As a small boy, I was fascinated by weird and immensely powerful beings. Mesmerized, really.
Superheroes were my primary interest, but monsters are of course just on the other side of that coin, so I loved them as well.
And in July 1962, a discerning child could find no better monster value for his weekly allowance of a quarter than the first Strange Tales Annual. In the company that would soon be called Marvel Comics, Stan Lee had plenty of stories to choose from, having already published a good five years’ worth of giant monster material in various titles.
Smoke monsters, shadow monsters, stone monsters, lizard monsters, insect monsters, supernatural monsters, alien monsters — the annual had them all in tales to astonish by Lee, Kirby, Ditko, Everett and Heck.
So, just as the sexual revolution was unleashing shagging upon the world, we kids had I Unleashed SHAGG Upon the World! (reprinted from Journey Into Mystery 59).
The annual would be something of a brass band send-off for Marvel’s giant monsters, who were being evicted from their homes by the new superheroes.
Also on the newsstands that month were Tales to Astonish 36, featuring the second adventure of Ant-Man in costume, and Journey Into Mystery 84, spotlighting the second adventure of the Mighty Thor. And in the 101st issue of the Strange Tales title itself, the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch had just taken over as cover feature.
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