Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #117
Published February 1964
Frequency monthly
Cover Price 0.12 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee
Notes Distributed to newstands in November 1963. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website.

Cover Details - "The Return of the Eel!"

Characters Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; Eel [Leopold Stryke]
Genre superhero
Pencils Jack Kirby; Steve Ditko [Eel figure]
Inks George Roussos; Steve Ditko [Eel Figure]
Colors Stan Goldberg ?
Notes Ditko credits supplied by Nick Caputo (26 July 2005).
Reprinted in Essential Dr. Strange (Marvel, 2001 series) #1 (December 2001) [black & white]; in Essential Human Torch (Marvel, 2003 series) #1 (2003) [black & white]; in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

14 page The Human Torch story "The Return of the Eel!"

Characters Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; Eel [Leopold Stryke]; Invisible Girl [Sue Storm]; Mr. Fantastic [Reed Richards]; Thing [Ben Grimm] (cameo)
Synopsis Having served his time, The Eel is released from jail, but Johnny's suspicious because he left prison wearing his Eel costume. Taking a security guard job at an aquarium, The Eel begins pulling crimes, but eventually, Johnny tracks him down and defeats him again.
Genre superhero
Script Stan Lee (co-plot, script); Dick Ayers (co-plot, un-credited)
Pencils Dick Ayers
Inks Dick Ayers
Letters Artie Simek
Notes Second appearance of The Eel; previous appearance in issue #112 (September 1963); Eel has a 2-panel cameo in Fantastic Four Annual (Marvel, 1963 series) #3 (1965), then returns in X-Men (Marvel, 1963 series) #22 (July 1966). Story not reprinted in Marvel Tales run. Colors credit for Stan Goldberg removed due to lack of attribution.
Reprinted in Essential Human Torch (Marvel, 2003 series) #1 (2003) [black & white]; in Marvel Masterworks: The Human Torch (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006); in Fantastici Quattro, I (Editoriale Corno, 1971 series) #17 (November 16, 1971) [as "Il ritorno dell'Anguilla", Italian translation]

2 page text story "From Outer Space"

Characters Jonathan Ditmar
Synopsis When hostile aliens come to Earth of the future they are persuaded not to enslave humanity because of Earth's music.
Genre science fiction
Letters typeset
Notes Text story with illustration.
Reprinted from Mystery Tales (Marvel, 1952 series) #26 (February 1955)

1 page promo (ad from the publisher) "Another Marvel Masterpiece"

Notes Advertises X-Men (Marvel, 1963 series) #3 (January 1964). Printed between the pages of the Human Torch story.

8 page Doctor Strange story "The Many Traps of Baron Mordo!"

Characters Doctor Strange [Stephen Strange]; Baron Mordo [Karl Amadeus Mordo]; Ancient One [Yao]
Synopsis Mordo places a spell over Strange's house that causes it to vanish to another dimension. Strange manages to track Mordo down using his ethereal form, but it becomes trapped in Mordo's lair. Mordo goes to see The Ancient One, claiming he's changed his way, just so he can attack him unawares. But Strange had found a way to escape by going straight thru the center of the Earth itself, and warned his mentor in advance. Though defeated, both Strange and The Ancient One know Mordo is becoming more powerful all the time.
Genre superhero
Script Steve Ditko (plot, un-credited); Stan Lee (script)
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Letters Sam Rosen
Notes This is the fourt appearance of Baron Mordo; his last chronological appearance is in issue #114 (November 1963); he next appears in issue #121 (June 1964). Colors credit for Stan Goldberg removed due to lack of attribution.
Reprinted in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #7 (February 1967); in Marvel Premiere (Marvel, 1972 series) #11 (October 1973); in Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts (Pocket Books, 1978 series) #nn [1]; in Marvel Masterworks (Marvel, 1987 series) #23 (1992); in Essential Dr. Strange (Marvel, 2001 series) #1 (2001) [black & white]; in Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange (Marvel, 2003 series) #1 (2003)