Christmas 1978 was a huge comic book windfall for me. Whereas in years past I had filled my wish list with an assortment of toys, starting here, I would instead begin asking for books on comics. ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS had eluded me for months, so much so that I eventually got to read the story I was most interested in from it, FANTASTIC FOUR #1, in the Marvel Pocket Books line.
But I still wanted a copy of ORIGINS proper, as well as the other three volumes then available in the series: SON OF ORIGINS, BRING ON THE BAD GUYS and THE SUPERHERO WOMEN. This Christmas, I got them all.
But even beyond the reprinted classic stories themselves, I was also very interested in the behind-the-scenes recounting of how these classic characters had been invented. In ORIGINS, each of the five chapters devoted to a particular early Marvel character featured a historic introduction written by Stan Lee. These write-ups are more fantasy than historic–in particular, Lee saves almost all of the creative credit for himself while underplaying the contributions of figures such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, who are referred to merely as artists, men who carried out Lee’s creative vision. History has shown us that this wasn’t truly the case at all, and that Kirby and Ditko and others were far more central to the plotting of stories and the origination and development of the characters than this volume would lead you to believe. But for many years, this was the most formative text on the subject, and so its well-polished anecdotes–perfected by Stan at his many personal appearances over the years–came to largely be regarded as the genuine history. In 1974, this maybe didn’t seem like all that big of a deal, but today when these characters have all become worldwide icons, it’s a problematic and reductive recounting of their origins.
Perhaps because somebody associated with this book project realized that the earliest Marvel stories are a bit crude, a choice was made to back up each first appearance with a later issue that was more polished and developed. It’s a somewhat strange smattering of material, and apart from needing one-off installments that would be satisfying in and of themselves, it can be tricky in certain instances to figure out just why the stories in question had been selected. But if nothing else, it did showcase the swift improvement that was made to the line as it became successful and its creators could devote a bit more time to each installment. The issue of FANTASTIC FOUR that’s reprinted along with the first one is #55, also by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and it’s almost difficult to relate to both stories having been crafted by the same gentlemen. In just five years, everybody involved had gotten worlds better, at least in terms of defining the sort of stories they wanted to deliver and executing on them.
This volume also wasn’t above taking certain liberties. In its reprinting of INCREDIBLE HULK #1, the character was colored in his much more recognizable green hue, even though he had been depicted as grey in that inaugural issue. Stan at least points out this change in his introduction, and the cover to teh issue maintains the Hulk’s original color. This wasn’t a big deal, but it is indicative of the fact that this wasn’t really intended to be a history book, but rather a collection of classic stories with short interstitials that might provide some additional literary value. There really weren’t many books dedicated to comic book characters at this point, so ORIGINS and its follow-ups in many ways set teh template for what would follow.
Unless I miss my guess, I’m pretty certain that this copy of ORIGINS was where I first read the original origin of Spider-Man from AMAZING FANTASY #15. I know that I found it fascinating and weird, in that the wall-crawler was depicted as being far more spindly and wiry than I’d ever seen him before, even in the other early Steve Ditko stories that I had read in Pocket Books format. and this moment on the final page where Spidey’s eyes show through his mask as dots truly shook me. It seemed as though the bedrock of reality itself was shifting, so wrong did this feel to me. (Many years later, an overzealous reprint editor would white out those dots in a later reprinting, feeling similar to my childhood self. Note to future generations: don’t do this.) The contrast to the second Spidey story reprinted, an issue that was laid out by John Buscema, who wasn’t usually associated with the character, was marked.
