Marvel 1967 Reimagined - pt. 8

The Incredible Hulk #4

“He Who Strikes the Silver Surfer!”

The Hulk and the Surfer have been talking. The Hulk demands that the Surfer take him away from Earth, to find a new home where he won't be hounded. Unaware that the Surfer is unable to leave the Earth, the Hulk attacks when the Surfer refuses to help him.

The two end up in a battle, with the Hulk trying to gain control of the Surfer's board and failing. Their standoff is interrupted when police arrive, allowing the Surfer a chance to escape. From above, the Surfer observes the police’s threatening attitude towards the Hulk and, taking pity, helps scatter the police. But the Hulk is still fighting mad and turns on the Surfer again. This time the Surfer gets mad back and knocks the Hulk out.

Using his powers to analyze the Hulk, he discovers he is a mutated human and tries to use the Power Cosmic to restore him. When the Hulk turns back into Banner, the Surfer mistakenly assumes he had succeeded and leaves.  Banner does some reconnaissance and finds out that the Hulk’s latest excursion has left him stranded in Indiana, once more penniless. He weighs whether he should contact Betty and tell her he’s alright, but since he doesn’t feel he is, he does not.

Script:  Roy Thomas

Pencils:  Gil Kane

Inks:  Marie Severin

 

The Mighty Thor #143

“And Soon Shall Come the Enchanters!”

In Asgard, Odin calls Balder to his throne. He advises Balder that the deadly Enchanters have been discovered in Ringsfjord and orders Balder to go and learn what their plans are. Sif steps in and begs Odin to allow her to go to, to which he agrees.

Meanwhile, Donald Blake is in a NYC soda shop listening to the kids talk about Thor. Amused, Don calls himself an expert on mythology and volunteers to answer their questions about Thor. After hearing too many questions, he returns to his office and sees a patient. It’s weird seeing his temp nurse in the office, since Jane Foster never came back to work with him.

Meanwhile, Balder and Sif are well into their quest to learn the plans of the Enchanters. Along the way they are attacked by the Living Talisman, a mystical force that takes on physical form. After a brief skirmish the two gods seem to destroy the Living Talisman. With the Talisman's defeat the Enchanters reveal themselves: They are Magnir, Forsung and Brona. The trio explain to Balder and Sif that while they were content to rule their own realm, they now seek to overthrow Odin and rule the entire realm of Asgard. They attempt to dispatch Balder and Sif by sinking them into the ground, but Sif produces a magic stone Odin had given her that teleports the two of them to Earth, and to Thor’s side.

That means they show up in Don Blake’s office and chase off his temp nurse. Don changes to Thor and they ask his help in stopping the Enchanters from carrying out their coup in Asgard. However, the Enchanters are watching and believe that an intervention by Thor would put their plan at risk. As such, they decide to make a two pronged attack: Magnir and Brona travelling to Earth to battle Thor, Balder and Sif, while Forsung continues on to Asgard to battle Odin.

As the three Gods plan their next move, Magnir and Brona arrive on Earth to carry out their mission to destroy the Earthbound Asgardians.

Script:  Scott Casper

Pencils:  Jack Kirby

Inks:  Vince Colletta

 

The Amazing Spider-Man #51

“In the Clutches of the Kingpin!”

All is going well in Peter Parker’s new Spider-Man-less life, until he observes a daring daytime robbery and feels like he has to do something. He beats up two thugs and runs off, but realizes he can never stop doing what he does. But he doesn’t want to give up what he has now with Gwen either, so he resolves to tell her everything.

Meanwhile, Foswell finds the Kingpin and is captured. Soon thereafter, Peter sneaks into the Daily Bugle and steals back his costume. He needs it to show to Gwen. Gwen gets a demonstration of what he can do, is shown the costume, and he explains why he does this to honor Uncle Ben’s memory. For Gwen, it’s a lot to take in, and she’s aware that Peter has been really good at lying to her so far. She asks for time to think it over.

