This Week in Marvel History: July 26-August 1

With Marvel celebrating its 80th anniversary this year – and to scratch my own history and research itches – every week I’m digging through a whole host of important dates and details for a special segment of This Week in Marvel called… (wait for it) … This Week in Marvel History! Important comics, storylines, character appearances and moments, real world releases and special Marvel milestones—it’s all part of TWIMH! Here are just a few Marvel History notes for the week of July 26-August 1!

July 26

1950: ADVENTURES INTO TERROR #43 was released. It was the first issue of the series and would go on to restart numbering in two issues at issue #3. The first 42 issues of the series were called Joker Comics, which was mostly a place for humor/romance books starring Millie the Model and Hedy of Hollywood and Tessie the Typist. And then BAM -- HORROR! I love comics.

2013: The Wolverine film hit theaters. I was fortunate enough to visit the set of the movie twice while it was filming in Australia. Director James Mangold and star Hugh Jackman were incredibly accommodating and wonderful to chat and hang out with. They let me pop the claws—aka wear the prop Wolvie claws!

July 27

1953: BLACK RIDER #19 was released, the first issue of the series since September 1951. The series began as ALL WINNERS in 1948, then ALL WESTERN WINNERS, then WESTERN WINNERS, then BLACK RIDER. In 1955 it would change to WESTERN TALES OF BLACK RIDER and then in the same year to GUNSMOKE WESTERN. Got all that?

2011: Broo, the young member of the alien Brood race who knows compassion and love, debuted in ASTONISHING X-MEN #40. He went on to study with mutants at the Jean Grey School and was most recently seen assisting Black Panther in Avengers Mountain as one of T’Challa’s Agents of Wakanda.

July 28

1960: The Hulk debuted in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #62! No, not THE Hulk AKA Bruce Banner, but the classic Jack Kirby monster character who would later be known as Xemnu the Titan!

1981: Stick, blind master and teacher to both Daredevil and Elektra, first appeared in DAREDEVIL #176 by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson.

July 29

1955: Marvel’s first (I believe) attempt at a Mad Magazine-style series kicked off with SNAFU #1, which gave us the first appearance/mention of Irving Forbush. The series only lasted three issues, even with the talents of Stan Lee, John Severin, Bill Everett, and more on board.

1986: CAPTAIN AMERICA #323 by Mark Guenwald and Paul Neary introduced Super-Patriot AKA John Walker. Walker would go on to take the mantle of Captain America and later the identity he’s most known as: U.S.Agent. He’s a bit of a scary, hardline version of Cap. This issue also introduced the character who’d go on to become Battlestar, one of Cap’s fighting partners.

1998: Triathalon and Silverclaw debuted in AVENGERS #8 by Kurt Busiek and George Perez.

July 30

1974: Wolverine made his full debut in the pages of INCREDIBLE HULK #181 (after a tiny, last-page cameo in issue #180) by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe. “And now…the Wolverine!” Look at them cute li’l whiskers on his original mask! 

1985: Mojo debuted in LONGSHOT #3 by Ann Nocenti, Arthur Adams, and Whilce Portacio. I LOVE MOJO SO MUCH. He’s a weird, scary, messed-up tyrant leader of the Mojoverse—a place where entertainment is power and Mojo is the most powerful, ruling over the spineless ones, his species. There have been some incredible Mojo stories over the years. I highly suggest you read NEW MUTANTS ANNUAL #2, UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #10, and EXCALIBUR: MOJO MAYHEM to start.

July 31

1959: Steve Ditko inks Jack Kirby’s pencils in the main story of STRANGE TALES #72, “I fought the Colossus.” I mean, how cool is that?!

2013: Kamala Khan has an unnamed, tiny cameo debut in CAPTAIN MARVEL #14 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Scott Hepburn. I asked Kamala co-creator Sana Amanat if this was really a Kamala cameo and she confirmed it! 

August 1

1963: So many big bois debuted in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #97: Surtur, Ymir, Bor and the Frost Giants, as well as Yggdrasil the World Tree and the realms of Jotunheim and Muspelheim! All this is in the “Tales of Asgard” back-up story by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the first of many, which starts in this issue.

And in TALES TO ASTONISH #49, Hank Pym became Giant Man, and the Living Eraser made his first appearance.

1967: Psycho-Man debuted in FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #5 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He’s a jerk from the Microverse (called Sub-Atomica here), and actually a tiny li’l guy piloting a robot body who skedaddles after the Fantastic Four, Inhumans, and Black Panther team up to take him down. This annual also features the announcement that Sue and Reed are going to have a baby, has a ton of gorgeous Kirby pin-ups, a Silver Surfer back-up story, and an incredibly goofy story written and drawn by Jack Kirby about how comics are made. 

1968: CAPTAIN AMERICA #107 featured not only one of my favorite Kirby covers, but also introduced the nefarious, mind-meddling villain Doctor Faustus in a story by Stan and Jack.

And DOCTOR STRANGE #174 gave us our first few glimpses at the demon Satannish. He’s a hell-lord, a monstrously powerful evil creature created by Dormammu. And he has a cool face in his stomach regions. 

1986: The Howard the Duck film opened in theaters.

2014: Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy opened in theaters.   

For more about these events and more Marvel news and history, tune in to This Week in Marvel every Friday wherever you get podcasts!

For more about Marvel’s 80th Anniversary, visit marvel.com/marvel80!