marvel collector’s item classics

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Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Marvel Collectors Item Classics, Marvel Comics, vintage comics

Today we share with you some photos and scans of three ancient issues of Marvel Collector’s Item Classics, which later became Marvel’s Greatest Comics (a Fantastic Four reprint series). Copies in rough shape like this are not exactly rare. We got them mixed in with lots back when we built a Marvel’s Greatest Comics collection. We read these anthology reprint titles when we were just wee martians at Gramma’s place on holiday, so they always elicit a warm emotion that has little to do with the literary or artistic quality of the stories. At age forty-two, we find them harder to read as a story than we did at age seven, but quite enjoyable to flip through casually.

Behold.

Ant Man by Bob Layton

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Ant Man, ant man vs rat, Bob Layton, Iron Man, Marvel Comics, Marvel Comics Presents, Scott Lang, superhero

Maybe now that Ant Man has a future on the big screen we will see a resurgence of interest in the character. Henry Pym, Marvel’s original Ant Man, never appealed to us as much as his successor, Scott Lang.

We first encountered Lang in the pages of Iron Man produced in the 1980s by writer David Michelinie. In a few issues that still retain some value with collectors, Iron Man gets into a fight with the Hulk, and Ant Man rescues him from certain death. (See Iron Man #131, #132, and #133.)

In those Iron Man stories, inker Bob Layton provided the finishes over pencils by Jerry Bingham, and would stay on the title to work with John Romita, Jr. and other pencilers. Layton also receives credit for co-plotting those issues with Michelinie, making him the unsung but unifying force responsible for much of that run’s appeal.

To get an idea of Bob’s own style with a pencil as well as a pen, read his short Ant Man story shown here. You can see his subtle combination of ink and zip-a-tone finishes, a look he often applied to metal and reflective surfaces. We don’t mind admitting that a large part of our enthusiasm for Iron Man comes from the Bob Layton finished his metal suit. Bob Layton also proves the assertion that great inkers in comics do more than trace; they bring as much skill to the page as the credited pencillers.

Collector’s Guide: This story from Marvel Comics Presents #11 goes well with Godzilla fighting a giant rat in a sewer.

Captain America 112: Lest We Forget!

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Captain America, Iron Man, Jack Kirby, Lest We Forget, Stan Lee, Sub-Mariner

Jack Kirby redraws the origin of his creation Captain America in this 1969 gem. We don’t know if Kirby really hammered this out in 24 hours or not, but the artwork feels big and bold. Fans will notice quite a difference between Kirby’s approach to Captain America here and his late 1970s return to the title. Cap seems less a caricature of himself than he would in 1977.

This issue exemplifies our favorite Kirby treatment of Cap, so far advanced beyond the 1940s as to be almost unrecognizable as the same artist, even accounting for Joe Simon’s hand in the original mix.

Collector’s Guide: From Captain America #112; Marvel, 1969.

1978 Iron Man Ad

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Iron Man, Steve Leialoha

We like the Steve Leialoha art in this 1978 ad for Iron Man. It promotes the beginning of what would become perhaps THE classic Bronze Age Iron man run by David Michelinie, John Romita, Jr., and Bob Layton.

Iron Man Not Giving a Damn!

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Avengers, Iron Man, Vision, Wonder Man

Iron Man’s “Yeah, I don’t give a damn that my team is fighting” attitude just cracks us up. We thought you might enjoy this scene, too!

Collector’s Guide: From Avengers #158

Ultimates 2 Gallery: Bryan Hitch Double Splashes!

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Avengers, Bryan Hitch, Hulk, Iron Man, Mark Millar, Thor, Ultimates, Ultimates 2

For Mark Millar‘s re-imagining of The Avengers as The Ultimates, Bryan Hitch produced some truly over-the-top battle scenes. Let’s take a look at how Hitch uses two-page spreads in Ultimates 2, #12. Here we see Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and a whole mess of heroes kicking major butt! If you love a good superhero double-splash, this one’s for you!

Collector’s Guide: From Ultimates 2 #12; Marvel, 2006. Available in trade, single issues, or Ultimate Collection format.

Extracting the Dr. Octopus Value Stamp!

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Avengers, Avengers 130, Dr. Octopus, Iron Man, marvel value stamps, Thor

We’ve discussed Marvel Value Stamps with you before, but we recently reached a new level of geekdom with these little treasures. Our LCS (local comic shop) sold us a cheap grab bag of heavily abused Avengers comics. In that bag awaited Avengers #130. That’s the one that has Marvel Value Stamp #96, Dr. Octopus.

Now, we have a few Value Stamp issues in our collection, but we would NEVER dream of cutting up the pages of our 1970s Marvels. But in this case, the comic existed in such bad shape that we figured, well, to hell with it! (Yes, we know it’s a $100 book in CGC 9.6, but this was more like a $2 VG-/FR.) And so, with a socially inappropriate and childlike glee that only our fellow comic book fans could share, we grabbed a pair of scissors and peformed the first Value Stamp Extraction Surgery of our entire Martian life.

Later, we sacrificed Doc Ock to the gods of art in a mixed-media collage type thing for our Dream Journal series. He is either worth more now, or worth less, depending on how you value things. And just what is the value of a value stamp?

Avengers #130 also had a fun splash page we cut out to decorate our humble abode: Thor putting the smack-down on Iron Man!

It seems Iron Man had a personal grudge and wanted to beat up some characters in a foreign country. Thor told him to chill out and put his personal vendetta aside. Ol’ Shell Head wasn’t having it, though. Rule of thumb: No matter how many billions of dollars your costume cost, don’t get in a fist fight with a thunder god. CLANG!

Collector’s Guide: From Avengers #130. Reprinted in Essential Avengers TPB #6 (but not with the value stamp!).

Don’t Stick Needles in My Son!

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Andy Kubert, birth, birth scene, Iron Man, Orson Scott Card, Ultimate Iron Man

We’ve had some really nice birth scenes here on Mars. Nothing bring us more joy than bringing new life into the world… Unless it’s mutating that life in our laboratories into an army of reptiles that we send off to conquer the planet! While we work on that, you check out this version of the birth of Tony Stark, Iron Man, from Ultimate Iron Man by Orson Scott Card and Andy Kubert!