Peter knows he couldn’t have expected any better, but he’s still sour as he patrols the city as Spider-Man once more. He even gets “lucky” and observes a drive-by shooting by some of the Kingpin’s goons. He captures them and lets one get away; Spider-Man is even luckier because the one he lets get away is one of the Kingpin’s lieutenants, Big Turk.

Meanwhile, Gwen meets with Mary Jane and Harry Obsorn (her mutual friends in common with Peter) and, while she reveals nothing, she says Peter has asked her to consider something really big. MJ thinks Peter has asked her to marry and is freaking out.

Big Turk and the Kingpin are having it out when Spider-Man shows up, having trailed the lieutenant.  Spider-Man is distracted by four goons, plus Big Turk, who Kingpin throws in Spider-Man’s way before making his escape through a secret door. Spider-Man stops the express elevator behind it with webbing, but the Kingpin turns out not to be in it, and can’t be found. Soon, the Kingpin emerges from through another secret door to round up his goons holding Foswell and tells them it’s time to step up their plans.   

Script:  Scott Casper

Pencils:  John Romita

Inks: Steve Ditko

 

Invincible Iron Man #4

“Within the Vastness of Viet Nam”

Iron Man travels to South Viet Nam under the impression that he is to help the US Military test out bullets which chase their targets; however he learns that the military has duped him into getting involved in international politics again. The top brass insist they have PAVN on the run and they can wrap up the war in a year -- if Iron Man can take out a top scientist working for North Viet Nam. Agreeing to reading their intelligence file, Iron Man recognizes the scientist as Dr. Tuan. Iron Man had read about how Trung Tuan once worked with Professor Yinsen in the past. Iron Man decides he owes it to Yinsen’s memory to find out if Dr. Tuan is being forced to work, as Yinsen had, and save him if he can.

had  y want Iron Man to  is seeking his aid with something else entirely. Iron Man has been asked to help the military deal with the Communist's newest scientist: Half-Face, who is holed up in a castle not far from their position.

Iron Man flies to the castle, defeating all the Viet Cong soldiers, and the traps of Half-Face along the way. Inside the castle he has to fight his way through a small army of robots, but once defeated he enters into Half-Face's lab where he has just succeeded in finishing his latest project..  

[And that's as far as I ever got on this project!]

Marvel 1967 Reimagined - pt. 7

Incredible Iron Man #3

“The Uncanny Challenge of the Crusher”

Tony Stark has to act happy for Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts when they return to work following their honeymoon. Stark is still not over Pepper and tries to forget her by throwing himself into his work. Now that Stark Industries is phasing out arms manufacturing, his new challenge is to find newer, more profitable fields and is feeling good about space exploration. He has a contract with NASA to develop a new 21-G centrifuge.

Meanwhile, a Cuban scientist named Dr. Criloche waxes about how he was working on centrifuges when he was trapped in one that was started up, and accidentally electrified at the same time. The event triggered a change in him so that he could exert centrifugal force on others. He has finally developed a suit of armor that will magnify that power, and plans to use it to raid Stark Industries and learn Stark’s advancements.

Criloche tries to sneak in with phoney credentials, but is discovered by Pepper. She sounds an alarm, but is then thrown into a closet as Criloche changes into his armor. Iron Man arrives in time to see Criloche, calling himself the Crusher, making employees orbit around him at great speed. Iron Man regrets his employees being put in harm’s way again and volunteers to show all of Tony Stark’s work to him. But this is a trick to lure the Crusher into a centrifuge and reverse direction to cancel out his powers. While Joe, a technician working for Stark keeps Crusher off-balance in the centrifuge, Iron Man goes inside and pastes him a good one, knocking him out.

Plot:  Scott Casper

Script:  Stan Lee

Pencils:  Gene Colan

Inks:  Wallace Wood (plus design of Crusher)

       

August 1967

 

Fantastic Four #65

“Two Against the Sentry!”

