Tales of Suspense #52

(April 1964)

The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again! (Table of Contents: 1)

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

Script

Stan Lee (credited) (plot); Don Rico (credited as N. Korok) (script)

Pencils

Don Heck (credited)

Inks

Don Heck (credited)

Colors

?

Letters

Sam Rosen (credited as S. Rosen)

First Line of Dialogue or Text

I trusted you... helped you!!

Genre

superhero

Characters

Black Widow [Natasha Romanoff] (introduction); Crimson Dynamo [Boris Turgenev] (introduction); Crimson Dynamo [Anton Vanko] (also in flashback, death); Happy Hogan; Iron Man [Tony Stark] (also in flashback); Nikita Khruschev; Pepper Potts

Synopsis

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.

Reprints

• in Tales of Suspense (Panini Deutschland, 1999 series) #52
• in Fantastic! (IPC, 1967 series) #21 (8 July 1967) [Black and white. Pages 1 to 8 only.], #22 (15 July 1967) [Black and white, pages 9-13 only, plus a one page recap.]
• in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #12 (December 1967)
• in Spider-Man Comics Weekly (Marvel UK, 1973 series) #70 (15 June 1974), #71 (22 June 1974)
• in Die ruhmreichen Rächer (BSV - Williams, 1974 series) #47 ([November 1976]), #48 ([November 1976])
• in Strange Spécial Origines (Editions Lug, 1981 series) #193 (janvier 1986)
• in The Marvel Saga the Official History of the Marvel Universe (Marvel, 1985 series) #13 (December 1986) [excerpt]
• in Essential Iron Man (Marvel, 2000 series) #1 (November 2000) [black and white]
• in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 (2008), #1 (2008)
• in Black Widow: The Sting of the Widow (Marvel, 2009 series) [premiere edition] (2009)
• in Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades Magazine (Marvel, 2010 series) #1 (June 2010)
• in Marvel's The Avengers: Black Widow Strikes (Marvel, 2012 series) (2012)
• in Iron Man Epic Collection (Marvel, 2013 series) #1 - The Golden Avenger (November 2014)
• in Black Widow Epic Collection (Marvel, 2019 series) #1 - Beware the Black Widow (2019)
• in The Black Widow Strikes Omnibus (Marvel, 2019 series) (2019)
• in Marvel Tales: Black Widow (Marvel, 2019 series) #1 (2019)
• in True Believers: Introducing The Black Widow (Marvel, 2020 series) #1 (June 2020)
• in Marvel's Black Widow Prelude (Marvel, 2020 series) (2020)
• in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 [Second Edition] (2023)

The Magician (Table of Contents: 2)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Letters

typeset

Editing

Stan Lee (original editor)

Job Number

[G-719]

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Working as a page in a television studio was a very good start in the...

Genre

fantasy-supernatural

Characters

Howard; Uncle Bart

Synopsis

A TV studio page and aspiring magician gets a lucky break when he meets a real sorcerer time traveling from the past.

Reprints

• from Uncanny Tales (Marvel, 1952 series) #34 (August 1955) [page 1]

Indexer Notes

Continues in next issue.

The Seance! (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Stan Lee (credited) (plot); Larry Lieber (credited as L. D. Lieber)

Pencils

Larry Lieber (credited as L. D. Lieber)

Inks

Chic Stone (credited)

Colors

?

Letters

Ray Holloway (credited as R. Holloway)

First Line of Dialogue or Text

You, out there! Yes, you with the doubting eyes and sneering smile!

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

Great Kamir; Diane; Hugo; Mrs. Wentworth

Synopsis

A fake medium uses special effects to simulate supernatural powers, but he is taken into the spirit world by real ghosts as punishment.

Reprints

• in Tales of Suspense (Panini Deutschland, 1999 series) #52
• in Etranges Aventures (Arédit-Artima, 1966 series) #33 (mai 1974) [N&B et recadré [B&W and reframed]]
• in Docteur Strange (Arédit-Artima, 1981 series) #6 (février 1983)
• in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense (Marvel, 2006 series) #4 ([September] 2012)

Two More Triumphs for Marvel..! (Table of Contents: 4) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.8 page (report information)

Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation (Table of Contents: 5)

statement of ownership / 0.2 page (report information)

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Average monthly paid circulation/print run October 1962–September 1963 (issues #37–48): 188,245/318,952. Paid circulation/print run for issue #48: 189,110/315,053. This shares the page with the promo.

The Failure! (Table of Contents: 6)

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

Script

Stan Lee (credited) (plot); Larry Lieber (credited as L. D. Lieber)

Pencils

Larry Lieber (credited as L. D. Lieber)

Inks

Paul Reinman (credited as P. Reinman)

Colors

?

Letters

Sam Rosen (credited as S. Rosen)

Job Number

[X-580]

First Line of Dialogue or Text

I am the Watcher, ageless observer of the ever-changing universe! I have seen...

Genre

science fiction; superhero

Characters

The Watcher [Uatu] (narrator); Kenn Bentley; Valeria Reynolds

Synopsis

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.

Reprints

• in Tales of Suspense (Panini Deutschland, 1999 series) #52
• in Terrific! (IPC, 1967 series) #29 (28 October 1967)
• in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #13 (February 1968)
• in I Fantastici Quattro (Editoriale Corno, 1971 series) #55 (15 Maggio 1973) [as "Il fallimento", Italian translation]
• in Submariner (Arédit-Artima, 1976 series) #3 (avril 1977) [N&B et remonté [B&W and reframed]]
• in Marvel Gold. Los 4 Fantásticos (Panini España, 2011 series) #1 - Génesis (Junio 2016)

Indexer Notes

This is the last general science fiction story narrated by the Watcher in Tales of Suspense. Future issues star the Watcher as a protagonist.

Job number revealed on original art. Info per Nick Caputo.