Issue(s): Tales Of Suspense #14, Adventures Into Terror #11
Cover Date: Feb 61 / Aug 52
Title: "I Created the Colossus! / The Colossus Lives / The Power of the Colossus!" / "Island of Fear"
Credits:
Unknown - Writer
Jack Kirby / Joe Sinnott - Penciler
Dick Ayers / Joe Sinnott - Inker
Review/plot:
In the Tales Of Suspense story, a Soviet sculptor with suspected Democratic tendencies is ordered to create a giant Colossus statue to prove his loyalty. But one day the sculptor is visited by a bug-like alien who needs somewhere to hide out while waiting for his UFO to return to pick him up.
He hides in the statue, possessing it, and, for no apparent reason, going on a huge rampage across the USSR.
When the alien's friends finally return to pick up their buddy, the statue again becomes inanimate, but the sculptor tells everyone that the rampage was because the statue was made about the injustices in the Soviet Union. This apparently caused the Soviet Union to become more agreeable at the UN.
It's a simple anti-USSR wish fulfillment story with pages and pages of wanton destruction of Soviet military equipment.
However, the story must have been popular because there would be a rare follow-up story during the Monster Age period, and then in the 70s, It the Living Colossus will actually get a short run in Astonishing Tales!
The Adventures Into Terror story is a simple but fun twist-ending horror tale, interesting because it's a rare instance of Joe Sinnott on pencils.
Quality Rating: B-
Historical Significance Rating: 4 - first It the Living Colossus
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: Monsters on the Prowl #17