| 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] |