Issue | #53 |
Published | May 1964 |
Frequency | monthly |
Cover Price | 0.12 USD |
Pages | 36 |
Editing | Stan Lee |
Notes | Distributed to newstands in February 1964. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website. |
Characters | Iron Man [Tony Stark]; Black Widow [Natasha Romanoff] |
Genre | superhero |
Pencils | Jack Kirby |
Inks | Sol Brodsky |
Letters | Artie Simek |
Notes | Inks credit from Nick Caputo via the GCD Error List (30 August 2006); the original indexer credited George Roussos. Letters credit from George Olshevsky's Marvel Comics Index. |
Reprinted | in Essential Iron Man (Marvel, 2000 series) #1 (2000) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man (Marvel, 2003 series) #2 (2004); in Iron Man Omnibus (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 (2008) |
Characters | Iron Man [Tony Stark]; Black Widow [Natasha Romanoff]; Pepper Potts; Happy Hogan; Crimson Dynamo [Boris Turgenov] (flashback); Soviet Premier Nikita Khruscchev (cameo); Igor; Stansky |
Synopsis | To redeem herself in the eyes of the communist leader, Black Widow steals the new anti-grav ray device developped by Tony Stark and attacks Fort Knox. Iron Man destroys the ray device, but the Black Widow escapes. |
Genre | superhero |
Script | Stan Lee (plot); Don Rico [as N. Korok] (script) |
Pencils | Don Heck |
Inks | Don Heck |
Letters | Sam Rosen |
Notes | Black Widow next appears in issue #57 (September 1964). |
Reprinted | in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #13 (February 1968); in Essential Iron Man (Marvel, 2000 series) #1 (2000) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man (Marvel, 2003 series) #2 (2004); in Iron Man Omnibus (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 (2008) |
Characters | Howard; Uncle Bart |
Synopsis | A TV studio page and aspiring magician gets a lucky break when he meets a real sorcerer time traveling from the past. |
Genre | occult |
Letters | typeset |
Notes | Text story with illustration. Continues from last issue. |
Reprinted | from Uncanny Tales (Marvel, 1952 series) #34 (August 1955) [page 2] |
Characters | Lokar |
Synopsis | A superstitious warlord thinks a flare of light is a good omen for an invasion, but when it is discovered to be a meteor his entire world must evacuate in order to survive. |
Genre | science fiction |
Script | Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script) |
Pencils | Larry Lieber |
Inks | George Roussos [as George Bell] |
Letters | Sam Rosen |
Pencils | Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four cover); Steve Ditko (Amazing Spider-Man cover) |
Inks | George Roussos (Fantastic Four cover); Steve Ditko (Amazing Spider-Man cover) |
Notes | Advertises Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel, 1963 series) #12 (May 1964) and Fantastic Four (Marvel, 1961 series) #26 (May 1964) |
Characters | Watcher [Uatu] (origin); Ikor; Emnu |
Synopsis | The Watcher comes from a super-advanced race that decides to share its technology with others. When their first attempt ends in tragedy they vow never to interfere with the affairs of less advanced species. |
Genre | science fiction |
Script | Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script) |
Pencils | Larry Lieber |
Inks | Paul Reinman |
Letters | Artie Simek |
Notes | From here on, the Tales of the Watcher stories in Tales of Suspense are about the Watcher and his people. |
Reprinted | in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #9 (June 1967); in Fantastici Quattro, I (Editoriale Corno, 1971 series) #56 (May 29, 1973) [as "Così cominciò...", Italian translation] |