tales to astonish – Coke ⊕ Comics

Tales to Astonish #88, Story B

The Boomerang and the Brute!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: November 3, 1966
Cover: February 1967
12 cents
Hulkamorous script by: Stan (The Man) Lee
Hulkitudinous art by: Gil (Sugar) Kane
Hulkifying lettering by: Sammy (Dozin’) Rosen
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #87, Story B	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #33
Tales to Astonish #88	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #89

The poor, lumbering brute! He was guilty only of being feared– and misunderstood!

Gil Kane is going to become a big name at Marvel. We’ve seen him once before on a Hulk story a dozen issues back under the alias of Scott Edward and we reviewed his career at the time.

It’s possible this is his first properly credited Marvel work.

He brings a distinctive style, a very different take on Hulk from that of John Buscema the past two issues.

It’s been 7 issues since Boomerang entered Hulk’s life. We finally see that saga reach a conclusion. It’s been a long road, and I summarize in painstaking detail that road below. These past 6 months have been the most interconnected the Marvel Universe has yet been. Perhaps fittingly we will soon see that the phrase “Marvel Universe” also debuted in that timespan.

At this point it seems like everybody knows Hulk’s secret identity. But the first person to learn it after Rick was the President of the United States, presumably President Johnson. And that is presumably President Johnson now interceding on Hulk’s behalf.

Unfortunately, Boomerang intervenes and drives Hulk to a rampage and another conflict with the military.

Tales to Astonish #87, Story B

The Humanoid and the Hero!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: October 11, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Story: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Art: Big John Buscema
Inks: Mighty Mickey D.
Lettering: Adorable Artie S.
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #87	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #88, Story B
Tales to Astonish #87	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #88

“Have you gone mad?”
“I hope so! It’s what I’m counting on!”

Every issue has a nickname for these creators. I claim the most enduring for Lee is Stan (The Man) Lee. Though I might guess that in our reading so far, Smilin’ Stan Lee is the most common nickname.

This is only John Buscema’s second month in his return to Marvel, and Stan has already found the nickname that will stick. Big John Buscema is the one I most associate with him.

Adorable Artie is also one of the more common ones. Stan loves his alliteration.

We left Hulk in Manhattan battling the Leader’s Hulk-Killer Humanoid. The Secret Empire is defeated. Boomerang is still up to stuff.

Tales to Astonish #87

Moment of Truth!

Featuring: Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner
Release: October 11, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Story: Stan (The Man) Lee
Illustration: Wild Bill Everett
Lettering: Adorable Artie Simek
12 pages

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Tales to Astonish #86, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #87, Story B
Tales to Astonish #86, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #87, Story B

Rise, my lady! Let your head be lifted– avert not your eyes! From this moment forth–by imperial decree– the Lady Dorma may never again kneel in the presence of her liege! She stall stand at my side–with all due honor– as one who shall someday be princess of the realm! –As one who is truly a peer! And, know you, my lady– whatever befalls– the gratitude– the trust– and the heart of your prince shall be yours– while Atlantis endures!

Big day for Bill Everett, creator of the Sub-Mariner. He had half-returned to his creation, supplying finishes to other artists’ pencils. But starting this issue, he becomes the regular artist on the character who in any world with sensible laws would have belonged to him all along.

We’ve been following not quite a story, but let’s call it a sequence of events that has propelled us from issue 77 to here. Across 11 issues, Namor has had a lot of misadventures unified by the scheming of Krang, and his kidnapping of Dorma, which Namor mistook for Dorma’s betrayal. It finally comes to and end, and we can put Namor’s arc down for a while.

Krang and Dorma have been captured by the military. Krang’s serum has worn off, revealing their blue skin, and leaving them unable to breathe on land. Namor comes to them, but the military has a trap for him. Because they blame Namor for Krang’s flooding of Manhattan.

Tales to Astonish #86, Story B

The Birth of… The Hulk-Killer!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: September 1, 1966
Cover: December 1966
12 cents
Superlative script: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Ameliorative art: Jovial John Buscema
Imaginative inks: Mirthful Mickey Demeo
Lucrative lettering: Adorable Artie Simek
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #86	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #87
Tales to Astonish #86	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #87

Though I’ve lived as the monstrous Hulk– I’ll die as Bruce Banner– I’ll die as– a man!

John Buscema still on art.

The Secret Empire stands defeated, but their agent Boomerang remains at large. The Orion Missile is heading for New York. Hulk leaped at the missile, and somehow this calmed him down. So now Bruce Banner is riding a missile.

The transformation here is really badly storyboarded; just Bruce one panel and Hulk the next. Stan compensates with narration to make up for the artistic failings. Come on, Big John!

Tales to Astonish #86

The Wrath of Warlord Krang!

Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner
Release: September 1, 1966
Cover: December 1966
12 cents
Story by Smilin’ Stan Lee
Pencilling by Merry Jerry Grandenetti
Inking by Wild Bill Everett
Lettering by Adorable Artie Simek
12 pages

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Tales to Astonish #85, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #86, Story B
Tales to Astonish #85, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #86, Story B

But, not even a prince of the blood can possess patience without limit!

Grandenetti is a new name to us, and really to me as well. This is one of very few Marvel works; we’ll see him again on Sgt. Fury in the near future. He got his start assisting and ghosting for Will Eisner on The Spirit and has been working comics at DC since the early 1950s, focused on war comics, and has lately started to do some side work for Warren, Charlton, Tower, and apparently Marvel at least once, sometimes ghosting for Joe Orlando. Here’s a sampling of his art.

