Monster Blog Mailbox

What a refreshing site. A wonderful journey back to those covers of yesteryear. This site realy demonstrates just how wonderful and prolific Mr. Kirby was. Good luck!

Dear Editor,
I read Fear # 4 as a child. I will always love the story about Krang, the giant ant.
My one question is did the scientist who created the ant eater at the end ever consider what to do with him after the ant eater finished off Krang ?

Wow, lucky guy! Fear 4 is a great comic, I'm sure it made a fantastic impression on you. One of my very earliest was Where Monsters Dwell 21, featuring Fin Fang Foom. Some of those panels were etched in my memory for all time!

As for the fate of our ant-eating savior, I'll quote Professor Carter himself: “…this time I added another ingredient to my serum… an ingredient to shrink the ant-eater to normal size in one hour!”

I have taken the opportunity to send you a letter on each story that I have some recollection of. I honestly believe this is a great page. I hope my comments will be read and inspire others to comment in turn.

The Kirby Ayers team was a great one. Ayers is still going strong. I have original art from his “War Is Hell” series. It was great.
Keep up the good work.

Bob,
Even though I've been too busy to respond to all of your comments, I've appreciated every one of them. Thank you so much for contributing to Monster Blog.

Although there are other sites celebrating these comics, I wanted to make one that presented a more thorough appreciation of the stories as well as one that created a forum for visitors to contribute their own special recollections and insights.

It's people like you that make Monster Blog a worthwhile project. I'll try to respond to all of your comments over time, as well as review of all the stories that inspired you to write in the first place.

there's a great trade paperback from '89 called marvel monsterworks with a walt simonson cover that reprints many lee/kirby/ayers/ditko pre-superhero issues…last story is fin fang foom!!!

CORRECTION…in my previous comment, I mentioned a TPB called marvel monsterworks…it's actually called monster masterworks for those who'd like to find it

One of the first comics I ever got was Fear # 4, too! I was only about 5 years old at the time but that story and the artwork stuck in my mind. I was a fan of Kirby's artwork and monsters berfore I even knew who Jack Kirby was; only later as my comics knowledge grew did I fully come to appreciate all of Mr. Kirby's contributions to the field.
Eventually, that issue (Fear #4) was lost somewhere, but I was overjoyed a few years later when I found the Krang story reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales! (I've since found a copy of Fear #4 and added it to my collection, too)

I wanted to compliment you on what appears to be a very promising site. My earliest Kirby monster memories are from Fantasy Masterpieces, where Fin Fang Foom and other Kirby monsters first stimulated my imagination as a child. Another fond memory is buying the first issue of Where Monsters Dwell, with a wonderful reprint of a Kirby/Ditko cover. In the early 1980s I began collecting the originals (when they didn't cost an arm amd a leg!) and now have a complete collection of the Kirby pre-hero books. They're not all in perfect condition, but are treasured for the pure fun and entertainment of not only Kirby, but Ditko, Heck,Ayers, Reinman and all the other great artists. I look forward to returning here soon and have medntioned your site on the Kirby-L lsit.

Lo, puny mortal, Monster Blog shall make you tremble! It's power is great, and will crush you like a flea. None can stand before it and live! Soon you shall fall before its awesome might! There is nowhere to hide — nowhere to run!!! Monster Blog shall find you — and you'll be darn happy if it does — especially if you love Marvel monsters as much as me!

Just incredible. This site is clearly a labor of love and one that is long overdue. Please keep up the good work. I'll try to contribute anything I can.

Thanks to both Russ and Todd for the kind words about my site. Comments like these warm my heart and make me glad I went to all of the trouble to create Monster Blog in the first place. I hope you get oodles of enjoyment from it!

I would suggest that if you're interested in Marvel pre-hero prototypes, you should definitely check out the Atlas series Yellow Claw (if you can scrounge any up). Issue # 1 came out the same month as Showcase # 4.

The Yellow Claw is a mysterious centuries old master of the arcane arts who is recruited by communist Chinese to destroy America. He agrees to go along with them, although his secret plan is to rule the whole world.

The Yellow Claw is aided by his beautiful neice Suwan and a reluctant Nazi War Criminal, Karl Von Horstbaden. However, a resourceful Chinese-American FBI Agent named Jimmy Woo foils their plans at every turn.

This is an unusual title because its title character is a villain, but they probably figured it would sell better as “Yellow Claw” than “Jimmy Woo, FBI Agent”. Either way, it only lasted 4 issues. If only Jimmy Woo had the presence of mind to be bitten by a radioactive spider.

If you want to read the stories, some of them are reprinted in Giant Size Master of Kung Fu 1-4. Any fan of pre-hero Marvel will get quite a kick out of the title. It's got all the classic elements of the best titles from the House Of Ideas.

The Yellow Claw made sporadic appearances in The Marvel Age of Comics, locking horns with Dr Strange, Captain America and Iron Man. As far as “Prototype Characters That Made Good”, Yellow Claw is almost on par with Fin Fang Foom.

Monster Blog! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Your website brings back a lot of memories for me. Many years ago before I went into the service, I had a rather large collection of pre-super hero Marvel comics. Sadly, they are no longer with me so your site was a revelation. Given that Marvel will probably never get around to comiling MasterWorks editions of its “monster” comics do you know of anyone who may be compiling them on CD? I have seen this done with some marvel titles (Tales to Astonish/Hulk, Spiderman, etc.) but no monster titles. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. “Nuff said.

Love your “Meet the Monsters” section! You have done a great job providing therories and speculation on these characters and interweaving their stories with the later Marvel heroes. I particularly enjoyed your “break off” point involving Kurrgo.

There are plenty of unused story possibilities that could be interwoven, and I'm surprised in the 1970s that more was not done with these characters. Engelhart, Thomas, Gerber..they could have had lots of fun adding some of these characters to Marvel's continuity.

Hi,
I just wanted to drop you a note to say how much I enjoy your MONSTER BLOG web site. You do justice to the great long neglected Marvel Monsters! I have been collecting these comics since I stumbled upon them in a discount bin in the 80s and I am proud to say that I have ALL of their original appearances. If you need a few scans, please don't hesitate to ask.

As your site grows, I'd also love to see more Ditko and Heck monsters as well!

Keep up the great work!
Regards,
Bill Cox

It was just an ordinary day — a day much like any other— until — I DISCOVERED THE MONSTER CALLED — BLOG!!!!

From that moment on, I knew my life would never be the same! My world was now full of creatures so utterly fantastic that no one would believe they exist! Oh, if only the rest of mankind could witness the wonders that I have seen — on — THE WEBSITE CALLED — MONSTER BLOG!!!

Do you know how long it has been since i read the .. SEARCH FOR MANOO! ?????
WOW - did this bring back memories !!!

I don't read too many “modern” comics these days, but I heard about the Monster Hunters series in Marvel Universe and decided to check it out. The story was enjoyable, and it was fun to see a new take on the Monsters. (although I preffer Dr Droom as opposed to his redux Dr Druid). I always enjoyed Bloodstone, I remember him as a back up feature in The Rampaging Hulk b&w magazine.

I hope Marvel revisits this team. It would be fun to see the Monster Hunters go up against the likes of Foom, Colossus, Goom, the Midnight Monster, etc. Perhaps the wealthy Man in the Beehive - Lucius Farnsworth, would be the mastermind behind some new menace to mankind. The story would end with a duel between Dr Droom and the mutant Farnsworth.

When I first happened upon Monsterblog, my jaw dropped in complete amazement. The story scans are its most unique and brilliant feature. Since the originals are so expensive, I thought I'd never be able to enjoy Jack's work on these monster stories. Your website is an incredible service to Kirby fans, and testifies to your devoted love for the medium. I look forward to even more scans.

