Thursday, September 17, 2015

Three Months in 1961, part 3 - October

And then in October,  Tales to Astonish Vol 1  # 24 (October 1961) had the story "The Abominable Snowman", written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers.


A TV producer receives a request to produce a film of the Abominable Snowman and so he and his crew set off for the Himalayas. He attempts to fake it by dressing up in a costume, but one of his assistants sees him and follows behind.


(Note that the producer's yeti disguise has the pointy Pangboche scalp from the '50s).


Suddenly, he is seized by a much larger furry creature who claims that he had been searching for him.


The creature takes the producer [still dressed as a yeti] to a drill machine and the assistant sneaks in too.


They travel deep underground to a city of Lizard Men who have been looking for a lost explorer [their brother] who wears a shaggy costume for protection from the cold.


(Note that the Lizard Men's yeti disguise has the mop top scalp, reminiscent of the popular men's hairstyle of the '60s).



The rest of the comic doesn't have anything to do with yetis. so I'll stop there.

I really like this story because there are actually no Abominable Snowmen, just disguises.  A human disguises himself as a yeti only to be captured by what he thinks is a yeti but is actually a lizard man creature from the center of the earth who is dressed as a yeti for warmth.  Previous sightings of yetis (and the origin of the Abominable Snowman legend) are likely just this lost lizard man explorer being spotted in his shaggy yeti suit. Good concept, Stan Lee!

See scans of the whole comic story here.

And BONUS - just posted last month, a custom figure of the character (Sculpted by Studio Genesis, artist Omel, painted by JR Masangkay, photography by Paul Alistair):



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