Tales of Suspense (1959) comic books in grade VG or lower

Tales of Suspense (1959) 8 GD+ 2.5

Cover oxidation. Water damage.

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers. "Monstro... The Menace from the Murky Depths!", pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers; A giant octopus appears in the harbor of a communist seaport; An American marine biologist is sent to help, and finds that it is an ordinary octopus enlarged by communist nuclear tests, and will shrink back in 24 hours. "The Story of Sammy Snork!", art by Bill Everett; A criminal accidentally boards a Martian flying saucer and ends up on display in a zoo. "I Am the Changing Man!", art by Steve Ditko; A shape-changing alien assumes the identity of trusted figures to sow panic; He is caught when he assumes the form of a dog he sees on a poster, not noticing that it is on a space flight for the next year. "The Recipe" text story. "The Runaway Planet!", art by Doug Wildey; A professor believes that a planet on a collision course will not destroy Earth because of the power that governs the universe; The planet is actually a spaceship come to greet the humans. "It Walks by Night!", art by Don Heck; Robots are outlawed after a series of malfunctions; One man builds a robot in secret, he is found out and the robot destroyed but the man, a robot in disguise, escapes. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.10.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 20 GD 2.0

2" cumulative spine split. Cover detached. Tape on interior cover.

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers. "Colossus Lives Again," pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers; The crab-creatures of Cancrius III come back to try to take over the earth and begin by taking control of Colossus again; Bob O'Bryan, a scenery designer, comes up with the idea of creating a plaster of Paris creature to trick the crab-creatures into it taking over. "Weather Man" text story, art by Joe Maneely. "The Rocking Horse," art by Paul Reinman; A lame boy in a poor house asks for a rocking horse from charity, enraging his parents; When their house is destroyed in an earthquake the horse saves the boy, showing the value of love. "The Bomb," art by Steve Ditko; A threatening object that appears to be a bomb drops from the sky and lands in New York City; The object even emits ticking sounds that lead people to believe they are in imminent danger and so the city the evacuated. 36 pgs., full color. $0.10. Cover price $0.10.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 24 GD+ 2.5

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers. "The Insect Man," pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers; A soldier is placed underground in a capsule to test the effects of isolation; He is attacked by a telepathic insect. "Mystery Pupil" text story, art by Joe Maneely. "Beware... the Ticking Clocks!", pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by George Klein; A king is beset by an assassin in the king's clockroom whereupon the assassin is magiked into yet another figurine upon the king's favorite timepiece. "Something Lurks in the Fog!", art by Don Heck; An unrepentant con-man is scared straight when he strays onto a forbidden road and enters a world between life and death. "Long Live the King!", script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko; A greedy prince marries a dowager queen; He tries to use her sleepwalking to cause her death, but the portrait of her husband calls out to warn her, and ghostly hands push the prince to his death. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.10.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 39 CGC Coverless

Paper: Cream to off white

Coverless.

Label #4470085001

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Don Heck. First appearance of Iron Man in "Iron Man Is Born!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), art by Don Heck; Playboy industrialist and weapons designer Tony Stark is injured in Vietnam and captured by communists; While pretending to build a weapon for his captors he builds a suit of battle armor to keep his injured heart beating and uses it to escape and beat the communist commander. "The Treasure" text story. "The Last Rocket!", art by Gene Colan; When the sun starts dying humanity goes into space, except for two nature lovers; Just as the last rocket leaves a new sun flares to life, and the two remaining humans, Adam and Eve, rename the planet Earth. "Gundar!", script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko; A shipwrecked man finds cursed Viking ghosts on an island, and his descent from the captain that cursed them releases them. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.12.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 41 CGC 3.0

Paper: Off white

Slab: Significant side/edge cracks 1" or more

Label #4601595003

Cover by Jack Kirby. In the third appearance of Iron Man, he battles an evil genius named Doctor Strange - but it's not the Stephen Strange later introduced in Strange Tales - in "The Stronghold of Dr. Strange!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Robert Bernstein (as R Berns), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers; An imprisoned criminal scientist takes control of Iron Man in order to free himself; He threatens to blow up the world unless he is made world ruler. "Music Master" text story. "The Sorcerer's Spell," script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by Sol Brodsky; A wicked general plots the overthrow of his king, but is too afraid to try; He forces a gypsy sorcerer to enchant him to remove his fear. "The End of the Universe!", script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko; In the year 3000 a faster than light space ship is developed to take man to the very end of the universe; Since the scientists think the chances of returning are slim, they choose a pilot with an unhappy life of no family, friends, or job who doesn't really care if he can return as long as he learns the secret of the universe. 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 43 VG 4.0

