The Marvel/Atlas
Horror Comics
Horror Comics
Part 109
June 1956 Part III
by Peter Enfantino
and Jack Seabrook
Cover by Bill Everett & Carl Burgos
"Breaking Through the Time Barrier" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2
"Nightmare" (a: John Forte) ★1/2
"Look to the Stars?" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★1/2
"The Unknown Man" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★
"Flight from Mars!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★
"The Man Who Knew!" (a: Syd Shores) ★★
No better is the inane "Nightmare," in which a jailbird dreams every night that he lives in another dimension. His prison psychiatrist tells him he must go into that world and face his demons, but it turns out the other world is his world and our world is a dream. Got that? Again, some striking graphics are wasted on juvenile twaddle. In "Look to the Stars?" a weatherman forecasts earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes with uncanny accuracy. What's his secret? He's an alien, of course, receiving messages from another planet.
Acting as though nothing is wrong, Jerry puts on some clothes and asks his ma what's for dinner. She ignores him and Jerry, despondent, heads over to the clubhouse where his buddies hang out. Again he is met with silence, except for a man who berates Jerry and demands he pay the twenty-five bucks he's owed. What gives? Well, it turns out that stairway led to an alternate world that somehow blurred into our own world and... are you still awake? Let's just say that "The Unknown Man" makes four duds so far this issue, but the difference is that Pakula's art is dreadful.
Genius Martin Cabell believes that six or seven great brains should be running the world instead of dopey politicians, but how does he get his message across? Luckily, his buddy, John, has invented a time machine so Martin can travel into the future and see if his idea would work. He makes the jump and lands hundreds of years in the future, where the population relies on those six or seven great brains to do everything for them. Mankind has become brainless, emotionless Tik-Tok viewers. Quickly, Martin jumps into the tin can, makes it back to the present, and tells John, "Yeah... never mind!" It's obvious the scripter of "The Man Who Knew!" wanted to make some deep statement on Communism and I admire that unknown scribe for rising above his colleagues this issue and actually pondering what might make a good story. But, in the end, the story is way too preachy (as these things often are) and we are left to wonder why Martin didn't foresee the ramifications of his big idea if he's got such a keen brain.-Peter
Strange Tales #47
Sure enough, within three panels, Gregory Winston wants companionship. Sure as the name of this comic is Strange But Uplifting Stories, the oculist was right. But when Gregory heads back to the man's office, the building has become a different storefront. Winston swears, as God is his witness, he'll find that strange oculist and get his vision back. Just once I'd like one of these selfish bastards to enjoy the fruits of their labor before being transformed into a caring individual. It's really sad to see how far the line has plummeted since the advent of the CCA. One of the great "what ifs" has to be: would the quality have declined without the witch hunt?
Helen tells Chris she's dumping him because he's poor and won't get a real job, instead insisting he's a great magician. With a heavy heart, Chris admits she might be right but, gosh, magic is so... magical! Luckily, he gets a good-paying gig at a birthday party and sets out in the rain to prove just how wrong Helen is, but the dope gets lost in the storm and ends up at a creepy, rundown mansion in the middle of the woods. Seeking shelter, he enters the building to find it filled with oddballs.
At "The Trial of Dr. Volton," the brilliant scientist is accused of sending his son up into space in a rocket ship but, as we learn in the twist climax, son Eddie is just a robot. The Winiarski art is pretty rough but the script elicits a few giggles. In "The New Member," Compton, a man from outer space, seeks to join a hunter's club on Earth since they don't have lions and rhinos back on Pluto. In the climax, Compton takes one of his new friends for a ride in space in his convertible space car (without aid of oxygen or any of that annoying stuff), proving once and for all that life in the 1950s was very cool.
Strange Tales of the Unusual #4
The Mandurians flew to Earth long ago in their solar ships and, because their orbit around the sun takes so long, the minutes that their trip takes equal millennia in our time. When they reached Earth, they found hostile cavemen and hid underground. All of the Mandurians were rescued except for Torus, who was still hiding, and he began "The Long Wait!" on Earth. Henry and Agnes realize that what they thought was a statue was really Torus but, when they run back to where they saw him, they see that he has been rescued and is being taken home in a flying saucer.
As Craig Parker walks through a train terminal, he sees an old man nearly fall from a high walkway. Craig is "The Life Saver!" and catches the man before he falls. Unfortunately, important papers fall from Craig's pocket and are immediately swept up by a maintenance worker and tossed in an incinerator. Craig explains that the papers were the only proof that existed that he owned property, which he had planned to sell in order to raise money to get married. The originals burned in a courthouse fire in 1895.
