Issue(s): Tales Of Suspense #53
Published Date: May 64
Title: "The Black Widow Strikes Again!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Plot
Don Rico - Script
Don Heck - Penciler
Don Heck - Inker

Review/plot: Iron Man fights the Black Widow, who at this point doesn't display any of her acrobatic prowess. She's just an attractive spy.

Which is good enough for Tony Stark.

She steals an Anti-Gravity Device...

...that Stark created and can not replicate, and uses it to sabotage SI plants and attack Iron Man. Iron Iron Man wins by destroying the device, which means that he can never re-create it. This does get him in trouble with the government, however.

Throwaway story if it wasn't an early appearance of the Black Widow.

Iron Man's early look freaks me out sometimes.

Also in this issue alien Venturans who were planning to invade another planet instead have to go to them as refugees when Ventura is threatened by a meteor.

The third story is the origin of the Watcher.

He comes from an advanced race that was so technologically advanced they were nearly gods.

Strange, group-showering gods.

They provided another planet with the secret of atomic energy, thinking that the race would use it to better themselves, but instead they used it for war. Therefore the Watcher's people vowed to never again interfere with other races, instead choosing only to observe. Uatu was one of the members of the governing council when all of this occurred. It's his father, Ikor, that proposes to help the other races.

One of the Watchers, Emnu, is against the decision to help other races, but only for ethnocentric reasons; he doesn't think they should share their bounty with the rest of the universe. He will actually appear again (he's not listed as a character appearing because this story is mostly a flashback told by Uatu).

Stan Lee plotted and Larry Lieber scripted and drew this story. The Iron Man story deserved a solid D but the Watcher story is ok for what it is - typical fantasy back-up stuff.

My partner min has complained that i didn't point out the truly significant aspect of this issue, which is that it's the first appearance of Wonder Man's safari jacket:

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 6 - origin of the Watcher, early Black Widow story

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Iron Man story has no dependencies. The Watcher origin is being told by the Watcher to the audience, so it doesn't need to take place when it 'happened'.

References: N/A

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: N/A

i'm always disappointed when the Watcher isn't depicted with a super ginormous head. *sigh*