Tales of Suspense
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Tales of Suspense was a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. Although it started out as a science fiction/horror anthology, the emerging popularity of superheroes led to such characters being featured regularly, eventually pushing out the non-superhero suspense stories. Iron Man first appeared in #39, and was a regular feature until the series ended. The Watcher narrated "Tales of the Watcher" from #49-58. Captain America appeared in the Iron Man story in #58 and had his own feature from #59 until the series ended.
Iron Man's adventures after #99 continued in Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1, and then in Iron Man (volume 1) #1; Captain America's adventures in Captain America #100.
References
- Tales of Suspense #1-99 (Marvel Comics, January 1959 - March 1968)
- Marvel Select: Tales of Suspense #1 (1996)it:Tales of Suspense
Tales of Suspense nos. 1 - 4 had a sci-fi emphasis (the same was true with Marvel's Strange Worlds 1 - 5, World of Fantasy 16-19, Strange Tales 67-69, Journey into Mystery 50-53 and Tales to Astonish 1-4), after which this was altered to a major cover focus on Jack Kirby's monsters generally from Tales of Suspense #5 up to #38. The typical format up to #38 was to lead with a Kirby 13-page monster story (often inked by Dick Ayers) followed by a Don Heck dark tale (often either about an escaped convict or else spooky) with the issue resoundingly concluded with one of the famous Steve Ditko "ooky" stories. Not all issues followed this format, but the majority did.
Tales to Astonish changed to a superhero title with the advent of Ant-Man (created in Tales to Astonish #27, but getting a regular appearance beginning in #35), after which Stan Lee had a clear intention to introduce a superhero in Tales of Suspense. Iron Man finally appeared in Tales of Suspense #39. Don Heck drew this notable tale, giving Iron Man his first armor, after which Jack Kirby drew the cover. Iron Man's first armor was grey, but the following issue this changed to gold, then in #48 (with Ditko artwork) the armor was totally revamped into red-orange and gold. With minor variations this armor has continued to the present day.