Tales to Astonish #52 for Sale - First Appearance of Black Knight - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 1959 series)
Issue: #52
Publication date: February 1964
Key date: 1964-02-00
On-sale date: 1963-11-05
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 Black Knight - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Nathan Garrett - 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 Black Knight Strikes!	cover	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Sol Brodsky; colors: Stan Goldberg; letters: Sam Rosen	Black Knight First, Nathan Garrett First, Giant-Man, Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Wasp
1	The Black Knight Strikes!	comic story	18	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Dick Ayers; inks: Dick Ayers; letters: Art Simek	Black Knight First, Nathan Garrett First, Giant-Man, Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Wasp
2	Another Marvel Masterpiece	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Sol Brodsky; letters: Artie Simek, Sam Rosen	The X-Men [Angel [Warren Worthington III]; Beast [Hank McCoy]; Cyclops [Scott Summers]; Marvel Girl [Jean Grey]; Iceman [Bobby Drake]]; The Blob
3	Another Marvel Masterpiece	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	script: Stan Lee; pencils: Jack Kirby; inks: Paul Reinman; letters: Artie Simek	The Avengers [Iron Man [Tony Stark]; Thor [Donald Blake]; Giant-Man [Hank Pym]]; Namor the Sub-Mariner; Hulk [Bruce Banner]
4	Not What They Seem!	comic story	5	script: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber; pencils: Larry Lieber; inks: G. Bell; letters: Art Simek	Janet Van Dyne, Wasp

Printings and variants

Edition	How to tell
British	price 9d [0-0-9 GBP]

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Marvel Tales #7	1967	On eBay ›
Iron Man #43	1971	On eBay ›
Essential Ant-Man #1 ISBN 0-7851-0822-X	2002	On eBay ›
The Marvel Saga the Official History of the Marvel Universe #12	1986	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

‹ #5152 of 101#53 ›

Sources

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

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