Set Description:
Synopsis: This is a complete set of 68 books, which has topped the registry for 11 years, consisting of 39 9.8s, 28 9.6s and a single 9.4 (issue #27). Fifty of our books are highest graded examples with no book in the set worse than second highest graded. Highlights of this set are five single highest graded issues including Issue #35, which is the first issue with Ant-Man in a costume, and Issue #49, which is the first issue in which Ant-Man becomes Giant Man. We also have a highest graded pedigree example of Issue #44, which features the first appearance of the Wasp. Forty percent of the books in our set come from pedigree collections, including 13 Pacific Coasts.
Background: The primary title bearing the name Tales To Astonish was published from January 1959 to March 1968 and was a sister title to Tales of Suspense. It began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, then featured Silver Age superheroes.
Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense were both launched with a January 1959 cover date. The early run of the first volume of Tales to Astonish ran from issues #1–34 (January 1959 – August 1962), initially under Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel. The publication fell under the Marvel banner with Issue #21 (July 1961), the first with a cover sporting the early "MC" box. It contained science-fiction mystery/suspense stories written primarily by editor-in-chief Stan Lee and his brother, Larry Lieber, with artists including Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Don Heck and Paul Reinman. One such story, "The Man in the Ant Hill", in Issue #27 (January 1962), introduced the character Henry Pym, who would return in Issue #35 (September 1962) donning a cybernetic helmet and red costume, and using size-changing technology to debut as the insect-sized hero Ant-Man.. Issue #44 introduced Ant-Man's costar the Wasp in June 1963. And Issue #49 introduced Giant-Man, Pym’s growing version of himself in November 1963. The series was plotted by Lee and scripted by Lieber, with penciling first by Kirby and later by Heck and others.
Ant-Man and Giant-Man, along with the Wasp, starred in 13-page and later 18-page adventures, with the rest of Tales to Astonish devoted to the anthological science fiction and fantasy stories the comic normally ran. Anthological stories continued to appear as backups until Tales to Astonish became a superhero "split book" in 1964, when it began featuring one story each of Giant-Man and the Hulk.
Marvel had cancelled The Incredible Hulk after a six-issue run in 1962–63-hard to believe in light of the popularity of those six books now. But The Hulk had proven a popular guest-star in three issues of Fantastic Four and an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, so after having the Hulk appear in Issue #59 as Giant-Man's antagonist in a full-length story, Marvel decided to drop the science fiction back-up stories in favor of Hulk stories. Tales to Astonish thus became a split book with Issue #60 (October 1964). His new stories here were initially scripted by Lee and illustrated by the team of penciler Steve Ditko and inker George Roussos. This early part of the Hulk's run introduced the Leader, who would become the Hulk's nemesis, and this run additionally made the Hulk's identity known, initially only to the military and then later publicly.
The Abomination first appeared in Tales to Astonish No. 90, and is introduced as a KGB agent and spy. Stan Lee chose the name "the Abomination," which he realized belonged to no other character, before conceiving the character's background and appearance. Lee recalled that he simply told artist Gil Kane to "make him bigger and stronger than the Hulk and we'll have a lot of fun with him."
Namor the Sub-Mariner received his first feature in a decade beginning with Issue #70 (August 1965). The Golden Age character Byrrah was reintroduced in Issue #90 (April 1967). After the final issue of Tales to Astonish (which became the solo magazine The Incredible Hulk with issue No. 102, April 1968), the Sub-Mariner co-starred in the split-book one-shot Iron Man and Sub-Mariner No. 1 before going on to his own 72-issue series.
Giant-Man and Wasp were featured prominently in the Sub-Mariner stories in issues #77-78, steering their return to The Avengers in Issue #26 of that series. Stan Lee had originally removed all Avengers with their own series/serials from the team ten issues earlier to make continuity easier to maintain. Wasp had been at a cruise ship swimming pool when she went to alert the Avengers of Namor's activities in #77, explaining why she was dressed for swimming in The Avengers #26.
Tales To Astonish became The Incredible Hulk with Issue #102 (April 1968).
Our Collection: I feel like Tales to Astonish is probably the toughest Marvel set to assemble in high grade, as there’s frequently just one or two books topping the census. In fact, the census numbers in this title look much more like a DC book of this age than a Marvel, in that there are numerous single highest graded issues and rarely many 9.8s of the early issues. If a collector has the money, Avengers, ASM and Daredevil are relatively easy sets to complete in high grade, as they were very popular titles in the 60s, so they had higher print runs and readers hung onto their copies. As a consequence, most issues have numerous high grade copies that turn over frequently. Takes To Astonish, on the other hand, had a relatively small print run and there are currently just over 34,000 copies certified by CGC compared to over 1.37 million Spideys. So if you are going to assemble one of these sets, it requires tons of patience and a considerable time and money investment.
Tales To Astonish also remains a somewhat weird set. We started collecting it for Ant-Man and Giant-Man stories, but then he goes from sharing the book with Hulk to disappearing altogether when Sub-Mariner tales his place in Issue #70.
