Batman in the 1960s Issue 52: July/August 1968

 

The Caped Crusader in the 1960s
by Jack Seabrook
& Peter Enfantino

Infantino/Adams

Batman #203

"The 1,000 Secrets of the Batcave!"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Jim Mooney & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #48, September 1948)

"The Birth of Batplane II!"

Story by David Vern

Art by Dick Sprang & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #61, November 1950)

"The Secret of Batman's Utility Belt!"

Story Uncredited

Art by Dick Sprang & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #185, July 1952)

"The 100 Batarangs of Batman"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #244, June 1957)

"Secret of the Batmobile"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #98, March 1956)

"The Flying Bat-Cave!"

Story Uncredited

Art by Lew Sayre Schwartz & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #186, August 1952)

Peter-One of the rare DC comic books I had as a kid (most of them were the "Giants" as, even as a pre-teen, I hated the contemporary "Jimmy Olsen: Werewolf" nonsense) and I remember with fondness cutting out the "Secrets of the Batcave" spread and hanging it up on my bedroom wall not far from the Famous Monsters of Filmland covers and Creedence 45s. As usual, this bunch is full of kinetic energy and bursting at the seams with goofiness. I would say, though, that, aside from that aforementioned spread, these stories don't dwell much on the fabulous secrets found within the Cave. I enjoyed them despite the bait-and-switch.

Jack-My favorite was "The 1,000 Secrets of the Batcave!," which features a villain named Brando and which reveals that Bruce Wayne lives in a modest suburban house! The two stories pencilled by Dick Sprang are not bad, but the Moldoff entries are snoozers. Like you, I remember this comic from early childhood!

Novick

Detective Comics #377

"The Riddler's Prison-Puzzle Problem!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Frank Springer & Sid Greene

Batman is summoned to the Gotham Library, where he finds a book waiting for him. The pretty librarian informs the Caped Crusader that her office did not send for him, but the book has magically appeared on her desk. Sensing a deadly trap, the World's Greatest Detective uses a yardstick to detonate the book. Luckily, the pretty librarian was snapping a photo of her hero when the book exploded. The instant photo reveals a cryptic message: "Why is a diamond like a stew?" Yep, the Riddler is out on bail again!

The clue leads our heroes to the estate of Mr. Morland, collector of gold coins, and the boys interrupt the Riddler in the middle of his heist. Fisticuffs ensue, but Batman and Robin are triumphant and E. Nigma is hauled off to the 23rd Precinct building where he is booked for fifteen different crimes and thrown in a cell. Like clockwork, the Riddler's bail arrives five minutes later and he is released but, before heading out the door to freedom after his long nightmare of incarceration, he gives the Batman a cryptic message about his cell.

Using his computer-like brain, Batman has himself arrested and thrown into the cell once used by Nigma (instead of, I don't know, just checking the cell out after the Rogue leaves). Batman had noticed one of the question marks on Riddler's costume was missing, so he checks the cell for invisible writing. Sure enough, a message is written on the mirror--"Why is a room filled only with married people like an empty room?" That clue leads the Dynamic Duo to the Museum of India, which is displaying the priceless "Bachelor Diamond," and the boys again arrive mid-heist. A whale of a brawl kicks up but, once again, law and order reign supreme and the Riddler is slapped in cuffs. The villain sits in a cell, awaiting his obligatory release in four issues.

Unlike most adventures, the Riddler doesn't seem to have a goal this time out. It's just rob, puzzle, rob, puzzle, rob. What's with the new-look Riddler? This version looks nothing like the guy we've become so familiar with. He's demented, with scraggly hair. Perhaps Frank Springer took inspiration from the TV show, when John Astin took over for Frank Gorshin? While this event is hardly as disastrous as that TV debacle, the villain's new look is quite startling. I will say, though that, Astin look aside,  the Springer/Greene art is not bad at all. The fight scenes have choreography and dynamics that we never saw in the Shelly/Giella age. Hilarious, in our opening scene, that Batman suspects the book at the library is booby-trapped but doesn't think to ask the pretty librarian to step outside while he checks it out.-Peter

Jack-It's a decent Riddler story; better than some, worse than others. I agree that the art is a notch above Moldoff's work; in some spots, it resembles Infantino's style, while in others, it features the dynamic poses of Kane. The Novick cover is a classic and bodes well for the new artist who will soon take over the interior art too.

Brown/Esposito

The Brave and the Bold #78

"In the Coils of Copperhead!"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Bob Brown & Mike Esposito

After Batman barely escapes being run over by an armored truck driven by crooks, a king and queen visiting Gotham City are shocked when a beggar steals the queen's tiara and reveals himself to be the Copperhead, a villain dressed like a snake who escapes by slithering up the side of a building, using suction cups on his fingertips. Batman gives chase but Copperhead escapes, which really bums out the Dark Knight.

