Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 153: Atlas/Marvel Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 138

February 1957 Part IV

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Uncanny Tales #52

Cover by Bill Everett

"Someone is Out There" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

"Inside the Iron Man" (a: Pete Morisi) ★

"Ju-Ju!" (a: Syd Shores) ★★

"Man in a Trance!" (a: Gene Colan) ★★1/2

"The Edge of Madness!" (a: John Tartaglione) ★

"Those Who Disappear!" (a: John Forte) ★★

During a violent hurricane, three escaped cons hold a house full of innocent people hostage. The owner of the house, elderly Lil Mason, warns the trio that her husband, a pilot, is on his way and won't be happy when he gets there. She shows the men a letter her hubby wrote from Cuba, promising his wife he'd be on the next plane back. The thugs laugh and admit they'll be amazed if the guy can fly a plane through the eye of a hurricane. Knock... knock... and the door is opened. There stands Mr. Mason. The goons are amazed.

After a brief tussle, the leader of the cons pulls a gun and shoots at the newcomer, who dodges the bullets as if they were fired in slow motion. Terrified, the criminals hightail it and are swept away by the force of the storm. Mr. Mason disappears and his wife shows her bewildered guests the envelope holding the letter, postmarked twenty years before. Mr. Mason had vanished without a trace in a plane in Cuba. We've seen this one a million times before (but then we've seen all of these a million times before, haven't we?), but "Someone is Out There" is a bit more bearable thanks to the nifty noir-ish art of Joe Sinnott. 

"Inside the Iron Man" is yet another drab, lifeless stab at the commies. This time, a scientist in the "West" creates a robot that can listen in on conversations inside the war room belonging to the "East." Pete Morisi may have been as bored as I was with this one. In "Ju-Ju!," a trio of explorers land on the wrong side of a native medicine man who can shrink humans to a foot tall. One of the adventurers makes a break but doesn't get far through the high grass. In the end, we discover that the medicine man shrunk him down. But good news!, we're told in the final panel that the drug he was given wears off after a short period of time. No harm, no foul, in the post-code era. The script is short on thrills (pun intended) but at least the art is cool in an early-1950s, retro way.

Basil Murdock forces Roger Denning, the great-great grandson of the Earl of Dussex, to go under hypnosis in order to contact his famous ancestor. It seems as though the Earl had a fortune in gold hidden and Murdock wants to know where the trove is buried. With a gun in his ribs, Roger becomes a "Man in a Trance!" and does indeed speak to his great-great gramps before relaying the directions to Murdock. The hypnotist heads to the island of palm trees to find his treasure while Roger has the last laugh: his gramps told him to send Murdock on a wild goose chase while divulging the real location to his descendant. I enjoyed this little sf/con yarn with its humorous last panel (Murdock beginning on his 551st palm tree, exclaiming that the riches must be under the next dig) and distinctive Colan art.

In "The Edge of Madness!," college student Walter Benson discovers that everything on campus has changed. His classes are populated by kids he's never seen before; there's someone else living in his dorm, the dean doesn't recognize him, etc. etc. etc. Turns out, we discover in a dopey last page revelation, that Walter is a brilliant scientist who sent himself back into time and then comes back into the present as his younger self. Please don't ask me to translate that.

Bus driver Rick Nolan picks up a mysterious rider on a dark road one night and he and the bus disappear for two weeks! When the bus and driver finally get back to the station, the police are there ready to arrest Nolan for grand larceny. It's then that he spills the beans... the rider was the brilliant (but perhaps a bit unhinged) scientist, Emil Harsch, who had invented an anti-gravity device that elevated the bus into the heavens. Of course, no one believes Nolan and he's fired from his job.

