From Tales to Astonish #93: "So unlikely a charade must now be ended!"
The Silver Surfer decides that his fight with the Hulk is over. And just like that, countless playground arguments were settled: the Surfer could beat the Hulk. But don't worry, that isn't the topic here. We're here to give props to this page's artist.
Marie Severin was a pioneer, and one of the unsung pillars of early Marvel comics. And in this page by Severin, every panel moves the plot forward: Hulk attacks the Surfer on the first panel, the Surfer dodges easily on
the second (and note that the rock comes from the direction of the first panel,
and Surfer is flying in that same direction, making the action flow perfectly
in our minds).
On the third panel, Severin gives us the Hulk's perspective of
the Surfer's charge. On the fourth panel, the decisive impact, underlined by a dynamic sound effect! On the fifth, the Hulk falls. And on the sixth panel, the Surfer rests - and approaches the Hulk with curiosity, setting the stage for further shenanigans. Severin's storytelling seems simple, but there's a lot of craft behind these bright colors.
Words by Stan Lee, Art by
Marie Severin and Frank Giacoia.
From Incredible Hulk #300: "By awakening Banner and showing him the
truth of the situation, I unwittingly aided him, then, in his decision
to die with dignity".
In this page, Bill Mantlo used
thought-balloons to articulate Doctor Strange's guilt and rising
determination, as Strange comes to terms with his failure to save Bruce
Banner.
This scene was important to establish an in-character
motive for Strange to interfere. Stopping rampaging science monsters
normally wouldn't be Doctor Strange's
job, but he and Banner had been fellow members of the Defenders for years - a shared
history that finally pushed the Sorcerer Supreme to interfere (and
eventually save the day, by banishing Hulk to another dimension).
Sal Buscema discreetly builds up tension, zooming out to show the
approaching gust of wind. The 4th panel zooms back into Strange's stern
expression, when he accepts his share of blame. The build-up culminates
on the 5th panel, which is where the heroic soundtrack would rise if
this were a movie. But if this were a movie, we wouldn't have followed
Strange's line of thought like this. 
Story by Bill Mantlo, Art by Sal Buscema and Gerry Talaoc.
From Strange Tales #129:
"How do you like that? Dr. Strange gets an offer to talk about black magic
on TV and he refuses! I wonder why?"
It's because Strange
doesn't give a single shred of a toss about what civilians believe. He has no
need to convince the general public that magic is real; if anything, people
might PANIC if they actually understood the nature of Doctor Strange's job.
A TV show called
"Twelfth Hour" had challenged Doc Strange to prove that magic is
real. Strange wasn't even remotely interested in
jumping through hoops for TV cynics, and of course the tabloids ate it up with
greasy spoons.
It only became a problem
when the "Twelfth Hour" hosts, not having a sorcerer to berate on the
air, decided to fill their airtime mocking an ancient pagan idol - that
predictably sucked all of 'em into another dimension, forcing Strange to go
save their cynical asses from oblivion.
Steve Ditko doesn't portray the
"Twelfth Hour" hosts as bad people, they're just terribly misguided
men of science. It would be too easy to say that these guys are the MU equivalents
of famous real-life skeptics like Richard Dawkins and James Randi, but IMO there's
a big difference: In the Marvel Universe, there IS actual proof of magic and
impossible things. A "skeptic" would have to mean something
different, in a world where dragons, vampires, celestial beings and magic hammers are all real and observable.
In the end of the story,
Strange actually cast a Spell of Forgetfulness on the "Twelfth Hour"
hosts, after saving them. Strange's job is actually EASIER, if people don't
know that the monsters lurking under their beds are real.
Words by Stan Lee, Plot and Art by
Steve Ditko.
From Fantastic Four #259:
"Aw, no! Right in front of a supermarket! There's civilians all over th'
place, gotta chase 'em outta here before..."
And then Terrax violently threw the Thing at the supermarket in question. That
last panel always makes me think of the unmentioned civilian casualties of
superhuman violence.
