Commie-Clobbering Kaiju TALES OF SUSPENSE "Power of the Colossus!"

When Last We Left Commie-Crushing Kaiju Colossus...

...the Russkies, unable to stop the rampaging kaiju through "normal"military means, decide to use a nuclear bomb...

Judging by the closing caption, this story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #14 (1961) was apparently meant for Journey into Mystery!

At any rate, it received enough reader response that a sequel appeared in Atlas' Tales of Suspense #20 (1961)...

...though it only involved Commies at the beginning, when they shipped the statue off to America for an international exposition, not realizing the aliens who animated it would return, only to be beaten by good ol' Yankee ingenuity!
BTW, please don't think that Colossus didn't have the cover to himself, but the splash pages were so kool that we didn't want to use them as the post headers as we usually do in multi-part presentations...

Here's Tales of Suspense #14 (note they mis-colored him orange on the cover)...

...and here's the cover (by Herb [Incredible Hulk] Trimpe) from his reprinting in Marvel's Monsters on the Prowl #17 (1972)!

A year later, the character, whose reprints had sold better than other issues of MotP, was given a brand-new ongoing series, continuing the storyline from the end of the second appearance!

Since no Communists were involved in any of those tales, we're nor presenting them here!
But, there's one thing we'd like to mention...

Fellow Commie-Clobbering Kaiju Fin Fang Foom made his first new appearance since his original Strange Tales story (which we showed HERE and HERE) over a decade earlier, in the final two issues of Colossus' series!

(Can you tell it was during the Kung-Fu craze of the early 1970s?)

Next Week, We Return to Our Usual Russkie-Smashing Fun!

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Marvel MasterWorks

Atlas Era Tales of Suspense

Volume 2

(which reprints this story)

Paid Link

Commie-Clobbering Kaiju TALES OF SUSPENSE "The Colossus Lives!"

We Have Already Seen...

It's a story as old as time.

Sculptor is ordered by evil rulers to create tribute to their "greatness".

Flying saucer crashes nearby.

Alien pilot, seeking shelter until rescue, enters statue to protect itself.

Evil rulers' troops arrive.

Alien, believing they are after him/her/it, lashes out!

As they used to say in TV Guide, "hilarity ensues!"

Things get even wilder when this tale concludes...

TOMORROW!

Plotted by editor Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, this cover-featured story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #14 (1961) is prime "giant monster" material...except for a really kool, alliterative name like, say, Fin Fang Foom!

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Marvel MasterWorks

Atlas Era Tales of Suspense

Volume 2

(which reprints this story)

Paid Link

Commie-Clobbering Kaiju TALES OF SUSPENSE "I Created the Colossus!"

For Our Final Commie-Clobbering Kaiju...

...we return to Marvel's predecessor, Atlas Comics, where kaiju (although we didn't call them that back then) rule!

The monstrous mayhem continues...

TOMORROW!

Plotted by editor Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, this cover-featured story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #14 (1961) is prime "giant monster" material...except for a really kool, alliterative name!

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Marvel MasterWorks

Atlas Era Tales of Suspense

Volume 2

(which reprints this story)

Paid Link

Commie-Clobbering Kaiju STRANGE TALES "Fin Fang Foom!" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Favorite Comics Kaiju...

Aroused from his centuries-long slumber, Fin Fang Foom pursues the human who awakeened him, not realizing the human has an ulterior motive...using the kaiju as a living weapon against a Communist invasion force!

Yes, we know FFF was green on the cover, but orange on the inside!

It's another of those screw-ups that occur because covers (on slick magazine stock) and comic book interiors (on newsprint) are printed on different presses on different schedules, so they don't get processed or leave the publisher's offices at the same time!

And considering Editor Stan Lee was handling the entire Atlas/Marvel line all by himself, it's lucky FFF wasn't purple on either the inside or outside of Strange Tales #89!
When Fin Fang Foom began appearing in new stories, starting with Marvel's Astonishing Tales #23 (1974), he consistently remained green, though with red, purple or green shorts!

(BTW, you'll be seeing FFF's fellow kaiju It: the Living Colossus later this month!)

He's been a part of the Marvel Multiverse, numerous animated Marvel TV series and even the Marvel Cinematic Universe (named "Great Protector") in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings!

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Monster Masterworks

(with a kool new, never-reprinted, wraparound cover by Walt Simonson)

Paid Link

Commie-Clobbering Kaiju STRANGE TALES "Fin Fang Foom!" Part 1

You Know Him!
You Love Him!
You Can't Stop Saying His Name!

And now you're going to see his introduction (though not his origin) exactly as it appeared in Atlas' Strange Tales #89!

To be Concluded...TOMORROW!

You may wonder why we're going to break away.from the story just as the Chi-Com Clobbering is about to begin!

There's a very simple reason!

It's because editor/plotter Stan Lee, writer Larry Lieber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers ended the first chapter here!
You'll also note that Fin Fang Foom is orange, yet most fans are used to seeing him green, like this...

...and since the reprint (above) in Marvel's Where Monsters Dwell #21 (1973), he's been some shade of green!

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Monster Masterworks

(with a kool new [and never-reprinted] wraparound cover by Walt Simonson)
Paid Link

NoKo Crushers SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS "Commission in Korea!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...the Howling Commandos under Colonel "Happy Sam" Sawyer, are sent into North Korea to blow up a secret air base!

With a slightly shaken-up "Happy Sam" stationed outside the base as backup, Sgt Fury and the Howlers attack in their own inimitable style...

Why all the set-up for Nick Fury?

He had recently-appeared in Fantastic Four (V1N21 [1963]) as an eyepatch-wearing CIA colonel (though he's named "Sgt Fury" and wearing ripped Army fatigues on the cover) to help them stop the Hate Monger and reminisce with Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic, whom he'd met during WWII when Reed was an OSS agent.

So we knew the crusty noncom-turned-officer had survived to the (then) present day.

But bigger plans were in store for Nick...

Fury had just replaced The Human Torch and The Thing as Dr Strange's co-feature in Strange Tales as of #135 (1965), making him the first comic character to have two simultaneous strips set in two different time periods!
(Howling Commandos in the 1940s, S.H.I.E.L.D. in the "present day" 1960s!)
Several of the Howlers joined Nick at S.H.I.E.L.D., including Dum-Dum, Gabe, and eventually, Eric Koenig.

Fanboy Trivia:

Eric isn't in this Annual set in the period between World War II and the 1960s because he wasn't even introduced into the WWII-era Howling Commandos comic until six months after the Annual was published (#27 in late 1965)!
And, we finally got to see the only exclusive Sgt Fury-themed Marvel merchandise of the 1960s...a Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos t-shirt (which, unlike most of the other Marvel shirts of the 1960s, had never been reissued by Graphitti!)

Would I love to have a Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos shirt (in XXL, sadly)...

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Marvel Epic Collection

Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos

#2 Berlin Breakout

(Which includes this story!)

Paid Link