Hi. Frank Strom (my main ELVIRA writer) sent me the URL for your site and it looks terrific.I wish more of these stories were still in print. About a decade-and-a-half ago, I made a presentation to Marvel's then-editor for a volume of all Ditko fantasy/monster stories, leaning heavily on the AMAZING FANTASY output and he told me it wasn't worth doing because no one liked Ditko's work. I disagreed then and I disagree now. Likewise the Kirby monsters are tons of fun. I hope there's no copyright problems with Marvel about putting them up here. Also, the proofer in me (never far away) caught a mistake on the lead page of “The Sorceror”: the line at the bottom, reads something like “dare not speak its name” but you've got an apostrophe inthe possessive “its,” making it into the abbreviation “it's” (it is). This is pretty common, but it sure is distracting. I stopped reading “The Sorceror” to write this advisory. Oddly enough, I don't think I've ever read “The Sorceror” all the way through—but it's one of those stories for which some pages of original art have been circulating for many years.
Good luck with your project. Richard Howell

GREAT site! I have a deep, inexplicable love for these wacky, formulaic, over-the-top Marvel monster stories. They're the only old comics I still collect— I ferret out one or two every show I attend. (I can't afford more than that at a time!)

Twice I've tried to interest Marvel in series that would feature these monsters and misfits. The first was the Marvelmen— a Challengers of the Unknown-type group who fought giant monsters. The second was a Giant-Man pitch that would have had him involved with adventures so out-there that even his fellow super-heroes didn't believe him— in other words, tall tales (appropriate for a giant, I thought) or Tales to Astonish— and a lot of the stories would have involved the Marvel monsters. I actually wrote and got paid for a plot to the Giant-Man story before Marvel decided it wasn't really their cup of tea.

Actually, there's one more idea I keep pestering Marvel (and specifically Tom “best editor in the business” Brevoort) with, and that's a Dragon Man comic— where Dragon Man would be Marvel's Godzilla and fight other Marvel monsters. That idea's never even made it to a formal proposal stage, but I did get a chance to play with those toys a little bit. HUMAN TORCH #12 (which I wrote and should be on sale, um… sometime soon) has Johnny fighting Dragon Man and a big, evil robot I christened: Zzord!

Actually, it's probably for the best that Marvel leaves these big lugs where they are— they are so much Of Their Time that I don't know that they could be updated without losing their charm. Not that I wouldn't mind giving it a try…

Hi Karl,
Now that really sounds like the kind of comic book that I would like to buy!

Just out of curiosity, who would you see illustrating these stories? Would they have a modern slant, or would they be “retro” and take place in the early 60s?
Thanks!

Actually, I just remembered an interesting site that has some Marvel-like Monster “retro” artwork:

Karl,
Did “The Marvelmen” predate “The Monster Hunters”? Would the membership have included any of the protagonists from previous monster stories?

Posted by Richard Howell :: 22 February 2004: “I made a presentation to Marvel's then-editor for a volume of all Ditko fantasy/monster stories, leaning heavily on the AMAZING FANTASY output and he told me it wasn't worth doing because no one liked Ditko's work.”

A Ditko Fantasy/Monster Masterworks edition from Marvel would be fantastic… I wonder if the real reason for Marvel's cold shoulder twords the idea is founded in their poor relationship with Ditko over the years. I don't think Marvel would get any cooperation from the artist if they undertook such a project. Such a pity… I am sure a limited edition would sell wel among hard-core silver age fans…

1) The Marvelmen would have had their origins in the early 60s, allowing me to do period stories, but would have also had a modern version of the team. I recycled this approach when Tom Grummett and I created “Section Zero.” As for art— hard to say. I think a lot of artists today would do killer versions of the classic Marvel monsters, and I'd love to see 'em, so maybe there would be some way to set up a comic with a lead story by one recurring artist and self-contained back-ups by a rotating roster. If there ever was a Marvelmen comic. Which there probably won't be.

2) I created the Marvelmen in 89 or 90. I was trying to ride the coat-tails of Marvel's Monster Masterworks trade paperback, and even pitched the idea to the editor of that book— Marc McLaurin. With the assumption that the only Marvel monster stories most readers would be familiar with would be the ones in that trade paperback, the Marvelmen were characters from stories reprinted there: Lewis Conrad from TABOO, the scientist from SPORR, and Chan Liuchow from FIN FANG FOOM. There was also one MarvelWOMAN, but I created her new since I didn't know of a Marvel monster story where a woman was the hero. (Are there any?)

RE: a MarvelWOMAN - No, most of the women in the monster stories were wives/girlfriends of the main characters, but two women that come to mind are Amanda Dalton (being a witch, she could still be alive via supernatural means) or Linda Brown (the mermaid from a Steve Ditko story in Strange Tales # 97).
But I guess that, sadly, it's kind of a moot point now…

What a wonderful website! For me it wasn't the monsters, per se, but the chance to see so many Marvel Comics covers I had never seen before! I've been collecting comics since 1957 (all DCs in those early days) so these old Marvels are a revelation to me! I never even heard of “World of Fantasy'! Nor have I ever seen Christopher Rule's inks over Kirby pencils!

A thoroughly enjoyable sight. Good luck to you in continuing an obvious labor of love and a special thanks to John Kaminski who, in his descriptions, ignores all of that “prototype” nonsense.

Good Lord.. GASP! It is beyond belief!….. Does this mean that an actual WOMAN enjoys pre-hero monster stories????
Kudos to you, Kathryn!

Hey, here's a goofy idea… how about a Monster Battle Page? (kind of like the old Superman/Shazam battle page) We could pit one monster against another and hypothesize who would win the fight? …. Sure I know its the kind of stuff we did in grammar school (or if you played Dungeons & Dragons - high school & beyond), but thats what these monsters are all about… feeling like a kid again.

Hmm—might be a good idea. Let's revive that old one—who's stronger, the Thing or the Hulk? (Of course, WHICH “Thing” and WHAT “Hulk” are we talking about here?)

Ok, how about the Hulk (from Ditko's “It Happened on the Silver Screen” - Tales To Astonish #21) vs the Thing (from Kirby's “The Two-Headed Thing”- Srange Tales #95)?

How about Albert Poole's giant robot from “I Made the Hulk Live!” in Strange Tales # 75 (art by Don Heck)) vs. “The Thing On the Moon!” from Strange Tales # 79 (art also by Heck)

My friends think I know a lot about old comics, but here I get the impression I'm the dumbest guy in the room. Perfect! Groot mentioned in beat poetry? Yeah, I think this site will be at the top of my favorites list for a while. Thanks to all contributors!

This is truly great! It has been years since I've seen these stories. They're in my view far superior to a lot of the material that's being published out there. Is it possible that the other stories are going to be put on the web site also? I'm a bit of an artist myself and have found these to inspiring. I commend you for putting up this web site!

Hi again! Just wanted to let you know how much I adore your site. Blog is truly a fitting tribute to the King! And thanks for reproducing all those wondrous title pages too. Words cannot adequately express how grateful I am. Beaucoups kudos to all involved! May I also put in my vote for a sister site dedicated to that other marvellous Marvel originator - yes, of course I'm talking about none other than Darling Don Heck - oops, I mean Steve Ditko ;) - & while we're on the subject of Ditko, how come he only got second billing for the Spiderman movie? Oh - that's right, old big-headed credit-stealer Stan (I Was Only The Scripter) Lee was involved…

P.S: On the earlier subject of “Marvelwomen” - one of the few monster heroines I've spotted in these pages would be reporter Cynthia Adams, from 'I Was Face To Face With The Creature From Planet X' (yes, yet another horror from that damn planet!), in Strange Worlds 3. (Thinks: Oh god, can it be true? I've become that Simpsons comics collector character…!)

Lorenzo - great catch! I completely forgot about Cynthia Adams. Of course, you'd have to come up with some time travel gimmick to get her back to present times to meet the other Marvelmen…she's a reporter, how about her travelling back to the 20th century to do a story on the alien monster invasions of that time. Hey Karl, are you listening?

