Tales to Astonish #81, July 1966 [published 5 Apr 66]

Hulk: “The Stage is Set!” - Script: Stan Lee; Layouts: Jack Kirby; Art: Bill Everett; Lettering: Sam Rosen

The Secret Empire is introduced.

So time is actually spent on the antagonist’s civilian identity. That is a nice twist. His name is Fred.

Bruce seems to know that the Hulk saw that Rick, Betty and Maj. Talbott was captured. This is a twist.

I don’t have a problem with Boomerang having a gaudy costume. It’s very Bill Everett and just a little bit out of the ordinary.

Page 7: “How can I shoot a man simply because he broke our steering wheel?!” Quite easily actually. Real military and police don’t operate on the level of morality that Stan assigns to them.

Page 8: Well, Maj. Talbott certainly wasn’t dependable, was he?

Page 9: Did you notice that Bruce Banner has a 5 o’clock shadow, but the Hulk doesn’t!

Sub-Mariner: “When a Monarch Goes Mad!” - Script: Stan Lee; Art: Gene Colan; Inking: Dick Ayers; Lettering: Sam Rosen

Oh joy! Namor is throwing a temper tantrum. You know, I have conversations with my son about controlling his temper.

Page 3: Namor is sort of the anti-King Solomon, don’t you think?

So, do you consider Lord Vashti to be an enabler? The excuses he makes for Namor only appear in thought balloons.

Page 6, panel 1: this is the beginning of the sort of anatomical distortion we see in Colan’s art that really grates on me. He’s proven previously that he knows how to draw better anatomy than this, but he seems to not want to bother. Do you think Namor’s hips are realistically drawn?

Page 7, panel 4:
Aha! The Observa-Coils are how Krang and Namor had been able to view anything under the sea.

Page 9, panel 3: Is it me or does it look like Krang’s helmet has an open book glued to it.

Again, my complaint is that these over-large panels don’t give us enough story; not enough happens.

In the lettercol someone asks for a “Tales of Atlantis” series.

Anarchy and Chaos are the natural state of the human race. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And Chaos must always ultimately triumph.