Daily Archives: December 28, 2004

Lesser Villains of the early 1960s

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A trio of Kirby-on-the-outside books from the early Marvel Universe, showing not everyone was a Doctor Doom, Magneto or Modok.

STRANGE TALES #112, 1963. Inker unknown, possibly Ayers? Nicely drawn figure, but the Eel has one of the dullest costumes ever. Which I guess is fine for his profession, but doesn’t make for splashy comics.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #45, 1963. Don Heck inks. I dunno, I just find it amusing that Happy and Pepper got such a big build-up on their first appearance. Well, they probably did deserve it more than Jack Frost.

TALES TO ASTONISH #47, 1963. Dick Ayers inks. Ah, menaced by a giant piano playing hand. Is it any wonder that they added growing powers just a few issues later?