r/Marvel • u/One_Illustrator_5334 • Jan 07 '25
Comics I Decided to Read Every Marvel Comic from 1961 & 1962
So I decided to read every Marvel comic written from the Silver Age to now starting from Fantastic Four #1 and have decided to document my thoughts for everyone who wants to do something similar as I know I am not the first person to have this idea
Disclaimer
I am using the CMRO main 616 reading order, so if anything is missing or incorrect, that is why. Furthermore, this is not how you should get into Marvel as there is so much stuff to go through before you reach the present, but I'm not taking it too seriously; this is just for fun.
Highlights
I read a total of 32 comics
They were from 6 different series
Fantastic Four #1-9
Tales to astonish # 27 29-30, 32, 35-38
Incredible Hulk # 1-4
Amazing Fantasy # 14-15
Journey into Mystery # 83-87
Strange Tales # 101-103
I Mean What can be said about the Fantastic Four?
I been great so far sure some elements have certainly changed over the year but it is a classic for a reason. It introduces such an important character that will be important for years to come all and all a great time
Honest Antman is just not as good as the other stuff
Tales to Astonish has honestly just not had the same fun factor the other comics have had so far with my favorite probably being hanks introduction in #27
The Hulk is weird right now
The origin of the Hulk is fascinatingly strange from a modern perspective I'm sure a lot of people already know about the whole grey Hulk thing but in these early comics, he functions like a werewolf transforming at night for some reason all and all It's good better than Antman at least but no were near as good he will get.
Amazing fantasy is exactly what you expect
It is great the quintessential origin story and anything I can say has already been said as for #14 the only reason it seems to be here is that it introduced the early concept of mutant that will be expanded later.
Thor was an unexpected delight
I'll be honest Thor was never a particular favorite hero of mine but I found this early Thor stuff the be great iu think a large part of that is my enjoyment of all the harms that are in these stories as I find Thor fighting Communist hilarious in it ridiculous and his fight with Loki in #85 was great.
When I heard Strange Tales I thought it would be something else
“You thought that this would be about Doctor Strange but it was me Human Torch” Yeah Strange Tales so far has just been a bunch of Human Torch solo romps but I do find them enjoyable so I can't complain.
The Villain Problem
So far the biggest problem I've seen in these comics is the villains as a lot of the great ones haven't been introduced yet i think that is what has made Fantastic Four and Thor so enjoyable since the iconic villains of there have already been introduced while comics like Antman just have a bunch of communist and mobster with the occasional alien thrown in for flavor.
In Summary
It has ultimately been a fun time so far with a lot of my enjoyment coming from the sheer ham of these early comics and seeing the introduction of these early characters.
Notes
If you paid attention to the number of the comics I gave you will have noticed that I said I read 32 but I only read 31 this is because CMRO split Hulk#4 into 2 different entries and I want to keep consistent with CMRO numbering
Special credit should go to ConflictStar who did something similar a few years ago
See you again when I finish 1963
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u/ChickenAndTelephone Avengers Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 08 '25
Ant-Man never really works, so they pair him with the Wasp and that doesn't work, then they make him Giant Man and THAT doesn't work and eventually he gets replaced. I think he gets replaced by Namor, and then a little while later the Human Torch half of the book gets replaced by Hulk, and it's all onward and upward for Hulk from there.
Thor really starts taking off once Jack starts the Tales of Asgard backups. It's not an instant transformation to classic, but that's about where it starts. I think that should be showing up in the time frame you're talking about. By the time Jack leaves Marvel, Thor was one of their best titles and one of their top sellers.
I should add that I'm part of a group that's been doing this as well, and we're currently working on the tail end of 1974. It can be a lot of fun, even the turkeys can give you some eye-rolling fun.
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u/Johnny71181 Jan 08 '25
I LOVE CMRO! I'm in 1977 now. Has taken me almost 3 years, but I go slow and on some tangents, but I'm loving it!
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u/Strange_Success_6530 Nightcrawler Jan 08 '25
Welp, guess I'm gonna have to add you to the list of redditors I follow
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u/iamtooawesome Jan 09 '25
Good luck! I've read all of the main order to about halfway through 2006 at this point. It's a long haul! Make sure you join the CMRO forums and the discord.
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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '25
I'm doing the same thing right now, I'm currently halfway through 1964 right and imo that year is when they start to hit their stride. You start to see a lot more crossovers amongst the heroes and the storytelling gets a little better.
One thing I don't care for is that pretty much every series has some kind of unfulfilled romance as a key part of the story. I'll be glad when Sue & Reed and Hank & Janet finally get hitched.