Tales to Astonish #64: Review

Review: Well, that was easy. One minute Bruce Banner is locked up, facing charges of espionage and the next minute he’s walking free all because, er, Rick Jones talked to the President of the United States. Say, those Avengers cards were pretty nifty back in the early days. Of course, once Henry Peter Gyrich came on the scene, they became a liability so we’ll move on. Bruce oversees a test of his atomic device but Glen(n) Talbot continues to badger him until he Hulks out. If Bruce had been a lawyer, he could have documented a pattern of harassment on Talbot’s part and, with Betty’s help, point out that it’s because Talbot wants to steal Bruce’s gal. Meanwhile, the super-genius called the Leader finally realizes that if Hulk could beat one Humanoid, he should send more—and it definitely works. In a thrilling battle scene, Hulk takes on an army of the indestructible monsters and ends the issue still fighting them. And Leader has also deduced that Hulk may be gamma-powered as well, making the villain more interested in capturing him, though we know how well that has been going for the Army. And so the sun sets on Hulk, still fruitlessly biffing big pink rubber guys….

The Giant-Man tale is another dumb one: Hank shrinks to ant-size to fly across the ocean? Southward off coastal waters? In issue #49 we were told Giant-Man would be too heavy to move were he bigger than twelve feet? But now he can grow to fifty or a hundred feet (see ensuing issues) with only a small loss of power? And then there’s Attuma who apparently only recently learned there was a surface world (where did he thinks ships navigating the surface were from?); the other Atlanteans must be good at keeping secrets since Namor’s father is well-known to be a surface-dweller? He must not listen to all the gossip. Wait, Attuma’s men wear water-filled helmets on the island—but not in the underwater craft, where apparently they can breathe air, since Hank and Jan have no trouble breathing. And, clearly an afterthought by Stan Lee, when did Attuma decide to let the plane leave, choosing to keep only Jan for his study (Attuma, you sly dog!)? And I know I’m not the only person who thinks Attuma’s headdress looks like weird bunny ears? Biggest disappointment: didn’t you think the giant robot ant would actually play a part in the story? Shocking realization: this story was entirely about a lovers’ spat with the guy going to great lengths to make it up to his gal.

Comments: Hulk story: Brief appearance by the Chameleon, over a radio. The unseen President would be Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969). Inker George Roussos credited as George Bell. Giant-Man story: Sub-Mariner arch-enemy Attuma first appeared in FANTASTIC FOUR #33; this, believe it or not, is his second appearance and his third is in TALES OF SUSPENSE #66, fighting Iron Man. The converti-car was previously seen in issue #61. Hank ends the tale by saying Giant-Man without the Wasp is like Brinkley without Huntley, only worse. The news team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley had their own show running from 1956 to 1970, when Huntley retired; Brinkley continued as a solo until his retirement in 1997 and that didn’t seem so bad.