Customer Reviews

Marvel Comics in the 1960s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon

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If you are looking for an artsy coffee table book, don't bother with Comtois's book. But if you actually read comics in the 60s and you'd like to relive those memories, this one fits the bill. From FF #1 through the end of 1969, Marvel published 831 comics with at least one new superhero story. About 25% of those are individually described by Comtois (plus a few Sgt. Fury and one Marvel Tales with reprints), with a heavy emphasis on FF (41 issues) and Spider-Man (31 issues). He gives plot and character descriptions, connections with other happenings in the Marvel universe, information and thoughts about the creators, and analysis of the stories. Sometimes it reads like an extended, enthusiastic letters page from a 1960s issue,
but that's all fun. You'll also get interesting tidbits (Hulk #2 was inked by Ditko). Comtois does a good job in picking out individual issues (such as FF #51) as well as longer continued stories (Spidey 31-33), important events, and innovative artists.

The book is interspersed with biography pages of sixteen creators and some commentary that sketches the larger picture. Every page includes some original artwork from the Marvels, thumbnail covers, photos of the Marvel bullpen, bits from related comics (mostly D.C.) seemingly random pictures (Adolph Hitler? A cover of the Iliad?), and more pictures that seem a shallow attempt to characterize the 60s (Martin Luther King, Ayn Rand, an anonymous rocket)--all in black and white. At first, I thought that color would have been nice, but then I realized that it would be impossible to reproduce the was that comic book paper of the 60s absorbed and showed colors.

I would have liked some references because it's impossible to tell what is fact and what is mere speculation on
Comtois' part. For example, did Bradbury's "Chrysalis" really inspire FF #67-68? Was a Star Trek episode the inspiration for Him? An index of issues reviewed and characters (particularly for villains and guest appearances) would have
been useful).

I was annoyed at the last minute nixing by Marvel of a beautiful color cover for this book. The replacement is a lame layout of off-blue 60s photos with the silhouette of a character who is clearly not a Marvel hero of the 60s. Also, the book could use a good round of copy-editing both for grammar (e.g. "between he and Mr. Fantastic") and to delete material that is repeated verbatim in several places.

But overall, the book is a great buy, and I look forward to the next volume that will cover "The Twilight Years" (1969-1973?).

Here is a list of the comics reviewed in the book (which are presented in roughly chronological order, though some are out of order for no obvious reason). Many of the selections show Comtois' personal preferences (though I can't argue with lots of Kirby).

Amazing Fantasy 15 (Spider-Man)

Amazing Spider-Man 1-8, 14, 17-19, 25-28, 31-33, 38-40, 48-52, 63-64, Annual 1

Avengers 1, 3-5, 15-16, 19, 32-33, 43-44, 57-61

Captain America 100-105, 108-109

Daredevil 1, 16-19, 25-27, 29-32, 42, 44-48

Dr. Strange 169, 173, 178

FF 1-5, 9, 11-12, 25-26, 33, 38-40, 44-53, 57-67, 76-77, Annual 2-3, 5-6

Incredible Hulk 1-6

Iron Man 1

Journey into Mystery 83, 97, 112, 105-106, 109, 114-115, 125, Annual 1

Marvel Super-Heroes 12

Marvel Tales (reprints) 1

Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD 1, 3, 5

Sgt. Fury 13 and (with no super-heroes) 1, 6, 18, 29

Silver Surfer 1, 3

Strange Tales 101, 110, 114-115, 120, 135, 141-143, 146, 151, 153, Annual 2

Sub-Mariner 1, 5-6

Tales of Suspense 39, 48-49, 54-55, 57, 59, 63, 66, 71, 73, 79-81, 98-99

Tales to Astonish 35, 49-51, 60, 70, 82-83

Thor 126-135, 140, 142-144, 154-157

X-Men 1, 4, 9, 11-16, 46, 50-51, 53

Be warned: you have to be a hardcore Silver Age fanatic to get through this book. The format is not easy on the eyes; the paragraphs are too long, there's a lot of repetition within passages, and the same examples of art are repeated throughout. The repetition may be due to the fact that a lot of what's in the book appears to be from Pierre Comtois' columns for the great Silver Age Marvel Comics Cover Index site. Also, English is probably not Comtois' first language so the translation into English is a bit awkward at times (there are many paragraphs in which the same sentence is repeated, with only slight differences). There are lot of typos, too, including giving Stan Lee's real name as "Leiber" instead of "Lieber."

In addition, there are factual errors, here's a small sample:

Page 10 - misstates Stan Lee's birth year as 1927. Stan was born in 1922.

Page 51 - The new Flash debuted in 1956, not 1955.

