Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 152: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 137

February 1957 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Stories of Suspense #13

Cover by Bill Everett

"The One Who Watches!" (a: Gene Colan) ★★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #25)

"The Black Beard!" (a: Gray Morrow) ★

"When the Yogi Speaks!" (a: Bob Forgione and Jack Abel (?)) ★

"The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"The Strange Seed!" (a: Dick Giordano (?) & Vince Colletta) ★

"Tachzillo the Terrible" (a: Bill Everett) ★★

Ivan Von Gent, self-anointed "world-famous scientist," and explorer of the unexplained, sees truth in the words of an old man whom the rest of the village deems mad. The old codger claims he can see a monster rise from a local lake and Von Gent wants to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately for the brilliant professor, he discovers the secret behind the monster and it costs him his freedom. 

Nothing about "The One Who Watches!" makes sense (though the GCD cites no writer credit, I'd bet my stack of Monsters on the Prowls that the brilliance behind the typewriter was Wessler's) but then that's what makes it so readable. No explanation is made for the lake monster nor why the thing needs to be watched and Von Gent's fate (the poor egotistical scientist is fated to take over for the old man as "watcher" of the lake) is a much-used plot device, but the sheer goofiness contained within the four pages brought more than one smile to my face. The Colan art is, predictably, atmospheric and award-winning.

I can only guess at the scribe behind "The One Who Watches!," but we know Carl Wessler is responsible for the dreadful "The Black Beard!" I'm amazed Carl was able to sell script after script of cliches and "borrowed" plots, this one about a con man (who happens to know how to fly supersonic jets!) on the run from the cops who has an encounter with himself after breaking the speed barrier. Gray Morrow is wasted on talking heads who don't say much.

In the equally daft "When the Yogi Speaks!," a gang of bank robbers are desperate to get across the Canadian border without being nabbed by the cops so they (naturally) kidnap the Yogi Panjur and force him to teach them the ways of yoga. The thugs manage to float across the border without being caught but the yogi never did teach them how to land.

Henry's tired of being ignored in the diner he frequents. All the other regulars call him a "nobody" but a sudden crazed idea in Henry's worm-riddled brain takes form. He tells his fellow patrons that he is "The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" because he can predict the death of each one of them. They scoff until one of the customers walks out of the restaurant and is hit by a truck. Suddenly they're all ears! 

In the three-page "The Strange Seed!," a sadistic scientist finds the roles reversed when the plant he's been experimenting on reaches out and does a little of its own research. It's an early example of Dick Giordano's work, but not even that can save this snoozer. In the tantalizingly-titled "Tachzillo the Terrible," an escaped con slips across the Mexican border and terrorizes a small village, forcing the inhabitants to feed him and keep him hidden. When the cops get wise and approach the village, he forces a little boy to guide him through the neighboring swamp, only to discover the kid is the legendary Tachzillo the Terrible and the thug is now stranded on a small island in the middle of the swamp for the rest of his life. You'd think that, given a whole lot of free time, this dope could find a way off the little plot of land, but I guess it's a really big swamp. I was hoping we'd get an honest-to-gosh monster popping up at some point but at least we have Bill Everett's graphics to keep us company for four pages.-Peter

Strange Tales #55

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Jack-In-The-Box" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★★1/2

"Octopus!" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★★

"What Goes On Down There?" (a: John Giunta) ★1/2

"Earth-Trap!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Man Without Fear!" (a: George Roussos) ★

"The Threat from the Void" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

Clem Carter and his gang of poachers are cleaning out Africa of all its ivory, using terrorist tactics to keep native guide Keena pointing them in the right direction of new mines. When Clem gets wind of an elephant's graveyard stacked high with tusks, he forces Keena to show them the way. But Keena is terrified of the curse that accompanies said resting place and hoofs it out of camp one night. Clem & co. follow the fleeing native to his camp, where they witness a witch doctor handling an odd box. Keena explains that the object is merely a toy.

