Strange Tales #90
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStrange Tales #90 (November 1961) marks the first appearance of Orrgo, one of the Atlas/early-Marvel era's alien conquerors who — unlike many of his disposable monster-story brethren — was later folded wholesale into Marvel Universe continuity and given an ongoing role across five decades of stories. The issue belongs to an extraordinary month in Marvel history: its cover date is shared with Fantastic Four #1, the very comic that launched the Marvel Age, making Orrgo a true transitional figure born at the exact moment the publisher pivoted from monster anthologies to interconnected superhero mythology. The story's twist ending — a circus gorilla defeats an omnipotent telepath through sheer animal indifference — is a self-aware, almost satirical piece of plotting that showcases the Lee-Lieber-Kirby team at the height of the monster-book formula, wringing irony out of the genre's own conventions. Decades later, Orrgo's post-retcon appearances in Defenders, the Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Avengers: Standoff confirmed that the character's premise had enough durability to survive the transition from standalone sci-fi fable to full Marvel canon.
In "Orrgo... The Unconquerable!", an alien conqueror with godlike telepathic and telekinetic powers descends on Earth, effortlessly overpowers human forces, and freezes Washington, DC in ice—only to meet an unexpected end at the hands of a gorilla. Written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, with dynamic art by Jack Kirby and inks by Dick Ayers, this 1961 Marvel classic blends sci-fi spectacle with a bizarre twist. The cover, penciled by Kirby and inked by George Klein, captures the moment of Orrgo’s shocking defeat.
In "Orrgo... The Unconquerable!", an alien conqueror from a race of telepathic and telekinetic beings arrives on Earth with devastating ease, overwhelming human forces and freezing Washington, DC in ice. But when he rests, a gorilla—unexpected and unprepared for—delivers the final blow, exposing a fatal flaw in his strategy.
In "A Thousand Years Later...", a scientist endures a thousand years of solitude as Earth’s population grows beyond control, outliving everyone he once knew. When the planet is finally abandoned, he remains behind with a young woman, becoming the last two souls on Earth—left to begin anew.
In the midst of a war against machines, a robot spy infiltrates human ranks, posing as a man named Jo. When the humans uncover the deception, they realize the spy was never a robot—Jo was a human in disguise all along.
In "Germ Warfare," a lone medical researcher aboard a remote boat experiments with a mysterious microbe, growing it to human size—only to find himself hunted by the very organism he unleashed. As the giant germ escapes to an isolated island to breed a legion of its kind, the threat escalates when a sudden atomic test wipes the island clean.
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The issue was released on newsstands on August 8, 1961, with a November 1961 cover date, edited by Stan Lee and scripted by Larry Lieber — Lee's brother and primary scripter for the monster-anthology line at this stage of Atlas/Marvel's evolution. Jack Kirby penciled the lead Orrgo story with inks by Dick Ayers, while backup features drew on the studio's full bullpen, including Steve Ditko and Don Heck. The anthology format of Strange Tales in this era followed a well-worn editorial template: a big Kirby monster splash opener, followed by one or two twist-ending sci-fi shorts, reflecting the influence of drive-in sci-fi movie culture that Marvel (then Atlas) had been mining since issue #68. One backup story in the issue is itself a reprint of material from Strange Tales of the Unusual #5, illustrating how actively Lee's office was recycling Atlas-era inventory during this transitional period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Orrgo (full name: a member of the alien Mentelleronite race), a 25-foot-tall extraterrestrial with planetary-scale telepathic and telekinetic powers, who debuted in the lead story 'Orrgo... The Unconquerable!'
- First appearance of the Mentelleronites, Orrgo's alien species, who intended to conquer Earth using Orrgo as their lone advance agent.
- The lead story was written by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, with Stan Lee as editor; the issue also features backup art by Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and Paul Reinman.
- The issue's cover date (November 1961) is the same month as Fantastic Four #1, placing Orrgo's debut at the precise cusp of the Marvel Age of Comics.
- The issue contains four stories: the Orrgo lead plus 'A Thousand Years Later...,' 'The Inhuman!,' and 'Germ Warfare'; one story is a reprint from Strange Tales of the Unusual #5.
- The lead story's ironic resolution — a circus gorilla named Jo-Jo kills the all-powerful Orrgo in his sleep because the alien never considered a non-human threat — became a defining example of the era's twist-ending monster formula.
- The Orrgo lead story was later reprinted in Fear #2 (January 1971) and Monster Menace #4, with the in-story date of Orrgo's arrival editorially updated in each reprint.
- Orrgo was subsequently retconned into Earth-616 continuity, returning as a pawn of the Headmen in Defenders (vol. 2) #9–10, and later joining the Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a team member and intelligence operative.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Strange Tales of the Unusual #5 (1956)
Reprinted in Amazing Stories of Suspense #15 (1964), Creepy Worlds #26 (1964), Fantasy Masterpieces #6 (1966), Astounding Stories #35 (1968), Chamber of Darkness #8 (1970), Fear #2 (1971), Super Giant #[nn] (1973), Vengeur #11 (1974), Doctor Who Weekly #39 (1980), Astounding Stories #179 (1985), Monster Menace #4 (1994), Monsters Unleashed Prelude #[nn] (2017), The A-Z of Marvel Monsters #[nn] (2017), Monsters: The Marvel Monsterbus by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby #2 (2017), Marvel Masters of Suspense: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko Omnibus #1 (2019), Marvel: August 1961 Omnibus #[nn] (2021), Marvel: August 1961 #[nn] (2024), Astounding Stories #38, Die Gruft von Graf Dracula #20, Uncanny Tales #35
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