Shortly thereafter, a huge ocean liner goes missing and a ransom note demanding one hundred thousand dollars is found on the dock. The ship owner pays the ransom and the Oceanic reappears at the harbor, but then dozens more crafts disappear overnight! Suddenly, one of the brighter cops exclaims, "Hey, this is just like that bus a few weeks ago! You think maybe the driver was telling the truth?" Ya think? Meanwhile, Nolan has tracked Harsch to his home and pulls a gun on the scientist, ordering him to tell the truth to the cops and clear Rick's good name. Rather than surrender, Harsch elevates his house into the sky and snickers. Nolan discards his overcoat, revealing a parachute (a "memento from the war"), and jumps out the door. He heads to the cops and lets them know what's going on and the world waits for Harsch's house to return to Earth. "Those Who Disappear!" is simultaneously the stupidest and most enjoyable yarn this issue. The panel where Rick Nolan reveals his parachute will go down as one of the most WTF? moments in post-code history.-Peter

World of Mystery #5

Cover by Carl Burgos

"She Stands in the Shadows" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★

"Nelson's Nightmare!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★★★

"The Thing in the Bottle" (a: Herb Familton) ★

"The Bottomless Box!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"Human for a Day!" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★

"The Voice from Nowhere" (a: John Forte) ★

Joe Black is doing a long stint in the stir thanks to his JD buddies, but when all seems lost he gets a visit from a gorgeous blonde. Sure, the chick is in Joe's head, a literal "dream," but it gives Joe something to strive for. Then, one day, Joe gets the vibe that his dream girl is in big trouble, so he breaks out and runs to her aid.

Joe saves her from being run over by a truck and the woman begs Joe to turn himself in and accept his punishment for escaping. Joe agrees and... wakes up. It's all a dream. Just then, the guard tells the con he's got a visitor. Joe beams when he walks into the room and sees... his dream girl! "She Stands in the Shadows" is not much if you're looking for reading material, but Joe Orlando's art is to die for. With some help from Veronica Lake, Orlando keeps our mind off the words and urges us to keep turning pages.

Nelson is having visitors in his sleep quite different from Joe Black. "Nelson's Nightmare!" features dead men that were ruined in life by Nelson's business moves. Now they're out to get him for his cunning skills and cutthroat practices. But Nelson discovers that he always awakens before the dirty work can commence. Armed with this knowledge, Nelson goes to sleep with a smile on his face, unaware that his butler has slipped a sleeping pill into his cocoa and marshmallows. "Nelson's Nightmare!" reminds us that Dick Ayers could pump out some quality graphics now and then when a good script showed up on his desk. I was surprised by the last panel twist; in the post-code era, that is definitely something to shout about.

Bob comes to rich businessman Harry Blaine's private island looking for a job, but the zillionaire doesn't think Bob can handle the pressure of the corporate world. Suddenly, right at that very second, as if by magic (who woulda thunk?), a bottle drifts onto the beach and Bob jokes that the "ancient Persian vessel" just might hold the famed genie and all their wishes will come true. He rubs the lamp and, sure enough (who woulda thunk?), he was right. Out pops the genie, but this guy's not your average friendly bottle captive--he's out for blood. Luckily, Bob has just the right business techniques after all and talks the big guy back into his lamp. Suitably impressed, Harry Blaine signs Bob to a ten-year, forty-thousand-dollar annual salary with competitive bonuses and use of the island on holidays. Two pages into "The Thing in the Bottle" I was wishing I could find a genie to whip me up a solid tale with decent art. 

But Herb Familton's work could be mistaken for Gene Colan's or Bill Everett's when compared to Ed Winiarski's art in "The Bottomless Box!" Joe Flemming is out mucking about in an atom bomb site (hey! it's perfectly safe, since the last bomb was detonated a year ago!), as you are wont to do when bored, when he literally stumbles upon the titular crate. After he tosses a few articles in the box (again, as you are wont to do), he comes to the startling revelation that anything placed within disappears! He takes it to the nearest bank and sells it to the bank manager (still sounding plausible) as a security device. Thieves rob the bank and take the box, unaware of what they've got until they get back to their headquarters and find an empty vessel (an analogy for this here story if there ever was one). Joe breaks through the door and, backed by the entire NYPD, busts the bank robbers. "The Bottomless Box!" could very well be the worst Atlas sf/fantasy tale of 1957 and, let me tell you, I certainly hope so. The graphics harken back to the bad old 1940s when scratches passed for comic art and scripts excelled at curing insomnia. Writer Carl Wessler does, however, get credit for eliciting a few (unintentional) giggles during Joe's rummaging through the radioactive debris in the New Mexico desert. Your mileage may vary.

