Tales to Astonish #43 - First Appearance of Time Master, Printings and Contents

Identification plate

Series: Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 1959 series)
Issue: #43
Publication date: May 1963
Key date: May 1963
On-sale date: February 5, 1963
Indicia publisher: Vista Publications Inc.
Price: $0.12
Pages: 36
Rating: Approved by the Comics Code Authority

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of Time Master - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Elias Weems - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	The Mad Master of Time!	cover	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Sol Brodsky; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Artie Simek	Ant-Man, Hank Pym
1	The Mad Master of Time!	comic story	13	script: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber; pencils: Don Heck; inks: Don Heck; letters: Ray Holloway	Ant-Man, Hank Pym, Time Master First, Elias Weems First
2	Lady Luck	text story	2	letters: typeset	Lester Ford; Marie Ford; Lady Luck
3	Frankie's Fast Ball!	comic story	5	script: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber; pencils: Larry Lieber; inks: Sol Brodsky; letters: Artie Simek	Frankie Jones; Mr. Jones; Mrs. Jones
4	My Fatal Mistake!	comic story	5	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Steve Ditko; inks: Steve Ditko; letters: Artie Simek	Yates; Cosmo

Printings and variants

Edition	How to tell
No Price	price [0.12 USD]
British	price 9d [0-0-9 GBP]

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Essential Ant-Man #1 ISBN 0-7851-0822-X	2002	On eBay ›
Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man / Giant-Man #1 ISBN 0-7851-2049-1	2006	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Check spine ticks and cover gloss in the photos; silver-age Marvels chip at the edges easily.
Look for tanning at the page edges and transfer stains on the inside covers.
Confirm the cover price against the plate; higher prices can mean a later or foreign printing.

Series context

‹ #4243 of 101#44 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com