While we now have all the books, including some that are among the gems of our entire collection, this set could still use a little work and it is possible that we are only #1 in the registry because the top collection is unregistered-although unlike some Marvel sets, I don’t think it is a likelihood. The four highlights in this set are special:
Issue #35 9.6, which comes from the Western Penn Pedigree and is the single highest graded copy of first real Ant-Man issue;
Issue #36 9.8, which also comes from Western Penn Collection and is 1/2 highest graded;
Issue #44 9.8, which comes from the Northland Pedigree and is 1/2 highest graded featuring the first appearance of Wasp; and
Issue #49 9.8, which is the single highest graded copy of the first appearance of Giant-Man.
Our copies of Issues #46, #48 and #81 are also single highest grade examples as of this writing.
In 2026 we finally accomplished our goal of having all 9.6/9.8s after Issue #27 in this set with acquisitions of 9.6 copies of Issues #40, #42 and #77. That being said, there are still a few 9.6s that we would like to upgrade, if possible. Also, our #27 9.4, is restored although I somewhat feel like that book does not really belong in this set since it is separated in time and predates Hank Pym becoming Ant-Man. Moreover, CGC has never certified a 9.6/9.8 copy of Issue #27 and, quite frankly, we are not presently inclined to spend the money to upgrade our restored 9.4 to an unrestored one, even if one were available.
Current Stats:
68/68 Books
39 9.8s-38 Highest Graded
28 9.6s-11 Highest Graded
1 9.4s-Highest Graded (restored)
35 WP
29 OW/W
4 OW
5 Single Highest Graded
50 Highest Graded
18 Second Highest Graded
31 Pedigrees
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| The gallery tab shows only items with images. Click the thumbnails to enlarge. |
| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 27 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 27 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0202467001
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Owner Comments
Issue #27 marks the first appearance of Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym, the future Ant-Man. It is not, however, an Ant-Man issue, as Hank acts strictly as a scientist in a standalone sci-fi story titled "The Man in the Ant Hill". In this issue, he tests a shrinking serum on himself and gets trapped in an anthill, but does not use a suit or an alter-ego
It is a very tough book to find in high grade with only two 9.4s with Universal labels topping the census. Our copy has been graded 9.4 and looks great, but CGC found that it was the subject of a Slight Professional restoration. It is easily the best restored copy in the census.
2024 Update: Unlike many titles, the census in this title has changed very little since we started collecting these books. There is now a second restored 9.4, which may have been graded some time ago, but there are still just two blue label 9.4s and just three books graded better than a 9.0. The last 9.4 on the market sold for $200,000 in 2013. The sole 9.2 did appear on the market in 2019 and sold for $175,000, which would seem to indicate that one of the 9.4s would now likely be a $400k book, although the last 9.0 sold in 2022 for $66,000. That 2022 sale may sound a little inconsistent with a rising market, except for the fact that while just three books grade above 9.0, there are nine 9.0s in the census. Regardless, this issue is undoubtedly the rarest Marvel key in high grade.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 35 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 35 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1215045009
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Owner Comments
While Hank Pym is first introduced in TTA #27, issue #35 is the start of the Ant-Man run in TTA. These books before the introduction of the Hulk In TTA #60 are our favorite part of the TTA run. This Western Penn pedigree 9.6 has long topped the census and is the single highest graded copy of the first appearance of Ant-Man in costume. At one time this book changed hands at $125,000. I was lucky to pick it up at far far less in one of those examples of how books can fluctuate in prices both ways. Needless to say, it is the star of our TTA collection and one of the most prized books we own.
This book was purchased in the CL auction of March 16, 2014.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 36 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 36 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2065295001
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Owner Comments
One of the toughest books in the run in high grade, this is the best existing copy with WP and the Western Penn Pedigree. Surfacing in the '90s, much of this collection's history is shrouded in mystery. We know that both a father and his son accumulated the collection from the '60s to '80s, and there was allegedly a cache of Golden Age comics as well that may have been sold earlier (to date only a handful of Tarzans prior to 1961 have been CGC graded). Stuart Friedlander brought the collection to market, and several Silver Age publishers were represented, although Marvel was the predominant company. Known for very high grades and exceptional page quality starting in 1961, the Western Penn copies have been well documented, but do not exhibit any identifying mark
One of the highlights of our entire collection are the TTA #35 and #36 Western Penn copies, both of which are highest graded. We acquired the book in a private transaction with Josh Nathanson at CL in April 2019.*
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 37 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 37 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2065097001
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Owner Comments
Ant-Man battles the Unknown Protector in this third issue of Ant-Man in a costume in TTA. Our 9.6 is tied with two other 9.6s in the census trailing two 9.8s. We would love to have one of the 9.8s. but honestly I have never seen one on the market.
