Comics:Tales to Astonish Vol 1 60

From Marvel Database

"The Beasts of Berlin"

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Tales to Astonish Vol 1 #60
October, 1964

Writers

Stan Lee

Pencilers

Dick Ayres

Inkers

Paul Reinman

Letterers

Art Simek

"The Incredible Hulk!"

Writers

Stan Lee

Pencilers

Steve Ditko

Inkers

George Bell

Letterers

Sam Rosen

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Tales to Astonish #59

Tales to Astonish #61

Appearing in "The Beasts of Berlin"

Featured Characters:

• Giant-Man
• Wasp

Supporting Characters:

Villains:

• Beasts of Berlin (First appearance)

Other Characters:

• Maria Troyvana Pym (In flashback)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "The Beasts of Berlin"

In a bad mood, Giant-Man chases his fan club members out of his headquarters. When the Wasp inquires what's wrong, Giant-Man explains that his friend, F.B.I. agent Lee Kearns has been captured by communists in East Berlin. Giant-Man plans to go and rescue his friend, but refuses to allow the Wasp to travel with him because his late-wife was murdered the last time he was in a communist country. He briefly explains the death of his late wife to the Wasp so that she could understand why she is to stay behind.
Arriving in West Berlin, Giant-Man crosses the Berlin Wall by shrinking down to ant-size, and with the aid of local ants begins searching for Kearns. Finding him in a communist prison, Giant-Man has his ants chase Lee's interrogator out of the room. Revealing himself to Kearns, Giant-Man is informed that the communists have developed a weapon that increases the intelligence of apes and that they plan to use it to turn them into intelligent weapons to use against the free world. Busting Lee out of his prison cell, Giant-Man battles one of these "Beasts of Berlin" in order for them to escape.
Later, Lee brings Giant-Man to the building where the ray is being stored. Inside, the communist soldiers have received orders to create as many Beasts of Berlin as possible. Just then Giant-Man storms in and has to battle an army of the intelligent apes. Shrinking down to ant-size, he gets away from the apes, and manages to train the weapon on the soldiers, reverting their intelligence to that of apes.
Giant-Man then saves Lee from the apes, and destroys the weapon before the two can escape back to East Berlin, smashing through the Berlin Wall in order to do so. With Lee free and the communist plot foiled, Giant-Man returns to America, and relates his story to the Wasp.

Appearing in "The Incredible Hulk!"

Featured Characters:

• Hulk (Bruce Banner)

Supporting Characters:

• General Ross
• Betty Ross

Villains:

• The Chameleon (He's in the shadows in this issue, his true identity isn't revealed until Tales to Astonish #62)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "The Incredible Hulk!"

Our story begins in a hidden cave in the New Mexico desert, where the rampaging Hulk is once again going through the process of reverting into his alter ego: Bruce Banner. After the transformation is complete, Banner begins to wonder if the Hulk is his true self and wonders if he'll ever be free of his curse.
Later at the military rocket base, General Ross is complaining to his daughter Betty about Banner's tardiness and that the new robot (which is supposed to study nuclear explosions at close proximity) he just built is likely a dud. Banner shortly arrives, nobody knowing that there is a spy in their midst. General Ross scolds Banner for being late to work on the robot, and Betty asks Bruce to confide in her the reasons he is so frequently absent (a request he denies.) Banner soon begins working on the robot again, but his thoughts turn to the Hulk and the nature of his transformations. Banner works through the day until General Ross returns again and tells Banner that he must have the robot finished and ready for testing the next day.
Working through the night to get the robot finish, Banner hears somebody moving around in the outside hall, finds somebody there fleeing the scene. Getting too excited over the events, Banner transforms into the Hulk. The Hulk, not caring about the possible spy or Banner's invention, leaves the base to plan his next attack against humanity.
At dawn, the spy knocks out the robots intended pilot and climbs into the device itself and walks it out to the testing range. There, the robot manages to withstand a nuclear attack, and attacks from tank artillery. Suddenly, the spy inside the robot has it destroy the tank, much to everybody's shock. The Hulk, witnessing this display recognizes the robot as something that Banner built and wants to destroy it.
The spy inside the robot decides to battle the Hulk as an ultimate test of it's indestructibility. During the battle, the robot withstands all the Hulk's attack, and gains the upper hand when the Hulk gets excited enough to cause his transformation back into Bruce Banner. The spy easily knocks the weakening Hulk out and flees the scene.
Investigating the scene, some soldiers find Banner and bring him to General Ross for questioning. Ross refuses to believe that there was a spy and that Banner piloted the robot and hid it somewhere until one of his soldiers reports that the robot was spotted moving through the desert. He orders his troops to purse it, and when Bruce offers to build an even stronger robot to combat the original, Ross declines because he suspects that Banner is somehow involved with the spy, and storms off. The story ends with Betty trying to console Bruce, and Bruce's thoughts considering the menace that the Hulk poses to them all.

Notes

• Story I, "The Beasts of Berlin" is Job# X-765
• Story II, "The Incredible Hulk" is Job X763.
• There is neither a text story nor a letters page in this issue. The letters page, "Mails of Suspense" will debut next issue in Tales of Suspense 61.

Trivia

• No trivia.

See Also

• Discuss Tales to Astonish Vol 1 60 on the forums
• Cover gallery for the Tales to Astonish series

Recommended Reading

• None.

Links and References

• None.