Tales of Suspense #44

(August 1963)

The Mad Pharoah! (Table of Contents: 1)

Iron Man / comic story / 13 pages (report information)

Script

Stan Lee (plot); Robert Bernstein (script) [as R. Berns])

Pencils

Don Heck

Inks

Don Heck

Colors

?

Letters

Sam Rosen

Job Number

X-229

First Line of Dialogue or Text

This is incredible!

Genre

superhero

Characters

Iron Man [Tony Stark]; Mad Pharoah [sic] [Hatap] (introduction); Cleopatra VII; Paul (archeologist)

Synopsis

After waking up from a 2000 years long sleep, Hatap, the Mad Pharoah [sic], brings Tony Stark in the past to resume his war against Cleopatra. Stark helps Cleopatra defeat Hatap as Iron Man.

Reprints

• in Der Eiserne (BSV - Williams, 1975 series) #6
• in Creepy Worlds (Alan Class, 1962 series) #68
• in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #7 (February 1967)
• in Fantastic! (IPC, 1967 series) #8 (8 April 1967)
• in Spider-Man Comics Weekly (Marvel UK, 1973 series) #58 (March 23, 1974), #59 (30 March 1974)
• in Titan Pocket Book (Marvel UK, 1980 series) #3 (1980)
• in Marvel Masterworks (Marvel, 1987 series) #20 ([October] 1992)
• in Essential Iron Man (Marvel, 2000 series) #1 (November 2000) [black and white]
• in Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man (Marvel, 2003 series) #1 [Regular Edition] ([November] 2003)
• in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 (2008), #1 (2008)
• in Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man (Marvel, 2010 series) #1 (2010)
• in Iron Man Epic Collection (Marvel, 2013 series) #1 - The Golden Avenger (November 2014)
• in Coleção Clássica Marvel (Panini Brasil, 2021 series) #8 - Homem de Ferro 1 (junho 2021)

Keywords

Egypt; time travel

Indexer Notes

Pharaoh misspelled as "pharoah" throughout the story (and on the cover).

The Tree (Table of Contents: 2)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Job Number

K-435

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Living far out in the country was going to be a lot of fun, young Wally decided.

Genre

fantasy-supernatural

Characters

Wally Hadley; Mr. Hadley; Mrs. Hadley

Synopsis

When a family moves to a house in the country their son finds a gnarled little tree on their land that grants wishes.

Reprints

• from Strange Stories of Suspense (Marvel, 1955 series) #11 (October 1956)

Indexer Notes

Text story with illustration.

One of Us Must Die! (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)

Pencils

Larry Lieber

Inks

Paul Reinman (credited as P. Reinman)

Colors

?

Letters

Artie Simek (credited as A. Simek)

Job Number

X-312

First Line of Dialogue or Text

I've had to make lots of tough decisions since I became a space jockey, but the...

Genre

science fiction

Characters

Darius Wentworth

Synopsis

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.

Reprints

• in Creepy Worlds (Alan Class, 1962 series) #68, #36 (1964 ?)
• in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense (Marvel, 2006 series) #4 ([September] 2012)

Indexer Notes

Perhaps with an oxygen shortage the captain shouldn't be smoking a pipe.

I Come From the Sky! (Table of Contents: 4)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Stan Lee

Pencils

Steve Ditko

Inks

Steve Ditko

Colors

?

Letters

Artie Simek

Job Number

X-313

First Line of Dialogue or Text

This is the startling tale of a man who almost became a god!

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

Serge Plotski

Synopsis

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. The agent uses his lighter and last bullet to convince them he is a sky-god, but they deposit him outside the wall, alone and unarmed, with instructions to use his divine powers to defeat their huge beast.

Reprints

• in Creepy Worlds (Alan Class, 1962 series) #68, #36 (1964 ?)
• in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense (Marvel, 2006 series) #4 ([September] 2012)
• in Marvel Masters of Suspense: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko Omnibus (Marvel, 2019 series) #2 (2019)