Tales of Suspense 86 p 11  (February 1967)
by Gene Colan (1926-2011) and Frank Giacoia (1924-1988)
13 x 20 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

Fifty Years Ago!

“Death Duel For the Life of Happy Hogan”

Nostalgia kicked up a notch or ten. This original art is from one of the first two Marvel comics I ever bought, and the publication date is the month I turned 10 years old. It would have been inconceivableto think about owning one of these pages. Twenty-something years later, I picked it up. Today, you cannot come near this kind of stuff.

The entire story is nearly fully encapsulated on this page: having kidnapped Happy Hogan (thinking that he is Iron Man) the Mandarin is about to execute him when the real Iron Man arrives to stop him.

After a pitched battle, Iron Man manages to fight off his foe. As he’s rescuing Happy Hogan from the Mandarin’s soldiers, Iron Man learns that they have altered the course of a test missile being launched in Peking to target the United States.

Iron Man redirects the missile to the Mandarin’s castle, and escapes with Happy, and the Mandarin is seemingly killed in the explosion.