Comic Browser:

#75
#76
#77
#78
#79
#80
#81
#82
#83
#84
#85
#86
#87
#88
#89
#90
#91
#92
#93
#94
#95
#96
#97
#98
Selector

Tales to Astonish #80

Jun 1966
Stan Lee, Bill Everett

Tales to Astonish #80 cover

Story Name:

They Dwell In The Depths!


Synopsis

Tales to Astonish #80 synopsis by Julio Molina-Muscara
Rating: 3 stars

Looking old and feeling weak, Tyrannus wants to drink again from the Enchanted Well to recover his youth. But the magic waters are under the custody of the Mole Man.

Tyrannus tricks the Hulk to aid him, offering him a feast. Instead of attacking the Mole Man, Hulk rests. So Tyrannus pressures the Hulk by kidnapping Betty Ross, Rick Jones, and Glenn Talbot. Still, the Hulk doesn’t care!

The Mole Man attacks Tyrannus, and Hulk goes to his aid.

The Octo-Sapien, a giant robot, fights the Hulk but it explodes when it falls along with the Hulk into the well of enchanted waters. Bruce Banner emerges from it, unharmed.

--


 

Review / Commentaries


Tales to Astonish #80 Review by (May 7, 2024)

Review: Hmmm, again Hulk is captured by a bad guy who wants to exploit his power for his own ends; these random encounters should surely compel Hulk to wear a disguise…maybe clown makeup. At first, Tyrannus’ request is reasonable: he wants to stay alive so he needs to get to the magic fountain. However, since he’s a bad guy (the name should have tipped us off), he has to kidnap Hulk’s friends and try extortion though, to be fair, gentle persuasion was looking unlikely to work. But then extortion fails as Hulk totally freaks out at the sight of his supporting cast and flies into a rage to provide an action-filled second half to the tale as Hulk smashes all sorts of Mole Man’s forces. The climax has him bashing that hilariously weird blue robot octopus and falling into the Fountain of Youth. There is an explosion and there comes forth—not Baby Hulk but Bruce Banner! Complete with his glasses! Early Marvel was a hoot and a half. Not as polished as DC but a lot more reckless fun!

And the Subby story can be summed up very succinctly as: Namor fights giant orange fish man. And what a fight it is! This all-action issue handles everything very competently for maximum thrills. And the coda with Krang trapping Dorma and carrying her off sets up the ensuing story arc nicely.  

Comments: Hulk story: Part one of two parts. Tyrannus previously clashed with Hulk in INCREDIBLE HULK #5. Mole Man goes way back to FANTASTIC FOUR #1; herein begins his longtime feud with Tyrannus. Hulk changes back to Bruce Banner for the first time since issue #70.  

Subby story: Part four of four parts. Last appearance of the Behemoth in this title; Marvel Database identifies the creature with the monster in DEFENDERS #54-55, though this is debatable. Electric eels are native to South America so it is unlikely they could be summoned to the Gates of Atlantis so quickly, though, to be fair, said gates could be within a mile or two of the South American coast. Gene Colan credited under his real name from now on.

The letters page includes one by a Larry Brody who may be the future Marvel animation writer of that name.



> Tales to Astonish comic book info and issue index

Elektra

This comic is in the following collection:
ad
Collecting INCREDIBLE HULK (1962) #1-6, TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) #100, INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) #102, and material from TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) #59-99 and #101.

Excelsioring your collection:
Statue Hulk (Battle of New York) 1/10 - Infinity Saga - BDS Art Scale - Iron Studios
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)
sign in to view this special content

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Bill Everett
Bill Everett
Unknown
Gene Colan (Cover Penciler)
Bill Everett (Cover Inker)
Stan Goldberg (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Layouts: Jack Kirby. Letterer: Art Simek.

Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.



The Marvel Heroes Library is a fan Marvel Comics site
Version 14.8.25 (Nov 22, 2024. VS22)

Copyright © 1997-2024 Julio Molina-Muscara (creator, webmaster)
Site content is a collective effort by the MHL team and Marvel aficionados

Characters are copyright © Marvel or their respective owners. All portions of this Marvel fansite that are subject to copyright are licensed under a creative commons attribution 3.0 unported license All rights reserved