Tales of Suspense #44
In "The Mad Pharoah!", a communist agent stranded in Africa after a lightning-struck plane crash is mistaken for a sky-god by a tribe guarding a massive wall against an unseen beast. Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this 1963 tale of suspense sees the desperate man forced to play the part of a divine protector—armed only with a lighter and a single bullet. The cover, by Jack Kirby with inks by Dick Ayers, captures the eerie mystery of the tribe’s ancient stronghold.
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A communist agent in Africa is supplying guns and explosives to tribesmen to encourage uprisings. When flying his plane to another group, he gets struck by lightning and ditches his plane near an unknown tribe. These natives are like the ones in King Kong who have built a huge wall to keep out some horrible beast. The agent uses his lighter and last bullet to convince them he is a sky-god, but they deposit him outside the wall, alone and unarmed, with instructions to use his divine powers to defeat their huge beast.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).