Smelling riches, Clem grabs "The Jack-In-the-Box" and pries it open, only to watch as a giant elephant god materializes before him. And that's it! End of story! This one smells like a five-pager nipped in the bud but that's okay; a fifth page would have only offered us lame justifications for the gargantuan elephant (with a six-pack and wearing a loin cloth!). As it is, "The Jack-In-The-Box" is a goofy breath of fresh air, utilizing an old trope (the greedy and sadistic explorer) that should have been left on the shelf in the early 1950s in a unique way. The Pakula art is perfect for the story's theme.

In the year 1980, the brilliant inventor Bruce Latham has come up with a fabulous new gizmo, the Histrometer, a tool that enables its owner to speak to anyone in the past. For some reason, Bruce decides the best place to test out his invention is aboard the yacht of multi-millionaire Rodney Davis, but in the middle of a demonstration, the ship is attacked by a giant octopus!

Realizing that the vessel is cruising in the Bikini Atoll waters, Bruce gets on his Histrionicometer, calls the 1954 Atoll base, and convinces a young radio operator that the yacht is in big trouble. Their only hope is that the operator grabs a rifle and shoots every octopus in sight (no, seriously!!!). Evidently swayed by Bruce's terrified voice, the ham man grabs his gun and starts picking off anything in the area with eight tentacles. Back in 1980, the "Octopus!" disappears and life gets back to normal. Millionaire Davis, clearly impressed with the Historectomometer, quizzes the egghead as to how he knew the call would work. "Simple!," exclaims Latham, "That radio man was 1954 me!"

Now, I hear you groaning and rolling your eyes (well, I can't hear that part but I can see it) and snickering. If that was young 1954 Bruce on the radio, why didn't 1980 Bruce know not to go cruising near the Atoll that day? I would argue that if you dissected these four-page mysteries as much as I do, you would reach out and grasp to your bosom any rare narrative that made you grin. And this one made me guffaw out loud. Writer Carl Wessler never explains how the box knows just who to contact and that gives it an even wackier charm. The drawback is the DiPreta art. What once used to be freeform, refreshing, and artistic, with odd angles and curves had, by 1957, degraded into the perfectly average dreck a half-dozen other pencilers pumped out for Atlas. 

In the three-page "What Goes On Down There?," the emissaries of an ancient race that has lived at the Earth's core since primitive times dig their way up with an eye toward surface domination. Problem is, the invaders are the size of ants and, once they see the size of a surface dweller, the attack is wisely shelved. In the dopey "Earth-Trap!," a medium fools an old man into believing he can make inanimate objects float. Unfortunately for the fake seer (and the inhabitants of Earth), the mark is actually the vacationing "Guardian of the Force of Gravity" who sits at the core of the Earth and makes sure things don't float away. The Guardian hits a switch and everything becomes anchored to the ground. What's a con man/fortune teller to do?

"Man Without Fear!" is a garbled, indecipherable mess about Luke Gavor, a soldier who's lost his courage but finds it again when his captain gives him the old patriotic speech about bravery and cowardice. Gavor becomes the shining light in battle, the first to rush into combat and guide his comrades to victory. Later, Luke's body is found, a bullet in his back, and his CO determines the killing wound was attained while Gavor was running away from battle. There's a message here but I'll be damned if I can figure it out.

Last up is "The Threat from the Void," an amiable piece of science fiction fluff wherein a brilliant scientist invents a radio that can contact distant planets. As the globe inches towards a third world war, the egghead receives a message from Jupiter, informing him that if the powers that be don't cease their endless bickering, Jupiter will send forth firepower to destroy Earth. The message works and peace is restored. There's a twist/double twist at the climax that's been done to death but actually works here. Like DiPreta earlier in this issue, I found the usually reliable Paul Reinman to be shooting blanks. Hopefully, this is just temporary and we'll see the two favorites back to above-average status soon.-Peter

Strange Tales of the Unusual #8

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Who Dwells Below?" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"The Too-Perfect Crime!" (a: John Tartaglione) ★

"The Disappearance" (Mort Drucker) ★★1/2

"Nobody Will Ever Know!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★1/2

"You Must Not Pass" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★

"The Bullet-Proof Man" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★1/2

The doctor thinks that small, primitive, carved statues that have been found floating in the Pacific, a thousand miles from nowhere, are evidence of sub-humans living below the sea. With the help of Tensing, he lowers food and tools as bait to discover "Who Dwells Below?" The doctor is on a submarine and orders it to submerge so he can watch the bait to see if it's taken. Hours pass and the sub strikes something! A leak develops and the sub's inhabitants must exit and head for the surface, but on the way up, the doctor and Tensing are grabbed by undersea dwellers and taken to a city under a dome, where they discover that the floating statutes were bait to catch humans!

