Tales to Astonish #69Tales to Astonish #69
Title: "Oh, Wasp, Where is thy Sting?”
Writer: Al Hartley
Penciller: Bob Powell
Inker: John Giunta
Editor: Stan Lee
Construction workers watch the Human Top spin away with the Wasp as Giant-Man climbs back inside after hanging out the window. Giant-Man gets back inside, and without waiting for a moment, goes out to track Human Top right away. Giant-Man sees no sign of Human Top since he flies now and leaves no tracks. Giant-Man says that searching this way is a waste of time, but that he has to find a way to find them.
Elsewhere, Human Top goes down for a landing. He says that Giant-Man has probably fallen to his death, but that even if he survived that he is prepared for him. Human Top drops Wasp onto a large pillow. Wasp has passed out from vortex vertigo since Human Top was spinning at 6500 rpms. Wasp starts to wake up and Human Top grabs her arm and tells her to wake to her master. He says that she has seen the last of Giant-Man, and that from now on she will serve him as faithfully as she did Giant-Man. Wasp says that the only way she would serve him is on a platter. Wasp says that when Giant-Man gets there that he will unwind him permanently, but thinks to herself that if only she was as confident as she sounds. Human Top says that he admires her spirit, but that he outwitted Giant-Man once and he will do so again. Human Top points outside to a giant pit, camouflaged by a lightweight building, that will trap Giant-Man. Human Top says that then he will unveil one more surprise. Wasp thinks to herself that Human Top is much more dangerous than she or Hank ever thought. Human Top spins into the air reveling in the beauty of his plan and his impending victory. While he is busy doing that Wasp sends out a message of warning with her trained wasp.
Giant-Man is supposed to be thinking of a way to find the Wasp, but mostly he seems to be pouting that she is gone. Hank spots Jan’s wasp and says that even the wasp can sense that something is wrong. Hank realizes that the wasp is trying to tell him something, and that it can probably lead her to Jan. Hank thinks about the irony that Human Top’s plan will be foiled because of the devotion of an insect. Hank reduces down to normal size, and then uses his growing power to enlarge the wasp so that he can ride on the wasp’s back. Hank worries that the wasp will be disoriented by the growing and try to sting him, but the wasp remains calm. The wasp is confused by the growth and forgets to warn Hank about the Human Top’s trap. Hank leaps onto the wasp’s back and flies out the window.
Two elderly neighbors of Hank Pym’s say that since Pym has moved in that they have had nothing but ants and wasps. The woman says that this is too much, and the man asks how a man is supposed to relax with giant insects buzzing in and out of windows. The woman says that you would think that a man of his age would have outgrown that nonsense.
When the ant starts circling Hank figures that Jan must be below. He returns the wasp to normal size and grows back up to Giant-Man size. He grows downward to break the fall and lands on the ground. Giant-Man says that he doesn’t know what dangers he will face, but that he has to rescue her even if it means giving his own life. He thinks to himself that if he can rescue her that he will never place her in this kind of danger again.
Human Top’s laser impulse beam sensor
goes off. Human Top says that in forty seconds that he will start
to feel it’s effects. Human Top goes to pull a lever that
“will activate the equipment that has already been
programmed to give me total mastery over Giant-Man”. 
Wasp tries to
stop Human Top, but he hauls off and swats her to the ground.
Giant-Man starts to feel woozy and realizes that he is being manipulated by a subtle attack. He says that he is groggy and not as alert as he should be. At the last second he hears the buzzing as Human Top rams Giant-Man from behind and knocks him into the Human Top’s pit. Giant-Man tries to get out, but a hydraulic roof to the pit keeps him trapped. On one of the walls there is a window and a door. Wasp stands beside Human Top as he greets Giant-Man through the window. Human Top says that he is about to quick-freeze Giant-Man for all eternity. Human Top tells Wasp to watch while he freezes her boyfriend. Wasp rushes through the door to be with Giant-Man. Giant-Man tries to stick his hand inside the door, but Human Top has some sort of rotating saw blade that nearly cuts Giant-Man’s fingers. Human Top says that Wasp had her chance, but that now she will be frozen with Giant-Man.