Page 182- Comtois credits Joe Sinnott as the inker for the lead story (FF Psycho-Man story) in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967). While it's true that the FF Psycho-Man story's credit box lists Sinnott, that was a mistake and this story was actually inked by Frank Giacoia, as was revealed a couple of months later in FF #71's letter column...and this has been widely documented since then (readily available in periodicals, online, etc.).

Am I glad I read this book, even with the poor formatting and mistakes? Yes, because I am a hardcore Silver Age fanatic!!

With all of the wonderful silver age Marvel Omnibus and Marvel Essential editions that have come out in recent years (hey Marvel/Disney - can't wait for silver age Cap, Thor, Avengers and FF Vol 3 Omnibuses!), I've been wanting to read all of the early stories in chronological order. This book goes beyond the stories and provides some backstory to how the creators of what we know as the Marvel Universe arrived at those early issues. Some interesting tidbits here and there are presented by the author. A well-written book. Looking forward to purchasing volume 2 - post 1960's.

How well do you know your comics history? You'll know it better after Marvel Comics in the 1960s, a retrospective look back at the "House of Ideas" in their burgeoning heyday.

After the dark days of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, the '60s brought forth a new kind of comic story, and it came from the very best of the industry's legends: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, John Buscema, Dick Ayers, and many more. Writer Pierre Comtois attempts (and largely succeeds--a hefty accomplishment) at walking us through not only the content but the significance of each issue published in the decade.

The major problem is the layout of the book, which doesn't invite casual reading. Granted, the book should be read from beginning to end--the author has gone to great pains to research the work and establish a timeline of how it all was produced, and reading out of order defeats that purpose--but still, these are comics we're talking about. Readers want to jump in and then jump around, and I want to easily and quickly find my favorites. Better indexing would help, and so would year-by-year separators and looser page layouts.

Comtois does a good job of keeping tabs on what the other guys (DC Comics, of course, but also the other smaller publishers) were doing at the time too and how all of their actions affected the industry. In that sense, the book is an overview of the industry at large in the '60s, an astute guide for any student of the history of comics.

It bears repeating just how impressive the work that Marvel was doing at the time really was. It truly changed the way comics were made and read, and these comic books led to the company's quick ascendancy to the top publishing spot.

Alongside the issue-by-issue look through the decade, Comtois presents brief biographies of the top Marvel creators whose work inspired his own book. The entries are short, but they provide a snapshot into the creative forces that were at play at the time. To make it even more complete, the book includes brief looks at Marvel moments, which encompasses Marvel's grand attempts to build and retain its fan base (the Merry Marvel Marching Society, for example). And even though FOOM (Friends of Ol' Marvel) didn't actually come about until the '70s, it makes an appearance here as well...if you're a longtime comics reader, one of these will probably ring a bell.

-- John Hogan

As a fan of Silver Age comics, I couldn't have been more happy with Marvel Comics in the 1960s. It is absolutely spot on when it comes to what made Marvel Great during this period of comic book history. Some have complained of formatting, which I saw little problem with, and anything lacking in this area the book was easily compensated for in pure content. In fact, my only disappointment was the cover (sadly, the front cover is different than the one shown here)!

The author clearly loves these old comics as much as I have, and it shows in his writing, while providing great commentary on many of the very best stories from our heroes, Stan, Kirby and the rest of them behind the Marvel Machine that brought the industry to a whole new level. But you'll find more than just writing in here! Its stocked with interesting illustrations and excerpts, and great panels right out of the comic books themselves.

Conclusion: Definitely a must have for any Silver Age fan, that will make you want to go pick up the old mags and read 'em all over again!

Classic stuff. I throughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any Marvel comic book fan-particularly those who love the early days fo Marvel when Kirby was King and good guys were great and villains were the most evil!

This is very informative overview of Marvel Comics in the 60s, written in a breezy, informal style that consistently piques the reader's interest with judicious information about the story and art, as well as fun anecdotes about the various creators, and succeeds in whetting the reader's appetite to read the actual comics. All-in-all, a very good job.

throughly enjoying reading this, will certainly appeal to those of an age who grew up reading comics in the 60's but those who want to know the history of Marvel Comics will also like it,lots of fun facts and inside info. and if you ever wanted to know about the writers and artist behind the images this is the book to get.

Marvel Comics in the 1960s is a 'must' for any library strong in comics history. It provides an issue-by-issue guide to a company that led the industry for decades, producing dynamic pop-culture contributions by new artists and offering analysis of four phases of Marvel history. A top pick for any library, it is packed with black and white illustrations throughout.

If you read Marvel Comics in the 60s to 70s -- you'll love this book!