Astonishing Tales #32 - Marvel Comics

ASTONISHING TALES No.32, November 1975

Considering the amount of behind-the-scenes mayhem which seems to have occurred to get Issue Thirty Two of “Astonishing Tales” fit for the spinner rack, it’s rather impressive that Rich Buckler’s plot arguably works out as well as it does. Indeed, quite neatly meshing together the somewhat separate storylines of Deathlok and Mike Travers, as the pair bravely forge ahead with their own adventures in post-apocalyptic New York City, “The Man Who Sold The World!” should have repeatedly caused its concerned audience to wonder whether either of the protagonists were ever going to make it to the end of the seventeen-page periodical alive; “You guys put too much faith in Ryker’s seeing eye dog! Don’t forget -- I helped build it!”

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, one of these biggest fears debatably stems from Travers’ almost suicidal attempt to rescue Nina Ferry from the very “building where he [himself] was held captive.” This utterly reckless, one-man assault bodes very poorly just as soon as Luther Manning’s “ex-war buddy” enters the foyer and has to throttle the first of several armed guards he encounters inside. Eventually, the Lieutenant is completely surrounded. Yet rather than surrender he brazenly turns his automatic weapon on his would-be-captors in a heart-stopping do-or-die effort.

To be honest though, the Demolisher doesn’t appear to be any less willing to sacrifice himself for a hopeless cause either, and repeatedly throws himself into conflicts against superior numbers despite there being a “87.00967% probability of being destroyed.” In fact, Deathlok’s determination to find out the name of the surgeon who could theoretically transform him back into a living being is so palpable, that it surely appeared certain to many a bibliophile that the war veteran was repeatedly just a paltry panel away from trying to punch one too many homicidal human drones, or flesh-hungry cannibals.

In view of all these scares however, this publication’s greatest shock is most likely how strong its interior artwork looks, despite Buckler, Keith Pollard, Bob McLeod and “the whole blame Bullpen” having to get together to get the book fully illustrated. Naturally some of the sequences, such as Simon Ryker ordering a soldier to have his computer “assemble a read-out on a man named Victorio Quartuccio”, look understandably rushed and incongruous with some of the surrounding pencilling. But there should be no doubt that whenever Manning throws a punch, or hurls a subway’s trolley cart at a group of assailants, bones are most definitely being broken.

Plot, Concept & Script: Rich Butler, Script: Bill Mantlo, Artwork: Rich Butler, Keith Pollard, Bob McLeod & The Whole Blame Bullpen