As matters turned out, I wound up being sick for the Christmas of 1978, and so I wound up unable to do a whole lot more than just flip through my assorted treasures as the day went on. We would usually have made the trek out to my father’s brother’s house for a full-on Christmas celebration, but not that year–I kept everybody home that year. Not that I minded–I wouldn’t have wanted to risk my new books by transporting them along with us, though I doubtless would have attempted to do so. And indeed, within a year or so, I somehow wound up breaking the binding on my copy of ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS, snapping it between the Spider-Man section and the Thor chapter. Accordingly, I somehow decided that the best thing to do would be to mangle the edition further, chopping out each issue and hand-stapling it together into a makeshift comic book that I cold store with the rest of the titles featuring that character that I owned. The text sections winded up getting stuffed away in a drawer of my desk.
The reproduction on the stories collected in ORIGINS varied a bit in terms of their quality, often suffering from being shot from second generation stats that had heavied up a bit. This was a common problem with a lot of Marvel reprints of this era. One story that looked crisp was the first Doctor Strange story–and I was later told by Roger Stern that this was because, as the book was being assembled, nobody could lay hands on stat copies of the material, so they instead requisitioned the original art to this tale back from the Marvel warehouse where original art was kept, and shot the story from the original boards.
These books were majorly important to me in my growing development as a Marvel historian, despite their textual flaws. And also, as just a smattering of entertainment. I found that, in general, I tended to connect more often with the Marvel stories of the 1960s than the contemporary ones–something that I initially chalked up almost entirely to Stan Lee but eventually came to realize had as much or even more to do with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and their fellow. That’s the real damage that this volume did over time, making it just a bit more difficult to set the record straight on who actually did what.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
In October 1974, my family moved from West Jordan, Utah (a suburb of Salt Lake City) to Treasure Island Naval Base, San Francisco. Our housing unit on the base wasn’t ready yet so we spent a few days in a Navy Lodge and that first night, a Saturday, with my parents in one bed and my two younger brothers and me in another, we wound up watching the local (Oakland based) Creature Features program, that night’s movie being Night of the Living Dead. The program’s host, Bob Wilkins, also usually had a special guest for a short interview segment and that night the guest just happened to be Stan Lee, hawking Origins of Marvel Comics. I was aged 12 and had been reading Marvel comics for several years, but this was the first time I saw Lee on television. That Christmas, I got Origins as a present and while I didn’t wear it out and actually still have it, along with most of the follow-ups, I did read the book and initially took it as “Gospel” from the Man himself. Of course, in later years, as an adult and regularly reading The Comics Journal in the 1980s and then multitudes of online articles in more recent decades, I realized that Lee wasn’t all that honest in his relating on the actual origins of the creation of those characters, leaving out significant aspects, such as the strong similarities of the FF to the Challengers of the Unknown, which Kirby happened to have co-created; or that Simon & Kirby had worked on a spider-themed super-hero, later transformed into the Fly and that Kirby’s first few pages featuring Spider-Man bore a very strong resemblance to the Fly which Ditko took note of when he was set to ink them; or that Kirby and Ditko had both drawn earlier stories for other companies featuring Thor and aspects from both earlier stories were strongly echoed in that first Marvel Thor story; or that Ditko had come up with Dr. Strange entirely on his own, although aspects of Dr. Strange were similar to the earlier Lee/Kirby character Dr. Droom, etc., etc. Thus far, I haven’t read much back story on the creation of the Hulk, although I’d guess there’s more to it than related in Origins. It was certainly fun to read those origins, most of which were entirely new to me, as well as later stories (but not so much later that anyone else but Lee was credited as writer). Notice that in Sons of Origins, the only additional stories were those of Iron Man and Daredevil, likely only to include stories featuring them in their later costumes.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yep, the 2nd Ironman story from Tales of Suspense #97 is the second to last Ironman story that Stan Lee ever wrote…while it shows the stylistic evolution the character the story itself is a bit of an odd choice since its a continued story that ends in a cliffhanger. It does feature nice art from Gene Colan showing off his impressive chops when it comes to character’s expressions and action.
The second Daredevil story on the other hand is self contained and one of the better Lee/Colan Daredevil stories from that period imo.
