Writing about my Silver Age reread in 1968, I’ve commented several times that Jack Kirby’s stories, while still entertaining, feel like he’s getting ready for his exit. Captain America #108, pitting Cap against “The Snares of the Trapster,” is Kirby’s next-to-last story on the title. It’s an unremarkable one-and-done adventure in which the Trapster captures Sharon while she’s on a SHIELD mission. Cap, of course, charges in to save her. Lively but not particularly inspired; after a retelling of Cap’s origin next issue, Kirby left the book.
What made me want to cite this story in particular was one particular scene. While Stan Lee routinely writes villains bragging about how invincible they are, this one stuck out.
Seriously dude, “the most powerful man in the world?” You’re not. Period, end of statement. That kind of braggadocio is common enough in Stan Lee villains and it works fine with Doctor Doom or the Green Goblin. But the Trapster? Give me a break.
Daredevil #47, on the other hand, forces me to admit I misjudged Stan on one point. Discussing his heavy use of disability cliches, I wrote that I didn’t think Matt Murdock ever met another blind person in the Silver Age. I was wrong.
“Brother, Take My Hand” (Lee, Gene Colan) has Daredevil on a USO tour of Vietnam (which seems like a really odd thing to do, but it does show Marvel Supports The Troops) where he meets Willie Lincoln, who’s slowly going blind. After he loses his sight completely, DD visits him in the hospital.
Back in the states, Murdock and Nelson helps Willie clear himself of the mob frame-up that cost him his job as a cop; when the mob wants revenge, DD takes them down. Then Matt gives Willie another inspiring speech and finally reveals he’s blind too so he knows from struggling with disability. Willie sets up as a private investigator and shows up a few more times.
It’s not great. Why wouldn’t Matt mention his blindness up front? And obviously coming from a guy with super-senses, the uplifting speeches still ring a little hollow. I do, however, like Matt’s Perry Mason stunt exposing a key witness as a liar: “How did you see my client commit the crime when the fog was so thick last night?” “Fog? I — alright, I lied, I’m not going down for perjury!” Mob Boss: “You fool, there was no fog that night!” Silly, but fun.
X-Men #51 by Arnold Drake and Jim Steranko has what appears to be an epic case of Marvel Method fail. In the opening, Iceman and the other X-Men are trying to convince Lorna Dane she doesn’t want to align with Magneto, even if he’s her daddy.
That’s right, the entire key scene consists of the X-Men staring at what Lorna’s doing off-panel. I’m guessing that Jim Steranko screwed up, or his idea for what was happening in that scene didn’t match Drake’s ideas.
On the other hand, I love the backup (by Drake and Werner Roth) recounting how Hank McCoy came to join the X-Men. In contrast to Cyke and Iceman, he didn’t suffer at all from discrimination — his town knows he’s a freak but he’s their hometown freak who wins football games and beats up crooks!
The lack of teen mutant angst is refreshing.
Thor #159 (Lee and Kirby) answers a question I imagine plenty of fans had asked over the years: how is it that Dr. Donald Blake an ordinary guy (when he’s not one of the world’s great surgeons) who stumbled across Mjolnir, is simultaneously the true son of Odin. Wondering how it makes sense, Don astrally projects to Asgard —
—and learns he’s always been Thor but not always Don Blake (note the inspiring disability cliches again).
It’s one of those retcons that work perfectly — well, almost perfectly. Going forward, it’s strange that Don never once reflects that he’s a magically created identity or that his true self is Thor or ever asks Dad whether he can stay Thor for good. It doesn’t affect anything and it should have.
Years later, Roy Thomas attempted another retcon: Thor revisits the cave where his mortal self found Mjolnir and discovers Don Blake is still there, in suspended animation — he was real all along and Odin simply usurped his identity for Thor’s use! After trying to do something with this twist, Roy eventually retconned the retcon and went back to the status quo (I forget exactly how).
#SFWApro. Cap and Thor art by Kirby, Daredevil art by Gene Colan, X-Men by Steranko and the Beast by Werner Roth.
I agree this Don Blake retcon is pretty good. Somehow I was not aware of Thomas’s later re-retcon, which is less interesting. DeFalco and Frenz using Eric Masterson to show what it would be like for a real guy to share a body with Thor was a better idea.
I never got into Eric Masterson, though you have a point that did make it different from Don Blake.
I suspect Roy was transfixed by the great hook of Thor finding Don Blake in the cave and didn’t plan things out much after that. But that’s only a guess.
I kind of like the twist in the Cap story, where the whole thing is really just a work by SHIELD to get the Trapster to monologue, and Sharon’s not in any real danger. Cap is actually out of the lop for most of the story.
I tend to credit that kind of thing to Kirby, who often pushed back on Lee’s helpless female” characterizations.
Years ago an indie publisher argued that DC’s template for women was Katherine Hepburn (professional, capable, independent) and Marvel’s was more Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (no disrespect to the actor intended), a sad love interest.