Tales of Suspense #52

A Cold War assassin in an Iron Man book

Tales of Suspense began with a January 1959 cover date as a science-fiction anthology and became the home of Iron Man with issue #39 in 1963. Issue #52, cover-dated April 1964, went on sale on January 10, 1964, at 12 cents for 36 pages, 10 of them paid advertising.

Its lead story, 'The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!', sends the Black Widow and her partner Boris to America to kill Anton Vanko, the original Crimson Dynamo, for defecting, and to kill Iron Man and Tony Stark as well. Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev appears in the story giving the orders. By the end Vanko is dead and Boris Turgenev has become a new Crimson Dynamo.

The issue also carries a five-page 'Tales of the Watcher' backup, a five-page suspense story called 'The Seance!' by Larry Lieber and Chic Stone, and a one-page text story.

Rico, Heck and the woman in the fur coat

Stan Lee plotted the story and edited the book. The script was by Don Rico, credited under the pseudonym N. Korok, and the story was penciled and inked by Don Heck, who designed the Black Widow. Sam Rosen lettered it. Jack Kirby penciled the cover, with Paul Reinman inks and Stan Goldberg colors, showing Iron Man fighting the Crimson Dynamo while the Black Widow stands behind in a fur coat under the caption 'Introducing: the gorgeous new menace of... the Black Widow!'

The first Natasha was no superhero. She was written as a seductress spying on Tony Stark for the Soviet government, one of several Soviet villains Iron Man faced in the 1960s, and was portrayed as dazzled by Stark's looks and wealth and easily distracted by jewelry. Comics historian Brian Cronin has suggested her name nods to Natasha Fatale of the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons.

She had no costume at first. Only in Tales of Suspense #64 (1965) did the Soviets give her one, a blue fishnet bodysuit with a cape and a mask modeled on Hawkeye's, along with wall-clinging gloves and the weaponized bracelets that became her signature. She was the villain in five Iron Man stories within twelve issues.

From villain to Avenger to movie lead

In The Avengers #29 and #30 (1966) she manipulated Hawkeye and others, then broke free of Soviet brainwashing and turned to the heroes' side, motivated by her love for Hawkeye. In The Amazing Spider-Man #86 (1970) John Romita Sr. gave her the black costume and long red hair now identified with her. She became Daredevil's co-star with Daredevil #81 in 1971 and appeared with the Avengers in #111 and #112 in 1973.

For most of her history she was a supporting player, and she was not well known in popular culture until Scarlett Johansson played her in Iron Man 2 (2010). Johansson went on to play the role through Black Widow (2021), and the films' emphasis on her as a spy reshaped how the comics portrayed her.

Tales of Suspense itself went on to share its pages between Iron Man and Captain America from issue #59 in November 1964 and became Captain America with issue #100 in April 1968.

Copies and sales

Marvel's statement of ownership, printed in this very issue, gives rare hard numbers for the title: from October 1962 to September 1963 (issues #37 to #48), Tales of Suspense averaged 318,952 copies printed and 188,245 sold per issue. Issue #48 itself had a print run of 315,053 and paid circulation of 189,110. No separate figure exists for #52, and no CGC census count was verified for this page.

The best copies have sold for five figures. A CGC 9.6 from the Pacific Coast pedigree sold for $15,000 in 2014, the highest-graded copy a price guide reports as having sold. In April 2023 a CGC 9.4 with off-white to white pages realized $28,800 at auction, the highest price verified here, nearly double the earlier 9.6 sale. Low-grade copies trade in the hundreds of dollars.

How to identify it

A first printing is cover-dated April 1964, priced at 12 cents, and carries an indicia naming Vista Publications Inc., a monthly frequency, Comics Code approval and The Eastern Color Printing Co. of Waterbury, Connecticut, as printer. The statement of ownership shares a page with a house ad headed 'Two More Triumphs for Marvel..!'

A British edition of #52 exists and is tracked as a separate variant, and the Black Widow story has been reprinted more than two dozen times, so the cover date, price and indicia are the checks that matter.

The numbers

Print run

Title average 318,952 printed per issue, October 1962-September 1963 (issues #37-48), per the statement of ownership in this issue; no figure for #52 itself

Paid circulation

Title average 188,245 per issue over the same period

CGC census

No dated census count verified

Pages

36, including 10 pages of advertising

Cover price

12 cents

Timeline

1. Jan 1959

   Tales of Suspense launches as a science-fiction anthology (cover date).

2. Mar 1963

   Iron Man debuts in Tales of Suspense #39 (cover date).

3. Jan 10, 1964

   Tales of Suspense #52 goes on sale, cover-dated April 1964, introducing the Black Widow.

4. Nov 1964

   Captain America begins sharing the book with Iron Man in #59.

5. 1965

   The Black Widow gets her first costume in Tales of Suspense #64.

6. 1966

   She turns to the heroes' side at the end of The Avengers #29-30.

7. Apr 1968

   Tales of Suspense becomes Captain America with issue #100.

8. 1970

   John Romita Sr. redesigns her with the black costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #86.

9. 1971

   She joins Daredevil as a co-star in Daredevil #81.

10. 2010

    Scarlett Johansson first plays the Black Widow, in Iron Man 2.

11. 2014

    A CGC 9.6 Pacific Coast pedigree copy sells for $15,000.

12. 2021

    Black Widow, Johansson's solo film, is released.

13. Apr 2, 2023

    A CGC 9.4 copy realizes $28,800 at auction.

The world in 1964

• Jan 8, 1964

  President Lyndon Johnson declares a War on Poverty in his first State of the Union address.

• Jan 11, 1964

  The U.S. Surgeon General reports that smoking may be hazardous to health.

• Jan 28, 1964

  Soviet fighters shoot down a U.S. Air Force training jet that strayed into East Germany, killing its three crew.

• Feb 9, 1964

  The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show before an estimated 73 million viewers.

• Feb 25, 1964

  Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.

• Mar 9, 1964

  The first Ford Mustang is built in Dearborn, Michigan.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Tales of Suspense #52 is number 87 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (57 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Nikita Khrushchev appears in the story, personally sending the Black Widow on her mission.
• The Black Widow's first costume was not black: it was a blue fishnet bodysuit, introduced in 1965.
• Her name may nod to Natasha Fatale of the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, according to historian Brian Cronin.
• The issue that introduced her prints Marvel's own circulation figures for the title.
• The scripter is credited as 'N. Korok,' a pseudonym of Don Rico.
• The same issue kills off the original Crimson Dynamo and introduces his replacement.