Yeah, but wasn't Cynthia a little dopey? Not only does she get herself locked into the exhibit after hours, but she doesn't even realize that the Creature's caretakers were really trying to save the creature and not her after all. Typical Kirby dame….;)

Lorenzo and Robert TMCTB,
You guys aren't the first to make an enthusiastic plea for Ditko's inclusion. However, this project has been such a huge undertaking that I don't know if or when I'll expand it's boundaries. I will eventually list the non-Kirby stories in each issue. Beyond that?…

Here's a little secret: I'm batting around the idea of expanding the site into other Kirby tales from this era (think DC). How does that float your boat? As it is, there's more than enough here to keep me busy — and you all happy — for a long time to come.

Hi Phil,
Please allow me to put in my 2 cents. I have collected alot of the Kirby DC fantasy stories over the years — and while interesting from a historical point of view, they just don't pack the same punch as the Altas stories do. The “Thor” story from Tales of the Unexpected #16 and the Stone Giant story from House of Mystery #85 are about as close as the DC's get to the pre-hero stuff.

If given a choice, I would rather see those lost (never reprinted) Ditko yarns given the recognition they deserve. And there is no better place for it than right here at Monster Blog.

Bill,
You may be right about the DC stories so I might just want to include those few that are relevant. I think my main objection to expanding the site at this time is lack of time and concern about diluting the focus. Kirby's stories inspired the design and intention of Monster Blog. If I was to do a tribute to Ditko's stories, I'd want to give it it's own name and create a moody, dark, dripping, nightmarish design for it. As I said before, this Kirby project has been a huge undertaking. I wouldn't want to do the same for Ditko until I had this site done to my satisfaction. Give me a year or so, and I'll probably be ready for it.

Your site is distinctly Kirby, and I'd like to see it stay that way. Kirby's monsters, after all, are the centerpiece of the site. I agree with you that Ditko should have a site all his own, with a different attitude and personality. I'm sure you'll do a tremendous job on one someday, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the tremendous job you've done here.

Yikes! I didn't mean to create a stormy teacup with my request for a Ditko “sister-site” - only that I've been so impressed with this one, that I hoped to to see the same thing done with Mr D. I can only imagine the amount of work that's gone into this site - but what I can see, I know it's a lot!Anyway, you can be ultra-proud of this site, & whether you eventually can find an extra five minutes in yr daily schedule for a Ditko site or not, this site will always be awesome!!! Cheers again to all involved!

I really have nothing remarkable to add here except my thanks and admiration for creating such a fun and entertaining web site. I'm an extreme newcomer to monster comics—I've only been collecting them for a year or two now, mostly on eBay—but I've read and collected Marvel comics for 28 years. This site is a fantastic resource for those of us trying to explore the pre-superhero world of monster comics. One comment I have is that I've noticed that when I buy these old monster comics, I tend to follow a monster “theme” for awhile—giant apes, for example (Brutto, Korilla, the Abominable Snowman, Gorgilla), or robots (Mechano, Metallo), swamp creatures, etc. It makes it fun to skip around and collect these, and your handy-dandy organizational “Meet the Monsters” page organized by categories makes this really easy! Thanks again for this wonderful and well-researched site!

I rememeber my folks dragging me to one of Dad's coworker's home in Arcadia, California around 1961 for a barbecue. (He worked for the City.) They had a son who was a year or two of my age (I was nine) and he had a terrific collection of Monster Comics, the likes of which I had never seen. We spent the day reading through his collection and I remember him telling me that the publisher was about to embark on a new line of Superhero characters.

My question to you is this…does anyone remember an editorial in pre Fantastic Four Atlas/Marvel comics to this effect? Was their such a message in Fantastic Four?

Funny that I can remember this event from so long ago but have trouble remembering my grandsons' birthdays.

I too would love to know about any ads and/or editorials hyping the “new” super-hero comics from Marvel. The only thing I've seen so far are the little teasers at the bottoms of pages, like the one on page 7 of The Death of Monstrollo from Tales of Suspense 25 (Jan 1962 cover date - the same as Fantastic Four 2). It reads:

They were pitching it like one of their monster comics! The first couple of issues sure fit the bill.

“I really have nothing remarkable to add here except my thanks and admiration for creating such a fun and entertaining web site.” - I must quote that other comment because it says it all. Thanks for all the fun!
S

I`ve been on this site several times and it never gets old. The talented Mr. Kirby would be quite pleased with this site also. When I first stumbled upon this site I said to myself - this cannot be, surely there are no other humans besides myself that would be interested in the Kirby Monsters ! But after reading some of the e-mails I realized that there are those that appreciate the big , the bulky and the weird. (but always properly attired so as not to offend)

I`d love to see more of Kirbys fantasy type work from DC or other sources. It would still be Kirbys work, and we would get a chance to see how different his work/art would be working for other publishers. The same goes for Ditkos art. Since Ditko already inked a lot of Kirbys pencils that is already shown on this Monster Blog site, a few all Ditko stories would`nt hurt….

But whatever you decide to add to this site is welcome to me. It`s obvious that the creation of this site was a “monstrous “undertaking, but greatly appreciated.

dear monster blog,
this site is outstanding from top to bottom. great material (that's a given) good looking, EASY TO USE, and fun with a capital F.
Douglas Paszkiewicz
writter illustartor
arsenic lullaby
laughter of the damned

Dear Monster Blog
I really enjoyed your site, thanks , I also thought you might be interested to know that most of Jack Kirby's monster stories were reprinted here in England in black and white all the way through the sixties and seventies in comics such as Creepy Worlds ,Sinister Tales and Race To The Moon by a publisher called Alan Class. These were usually a Big 68 pages and reprinted mainly monster and SF stories but later they also reprinted the early Marvel Super hero comics. The American originals were very hard to obtain in those days,coming in as ballast on ships so it is very nice to see them in colour at last
Regards
Richard Burn

SO I'm sitting here at lunch wondering what to search for and decide on an obscure monster name from my youth “Fin Fang Foom”. After skimming past sites for arock band, I click on the link that brings me here. Wow! It's amazing how many of these monsters I remember my my youth. I'm going to spend quite a bit of time here, looking at old favorites, reading some of the reprint material here and seeing covers that make you go ” I had that one!”
Given the prices on some of the originals, I may have to go looking for some of the reprint titles.
Thanks for the memories.

What a wonderful find your site it!
I've been a fan of Jack Kirby and the Marvel Monster comics ever since my dentist
handed me a stck of them when I was 9 years old (1962 to be exact).
I also love the whole Atlas/Marvel horror line before that. What great imaginings
and fantastic artwork! Seeing all of these covers again is truly special.
I happen to be allergic to old paper, so collecting these books, even if I could afford them,
would be out of the question. Being able to read whole Kirby stories never reprinted is
a wonderful gift. I wish all of these stories could be viewed this way, but I'm
extremely gratetful to you for making these available. I hope your site endures and wish you well.
If you ever have problems with it, be sure to put out the call. I have a feeling many of us will respond
to help if possible. Again, thank you!

I am a recent discoverer of your site and I love it! My first exposure to the Kirby monsters was
with coverless copies at a musty old used bookstore in Buffalo, NY around 1963 (I was 10).
Seeing things like the splash page of “A Martain Among Us!” (ST 78) fried my young imagination.
Adding to the mystery was the fact that there was no indication on the splash pages in those early
Marvels as to what issue it was (the indica was on the inside front covers). Over the years I have
collected quite a few of these books and they will always be my favorite comics (even though
they are basically the same story told over and over, I don't care).
I also am lucky to have completr sets of WHERE MONSTERS DWELL, MONSTERS ON THE PROWL,
WHERE CREATURES ROAM and most of the other Marvel reprints of the early '70's.
In closing, I would like to add my vote to expanding your site to include all the wonderfull stories
Steve Ditko did for those books. Then my joy would be complete!
Best Wishes, Brian Snyder, Buffalo, New York.

i jsut see it at masterworks´s messageboard from gormuu
Maybe someone here could help marvel.

