Tales of Suspense #81

(September 1966)

The Return of the Titanium Man! (Table of Contents)

Iron Man / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Credits

Script:

Stan Lee

Pencils:

Gene Colan

Inks:

Jack Abel [as Gary Michaels]

Colors:

?

Letters:

Sam Rosen

Content Information

Genre:

superhero

Characters:

Iron Man [Tony Stark]; Senator Harrington Byrd; Titanium Man [Boris Bullski]

Synopsis:

Iron Man battles the improved Titanium Man.

Reprinted:

• in Iron Man Special (Marvel, 1970 series) #2 (November 1972)
• in Essential Iron Man (Marvel, 2000 series) #2
• in Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man (Marvel, 2003 series) #3 (2005)

The Red Skull Supreme! (Table of Contents)

Captain America / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Credits

Script:

Stan Lee; Jack Kirby (co-plot)

Pencils:

Jack Kirby

Inks:

Frank Giacoia

Colors:

?

Letters:

Artie Simek

Content Information

Genre:

superhero

Characters:

Red Skull [Johann Schmidt]; Captain America [Steve Rogers]; Cosmic Cube

Synopsis:

Cap fights a seemingly-hopeless battle against The Skull, who, armed with The Cosmic Cube, can do anything he wishes merely by thinking it! The Skull envisions instantly making everyone on the planet his slaves, turning every able-bodied man into a fighting machine, creating "new, invincible weapons...in endless number, with matchless power," and eventually leaving Earth to create an intergalactic empire, extending to "the furthest reaches of space." Cap only turns the tables by pretending to grovel and becoming the Skull's servant. Mad with power, The Skull envisions a new group of "knights of the round table," and fashions a suit of armor made of solid gold. At which point Cap wrestles with him, trying to knock the Cube from his grip. At his thought, the island they're on breaks up and sinks into the ocean. Cap knocks the Cube into the water, and The Skull dives in after it before he realizes what he's done, as the weight of the armor drags him down to the bottom. The Cube becomes buried in the deep, as Cap hopes it will be lost forever.

Reprinted:

• in Marvel Double Feature (Marvel, 1973 series) #5 (August 1974)
• in Captain America Sentinel of Liberty (Simon and Schuster, 1979 series) #nn (1979)
• in Marvel Masterworks (Marvel, 1987 series) #14 (1990)
• in Essential Captain America (Marvel, 2000 series) #1 (July 2000)
• in Marvel Masterworks: Captain America (Marvel, 2003 series) #1 (2003)

Indexer Notes

Part 3 of 3. The Red Skull would return, with the Cosmic Cube, in TALES OF SUSPENSE #89 (May 1967). Synopsis, notes, and other corrections submitted by Henry Kujawa via the GCD Errors list (August 2007).