“Oog Lives Again!” originally appeared in Marvel’s Tales of Suspense #27 (March 1962). It was written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber and drawn by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish and Journey Into Mystery early on became the monster comics, with a new gigantic creature with names like Gor-Kill, Droom, Rommbu, Goom, Kraa and Klaag on the cover of each issue. The most famous one of these monsters was Groot, who transitioned into The Guardians of the Galaxy.
Oog is one of this legion of towering fiends, but a little different too, as you will see. For one thing, the story of Oog is a strange Northern, a tale of the Arctic and outer space.
An atomic submarine breaks the Arctic ice to deposit a team of explorers who will challenge the largely unknown land. The men walk on the glacier, happy to be the first humans ever to visit it. (I suspect a few Inuit fellows are saying, “Bitch, please!”)
The men find a giant figure frozen in the glacier. Someone has conveniently left his name carved in the ice: Oog. The scientists are excited because it is the first frozen ancient figure ever discovered. (Frozen mammoth date back to 1901 and the Beresovca River in Siberia. Plenty of comics used this idea before Stan and Larry.)
The sub is recalled and Oog is taken from the ice. Back in the city, the old janitor of the lab foolishly turns up the heat. Oog is thawed and lives again!
The creature speaks in diction almost Shakespearean (though I imagine it delivered with William Shatner-level gravitas): “Lo, after countless centuries of slumber, I am again awake!” He smashes through the lab wall, frightening people. The cops call in the military.
This is the usual scenario of these creature comics. The battle between soldiers and monster is the whole point…usually. Oog uses his amazing eyes to hypnotize the soldiers. When the aircraft show up, Oog tells everyone his story. He is an alien who crash-landed in the Arctic. He wrote his name in the ice with his psychic abilities.
Some of the people in the street talk with Oog, worried that his race will enslave the Earth. Oog says there is nothing he wants on the planet and that it shouldn’t be conquered but quarantined. Human fear is a greater threat than alien invasion. Oog calls for retrieval with his psychic powers and leaves. The only thing worse than Oog’s conquest is his contempt.
Stan and Larry have turned a familiar comic scenario (how many had they written over the years?) on its head. There is a little of Harry Bates’ “Farewell to the Master” (Astounding Science-Fiction, October 1940) (filmed as The Day The Earth Stood Still in 1951). It is almost like E. T. Meets The Thing. That is the other obvious inspiration: The Thing From Another World (1951) based on John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” (Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1938). Oog is no intergalactic carrot though, more like a Bigfoot philosopher.
Eventually Tales of Suspense would become the home of Iron Man and Captain America, proto-Avengers. Tales to Astonish would do the same for Ant-Man, The Hulk and Namor the Submariner, proto-Defenders. Journey Into Mystery became the book of the Mighty Thor. Marvel, DC and other comic companies had a weird relationship between horror comics and superheroes, switching whenever popular tastes changed. This is how Groot, one of the many giant monosyllabic beasties found his way into a super-hero team. Oog has yet to resurface…
I recall that most of these monsters with portentous names were simply threats to be eliminated by human cleverness… Sic termites on the tree-monster, use sonic vibrations to shatter the crystal-monster etc. Too bad they couldn’t port Adam Strange over, cuz he had lots of experience and nothing to do between the times he had to catch the beam to Rann.