Call for help on Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko HC
——————————————————————————————————————
——
Hey everyone,
We need some help getting color reference on some of the stories that
we're
reprinting in our upcoming Steve Ditko HC. We want to make sure we
replicate
the original coloring as accurately as possible to give you the best
possible collection.

If you can provide color scans or color copies of any of the following
books, please get in touch with me at mbeazley@marvel.com

TALES TO ASTONISH #26
STRANGE TALES #97
TALES TO ASTONISH #42
AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #7
AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #10
AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #12
AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #13
AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #14

Please know that while we wouldn't be able to compensate you or provide
you
with a copy of the printed, we would be certain give you a special
thanks in
the credits of the book for helping Marvel put out the highest quality
reprints possible.

this is a great site but i wish i could see scans from repriinted stories like Grutto and the other monsters because it was fun reding reprints PLEASE scan the reprinted comics PLEASE

OOPs i mean i wish i could see stories that wern't reprinted because now they are so pricy PLEASE scan your comic collection PLEASE

Very cool site! Man, do I love those old stories; can't tell you how much I was affected by them. And when I did a tribute to 'em in Common Grounds #5, I was amazed at how many folks “got” it, y'know? They're such a part of our comics culture, and I for one can't get enough of them. All hail Googam!

hello phil !!!! been a while …. still trying to find some of my kirby westerns to scan to you, as I'm buying a scanner/printer in a few days …. here's a cool non-kirby cover with an all-new story, which is rare during the 70's reprint era …. talk to you soon !!!! http://www.amazingco.com/amazingco.com/comics/marvel/items/ma1595.JPG

What an awesome site :) I came across these stories in the uk in various black and white reprints when I was a boy in the 70's and I was totally hooked by the strange, other-worldly stories. Luckily the reprints never got thrown away, and I still occasionally take a look at those eerie stories. The one with the painting that led to another dimension with the gems that crumbled to dust when they re-entered our world is my all-time favourite. This site rocks! Cheers, James

PS will I ever work up enough courage to get a kirby sleeve?? Could any tattooist in the UK do Kirby justice?? I must ponder this question….

I just wanted to pass on the news that Marvel is strongly considering Masterworking these early Marvel Monster stories in hardcover format!
If anyone has any issues from #1-10 of either Tales To Astonish or Tales Of Suspense that they could provide scans for (300-400dpi), editor Mark Beazley would like to hear from you! His e-mail is: mbeazley@marvel.com
Other scans from later issues or other titles are welcome also, but the above issues are a priority! I would love to see hardcover editions of these books!

I'd like to purchase some of the old “Strange Tales” comics from the 60-62 period. Where do I need to look? thanks; brad in indy

This site is great! Perhaps you could look on Ebay for the Strange Tales comics, Brad. Good luck!

Just found your site. I was always suspicious of the fact that I wasn't seeing more of the Kirby diaper-monster stuff, as I remember a lot more than what I was seeing in reprints. Thanks and keep up the good work. It's like the King never left.
Rick Baiker

This is a great site. It would be great to see sites devoted to other Timely/Atlas/Marvel artists, especially guys like Maneely whose art is rarely seen, but this site dedicated to Kirby is a great start. Best wishes.

Just wanted to say that you have a great site and I thank you sincerely for showcasing all of those great, old Kirby monster/fantasy stories that personally were some of the first comic tales I ever read. As a tribute to Jack Kirby's birthday today, I have added your site as a link on my own blogger page as follows

http://elmosjunction.blogspot.com/

I LOVE MONSTER BLOG, while fans are making websites on the Marvel Superheroes. You do the Great & Powerful Marvel Monsters of Jack Kirby,Stan Lee & Steve Ditko. Keep up the good work.

Monster Blog is a great site. But why don't you also include Ditko's monsters? Then it would be the best Marvel monster site on the web!

I was searching the web (without much hope) for some commercially available reproduction of Strange Tales or Tales of Suspense: and then I found this! The site is so good that it goes beyond my wildest hopes. I would only encourage you, as one commenter above, to add the stories by Ditko (and everyone else).

Hi,
I had not visited this sight for a while. I noticed the inclusion of the Dick Ayers' story, ” The Man Who Shrunk The World “.
This is a story that had a great splash page. I have seen the original splsh page in black and white.
I enjoy the Kirby Ayers team. In addition to the great Marvel monster stories I also enjoy Kamandi.
I have Kirby and Ayers books and original art from this series. There used to be a saying, ” Make Mine MarveL”.
I would tend to agree when it comes to monster stories. The Marvel charactors, such as, The Monster Outside my window,
Titan from Atlantis, the giant who took Cartwright with him to Atlantis as his prisoner, The killer plant monster from The Sacrifice,
with Chuck Dawson, and LoKKar from beyond the stars are much nicer charactors, and appear in much better stories than some
of the bloody stories that were published by smaller comic book companies around the same time.
When it comes to various hero books, “Make Mine D.C.”. Kirby and sometimes Kirby and Ayers did a great job on not only Kamandi
but other charactors such as Dead Man when he was part of “The New Gods” or Kirby on Mister Miracle.
I will say again Ayers did a great job on War Is Hell. This was not a monster book but it had similar overtones.
The Colossus series was also done well.
Take Care,
Bob T.

Marvel will release the first in a new line of 'Atlas Era' Marvel
Masterworks hardcover reprint books in January 2006. The official
solicitation is as follows:

Scripted by Stan Lee
Pencils by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Buscema, Al Williamson, Don
Heck, Joe Sinnott and friends

Marvel Masterworks have brought you classic stories from Marvel's
Silver Age super-hero heyday and the start of it all with its Golden
Age. Now thrill to the first offering of Marvel's Atlas Era! Before
the dawn of the Marvel Age, the comics world sat astride the
shoulders of Atlas Comics – a world full of gun-fighting outlaws,
romantic heartbreak, death-defying heroism in battle, terrifying
depths of horror, and visionary science fiction. In TALES TO
ASTONISH return to the days when atomic monsters roamed the Earth
and alien invasions were a daily occurrence. Marvel's classic
creators will make you quake at the sight of the 9th Wonder of the
World! You'll tremble before the Things on Easter Island! Beware the
might of Mummex–King of the Mummies! Flee before the Giant from
Outer Space! Dare defy the Floating Head! Prepare to be Astonished!
Collects TALES TO ASTONISH #1-10 (1959-1960).

“Obviously, we'll be looking to hit the material featuring the more
notable characters and creators first— the Kirby/Dikto big monster
stories and the Atlas Era revivals of Captain America, the Sub-
Mariner and the Human Torch all rank very high on the “To Do” list.

After Tales to Astonish we'll see what the reader response is, and
which books may be more viable than others based off of the
availability of materials, and plan from there. The good news is
that our film warehouse was able to locate the majority of the
materials for Tales to Astonish #1-10, so that bodes very well for
future titles.

I'd love to get a companion Tales of Suspense volume out there to
keep Astonish from getting too lonely, and Amazing Aventures/Amazing
Adult Fantasy, the title that spawned Spider-Man, is another that
I'd like to prioritize”.

Full details, including what constitutes an 'Atlas Era' reprint, and
cover scans of the Tales to Astonish book are at:

Fans of these classic creature creations will be interested to know that Marvel has released several titles recently that utilize them.

1. Fin Fang Foom (along with later Marvel monsters Krakoa and Red Ronin) just showed up in Exiles.

2. Foom also had a recent “appearance” (sort of) in Incredible Hulk and will be showing up in the new NextWave book in January.

3. October saw the release for four titles under the Marvel Monsters banner: Fin Fang Four, Monsters on the Prowl, Devil Dinosaur and Where Monsters Dwell. They are a little more humorous than the originals, but very fun. Each also contains a classic Kirby-era reprint.

4. Out this week is the follow-up to those books, Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone (and the Monster Hunters). This is kind of like an Official Handbook, but a little looser in format.

