Marvel Reread Club

Marvel Reread Club marches into July 1963! That means Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four 16, Journey into Mystery 94 with Thor, Strange Tales 110 with the Human Torch and the debut of Dr. Strange, Tales of Suspense 43 with Iron Man, and Tales to Astonish 45 with Ant-Man and the Wasp! Roy Orbison glasses! Acid fish! The Chromosomatic gland! The frightful two! A masterpiece Stan disowned! A second Atlantis! Jousting with iguanas! Check it out!

It’s a new Marvel Reread Club where we read just one issue, June 1963’s Tales to Astonish #44, joined by special guest Jeremy Whitley, the only writer to have written a Marvel comic starring any version of the Wasp in her own book! Pillbox hats! Laughter and gaiety! Sluggards confused with dullards!

t’s June 1963 at Marvel Reread Club! In this episode we tackle Fantastic Four 15, Journey Into Mystery 93 featuring Thor, Strange Tales 109 and Annual 2, both featuring the Human Torch, and Tales of Suspense 42 featuring Iron Man. That leaves one issue which will get its own very special guest episode next time. Predictable organ grinder monkeys! Hypnotic radiation! Imps of laziness! Super-glue filled purses! Projectile ham!

This week, in a break from the show’s usual format, we sit down with Douglas Wolk, the author of “All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told” and discuss his monumental achievement of reading every Marvel comic. We have an epic, wide-ranging discussion about what it all means, whether the older comics are primarily art or artifact, and whether you can make something morally coherent out of a story with so many authors representing fundamentally different eras of American history. And for the first time before a national audience, Douglas debuts his delightful ukulele theme song!

Welcome back to Marvel Reread Club! Today we tackle a whopping seven issues: Amazing Spider-Man 2, Fantastic Four 14, Thor in Journey into Mystery 92, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos 1, the Human Torch in Strange Tales 108, Iron Man in Tales of Suspense 41, and Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish 43. Alien radio repairmen! Hypno-fish! Making Viking movies for charity! Surprisingly ineffective machine guns! Unbreakable smoke rings! Car juggling! Momentarily non-luscious chicks!

Welcome back to Marvel Reread Club! It’s April 1963, including Fantastic Four 13, Journey Into Mystery featuring Thor 91, Strange Tales featuring the Human Torch 107, Tales of Suspense featuring Iron Man 40, and Tales to Astonish featuring Ant-Man 42. Ape astronauts! Convenient belts of strength! Pufferfish powers! Transistor-powered foldable metal! Matt is proven wrong about four different things!

Marvel Reread Club wraps up March 1963 with Thor in Journey Into Mystery no. 90, Human Torch in Strange Tales no. 106, the introduction of Iron Man in Tales of Suspense no. 39, and Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish no. 41! Soft-hearted fools! Matching berets! Filing cabinets filled with rocks! Evil window-washers! Big changes now that Kirby is off the books!

Time for another visit to the Marvel Reread Club! March 1963 is a monumomentous month, so we’ve broken it into two episodes. First we’ll handle the full-length books: Amazing Spider-Man no. 1, Fantastic Four no. 12 and Incredible Hulk no. 6. Masks over masks over masks! An actual card-carrying Communist! Reet!

It’s February 1963 in the Marvel Reread Club, with Fantastic Four #11, Journey Into Mystery #89 featuring Thor, Strange Tales #106 featuring Human Torch, and Tales to Astonish #40 featuring Ant-Man! Lincoln’s Mother! Super-Ventriloquism! Flame Saws! Fake Appendicitis! We bid a sad farewell to Jack Kirby on three more of his comics, but he’ll be back soon with other books, we promise!

Welcome back to Marvel Reread Club! Today we look at Fantastic Four #10, The Incredible Hulk #5, Journey Into Mystery #88 starring Thor, Strange Tales #104 starring The Human Torch, and Tales to Astonish #39 starring Ant-Man. Stan and Jack betray the FF! The Hulk in an Abominable Snowman costume! Cars turn into ice cream! Paste-Pot Pete! Termite armies!