Mr. Fantastic, realizing this is no ordinary robot, tries to contact the FF, but his radio signal cannot penetrate the barrier. The Sentry traces the signal, though, and arrives to attack. Invisible Girl wins an early victory by encasing its feet in forcefield spheres and tripping it, but the Sentry can also fly. Mr. Fantastic has a plan that involves reaching the bunker to look for a way to shut down the barrier, if not the robot. She turns him invisible, Mr. Fantastic Four rolls up until a ball, and everyone gets inside as he rolls across the island. The Sentry soon detects the ruse and switches to infrared vision.

At the bunker entrance, they find the device arrive, but the Sentry overwhelms her forcefield and the feedback knocks Invisible Girl out. Mr. Fantastic distracts the Sentry while the two explorers struggle to deactivate the device, finally succeeding just by randomly pushing buttons. The Sentry is furious and hits them with a force blast that kills one of the two men. Mr. Fantastic gathers Invisible Girl and the surviving explorer, Daniel, and gets them into the bunker. Inside, he finds evidence an alien species has created this place and the Sentry. He is accessing the computer inside when the Sentry comes in after them.

Mr. Fantastic bluffs, pretending he’s ready to send all the information in the computer to computers all around the world so they will know everything there is to know about this alien species. The Sentry is thwarted, for his mission was to observe without being discovered. To stop Mr. Fantastic, the Sentry triggers a self-destruct mechanism in the bunker and everyone barely escapes before everything starts blowing up around them, seemingly taking the Sentry with it.

Script:  Scott Casper

Pencils: Jack Kirby

Inks:  Joe Sinnott

 

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner #94

“Helpless at the Hands of Dragov!”

The Sub-Mariner has returned to Atlantis after months away to get his house in order. He is still expecting a reply from the Fantastic Four about joining their ranks and is furious that they need so long to consider it. He is interrupted by word from his adviser, Vashti, that a message has reached Atlantis from Bulgaria by a man called Dragov. The message is an invitation for the Sub-Mariner, requesting an alliance. Still furious, the Sub-Mariner decides to go to Bulgaria and teach Dragov a lesson for his impudence.

En route, a midget in Dragov’s castle detects the approach of the Sub-Mariner’s airship and fires missiles on it. The Sub-Mariner’s plane is damaged and crashes not far from the castle. Dragov arrives with some soldiers to intercept the Sub-Mariner, and surprise him by trapping in in a forcefield. Dragov tries to make a case that the Bulgarian government fired on his airship and, since they’re communists anyway, the Sub-Mariner should help Dragov depose the country’s government. The Sub-Mariner doesn’t like negotiating from inside a forcefield, however, and pushes against the sides of it until he overloads it and makes the field collapse. Dragov is even more impressed with him and invites him back to the castle to go over details.

Back in Atlantis, Dorma has returned, not wishing to remain in Aquaria without Namor. She was watching the attack on a monitor and has a scientist on hand confirm her guess that the missiles came from the castle.

Meanwhile, the Sub-Mariner has been dining with Dragov while Dragov boasts of his own super-strength, and that together no nation can stand against them. The Sub-Mariner isn’t really interested, but finds it hard to think and to say no. Dragov goes too far, though, bragging that the food and drink was drugged and will make him susceptible to his every command. The Sub-Mariner won’t have that and attacks. Dragov really is super-strong, but the Sub-Mariner figures out that his host is a robot -- based on the strength and the fact that the poison did nothing to him -- and tears him apart. The midget, Goranov, was controlling the robot all along.

Attempting to avoid capture, Goranov jumps out a widow, but is captured by the local authorities. Atlantis (Dorma, really) called General Secretary of Bulgaria and informed him of Goranov’s attempted treachery.

Script:  Scott Casper

Pencils:  Gene Colan

Inks:  Vince Colletta