Comic Review: Tales of Suspense (1959) #39

Iron Man’s first explosive appearance by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. ‘Nuff said. (Originally published as TALES OF SUSPENSE (1963) #39) (Synopsis from Marvel.com)

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber

Illustrator: Gene Colan, Don Heck, Steve Ditko

Published: March 01, 1963

Tales of Suspense (1959) #39 introduces the beloved Iron Man and thrills us with three other fun stories.

Iron Man’s origin story is great, probably the best one I’ve come across so far. I’ve noticed that the origin stories tend to be a little disappointing compared to the later comics with those characters. But I loved this one. The science behind Iron Man’s story makes me chuckle, but that is Tony Stark for you. Always doing the impossible. I really enjoyed reading this issue and I look forward to watching him grow throughout the comics. 

There are three other stories in this issue, two with graphics and one without. The two stories with graphics are The Last Rocket and Gundar. The one without graphics is called The Treasure. Gundar was my favorite out of those three, but I also liked the other two as well. None of them were particularly fast-paced, but they were quick, fun reads. This was a really good set of stories. This was the first Tales of Suspense that I’ve read, but if they are all like this one, then I will probably read a lot more of them.