No worries, though, since two days later Wonder Woman and Batgirl begin leaving smoke messages in the sky expressing their love for Batman! The gals fight over who is more devoted to Batman and Copperhead watches the TV news and wonders if it's all a trick. Batgirl and Wonder Woman try so hard to win Batman's love with gifts and displays of affection that he doesn't notice when a hoodlum tries to commit a robbery.

Thinking that Batman is too distracted by the hotties, Copperhead attempts to steal the priceless Casque of Montezuma, only to have Batman reveal that the whole lovefest was a ruse. Copperhead gets away again and this time the gals seem to have really fallen for Bat Guy. He's so bothered by smooches that Copperhead makes off with the Casque. Batman gives chase, only to learn that WW and BG have hidden messages revealing their secret identities for him to find. Copperhead learns of this by means of a listening device and is about to discover that WW is Diana Prince and BG is Babs Gordon when Wonder Woman intervenes.

She follows the reptilian rascal to his cave, where he knocks her out with gas. Batgirl follows and takes a kick to the head. Finally, Batman locates Copperhead's hideout and beats the living daylights out of the baddie, but not before one of Copperhead's fangs manages to inject deadly poison into the Bat bod. Fortunately, Batgirl brought along some anti-venom serum and saves the day. Copperhead is captured, the Casque is recovered, and Batman tells Wonder Woman and Batgirl, "Don't call me, I'll call you!"

First of all, Bob Brown's cover is a knockout and it looks like he and Mike Esposito put a bit more care into it than they did on the interior art, which is a bit scratchy in spots. The whole idea of Batgirl and Wonder Woman fighting over Batman is silly, and Copperhead is a wacky villain. None of this bothered me at age five, however, and I vividly recall reading this comic on the sidewalk in front of my grandmother's house in Texas. It's the first comic I remember reading.-Jack

Peter-I'd love to see the uncut version of Bob Haney's "Copperhead" script, wherein we get to view Bats as he convinces Wonder Woman and Batgirl that a large-scale public display of affection is the only thing that might work ("the toughest, most baffling foe I ever faced!"--Bruce Wayne mutters while having a lapse of reason). "No, seriously, you two laying smooches on me and generally doing things that might be construed as a public hazard will be the only way to lure this devious, treacherous rogue out of hiding!" Almost as hilarious is Gordo claiming that Batman is letting down the citizens of Gotham by not slapping the cuffs on the dopily-dressed, Grade-D villain: "If you don't catch him by the time I'm on the 18th hole, we're done!"

Say this: Bob Haney's script is no more coherent nor logical than Frank Robbins's stack of papers that became "Batman! Drop Dead... Twice!" in 'tec #378, but it's a whole lot more fun and Bob doesn't pepper his dialogue with "groovy"s or "far out"s. That's gotta be worth something, no? Fun extra: just in case none of the target eight-year-old readers know what a copperhead is, the editors provide a full-page guide to the world of serpents. Perhaps the powers that be should have noticed and provided a glossary of hippie terms over in 'tec.

Novick

Batman #204

"Operation: Blindfold!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Irv Novick & Joe Giella

It's midnight in Gotham City and a blind man is chased down by a car and shot to death in an alley. With his dying breath, he scratches a message with his cane on a wall" "Commissioner Gordon...they found out I'm Batman!" The killers report to their boss, who is named Schemer, that Batman is dead. They then call the police, and soon Commissioner Gordon is at the scene.

The next step in Schemer's plan is to station blind men along the possible route of a truck carrying gold bullion. In the alley, Gordon and the cops try to figure out if the dead man is really Batman. At the waterfront, the real Batman happens to be in disguise as a blind man in order to uncover a ring of smugglers. Just as he seems to be surrounded, Robin arrives and the Dynamic Duo wrap up the bad guys before placing a call to police headquarters and hearing that Batman has been reported dead.

Batman and Robin race to meet Commissioner Gordon, but he arrests the Caped Crusader, convinced that he's a fake. Robin escapes! Riding in the back of a police car with Gordon, Batman discovers that the dead blind man in the alley had a radio receiver and a radio transmitter, and he uses them to listen in to a conversation between the schemer and his goons concerning "Operation: Blindfold!" The crooks see the truck carrying gold pass by and try to stop it, but Robin gets involved to try to prevent the hijacking. The police car carrying Batman nearly crashes into the truck carrying gold; Batman is ejected and seems to be at the mercy of one of Schemer's blind crooks. As Robin rides on the back of the truck carrying the gold and Schemer plans to rob it when it reaches the bank, Batman faces death!

