Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 126: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 111

July 1956 Part I

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Adventure Into Mystery 2

Cover by Sol Brodsky

"The Straw Man" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★★

"The Man Who Saw the Saucer" (a: Bob McCarty) ★1/2

"A Woman Screamed" (a: Ross Andru & Jack Abel) ★★1/2

"The Betrayer!" (a: Bill Benulis) ★1/2

"The Man on the Thirteenth Floor" (a: Paul Cooper(?) & Christopher Rule(?)) ★

"Among Those Missing!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★★1/2

A formless creature from outer space lands on Earth and mistakenly enters the body of a scarecrow. When "The Straw Man" moves, it terrifies the drunken tramp sitting next to it and he inadvertently sets the creature on fire. The smoke-thing hops back into its ship, tail between its legs, and vows never to come back. "The Straw Man" is an okay sci-fi yarn but it's never made clear whether the thing is here to invade us or just chill. 

Tired of being ignored in his hometown, Caleb cooks up a tall tale about meeting with aliens from outer space in the woods. He chops a couple of trees down and makes some fake footprints and the villagers eat the fable up like so many M&Ms. Caleb becomes a nationwide hero but finally someone does their homework and discovers the whole meeting was a fraud. Quicker than you can say "Milli Vanilli," Caleb is public enemy number one. He heads back into the woods where... naturally, he bumps into some aliens who hand him a parchment they claim can help Earth rid itself of all pestilence (including reality TV shows). With a gleam in his eyes, Caleb heads back into town where his story is met with derision and tossed vegetables. Poor guy can't catch a break. "The Man Who Saw the Saucer" is a painfully obvious tale that's been done so many times before (and much better). Its sole saving grace is the sharp McCarty art.

Disgusted by his own timidity, meek Myron Midgely hypnotizes himself and gains strength and bravery. Out to test his new-found vim, Myron stumbles into a screaming woman and learns she's being chased by bad guys. Myron gives the bad guys a right cross and he and the woman escape into a nearby amusement park. The girl introduces herself as Sonya and explains that her brother, Stefan, is being held in another country against his will; she's madly in love with Myron and hopes he'll help her and her brother out of their jam. 

Myron immediately agrees and they board a rocket on a roller coaster. The rocket takes flight and Sonya admits she lives on Jupiter. They arrive on the planet and rescue Stefan, but Sonya reveals that the man is actually her boyfriend and she'll always appreciate Myron for his help. Myron screams "No!" and wakes up back in his apartment. It was all a hypnotic dream! Or was it? I liked "A Woman Screamed" for its lunacy and track-changing. The obstacles and adventures Myron encounters seem almost dreamlike, so the ending isn't as much of a cop-out as it might have been. Thanks to Jack Abel's inks, Ross Andru's art is nearly unrecognizable.

Raymond Coates has always wished he had gone down a different path as a young man so that he would have been a better provider for his wife. It gnaws at him and gnaws at him and gnaws at him and... guess what? He finds himself a young man again and takes the road not traveled. Soon he will wish he had just stuck to the first off-ramp. On the Atlas lunchroom wall, I firmly believe, was a "Ten Best Plotlines We Can Use Over and Over" chart and, every couple of weeks, a writer would initial next to "The Guy Who Wishes He Was in the Past" and come up with some kind of thinly-masked variation. It's no surprise that pulpmaster Carl Wessler (author of "The Betrayer!") initialed that one a few dozen times.

In "The Man on the Thirteenth Floor," Paul Lane exits his penthouse suite and enters his elevator, only to be trapped on the 13th floor, where all sorts of magical things happen. When the elevator finally reaches the ground floor and he tells his tale to the bellhop, he's reminded there is no 13th floor on the hotel! D'Oh!

In the finale, "Among Those Missing," psychologist Burton Jannis is tasked with finding out where 32 big brain geniuses have disappeared to. The men have vanished in thin air and the job seems an impossible one, but Jannis (not questioning why maybe the FBI shouldn't be involved) rolls up his sleeves and follows genius #33 all the way to a space/time vortex that takes both to the year 2160. There, the other 32 smart guys explain that the future needs their help more than the present. 