This book was purchased in a March 2014 CL auction.*
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 38 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 38 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1097119002
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Owner Comments
Issue #38 features the origin and first appearance of Egghead, Elihas Starr. Our book is tied for second highest graded behind a single 9.8. This book was part of the Doug Schmell Collection auctioned off by Heritage in July 2012. We acquired the book in a June 2013 CL auction.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 39 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 39 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2122465002
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Owner Comments
Ant-Man tangles with the Scarlet Beatle in Issue #39. Our book is tied for second highest graded trailing a pair of 9.8s. We acquired it in a private transaction in 2020 from a friend and fellow collector.*
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 40 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 40 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1107053008
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Owner Comments
Yet another tough book from Feb 1963. There are no 9.8s, our WP 9.6 comes from the Western Penn Collection and is tied with two other copies for highest graded. Surfacing in the '90s, much of this collection's history is shrouded in mystery. We know that both a father and his son accumulated the collection from the '60s to '80s, and there was allegedly a cache of Golden Age comics as well that may have been sold earlier (to date only a handful of Tarzans prior to 1961 have been CGC graded). Stuart Friedlander brought the collection to market, and several Silver Age publishers were represented, although Marvel was the predominant company. Known for very high grades and exceptional page quality starting in 1961, the Western Penn copies have been well documented, but do not exhibit any identifying marks.
We acquired our book from a private collector who initially owned a virtuoso run of Western Penns in this title in June 2026.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 41 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 41 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1969324006
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Owner Comments
I really love these old Ant-Man covers. In this issue, Ant-Man becomes a prisoner of the slave world, as he cowers in a corner dwarfed by a match. Our 9.6 is tied with three others fo highest graded as of 1/2020. We acquired the book in the May 16, 2019 Heritage Auction.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 42 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 42 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0013703012
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Owner Comments
Ant-Man faces the Voice of Doom in Issue #42. Our 9.6 is one of two highest graded copies in the Census and replaced our 9.4 Pacific Coast copy, which we owned for 14 years. We acquired the book from a private collector in June 2026.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 43 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 43 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1032350004
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Owner Comments
In Issue #43 Ant-Man grapples with the Mad Master of Time. We did own the Pacific Coast 9.6, but upgraded it to this 9.8 a couple of years ago. It is one of three highest graded and was acquired in the 11/15/2018 Heritage Auction.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 44 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 44 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1199062003
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Owner Comments
TTA #44 marks the first Wasp appearance and as such is probably the third most important book in this run after #27 and #35. This beauty comes from the Northland Pedigree, which is considered one of the best Silver Age pedigree collections to ever surface, it included runs of primarily Marvel and DC, as well as Gold Key, Dell, ACG, and Charlton, among others. Michael Goldman purchased the collection in 1996, where it debuted for sale at the Chicago convention that same year. He continued to sell copies through his catalog over the next several years. The Northland collection is known for its exceptional paper quality and particularly high grades during the scarcer period of Marvel between 1961 and 1964. Although the books do not have any identifying marks, a certificate was included with each copy.
Our book is one of two highest graded along with the Pacific Coast copy. It is probably the second most valuable book we own in this run after our TTA #35 9.6.
We acquired the book in the November 2014 Pedigree Comics auction. While it was not cheap at the time, this is one book that has benefitted greatly from the movies and has more than doubled in value since we acquired it.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 45 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 45 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1199061009
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Owner Comments
Issue #45 features the second appearance of Wasp and Egghead. Our copy is the second highest graded trailing three 9.8s. We acquired the book in the November 2014 Pedigree Comics auction.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 46 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 46 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1295235006
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Owner Comments
Any-Man and the Wasp face-off with Cyclops in Issue #46. We originally owned the Pacific Coast Pedigree copy of this book, which we had bought in the Doug Schmell auction in July 2012; however, it was only a 9.2. At that time our 9.6 was the only book above it in the census. So when the opportunity arose to buy this one in the 2/22/2018 Heritage auction, we jumped on it. It is still hanging in there as single highest graded copy as of March 2024, but now there are two 9.4s.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 47 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 47 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0764950004
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Owner Comments
Issue #47 features the first appearance of Trago. Our book is another gem from the Western Penn Collection. Surfacing in the '90s, much of this collection's history is shrouded in mystery. We know that both a father and his son accumulated the collection from the '60s to '80s, and there was allegedly a cache of Golden Age comics as well that may have been sold earlier (to date only a handful of Tarzans prior to 1961 have been CGC graded). Stuart Friedlander brought the collection to market, and several Silver Age publishers were represented, although Marvel was the predominant company. Known for very high grades and exceptional page quality starting in 1961, the Western Penn copies have been well documented, but do not exhibit any identifying marks.
When we bought this Western Penn pedigree 9.8 it was the single highest graded issue, but as of 1/2020 it is one of two 9.8s. We acquired the book in the November 2013 Pedigree Comics auction.
2021 Update: The census of some high grade comics seems to be expanding much faster than the US census, as there are now three 9.8s in the census.
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| Slot: |
Tales to Astonish 48 |
| Item: |
Tales to Astonish 48 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1039344003
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Owner Comments
Issue #48 features the origin and first appearance of the Porcupine, Alexander Gentry, who will become a Marvel staple. This book has sat across the throne as the single highest graded copy for many years and was part of the Doug Schmell Collection, which sold on Heritage on July 26, 2012.
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