Arctic Ink Comics Review

After a promising but a bit inconsistent first issue , the Incredible Hulk was in a position success-wise that could go either way: many popular and strong series started out scrambling, but found their footing a few issues down the line. On the other hand, finding that kind of success would require winning over the reader with intentional and consistently good issues, and since we already know the series only lasted for six issues, we can draw the conclusion that the Hulk failed to do so. In this retrospective series, I'm looking for the particular failings behind that lack of lasting success, and the signs are already sprouting up in the next two issues. Unnecessary aliens! The Incredible Hulk #2: "The Terror of the Toad Men!" Writers: Stan Lee Artists: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko Editor: Stan Lee Publication Date: May 1, 1962 Cover Date: July 1962 Art by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. © Marvel Comics. The second issue of the Incredible Hulk is to...

So far the X-Men has been a case of a lot of good ideas not living up to their potential mostly due to weak plotting and shaky character motivations. Issue #4 feels like a conscious effort to fix that, while simultaneously significantly widening the scope of the story: we're not talking about bank robberies or recruitment here, this is a tale about a sovereign nation being taken over by a villain, and a cast of antagonists that genuinely justifies the presence of the whole squad of X-Men. It's also the first story in the series that comes across as an intentional take on the complicated concept of moral questions that can't be answered cleanly. A slow start... X-Men #4: "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!" Writers: Stan Lee Artists: Jack Kirby & Paul Reinman Editor: Stan Lee Publication Date: January 3, 1964 Cover Date: March 1964 Art by Jack Kirby, Paul Reinman and Art Simek. © Marvel Comics. I don't really know why Stan Lee and Ja...

By the fall of 1963, Tales of Suspense had, for all intents and purposes, become the official Iron Man magazine with a brief bonus anthology story packed in the back. There was no meaningful difference in story composition between Iron Man and feature titles like Fantastic Four or Spider-Man , and the expanded page allocation hints at a popularity steadily grown since the character’s debut in Tales of Suspense #39 . The series was far from nailing it though. Even after fixing the most pressing problems with the character and the premise, and improving his design to be more visually appealing and creatively expressive, Iron Man still needed good stories. The next two issues would indicate just how much the story still mattered, and how little the protagonist and his supporting cast can do about it if the narrative isn't working. The X-over! Tales of Suspense #49: "The New Iron Man Meets the Angel!" Writers: Stan Lee Artists: Steve Ditko & Paul Reinman Ed...

While not necessarily the best issue of The Amazing Spider-Man so far, issue #8 experiments with some new angles to approach the character from, and in this early era it’s both charming and commendable to not just repeat the story formats that have been tried before. In fact, it’s somewhat surprising how boldly Stan Lee and Steve Ditko broke new ground in most new issues, and only occasionally settled for a comfortable story of thwarting a villain and calling it a day. The Amazing Spider-Man #8: "The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain!" Writers: Stan Lee Artists: Steve Ditko Editor: Stan Lee Publication Date: October 8, 1963 Cover Date: January 1964 Art by Steve Ditko, Stan Goldberg and Artie Simek. © Marvel Comics. We spend a lot of time establishing the premise of the issue, and we don’t see Spider-Man in costume until a third of the way through the book. The setup has a lot going on, much more than you usually would: Flash and Peter have an a...