Tales of Suspense #50

(February 1964)

The Hands of the Mandarin! (Table of Contents: 1)

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

Script

Stan Lee

Pencils

Don Heck

Inks

Don Heck

Colors

?

Letters

Ray Holloway

Job Number

X-556

First Line of Dialogue or Text

I pity you, Iron Man!!

Genre

superhero

Characters

Iron Man [Tony Stark]; Mandarin (villain, introduction); "Pepper" Potts; "Happy" Hogan; Bill; General Ho Lee

Synopsis

The Pentagon sends Iron Man into red China to get information on the Mandarin, an evil scientist feared even by the Communist regime. Iron Man struggles to overcome the Mandarin's powerful rings and martial arts, but he escapes his castle.

Reprints

• in Der Eiserne (BSV - Williams, 1975 series) #12
• in Fantastic! (IPC, 1967 series) #12 (6 May 1967) [Black and white.]
• in Fakkelen og Jernmannen (Serieforlaget / Se-Bladene / Stabenfeldt, 1968 series) #4/1968 (1968)
• in Spider-Man Comics Weekly (Marvel UK, 1973 series) #76 (27 July 1974)
• in Strange Spécial Origines (Editions Lug, 1981 series) #181 (5 janvier 1985)
• in Marvel Masterworks (Marvel, 1987 series) #20 ([October] 1992)
• in Bring Back the Bad Guys (Marvel, 1998 series) (1998)
• 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 True Believers: The Criminally Insane - Mandarin (Marvel, 2020 series) #1 (March 2020)

Keywords

China

Indexer Notes

Job number revealed on original art. Info per Nick Caputo: https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/complete-story/don-heck-tales…

In this story Pepper gets a makeover and is consequently redrawn as a more attractive woman.

Another Marvel Masterpiece (Table of Contents: 2) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

Them! (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)

Pencils

Larry Lieber

Inks

George Roussos

Colors

?

Letters

Sam Rosen

Job Number

X-535

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Sometimes the incredible begins with the commonplace!

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

Adam Bentley; Larry Lieber

Synopsis

A man frantically tries to convince passersby that he is being chased by storybook characters. He is arrested by the police, but disappears from his jail cell, as he himself is a fictional character created by Larry Lieber.

Reprints

• in Weird Planets (Alan Class, 1962 series) #15 (1963)
• in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense (Marvel, 2006 series) #4 ([September] 2012)

Indexer Notes

Info from Stéphane Petit via the GCD Error Report (September 28, 2009).

Another Marvel Masterpiece (Table of Contents: 4) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

Journey's End! (Table of Contents: 5)

Tales of the Watcher / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)

Pencils

Larry Lieber

Inks

Sol Brodsky (credited as S. Brodsky)

Colors

?

Letters

Artie Simek

Job Number

X-526

First Line of Dialogue or Text

In this log is inscribed the whole pageant of cosmic history!

Genre

science fiction; superhero

Characters

Watcher [Uatu] (narrator); Wilbur Weems; Sally

Synopsis

A meek and lonely space pilot volunteers for a suicide mission to investigate a strange cosmic cloud. The cloud hides a utopian planet, whose inhabitants only want humans brave enough to face the unknown to visit them.

Reprints

• in Out of This World (Alan Class, 1963 series) #16
• in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #5 (October 1966)
• in Terrific! (IPC, 1967 series) #27 (14 October 1967)
• in I Fantastici Quattro (Editoriale Corno, 1971 series) #53 (3 Aprile 1973) [as "La fine del viaggio!", Italian translation]
• in Marvel Gold. Los 4 Fantásticos (Panini España, 2011 series) #1 - Génesis (Junio 2016)

Indexer Notes

Lettering credit is from the reprint in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics #5.(Checked by Merlin Haas from that issue, October 1, 2009.)