Storytime with Annotations: TALES OF SUSPENSE# 41, 43 and 50
The villain is called Dr Strange. This was in TALES OF SUSPENSE# 41, May 1963, only a few months before the famous sorcerer created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko appeared in STRANGE TALES; I'm not sure why the name was used twice like that. You'd expect that Stan would notice the repetition so soon, but maybe one of the characters was intended to be called something else and a last minute substitution was made. Or just as likely, he liked the name and ran with it. As a kid, reading all the Marvel heroes fighting each other on flimsy excuses (I figured they just liked to fight, they were a hotheaded bunch), I wondered if Iron Man would have an issue where he battled the wizard Dr Strange. That could have been interesting,technology against magic, but it didn't happen.
How cool is that splash page. I love the lighting effect on Iron Man's armor as he faces electrical bolts from those electrodes. Notice there's no logo, not even 'Iron Man' written in plain block letters. This original bulky armor only lasted a few months. By #46, Tony Stark had upgraded to the familiar streamlined red-and-gold kit we've seen lo these many decades with frequent variations. This original armor has a lot of appeal visually, to me at least. It's so 1950s. It brings up associations with drive-in movies like TOBOR THE GREAT or THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. It looks like armor... the red and gold is much more like a standard super-hero costume with some squiggles to suggest a metallic appearance.
>I'm not sure why the name was used twice like that. You'd expect that Stan would notice the repetition so soon
He made a comment in a fanzine at the time. Long story short, he just forgot about this guy at the time he named the wizard guy.
>but maybe one of the characters was intended to be called something else and a last minute substitution was made.
The wizard guy was originally named Mr. Strange.
On the second page, we see Tony Stark donating $10,000 to a children's hospital and announcing that Iron Man will entertain the kids the following day. (In today's money, adjusting for inflation, that would be, well, lots more.) Super-heroes used to do a lot more charity work and public service than they seem inclined to do currently. Tony's date suggests getting away for some smooching but she's in for a disappointment if she thinks they'll be going to the Stark apartment for some PLAYBOY-style passion. At this point, he can't remove the clunky chestplate which he needs to stay alive. ("Why do you keep your shirt on, honey?")
How I wish I had kept all those fanzines! So many interviews and letters from pros, industry gossip, wild and reckless speculation much like my own.
Comparing Mr Strange to the mystique of Dr Strange, I'd say we lucked out there,
Here we see Tony in his Daddy Warbucks/Merchants of Death phase, whipping up bigger and more apocalyptic engines of mass destruction. At this point he has no misgivings. The Cold War is on, the Soviet Union is an enemy only slightly less hated than Nazi Germany had been, and the arms race was going full blast. The bit where Tony has invented a synthetic flesh healing solution (which he is demonstrating on gorilla for some crazy reason) seems a bit out of character. Maybe he was trying a find a way to heal his own damaged heart. Then we get some flashbacks to Iron Man fighting gangsters, Red spies and alien invaders, as well as more mundane dangers. He's been busy in the couple of months since he came back from Viet Nam with shrapnel in his heart and a new identity.
Found it:
From an interview/statement in The Comic Reader # 16, February 1963
>Well, we have a new character in the works for STRANGE TALES. Just a 5 page filler named Dr. Strange. Steve Ditko is gonna draw him. It has sort of a black magic theme. The first story is nothing great, but perhaps we can make something of him. ‘Twas Steve’s idea, I figured we’d give the new feature a chance, although again, we had to rush the first one out too much. Little sidelight. Originally, we decided to call him Mr. Strange, but thought the “Mr.” was a bit too similar to Mr. Fantastic—now, however, I remember a villain called Dr. Strange just recently in one of our mags. I hope it won’t be too confusing! Oh, well…
So Tony takes his date home. Like the women who used to go out with Bruce Wayne when he was pretending to be a playboy, they might be wondering what his problem was. Are these guys perhaps, well gay and only dating women as a cover? Could be. Still, it means ritzy restaurants and Broadway shows and so forth without having to pay for it sexually, so maybe they think it's a good arrangement. Wait, is Tony Stark getting out of his convertible within eyesight of the hospital and changing into his armor right there in broad daylight? Maybe he got some shrapnel in his head as well, that's not the brightest thing to do.
Oh, that is Stan's "voice." The not too serious self-deprecation, the chattiness, the informality. Thank you.
Now I'm trying to figure out what happened to my fanzines? I had a bunch of ROCKET'S BLAST, THE COMIC READER, THE MENOMONEE WHATEVER GAZETTE. Maybe I had to leave behind when moving. Drat.
Dr. Strange looks like Kirby.
