Tales to Astonish #43 [Regular Edition]
(May 1963)

Marvel, 1959 Series
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Volume
1
Price
0.12 USD
Pages
36
Indicia Frequency
monthly
On-sale Date
1963-02-05
Publisher's Age Guidelines
Approved by the Comics Code Authority
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
Vista Publications, Inc.
Brand
Marvel Comics Group [under character box]
Editing
Stan Lee (editor)

Issue Notes

The on-sale date is the publication date reported in U. S. Copyright Office filings.

Distributed to newstands in February 1963. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements.

Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website.
This issue has variants:

The Mad Master of Time! (Table of Contents)

Ant-Man / cover / 1 page (report information)

Script
Stan Lee
Pencils
Jack Kirby
Inks
Sol Brodsky
Colors
Stan Goldberg
Letters
Artie Simek
First Line of Dialogue or Text
What's happening to me?
Genre
superhero
Characters
Ant-Man [Henry Pym]
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Cover inks credit from Nick Caputo via the GCD Errors list, February 2009. Original indexer credited Dick Ayers.

Corner symbol of Ant-Man pencils and possible inks by Jack Kirby.

Cover Thumbnail for Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 1959 series) #43 [Regular Edition] Cover Thumbnail for Tales to Astonish (1959 series) #43 [no price or date variant] Cover Thumbnail for Tales to Astonish (1959 series) #43 [British]
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Cover gallery

The Mad Master of Time! (Table of Contents: 1)

Ant-Man / comic story / 13 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee (credited) (plot); Larry Lieber (credited) (script)
Pencils
Don Heck (credited)
Inks
Don Heck (credited)
Colors
?
Letters
Ray Holloway (credited)
Job Number
X-125
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Thousands of footsteps tread daily upon the sidewalks of Center City...
Genre
superhero
Characters
Ant-Man [Henry Pym]; Time-Master [Elias Weems] (introduction, origin); Tommy Weems
Synopsis
A scientist forced to retire makes a device to artificially age others and holds the city hostage. Ant-Man can't stop him, but when he accidentally ages his own grandson he repents and reverses the damage.
Reprints
Keywords
Center City

Indexer Notes

The Time Master never appears again, Ant-Man still operates in "Center City".

Lady Luck (Table of Contents: 2)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
?
Inks
?
Colors
?
Letters
typeset
Job Number
[G-377]
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Lester counted up all his cards and gave the number to the scorekeeper.
Genre
fantasy-supernatural
Characters
Lester Ford; Marie Ford; Lady Luck
Synopsis
A businessman doesn’t believe in luck, but several beneficial encounters with an old lady change his mind.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Text story with illustration.

Frankie's Fast Ball! (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee (credited) (plot); Larry Lieber (credited) (script)
Pencils
Larry Lieber (credited)
Inks
Sol Brodsky (credited)
Colors
?
Letters
Artie Simek (credited)
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Frankie Jones could throw the fastest ball in the world!
Genre
science fiction
Characters
Frankie Jones; Mr. Jones; Mrs. Jones
Synopsis
A boy gains extraordinary physical and mental abilities due to his parents' exposure to radiation. He wants to play baseball, but his fastball punches a hole in a tree and would damage a catcher.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

This is a retelling of "The Rookie" from Marvel Tales (Marvel, 1949 series) #131 (February 1955). The idea of radiation granting super-powers to unborn children was a major part of early X-Men stories.

My Fatal Mistake! (Table of Contents: 4)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee (signed as Stan Lee [early- to mid-career])
Pencils
Steve Ditko (signed as S. Ditko)
Inks
Steve Ditko (signed as S. Ditko)
Colors
?
Letters
Artie Simek
Job Number
V-818
First Line of Dialogue or Text
I am the only human on Earth ever to defeat the mighty Cosmo...
Genre
science fiction
Characters
Yates; Cosmo
Synopsis
A man is bitter because he has been replaced by a computer and must take a job servicing it. It is ensconced in an air-tight clean room with a door that is opened after fifteen minutes allotted for servicing purposes. When the man enters the room, he gets the idea to sabotage the machine so that it will make mistakes and he can get his old job back, but he damages the circuits that allow the machine to open the door after the fifteen minutes of oxygen are used up.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Per Cory Sedlmeier on the Marvel Masterworks Message Board, "TTA #43's 'My Fatal Mistake!' doesn't have a job number listed, but a little research makes me feel comfortable saying that it was probably V-818."

Editing
Issue at my.comics.org
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. The Mad Master of Time!
    Ant-Man
  2. 1. The Mad Master of Time!
    Ant-Man
  3. 2. Lady Luck
  4. 3. Frankie's Fast Ball!
  5. 4. My Fatal Mistake!
This issue was most recently modified by:
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  • Lou Mazzella
  • Tony R. Rose
  • Nick Caputo
  • David Bruce
  • Mike Nielsen
  • Del Gruber
  • Pierre Freyssonnet
  • Mark Q
  • Jim Van Dore
  • R. S. Martin
  • Bill Borre
  • Ramon Schenk
  • Andrés Jiménez
  • Steve Dasinger
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