Tales of Suspense #44
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeTales of Suspense #44 is notable as the site of Tony Stark's first time-travel adventure in Marvel Comics history, a storytelling device the character would revisit repeatedly over the decades. The issue also marks the sole appearance of the villain Hatap, the Mad Pharaoh, whose debut-and-death-in-one-issue structure was a common anthology-era economy that nevertheless left a hieroglyphic record of Iron Man in ancient Egypt embedded in Marvel's continuity. Published just one month before the high-profile Elizabeth Taylor Cleopatra film reached theaters in June 1963, the issue captures Marvel's early habit of riffing on pop-cultural moments to drive reader interest in its still-young superhero line. As the final issue before Tales of Suspense #45 introduced Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan and began building Iron Man's supporting cast in earnest, #44 effectively closes out the character's brief, villain-of-the-month introductory phase.
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.
When the Mad Pharoah [sic] Hatap awakens after two millennia, he drags Iron Man [Tony Stark] into the past to reignite his ancient vendetta against Cleopatra VII. Now caught between history and heroism, Stark must help Cleopatra defend her reign from a pharaoh reborn in fury.
In the quiet tension of a damaged space yacht, Darius Wentworth faces a harrowing choice: one passenger must die so the rest can live. With a calculated lie from the captain, the crew’s true nature is tested, revealing who among them will sacrifice themselves—or who will try to survive at any cost.
In the heart of Africa, a communist agent crash-lands near a mysterious tribe who live behind a massive wall, guarding against a terrifying beast they believe comes from the sky. With only a lighter and one bullet, Serge Plotski must play the part of a sky-god to survive—though the tribe’s faith may be his only shield against the darkness beyond the wall.
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The issue was produced under the Marvel bullpen's standard early-1960s division of labor: Stan Lee supplied the plot, veteran scripter Robert Bernstein — working under the house pseudonym 'R. Berns' — wrote the dialogue and captions, and Don Heck handled the 13-page interior art. Bernstein was a prolific journeyman writer who had already established the mythos of Aquaman at DC and was simultaneously scripting some of the earliest Iron Man and Thor stories for Lee during this period; he would script the very next issue as well, co-creating Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan with Lee and Heck. The cover — depicting Iron Man sweeping Cleopatra into the air — was penciled by Jack Kirby with inks by Dick Ayers, a pairing typical of the book's covers at this stage.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Main story title: 'The Mad Pharaoh!' (also rendered 'The Mad Pharoah!' in the indicia) — a 13-page Iron Man feature.
- First and only appearance of Hatap, the Mad Pharaoh, an ancient Egyptian sorcerer-king who had survived 2,000 years in self-induced suspended animation; he dies within the same issue.
- Tony Stark's first time-travel story in Marvel Comics: Hatap coerces Stark into traveling back to ancient Egypt via a magical 'Chariot of Time,' where Iron Man sides with Cleopatra against Hatap's army and a Roman invasion force.
- Credits: plot by Stan Lee; script by Robert Bernstein (as 'R. Bern'); interior pencils and inks by Don Heck; cover pencils by Jack Kirby, cover inks by Dick Ayers; edited by Stan Lee.
- The issue contains two additional short anthology stories alongside the Iron Man feature: 'One of Us Must Die!' (script Lee/Lieber, art Larry Lieber/Paul Reinman) and 'I Come From the Sky!'
- Iron Man is depicted in the original all-gold armor throughout — the same suit introduced in Tales of Suspense #40 before the transition to the red-and-gold design in #48.
- The story was later reprinted as part of the Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 1 collection, which gathers the earliest Iron Man tales from Tales of Suspense.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Strange Stories of Suspense #11 (1956)
Reprinted in Creepy Worlds #36 (1964), Marvel Collectors' Item Classics #7 (1967), Fantastic! #8 (1967), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #58 (1974), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #59 (1974), Titan Pocket Book #3 (1980), Star Wars Weekly #108 (1980), Marvel Masterworks #20 (1992), Essential Iron Man #1 (2000), Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man #1 (2003), Biblioteca Marvel: Iron Man #1 (2005), The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus #1 (2008), Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man #1 (2010), Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #4 (2012), Marvel Famous Firsts: 75th Anniversary Masterworks Slipcase Set #8 (2014), Iron Man Epic Collection #1 (2014), Marvel Masters of Suspense: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko Omnibus #2 (2019), Coleção Clássica Marvel #8 (2021), Biblioteca Marvel #6 (2023), Biblioteca Marvel: El Invencible Iron Man #1 (2023), The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus #1 [Second Edition] (2023), Marvel Origins #6 (2023), Creepy Worlds #68, Der Eiserne #6
Key issues in Tales of Suspense
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