Tom Jordan, an experienced forest ranger, calls in a report that he saw flames, but when the chief arrives, he sees nothing. Later, Tom sees them again, investigates, and discovers flames shaped like people emerging from a hole in the ground. The "Flames of Fury!" tell Tom that they come from Earth's molten core and want to come up to the surface, where there is light. A bit of rain scares them, so they take off into space in a big ball and Tom is the only one who knows where a mysterious comet came from.
"The Warning Voice" tells him to keep looking, so Phineas finds more change, gets lost, and emerges in the Middle Ages, where knights bring him before the king. The voice tells him to light a cigarette and turn on his portable radio; the king is amazed and appoints Phineas the royal magician. Phineas makes a run for it and returns to his own time. In the theater, he watches the vaudeville acts until he hears the warning voice again and sees that it's the voice of a ventriloquist onstage who is talking to a wooden dummy that looks just like Phineas!
After crashing his time-travel plane, a scientist moves to a remote estate where his neighbors laugh at him until one day a UFO lands in his yard and aliens greet him, telling him he's on the right track and should just persevere, so he throws away his cane and greets the new day. You think my synopsis of "Breaking Through the Time Barrier" is alternately confusing and full of blueberry muffins? You should read the crap my words attempt to describe. Gorgeous Sinnott work is wasted on words that go nowhere.
Jerry Hudson wants to skin-dive for treasure in the ocean but his mom says it's not safe and he'll always be her little boy, even if he is eighteen. Proving he's his own man, Jerry stands up to his mother by sneaking out his bedroom window and meeting up with buddy Slim down at the beach. The dive goes swimmingly but, while walking along the ocean floor, Jerry happens upon a deep-sea cave and enters. Astonished, he finds a set of stairs that lead right into his own house!
Even though his Martian foster parents have always been kind and loving to him, orphan George wants to return to Earth to soak up the vibes. His real parents died shortly after their spaceship crash-landed on Mars, so all George has ever known is the red planet. George stows away on a rocket ship bound for Earth, but he gets a whale of a surprise when he gets there. Well, it's a big surprise to George but not to the reader (he was actually on Earth the whole time and the spaceship he boarded went to Mars), nor to this grizzled old Atlas vet or anyone paying attention to the title ("Flight from Mars!")
Cover by Sol Brodsky
"When Mankind Vanished!" (a: Frank Bolle) ★1/2
"Overflow" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★1/2
"When Sorcerers Meet" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★
"The Trial of Dr. Voltron!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★
"The New Member!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★
"The Hands" (a: Jim McLaughlin) ★1/2
In "When Mankind Vanished," grumpy multi-millionaire Gregory Winston is sick of the unwashed masses he must wade through every day to get his business done. At the eye doctor one day getting new glasses, he mentions his disdain for anything that walks on two legs and the oculist scolds him and tells him he'd miss the warmth of fellow earthlings if he were ever alone. "Like hell," the man mutters and exits the office. Suddenly, the streets are empty, cars pass by without drivers, and buildings are erected without construction workers. He can hear their voices but he can't see them!
The government of an overpopulated Neptune sends a recon team to Earth in anticipation of a full-scale invasion, but the dopes land smack-dab in the middle of the production of a science fiction movie. Mistaking the special effects for a ready, willing, and able militia, the boys from Neptune head back with their tails between their legs. "Overflow" reuses yet another overused plot device, but I still have a soft spot for Tony DiPreta's unique style.
Chris learns that the other men (and one gorilla) are there for the annual sorcerers convention. When they discover there is an outsider in their midst, the wizards attack. Convincing them he's a wizard too, Chris escapes and heads home to Helen, promising his life as a magician is over. Tomorrow, he'll get a job running numbers. My gosh, this post has been filled with even more dogs than usual. The only highlight of "When Sorcerers Meet" is when Helen tells her beau she's not marrying him because his lack of a bank account will lead to quarreling. Good point, but why in the climax is she taking the guy's word for it that things are gonna change?
In the preachy finale, "The Hands," a pair of disembodied hands appear in a stinkin' commie country that looks a heck of a lot like Russia, floating through the air, heading for the palace of dictator Grigor. Turns out the hands belong to Torloff, the country's "last Democratic leader," who was slain during Grigor's rise to power. Torloff, who can somehow speak through his hands (yeah, yeah, I know, this is a story about floating hands... so what if they can talk...), explains that he's there to avenge his own death and restore freedom to the (unnamed, but clearly the USSR) country.
