Strange Tales #75
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStrange Tales #75 sits at a fascinating crossroads in Marvel's pre-superhero monster-anthology era, packing four distinct stories into a single issue that collectively introduced characters whose shadows stretched far into the Marvel Universe. Its lead story marks the first appearance of Taboo, an extraterrestrial swamp creature who returned just two issues later, while the back-matter tale 'I Made the Hulk Live' gave birth to a robot-armored villain whose very name would later become a continuity puzzle once Stan Lee launched Bruce Banner's Hulk in 1962. Most remarkably, a later reprint retconned the unnamed assistant in that robot story into an early Hank Pym — a editorial sleight-of-hand officially codified in the Marvel Handbook — making this issue a retroactive piece of Avengers history. The issue exemplifies how Strange Tales' monster-anthology format served as an unplanned incubator for the building blocks of the Marvel Universe.
In "Taboo! The Thing From Murky Swamp!", a cursed totem awakens deep in the swamp, unleashing terror on a Native American reservation and the nearby town. Written by Stan Lee and illustrated with eerie precision by Steve Ditko—whose inks and colors bring the nightmare to life—this 1960 Marvel classic blends folklore and horror in a story that’s as haunting as it is unforgettable. The cover, a dynamic collaboration by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, captures the moment the swamp’s secret rises from the shadows.
In "Taboo! The Thing From Murky Swamp!" from Strange Tales #75, a stranded alien creature from another world manipulates a visiting adventure writer, luring him into retrieving Earth's scientific knowledge for its own dark ends—only for the creature's fate to be sealed by a hidden H-bomb buried among the very records it sought.
In "The Return of the Totem!" from Strange Tales #75 (1960), a cursed artifact awakens in the heart of a remote reservation, unleashing terror on both the isolated community and a nearby town. When two convicts stumble upon the totem, their fear ignites a deadly rampage—only for the chieftain to risk everything to stop it, using a desperate potion that claims his life.
In "Doomsday!" from Strange Tales #75, two scientists grapple with the terrifying consequences of their experiment when a deadly gas escapes, threatening all life on Earth. As an eerie wind carries the poison across the globe, one man begins to question his rationalist beliefs, swayed by the uncanny forces at play.
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Published with a June 1960 cover date and placed on sale January 29, 1960 under editor Stan Lee, the issue drew on an unusually deep creative bench for a single anthology comic: Jack Kirby penciled the cover and the lead Taboo story (inked by Dick Ayers), Steve Ditko co-inked the cover and drew 'The Return of the Totem,' Paul Reinman handled 'Doomsday,' and Don Heck illustrated 'I Made the Hulk Live,' with Stan Goldberg on colors and Art Simek on lettering throughout. The indicia lists the publisher as Zenith Publishing Corp., the corporate shell Marvel used at the time, a reminder that the issue predates the official 'Marvel Comics' branding by about a year. No specific editorial notes about the issue's creation survive in the open record, but its production is consistent with the accelerated, assembly-line workflow Lee and Kirby maintained across multiple anthology titles during this period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: June 1960; on-sale date: January 29, 1960 (confirmed by Library of Congress Copyright Office records).
- First appearance of Taboo, an alien swamp creature who disguises itself as a mud monster in the Brazilian Amazon and attempts to steal Earth's scientific knowledge — Taboo returns in Strange Tales #77.
- Contains 'I Made the Hulk Live,' featuring a robot suit called 'the Hulk' worn by scientist Albert Poole — a full year before the Bruce Banner Hulk debuted.
- When 'I Made the Hulk Live' was reprinted in Tomb of Darkness #22, the robot was renamed Grutan and Poole's assistant Blake was renamed Pym — a retcon officially recognized in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z, making this issue a retroactive early appearance of Hank Pym.
- Modern reprints of the issue similarly rename the robot Grutan to avoid confusion with the Hulk name.
- Creative team spans four pencilers in one issue: Jack Kirby (Taboo story and cover), Steve Ditko (The Return of the Totem and cover inks), Paul Reinman (Doomsday), and Don Heck (I Made the Hulk Live); Stan Lee scripted all stories.
- The lead Taboo story has been reprinted at least five times: in Spellbound (L. Miller & Son) #20 (1962), Where Monsters Dwell #2 (March 1970), Weird Wonder Tales #13 (December 1975), Monster Masterworks (1989), and the Marvel Monsterbus (2017).
- A UK edition exists with an identical interior but a 9d cover price, consistent with Marvel's British distribution practice of the era.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Journey into Unknown Worlds #41 (1956)
Reprinted in Spellbound #20 (1962), Amazing Stories of Suspense #5 (1963), Where Monsters Dwell #2 (1970), Weird Wonder Tales #13 (1975), Tomb of Darkness #22 (1976), Monster Masterworks #[nn] (1989), Monster Menace #4 (1994), Monsters: The Marvel Monsterbus by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby #1 (2017), Marvel Masters of Suspense: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko Omnibus #1 (2019), True Believers: Hulk - The Other Hulks #1 (2019), Amazing Stories of Suspense #83
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