Tales to Astonish #62 for Sale - First Appearance of Samuel Sterns - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 1959 series)
Issue: #62
Publication date: December 1964
Key date: 1964-12-00
On-sale date: 1964-09-01
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 Samuel Sterns - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Leader - 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	-	cover	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Chic Stone; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Sam Rosen	Bruce Banner, Chameleon, Giant-Man, Hulk, Hank Pym, Betty Ross, Dmitri Smerdyakov, Janet Van Dyne, Wasp
2	Giant-Man versus the Wonderful Wasp!	comic story	12	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Carl Burgos; inks: George Roussos; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Artie Simek	Giant-Man, Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Wasp
3	4 More Marvel Masterpieces!	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Chic Stone; letters: Sam Rosen
6	-	letters page	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby; inks: Steve Ditko	Hulk [Bruce Banner]
12	Enter... the Chameleon!	comic story	10	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Steve Ditko; inks: George Bell; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Sam Rosen	Bruce Banner, Captain America, Chameleon, Hulk, Rick Jones, Leader First, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Dmitri Smerdyakov, Samuel Sterns First, Glenn Talbot
15	A Marvel Masterwork Pin-Up	illustration	1	pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: George Roussos; letters: Artie Simek	Hulk [Bruce Banner]

Plus 10 pages of advertisements and other matter across 15 sequences, as published.

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Incredible Hulk [King Size Special] #2	1969	On eBay ›
Essential Hulk #1 ISBN 0-7851-0712-6	1999	On eBay ›
Essential Ant-Man #1 ISBN 0-7851-0822-X	2002	On eBay ›
Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk #2 ISBN 0-7581-1654-0	2004	On eBay ›
Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man / Giant-Man #2 ISBN 978-0-7851-2911-0	2008	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

‹ #6162 of 101#63 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Wikidata, Q65929846 (Samuel Sterns), first-appearance property (CC0)

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