CGC certified: Fine+ (6.5). Cream to off-white pages. A flat, clean mag possibly graded by GCG with undue severity - might be worth re-submitting. Stan Lee script. Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayres. Art by Kirby and George Roussos.
2nd appearance of the Mole Man, a Dostoevskian "underground man" who seeks revenge on the "surface dwellers" who rejected him due to his looks. A critique of the surface-level superficiality of the Cold War era? Or maybe Jack Kirby had moles digging up his yard? 1st appearance of Sue Storm's force field - the idea of a woman who "can't be seen" and keeps others at bay with "invisible barriers" has profound psychological interest (see "Are You an Invisible Woman?" Psychology Today online, May 7, 2011). The letter column features a comment from future X-Men artist Dave Cockrum praising Marvel's latest launch, X-Men #1 ("Overall, the mag was another great first"). Days of Future Past, indeed.
CGC census: 40 copies graded 6.5 Universal. Comparable CGC sales: Copies tend to sell from $140 to $210.
Roy Thomas, future Marvel writer-cum-Editor-in-Chief, also writes a letter, balking at Stan's "MARVEL AGE OF COMICS" hype but conceding that "some of your comics... are among the best ever published." Stan Lee replies, "So you're not ready to concede we're in the MARVEL AGE OF COMICS, eh, Roy? ...You're probably still waiting for the recount in the Kennedy-Nixon election, too!"
Stan's gag was spoiled by bad timing, as JFK was assassinated within a month of this mag's release. Lee and Kirby were Kennedy fans, and when he was killed, the Marvel mood grew grim: "'It was the first time I ever saw everyone at the whole company just listening to the radio,' recalled Flo Steinberg. 'And everyone going home. It was a sad time. Things changed.'" -Ronan Ro, Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution [London: 2004].
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