COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Tales of Suspense 50
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Pedigree:
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Pacific Coast
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Certification #:
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0705399001
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Owner:
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Mississippi Mudcats
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Issue #50 is significant in that it introduced the Mandarin, played in Iron Man #3 by Ben Kingsley. The Mandarin is a warlord and criminal mastermind, who has set his sights on world domination. Born in poverty, but with an ambitious drive, the Mandarin rose to power when he stumbled into a set of Ten Rings of alien origin, which granted him extraordinary powers; a different power from each ring he wore in each of his fingers. Building a criminal empire, he reinvented himself as a nobleman, claiming to be a descendant of Genghis Khan from a cultured background. Although the Mandarin's power derives from his ten rings, he is a skilled martial artist and swordsman, as well as a tactical and learned mastermind. The Mandarin's unrivaled power caused him to come into conflict with Iron Man, who became his greatest adversary and nemesis.
In the book, Iron Man goes to China at the request of the Pentagon to investigate the Mandarin. It is kind of a strange set-up, as Iron Man is in the position of invading the Mandarin’s castle-seems like he would be fully justified under US law to kill him. The Mandarin attempts to subdue Iron Man with a paralysis ray, which is deflected by Iron Man's chest beam. The Mandarin then unleashes the wondrous powers of his ten rings. First he employs a blast of high-frequency sound waves, which Iron Man counters with sound waves of his own. The Mandarin follows up with a paralyzer ray that manages to completely immobilize Iron Man.
Iron Man finally shakes off the effects of the Mandarin's paralysis ray. The Mandarin electrifies the walls of the chamber to prevent Iron Man from escaping and moves in to engage him in hand-to-hand combat. Iron Man devises a plan requiring him to make some quick calculations on his armor's built in slide-rule, then assumes the appropriate position to ensure that when the Mandarin strikes him, it would be at the right angle to cause him immense pain. Iron Man takes the opportunity to escape, as the Mandarin lies writhing in agony on floor. He takes to the sky just in time to intercept the military jet that is scheduled to pick him up to take his newfound intelligence back to the Pentagon. Again, it seems like one of the dumber plots as Iron man invades a home in a foreign county to gather spy-type info, but it does serve to introduce the Mandarin, who will be a frequent adversary.
Our 9.8 is one of two highest ever graded by CGC and undoubtedly the nicest. It hails from the Pacific Coast Collection and was also part of the Doug Schmell Collection, which was auctioned off by Heritage in July 2012. We acquired the book from the 2/11/2014 Pedigree Comics Auction.
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