This is the first issue of Batman or Detective to feature credits for someone other than Bob Kane! Think of that! For a while now, the editor in the letters column has admitted at times that other writers were involved, and any reader with a pair of eyes could see when Carmine Infantino was doing the pencils, but up till now the facade that Bob Kane was the creative mind behind these stories has been continuing unabated since 1939. Almost 30 years! This issue is credited to writer Frank Robbins, penciller Irv Novick, and inker Joe Giella, and it's about time. The story is a bit scattered, but it's also exciting and the art is Novick at the top of his game. The narrative doesn't feel padded, even at 23 pages, unlike so many stories that feature page after page of fighting. And it's continued, to boot! I think this may be the real transition to the Batman of the 1970s that we've been waiting for.-Jack

Peter-Hard to believe this turkey was advertised as "a daringly different Batman" when it's the same ol', same ol', desperate attention-grabber. Batman dies. Robin dies. Batman quits crime-fighting. Robin quits crime-fighting. Whoever believes this rot? How did DC get away with ripping off Marvel's the Owl (->) for their reboot of the Schemer in this issue? I mean, the guy's even got an owl! Is this parody, homage, or lack of imagination?

Novick

Detective Comics #378

"Batman! Drop Dead... Twice!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

Well, he's gone and done it again! Robin has thrown a hissy and quit the team, obviously upset that a reporter didn't write about all the nifty moves he put on the Riddler the month before. While watching an interview with Yoko Ono, the Boy Wonder decides that the Duo should be billed as Robin and Batman from here on out and, when Bruce challenges the idea, Dick is out the door, baby.

Meanwhile, running parallel is the story of Chino, the ward of a local mobster, who similarly wants more credit for the amount of mayhem done in Gotham. When his boss, Salvo, tries to put the kid in line, Chino cold cocks him and trucks out the door.

Dick and Chino meet at a local dumpy hotel, where they pool their resources, rent a room, and become quick palsies, baby! That is, until Chino's piece falls out of his suitcase and Dick becomes alarmed. A bit of a tussle occurs and Chino grabs the gun, pointing it right at Dick. Grayson wisely plays it ice cool and Chino reveals what's on his mind: he's going to dress Dick up like Robin, dangle him as bait until Batman shows up, and then off the Dark Knight to impress Salvo. Ironic, no? Cuz Dick is really Robin! And vice versa!

Meanwhile, on the other side of this groovy yet convoluted yapper, Salvo dresses up one of his goons as Robin to... well, essentially do the same thing as Chino. Holy coincidence, Batman! It's about this time that Bruce Wayne decides he's done a bad deed watching Dick walk out the door. After all, whiny teens should be coddled and given everything they want, right? The groovy thing to do is to go out and apologize to the kid and beg him to come home, so that's just what the big feller proposes be done (and Alfred doesn't help one bit, putting all the blame on the boss's shoulders).

Chino grabs the suited-up Dick and hangs him high above the concrete streets, knowing that Bats will get the word somehow. At the same time, Salvo has staked out his Faux-Robin on a rooftop and we see Bats swing in for the rescue. Alas, the World's Greatest Detective doesn't notice the sniper atop a nearby roof and gets one right in the back. But hang on, all you flower children: next panel, we see Batman ride up in his funky Bat-ride at the docks where his ex-partner is hanging. As he exits the vehicle, Chino takes aim and... TO BE CONTINUED

How many times in a two-year span will we see Robin lie on the floor and throw a tantrum? I searched my thesaurus for a stronger word for convoluted and all I could come up with is "stupid." That about sums up this dopey script by Far-Out Frank Robbins, a guy Jack and I "loved to death" (sarcasm) during our investigation of 1970s Dark Knight literature and who was, at this time, fifty-two years old and, therefore, not the best guy to be writing dialogue best reserved for a Buffalo Springfield single. I've no doubt worn out my welcome whining about Gardner Fox's complex and/or inane plots and dialogue but, truly, Robbins takes the cake with this abomination ("Throbbin' palpitation, Alfred!"). It's no wonder the new kid on the block, "Nefarious" Neal Adams, took a look at this crap, remembered what an iconic character this was once upon a time, and said, "Hold my beer!" Alas, that won't come our way for a bit. Till then, we're stuck with this pap. We've still got about sixteen months left in the '60s (God help us), but "Drop Dead... Twice!" is a shoo-in for Worst Story of the Decade.-Peter

Jack-Hang on, daddy-o--I dug this story the most! I got a kick out of the hood dressing up as Robin and I thought the art and storytelling were much more entertaining than what we've been getting from Fox and Moldoff. I don't like Brown's pencils as much as I do Novick's, but they're still a great leap forward from what they replaced. I like the continued stories, which is probably a sign of Marvel's influence, and I enjoy the groovy lingo.

