In the days before Silver Age superheroes hit big, pre-Marvel Comics had something else as their bread and butter; giant monsters! Thus, we come to the origins of Colossus! Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Strange Tales #72 awaits!
STRANGE TALES #72
Writer: Stan Lee/Larry Lieber
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Steve Ditko
Colorist: Stan Goldberg
Letterer: Artie Simek
Editor: Stan Lee
Publisher: Zenith Publishing Corp. (Marvel Comics)
Cover Price: 10 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $700.00
Release Date: July 31, 1959
Previously in Strange Tales: Martin Goodman’s publishing strategy was best described as “whatever draws money for somebody else.” With the monster movies of the 1950s (emblemized by flicks like The Blob, The Thing From Another World, and The Tingler) pulling big money, Marvel’s output naturally leaned into the trend. Everybody knows Groot started out as one of the Marvel Monsters, but there were literally dozens more. The pages of Strange Tales alone gave us Dragoom, Fin Fang Foom, Gargantua, Gorgolla, Grogg, Grottu, Grutan, Magneto, Mister Morgan’s Monster, Mechano, Orrgo, Pildorr, Taboo, The Two-Headed Thing, Xxirys, Zzutak, and The Thing Called It. (The Thing Called It should not be confused with either the later hero called The Thing, or the even later hero called It.)
This issue begins in the far-flung future year 2020, where Professor Renolds has finally completed his life’s work: A perfect super-computer to answer all the difficult questions of running society!
With the machine having proved itself, humanity hands itself over to the control of the A.I. Because there’s no possible way that could ever go badly, right?
If you’re wondering why the art is almost, but not quite familiar, it’s because we’re looking at a rare collaboration between two future giants of the Silver Age. By the time the Marvel Age kicks off a few years from this issue’s appearance on the newsstands, penciler Jack Kirby will be in the midst of the third year of Fantastic Four, launching The Avengers and The X-Men, while inker Steve Ditko will be working on Amazing Spider-Man and this very book, now starring a guy you might have heard of, one Doctor Strange. But the creation of the robotic Colossus by Dr. Renolds’ super-computer brings both men together to show the ten-story homunculus digging its way to the surface and thundering towards the nearest city.
The robot’s approach causes mass panic, and puts the military on high alert, as they know a weapon when they see one. The rulers of the Earth turn to its creator for assistance, and Renolds quickly deduces that the robot and the computer are linked on a specific frequency, and whips up a device to disrupt that communication.
With the Colossus destroyed, the people rise up, prepared to destroy the computer, but arrive just in time to realize the horrific truth: The robot wasn’t meant to destroy them, but… to SAVE them all!
The computer created the Colossus as a replacement that the humans might trust more than a blank computer bank, and transferred all of its most critical knowledge tapes to the robot in preparation for its own obsolescence. The people’s paranoia has led to not only their doom, but the end of their entire civilization, all because they didn’t trust the very machine that made their utopia possible in the first place. The first episode of The Twilight Zone didn’t air until a few months later, but it’s easy to see this story emerging from the same societal forces. Heck, Season 3 episode, The Gift, has a similar twist at the end.’
The rest of Strange Tales #72 consists of the unremarkable I Was Trapped on the Ghost Ship, the bizarre I Am The Abominable Snowman, and the forgettable pair of I Saw The Elephant’s Graveyard and I Entered the Doorway to Doom, but it’s the lead feature that is the real star, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. The nexus of early Marvel stalwarts, including perennial letterer and logo designer Simek, makes it a fun story worth checking out.
Just, maybe, don’t take its advice about trusting AI too seriously in the year 2023.
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STRANGE TALES #72
A memorable lead story featuring the cornerstones of Silver Age Marvel makes for an issue that's engaging from a historical standpoint, as well as serving as a window into 1959.
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Writing5
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Art8
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Coloring6
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