Great Pages: STRANGE TALES #89

From Strange Tales (Vol. 1) #89 (1961)

Released just one month before Fantastic Four #1, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby unleashed Fin Fang Foom onto the comic book community in 1961. While it wasn’t the last giant monster that the pair created together, creatures with names like Pildoor and Orrgo were featured over the next several months in the pages of Strange Tales, the mythological Chinese dragon struck a particular nerve with readers and future comics creators. This page of Foom grabbing the Great Wall of China and swinging it around like a whip shows the creature’s might and anger. These would remain key character traits for the creature when he returned. Over time, Fin Fang Foom would go on to battle the likes of Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, and even Spider-Man. Usually, the absurdity of a giant talking dragon wearing underpants results in Foom being played for laughs, though his strength means that no one takes him lightly.

Though Foom was orange in the pages of Strange Tales #89, the cover had him colored green. His later appearances kept that green color, making his debut now seem slightly out of place. A later reprinting of this page changed the dragon’s look to reflect his updated look. The changed page is shown below. In either case, Foom has remained a part of the Marvel Universe while so many of his contemporaries have fallen by the wayside.

Strange Tales (Vol. 1) #89 (1961) Recolored