Next Week...
More Fabulous Doodlings from
Gentleman Gene!

The Hitchcock Project-The Little Man Who Was There by Gordon Russell and Larry Ward [5.25]

by Jack Seabrook

Yesterday, upon the stair,

I met a man who wasn't there!

--"Antigonish," by William Hughes Mearns (1899)

These lines are from an old poem that was turned into a hit song titled "The Little Man Who Wasn't There" in 1939, recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, among others. Another song and catch phrase at the time that used the same lines was "Who's Yehoodi?," which was a hit for Cab Calloway in 1940. Yehoodi (or Yehudi) was a late '30s slang reference for a "mysteriously absent person." The lines about the little man who wasn't there and Yehudi found their way into short stories, such as Fredric Brown's "The Jabberwocky Murders" (1944); novels, such as Brown's Night of the Jabberwock (1950); and radio shows, such as a 1949 episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, called "The Little Man Who Wasn't All There Matter."

Norman Lloyd as the little man

The Johnny Dollar radio show flipped the idea in a 1959 episode called "The Little Man Who Was There Matter"; the listeners would have understood the title as a reference to the craze of a decade earlier and wonder why the little man who wasn't there before now was there. The title was re-used by writers Gordon Russell and Larry Ward for an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; "The Little Man Who Was There" aired on CBS on Sunday, April 3, 1960. The original teleplay is the first credit for both writers and was their only script for the Hitchcock TV show.

The show takes place almost entirely inside a saloon in the Old West mining town of Copper Pocket, and, as it opens, Hutch and Pete, two men at the bar on pay night, argue over who will buy the next drink. Before the disagreement turns into a fistfight, two large men, Jamie and Ben McMahon, put a stop to it, reminding the duo about the virtues of brotherly love. A little man in a top hat observes the proceedings from outside through a widow and Jamie hits the jackpot on a slot machine, crediting his faith rather than luck.

Arch Johnson as Jamie McMahon

The little man enters through the swinging doors and observes the signs placed around the room that read, "Charity Shall Cover the Multitude of Sins" and "Be of Good Cheer, Brothers." Okie, the bartender, engages with the little man, who speaks in a formal, educated manner and wears gloves. He requests a glass of rum, takes a sip, and spits it out when Okie refers to it as "'demon rum;'" the little man cautions the bartender that, "'Where I come from, we'd never refer to it as demon rum.'"

Across the room, Ben and Jamie demonstrate their strength by lifting an anvil, while Okie explains to the little man that Copper Pocket has been a different town since the McMahon brothers arrived two months ago and tamed it with their muscles and their talk of brotherly love. After insisting that power, not brotherly love, was what changed the town, the little man captures everyone's attention by creating a small explosion and bursting into laughter. Ignoring Okie's instruction to leave, the little man begins to insult Jamie, calling him a coward. "'Many men have tried to beat me,'" says the little man, "'but not a soul has ever succeeded.'"

Read Morgan as Ben McMahon

Jamie finally is pushed to his limit and throws punches at the little man, but an invisible force stops his fist from reaching its target. "What kind of a demon are you, anyway?'" says Jamie, and the little man points at the big man and uses his mental powers to force his opponent to the floor, where he writhes in agony. Jamie tries and fails to attack the little man as well and soon joins his brother on the floor. With the two strongest men conquered, the others cower in fear and willingly comply with the little man's command to put all of their money in his bag, Even Okie is compelled to empty his secret stash from a statue behind the bar into the little man's sack. He tells the crowd in the bar, "'Do not try to follow me or there will be the devil to pay!'" and he exits.

Robert Armstrong as Okie

Jamie and Ben quickly recover and Okie concludes that their visitor must have been the devil. Not long after that, in a lonely shack outside of town, the little man sits behind a desk and counts out $30,000 into three piles. He pulls a gun when Jamie and Ben enter, but they all smile and split the proceeds of their successful con game. The little man tells Jamie not to drink so much next time and he tells Ben not to "'lay it on so thick with that holy stuff.'" He tells the brothers to go next to Silver Wheel, Nevada, and start sending reports; he'll come when they send the word. Another explosion follows and the little man exits the shack, once again laughing.

Clegg Hoyt as Hutch

"The Little Man Who Was There" is a delightful story of a confidence game that plays out in an Old West saloon, where two men have used their strength and wit to gain the trust of the townspeople before their partner can appear and play upon everyone's superstitions to collect a big payday. The "little man" of the title is just that, and the fact that a man of such small stature can seemingly overpower two giants is enough to instill fear into everyone else so that they part with their money on pay night. The final scene shows that this story will soon play out again in another place, suggesting that it has played out elsewhere more than once before.