Yeah, I was lost too but since I'm always bitching about cliches and dopey plots, I have to give the unnamed scripter props for dreaming up a wild (if a little over-complicated) story here. It's the most imaginative if not the most enjoyable Adventure into Mystery this issue.-Peter

Astonishing 51

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Mutant!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★★

"I Flew in a Flying Saucer!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"I, the Wizard" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"The Perilous Paintings" (a: Kurt Schaffenberger) ★

"Spaceship" (a: Mort Meskin &  Bill Draut (?)) ★★1/2

"Blackout!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★

Five years after the disappearance of The Great Connel, a mutant who provided wonder, peace, and happiness to his fellow humans, we finally discover where he vanished to. Connel lived in a high tower overlooking the city, working his wonders to better mankind but, deep inside, he's just a real lonely guy. A mutant, yes, but a lonely mutant! One day, while Connel is moping and feeling sorry for himself, an alien materializes in his apartment and explains that the Great One was sent to Earth as a child to lead Earthlings down a path to glory. Now that Connel's work is done, the alien gives him a choice: he can stay here on Earth or go back to his home planet.

Connel opts for the former and the alien bids him farewell and transforms him into just another average Joe on the street. Five years later, he smiles and heads home to his wife and family. "The Mutant" is a charming, intelligent fantasy, with a happy ending that avoids the maudlin; it's also one of the first uses of a mutant in a Stan-edited funny book but certainly not the last. Robert Sale's art is adequate but it's a shame we didn't get "The Mutant!" as envisioned by Bill Everett, who contributed the snazzy cover.

Author John Farrar writes a book on his experiences called "I Flew in a Flying Saucer!" but runs up against skeptics who view his non-fictional account as rubbish. Turns out they're right, but Farrar gets a second chance at the space trip. Rubbish. Even more rubbishy is "I, The Wizard," wherein a sorcerer coaxes a king into making him the royal wizard but then runs into a brick wall when he courts the king's daughter. Paul Reinman, whose work used to overcome even the worst of scripts, continues to exhibit a decline in quality.

Artist Arthur Kent is obsessed with the work of artist "ZIS," an anonymous genius whose private stock of oils was just discovered in an archaeological dig in Italy. Kent steals the case of paints and begins his masterpiece, "The Burning of Rome." When Kent is almost finished, he's leaning into the mural to get a pesky corner piece when he falls into the canvas!

Yes, Kent is a victim of that pesky Atlas Time/Space Portal and he lands smack dab in ancient Rome as its skies are red with flames. A mob sees him and chases him into what he discovers is the studio of ZIS! Thinking quick, Kent paints the entrance to the Holland Tunnel and leaps into the canvass, escaping back into our time through sheer magic! Deciding the paints of ZIS are best left alone, Kent grabs hold of a handy blowtorch and destroys the evil colors forever. "The Perilous Paintings" is lifeless; there are no surprises, no excitement, no originality. If I never read another time warp story, it'll be too soon.

That goes double for spaceship stories. Oh, here we have another one. But at least this one is a bit different. Mac Shaw is homeless and really cold. While searching for shelter, he stumbles on a "Spaceship" parked in a vacant lot. He enters, appreciating the warmth, but is taken aback by a group of men clad in spacesuits. They explain to him that they're from Saturn and will be parked here until the spring; Mac is welcome to food and drink if he'd like. Not questioning whether Saturnian food is digestible by a human being, Mac digs in and he and the men become fast friends.

Spring arrives and the Saturnian group leader bids Mac farewell but tells him he can keep the ship! The next afternoon, his cozy den is invaded by lots of people. When Mac exits the ship and protests, he discovers the craft is part of a carnival ride! Well, this one doesn't make much sense (how could Mac not have known he was in a carnival ride... and... um... did the ride have a porta-potty?) but it tickled my funny bone enough for me to give it a thumbs-up.

In 1929 England, ace pilot Sam Destry enters an aviation race and breaks all known records, flying an incredible 240 miles an hour. He flies so fast, in fact, that he has a "Blackout!" He comes to and discovers he's flown through the Atlas Time/Space Warp Continuum (we know because he sees Dr. Burton Jannis of "Among the Missing" waving at him through the cockpit glass) and lands in the future. Destry is amazed but this reader is not. Between the sleepwalk of a script and the by-the-numbers Mooney art, "Blackout!" is a dud.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery 36

Cover by Bill Everett

"I, the Pharaoh" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

"He Hides Among Us" (a: Herb Familton) ★1/2

"The Floating City" (a: Christopher Rule?) ★★

"Something is Happening in There!" (a: Carl Hubbell) ★

"The Lost Land" (a: Ted Galindo) ★1/2

"The Beasts!" (a: Paul Hodge) ★1/2

Ted Craven is an Egyptologist who is becoming too wrapped up in his work. His obsession with Pharaoh Ras Hati-Kah is even influencing his dreams, in which no one believes that he is Ted Craven and everyone insists that he's the pharaoh. Gradually, he begins to resemble the ancient Egyptian more and more until finally his shrink explains that he really is Ras Hati-Kah and Ted Craven is only a dream.