LikeLike
Upon reading that 2nd Iron Man story, I remembered having read that story years earlier in a barbershop on a US Navy base in Japan, when I was 6 years old. I didn’t get to keep that particularly issue of Tales of Suspense, and I had no memory of the Captain America story — maybe I didn’t get to read that part of it before it time to get in the chair. Still, that I.M. story was one wherein Lee & Colan really built up the suspense and, to my very young mind, Whiplash seemed like a credible threat to the great Golden Avenger (at that time, it would still be a few years before I read any Avengers comic whatsoever, my first issue being #104). I wouldn’t find out how Shellhead dealt with Whiplash until I got the reprint in Marvel Double Feature, in 1975, I think.
Back on the origins books, it’s notable that up until the Superhero Women collection, every story had a writers credit to Stan. Also interesting were the few key Silver Age characters whose origins were not included — mainly those with Golden Age origins, Captain America and the Sub-Mariner, and Ant-Man/Giant-Man, although Wasp’s was included in the Superhero Women. Also, Silver Surfer got an entry but not Captain Marvel, likely because despite both series having been cancelled, Stan had a keen affection for the Surfer, but Captain Marvel came about due to a dictate from his boss, Martin Goodman, so although Lee did write that first story before handing it over to Roy Thomas, Lee didn’t appear to think much about his Kree space-born hero.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The more sophisticated art didn’t strike me at the time as I was way more about story. Rereading the Silver Age stuff more recently yes, it’s amazing how far Marvel had come by 1965.
Though the story choices were random. That didn’t bother me with stuff I’d read but the Thor story with the Enchanters left me feeling at sea. Maybe people who hadn’t read any of the later stories were similarly baffled.
And yes again, what looked like a fascinating behind-the-scenes scoop when I read the book originally I know now to be a “printed legend” in the words of Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
LikeLike
Maybe Victor Avery the Midnight Monster [ Journey Into Mystery#79 ( April 1962 ) first story ] was the inspiration for the Hulk [ The Incredible Hulk#1 ( May 1962 ) ] or Kraa the Unhuman [ Tales of Suspense#18 ( June 1961 ) first story ] an African who had a similar bomb blast origin to the Hulk’s? Doubt it was Timely Comics’ Gary Gaunt [ Mystic Comics#9 ( May 1942 ) 6th story ( comics.org gives the title of his story as Throwback — which is a name I would call him ) and was made into a Hulk-like creature in Marvel Adventures Super Heroes#21 ( May 2010 ) ] and his alter-ego was a criminal and in the Hulk’s first appearance on page 11 panel 2 the Hulk says” I don’t want you with me! I don’t need you! I don’t need ANYBODY!. With my strength– my power — the WORLD is mine!” and on panel 3 it sounds like he was contemplating killing Rick Jones ( ” As for YOU — you are the only one who knows who I really am!” ) — so maybe he is a little like Gary Gaunt’s alter-ego in him if only in that moment. The Hulk was green on page 18 panel 5 of his first appearance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I forgot that Bruce Banner transformation into the grey Hulk happened when the sun went down [ The Incredible Hulk#1 ] and Gary Gaunt’s transformation took place at sundown too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heard that Marvel was reprinting this. haven’t heard what the second stories will be though, as in the past when it was reprinted those stories were changed.
LikeLike
As a 14 year old UK fan when this came out in 1974 this book seemed like a revelation, the story of how it all began. Such was the salesmanship of Stan I devoured every word.
Looking back, it can be summed up in a paragraph!
“I created the Fantastic For and got Jack Kirby to draw it because I liked his artwork. Then I came up with the Hulk and got Jack to draw that, too. I then thought up Spider-Man, but Jack couldn’t do it how I wanted, so I gave that one to Steve Ditko, which worked out fine. But Jack was perfect for my next idea, Thor. And Steve did a great job on my next character, Dr. Strange. To be continued…..”
