The Classics - Strange Tales #89

Here's a comic I did not buy when I was a kid. Instead, I picked it up at a convention a few years ago.

The comic is the October 1961 issue of Strange Tales, and it features the first appearance of the Jack Kirby-drawn monster Fin Fang Foom, perhaps the best-known of the early Marvel brood of monsters. (Or should that be the "late Atlas brood?")

It's a great example of one of my favorite grades for a comic. Most comic fans know that basics of grading a comic: "M" for Mint Condition, "VG" for Very Good, "P" for Poor, and so on. But this comic fits a description I first heard from my pal James - it's "BTH."

Of course, that stands for "Beat To Hell." As you can see from the scan, the cover is torn and missing the upper right corner. The cover is actually separated from the rest of the comic, and the back cover is hanging by a thread. The cover also has a few pen marks on it, and the inside pages are aged, chipped and fading.

But despite all that, the issue is complete and quite readable, and I found it in a box at a convention for the princely sum of $1.00. I've never been a collector who obsessed about condition, so when I find a comic I want to read at a decent price, I pick it up.

The lure of this one, of course, was Mr. Foom, whose story I first read in an issue of the Marvel reprint book Fantasy Masterpieces. It tells the unlikely story of a freedom fighter in Communist China who uses his knowledge to great effect.

You just get the feeling that Kirby had a blast drawing this story - the action just explodes off the page!

The issue also features an excellent Stan Lee - Steve Ditko 5-pager, as a thief discovers what happens when you attack a man who has friends in low places.

There's also a 5-pager drawn by Paul Reinman. It's a solid, professional job, but it's a thin story - it's easy to see why the writer didn't sign it.

The issues from this time period always give off a warm glow of nostalgia. These are the kind of comics I read when I was first discovering comics.

There's not much deep or challenging about this issue, but it is a lot of fun. The comic may be tattered, but the talent of the artists involved shines like new.

Grade: B+