Tales of Suspense #76

Here Lies Hidden… The Unspeakable Ultimo!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: January 1, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Tenderly written by: Stan Lee
Lovingly pencilled by: Adam Austin
Gently delineated by: Gary Michaels
Finally lettered by: Sam Rosen
12 pages

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Look at you! Bedraggled and red-eyed! Too much celebrating last night, eh? I always said you were nothing but a playboy!

Marvel has given up on the idea of clean story breaks, which makes reading tricky when I’d like to put the stories together. This is part 3 of the Happy-as-The-Freak arc, but also part 1 of the Ultimo arc. Essentially they seem to want to end every issue on a cliffhanger, so they begin the next story now. I can’t just keep reading Iron Man. We already are getting ahead of the Captain America stories he shares the title with, because I need to align those with the SHIELD arc. And there’s a whole Marvel Universe to check in with. Which means I need to either break last issue with the Freak saga unresolved, or break after this issue with the Ultimo saga unresolved. The Freak saga resolves in about 2 pages, but the Ultimo saga really only takes up the last 2 pages. The ongoing Senator Byrd subplot dominates the middle bit. I don’t know. We’re reading this now, then we’ll take a break. And see what happens with Ultimo at a later date.

Where were we. The experimental treatment on Happy turned him into a Freak. Iron Man had a thing that might save Happy, at risk to himself.

Well, it worked.

This was all a fallout from the Titanium Man battle. That’s when Happy was injured saving Iron Man, and revealed he knew (or suspected) Tony’s secret. This is their first chance to talk since then.

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Tales of Suspense #75

The Fury of… The Freak!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: December 9, 1965
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Titanically written by: Stan Lee
Tremendously drawn by: Adam Austin
Tumultuously inked by: Gary Michaels
Timorously lettered by: Sam Rosen
12 pages

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Tales of Suspense #74, Story BReading orderTales of Suspense #76
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He’s got to learn that Iron Man cannot work only for him, when the entire nation might benefit by his powers!

Happy Hogan has been turned into a Freak. A depowered Iron Man is in pursuit.

The Freak takes an interest in Pepper.

Senator Byrd has been a thorn in Iron Man’s side. Not a villain, but a nuisance. Does he have a point though? Should the powers of Iron Man benefit the entire nation, and not be controlled by a single corporation?

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Tales of Suspense #74

If This Guilt Be Mine–!

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: November 11, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Story: As only the fabulous Stan Lee can tell it!
Art: As only the fantastic Adam Austin can draw it!
Inking: As only the flamboyant Gary Michaels can delineate it!
Lettering: As only the frantic Artie Simek can scribble it!
12 pages

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Tales of Suspense #73, Story BReading orderTales of Suspense #74, Story B
Tales of Suspense #73, Story BTales of SuspenseTales of Suspense #74, Story B

Somehow– I feel as though my whole world is crashing down around me–!

Jack Abel returns under the Gary Michaels pseudonym. He’ll be the regular inker for a period of time.

Recall Happy had been badly injured during the battle with Titanium Man in issue 71, and last issue he was kidnapped from his hospital by the Black Knight. Iron Man rescued Happy and the Black Knight fell to his death, but now Iron Man is out of power.

To add a bizarre but strangely common wrinkle to the relationships, Pepper now decides she loves Iron Man and hates Tony. It used to be the other way around. Tony loves Pepper but can’t be with her because he has a bad heart, so he’s been intentionally cruel. Happy loves Pepper, but Pepper couldn’t love him back because of Tony, but now she’s over Tony and in love with Iron Man.

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