"I, the Pharaoh" is an intriguing story with an ending we've seen before. I wonder what Carl Wessler might have done if he were not limited to four pages? This seems like it could have gone on longer and would have benefited from more space. Joe Sinnott's art is fun, especially the way he draws Ted gradually morphing into Ras.

During a visit to Mars, Professor Lister scoffs at a suggestion by Dr. Hoskins that a Martian baby taken to Earth would have descendants who look like Earthlings. Hoskins brings home a green baby and treats it so that it turns into a handsome Earth boy named Stephen Dowell, who is quickly adopted but whose heritage is kept secret. The boy grows, excels at sports, and gets engaged to a pretty socialite named Louise Wharton. Fellow student Chip Ladby is jealous and discovers Stephen's secret, but Hoskins tricks Chip into thinking that he may be a Martian, too. Chip leaves town and Stephen weds Louise; only Dr. Hoskins knows that she is also secretly a Martian and that's why she was so attracted to Stephen.

Whew! "He Hides Among Us" is confusing and ends with another conclusion out of left field, as so often happens in Wessler's tales. The art by Herb Familton is interesting; it looks in numerous panels like he studied the work of Wally Wood and did his best to imitate it. I Googled Familton and couldn't find any evidence that this is a Woodian pseudonym.

Kirk Lamont is an architect who designed a futuristic suspension bridge that collapsed. Although many people laugh at him, Lamont is soon hired by a mysterious man named Blane to build "The Floating City" in the desert. With Blane's help, Lamont designs a city of buildings that float in the air, supported by guide wires. When it's finished, Lamont asks where all of the staircases and elevators are, when people arrive from outer space who can float through the air. Lamont rushes to tell his fellow Earthlings about the wondrous city, but when they return the city is gone. Though he's thought mad, Lamont is secure in the knowledge that his modern design worked.

This story is unremarkable and Christopher Rule's art isn't worth mentioning.

A creep named Ebenezer Prystone looks at a barn and is certain that "Something is Happening in There!" A bald man in a lab coat orders Eb off his property, so Eb tries to rouse the townsfolk into putting a stop to whatever is going on, certain that it's along the lines of what happens in the copy of Shock Science Fiction that he likes to read. Eb breaks into the barn and sees what looks like a time machine. He bumps into it, passes out, and awakens in the future, where he is chased by aliens. He blacks out again and awakens in the barn, where the man in the lab coat tells him that it's not a time machine but rather a new type of automatic car wash and Eb must have dreamed it all. But how does he explain the piece of alien clothing in his hand?

Good Lord, this is the pits. The story is dumb and the art is about as bad as it gets in an Atlas comic. Carl Hubbell later went on to ink 1960s Marvel comics.

Three Western fellers are prospecting for gold in the desert when a powerful wind lifts them off their feet and transports them to "The Lost Land," where everyone lives in peace. They can't resist a pile of gold, however, and their failure to resist temptation means they are swept back to the desert, where a single nugget of gold is all they have left of the wonderful life they could have led.

It's hard to get much accomplished in three pages and this story is simple, but Ted Galindo succeeds in providing some decent Western-themed panels, especially the ones that are monochromatic.

Prof. Henslowe has spent twenty years trying to find a way to elicit speech from "The Beasts!" When he gets a spider to ask for food, he plans to show everyone that he was right all along. The next day, the prof takes his talking spider to the university to show off the fruits of his labor, but a janitor sees the arachnid crawling across the floor and whacks it with his push broom. So much for twenty years of effort!

My brief summary doesn't do justice to the utter nonsense in this story, which sadly features dreadful art by Paul Hodge. There's a flashback to the prof's attempts to display a talking horse, which made me think of Mr. Ed, a show which would not hit the airwaves for another five years. I was also reminded of the great Warner Bros. cartoon, "One Froggy Evening," when a theater crowd jeers at the prof's failed attempt to make the horse speak. But the biggest smile of all came at the end when the janitor whacks the spider. I know I've seen this somewhere before but reading so many comics has turned my brain to mush. Wait! I have it! It's the end of The Fly, a film released two years later! Rod Serling, The Fly--was everyone reading Atlas comics???-Jack