Human Top throws the switch and the pit starts getting very cold very fast. Hank tells Wasp to shrink down to her Wasp size. Wasp says that she would want them both to be normal size so that they could go out in each other’s arms. Hank says that this isn’t the end, and tells Wasp to get inside his costume. Human Top sprays Giant-Man with water and less than a few seconds later Giant-Man is frozen. Human Top says that he is going to encase the ice in epoxy so that it will stand as a symbolic statue of his brilliance and power. Human Top then elevates the “statue” with a crane so that it can serve as a warning to any other heroes that might try to stop him. Suddenly a normal sized Giant-Man and Wasp burst through the statue’s hand. Human Top asks how he survived, but Giant-Man says that he will write him a letter in prison so he’ll have something to do. They fight back and forth until Human Top tries to fly up. Giant-Man swerves Human Top into the frozen statue. Human Top bounces off the statue into the pit and is instantly frozen. Giant-Man pulls him out seconds later with the crane, but he is already frozen. Giant-Man congratulates Human Top on how well his freezing works.
As the police are dragging Human Top away while making a number of cornball “on ice” jokes one asks Giant-Man how he escaped. Giant-Man says that as soon as the ice was strong enough to support itself that he shrunk down to ant-size and climbed into the cavity of one of the hands. He says that he and Wasp then huddled together protected by the ice. Giant-Man says that any man would fight for what is right and for the woman he loves, but that no man has the right to live so dangerously that the woman he loves is in constant danger. Giant-Man says that from now on things will be different. The man says that it sounds like Giant-Man is going to retire.
Avengers Files rating: 5 out of 10
Um… okay. As of last issue Giant-Man could not shrink down to ant size, and yet he counts on it this issue as part of his plan. Besides if he could shrink down why didn’t he simply shrink down to ride the wasp to Jan? Further if he is so strong why didn’t he punch a hole through the window in his pit? Pretty poor execution. Bob Powell does a decent enough job, but this issue lacks his previous flair. No offense to you Hank Pym fans, but I am so happy that the next issue has Namor instead of Pym.
Title: “Trapped in the Lair of the Leader!”
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Mickey Demeo
The Leader orders his humanoids to carry the
unconscious Hulk onto his ship. 
Leader says
that he has waited months for this, and that it is his greatest
triumph. Leader says that this must be fate, and that with his
brains and the Hulk’s strength that soon all of mankind will
kneel before them. Leader orders other humanoids to load the
Absorbatron, and that once it is his that no nation on Earth will
be powerful enough to threaten him.
The naval task force spots all the humanoids moving around on the isle and sends out a landing party to protect the Absorbatron.
Before the landing party can land however, the Leader commends his humanoids for serving him well, but that he no longer needs them. Leader sprays them all with a special acid gas compound that removes any trace of their existence. Leader then walks into his ship and streaks into the sub-stratosphere towing the Absorbatron and the Hulk behind him with a magnetic attractor beam.
The troops land and start searching everywhere, but can’t find anything. They finally locate Talbot and ask him what has happened. Talbot says that he is gone again, but that this time he is going to find him. An officer says that he is afraid not. He says that they spotted a ship leaving the isle and it was towing the Absorbatron behind it. The officer says that they believe that Banner was piloting the ship. Talbot asks how Banner would have managed to unload the entire Absorbatron by himself, but the officer says that they also spotted the Hulk being towed behind with the Absorbatron. Talbot says that he always knew that Banner and the Hulk were working together. The officer says that they won’t get away, and that their radar is sure to have tracked their line of flight.
Meanwhile, the Leader’s ship descends
into lonely mesa through a camouflaged opening. Leader says that
now no one will find him. Leader has Hulk inside an airtight
chamber that will allow him to regulate the amount of gas needed
to keep the Hulk unconscious so that he can study him at his
leisure. Leader says that his machines will transcribe the
Hulk’s heartbeat, blood pressure, and encephalographic
patterns of his brain. He says that by the time his tests are
done that there will not be anything that he will not know about
the Hulk. 