Be sure to support these efforts so that Marvel knows we love these monsters and want to see more of them!

1. Nick Fury's Howling Commandos will feature Grogg and a couple of others you may recognize

The yahoogroup, Monstersmiscellaneous now has a direct line to your blog's jugular.
You are the MAN. Thanks a million (years B.C.)!
'
~Zil

This is my favorite website. It's like a looking-glass back into my childhood. I still own a lot of these great comic books, but there are many more that I don't own any longer. I look at your website as a daily routine, gazing at the old comic book covers, reading about the classic monsters of the old days, and finally, reading the comments of other fans like me. Keep up the great work and thanks again!

Hi there:) does anyone know where I can buy reprints of comic like, tales to astonish, creepy worlds, tales of suspense, tales to astound ect? I had lots of reprints when I was little, but they got thrown away. I have looked all over the place but can't find them anywhere.

Does anyone know if they are repring them anymore? I don't mind buying reprints.

Hi,
This is a great page with great recent additions. Please keep up the great work,

Hello and Greetings,
I would like to make a few suggestions;
1) How about listing more stories in which super heroes fought monsters i.e. Fantastic Four vs. Mole Man's monsters
2) How about any other potential cross refrenced stories listed i.e. your refrence to Dr. Death/Dr. Nemesis and robot maker
3) How about a section for fans to list either short stories or ideas for stories; i.e. I was inspired to generate some ideas of
post World War Two stories about former members of Battle Axis fighting monsters.
Picture Strong Man, Human Meteor, Spider Queen, Volton, and Dr. Death fighting as a team or as individuals or as
a mini team of two or three of them against a monster or runaway robot.
I liked those 1940s heroes and I am sorry that they were made into Axis supporters.
I realize this sight is about monsters etc. and not super heroes but you had refrenced The Human Meteor
and Dr. Death hence my inquiry.
On a seperate topic I would like to ask if anyone is familiar with the following stories;
The Boy Who Vanished Into The Future… a young man who visits the future and his polio is cured.
I Turned Into A Martian…a space pilot who has a martian switch bodies with him.
Title unknown…The man who visited an alien world where inhabitants live to be one thousand years old, and
the alien who wanted to come to earth ended on death row.
It might be nice to have a reader exchange as to similar stories such as these not listed on the blog.
Once again this is a great blog keep up the great work.

to Bob T: I do remember the “I Turned Into a Martian” (by Ditko); and the last story you mentioned sounds like “My Nightmare Has No End!” from Tales to Astonish #12, by Don Heck — you can see a profile of this story's character here> http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/beastmantta.htm

Hi,
You were right about the Beast Man. Thankyou for acknowledging the, ” I Turned Into A Martianr” story.
Does anyone remember the story about the curious teenager who visited an alternative dimension with
two dimensional people ? They were going to invade earth disguised as hard hats. The young man stopped them.
Does anyone remember the boy who vanished into the future, and had his crippled leg cured ?

You can buy some reprints of the super-heroes from Amazon.com. They're called Marvel Masterworks, [hardback book with pictures in color] and usually contain about 10 entire issues. For instance Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Volume 1 has issues #1 - #10. On the other hand there is Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk volume 1, which has the original six issues,#1 - #6[ from 1962 - 1963]. Cost for new is approximately $30.00 US to $50.00 US, and for used less of course.

Then you have the Essential 'superhero's name' which is paperback and in black & white. For instance, The Essential Ironman volume 1 has Tales of Supense issues #39 - #72.

There is one, so far, of pre-superheroes ie. Monster stories in Marvel Masterworks: Tales To Astonish Volume 1 containing issues #1 - #10. I don't know if this book has all the stories contained in each issue that were originally in each issue from #1 - #10.
If there is a particular story or issue you want, I probably have it, [my collection goes back to the late 1950's - 1968] and could send a scan of it if you want.

Dear Editor and Fellow Readers,
I have tremendouslyenjoyed this page since I first found it I love the never reprinted stories section. I had heard of the story,
” The Man Who Shrunk The World ” but I never had a chance to read it until now. Thank you for reprinting it on your page.
I have ejoyed leaving comments, as well as reading other people's comments. I was an early contributor who left a comment
as to each story I remembered. I was hoping to build momentum for the page.
I feel very strongly that charactors such as Charles Dawson from, “The Sacrifice” or John Cartwright from,” The Titan”
or the android from, ” Mr. Morgan's Monster” or the radioactive native from “Kraa” are all noble figures that we can all
learn from in real life. A uniquely evil charactor such as Roderick Kane is someone you can love to hate without getting
to carried away with it.
Please do keep up the good work.

Great site…just happened to stumble on the site and love it. Any chance of new stories being posted?

I know you feature Marvel monsters, but here's a thought. Jack Kirby created, mosty wrote, and drew 12 issues of the Challengers of the Unknown at DC before switching to Marvel. Jack REPEATED some monsters for Marvel that the Challs had fought. Monstro, the big octopus on Tales of Suspense 8, seen here:
http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/tales_of_suspense_8.html
is the same monster as featured on Showcase 12. See the pic here:
http://challengersoftheunknown.com/Show12.html
There are others, such as the Dragon Seed giant stone gladiator from Showcase 6. You might consider folding in Jack's four Showcase and 8 COTU titles.

Are you going to add vampires ,werewolves,zombies,demons and supernatural mummies(science spawned mummies like N'Kantu the Living Mummy—Supernatural Thrillers)?Have you thought about contacting Golden Age and Bronze Age comics shops to help you?

That giant gorilla Monstro(Journey Into Mystery#84(9/59) isn't the only giant white gorilla Marvel owns(when they bought the Malibu characters they gained the Centaur Comics characters),Ticonda(Amazing Mystery Funnies#12(vol.2#8(7/39)) is giant white(immortal/long-lived)gorilla that the Fantom Of The Fair fought.Agu the Giant(Lorna the Jungle Queen#1,3;Lorna the Jungle #9) is giant gorilla friend of Lorna.Dork(Daring Mystery Comics#5(6/40) bioengineered a 20 foot tall ape which fought the Fiery Mask.Civil War Files said that Captain America fought giant bullet proof apes in the 1940s (I don't know if it was in All-Winners Comics#15(spr/45)Lupo and the Masked Trio(3 apes) or All-Select Comics#3(spr/44) Prince Suli and Tatu and another ape).

JOHN,I for one think it would be great to include some of marvels pre-code monsters,as some other fan suggested,from books like;SUSPENSE,MYSTERY TALES,ADVENTURES INTO TERROR,ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS,MARVEL TALES and ASTONISHING,these should count as marvel monsters since,some of these monsters have been brought back;the zombie,and the original headmen members,and gorilla man and the human robot,as well,also to bob t. this sites most frequent contributor,i like the reformed battle-axis idea,but its just to over-the-top,I HAD A SIMILAR IDEA a few years back,how about some supernatural golden age heroes from timely/atlas/marvel,;THE ORIGINAL VISION,ORIGINAL BLACK WIDOW,BLAZING SKULL,TERROR,MERZAH THE MYSTIC,HUMAN METEOR teaming up in both WW2 and in pre hero era to fight supernatural menaces,TOMMY TYME,a more innocent character than these,aliens,sorcerers,reformed war criminals and satan agents,would have been added as comedy relief,then killed immediately just for fun.the book was going to be called THE FREEDOM FRIGHTENERS and stories would have included encounters with kai-mak the shark god(vision foe),zagnar,the rain master(see MARVEL SUPER HEROES #13),dr. zunbar(namor villain,see MARVEL:5 FABULOUS DECADES OF THE WORLDS GREATEST COMICS,for a reprint)and the black talon(captain america foe from CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS#9,an insane painter with a murderers hand,CREEPIEST simon-kirby story ever)who would have survived his encounter with cap(he did)and used the paints from ''ZZUTAK'' to menace our heroes,and the meteor would have been made to pay for his crimes eventually.,as with all of my ideas,it did not sell,marvel really stands true to that ''WE DO NOT READ OR ACCEPT UNSOLICITED SCRIPTS,ARTWORK OR STORY IDEAS''crap.guess im doomed to be just a struggling artist drawing my own crap(sob!),goodbye.R&R.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.
I hope to enjoy monster stories in the new year, as well as posting again.

