Review for Tales of Suspense #42

First Look Review for Tales of Suspense #42

Tony Stark and Iron Man take on the Actor and the Red Barbarian and he easily takes care of these Commies. But we do see a potential vulnerability for Iron Man. If people figure out he and Tony Stark are the same it could cause a lot of trouble for the weapon maker.

Tales of Suspense #42

Trapped by the Red Barbarian by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, and Don Heck. Published by Marvel Comics, 1963.

This issue features another attempt by the Commies to steal American secrets and once again our hero thwarts the espionage. In this story, it’s Iron Man who gets the honor of messing up the bad guy’s plans. But that’s just the preliminary tale, the meat of the issue centers around Tony’s new disintegration ray. Somehow the Red Barbarian finds out about this weapon and dispatches a new agent named the Actor to retrieve the ray gun.

This Actor uses his art of disguise to infiltrate Stark Labs and steals the plans but even better, he discovers that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person. Before the Actor can deliver the information to the Red Barbarian, Tony intercepts him and instead delivers fake plans. When the real Actor shows up and tells the spy master that Tony is Iron Man, the Red Barbarian doesn’t believe it and has the Actor executed, leaving Tony’s secret safe.

This was not a very good issue. The Actor seems like the Chameleon from Spider-Man #1 and on the whole, the issue seems like it was simply rehashed from other stories. With the promise of Stark and Iron Man, I hope this title doesn’t go the way of the Hulk which ran outta ideas after a few issues. I will say though, that the fact that he Red Barbarian knocks someone out with a ham is a bonus for his character.

You can find first looks at other issues in this title linked in my January Reading List.
I rate this issue a C-.
This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop.