COMIC DETAILS
|
Comic Description:
|
Tales of Suspense 52 Universal
|
|
Grade:
|
9.4
|
|
Page Quality:
|
OFF-WHITE TO WHITE
|
|
Certification #:
|
1292485005
|
|
Owner:
|
Mississippi Mudcats
|
SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Issue #52 has become a major key, since it features the first appearance of the Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, who has been played in cinema by Scarlett Johansson.
In Moscow, Khruschev orders two of his agents, the Black Widow and Boris to dispose of Vanko and Stark, and Iron Man if necessary. Upon arriving in America, Black Widow presents herself as "Madame Natasha" and Boris as her brother and teacher from Ukraine, who has allegedly travelled to America to see Stark's technology. Tony always the ladies’ man is captivated by Widow's beauty, and offers to take her to dinner while Boris explores the factory on his own. Boris waits for a guard to go on his round and enters a restricted area. Using a "special" spray, he corrodes the wall of Vanko's laboratory, and breaks in using his super-human strength, intending to kill Anton. After Vanko refuses to help sabotage Stark, Boris uses a "jet paralyzer," which incapacitates Vanko and wraps him in a sack. He leaves the factory with the sack, claiming it's a package being delivered for Professor Vanko.
Boris leaves Vanko with other agents and returns to Stark Industries. He slips back into Vanko's lab and steals the Crimson Dynamo armor and begins to destroy equipment to both slow down America's defense production, and catch Iron Man's attention. Stark is interrupted in the middle of his date with Black Widow and informed of an explosion in his plant. Returning to his factory with Black Widow, Tony enters the plant, dons his Iron Man costume, and searches for Vanko, thinking his experiments with "laser light" started the chaos.
When he enters Vanko's laboratory, Iron Man finds the Crimson Dynamo. Iron Man thinks Vanko has donned his suit to guard his laser light machine, and offers to carry it outside, but Crimson Dynamo strikes Iron Man from behind with an electrical charge that damages his suit's circuits and drains his energy, knocking him out. Under cover of the thick blanket of smoke, Boris flees from the factory with Iron Man, and brings him to a Russian submarine.
Iron Man is kept locked behind a steel door in the submarine, and Boris returns to soil to meet up with the Black Widow and finish off Tony Stark. Iron Man wakes up from his slumber, and recharges his suit using a lightbulb as a rudimentary power outlet. As soon as he tears down one of the walls holding him prisoner, he comes across the captured Vanko, and escapes with him after battering a way through the steel hull of the submarine.
When they return to the factory, Iron Man catches Boris by surprise and easily knocks him down. However, Boris recovers and strikes down Iron Man. Tony recovers and puts Vanko's ray machine out of harm's way before striking back. The Black Widow pretends to have been struck down, and calls for Iron Man's help, distracting the hero, and allowing Boris to blast Iron Man with an electric discharge. Vanko threatens shooting Boris with his laser light pistol, but the villain thinks he's bluffing. However, Vanko makes good on his threat, claiming America has been good to him, and shoots at Boris, causing the machine to explode and kill them both. Black Widow takes advantage of the confusion and escapes. Once the dust settles, Iron Man claims that Vanko sacrificed himself to prove his loyalty to America, and he shall never be forgotten.
The following day, Tony Stark is informed through a report of "Madame Natasha"'s true identity. Tony pities her, and the Black Widow is later seen on the run, lonely, abandoned, and in fear.
This issue has become incredibly expensive since Scarlett assumed the cinematic role of Black Widow. There are no 9.8s of this one, our 9.4 is tied for second highest graded, trailing four 9.6s, the last of which sold for over $60,000. I am guessing that will mark the top of the market and that we will see prices recede much as we have seen with FF #52, but who knows, they just don’t come up often.
We acquired our book from the 2/18/2016 Heritage Auction.
|
|
|