Tales to Astonish #52
The Black Knight Strikes!
Giant-Man has just caught up with Nathan Garrett and his gang. While he is rounding up Garrett’s henchman, the gang leader flees. After hanging the gang members off nearby flag poles, Giant-Man leaps onto the back of Garrett’s convertible sending him flying in the air. Turned over to the authorities, Garrett is charged with treason. However, a sympathetic judge allows him to post bail.[1]
With his bail posted by his communist handlers, Garrett flees to Europe was a forged passport. A skilled geneticist, he is inspired when he comes upon a statue of a pegasus in a remote Balkan kingdom. Setting up a lab he genetically engineers a horse with wings that allow the equine to fly.[2]
A week later, back in the States, Janet Van Dyne is late for her meeting with Hank Pym. She explains that she was stuck in traffic because a man dressed as a knight appeared over the highway on a flying horse. This Black Knight used a technologically enhanced lance to melt through the side of an armored car and steal all the money inside. Changing into the Wasp from the backseat of a taxi cab, Janet tried to follow the Black Knight but his horse flew faster than she could keep up. Hearing this, Hank dismisses the story as a product of Jan’s wild imagination. However, he is forced to eat those words when she turns on the radio and they hear a report confirming her story. Checking their ant network through Hank’s equipment, they discover the Black Knight is now attacking a helicopter. Changing into Giant-Man, Hank and Janet head out to confront the Black Knight.
Meeting with the authorities, Giant-Man has an officer fly a plane near the helicopter. Once close enough, Giant-Man grabs ahold of the choppers landing gear in an attempt to stop the Black Knight. However, the villain blinds Giant-Man by reflecting sunlight off the visor of his helmet. He then snares Giant-Man with a bolo fired from his lance, leaving Giant-Man with only one hand grabbing hold to the chopper. The Black Knight then reveals that he is actually Nathan Garrett and how he created weapons to get revenge after fleeing to Europe. He then blasts Giant-Man with an itch-ray causing him to let go of the helicopter. Falling, Pym is able to get one of his shrinking capsules to reduce his size and get free of his bonds. He is then rescued in mid-air by the Wasp.
The pair then hitch a ride on the back of the Black Knight’s horse. There, Giant-Man consumes another capsule to return to normal size. This surprise attack allows Pym to knock the Black Knight’s lance out of his hand. However, Giant-Man’s added weight is too much for Garret’s horse, forcing Giant-Man to bail out over an amusement park and manages to break his fall by grabbing onto a parachute ride. With Hank safe, the Wasp then uses her sting on the horse causing it to buck the Black Knight off his back. As luck would have it, the villain lands in a passing rollercoaster car. Giant-Man tries to nab the Black Knight but has to stop in order to save the Wasp who — after returning to human size — is trying to get Garret’s horse back under control.
The Black Knight tries to take advantage of this by trying to shoot Giant-Man with a paralysis ray. However, Hank spots his foe in a reflection and quickly shrinks in size the moment Nathan pulls the trigger. His mind becoming unhinged against an unbeatable foe, the Black Knight leans on a weakened guard rail on the rollercoaster track and it breaks. Luckily, the Black Knight’s horse is there to break his fall. Fleeing from the scene, the Knight vows to return and get his revenge
Recurring Characters
Giant-Man, Wasp, Black Knight, Elendil
Continuity Notes
Although not mentioned by name here, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #16 confirms that Garrett was dealing with Chinese spies.
A statue of Pegasus wasn’t the only inspiration for Garrett to become the Black Knight. As revealed in Marvel Super-Heroes #17. Unnamed here, the name of the Black Knight’s horse is identified as Elendil in Marvel Pets Handbook #1.
Topical References
During Giant-Man’s capture of Nathan Garrett, the crook is bounced off some telephone wires. This should be considered topical since land line have since been placed underground in major cities like New York to protect them from going down.
This story has a number of Cold War-era references, as such communist spies are identified as “the Reds.”
Garrett’s bail is posted at $100,000, which adjusting for inflation would be about $803,874.19 in 2020 money.
Not What They Seem!
The Wasp has arrived at the local orphanage to entertain the children with one of her stories. After flying in through the window and assuming human size, the Wasp tells the boys a science fiction story set in the year 3000.
Five human criminals have just broken out of prison and manage to flee the planet before they can be captured by the Space Patrol. Once they have escaped, the criminals begin the task of finding an alien world suitable to lay low. However, the leader of the group was once a space pirate and warns his fellow escapees that sometimes alien worlds are not what they appear to be on the surface. He recalls one world where a war-like race built a decoy city that appeared to be a peaceful civilization. On another world, it seemed peaceful by day with harmless animals roaming the landscape, but was the hunting ground of dangerous carnivores at night. Some worlds, he tells them, appear to be nearly identical to Earth but have distinct differences — such as a world where humans are slaves to plant life.
They eventually happen upon a world where an apparent battle of the sexes is going on. The criminals see that the men of this world are winning and decide to lend a helping hand in order to curry favor with these aliens. However, they are quickly apprehended by the aliens and placed in a zoo for observation. As it turns out, the inhabitants of this world collect aliens from other worlds and after seeing the Earth ship from their telescopes created a ruse to draw the humans out.
Finishing up her story, the Wasp tells the boys that the moral of the story is that nobody can remain a fugitive from the law for long as justice will always catch up with you. With her time up for the day, the Wasp shrinks back down to insect size and flies off.
Recurring Characters
Wasp
