Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery #1

Bronson is a grave robber and a murderer. To avoid being captured by the authorities, he accepts a job as a deep-sea diver on a private yacht. Working for a captain named Mister Nash, Bronson discovers that the ship's crew have located a cache of black diamonds at the bottom of the South Pacific. He decides to murder the crew and keep the diamonds for himself. Donning a heavy diving suit, he blows up the yacht and swims to the ocean floor for the diamonds. Securing his treasure, Bronson slowly walks until he reaches a nearby island. The island is populated with superstitious natives who mistakenly believe that Bronson is some sort of water god. Dubbing him "Iron-Head", they hold him in high regard and keep a steady vigil over him. Bronson is afraid to remove his helmet, because if he reveals himself as a normal human, the natives will kill him. He holds out as long as he can, but within a few days, he begins to fall weak with hunger. The natives will not let him out of their sight, and he refuses to expose himself. Finally, one of the natives cuts off his head with an ax, revealing that he was never truly a god at all.

Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).