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The Return of the Martian (Monsterbus p.224)

This is another interesting case for the Marvel Method. I think we can clearly separate Kirby's original from the edits, and it shows some hints of the more famous Marvel comics to come (serials, partly re-written by Lee)

Caveat: this is purely based on my reading of the reprints. I haven't seen the original pencils, so I could be proven wrong. But here is my evidence.

Wanting continuous stories:

First, this is one of two stories in the same month that attempt to bring back a previous monster. This is the first time I've seen it in the Monsterbus, and it will happen again (most notably with Ant Man in 1962). Most monsters are not suited to returning because they either die or are very specific, so I wonder if this is a sign that Kirby was looking for a continuous hit. It wasn't Lee's idea, as he ruined it (see below). Kirby was trying to create a continuous monster comic, which is how the Fantastic Four started out.

A few added Stan Lee captions

Second, this starts with a line of classic Stan Lee hyperbole. It then has what became his trademark commentary "what will happen next? Let us see!" etc. But those comments are far lighter in style than the rest of the story, and are completely superfluous. So I think this is another example of Kirby delivering a finished story, and Lee deciding to add a couple of captions. By FF 1 Lee is rewriting all dialog and adding captions all over, but at this stage (for monster comics at least) such adding is still rare.

Changed ending

Third, and this is why I chose this example, the ending looks changed. It's not as obvious as usual: often the ending is not just awkward, but visually crams in far too much text. The pictures were obviously not designed with that in mind and the result looks ugly. A good example is the previous story in the Monsterbus, the Return of the Genie: the final text contradicts the established characterisation (which was built up over two issues) and contradicts the flow of the story. Remove the text and the pictures tell a roughly similar but far more layered story: leaving us with something to think about rather than a neat one dimensional cliche. The Return of the Martian is the same: remove the final dialog and the ending is different. But in this case the dialog is not ridiculously verbose: so it is possible that maybe Kirby did intend this, but I don't think so, judging by the rest of the story and by the art.


1. It has no connection with the rest of the story: a classic deus ex machina. The Martian wins, then suddenly collapses for a reason not hinted at before.,

2. The ending is a cliche - it's the ending from The War of the Worlds, except it's rushed. Given that it references a classic, and that the text doesn't look squashed, I suppose it could still be Kirby, but see the next points.

3. The "talking planet" image seems to interrupt a Kirby triptych. Superficially it's the one time when a talking planet is appropriate (an alien is calling another planet) but as usual it's not a great picture, not like Kirby's normal cosmic pictures, and more importantly the pictures either side look closely related. If this is indeed a triptych then it suggests (and the pacing of the story supports it) that the timing of what happens is crucial to the plot: the Martian is healthy, then phones home, and immediately dies.

4. The final picture is odd. If the ending was about germs, why do we never see any germs? And why show space, when we just saw it in the talking planet? Without the text, the flow of the art suggests not "germs keep us safe" but the opposite message, "we are very small, and something out there could kill us at any time". Looking out to dangers in space, during the space race, would naturally suggest another chapter to the story. By the way, vastness and danger seem to be Kirby motifs. In Lee stories the easily traversable and humans always win. In Kirby stories the universe is far bigger and more dangerous than we can even imagine. BTW, the awesome scale of the universe, and our helplessness before it, was also the theme and conclusion of Fantastic Four issue 7. And arguably of 1,2,6 and 8 as well.

5. The key I think is the rest of the story and previous Martian story. In both stories, the Martian was motivated by a fear that if Mars finds him he will be be punished. In the previous story he tries to hide. In this story he becomes confident and thinks they might spare him if he brings them planet Earth as tribute. So he contacts them, and he immediately dies. This only makes sense to me if the message of the story is is "the Martians don't mess around! You don't mess with the Martians!" Lee would have felt this is too close to "the bad guys win" for the Comics Code so changed it.

Lee killed the serials at birth

Note that both the Genie and Martian stories could have become continuing series if Kirby's ending had been retained. If I am right then the Genie originally ended with him planning and thinking, leaving it open to another story next time, and the Martian story originally ended by shifting attention to the other Martians. But in both cases Lee's changed dialog killed the franchise.

Summary

In summary, I think this story shows Lee changing a little more than he normally did in monster stories to this point, though not as much as he would with FF 1. It also shows Kirby's attempt to create an ongoing character. And as usual Kirby's original story was more adult, more powerful, more thought provoking.

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