Hello,
I hope it is a Happy New Year for one and all and may God bless each of us.
I was wondering if anyone is a fan of the original Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider who was brought over from Magazine Enterprizes to Marvel.
This is the Ghost Rider on horse back. He was drawn by Dick Ayers. The Ghost Rider is not a monster. He is a “supernatural” western hero.
If anyone wants to correspond with me about him please leave a message.
If anyone wants to correspond with me about the reformation and salvation of the Battle Axis super heroes or any monsters please do
contact me.
Take Care,
Bob T.

As a historian on comics,''Atom Age'',I do happppen to be a fan of the character;now called ''The Phantom Rider'';however I had never read the MARVEL series(I did read the Avengers storyline with him.)and had no idea He was the same character,I figured he was just a ripped off name and concept(ie.Captain Marvel/Captain Mar-vell;the eventual introducing of the Jones/Mar-vell connection to the Captain Marvel/Billy Batson.)I am glad to hear this;since I remember a hilariously stupid story from an issue of BOBBY BENSONS'B-BAR-B RIDERS,that i think would make a great story for Marvel;I also remember him fighting a villain called the Vulture,that would make a great tie in with the ''Red Raven''villain the Rawhide kid(or was it Two-gun kid?)fought,perhaps He could fight the Living Totem?,also Im sorry I mocked you about wanting salvation for Battle Axis on the Robot Man entry,but John Holdstein has a theory I liked about them,I read an issue of CRASH COMICS recently featuring Strongman,and must admit I would be angered too to see a favorite character used as such a despicable villain,especially if I'd written it,bye.

Hi,
No offense meant none taken. Please write again.
The Red Raven of the 1940s was also a member of The Invaders/Liberty Legion for a while.
He fought Namor in the 1960s as well.
Anyone else out there have anything to say?

There are a number of columns that I cannot read because of overlap. Thius is frustrating because I like this blog.
I appreciate very much the section on reprints as well. Are there any details on how those monstr storis were Marvelized?
For instance Ihard an unnamed scientist assistant was named Hank Pym (the future Ant-Man) in a reprint. I'd like to know which one.
A feature I would like very much also is whre els the monsters appeared. There was a Hulk Annual that had a bunch of them. The Defenders fought Xemnu the Titan (alias The Hulk) a couple of times. Fin Fang Foom may be the most successful of Marvel Monsters. He appeeared in Thor, Iron Man, Legion of Night There were even modern creations done like these old stories. I think here about FF 271 (or 273?) that featured Gormuu vs Reed Richards.
The links to the Marvels Monsters book published last year are no longer useful.
Unfortunately I don't have my Marvel collection and it was never cmplete anyway.

TOMB OF DARKNESS#22, reprinted a “Hulk prototype” story from STRANGE TALES #75(it was actually more of a Mole Man/Iron Man/Super Humanoid prototype if anything)where the Scientists assistant was re-named Henry Pym, it was called “I made the Hulk live'' in the original, and “I created—Grutan!!'' in the reprinting. the scientist was named Albert Poole, and like Victor Cartwright, he got around a LOT in these stories, as a roboticist, botanist, Atomic engineer etc.

............. TURRRRRRRRRRRD THE THING THAT COULD NOT DIE!!!!!!!! :: 12 February 2007

I just read Karl Kesel's email on his Marvel Men(Challengers Of the Unknown-type group(22-February-2004;04-March-2004) and Karl obviously didn't know that Atlas Comics has a group of characters that could be turned into an Atlas era Challengers Of The Unknown-type group in 1958.Man Comics#26(5/53)-28(9/53) has Bob Brant and the Trouble-Shooters.Feathers(North American Indian Reed Richards) could be Will Wingfoot (the father of Wyatt Wingfoot) ,the 2 friends could take June Robbins and Corinna Starck's place and Bob's older government agent brother Lance (their Jimmy Woo,Mac Curry,and Effigy's alter-ego) could be their Tino. Captain America vol.1#442(8/95) has a Spider Queen statue inside the Golden Age Angel's mansion,so my theory that Battle Axis was under the influence of a Hate Ray might have unofficial backing.

The Trouble-shooters are Bob Brant,Daffy,Feathers and er.Carol and Bess (June and Corinna)[http://www.geocities.com/ratmmjess/brant.html].Jess Nevins doesn't seem to know that Trouble-Shooters begin an issue earlier.

I liked the idea of Karl's Marvel Men, but I'd like to see it done as kind of a “Mission: Impossible” team, with a rotating cast of characters made up with the protagonists from the early stories. Maybe have Lucius Farnsworth as the organizer, an adult John Cummings as the head scientist, and other operatives such as Victor Marshall, Peter Maher, Linda Brown, Lewis Conrad, Ted Lestron, etc. They could be allies to the Monster Hunters.

I also thought of having Feathers as Wyatt Wingfoot's father, and maybe Bob Brant is the uncle of Betty Brant (from Spider-Man).

Y'know,even though he was just protecting his property;I see Lucius Farnsworth as a sort of “Noble Villain'', cultured,suave,but not a hero either,I would cast him as a misguided villain,say he teamed up with Midnight Monster,Roderick Kane,Jason Wilkes(with the power to dematerialize,like the android Vision)and ''Gloria'' as a villain team,like the Headmen and Tony Stark,he could see himself as trying to save the world by conquering it or taking control,maybe he could finance the team then betray them as a twist ending, you could use the Farnsworth from the “Weed'' as his disguise,say have him pretend to be old and kindly using hypnotic illusions,then reveal it to be a hoax,but still I love the different use of characters you suggested,how about having Victor Cartwright as their publicity agent(the one from the Abominable Snowman story,I hate the Dragoom story with all my being,thank god Ed Wood never read that.)Amanda Dalton as their supernatural expert(maybe even another traitor?,say,with a man-hating complex)and Howard Avery as comedy relief,have him constantly brag about having defeated the Brute that walks,then chicken out when facing a real menace,when all the while the team knows the truth about him,sort of like Bruce Banner in the ULTIMATES,have him get his just deserts with that woman Sally being a shrew to him. how about Joe Harper being the teams mechanic? Mark Faraday and Linda Brown would tackle underwater menaces.

…and maybe have appearances by Amanda's younger brother, Aaron the Sorcerer, and have the group's adventures chronicled by time-traveling reporter Cynthia Adams (using one of the time tunnels from the Derek Welles story), and “Big Carl” Hanson could show up…the possibilities for stories are endless!

John Kaminski here's how we can have our cake and eat it too;the Trouble-Shooters are the Atlas Comics Challengers Of The Unknown (in 1953 they were the Newsboy Legion—-Big Words/Feathers,Gabby/Daffy,Scapper/Bomber,and Tommy/Bob Brant;—-Jim Harper/Lance Brant) and the Marvel Men as a modified version of the Original Suicide Squad(The Brave And The Bold vol.1#25(9/59)—your Mission Impossible Team.Karl wanted a woman for his team,so how about Mary Brown [Tales To Astonish#30(4/62)/The Thing From The Hidden Swamp story].Mary Brown was the female version of the guy who helped the Blip [Tales To Astonish #15(1/61)]

John Kaminski you're one of the Masters Of The Obscure like the head writer of the new Official Handbooks,so could you ask Jeff Christiansen where the Timely and Atlas characters mentioned in the Golden Age 2004 Handbook (the Guardians Of Space (see Human Torch;ask him if they look human,because they could be the Cosmic Elders); Frank Rone (see Whizzer); Big Joe and Doctor Fear (see Blazing Skull ?); Shaggy Men and Eagle Master (see Patriot); B4 and Peanuts McCoy (see Sungirl); Hatchet Man and Chuck Blayne (see Grand Master and Nomad)) ; A to Z # 3(2006) under /Thanos's (Agent X-8-8); and A to Z #12 under Arnim (Sculpture).