"The Little Man Who Was There" is directed by George Stevens, Jr. (1932- ), son of director George Stevens and an important Hollywood figure in his own right. He started out as a production assistant to his father, directed training films while in the Air Force, and directed a few TV shows, including two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Coming, Mama" is the other), before being put in charge of film and TV output in 1961 for the U.S. Information Agency. Stevens later founded the American Film Institute in 1967 and served as its director until 1980.

Mike Ragan as Pete

Gordon Russell (1929-1981), one of the writers, started as an actor but had a long career as a TV writer from 1960 to 1980. He was head writer for The Nurses from 1965 to 1967, for Dark Shadows from 1967 to 1971, and for One Life to Live from 1972 to 1980, so he spent fifteen years writing soap operas.

Larry Ward (1924-1985), the other writer, only had a handful of writing credits and had more success as a TV actor, appearing on the small screen from 1969 to 1982. He and Russell co-wrote a play called Masterpiece that premiered in London in February 1961.

The little man of the show's title is played by Norman Lloyd (1914-2021), one of the people most responsible for the success and quality of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Born Norman Perlmutter and active in the theater in the 1930s, he had a long career as a film and television actor, from 1939 to 2015, and appeared in Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942) and Spellbound (1945). He also directed for television from 1951 to 1984. He acted in five episodes of the Hitchcock series and directed 22, including "Man from the South."

Clancy Cooper
as Swede

Arch Johnson (1922-1997) plays Jamie McMahon, in one of his three appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (see "Party Line"). A familiar face among character actors, he had a career on TV and in the movies that lasted over three decades and he was in the original Broadway cast of West Side Story.

Read Morgan (1931-2022) plays Ben McMahon. On screen from 1949 to 1994, he was in three episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "Hitch Hike," as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and The Night Stalker.

In smaller roles:

• Robert Armstrong as Okie, the bartender; living from 1890-1973, Armstrong will forever be remembered as Carl Denham in King Kong (1933); he also appeared in Son of Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949). In movies from 1927, he appeared in over 150 films in his long career and he was on TV beginning in 1950. He appeared in three Hitchcock TV episodes, including "The Faith of Aaron Menefee."
• Clegg Hoyt (1910-1967) as Hutch, one of the men arguing at the bar; he was on screen from 1955-1967 and appeared in six episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Day of the Bullet." He was also on The Twilight Zone, Thriller, and Star Trek.
• Mike Ragan (1918-1995) as Pete, who argues with Hutch; he was born Hollis Bane and he appeared in countless movies and TV shows starting in 1924. He was seen on the Hitchcock TV show eight times, including "Breakdown."
• Clancy Cooper (1906-1975) as Swede, the first man to try to lift the anvil; he was on screen in small roles from 1938 to 1972, appearing on The Twilight Zone, two episodes of Thriller (including "Knock Three-One-Two"), and three episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "Don't Look Behind You."
• Frank Christi (1929-1982) as the first man to try the slot machine; he was on screen from 1953 to 1981, mostly on TV, and he appeared on Batman twice. He was murdered in a sensational case involving a love triangle.

Frank Christi

• Roscoe Ates (1895-1962) as Charlie, the piano player; he was in six episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Jokester." He started out as a comedian in vaudeville and his film career began in 1929. He was in 15 westerns from 1946 to 1948 as sidekick Soapy Jones, and his TV career began in 1951. Other film roles included Freaks (1932), King Kong (1933), Gone With the Wind (1939), Sullivan's Travels (1941), and The Palm Beach Story (1942). Ates also worked as an Air Force trainer in WWII.

Roscoe Ates

Read the GenreSnaps review of "The Little Man Who Was There" here. Listen to the discussion on "Good Evening: An Alfred Hitchcock Presents Podcast" here. Watch the episode online here or order the DVD here.

Sources:

Gordon Russell, TV Writer, Dies; "one Life to Live" among Credits - The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/1981/01/22/obituaries/gordon-russell-tv-writer-dies-one-life-to-live-among-credits.html.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub, 2001.

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

"The Little Man Who Was There." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 5, episode 25, CBS, 3 Apr. 1960.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss season two of Alfred Hitchcock Presents here!

In two weeks: "The Pearl Necklace," starring Hazel Court!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 141: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 126

November 1956 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Marvel Tales #152

Cover by Joe Maneely

"Trapped in the Chinese Garden" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★1/2

"When the Bubble Burst!" (a: Joe Orlando & Wally Wood) ★

"When Mongorr Appeared" (a: Norman Maurer) ★

"Beware the Invisible Trap!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★1/2

"The Menace of the Mole-Men!" 

