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Selector

Tales of Suspense #78

Jun 1966
Stan Lee, Gene Colan

Story Name:

Crescendo!


Synopsis

Tales of Suspense #78 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 4 stars
Image from Tales of Suspense #78
The Mandarin’s massive monster Ultimo hurls Iron Man to his death against the jagged rocks of a cliff and the hero’s jet boots barely manage to allow him to miss the cliff. As the Mandarin gloats over his triumph, the desperate Iron Man leads the giant android to the edge of the volcano where it was created. The Golden Avenger tricks Ultimo into blasting the center of the volcano with his deadly eye-beams causing it to erupt and explode, destroying Ultimo forever (or at least until AVENGERS ANNUAL #1). Pausing briefly to recharge, Iron Man then hijacks a jet from the nearby Red Army base and flies to friendly territory. Soon, Tony Stark finds himself back at his Long Island factory and is shocked to discover it closed on orders of the government, his assets have been impounded, and there is a warrant out for his arrest….


Story #2

Them!

Writer: Stan Lee. Penciler: Jack Kirby. Inker: Frank Giacoia. Colorist: ?.

Synopsis

By Peter Silvestro
Rating: 5 stars
On a visit to Avengers Mansion, Nick Fury walks in on Captain America dodging flying Shock rollers. Annoyed, Fury grabs one and receives a shock, as he was unaware they were designed to test agility the hard way. The two WW2 vets quickly get their greetings out of the way and down to business. Fury shows Cap a miniature human brain, captured from a secret organization known only as "Them." Dropped into a hydroponics tank of chemicals it would soon grow into an artificial man. At that moment, an aircraft lands outside and a gleaming-white android emerges. The creature turns into acid and burns his way through the walls of the Mansion. Fury opens fire on the android which is carrying chemicals and able to change the composition of its body. It fires flames from its fingers at the two heroes. Cap activates the frigid-defense circuit, freezing the monster which only slows it down until it can secrete a de-icing mixture. Fury tries karate but the monster turns to iron, so Cap uses judo to knock the creature down. It sprays a gas irritant into Cap’s eyes subduing the Avenger, to the delight of its masters in Them who are watching on a viewscreen. Nick Fury’s grenade won’t stop the android, who electrifies himself. Cap uses his shield to hold the monster at bay while Fury forces a knockout chemical down its throat, putting it to sleep. Before their eyes, the android reverts to its basic form, an inert figure. Fury, who had come to ask if the Avengers knew anything about Them, orders Cap to keep silent about this incident. Cap mentions how he had considered going to work with SHIELD but was unable to contact them and now he is committed to the Avengers. As he leaves, Fury gives Cap a badge granting him priority access to SHIELD.

 

Review / Commentaries


Tales of Suspense #78 Review by (February 15, 2010)
“Them” is later revealed to be A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics).


Tales of Suspense #78 Review by (June 4, 2012)
Review (Iron Man): Knockout art by Gene Colan ably hides the fact that there ain’t a lot of plot in this issue—but who cares? Iron Man fights a giant monster in the middle of a volcano!

Comments (Iron Man): Penciler Gene Colan is credited under his own name but inker Jack Abel is listed as Gary Michaels.


Tales of Suspense #78 Review by (June 9, 2012)
Ultimo keeps coming back, but I think his last real battle was in Iron Man (1998) #23-25. War Machine tried to keep the Ultimo technology out of Norman Osborn's hands during Dark Reign in the 2nd War Machine series. But he presumably failed because Osborn sent a different-looking Ultimo against Iron Man in New Avengers (2010) #17.


> Tales of Suspense comic book info and issue index

Elektra

This comic is in the following collection:
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Collects Material from Tales of Suspense (1959) #39-83, Tales to Astonish (1959) #82.

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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Gene Colan
Jack Abel
?
Jack Kirby (Cover Penciler)
Frank Giacoia (Cover Inker)
Stan Goldberg (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Plot: .

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Nick Fury
Nick Fury

(Nicholas Fury)

Plus: Ultimo.