In the best-case scenario,
some of the people who'd heard the Thing's initial arrival in front of the
market MIGHT have enough time to get away. But the folks inside that market are probably in serious trouble.
Of course, having th Thing consider the civilians' safety and IMMEDIATELY endangering those civilians were
intentional narrative choices by Byrne, to drive home the human cost of
Terrax's rampage. We had to understand that the villain of this month's
adventure was NOT just a "villain-of-the-month" for the citizens of
the Marvel Universe; to them, Terrax was terrifying and life-threatening.
To achieve that effect, Byrne deliberately gave us
a good look at the normal people going about their days, whose lives depended
on the Thing subduing Terrax. This emphasis on the civilians established
convincing stakes, and gave readers an emotional connection, adding weight to
this battle - which was really just an opening act for Doctor Doom (that ended
up backfiring).
Story and Art by John
Byrne.
From Incredible Hulk #249:
"Ice Warrior falls, but now ice-girl grabs hold of Hulk! Why?"
Because apparently, retired supervillain Jack Frost (whose underground lair the
Hulk had accidentally invaded) was VERY creative in his use of expendable
ice-minions. If the Gladiator didn't work, try Jessica Rabbit!
Steve Ditko really stole the show
in this issue. The same wild imagination that created alien panoramas for
Doctor Strange, and gave Spider-Man so many visually-distinctive villains, was focused on spawning a gauntlet of killer
ice-sculptures for the Hulk. This desperate battle escalated until only one of
them survived (no spoilers on which one!).
The storytelling here is
straightforward, not changing perspectives very often. Ditko understands that
this story is a crazy ride, so he keeps the "camera" relatively
steady, for the sake of clarity. Note that in the 2nd panel, the Hulk's body
language (and finger) are pointed towards the 3rd panel, gently leading the
reader along the ideal reading order. The 3rd panel's full-body shot of Hulk
smashing the gladiator is followed by a medium shot with the ice girl, and then
a close-up of the Hulk's surprise. It definitely makes us want to turn the
page! Will the Hulk's lips get stuck on ice?
😳
Story by Bill Mantlo, Art
by Steve Ditko.
From Avengers #235:
She-Hulk goes jogging, and she has zero patience for assholes.
Also: This driver is
either too jaded for his own good, or clinically stupid.
In a way, this is a pure
"superhero" moment for She-Hulk. She may not be fighting evil
world-conquerors here, but saving the world isn't everything - superheroes are as much about basic wish-fulfillment today
as they were in the '30s, when Superman threw corrupt landlords and abusive husbands through walls.
We all sometimes wish we were capable of doing stuff like this to the various jerks that cross our paths, but we can't - so our
superheroes indulge in the dream for us. 😉
Story by Roger Stern, Art
by Bob Budiansky and Joe Sinnott.
From Thor #341:
"Elsewhere, beyond the fields we know, a host past counting listens to a
voice as old as time speak..."
Walt Simonson's epic run on
Thor had many unforgettable moments (The Frog of Thunder, Skurge's Last Stand,
the Day of Jormungandr, Loki's broken arm... we could be here all day).
But in the connective
spaces between those great moments, Simonson also played foreshadowing like a
flute. On each issue leading to the Surtur War, we'd get these one-page
glimpses of the demon Surtur forging a terrible weapon,
always punctuated by the ominous sound-effect DOOM!
It was a steady build of
suspense across multiple issues, also setting pieces in motion that would only
pay off several issues later. For example, on this page Surtur commanded
"The Dark Elf" (Malekith) to seek out the "second son of Odin"
(Loki). Three issues later (Thor #344), Malekith would indeed approach Loki and
cut a deal, as ordered. The Surtur War came closer with each DOOM!blow that
landed.
And check out those first
five panels, on the top row: Surtur raising the hammer is shown in slow-motion,
zooming away to reveal him - and then we abruptly zoom in again, when Surtur
swings the hammer down. It almost feels like the hammer-swing on the 5th panel
actually hit the 6th panel below.
Simonson's "Thor"
run became a classic because it really IS that good.
Story and Art by Walt
Simonson.