There is talk that Marvel is planning to republish this book. If it’s a straight reprint, with no notations to set the record straight, it’ll just fan the flames of controversy and reinforce the apparent company position: “Stan created these characters and WE own them. Period! Jack and Steve were our employees who did some work for us and got paid. Period!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have that paperback book (Origins of Marvel Comics), was just reading it the other day. It’s nice to collect all kinds of books on comics to read in our old age for those of us that were too busy in our youth to really appreciate them. Thanks for all the emails you send out to remind us of what a great time period we live(d) in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s hard to appreciate nowadays what a rarity high-quality collections were back then. I still have my copy.
I pulled it out for nostalgia. I just noticed that in the FF#1 pages, the next-to-last story page (book p. 43) has a big ugly blob on it, that I now know is on those stats, not a defect just on my copy.
That back cover copy was obviously not written by a comics reader: “Dr. Strange, the oddball magician who uses his Satanic powers on the side of good”. Whoever wrote that obviously simply saw the “Master of Black Magic” page, and paraphrased that as “Satanic powers”.
The introductions are definitely a case of the winners get to write history. And a Company Man writing a Company History was never going to be too generous to those not with the Company.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course, survivors also get to write their own stories even if they weren’t the “winners” and actual evidence disputing Lee’s version existed (mainly, those other comics) so that for the most part the actual truth eventually got out. What’s sad, though, is seeing sloppy “journalists” who repeat the “Marvel/Lee version” and clearly haven’t done a bit of research to realize there are gaping factual holes in that version. But then Kirby’s versions weren’t always all that accurate either. Sometimes, neither the winners nor the losers tell the true tale, but someone has to do a bit of digging to find what the evidence reveals rather than relying solely on self-serving, emotion-driven or otherwise faulty memories. Even “those who were there” don’t always remember things as they really happened, even though they were directly involved.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@frednotfaith2 “Kirby’s versions weren’t always that accurate” based on what? I think you’ll find if you look into it, what you believe about Kirby’s accuracy was also written by the victor. The deviation of Kirby’s account from the truth is insignificant, while Lee’s Origins is his greatest work of fiction.
LikeLike
I took Stan’s accounts of Marvel history in “Origins,” “Sons” and “Bad Guys” as gospel, so it was a shock in later years to learn those stories weren’t so cut and dried. Still enjoyed the comics though, and along with Steranko’s histories and Feiffer’s “Great Comic Book Heroes,” the Origins books definitely fanned my interest in the medium’s history and the behind the scenes creators.
LikeLike
It’s odd, Namor played a minimal role (he was a guest/antagonist in the 1969 Hulk story). However, he was prominently featured on the cover (perhaps due to his role.in the 1966-’67 cartoons?).
I wonder (even with his new role in the MCU) if he would be featured today?
My uncle (who was born in 1934 or ’35) told me that when he was a kid in the 1940s, he loved those comics.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Funny that the only Golden Age character whose origin was included in any of the books was the Red Skull!
LikeLike
I remember noticing Cap’s religiosity from the “modern” story (Cap #122). Oh, and he smokes a pipe!
The Shocker was then one of the least noteworthy Spider-Man foes, unless you knew the Vibrator story. Funny that he made it into the movies.
LikeLike
i first saw the Socket on an episode of “Spider-Kan & his Amazing Friends”. I was 8 or 9 yrs old. thought he’d been bade up for the TV cartoon &:wondered why they didn’t use Electro. Years later I saw he’d been in earlier comics.
LikeLike
Such a fascinating deep dive into Marvel’s roots — it’s always cool to see how origin stories shape an entire universe. Speaking of origins, I’ve been exploring the Pokémon Infinite Fusion universe lately, where fan-made creativity really shines. If you’re into imaginative crossovers like Marvel’s multiverse, you might enjoy checking out some unique fusions here: Poke Fusion Pro It’s wild how blending different Pokémon creates entirely new possibilities, much like early Marvel did with its characters!
LikeLike