces with a different hero every month. Also a loner, the Hulk left the Avengers, making their story line unexpectedly different. In the 70's he becomes a member of the Defenders, with another loner, Dr. Strange. By giving the characters different stages, Marvel was changing the nature of the characters. Not only was Marvel becoming homogenized, they were looking more and more like their competition. The Marvel Age didn't just end, it petered out. To some, perhaps, it ended with Spider-Man #39 when Steve Ditko left. To others, I'm sure, it ended when Jack Kirby left, or when Stan Lee stopped writing. For me, it began to decline, but not quite end, iny 1969. Marvel had begun what would be a huge expansion of its line. Soon, Stan Lee and Roy Thomas could no longer write or edit all the story lines. Other artists, other writers, versed not in Marvel but in DC and similar comics, started producing Marvel titles. The stories became repetitive and formulaic. By hiring "outside" talent that had not been developed internally, Marvel slowly became what the others were. And, finally, once again they were written for kids again. Yes, there were high spots. Roy Thomas's Conan; the Warlock series and others. But it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. My ending of my Marvel Age is marked by the second exit of Jack Kirby. Without Stan Lee, Kirby's Captain America did seem more like a cartoon. But when Kirby left, I saw no reason to read comics. Kirby's last stint on Captain America showed how well, in retrospect, Stan and Jack had worked together. Putting aside much of the issue of who did exactly what, their stories were incredible. Lee added depth, character and pacing to the stories, Kirby added dynamics and great storylines. Sometimes, Lee's skills as an editor and promoter are forgotten. A good example was Kirby's Fourth World. When Kirby wrote his own dialogue, the pacing was off, the characters were under-developed and the stories were all action and very little thought. Kirby's dialogue told you what the characters were doing, Lee's dialogue told you who the characters were, and provided their motivation for doing what they did. In Kirby's last stint on Captain America, the images and the dialogue were two dimensional, there was no depth. With no depth there is no risk to the character, no suspense, and no interest. Lee and Kirby did great things separately, but nothing compares with what they accomplished together. In looking back over forty years I learned a lot about comics and I learned something about myself. Comic book fans often tell you what they liked to read: "Spider-Man", "Superman", "X-Men" and others. I know now that I read Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Jim Steranko, John Buscema, Wally Wood, Gene Colan, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Romita Sr., Gil Kane, John Severin, Steve Ditko and Jim Starlin. When they left, so did I. The Marvel Age was over. © Barry Pearl, Dec 2002 |