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers. "Kala, Queen of the Netherworld!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Robert Bernstein (script) (as R Berns), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Don Heck; Tony Stark is abducted by the queen of an underground kingdom to help her invade the surface; As Iron Man, Stark shows her that she would rapidly age on the surface, convincing her to call off the invasion. "The Journey" text story. "You Can't Change the Past!", script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko; A scientist creates a time machine just to prove that it can be done, but never plans to use it, since he knows that it would be too dangerous to attempt to alter the past. "I Was A Victim of Venus!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by Matt Fox; A criminal steals a valuable diamond from Venus, but it is irradiated and makes him sick; He needs to steal the money to pay a doctor. 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 44 CGC 3.5

Paper: White

Label #4646446004

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers. "The Mad Pharoah!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Robert Bernstein (script) (as R. Bern), art by Don Heck; After waking up from a 2000 years long sleep, Hatap, the Mad Pharoah, brings Tony Stark into the past to resume his war against Cleopatra; Stark helps Cleopatra defeat Hatap as Iron Man. "The Tree" text story. "One of Us Must Die!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by Paul Reinman; When a space passenger yacht is damaged, one of the passengers must be sacrificed for the others to survive; The captain lies in order to discover which is the most selfish and trick that person into making the sacrifice. "I Come From the Sky!", script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko; A communist agent in Africa is supplying guns and explosives to tribesmen to encourage uprisings; When flying his plane to another group, he gets struck by lightning and ditches his plane near an unknown tribe; These natives are like the ones in King Kong who have built a huge wall to keep out some horrible beast. 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 45 CGC 3.5

Paper: Off white

Label #3913999004

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Don Heck. "The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Robert Bernstein (as R. Berns) (script), art by Don Heck; A washed up boxer saves Stark's life, and he hires him as a chauffeur; Meanwhile, a scientist fired by Stark creates a suit that gives him the power to freeze whatever is near him. Ad for The Avengers. "I Come From Far Centaurus!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by Matt Fox; A greedy man is delighted when an alien shows that he will be rich, but he is sentenced to exile for fraud, and imprisoned on an asteroid where his money is useless. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.12.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 49 CGC 4.0

Paper: Off white

Label #4347345008

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Steve Ditko. First X-Men crossover (same date as X-Men #3 - January, 1964), plus first Avengers crossover (without Captain America) in the Iron Man story, "The New Iron Man Meets the Angel!", script by Stan Lee, pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by Paul Reinman; The Angel is affected by an atomic test done at one of Stark's weapons plants. His personality is altered and now he wants to join the Evil Mutants; The X-Men call the Avengers for help but only Iron Man is available. "Strange Encounter," art by Joe Maneely. "The Saga of the Sneepers!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by George Roussos (as G. Bell); An alien race watches humanity's progress, worried that they will one day overtake them; With the invention of the atomic bomb and the Cold War, they decide that humanity will wipe itself out before it poses a threat. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.12.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 52 PR 0.5

INCOMPLETE. Missing ad page, does not interrupt art or story. Cover detached. 4" cumulative spine split.

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Paul Reinman. First appearance of the Black Widow in "The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Don Rico (as N. Korok), art by Don Heck; The Black Widow and Boris are sent to America to kill Anton Vanko, the Crimson Dynamo, for defecting to America; They are also tasked with killing both Iron Man and Tony Stark. The first half of "The Magician" text story. "The Seance!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber, pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by Chic Stone; A fake medium uses special effects to simulate supernatural powers, but he is taken into the spirit world by real ghosts as punishment. "The Failure!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by Paul Reinman; The Earth of the future is overwhelmingly materialistic, except for one idealistic young man and his lover; They are abducted by aliens, who have determined that he is the best suited to be absolute ruler of their empire. This issue includes a statement of ownership - average print run, 318,932; average paid circulation, 188,005. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.12.

Tales of Suspense (1959) 56 GD 2.0

1/2" spine split from the top. Cover oxidation. Water damage.

Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers. First appearance of the Unicorn in "The Uncanny Unicorn!", script by Stan Lee, art by Don Heck; A Soviet agent with high-tech armor comes to the US to capture Iron Man; He kidnaps Pepper and injures Happy to draw Iron Man out, and then threatens to blow up Stark's factory unless Iron Man comes with him; Iron Man boards Unicorn's plane, but then destroys it, though the Unicorn escapes; Thor, Wasp, and Giant-Man cameos; Part of this story continues in Avengers #7. "Pouf!" text story. "The Watcher's Sacrifice!", script by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script), pencils by Larry Lieber, inks by George Roussos (as George Bell); The Watcher falls in love with a courageous alien queen, but his duty forces him to leave her. 36 pages, full color. Cover price $0.12.