When Grigor's henchmen raise the possibility that the hands might be right, the dictator pulls out his Makarov to shoot them dead but the bullet ricochets and kills Grigor instead. Peace and harmony are restored to (whatever this country is called). Dreary and pretentious, two adjectives that should not be applied to a funny book strip. Artist Jim McLaughlin (who penciled only one other Atlas tale, "The Wrong Man," back in Strange Tales #32) gets the job done; he's neither awful nor brilliant, but my eyes didn't bleed (as they tend to do while looking at Dick Ayers's work) so there's that. I have to parrot Jack in that the Atlas tales seem to be getting worse and worse; trite and lazy.-Peter
Cover by Carl Burgos
"The Long Wait!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★
"The Life Saver!" (a: John Forte) ★★
"Flames of Fury!" (a: Bill Benulis) ★1/2
"The Warning Voice" (a: Tony Mortellaro) ★
"The Talking Horse! (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★1/2
"Mission to Jupiter" (a: Bob Bean) ★★
As two archaeologists named Henry and Agnes explore an underground vault in Egypt, they discover what appears to be a guardian statue that seems to move! Putting it down to a case of the jitters, they round a bend and discover a fleet of solar ships and a scroll that tells a strange story. Agnes deciphers the hieroglyphics and learns that it was written by Torus of Mandu, a planet that orbits Earth's sun far more distantly.
Among the many puzzling aspects of this sub-par tale is why Torus would move so slowly and last so long when he and his fellow Mandurians were moving perfectly well when they encountered the cavemen. The point of the story seems to be that the concept of time on Mandu is so different than ours that his wait of thousands of Earth years was equal to minutes in Mandurian time. Sadly, Paul Reinman's art is some of the worst I've seen from a very good artist.
The old man encourages Craig to continue on his way and Craig boards the train to Fairview. When it stops an hour later. Craig's head is spinning and he feels compelled to exit the train. He finds himself in Fairview in 1895 and runs to the courthouse, where he rescues the papers before they burn. He gets back on the train and soon finds himself at the lawyer's office, holding a singed sheaf of papers that prove he owns the land. Outside the window, the man he saved, Father Time, is glad that he turned back time for a while to help Craig.
It was obvious from the first page that the old man was Father Time, so the ending was no surprise. John Forte's art is serviceable. Once again, I feel like Rod Serling was mining old Atlas comics when he wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone--this one reminds me of "A Stop at Willoughby." Crazy, I know.
The GCD and the signature on page one say that Benulis drew this, but the long faces of the human characters remind me of the work of Mort Lawrence. The story is a dud but I like how the flame people are drawn.
A redhead named Phineas Ferguson is looking forward to seeing a movie called Tough Guy from Tulsa at the local theater, but he's not interested in the eight vaudeville acts also playing. Accidentally shoved by another man in line, Phineas drops a quarter and it rolls through a grate and into a sewer. He hears a voice urging him to go down below and find his quarter, so he climbs down a ladder into the sewer and finds the coin.
Huh? Only Carl Wessler could create such confusion in the space of a mere four pages. It was bad enough that Phineas traveled through time and back again, but the conclusion with the ventriloquist came out of left field. Again, a Twilight Zone episode comes to mind--"The Dummy."
Billy Ross sneaks out of bed every night to talk to the horses in his dad's corral. When Pop finds out, he forbids Billy from maintaining his nightly ritual. Billy insists that one horse answers back, but his dad won't hear of any discussion of "The Talking Horse!" Every night at midnight, Billy sits by his window, looking out at the corral and waiting for Conrad, the talking horse, to appear. One night, Conrad stops coming. A week later, in the woods, Billy encounters Conrad, who says that his existence will be their secret because the world doesn't believe in... centaurs!
At three pages, this story seems long, and the surprise ending is just creepy, especially since Billy has his hand placed on the centaur's waist.
Emperor Taarg knows his subjects on Jupiter will revolt unless their work is lessened, so he sends a flying saucer to Earth to bring back an Earthling to see if they would make good workers. On Earth, Professor Keller and his musclebound assistant Harold happen to see the ship from Jupiter land nearby. That's handy, since the prof wants Harold to go to Jupiter to take pictures that will prove that there is life on that planet.
The aliens capture Harold and bring him back. He soon astounds them with his feats of strength but, when he takes out his camera to photograph them, they think it's a weapon and go nuts. When Harold is chased and cornered, he uses his strength to destroy the palace, leading the emperor to order that he be sent back to Earth, since Earthlings would surely take over Jupiter if they were brought as workers. Professor Keller welcomes Harold back and opens his chest to make a few adjustments--Harold is a robot.
Another convoluted mess of a script by Carl Wessler is saved by the final panel, which caught me by surprise. Bean's artwork is average at best, but I gave this story two stars simply because I did not guess the ending in advance.-Jack
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| Next Week... An Extra Long (yuck, yuck, get it?) Adventure Co-Starring The Elongated Man! |