Boy Meets Girl #2, Lev-Gleason, 1950
Western Comics #27, DC, 1951
All-American Men of War #127, DC, 1952
House of Mystery #8, DC 1952
The Brave and the Bold #1, DC, 1955
Strange Adventures #63, DC, 1955
Our Fighting Forces #62, DC, 1961
Our Army at War #115, DC, 1962

Tales to Astonish #85, Story B

The Missile and the Monster!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: August 2, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: John Tartaglione
Lettering: Ray Holloway
Hulk’s pants-pressing: Irving Forbush
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #85	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #86
Tales to Astonish #85	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #86

Banner! He’s a weakling! He’s helpless! The Hulk is strong– can do anything!

We reach the 600th story in our read-through of the Marvel Universe. It’s cool when that happens to be a significant story.

Which this, for the most part, isn’t.

But there is one very significant thing about it. And I’ll take that.

The fainting woman is my favorite character in the comic.

John Buscema is joining the Marvel artists with this issue. He’s also doing this month’s Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD story, which we’ll get to later.

Tales to Astonish #85

–And One Shall Die

Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner
Release: August 2, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Script written by: Stan Lee
Drawings pencilled by: Gene Colan
Inking rendered by: Bill Everett
Panels lettered by: Artie Simek
Confusion compounded by: Irving Forbush
12 pages

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Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #85, Story B
Tales to Astonish #84, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #85, Story B

“Who is it, Phil?”
“We’ll probably never know! From the looks of things, I’d say he was pretty much beyond recognition!”

Colan has been the regular penciller on Namor’s adventures of late. Bill Everett is the creator of Namor, and this is his second time working as Colan’s inker on the series.

Where were we? The head of the ruined Secret Empire had tricked an amnesiac Namor into being his pawn, until a blast from Krang’s ship sent Namor into the ocean, where he regained his memory. We pick up with Krang flying away, thinking he has killed Namor.

Dorma has been with Krang for a while now. Originally she had agreed to marry him in exchange for saving Namor’s life. Namor doesn’t know this and is mad at Dorma for betraying him. Krang keeps trying to kill Namor anyway, and Dorma keeps staying with him, so it’s all a bit confusing.

Also confusing that Number One blames Hulk for the destruction of the Secret Empire, when the Hulk had nothing to do with it. It was a combination of internal strife and infiltration by Gabe Jones of SHIELD that took them down.

Tales to Astonish #84, Story B

Rampage in the City!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: June 30, 1966
Cover: October 1966
10 pages
Script… Stan (The Man) Lee
Art… Almost the whole blamed bullpen
Lettering… Artie (Smarty) Simek
Therapy… Honest Irving Forbush
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #84	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #85
Tales to Astonish #84	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #85

Can a green-skinned introvert, with anti-social tendencies, find happiness and fulfillment in a modern materialistic society?

I leave it to your eagle eyes to determine who drew what in this issue. Some artwork may or may not be due to Bill Everett, Jerry Grandenetti, Gene Colan, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, John Tartaglione, Mike Esposito, Sol Brodsky, or others.

Can a green-skinned introvert, with anti-social tendencies, find happiness and fulfillment in a modern materialistic society?

We’d seen a similar question posed at the beginning of Hulk’s current series in issue 60.

Can a man with green skin and a petulant personality find true happiness in today’s status-seeking society?

In this issue’s Namor story, we learned Hulk was in the city. And this story is conveniently titled “Rampage in the City”.

Hulk thinks saving Betty from Boomerang means people won’t hate him anymore. Good luck with that.

Hulk used to be an Avenger, so he goes to New York to ask them to help him find Betty.

Tales to Astonish #84

Like a Beast at Bay!

Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner
Release: June 30, 1966
Cover: October 1966
12 cents
Fabulous script: Stan Lee
Fascinating art: Gene Colan
Fantastic inks: Dick Ayers
Free-hand lettering: Sam Rosen
Fancy haberdashery: Irving Forbush
12 pages

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Tales of Suspense #84, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #84, Story B
Tales to Astonish #83, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #84, Story B

You are too conspicuous, walking around the city in that manner! Find the nearest clothing store…

In Avengers #17, the Avengers search for the Hulk, and end up vaguely near him, but not meeting him. But it’s sort of a crossover. Not really, but sort of.

In this issue, Namor is searching for Hulk, because he’s been brainwashed by Number One of the former Secret Empire, who wants revenge on Hulk for destroying the Secret Empire. Even though Hulk has never met the Secret Empire and had nothing whatsoever to do with their demise.

I would suggest the writer of the Namor stories hasn’t been reading the Hulk stories, but both series are allegedly written by Stan Lee.

Tales to Astonish #83, Story B

Less than Monster, More than Man!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: June 2, 1966
Cover: September 1966
12 cents
Script: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Layouts: Jolly Jack Kirby
Art: Wild Bill Everett
Lettering: Whammy Sammy Rosen
Applause: Honest Irving Forbush
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #83	Reading order	Strange Tales #147
Tales to Astonish #83	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #84

If the man I love really is behind that grotesque face… does this mean I’ve lost him… forever?

“Less than Monster, More than Man!” A good title. Very Hulk.

These interactions between Betty and the Hulk give very significant insights into his character and their relationship.