A classic! I love it! I don't have time to expound on eveything that's good here, so will just choose one element before discussing technical matters.
Usually in a story where a hero keeps a secret it's contrived, merely to extend the story artificially. Usually in such stories the problem could be solved by the hero just telling people what he was doing, But this one actually makes sense: the Russians had to pretend they were not doing nuclear tests, but the hero could not admit he knew that they were. This makes sense. It is a classic Kirby touch: historically accurate and intellectually both stimulating and satisfying.
I could write a long essay comparing the Challengers, Monstro and the FF, but fortunately for longsuffering readers I can't spare the time. So here's the short version.
The opening lines in both stories are almost identical (see attached scan). Lee's style of commentary is the same as well: he merely comments on what is already obvious from the art, holding the reader's hand and reading it along with him: saying in effect "but what is happening now?" and "aha, this is not what we expected!" etc. The tone is very familiar. There is also some clumsy pasting of changed art: the speaking planet scene toward the end is surely not by Kirby. As with the diamonds in FF 1, the planet drawing is just too bad, and cannot be blamed on bad inking of Kirby's original pencils.
But apart from the planet, Lee's fingerprints are only on the first two pages. Like a toddler he seems to lose interest half way through and wander away. By the end this is a sophisticated plot: I assume Lee could not think how to simplify it (did he even understand it?) so left it alone.
And I think Lee only changed the description boxes, not the spoken dialog. The writing in the boxes is awkward, overblown and repetitious (and largely redundant), whereas the spoken dialog is smoother and more efficient.
One year later, in FF 1, Lee lost all his inhibitions. He heavily edited (I think vandalised) throughout the book, and as a result decided he was effectively a co-creator, so put his name alongside Kirby's.
One year after that, in FF 9 (early issues were bimonthly, remember) the title had become a clear success. So Lee decided to take ownership of it. In a breathtaking Trump-like lack of awareness (or dishonest calculation, take your pick) Lee decided that his changes were the secret to the title's success. So his rewriting of dialog on top of (what he saw as) his hireling's uninspired story meant his words, the words of Stan Lee, were the magic dust and therefore he should be called the writer.
1960: he tried sexing them up a bit.
1961 he was all over them, so he added his name as co-creator.
1962: he decided his "improvements" made him the writer.
Usually in a story where a hero keeps a secret it's contrived, merely to extend the story artificially. Usually in such stories the problem could be solved by the hero just telling people what he was doing, But this one actually makes sense: the Russians had to pretend they were not doing nuclear tests, but the hero could not admit he knew that they were. This makes sense. It is a classic Kirby touch: historically accurate and intellectually both stimulating and satisfying.
The missing link with Fantastic Four 1
Monstro (Tale of Suspense 8, March 1960) seems to me to be the missing link between the Challengers and Fantastic Four. I think it shows an important step in Lee forcing himself onto Kirby's work.I could write a long essay comparing the Challengers, Monstro and the FF, but fortunately for longsuffering readers I can't spare the time. So here's the short version.
Monstro and the Challengers:
Monstro is basically a Challengers story, bringing back the Kraken from Showcase 12. It features Ace (the blonde one) and Prof Haley (the ocean expert), but Haley now acts like Ace and looks like Reed Richards. The government phones them with a new death-cheating case. Reed/Prof jets off in a plane, and solves it without the use of powers.Monstro and the FF
Monstro is a mix of the two different monsters called Giganto in FF 1 and FF 5. Both are regular creatures (a mole thing and a deep sea creature) blown up to vast size after nuclear tests in the region. It is just as Kirby later recalled, his interest in "what's out there" was becoming specifically an interest in radiation. But most interesting for the Marvel Method is Lee's editing.The opening lines in both stories are almost identical (see attached scan). Lee's style of commentary is the same as well: he merely comments on what is already obvious from the art, holding the reader's hand and reading it along with him: saying in effect "but what is happening now?" and "aha, this is not what we expected!" etc. The tone is very familiar. There is also some clumsy pasting of changed art: the speaking planet scene toward the end is surely not by Kirby. As with the diamonds in FF 1, the planet drawing is just too bad, and cannot be blamed on bad inking of Kirby's original pencils.
Half way to FF 1
Until this point in the Monsterbus we seem to be getting Kirby's sober style. Or at least if anybody else is writing or editing the dialog they seem professional about it. But this is the first time I've seen the classic Lee "eight year old kid" style: where he over-exaggerates, merely states what you can already see, and comments along with you, indicating that he does not know what comes next any more than the reader does. We also get some ugly cutting and pasting (the talking planet).But apart from the planet, Lee's fingerprints are only on the first two pages. Like a toddler he seems to lose interest half way through and wander away. By the end this is a sophisticated plot: I assume Lee could not think how to simplify it (did he even understand it?) so left it alone.
And I think Lee only changed the description boxes, not the spoken dialog. The writing in the boxes is awkward, overblown and repetitious (and largely redundant), whereas the spoken dialog is smoother and more efficient.
One year later, in FF 1, Lee lost all his inhibitions. He heavily edited (I think vandalised) throughout the book, and as a result decided he was effectively a co-creator, so put his name alongside Kirby's.
One year after that, in FF 9 (early issues were bimonthly, remember) the title had become a clear success. So Lee decided to take ownership of it. In a breathtaking Trump-like lack of awareness (or dishonest calculation, take your pick) Lee decided that his changes were the secret to the title's success. So his rewriting of dialog on top of (what he saw as) his hireling's uninspired story meant his words, the words of Stan Lee, were the magic dust and therefore he should be called the writer.
Summary
1959: Lee did minimal editing on the monster stories.1960: he tried sexing them up a bit.
1961 he was all over them, so he added his name as co-creator.
1962: he decided his "improvements" made him the writer.
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