King Naza of the Subland sends his two most clever subjects, Laris and Turo, up to the surface world to bring back a human for study. Naza sends the two spies separately, each without the other's knowledge, so that they may cover more ground. Naza's plan is to conquer the surface world and extend his property holdings. Once in our world, the spies are able to change their appearance, becoming "Human for a Day!" and heading out to find the first helpless human they come across. Guess what happens! 

Last up, "The Voice from Nowhere" continues the downward slide this issue offers up. Hillbilly Rufe Perkins accidentally dials the wrong number on his phone and gets a message informing him that, if he sends five dollars to the Sacred Bleeding Heart of Jesus, located somewhere in Los Angeles, California, all his dreams will come true. So he does. Rufe is given an address and told that a huge amount of cash is hidden at the bottom of an abandoned well; when he investigates, sure enough, there's a sack of loot! But, unfortunately, the green belongs to a gang of bank thieves. Uh-oh. "The Voice from Nowhere" is drivel, absolute mind rot, but I almost want to recommend it for its one-page epilogue where one impossibility is stacked upon another. Almost, I said.-Peter

World of Suspense #6

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Old Man of the Mountain!" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"Come Into My Parlor" (a: Pete Morisi) ★★

"Six Strange Words" (a: Syd Shores)

(r: Frankenstein #13)  ★1/2

"Run, Coward, Run!" (a: George Roussos) ★1/2

"A Scream for Help" (a: Syd Shores & Christopher Rule) ★★

"Foster's Fear" (a: Bob Powell) ★★1/2

Climbing a snow-capped mountain, Hans Knorst proudly thinks of himself as fearless. He hears a cry from below and rescues "The Old Man of the Mountain!," who explains that he was not in danger and is immortal. The old man had been an alchemist centuries ago and had discovered the secret to immortality, which made him arrogant. One day, a huge storm swept him onto the top of the mountain, where he was destined to live out his endless years. He urges Hans to admit that the elements are stronger than he and turn back, but Hans shoves the old man aside and climbs almost to the peak. Suddenly, a big storm arises and, when it subdues, Hans finds that the snow has disappeared from the mountain. He resumes his climb to the top, unaware that he is now a tiny figure climbing an ant hill in a public park.

Groan! John Forte's by-the-numbers artwork does nothing to enliven this tale, where the twist ending is so inexplicable that a final panel is required where the old man explains what happened. He tells the post-code readers that Hans will return to normal size once he reaches the peak and learns humility.

A cheerful old woman named Mrs. Butler says "Come Into My Parlor" when Paulson and Cass, two men with guns who are on the run after a stickup gone wrong, appear at her door. The woman's cheerful attitude and lack of fear begin to make the men nervous, and when she tells them that people in her neighborhood suspect her of being a witch, they don't discount the possibility. Mrs. Butler receives a phone call and does as she's told, instructing the caller that her maid is away. Soon, the police show up and arrest the men, revealing that Mrs. Butler is deaf and her seeming ability to have a phone conversation tipped them off.

"You Got to Have Luck" aired in Alfred Hitchcock Presents on January 15, 1956, and had a similar plot and conclusion. In this story, one of the crooks remarks that it's 1956, which makes sense, because this story must have been written later that year and gone on sale in December 1956 or January 1957. The GCD tells us it's written by Jack Oleck, who may have seen the TV show and kept the clever twist ending in the back of his mind. He adds a weird element by suggesting that Mrs. Butler may be a witch, and Pete Morisi's competent artwork does the rest.

