Cover: John Buscema & John Verpoorten

Astonishing Tales #2

Oct 1970 · Marvel · 0.15 USD

📊 ~17,755 copies sold its debut month

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★ 1st appearance — Garokk

About this Issue

Astonishing Tales #2 earns its place in Marvel history primarily as the debut of Garokk the Petrified Man — a centuries-old British sailor transformed by a Savage Land elixir into a living stone deity — who would go on to battle the X-Men in one of Chris Claremont and John Byrne's most celebrated Uncanny X-Men storylines. The issue also marks the first appearance of the Faceless One, the alien antagonist who complicates Doctor Doom's grip on Latveria, deepening the Doom/Rudolfo political chess game that ran through the title's early issues. Together these two debuts make the issue a noteworthy creative node: within a single 32-page split book, Roy Thomas introduced enduring Savage Land mythology on one side and expanded Latverian court intrigue on the other, seeding story threads that later writers mined for decades.

Contains 2 stories

Frenzy on the Fortieth Floor!

10 pp · Jungle

In "Frenzy on the Fortieth Floor!", Kraven the Hunter makes a ruthless move, targeting Zabu and felling Ka-Zar to seize his loyal companion and bring him back to New York. Determined to reclaim his friend, Ka-Zar follows Kraven’s trail into the city’s towering heights, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown.

Revolution!

10 pp · Superhero

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $10

CGC 9.8 · 9 in census $425*

CGC 9.6 · 23 in census $108

CGC 9.4 · 34 in census $73

CGC 9.2 · 23 in census $53

CGC 9.0 · 17 in census $40

CGC 8.5 · 10 in census $40*

Show all 15 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 8 in census $40

CGC 7.5 · 6 in census $28*

CGC 7.0 · 8 in census $23*

CGC 6.5 · 9 in census $22

CGC 6.0 · 7 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 · 4 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

Astonishing Tales launched in 1970 as part of Marvel's revival of the split-book format, pairing Ka-Zar and Doctor Doom as co-leads in roughly ten-page stories apiece. Issue #2 continued the Ka-Zar half under writer Roy Thomas and penciler Jack Kirby (with inker Sam Grainger), picking up directly from the Kraven conflict seeded in X-Men #63, while the Doom half — scripted by Thomas and drawn by Wally Wood, a veteran EC Comics artist who had also been a defining early voice on Daredevil — escalated the Latverian rebellion arc Thomas had launched in issue #1. Stan Lee served as editor-in-chief for both features, and several interior panels in the Ka-Zar story were redrawn by Marie Severin, a detail later documented by the Grand Comics Database.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Garokk (the Petrified Man), created by Roy Thomas and Jack Kirby — a British sailor rendered immortal and stone-bodied by a Savage Land potion, who later became a recurring foe of Ka-Zar and the X-Men.
First appearance of the Faceless One (Kt'kn), an alien antagonist allied with Latverian pretender Prince Rudolfo against Doctor Doom, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Wally Wood.
Ka-Zar story ('Frenzy on the Fortieth Floor!'): script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Sam Grainger; Ka-Zar tracks Kraven the Hunter to New York City and rescues his saber-toothed tiger Zabu.
Doctor Doom story ('Revolution!'): script by Roy Thomas, art by Wally Wood; Prince Rudolfo escapes Doom's dungeons and leads a castle assault aided by the Faceless One and the rogue android Doomsman.
Cover art by John Buscema (pencils) with inks later corrected in the Grand Comics Database record from Frank Giacoia to another credited inker; the issue also exists in a British variant edition.
Several interior Ka-Zar panels were redrawn by Marie Severin (page 4, panel 3 and page 5, panels 2–3), a production detail documented by the GCD.
Both stories have been reprinted multiple times: the Ka-Zar feature in Marvel Masterworks: Ka-Zar Vol. 1 (2013) and a Spanish limited edition (2015); the Doom feature in Essential Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (2004), Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Rarities (2014), and the Doctor Doom: The Book of Doom Omnibus (2022).
Garokk went on to appear in Uncanny X-Men #115–116 (1978) by Claremont and Byrne, X-Men: The Animated Series (voiced by an uncredited actor), and the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (voiced by Dwight Schultz).