Hello and Greetings,
I understand this is a monster story page and not a super hero page. I do not wish to go off on a tangent and take people away from the main topic. I had mentioned some super hero charactors due to the similarity between some of these stories and the origins of some of the old time heores who were either forgotten or were re-cast as villains.
I had read What If ? in the past. I remember an alternative Avengers of the 1950s. There was also a second Avengers of the early 1960s who were all killed on thier first mission. The second team was given a statue for
saving the world as a rememberance.
I did read about the Monster Hunters. I did read in the 1970s in an Avengers cross-over story about Immortus who brought back from the dead various super villains to fight the Avengers.
I would like to combine all of the above. I would like to see Immortus use his machine to bring back from the dead various heroes who would form a new Monster Hunter squad or team in some alternative dimension.
I do not have a definative list worked out as of yet but how about; 1) The Swordsman 2) The Ghost Rider
Rex Fury 3) Battle Axis 4) Original Human Torch and Toro for a start?
PLEASE COMMENT!

Bob T. - Sure, but why limit it to the recent past? Marvel has a bunch of unused obscure characters, so include members from the distant past and distant future as well. You could call them “The Time Titans” or “The Limbo Legion” and include among their ranks: Tuk (Caveboy), Clay Harder (the first Two-Gun Kid). the first Starhawk (NOT the Guardians of the Galaxy member), Jet Dixon of the Space Squadron — consider yourself No-Prized if you knew who these were.

Hi,
Some time ago Doc Savage and the Thing teamed up by way of Dr. Doom's time machine. There was also a Spider Man and Doc Savage team up as well.
How about a Spider Queen, Sharon Kane, and Spider Man, Peter Parker, team up? They could meet in the present day by way of a time machine.
I would like them to fight The Spider who grew to gigantic size by way of radiation.
Two web spinners vs. a real spider.

Wouldn't it be the damndest thing if Peter Parker had gotten his web shooters from Sharon Kane? I was never able to swallow the idea that he could have created a device millions of accomplished scientists could not have, especially one good enough to sell(Amazing Spiderman vol.1 #18)or else that would place him at a genius level intelligence rivalling Victor Von Doom(who also created futuristic artillary as a teen)when most marvel power databases place him at normal intelligence,just scientifically accomplished. Given Spider Queen's hatred of communism, and Russia and the U.S's relationship deteriorating, she could have become a U.S spy, given up her costume, and given the web-shooters to two of the CIA's most trusted agents…..Richard and Mary Parker. Richard gave up the web-shoooters to his brother Ben, and after digging in the attic, Peter found…..well it's just an idea.

Hi,
You have a point there. You may like to know that a Marvel special book that actually pre-dated the Invaders showed a woman
in a costume similar to hers' parachuting in on Europe on D-Day next to Captain America and Bucky while Namor, The Original Human Torch and Toro flew down. It would seem President Roosevelt may have pardoned her if she fought for the U.S. Please note the first appearence og Battle Axis was in June of 1942 and D-Day was on June 6, 1944. She may have been out of jail legally. There was a second Battle Axis story in which they broke out, but she may have been given that pardon after the seconfd go round with The Invaders.
If nothing else President Harry Truman may have pardoned her due to the cold war.
I would not be surprised if she turned up in a retro story set in the late 1940s and progressing into the 1950s.

That woman was Claire Voyant, The Golden Age Black Widow,who posessed supernatural powers given to her by Satan,she was Timely's satanic answer to DC/National's the Spectre and even had an imitator named Madam Satan.(over at Archie comics no less!)given that she could fly however,the woman in MARVELS#1 could have been Spider Queen,I also think it would be a good idea to tie in Spiderman's origin with the giant spider from “The Spider strikes” since I never liked Straczynski's origin involving the Aztec gods and the spider totem,even John Byrne's revamp was less radical. Ciao.

Thank you. I was not aware of that charactor. Please do expand on your last note and explain more about her.

Hi,
I just re-read the story about the Scarecrow. It is a nice story. It was nice to have read it. I like a story without a lot of blood.
There was justice. There was morality. The good guys won. The bad guys lost. The hero was noble,good and pure.
I could not ask for a better story.

Happy Easter or Good Passover to all of the readers out there. May God Bless us all at this time of year.

In Marvels#1(1/94) on the last 2 pages Captain America carrying Bucky,the Destroyer,the Thunderer,Black Marvel and Blazing Skull are seen parachuting down into a Nazi stronghold while Sub-Mariner,Vision,Black Widow,the Human Torch and Toro are flying down.

Hi,
Just some quick thoughts on why monster stories are fun. I like the fact that each story is its' own self contained universe. In a hero series you have to be concerned with continuity. Here you do not.
In one story Martians can be earth's friends, and in the next our enemies and then in yet another story neutral. In one story a Martian can be tall with shaggy ears, no mouth and a pug nose.
In the next story he can be a short runt, or a looming giant insect.
By virue of he fact each story is a self contained universe you can detach yourself from reality, enter the world of the story, and just relax and enjoy yourself.
There are some exceptions to this; i.e. FinFang Foom was in more than one story so was Titan originally called ” Hulk ” and even Colossus had a series for a while.
When it comes to the one shot story, i.e. atlantis invading by way of intelligent giant monsters
the ” Titan ” from Atlantis you do not have to scratch your head and ask, ” Where is Namor? “
This story is seperate unto itself.

…………And thats why I don't think the Titan story should be in continuity,(even though on page#3,panel 7 you can see a guy who looks like General Ross.)it's clear the Atlanteans are their own species, But most of all because I liked the theme of mankind uniting against a common menace and giving up their own disputes,revealing the story to have been a dream or one where it was revealed mankind eventually wised up to what had happened and resumed war with each other because it was set in Earth 616 would just destroy everything the story stood for.story's meant to have a moral lesson should not be weighed against time and space,or continuity.

I quite agree. I honestly believe there is something to be said for continuity. I also honestly believe there is something to be said for doing a story for that story's own sake and calling it a closed universe.
There is also something to be said for accepting the fact that; writers, artists, and editors are all only human and a mistake in continuity will happen from time to time.
We should all relax and enjoy these stories for what they are stories.

Hi,
Some time back I saw a Japanese movie featuring allof the various movie monsters.
Thet all teamed up to fight an invasion force from space. I believe the film was called
” Calling AllMonsters”.
If there were to be an outer space invasion force, and it landed here ready to conquor
the world who would you call to make a group of “good” monsters to fight the force?
I came up with some earth native monsters for a tentative list. Indiginous monsters would
be more likely to stand and fight for earth rather than outsiders.
How about; 1)Titan from Atlantis, 2) Groot 3) Scare Crow 4) Spider 5) Scorpion 6) Grogg
7) The Scarlet Beetle 8) Grottu 9) Krang 10) Lo-Karr 10) Colossus 11) The Green Thing
To the best of my knowledge these are home grown monsters rather than out siders i.e.
Fin Fang Foom who was later declared to have come from space.
Although he might fight for earth as his adopted home.
Please tell me what you think.

Bob T — you might be thinking of “Destroy All Monsters” (one of my favorites). As far as your idea goes: I like it, it should be used for the next round of Marvel Monsters specials, even title it “Calling All Monsters” — all the Earth-born monsters against a team-up of space-invader monsters.