(a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★

"The People That Never Were!" (a: Gray Morrow) ★

Enwright becomes enamored of his neighbor's Chinese Garden and decides he has to have it at any cost. When Mr. Omen tells him no, Enwright fumes. Omen explains that the Garden comes with a curse and must be maintained at all times. Sometime later, Omen falls ill and is taken to the hospital, where he (obviously) cannot water his Garden. In a panic, he calls Enwright for help, but the once-friendly neighbor now tells Omen that he will only water the foliage if he can purchase the plot.

With no other choice, Omen agrees and Enwright quickly becomes the toast of New York, displaying his new treasure to the beautiful people of the city. After a while, the bloom is (literally) off the rose and caring for the Garden becomes too much of a chore. Enwright lets the magical vegetation go to pot and suffers the consequences. "Trapped in the Chinese Garden" has some nice graphics by Mac Pakula, but Enwright's sudden transformation from loving neighbor and plant enthusiast to total jerk in just a few frames is not entirely believable. The climactic panel, where Enwright is literally trapped in the garden but looks hopefully at the sky for rain, perfectly captures the safety of these post-code strips.

In the three-page "When the Bubble Burst!," a Martian, encased in a bubble, suddenly appears at the White House, demanding an audience with the President. The Commander-in-Chief obliges and listens to the alien as he unveils the shocking news: there are Venusians living on Earth! Mars wants to escalate its war with Venus and so the emissary is here to assassinate the U.S. leader. Of course, the Martian reminds POTUS that Earth weapons will not pierce his incredible bubble but, luckily, the Prez is actually a Venusian and blasts the alien's sphere. Atlas writers must have had some secret intel, since this is at least the dozenth time Venusians and Martians have declared Earth a battleground. Wood and Orlando are magical when on solo trips but obviously cancel each other out when they team up. This art is bland and lifeless.

Treasure seekers find an odd chunk of crystal while searching for diamonds in Africa. Suddenly, a man appears identifying himself as Mongorr, explaining that he must have the crystal but will exchange wonderful gems for the rock. Suspicious, the two men hoof it but are soon tracked down. Mongorr takes his crystal and leaves a pile of diamonds in exchange, but our treasure seekers are too bummed out by their loss to have a look. I was elated when I saw the title, "When Mongorr Appeared," thinking finally we're getting to the "Giant Monster" era of "I Found Sporr" and "Bruutu, Monster of the Seventh Dimension!" but, alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, we get a barely illustrated fantasy with a really lame but ironic climax.

Professor Volan invents a vapor that can project a moving picture of a person's thoughts. He sells it to the leader of his unnamed country (think, oh, I don't know, Russia), who then uses it to weed out his political enemies and anyone who might be a threat to his power. In a deliciously ironic climax, Volan uses his vapor to show his people the leader's true colors and they elect Volan President. But when some of Volan's vapor leaks out and his thoughts are pictured, we learn that the people of the Commie Country might have been better off with the other guy! For once, a clever (though typically heavy-handed at times) political essay in an Atlas funny book, All that's missing are some decent graphics.

In the vapid "The Menace of the Mole-Men!," a strange fog envelops a small village and mole-like creatures (who wear space suits) emerge from the Earth's center to wage war on society. Only the quick wits of a small boy ward off disaster. Here I was, as with the previous selection, hoping for a prototype of Marvel yet to come, but I was dismayed to find nothing of  the kind. Just a fog. In the finale, "The People That Never Were!," inveterate gambler Randolph Knox discovers a hidden city when he becomes trapped in a rockslide (don't ask for more details, please). Once introduced to the inhabitants, Knox becomes BMOC and woos the daughter of the town's leader, talking his girl's pop into loaning him one hundred grand to open a casino. From there, it's just a matter of time before the Eden becomes a hovel. There's your moral: gambling is bad. So was this issue.-Peter

Mystery Tales #47

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Man with No Face!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"At the Stroke of Midnight!" (a: Reed Crandall) ★★

"The Only Woman!" (a: Herb Familton) ★★

"A Knock at the Door" (a: Bob Powell) ★1/2

"Something Strange About Smithtown!" (a: Joe Certa) ★★

"When They Wake Up!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

In "The Man With No Face!," hardened criminal Dany Rice is chased around the globe by a spirit dubbed "Detective X," a voice that inhabits multiple bodies in order to get Danny to surrender to authorities. This one just meanders through its four pages, giving us endless word balloons like, "You'll never find me now!" Spoiler alert: Danny's found and, of course, decides it's the right decision to give himself up. 

