Tales to Astonish #36
In *Tales to Astonish* #36, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko deliver a chilling tale with a mythic edge in "The Challenge of Comrade X!"—a lone man’s search for the elusive Pan in a quiet village where the locals speak of him with reverence, but refuse to guide him. As his frustration grows and his suspicions turn to doubt, a cryptic warning from a bartender leads him to a grove under the full moon, where the truth of Pan’s existence is revealed in ways that unsettle more than just his nerves. The cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers captures the eerie tension, while Ditko’s distinctive art and Stan Goldberg’s coloring deepen the story’s haunting atmosphere.
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A man arrives in a small village looking for Pan, whom all the villagers affirm does exist. He hopes to cash in somehow, but becomes frustrated when no one will tell him where to find Pan, and he begins to think they are just scamming the tourists. He threatens to rough up a bartender and the bartender directs him to a nearby grove under the full moon. The man goes, and does encounter Pan, but is so unsettled by the encounter he immediately leaves town. It turns out the bartender has cloven hooves.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).