A desperate man addresses the reader, explaining that his car got stuck in the mud during a storm and he came upon a hut. He entered to find a little old man with a long, white beard and pointy ears. The man sat in a rocking chair in front of a roaring fire, and the visitor sat with him and observed that the old man lifted his hand, mumbled some words, and logs floated over onto the fire. The visitor confronted the old man, who explained that he was the last of the sorcerers and could gain great power by uttering "Six Strange Words," which consign a person to limbo. The visitor forced the old man to tell him the words and the visitor whispered them, after which the old man disappeared. The visitor then turns to the reader, telling him that he knows too much. The visitor whispers the words again and realizes that he can no longer see the reader but can now see the sorcerer.

Syd Shores does a decent job with the art, but I'm befuddled by the ending. Does the speaker consign himself to limbo by whispering the words when he's alone? That's my best guess. A little clarity would've helped. Too bad the Old Man of the Mountain wasn't around to provide a last-panel explanation.

In the trenches during WWI, Jean Mornet's fellow soldier, Pierre, reminds him that he comes from a long line of brave soldiers. Jean is having none of it and runs away, hearing echoes of "Run, Coward, Run!" in his head. An explosion knocks him off his feet and he awakens back in his hometown of Avignon, where he realizes he's a ghost. He sees that his family thinks him a hero until Pierre arrives to set them straight; they destroy Jean's picture in their shame and anger. Suddenly, he's back on the battlefield, and this time, after the explosion, he acts heroically, saving his fellow soldiers from an enemy patrol. Was it all a dream? Perhaps, but if it was, why does Jean retain objects he picked up while he was in Avignon?

I could count on my fingers the number of Atlas post-code stories where the writing was better than the art; this is one of them. The story of Jean's transformation from coward to hero is straightforward and clearly told, despite the corny twist ending. The art by Roussos is uninspired and does nothing to deepen the tale.

Carl and his men have been searching for the ancient Aztec city of Mauhautec for five years without success, but Carl's not giving up, even though everyone else has had it. He finds the city's location by looking at some old documents from a mission, but, after six months of unsuccessful searching, no one else wants to follow him. At the end of a long day, Carl stumbles into the city of gold, where the Aztecs tell him it was cursed and only appears one day every hundred years. Carl sees that sundown is fast approaching, so he grabs a pile of gold and makes a run for it, but all the others on his team hear is "A Scream for Help" from Carl, who fails to make it out of the city before it disappears for another century.

I don't know who thought to cross a search for Aztec gold with the plot of "Brigadoon," but I was half expecting Carl to burst into song. A few bars of "Almost Like Being in Love" would not have been unwelcome. Syd Shores is fast becoming one of the better artists in the post-code Atlas titles; here, he's aided by inker Christopher Rule, who (according to Comiclopedia) would soon become Jack Kirby's inker when the King returns.

Foster knocks out Anderson and steals his purse, only to find that "Foster's Friend," his devoted dog, Blackie, begins to follow Foster everywhere, like a conscience haunting him for his misdeed. Foster finally drives to a cliff on the edge of town and is about to shoot the dog with a rifle when he loses his footing and falls, breaking his leg. The police arrive and find the stolen purse, which contained dog candy as well as cash. Was the dog haunting Foster, or did it just smell the treats?

Bob Powell to the rescue, with lovely art that elevates a story we've read many times before in one form or another. After reading umpteen Atlas post-code comics, I'm tempted to go on the hunt for a book to learn more about this fine comic artist.-Jack

Next Week...
We Answer the Burning Question...
"What was Stephen King Reading in 1957?"

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!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 151: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 136

February 1957 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Mystery Tales #50

Cover by Bill Everett

"The House of Evil!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

"The Little Black Box" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Drawings of Doom!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★

"The Man With Two Lives!" (a: ? & Vince Colletta) ★

"When the World Vanished!" (a: Gray Morrow) ★

"The Pyramid's Secret" (a: John Forte) ★★

Con man Len Conry talks a waitress into robbing old man Ellis, a hermit who lives on a hill and is rumored to be hiding sixty grand in his mansion. Though she's hesitant, Jean goes through with the plan and they hold the old man at gunpoint but the final outcome is not to Len's liking. "The House of Evil!" has some nice Torres work but its script (and predictable twist) are strictly low-grade.

