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Cover: Rich Buckler & Klaus Janson

Astonishing Tales #33

Name: Astonishing Tales #33
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jan 1976 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

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“Reflections in a Crimson Eye!”

★ 1st appearance — Hellinger

About this Issue

Astonishing Tales #33 is the pivotal turning point of Marvel's original Bronze Age Deathlok saga, introducing Hellinger — the alias adopted by Harlan Ryker, brother of arch-villain Major Simon Ryker and one of the surgeons who originally built Luther Manning into the Deathlok cyborg — in his very first appearance, making the issue a key node in the mythology of Earth-7484. The same issue also brings in a clone of Luther Manning's pre-cyborg self, a haunting story device that forces Deathlok to confront the irreversibility of his transformation when Hellinger confirms that too little of Manning's original brain remains for a transfer back into the cloned body. Arriving near the end of the Astonishing Tales run, the issue crystallised the series' central tension between human identity and technological dehumanisation at a moment when Bronze Age Marvel was pushing those themes further than any superhero title had previously dared.

writer Bill Mantlo · writer, artist Rich Buckler · inker, colorist Klaus Janson · letterer Irving Watanabe · letterer Beth Bleckley · cover Rich Buckler, Klaus Janson

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $8

CGC 9.8 · 3 in census $224*

CGC 9.6 · 9 in census $66

CGC 9.4 · 13 in census $38*

CGC 9.2 · 8 in census $27*

CGC 9.0 · 6 in census $23

CGC 8.5 · 6 in census $21

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CGC 8.0 · 5 in census $20

CGC 7.5 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 · 1 in census $20

CGC 6.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 none in existence

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $20*

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CGC 3 $35 1 listing CBCS 6.5 $48.6 1 listing Raw — MINT $24.99 1 listing

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More listings for this title

VF $7.75 VF+ $9.99 Marvel Comics Group Astonishing Tales featuring Deathlok the Demolisher 33 JAN $9.5 Astonishing Tales DEATHLOK The Demolisher #33 Jan 1976 Marvel Comic Book Vintage $15.99

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History

By the time issue #33 reached stands — later than planned, with Mike's Amazing World of Comics placing its actual on-sale date as October 14, 1975, versus a scheduled September 23rd release — the Deathlok feature had been plagued by scheduling problems severe enough that Marvel had already resorted to a full-reprint issue (#29) and a half-reprint issue (#31). Issue #33 marked a creative stabilisation: creator Rich Buckler retained the plotting and pencilling duties while Bill Mantlo stepped in to script and Klaus Janson handled both inks and colours, including the cover inks — a lean three-person team that would stay intact for the remaining issues of the run. The story's title, 'Reflections in a Crimson Eye!', takes its cue from Carson McCullers's 1941 novel Reflections in a Golden Eye rather than from the series' usual rock-music-lyric habit for chapter titles.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover date: January 1976; actual on-sale date: approximately October 14, 1975 (per Mike's Amazing World of Comics).
Story title: 'Reflections in a Crimson Eye!' (the issue also carries the internal banner title 'The God Machine!' in some indexing sources).
Creative team: plot and pencils by Rich Buckler, script by Bill Mantlo, inks and colours by Klaus Janson — Janson also inked the Buckler-drawn cover.
First appearance of Hellinger (Harlan Ryker): cyberneticist, brother of Major Simon Ryker, co-creator of the Deathlok project, and would-be architect of 'Homo Ascendant' — a world remade in the image of superior cyborgs. His first name, Harlan, was not revealed in this issue itself but was later supplied by the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #3.
First appearance of the Luther Manning Clone (sometimes catalogued as Luther Manning II): a living genetic duplicate of Manning's pre-cyborg body, whose existence cruelly confirms that Deathlok cannot reclaim his humanity — too little of his original brain survives for a mind transfer.
This issue concludes with the completion of Major Simon Ryker's transformation into the 'Savior Machine,' his mind now fully merged with the Omni-Computer — a plot development directly setting up the endgame of the Astonishing Tales Deathlok run.
The issue contains Marvel Value Stamp Series B #3 (Captain America).
Reprinted in: a French black-and-white reframed edition (Arédit-Artima's Frankenstein #13, 1979); Star Wars Weekly (Marvel UK) #106 (March 5, 1980, pages 1–6 only); Biblioteca Marvel: Deathlok (Planeta DeAgostini, 2003); Marvel Masterworks: Deathlok Vol. 1 (November 2009); and Deathlok the Demolisher: The Complete Collection (October 2014).