Tonight’s image from the Lizard Collection is an unusual and somewhat rare item: issue #1 of “Iron Man and Sub-Mariner,” published in April 1968. It’s unusual because issue #1 was also the only issue ever published by Marvel Comics under this title, by design.

At this time, Marvel was promoting all of the characters who were in “shared” comic books (Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Strange Tales) to their own titles. To resolve the story lines, they put together this one-shot book, with two stories featuring Iron Man and the eternally angst-ridden Prince Namor, with penciling by the great Gene Colan. (An odd publishing strategy, never to be repeated.)

Our copy of this book is in excellent condition, with small flaws on the cover but white pages and brilliant inks throughout.

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For completeness, here’s the back cover, with an ad for Norman Rockwell’s Famous Artists School.

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