tales of suspense – Page 8

Tales of Suspense #39, Story C

Gundar!
Featuring: Odin
Release: December 10, 1963
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
5 pages

A short story we’ll cover for a couple reasons. One is that it’s the other new comic story in the issue that introduces Iron Man. So noteworthy in and of itself. Another is that it includes Odin. And this is after Odin has become a regular in the Thor stories. That doesn’t mean Stan sees any particular connection between this Odin and the one in the Thor stories. But Odin is here.

A shipwrecked man finds immortal vikings trapped there by a curse. Their captain Gundar had been evil, and they once questioned his orders, so he attacked and ultimately cursed them. Odin apparently took Gundar’s side in the conflict; so he’s not entirely benevolent here. Or perhaps he’s just literal-minded about the laws– the crew had taken up arms against their captain; that he attacked them may be immaterial to the laws Odin enforces.

Tales of Suspense #39

Iron Man is Born!
Featuring: Iron Man
Release: December 10, 1962
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

I read this story in Invincible Iron Man Omnibus vol. 1.

Don Heck is the artist on this issue, but the cover is by Jack Kirby. The cover was drawn first, and Jack Kirby is thus responsible for designing this version of the Iron Man armor. Heck claims credit for the look of Anthony Stark and generally the interiors. I’ve read conflicting reports on how much input Kirby had to the interior art and storytelling.

Recall that Kirby had been drawing every ongoing Marvel superhero series prior to this month. One week earlier, Don Heck took over as artist on the Ant-Man feature, and now Heck will also be the artist on the Iron Man stories. And a new Marvel superhero title premieres this same day which will be drawn by Steve Ditko, so the load is getting shared now.

That’s right! It’s Iron Man! The character nobody had heard of in 2007 who was everybody’s favorite superhero by 2009.

As we discussed, December 10, 1962 is a day with four big milestones in Marvel superhero history. This is the second.

Milestone #1 of December 10, 1962:
Fantastic Four meet the Hulk!
Milestone #2:
Iron Man

Anthony Stark is a rich, handsome, glamorous playboy, a bachelor and socialite. Also a brilliant scientist helping out the US military. He’s invented a tiny transistor that increases the force of any device, which he’s helping the military deploy in South Vietnam.

As I understand the problem in Vietnam, it will take more than a tiny transistor to solve…

Wong-Chu is described as a “Red Guerilla” conquering villages is South Vietnam. I assume the implication is he is with the Việt Cộng, but that is not explicit.

The depictions of Asian people remain awful, with Wong-Chu as racist a caricature as General Fang.

Tales of Suspense #27, Story D

His name was… Merlin!
Featuring: Merlin
Release: December 12, 1961
Cover: March 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
5 pages

This is a late entry. But now that Merlin’s been mentioned as the ancient enemy of Tyrannus, I realize he did have a single earlier appearance in the Marvel Age. Again, these famous mythological figures were common fodder for Marvel’s old weird tales. There’s not necessarily a connection between these isolated stories and the characters who appear in the Marvel superhero stories. But it’s not clear there isn’t. And in hindsight, I wish we had covered this way back in the beginning. It came out the same day as Fantastic Four #3.

This was a pretty standard fantasy tale in one of these anthologies. We’ve seen the exact summary before: a dishonorable man gets what’s coming to him through a mystical twist when he picks the wrong victim to mess with. We’ve seen this in an Odin story and a Medusa story.

Yes, I’m sure your name was the problem…

PRELUDE: Tales of Suspense #10

I Brought the Mighty Cyclops Back to Life!
Featuring: Cyclops
Release: February 29, 1960
Cover: July 1960
10 cents
Credits: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
7 pages

Online sources suggest the writing is by Lee or Lieber or both. Fair guesses. Kirby’s and Ayers’ signatures appear.

This is our first look at the Tales of Suspense series, a fantasy anthology just like Journey Into Mystery or Strange Tales or Tales to Astonish… We’ll be getting to know Tales of Suspense shortly when it too starts spotlighting a superheroic character. But for now, let’s flash back to the year before the debut of Fantastic Four to a story featuring the Cyclops of legend.