Atlas's most popular prop stars in "The Little Black Box," about an inventor who whips up a "thought suggester" that bends others' wills to the man who holds the gizmo. As one does, our hero Jeffrey sells the box to a car salesman for five million bucks (!) and then watches as the shyster uses his newfound power to influence passersby to purchase the latest expensive jalopy. The sales go through the roof but the plant can't keep up with the demand and the population riots. Hilarity ensues. This is one really silly yarn. Even more fatuous is "Drawings of Doom!," which tells the tale of armed robber "Weasel" Watson, who flees the scene of the crime in a stolen vehicle and comes across a remote gas station ripe for the picking. He heads inside but is dumbfounded by what he sees: an artist at an easel taking suggestions from a crowd of hillbillies. What's so amazing about that, you say? The drawings come to life! So Weasel orders the man to draw him a gun, then a new face, then a sack of cash, and then... his orders begin to rile the designer and that's it for Weasel! 

Stilted dialogue and a dried up old prune of a plot sink "The Man with Two Lives!," the saga of a man who faces life in an insane asylum for a crime his evil side committed. His business partner, who was just as guilty of the embezzlement, is as happy as a pig in the mud about the circumstances until the evil twin pays him a visit.

While out fishing, Jack Colley feels the earth move under his feet and suddenly everything around him has changed. His friends are gone, there's no traffic on the highway and, when he gets home, his wife has disappeared. Instead of thanking his luck, Jack panics. Then his wife reappears, cleaning out a flower pot. Just like that, Jack realizes what's going on: every once in a while, the world needs to be cleaned and the entire human population is transported to another world while the dusting commences. Once everything is spick and span, earthlings are returned to their regular sofas. The final panel of "When the World Vanished!," where Jack has his outlandish epiphany, is good for a couple of giggles but otherwise this three-pager is forgettable.

Last up this time out is "The Pyramid's Secret," wherein an archaeological expedition finds the doorway to an ancient pharaoh's tomb. There they discover the boat he was set to use to discover the new world (why it's way down deep in a pyramid is anyone's guess). What the boys don't know is that one of their crew thinks he's the pharaoh himself (and his name is King!), reincarnated in a strapping strong new body. Compared to most of the junk in this issue, this one's not all that bad, but compare its average John Forte art to that fetching cover. No comparison.-Peter

Mystic #56

Cover by John Severin

"While the City Slumbers!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

"Locked in the Silent Room" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★

"The Thing Behind the Wall!" (a: Mort Drucker) ★★

"The Man Who Went Too Far" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★

"The Fish Man!" (a: Bob Powell) ★

"The Revenge of Kah Ming!" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

Ted is tired of hearing his pop tell his fantastic tale over and over but, for old Dan, it's cathartic to get it out of his system now and then. And he probably likes the attention. Decades before, Dan had come across a group of people on a remote, dusty road who identified themselves as "the molemen." These pale, angry souls revealed to Dan that they intended to take over the world and he was just the guy to help them. They informed him that they would commence their attack on Dan's birthday, April 18th, and if he didn't aid them it would be bad news.

Not wanting to give the world away to a bunch of pasty-faced rat men, Dan raced around to his father, his priest, the authorities, his senator, his garbageman, anyone who would listen, but they all mocked him and told him to grow up. When April 18th rolls around, Dan climbs to the top of the bell tower and begins ringing just when the molemen saunter into town. But fate has a way of stepping in and scotching the best of plans. A giant wall of fire rises up behind our hero and the mole people scurry off, tails between their legs. A day that will live in history: April 18th, 1906, the day of the San Francisco earthquake! Fanciful yarn with some good Reinman art is notable for its mention of "molemen," a prop Stan and Jack might have remembered five years later.