Professor Proctor is amazed by the sudden materialization of a nattily dressed alien who introduces himself as Dagon. Before you get all excited, thinking of Lovecraftian demons, I'll remind you this is the Post-Code era and the name was probably just picked randomly out of a hat rather than through some kind of inspiration. Anyway, this other-worldly Bowie impersonator tries to convince Proctor that he has a lot of vital information to impart to the egghead about atomic energy, but first Proctor must tell Dagon what our scientists have already learned. And Dagon is on a deadline: "At the Stroke of Midnight!" he will turn back into a pumpkin or some such and the Earth will have lost out on some pretty cool insights.

Suspicious, Proctor refuses to divulge his knowledge and security comes charging in to arrest the goofball in tights. Dagon easily gives him the slip and, sure enough, disappears at midnight. All Proctor is left with is an x-ray inadvertently taken of Dagon that reveals... he had wings! A really goofy distraction that doesn't make a lot of sense and wastes the talents of Reed Crandall but that does have a great final panel, one that doesn't really have any bearing on atomic energy or distrust in your fellow man, but still looks kinda cool.

Homely Ted Davis resigns himself to a life without women. They don't appreciate his inner self, averting their gaze when they see his unattractive features. All that changes when Ted visits a local museum exhibit focused on a gorgeous (incredibly unwrinkled) mummy named Princess La-Ni. Ted is convinced that, if he possesses the Princess's gargantuan diamond necklace, he can get any girl in town. Shortly thereafter, Ted meets the enchanting Evelyn Vinson, who cares not one bit about Ted's appearance nor his priceless gem. Evelyn only cares about the love within. She's "The Only Woman!" who won't run and hide from Ted!

Ted proposes and Evelyn accepts, but their bliss is interrupted when the woman is kidnapped by two mummies and no ransom is forthcoming. The police have no answers, so Ted does what any heartbroken man would do: he revisits the Princess La-Ni exhibit and finds Evelyn. She's the Princess! I think. Or maybe she's replaced the Princess? Who knows? If scripter Carl Wessler knew, he was being coy. Or inventive. Or both. The Herb Familton art is nothing to alert the media about, but it does the trick well enough. Evelyn must have been one divine soul before she was reduced to mummy status, because Ted is the absolute definition of ugly, thanks to Familton.

In the three-page "A Knock at the Door," Jameson has a voodoo doll made to resemble his cousin, who won't lend him money, in order to... well, he's got a plan. Unfortunately, the doll has friends and they come to rescue him. The "evil doll" trope goes back as far as horror comics do, but this is as tame as they come, thanks to the evils of the Post-Code. The word "voodoo" is never used, probably because it became taboo after the CCA stepped in, and the final panels of the dolls making their escape would never elicit fear from a pre-teen.

Traveling salesman Fred Ames stops in Smithtown to pick up some orders, but finds the population has been replaced... by aliens! Yep, spores from space land on Earth and duplicate the town's occupants. But, never fear, the CCA notified the previous tenants before they were eaten or absorbed or whatever and warned them. They got out and live on the edge of Smithtown now. Yes, there is "Something Strange About Smithtown!" It's not the fact that it's a blatant rip-off of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but rather that it's devoid of anything resembling chills and thrills. These aliens just want to have fun for a year (their lifespan) and then they'll fade away. Ames remarks what bad condition the town has fallen into, but it couldn't have been invaded very long before. The only plus is the decent art by Joe Certa; his splash is goofy as hell, with that young boy looking like he's about to set off firecrackers under Ames's feet!

In the finale, "When They Wake Up!," two cave explorers stumble across two ancient men who appear to be in some kind of a coma. Next to them is the potion that will awaken them, and nearby are what appear to be powerful weapons. The two dopes decide to wake the sleepers and convince them the world is a bad place that needs to be run by four men as peaceful as themselves. The trick does not work and, by story's end, there are now four sleepers. There's some really sharp work from Ditko here and the story's not bad, but these two explorers must be dopes to accept when the old guys offer them a drink to celebrate their upcoming monarchy.-Peter

Mystic #53

Cover by Bill Everett

"Inside the Locked Trunk!" (a: George Roussos) ★★

"I Entered the Forbidden Lagoon!" (a: Herb Familton) ★1/2

"The Threat!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★1/2

"The Man Who Wasn't!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★★1/2

"He Walks in the Night!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"The City That Sank!" (a: Bernard Baily) ★

Neil is handsome but shy and feels trapped in the home he shares with his older brother, Caleb. Caleb reminds Neil not to look "Inside the Locked Trunk!" and promises that it holds great riches that will belong to Neil when Caleb dies. One night, Neil is overcome by curiosity and opens the trunk. Peering inside, he falls in and emerges in a parallel world, where he meets pretty Helen Barnes, who is similarly trapped and living with her older sister, Lydia. Neil and Helen fall in love and escape back to Neil's world via the trunk; they say goodbye to Caleb, who is left alone to admit that he lied to his brother about the empty trunk because he feared being alone.

