Tales of Suspense #53

(May 1964)

The Black Widow 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)

Job Number

X-637

First Line of Dialogue or Text

One evening, in the private laboratory of handsome Tony Stark, an...

Genre

superhero

Characters

Black Widow [Natasha Romanoff] (also in flashback); Crimson Dynamo [Boris Turgenev] (flashback); Happy Hogan; Iron Man [Tony Stark] (also in flashback); Nikita Khruschev; Pepper Potts; Igor; Stansky

Universe

Marvel : mainstream

Synopsis

To redeem herself in the eyes of the communist leader, Black Widow steals the new anti-grav ray device developed by Tony Stark and attacks Fort Knox. Iron Man destroys the ray device, but the Black Widow escapes.

Reprints

• in Fantastic! (IPC, 1967 series) #23 (22 July 1967) [Black and white, pages 1 to 5 plus the top half of page 6 only.], #24 (29 July 1967) [Black and white. Pages 7-13 plus the lower half of page 5 only, with a half page recap of the first part of the story.]
• in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #13 (February 1968)
• in Spider-Man Comics Weekly (Marvel UK, 1973 series) #75 (20 July 1974)
• in Die ruhmreichen Rächer (BSV - Williams, 1974 series) #49 ([Dezember 1976]), #50 ([Dezember 1976])
• in Strange Spécial Origines (Editions Lug, 1981 series) #196 (5 avril 1986)
• in Essential Iron Man (Marvel, 2000 series) #1 (November 2000) [black and white]
• in Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man (Marvel, 2003 series) #2 [Regular Edition] ([May] 2005)
• in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 (2008), #1 (2008)
• in Iron Man Epic Collection (Marvel, 2013 series) #1 - The Golden Avenger (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 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)
• in Marvel Origins (Hachette [DE], 2023 series) #13 - Iron Man 2 (1963) ([Februar 2024])

Keywords

Pentagon

Indexer Notes

Job number revealed on original art. Info per Nick Caputo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/TalesOfSuspense53spla…

Black Widow next appears in issue #57 (September 1964).

The Magician (Table of Contents: 2)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Editing

Stan Lee (original editor)

Job Number

[G-719]

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 2]

Indexer Notes

Text story with illustration. Continues from last issue.

The Omen (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Stan Lee (credited) (plot); Larry Lieber (credited) (script)

Pencils

Larry Lieber (credited)

Inks

George Roussos (credited as Geo. Bell)

Colors

?

Letters

Sam Rosen (credited as S. Rosen)

Job Number

[X-580]

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Are you superstitious?

Genre

science fiction

Characters

Lokar

Synopsis

A superstitious warlord thinks a flare of light is a good omen for an invasion, but when it is discovered to be a meteor his entire world must evacuate in order to survive.

Reprints

• in Eclipso (Arédit-Artima, 1968 series) #26 (janvier 1973) [N&B et recadré [B&W and reframed]]
• in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense (Marvel, 2006 series) #4 ([September] 2012)

Keywords

Venturus (planet)

Indexer Notes

Job number revealed on original art.

The splash page title of this feature utilizes the same design as the more modern appearance of the X-men logo, first appearing in X-men #50 (1963) and matching the color scheme in #51 (1963).

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

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

Pencils

Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four cover); Steve Ditko (Amazing Spider-Man cover)

Inks

George Roussos (Fantastic Four cover); Steve Ditko (Amazing Spider-Man cover)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Indexer Notes

Advertises Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel, 1963 series) #12 (May 1964) and Fantastic Four (Marvel, 1961 series) #26 (May 1964)

The Way It Began... (Table of Contents: 5)

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

Script

Stan Lee (credited) (plot); Larry Lieber (credited) (script)

Pencils

Larry Lieber (credited)

Inks

Paul Reinman (credited)

Colors

?

Letters

Artie Simek (credited as Art Simek)

First Line of Dialogue or Text

In a tension-filled operating room, grim-faced doctors labor valiantly to...

Genre

science fiction; superhero

Characters

Emnu (introduction); Ikor (introduction, Uatu's father); The Watcher [Uatu] (origin in flashback); Prosilicans

Universe

Marvel : mainstream

Synopsis

The Watcher comes from a super-advanced race that decides to share its technology with others. When their first attempt ends in tragedy they vow never to interfere with the affairs of less advanced species.

Reprints

• in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #9 (June 1967)
• in Terrific! (IPC, 1967 series) #30 (4 November 1967)
• in I Fantastici Quattro (Editoriale Corno, 1971 series) #56 (29 Maggio 1973) [as "Così cominciò...", Italian translation]
• in Submariner (Arédit-Artima, 1976 series) #1 (décembre 1976) [N&B et remonté [B&W and reframed]]
• in Strange Spécial Origines (Editions Lug, 1981 series) #223 (juillet 1988)
• in Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Rarities (Marvel, 2014 series) #1 (2014)
• in Marvel Gold. Los 4 Fantásticos (Panini España, 2011 series) #1 - Génesis (Junio 2016)

Keywords

Prosilicus (planet)

Indexer Notes

From here on, the Tales of the Watcher stories in Tales of Suspense are about the Watcher and his people.