In the third series of panels you present (the one you named ''the stage is set'') the guy on the lower right corner, I don't know why but he looks like Stan Lee drawn by Ditko, I always thought that
In the sixties when Cap was drawn by other artists it just didn't work
Agains when you are a child reading that thing about Rama-Tut and Dr Doom being the same person sounded cool and gives you something to think about for a while. But if we read it for the first time as uninterested adults it just sounds totally ludicrous. Which it obviously is.
Finally, Reed's crazy Kirby machine may seem silly, but wow, just copying or tracing that thing could take a person days, and Kirby completed entire pages like that everyday. Sometimes two or three pages a day.
Darth Vader! Darth Vader!
Loved this annual, the cover is another classic cover that sticks in your mind for all your life. When I first started reading the FF I wondered why Kirby almost always drew gigantic Dr Dooms in the covers. It's clear that Dr. Doom's mask is a very interesting visual. Other artists, like Byrne, would imitate this too.
It was a great story when I first read it as a kid, little Victor's face looks kind of diabolical when he discovers his mother's old books and satanic realia. Kirby was great (he was the king) drawing these creepy origin tales with guys of cold looking grey eyes (Loki, Red Skull, Dr Doom). Whenever you read the word ''origin'' in a Marvel mag you knew it was going to be another Marvel classic.
The art here is almost cartoony simple and I know many people don't think much of Ditko's Hulk because of the poor inking by George Roussos, I am ok with it. The story telling makes up for it, and Roussos inking gets a little bit better in a few issues, of course I would have loved to see Ditko inking these instead. I prefer Roussos inking Ditko over Dick Ayers and Vince Colletta, though. Ditko gets the perfect inker with Frank Giacoia in his final issue, which is a sad thing.
Anyways, Ditko and Lee here in a couple of issues gave stuff (Banner anger management problems, The Leader, Major Talbot, etc) to work with for decades to come to new generations of Hulk's writers and artists. I always wondered why Ditko left the series after only 8 issues, maybe the same old problem of not getting plotting credit?
I am also among those who love these 8 or 9 issues penciled and co-plotted by Steve Ditko. When I was a kid the early Tales to Astonish Hulk stories were the ones that got the most damaged by me re-reading them over and over again, maybe even more than the Fantastic Four. Ditko, if not one of the Hulk's parents, he should be considered an adoptive father (as Stan Lee once put it), his contributions go as far as inking the very second issue and penciling, inking and probably co-plotting the 6th issue too. He certainly loved the character, since he used it in Spider-Man 14 (probably to get used to it again), but we know he hated putting Spider-Man with other Marvel characters in a story, the other two where he gave in to Lee were Dr. Strange, for obvious reasons, and Daredevil which Ditko was comfortable with since it was similar to Spider-Man.
Yes, he'll stay dead for like... 5 years maximum. They also just brought back Jean Grey like for the sixth time. They also brought back Janet Van Dyne (Wasp) last month. Remember a couple of years ago when they killed Captain America? How long did he stay dead? One year maybe. Like the Human Torch, too. Heck, they even resurrected Bucky Barnes some years ago. The only one who's remained dead is Uncle Ben (for now). Marvel today is a joke (and DC for that matter) fortunately I only read reprints like the Archives or Masterworks.
I know what Stan and Jack were trying to do here, be realistic, show the passage of time and the fact that the X-Men were growing up. But after all these years everytime I read this issue, I don't know, this story hasn't aged very well. Too soon and too useless. So they graduated (from what? highschool? I never saw them touching a textbook) But then they kept at the school for many years to come, doing what? Because you know there is this thing nobody mentions about, that they graduated school in issue 7. I think it was not a good move.
And the fact that this soon they decided to take the professor out of the picture just shows that maybe Xavier wasn't that popular since the very beginning, maybe Stan got letters...
Great art by the combo Kirby and Stone I wish they had worked together for a longer period of time, not only here in X-Men but also in Tales of Suspense Captain America, the Fantastic Four and Thor, Kirby never looked as good as when he was inked by Stone until Sinnott arrived.
Didn't the hippie girl at the A-go-go bar said that the ''poet'' was doing wonders to her libido in this issue? If so, I always thought that line sounded naughty.
The TOA story had a very 60s feeling at a time when America was struggling with the Civil Rights movements,, all that thing about freedom, slavery, a hammer, etc, shows how much Kirby and Lee were influenced by the social upheavals of the times. I can almost hear 1960s Trini Lopez ''If I had a Hammer''.
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