Tales to Astonish #60

Jan 18

Jan 18 Tales to Astonish #60

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 must 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 searches 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 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. Giant-Man storms in and has to battle an army of intelligent apes. Shrinking down to ant-size, he gets away from the apes, and trains the weapon on the soldiers, reverting their intelligence to that of apes.

Giant-Man saves Lee from the apes and destroys the weapon before the two can escape back to East Berlin, smashing through the Berlin Wall to do so. With Lee free and the communist plot foiled, Giant-Man returns to America and relates his story to the Wasp.

Recurring Characters

Giant-Man, Wasp, Lee Kearns, Beasts of Berlin

Continuity Notes

A number of elements in this story should be considered topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Particularly the fact that, in this story, Germany is still split into East and West Germany. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2 clarifies, while this story takes place in Germany, it was not during the Cold War, and the communist operatives were actually spies of another nation.

The Incredible Hulk!

In a hidden cave in the New Mexico desert, the Hulk is once again going through the process of reverting into his alter ego: Bruce Banner. After the transformation is complete, Banner wonders if the Hulk is his true self and if he'll ever be free of his curse.

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 works on the robot again, but his thoughts soon return to the Hulk and the nature of his transformations. He works through the day until General Ross tells him that he must have the robot ready for testing the next day.

Working through the night to finish the robot, Banner discovers someone fleeing the outside hall. 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 robot's intended pilot and climbs into the device, and walks it out to the testing range. The robot withstands a nuclear attack and attacks from tank artillery. Suddenly, the spy has the robot destroy the tank, much to everybody's shock. The Hulk, witnessing this display recognizes the robot as Banner's creation and wants to destroy it.

The spy battles the Hulk as an ultimate test of the robot's indestructibility. During the battle, the robot withstands 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 out the weakening Hulk 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. He suspects that Banner piloted the robot and hid it somewhere until a soldier reports that the robot was spotted moving through the desert. He orders his troops to pursue 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. The story ends with Betty trying to console Bruce, and Bruce's thoughts considering the menace that the Hulk poses to them all.