Strange Tales Vol 1 108

Strange Tales Vol 1 #108 Published May, 1963 Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee Cover Artist Jack Kirby "The Painter of a Thousand Perils!" Writer Stan Lee Robert Bernstein Penciler Jack Kirby Inker Dick Ayers Letterer Terry Szenics "The Heat's On" "The Silent Giant" Writer Stan Lee Larry Lieber Penciler Larry Lieber Inker Sol Brodsky Colorist Stan Goldberg Letterer Art Simek "The Iron Warrior" Writer Stan Lee Penciler Steve Ditko Inker Steve Ditko Colorist Stan Goldberg Letterer Ray Holloway Previous Issue Next Issue Strange Tales #107 Strange Tales #109

If crooks weren't stupid, they wouldn't be crooks.

-- Human Torch

Appearing in "The Painter of a Thousand Perils!"

Featured Characters:

•  Human Torch (Johnny Storm)  (Appears in flashback)

Antagonists:

• The Painter (Wilhelm van Vile)  (First appearance)
• animated paitings of:
  • Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)
  • Invisible Girl (Susan Storm)
  • Thing (Ben Grimm)
• "Scar" Tobin (Only appearance)
• Scar's Henchmen
  • Eddie
  • Mike
  • Nick
  • Sam

Other Characters:

• Wizard (Bentley Wittman) (Recap)
• Paste Pot Pete (Peter Petruski) (Mentioned)
• Zemu (Recap)
• Ellen (Johnny's date) (First appearance)
• NYPD

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Fifth Dimensioners

Locations:

• United States of America
  • New York State
    • New York City
      • 7th Street (First appearance)

Items:

• Extra-Terrestrial Paints
  
  

Synopsis for "The Painter of a Thousand Perils!"

With the Human Torch cracking down on "Scar" Tobin's crime operations, Tobin has become desperate to find a way of dispose of the Torch once and for all. He ended up hiring The Painter, a former counterfeiter who was caught by the Human Torch when the Torch noticed that his counterfeits had obvious flaws. The Painter has a set of paints that turned whatever he painted into reality.

The Painter explained that when he escaped from prison he had found a secret cavern where he found hieroglyphics from an alien race explaining how the paints left behind work. The Painter then used his paints to create various traps to try and stop the Torch. His final plan involved creating fakes of the other members of the Fantastic Four to lure the Torch into a room where he is seemingly destroyed by a grenade.

However the Torch managed to avoid his fate because he realized that he was dealing with fakes when he noticed several flaws in the Painter's "artwork" including that none of the other FF members had the famous Fantastic Four insignia on their uniforms. Tracking the Painter back to Tobin's lair, the Torch burned all the paints and took all the criminals to jail where the Torch revealed to the Painter how he saw through his traps.

Appearing in "The Heat's On"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Journey into Mystery #44.

Synopsis for "The Heat's On"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Journey into Mystery #44.

Appearing in "The Silent Giant"

Featured Characters:

• Ben (An old hermit)

Supporting Characters:

• Doc

Antagonists:

• A Redwood tree

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Horses

Locations:

• The edge of a redwood forest

Items:

• An axe

Vehicles:

• Horses
  
  

Synopsis for "The Silent Giant"

He was the only man of all time to achieve... immortality! But oh, the way he did it!!

An old hermit is frustrated that the redwood tree on his property gets to live thousands of years while he's about to die, so he decides to chop it down. Just as he started, he has a heart attack and dies, but the tree drips sap on him and he becomes a redwood identical to the first.

Appearing in "The Iron Warrior"

Featured Characters:

• Black Knight

Supporting Characters:

•  Merlin 
•  King Arthur 

Antagonists:

• Sir Mogard

Other Characters:

• Knights of the Round Table

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Horses

Locations:

• Camelot

Items:

• Enchanted Armor

Vehicles:

• Horses
  
  

Synopsis for "The Iron Warrior"

Like tales of black magic? Like action tinged with the supernatural? Like villainous villains and heroic heroes? Well then, settle back and READ! Because this story is just for YOU!

A knight of King Arthur's court resents the favor shown Merlin and so challenges him to a battle. Merlin's champion is a black knight who does succeed in winning the competition. The envious knight still sneers at Merlin and claims he has no true magic for the black knight bested him by force of arms whereupon Merlin makes a mystic pass and the empty suit of armor falls in pieces upon the ground.

Notes

The Painter of a Thousand Perils!

• Johnny mentions his battles with the Wizard (Strange Tales #102), Paste-Pot Pete (Strange Tales #104), and Zemu of the Fifth Dimension Strange Tales #103).

The Iron Warrior

• This story takes place prior to Merlin recruiting Sir Percy of Scandia to become the Black Knight, as seen in Black Knight #1.

Chronology Notes

The Painter of a Thousand Perils!

A flashback in this story affects the chronology of the following characters:

•  Human Torch 

See Also

• 10 Image(s) from Strange Tales Vol 1 108
• 6 Reprints of Strange Tales Vol 1 108

Footnotes

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