Journey Into Unknown Worlds 47

Cover by Bill Everett

"They Wait in the Shadows!" (a: Bob Forgione) ★★

"The Iron Men" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★1/2

"The Girl Who Vanished" (a: Syd Shores) ★★

(r: Worlds Unknown #5)

"No Escape" (a: Mac Pakula) ★★1/2

"The Strangers" (a: Herb Familton) (r: Amazing Adventures #27) ★1/2

"A World There Was" (a: George Roussos) ★★

Winter has just begun on an alien planet that is very much like Earth, and the first humans to colonize it watch with apprehension as aliens approach for the first time. The pink-skinned aliens arrive and, having read the humans' thoughts, they unveil a fully-decorated Christmas tree and wish the newcomers a Merry Christmas!

Peter often remarks that the stories in Atlas comics rise or fall on the art, so it's a good thing Bob Forgione is competent, since "They Wait in the Shadows!" is as corny as it gets.

The small town of Wellsburg cautiously welcomes the first of "The Iron Men," a robot who replaces the police force at half the cost. Another mechanical man soon replaces the mayor and more robots follow, taking the places of bankers and heads of industry. Florian Rath, who makes and sells the robots, grows rich but, when he breaks a few traffic laws, the heartless robots sentence him to prison and he realizes that his greed was justly rewarded.

Another story that goes nowhere, and with mediocre art to boot. The irony of Rath being arrested and imprisoned by the robots he created is weak.

Don Mace is an unhappy young man who is out hiking in the mountains when he spies a pretty young woman. Moments later, she becomes "The Girl Who Vanished"! She appears and disappears, telling Don to forget that he saw her. He observes a young man who looks just like himself come and get her before a group of men in futuristic garb emerge and chase Don, finally overpowering him. The pretty girl tells him that they are from an unknown world that is parallel to our own and she urges the men to let him go. The time flaw between worlds closes and Don is left alone, until he runs into a woman who looks just like the one from the parallel world.

The art by Syd Shores on this story is decent and he does a nice job drawing the blonde from a parallel world, which helps. The story is predictable.

Certain that past, present, and future all exist simultaneously in different warps, Paul Westlake invents a gizmo that allows him to return to boyhood and back with the press of a button. Joe Simpson, the janitor, walks in and hands Paul his mail, which includes a check. A mysterious person has been sending Paul a check each month for years and Paul decides to solve the mystery with his time penetrator. He pops back to the past and observes his father yelling at his business partner, whose unwise speculation ruined the firm

Back in the present, Paul vows revenge on his father's partner and, when Joe the janitor again enters the lab, Paul realizes that the old man with the broom ruined his father's life and has been sending checks all along to try to make amends. Paul decides to use the time gizmo to flee to the future to avoid having to decide what to do about Joe, but when he gets there, Joe walks in to deliver the mail and Paul realizes that there is "No Escape."

The GCD suggests that this may be another Wessler script and I can believe it, because it has an interesting premise and a finale out of left field. I like Pakula's art, which is cartoony but solid, except for a panel on page two (reproduced here) with a bizarre example of forced perspective. I also like the subtle touch in the last panel, where Joe the janitor is wearing a futuristic outfit (purple tights and a yellow cape) but otherwise looks exactly the same as he did in the present.

An alien ship lands at an Earth military base and the human officers observe that the creatures piloting the ship appear humanoid. Suddenly, a ray beam shoots out from the ship and the men spring into action, though a fighter jet is quickly dispensed with by a ray from the spaceship, which flies off. Hours later, two see-through tubes descend to Earth, containing what look like alien robots. The humans assume the aliens must have built the robots to resemble themselves but, when the ship lands and the aliens emerge, it turns out that the ones who look like robots are the aliens and the ones who look like aliens are the robots.

This three-pager tries to make a point about hubris and assumptions but falls flat. Familton's art still resembles that of Wally Wood in spots but there are too few pages to do much analysis.

After landing on a mysterious planet, a trio of astronauts realize that it is telepathic and will display whatever they imagine. A blue sky, a grove of trees, and a futuristic city all appear and vanish as the men think of them. Once they depart, the planet itself evaporates and they realize that it was actually a telepathic cloud of space gases that formed itself into the planet of which they were thinking.

"A World There Was" has decent art by George Roussos but nothing particularly interesting happens. The twist at the end is supposed to be that the entire planet was a creation, but this doesn't really come as a surprise.-Jack

Next Week...
The Shocker of All Shockers!
The Death of Batman!
No, Really! It Says So In the Title!