Tales to Astonish

Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish #3 (May 1959). Cover art by Jack Kirby and Chris Rule.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	monthly
Format	Ongoing
Publication date	Jan. 1959 - March 1968 (becomes The Incredible Hulk vol. 2)
Number of issues	101
Main character(s)	Ant-Man/Giant-Man & Wasp Hulk Sub-Mariner
Creative team
Writer(s)	Ernie Hart, Al Hartley, Leon Lazarus, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber
Penciller(s)	Dick Ayers, Carl Burgos, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, Bob Powell, Paul Reinman
Inker(s)	George Roussos

Tales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.

The primary title bearing that name was published from January 1959 to March 1968. It began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, then featured superheroes during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books. It became The Incredible Hulk with issue #102 (April 1968). Its sister title was Tales of Suspense.

A second Marvel comic bearing the name, reprinting stories of the undersea ruler the Sub-Mariner, ran 14 issues from December 1979 to January 1981. A superhero one-shot followed in 1994.

Tales to Astonish and its sister publication Tales of Suspense were both launched with a January 1959 cover date. The early run of the first volume of Tales to Astonish ran from issues #1-34 (Jan. 1959 - Aug. 1962), initially under Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel; it fell under the Marvel banner with issue #21 (July 1961), the first with a cover sporting the early "MC" box. It contained science-fiction mystery/suspense stories written primarily by editor-in-chief Stan Lee and his brother, Larry Lieber, with artists including Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Don Heck and Paul Reinman. One such story, "The Man In The Ant Hill", in #27 (Jan. 1962), introduced the character Henry Pym, who would be repurposed eight issues later as the superhero Ant-Man. Anthological stories continued to appear as backups until Tales to Astonish became a superhero "split book" in 1964, when it began featuring one story each of Giant-Man and the Hulk.