Leader discovers
that the Hulk’s skin is so tough and near impenetrable that
his devices don’t register. Leader leaves to go get some
stronger component parts. While the Leader is gone, the gas
begins to slow Hulk’s heartbeat and blood pressure. The Hulk
turns into Bruce Banner who is awake and somehow perfectly aware
of what is happening. Bruce says that the Leader doesn’t yet
suspect that he and the Hulk are the same person. Banner says
that the sleep gas, which felled the Hulk, is acting as an
anti-toxin for him. Bruce says that he has to act fast and that
in the hands of the Leader that the Absorbatron is a threat to
all mankind. Banner makes some quick modifications to some
equipment and starts sending out a warning signal in Morse code.
At General Ross’ headquarters, Ross and Talbot are fuming. Ross keeps yelling for the soldiers to search the area they tracked the flight to night and day until Banner is found. Talbot says that Banner is to blame. Ross gives the order that Bruce Banner is to be shot on sight. Rick Jones overhears Ross giving this order and takes off to help Bruce. Rick says that it was in this desert that Bruce Banner saved him, and that he has to stick by him even if it means leaving Captain America and the Avengers. Rick heads to the old cave in the desert, but sees no sign of Bruce or the Hulk. Suddenly Rick hears Bruce’s Morse Code message, and realizes that the army is going to pick it up as well, but that they have orders to shoot Bruce on sight. Rick says that he has to follow the troops and find a way to save Bruce. Within the hour the entire missile base is alerted and tracking the signal. Talbot says that the signal is coming from the mesa. Ross orders that the mesa be surrounded and that the troops should shoot anything that moves.
Leader returns to the lab and sees that the Hulk is no longer on the table. Bruce hides next to the window out of Leader’s line of sight. Leader says that the Hulk still has to be in there and releases a double quantity of sleep gas. The gas being released causes Bruce to change back into the Hulk, but before the gas can knock Hulk out the Hulk punches through the window. Leader thinks to himself that his only chance is to reach his molecule ray. Hulk plows right through steel battleship doors, and Leader thinks to himself that if the Hulk gets near the Absorbatron that he could ruin everything. Hulk charges after Leader into the room with the Absorbatron. He shouts that no one captures him. Leader says that he would have shared the world with the Hulk. Leader tells Hulk to stay back, and that he doesn’t want to have to kill him. Leader lets off a shot with his molecule ray, but the Hulk moves out of the way so that he is only grazed. Something inside the Hulk’s head causes him to instinctively know to destroy the Absorbatron. He hurls a steel bar into the Absorbatron and causes it to explode.
Leader descends into the ground and thinks how all of the Hulk’s savage uncontrollable strength undid all of his brilliant planning. Leader says that he can still make his escape into the tunnel under the cover of smoke. Seconds later, Leader is rocketing away from the mesa in an underground tunnel. Leader wonders why the Hulk would sacrifice himself to keep him from getting his hands on a machine that the Hulk couldn’t possibly understand. Leader says that there is a secret surrounding the Hulk, and that he will not stop trying to solve it. Leader says that Hulk must join him or die.
The soldiers arrive and see that the Absorbatron is destroyed. Talbot says that whoever did this is going to pay dearly. Through the flame Hulk says that he had to destroy the machine, and that it was the only way to protect it from “him”. Soldiers start firing into the smoke when they see the Hulk. Rick Jones runs into the room and Ross says that even with an Avengers ID that he has no right to barge in there. Rick says that Ross has to cancel the order to shoot Bruce Banner on sight. Ross says that there is no chance, and that Banner has gone too far this time. Rick runs down the hallway slipping by the soldiers. He comes upon some soldiers holding the limp body of Bruce Banner. They say that they just found him lying there. Talbot tells them to put Banner on a table and tend to his wound. Two soldiers finally grab hold of Rick and hold him back. Talbot feels a faint pulse, but then it disappears and declares that “the traitor is dead!”
No Excuses rating: 8 out of 10
Man alive! Ross gives an order to shoot Banner on sight because they suspect that he might have flown the ship off the isle! What country is Ross a General for anyway? No one wonders how the ship piloted itself there so that “Banner” could fly it away! Still a fantastic story as Hulk and Leader meet for the first time. Leader gets his first real taste of the Hulk’s rage undoing his intricate plans. This issue does make me wonder what happened to the Leader’s molecule ray since it obviously worked pretty well against the Hulk. Jack Kirby’s art is powerful and amazing as usual. The bit with Leader running from the Hulk is a little confusing, but still just amazing work.