Not a bad twist ending, and Reinman's art is about as good as it's going to get circa 1957, but the story lacks enthusiasm and the irony is heavy-handed.

A scientist named Albert Evans and his partner invent an invisibility formula and Evans decides he wants it for himself, so he socks his partner, John Moore, in the jaw and makes off with the bottle of liquid. Pouring it over his own head, Evans turns invisible and attempts "The Too-Perfect Crime!" by entering a bank vault and making off with $250K. Evans later becomes visible and thinks he's in the clear until the police come and he panics. After burning all the cash, he's arrested for Moore's murder. Moore was found at the foot of the stairs in his home and he left a note stating that Evans cheated him and attacked him. The cops don't buy Albert's alibi, that he was invisible and busy robbing a bank at the time of Moore's death, so it's off to the pokey for the unfortunate scientist.

I know we've seen variations on this ending before. Tartaglione's art won't win any awards.

Lt. Tom Gorman is called before a court-martial board and made to explain his role in "The Disappearance" of an advanced jet plane called the XD-1. Gorman says that, when he took the jet out for a test run, he discovered that it flew so fast that it took him at least 5000 years into the past! He touched down in Ancient Egypt, barely avoiding being killed at Pharaoh's orders when the ruler's daughter, Na-Ni-Ma, interceded. They were married and, when Gorman suddenly found himself back in the present, he theorized that he didn't belong in the past and time caught up with him. The board members don't believe a word of it and sentence him to life in prison. That same day, archaeologists in Egypt discover the XD-1 in an ancient tomb and conclude that it's the Pharoah's solar ship, meant to carry him after death.

Mort Drucker's art makes this story quite readable. We knew he could draw planes and exciting air scenes from our reviews of his work for the DC War Comics, and he also draws credible scenes in Ancient Egypt and a reasonably cute Pharaoh's daughter. Let's face it, Drucker could draw anything!

Tired of being a nobody, George Beeman wanders out of town and into the countryside, where he notices that the sun seems to be pulsing. Elsewhere, astrologists discover that a hole has formed in the atmosphere, allowing cosmic rays to pass through in their pure form. As a result, sudden mutations occur, one of which is that George turns young and handsome and gains the power to will himself through space. He pops from place to place, using his enhanced brain power to give advice on how to stop giant, marauding plants and animals. His heroic work done, George reverts to being a nobody, and, though "Nobody Will Ever Know!" that he averted disaster, he has a newfound confidence and a much better attitude.

This story is all over the place, but Ted Galindo draws a few decent panels, especially the last three, where Ted walks toward the reader and the background is solid red.

A detour sign that has been blown off its intended spot by the wind of destiny causes the inhabitants of three different cars to rethink what they're doing. Soil Brodsky's art on this forgettable three-page entry is dreadful.

Karl Zymek is a scientific genius serving 30 years in the Federal pen for selling secrets to the enemy. He uses his big brain to cook up a formula that makes him "The Bullet-Proof Man" and allows him to escape from prison. Unfortunately, he created an impenetrable film to surround his body and it doesn't allow air or food in! He returns to the prison, begging for help, and it's uncertain whether the seal will be broken before he suffocates.

This is an unusual story because it doesn't have a happy ending. In the final panel, the caption asks whether someone will be able to free Zymek in time. Who knows? At least it didn't end with him breathing freely and eating a big meal. Maybe there's hope for some more serious stories to come?-Jack

Next Week...
Gene Colan Offers More Proof
That He May Be the Best Artist
of the Atlas Post-Codes!