One more idea for a “good guy” — the Good statue from Bald Mountain (Ditko story)

Dear Editor,
I have just come across your page and I am so happy to see that there are still people out there who admire the old Kirby monsters. As an illustrator I have always been greatly inspired by Mr. Kirby and when I was a kid I would pickup all the monster reprints I could grab from the old comic bins at the stores for dirt cheap. I always wondered if I was one of the few left collecting these great books whom people at the time didn't seem to care much for. I'm glad to see there's a site that has this dedication to some of the most unique monsters in comicdom. I have searched now and then for a site like this but never came across one. Thanks for taking the time to put this one together. I have a lot of the reprints released in the 70's, so if you might need my help or scans of what I have to help out your site, please feel free to contact me and I would be than happy to help out.

Actually, Groot is an alien! (somenthing tells me he was a thing from Planet X.)but since he is a member of the Howling Commandos,he may very well defend Earth in the name of all plant life. as for some other “good'' monsters you could use Adam Clayton,Bruttu and Zzutak's enemy monster,see my entry on Clayton to see why I think he could be alive. also,I would love to see a return of the Creatures from Krango and the rest of Dragoom's race.

Dear Editor,
I saw a refrence to Kamandi on your page. Although Kamandi is a D.C. property. and was a book from the 1970s about a boy/teenager in a post apocoliptic world; I feel it warrants mentioning here.
Jack Kirby gave us a view of a post disaster world. Kamandi's grandfather, later revealed to be O.M.A.C. the One Man Army Corp., raised Kamandi in a missle cylo, command center.
Kamandi is sent out to reclaim the world for humanity. It comes out that most people are dumb brutes. The intelligent and articulate controlers of culture and civilazation are animals.
They also control giant monsters or are fighting giant monsters.
In the 1970s I did not read Kamandi. My friends and I did not take to it. The Kamandi series was summarily dismissed as an imitation of Planet of The Apes. Please note that movie series was still being released one film at a time. There was also a television series, live action on the air back then. There was also a children's animated series. Perhaps as a result of the prominence of the “Ape” franchise we felt this way.
About thirteen years later I came across Kamandi again. I met several people who read the series and liked it. I did buy some Kamandi books in poor condition cheap. I read them and feft sorry I had not followed the series as a boy. I went on to buy almost the entire series in used condition and read most of the books. I am trying to make time to read them now.
Some interesting concepts for our mutual consideration; 1) The giant worm that I think was called, The Maw, 2) The giant Ape Tiny, 3) The giant crab that imprisioned Kamandi Flower in the Airquarium,
4) races of humanoid creatures i.e. Tiger Men, Rat Men, Ape Men, Bear men ( seen in the team up with Bat Man in Brave and Bold) and the rabid flying bats.
There were both human sized monsters and giant monsters in that series. I thing Jack Kirby's good work on that series should be mentioned here.
Dick Ayers and Joe Kubert also did a great job on the series.
Although not a Marvel monster book, Kamandi was a part of Jack Kirby's legacy that should never be forgotten.

Dear Editor,
To revisit an earlier comment I had made; Fear # 4 was one of the first comic books I had ever owned. I loved reading about; Krang, Mister Gregory, and Lo-Karr all in the same book.
I also read two other stories not Kirby works, but good none the less.
If I was asked who was my favorite monster or who was my favorite protagonist against a monster I would be hard pressed to answer.
I love both Krang and Lo-Karr. I loved Mister Gregory chasing about fighting the ghost only to find there was no ghost walking about.
Without giving out the ending I will just say the ghost was well entrenched.
The above three are three of my favorite charactors. Two new favorites I have come to appreciate as a result of this page are; Roderick Kane and The Green Thing.
I had heard of Roderick Kane before but I was not able to read the story untill you posted it here.
I bought a back issue that reprinted The Green Thing, and I loved it. A great story. It is a nicely drawn charactor.

Bob T - see this wikipedia entry for an overview of the Kamandi series —> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamandi
Kirby originally did the story “The Last Enemy” in Alarming Tales #1 in 1957, which was kind of a prequel to the Kamandi series since it featured evolved animals.

Hi,
I had read that recently. I am glad Wikipedia mentioned Kamandi. They also mention Tommy Tomorrow as well as The Atomic Knights.
In an alternate future Kamandi never lived. In a post Zero Hour he became Tommy Tomorrow instead.

Y'know Timely had two characters who could become the Marvel equivalents of Kamandi,Tommy Tyme and Tuk the Caveboy,both of which could be developed into a Kamandi-type series,with Tuk the Caveboy being revealed as living in a post-Appocalyptic future,with the reader being led to believe it took place in the past,like in Roger Corman's TEENAGE CAVEMAN movie,I even heard Mark Gruenwald(R.I.P)had plans for him in “Marvel Universe”,though not as good as what either Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were capable of,I enjoyed what I saw of Tuk in Golden Age of Marvel Vol.2,along with the Vision,that's a character who's been gone WAY too long!.

Dear Editor,
As a follow up to my Battle Axis comments in various parts of this blog let me say the following;
1) In the last appearence of Duke O'Dowd The Human Meteor, in Harvey's Champ comics there was a meeting between him and the French underground.
If Marvel is going to print future stories of Duke they will have to work around his appearence on the side of the allies. That appearence considered an
act of contrition. Perhaps Marvel can explain he was reformed or rehabilitated in a short time, rather than as a result of a life sentence.
The meeting in France took place in 1943, only about a year and a half after the clash with the invaders.
2) Dr. Nenesis aka Dr. Death aka Dr. James Bradley fought a Japanese spy in 1944 who was trying to poison the water supply in New York.
This was about two years after the clash with the Invaders. It would seem he was also rehabilitated. Please see Super Mystery or Mystery comics for this.
3) Strong Man's final appearence was against a charactor called Dictator on Crash Comics cover issue number four.
4) Spider Queen and Volton I do not have a readily available explanation for. They did not have any anti-Axis appearences that I know of.
The fact that Volton was published in the post war years says something positive must have happened to him after the show down with the Invaders.
Spider Queen must have been pardoned or have had her sentence commuted. With The Cold War coming on I assume she would make a good U.S.
operative.
These heroes as well as Timely and early D.C. heroes could combine into a multi-force.
Picture the original Seven Soldiers of Victory, The Doom Patrol, The All Winners Squad, and others fighting monsters together.
Please tell me what you think?

Hi,
As a P.S. to the above; I just remembered back in the 1970s there was a communist super hero group. I think they were called the Titanic Three.
The Crimson Dynamo, The Titanium Man and Radio Active man were the three members of the group.
The first two defected from The USSR and the later member defected from Red China.
How about them fighting alongside of U.S. heores to stop monsters.

I want Tuk,caveboy to stay a 50,000 b.c. story so that his sidekick Tanir the Hunter[Captain America Comics#1-6] can be identified as Ulysses Bloodstone[Marvel Presents#1(10/75)];there is nothing that says the bloodstone can't cloak it's self with an illusion.Granted it would make Ulysses much older.

Tuk , his parents(Rhaya(mother) and Phadion(father))and Kadir(mentioned) are Inhumans from Attilan[Captain America Comics#1(3/41)]—50,000 b.c.,but the Official handbooks all say the Inhumans were created 25,000 years ago(23,015 b.c. in 1985's handbook).The Ancient One's original age was 500 years old,but the new Handbooks say that he is several millennia old because he Time-Travelled into his past to live;so maybe Marvel can alter how old the Inhumans and Ulysses Bloodstone are as well.

Hi,
How about a multi verse time continuim team up, Anti-Communist Spider Queen fights alongside of the Titanic Three. The Inferior Five fight along side of The Fantastic Four as a team up as well.
What do you think?

Hi,
Big Strange Tales Annual. The cover was one of the best I have ever seen. It has each really great monster in his own compartment on the cover. These are great monsters to show this way.
A great cover! A great book! I wish we could buy so many such great stories for a quarter today.

Hi,
Here is a new idea for you. How about a semi-spoof, and semi-dramatic book about a new universe. Does anyone remember the Nutty Mads?
They were the freakish figure toys of the 1960s from Marx. How about a story about”Nuttyverse”? In this alternative universe Nutty Mads meet monsters from “our” universe and work with regular humans and super heroes to defeat them.

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