George Roussos's art is average at best and Wessler's story features his usual, confused plotting. The ending, where Caleb is alone and laments his condition, is sad, but it doesn't make up for another run of the mill story.

Tod betrays his partner by selling a large number of pearls that they found and absconding with the money to a remote spot in the South American jungle. Planning to hide out for six months and then return to civilization a rich man, Tod realizes that "I Entered the Forbidden Lagoon!" The title body of water is a swell place to relax, but natives warn Tod that if he doesn't leave right away, he'll incur the water's wrath. Tod ignores the advice and camps by the lagoon for months after chasing away the natives and burning their village to the ground. When he returns to the U.S., he finds himself haunted by visions and sounds of the lagoon's waters rushing toward him.

Tod heads back to the jungle, only to find a dry lagoon bed. He spends weeks "at the lagoon basin, rebuilding the damage" he did, and soon the lagoon is full of water again and he is free from its curse. Tod does quite a job as a solo construction man, rebuilding all of the native huts from scratch with what looks like a sledgehammer or maybe an axe. What he can't rebuild is the sub-par artwork by Herb Familton or the minutes I spent reading and thinking about this story.

A great big, shiny ball from outer space has landed in the White House lawn! Aliens inside announce that they will ask Earth to join the federation of planets if its people prove themselves worthy. The president of the U.S. listens to his advisors for the next week and agonizes over what to do. In the end, the aliens emerge and tell the Prez that Earth passed the test because it sent his daughter Peggy, an open-minded, optimistic girl, as a representative.

It must have been rough in the fifties, what with aliens visiting the Earth on a seemingly daily basis. Actually, this story takes place in 1982, which means that Reagan was the president. He likely would have listened to the advisor who said to nuke the aliens, and where would Earth be then?

A palooka named Danny Mack loses a fight to Fred Willis and his manager dumps him. Danny then tells his pretty, redheaded girlfriend Kitty that he's washed up and she should forget him. Out in the alley, Danny meets a professor who takes him to his lab and shows him a robot version of Danny, built to be the perfect boxer. Danny agrees with the prof's plan to make a fortune, and "The Man Who Wasn't!" begins winning fight after fight, until he's up against the heavyweight champ. But there's a hitch--the prof tells Danny that the champ is also a robot who is guaranteed to win, since the prof intentionally messed up wires in the robot Danny.

Danny knocks out the prof and climbs into the ring himself, where he takes a beating but finally defeats the robot champ with a well-timed sock to the jaw. After the fight, Danny spills the beans to the boxing commissioner, retires from fighting, and hooks back up with Kitty, who admits that she could tell the difference between Danny and the robot.

I was all set to dislike this story when I saw the ugly, half-page splash that Dick Ayers chose to open it with. However, the story drew me in and, by the end, I was rooting for Danny. The wordless panel I've reproduced here is my favorite. A GCD comment compares this story to the "Steel" episode of The Twilight Zone; once again, I wonder if Rod Serling was secretly reading Atlas comics and mining them for ideas!

George Farren is a scientist who invents a machine that can track down criminals by picking up their thoughts. After showing it to the cops, he goes home to his wife and young daughter. George skips dinner and heads to the basement to put the finishing touches on his machine, but when he tests it, he summons an ancient, immortal man who will soon use his wisdom and power to enslave the world. George pulls a gun, but the evil man uses his mind to prevent him from firing it. Just then, George's daughter knocks on the door and the evil dude is distracted, so George wallops him in the noggin with his gun butt, killing him. George muses about the first law of man being to protect his young and concludes that love is greater than evil.

Not long ago, I would have assumed that the uncredited writer of this muddled mess was Carl Wessler, but the recent arrival of Jack Oleck has put that theory to the test, since Oleck's stories are just as bad. One thing's for sure--the art by Robert Q. Sale is hideous.

A pilot named Tex Avery (!) lands on an aircraft carrier and relates a strange story about having discovered "The City That Sank!" He landed his plane on an island that had developed the technology to rise out of the ocean and descend again; the leader (of course) plans to rule the world any day now. Tex managed to escape and report back, but the aircraft carrier's captain doesn't believe his story and has him confined to quarters. Meanwhile, the ship plows through the fog and is about the encounter the island.

At least, that's what I think happened at the end. It's not clear. Wessler's story is another version of the tired bit about a group planning to take over the world, and Bernard Baily's art is below average for him.-Jack

Next Week...
Learn the (Reprinted) Secrets of
The Batcave!