I don't remember our hero using powerful magnetic rays in his gauntlets before or after this. His repulsors did not appear in the early stories, the best he had were air-pressure discs that had sort of a fire hose effect. That is impressive, spinning seven autos in a circle around him, then making them twirl. It would be a bad time for a circuit in his armor to blow out, though. The DAILY BUGLE would love that, "Armored Menace Drops Cars on Children!"
jesus christ Tony Stark has given the United States the most powerful army on Earth in a single page
I wanna see the vietnam war with this tech in play
That's funny. A lot of artists used to have a full-length mirror close by to see how different poses looked. I know there are some shots of Kirby's workroom in the Mark Evanier book, I should look for mirrors.
Stark was constantly inventing massive game changers in throwaway panels like this. None of them ever got mentioned again.
Ha, there are letters in the FF asking Lee to give the constant anti communism a rest.
"You say these atomic cannons cost HOW much the build? uh-huh. And we need two dozen highly skilled technicians to travel with them. What kind of salary do they expect. I see. Thank you, Mr Stark, we'll get back to you."
That's my theory any way.
I like the armor after this one best. It’s only around a little while though.
>I'm not sure why the name was used twice like that. You'd expect that Stan would notice the repetition so soon
>Peter Palmer
>Bob Banner
Aww, look how happy the kids are. This was before super-heroes all became major jerks. Then we meet the bad guy. Nice city, a children's hospital less than a mile from a maximum security federal prison. This Dr Strange sure seems like a variation on the Silver Age Lex Luthor. Considering scripter Robert Bernstein ("R. Berns") did a ton of work for DC in the 1950s, it may be expected. Kirby's using his Loki-face for Strange. The flashback to Dr Strange getting struck by lightning "six months ago" puzzled me as a youngster. It suggests this guy appeared in an earlier TALES OF SUSPENSE story but I couldn't find any sign of him... all the Atlas comics just before super-heroes were packed with the likes of Fin Fang Foom, Goom, Googam son of Goom, It the Living Colossus, Big Old Critter,that bunch. Now he invents a doubletalk gadget to take over Iron Man's brain and enslave him. How does the gizmo only affect Iron Man? Don't ask. Maybe it has something to do with the electronics in the armor making our hero susceptible; otherwise Strange could just have a guard let him out.
>the most dangerous foe ever to challenge Iron Man's might
>cover shows his amazing ability to throw a power switch
>the most dangerous foe Iron Man has face is a man with functioning arms
we need an "It's transistors. I ain't gotta explain shit." edit for tony
What do you call a nun who has had sex change surgery?
A trans-sister, (Har!)
I very vaguely remember those. I think his reply was that if the US government spent money fighting Communism, it was okay to use Communists as comic book villains.
Yikes. Iron Man never seemed more like a sci-fi robot. "Yes, Master! I await your commands"... I hear that in Robby the Robot's voice from FORBIDDEN PLANET. I guess the floating semi-visible head of Dr Strange is just symbolic, but it increases the Loki similarity. Geez, Iron Man is strong, eh. With one arm, he grabs the thick concrete wall of a prison and yanks it down. This explains why he thought he could slug it out with the Hulk in early AVENGERS issues, he was sure of himself.
"Transistor? I never even MET 'er?"
Hours later, the State troopers find Iron Man staggering around in a daze. This was long before they decided to make Tony Stark an alcoholic of course, so they just accept that he was under a villain's control. ("Gosh, did I back into your new car in the parking lot? I- I must have been under a super-villain's hypnotic powers. Yeah, that's it.") Take a second to check out the architecture on Dr Strange's island... what the heck is that thing curving up to the main structure? The world's biggest air duct? Now we meet Vanessa Carla, Dr Strange's daughter. Since at least the 1920s, it's customary for Mad Scientists good or evil to have a succulent young daughter but with no wife in sight. I know it's just for convenience in plotting, it sometimes seems real suspicious. I would like one story where the scientist has a good-looking son rather than a daughter, and the hero loses all interest in the case. ("Ah, you know what, my schedule is a bit too full right now..")
I would like to have learned a bit more about Carla's life, maybe they should have skipped two pages showing Tony inventing atomic cannons or wrecking airplanes? Was she basically a prisoner, escorted everywhere by Strange's goons, living in the ritzy but sad Strange mansion? Maybe she was a college student or possibly had a career started before her father got busted out? He's obviously been a Mad Scientist super-villain for a while. That island base wasn't built in a week or two, and you don't gather a small army of "cunning scientists and power-mad military men" overnight on a limited budget.
Not gonna lie, this would've been incredibly cool to watch. Lucky kids.
The helmet with the two points? That was my favorite. I don't know why they smoothed it off, it gave him a recognizable silhouette,
"How long have you had this bad memory?"
"What bad memory?"