On the run from the cops, a thief ducks into his brother's house for assistance. You see, brother Paul has been working on a "suspended animation pill" and this dolt will try anything to get away from the fuzz. He strongarms Professor Paul into handing over the pill and then enters the "time-capsule" while hearing his brother tell him he'll get what he deserves on the other end. Centuries pass and no one seems to notice that capsule sitting in the lab corner even as new buildings rise around it. The criminal awakens and hears voices outside the capsule informing him that this is a germ-free world and he's carrying really bad microbes; he'll remain inside until they can figure out what to do with him. There are so many logic problems with "Locked in the Silent Room": how did Professor Paul know what would be waiting for his brother hundreds of years in the future? How does the egghead even know this pill will work? How does this "time-capsule" thingie remain undisturbed for hundreds of years? Why are there so many brilliant Atlas scientists who resemble train conductors?  Why am I wasting so much time on this one? 

Big-game hunter Al Powell stumbles onto the ninth wonder of the world while roaming through the African jungles: a friendly giant! The mammoth man explains that once he was a brilliant medic who couldn't stand to be so short so he stopped taking patients and sat at home all day watching reruns of The Jack Benny Show.  During commercials, the doc would work on one of those Atlas serums that increases the growth glands, but he discovered he was shy just one essential herb, one found only in the darkest corners of the African jungle.

The formula did indeed increase his growth but didn't stop at the advertised 6' 5" and our hapless physician was soon looking down at the treetops. After this lengthy exposition, Al Powell informs his new friend he intends to take him back to the States and make millions off him. The giant is having none of that and, in a weird, hazy segment of panels, becomes drowsy and finds himself back at the natives' village. The chief explains that the giant provides medical assistance to the natives (despite the absence of a really big stethoscope). It's then that Al Powell finds startling clarity and swears no one will ever bother his giant buddy again. Yeah, the script for "The Thing Behind the Wall!" is as captivating as a Monday night Dolphins-Panthers game but there's the Mort Drucker art to pull you through. I'd love to know what these Atlas artists, the ones who truly put their all into each panel, felt when they received their story outlines for the month.

Young psychiatrist/brilliant inventor Peter Fulton has been working on a "solar battery" headband for nutjobs at the asylum. Fulton has discovered that "if blocked mental passages could be cleared, it would eliminate certain forms of insanity" and an experiment with a violent looney tune justifies his belief. But what would happen if the battery were attached to a "normal" brain? Faster than you can say "I'm doing it for mankind," Peter pops a battery into his forehead and discovers he can read the thoughts of those around him. On the brink of morphing into "The Man Who Went Too Far," a power-mad dictator who can rule the world, Peter is stripped of his powers by the woman he loves, a gorgeous nurse with huge arms named Anne. The world is safe once more. Here's another one that's worth reading just for the hilarity; Robert Q. Sale's art is all over the map, ranging from perfectly adequate to almost satirical (nurse Anne has a 3-inch waist, a 38-inch bust, and a giraffe neck), and the plot is fun and dopey at the same time. Embrace the inane, I always say.

"The Fish Man!" is a truly dreadful three-pager about a fish store owner who begins looking like his stock; hilariously, a couple of thieves decide that a fish store is the perfect place for a holdup and break in but are scared away by the owner's appearance. I'm sure that, when paroled, these criminals moved to Gotham and stuck up bowling ball manufacturers. This one smells like mackerel left in the kitchen garbage and forgotten for a week. 

Master criminal Baron Georgi Mirov has to stop to get his eyeglass prescription filled before taking on the big job he and his henchmen have planned. Very soon, Mirov discovers that the glasses give him a window into the future; he sees the entire heist go down and it's a rousing success. One of his goons accidentally breaks Mirov's glasses and he heads back to the Oriental lens crafter who made them. He asks (rather roughly) how the man devised such a special set of peepers and he's told that the lenses were made from the glass of a crystal ball. Mirov nabs the orbuculum and exits stage right, giggling merrily all the way to his hideout. The next night, the planned robbery takes place but Mirov is in for a surprise. Rather than search for words, I've chosen to reprint the last set of panels of "The Revenge of Kah Ming!" with its uproarious twist and long exposition. You gotta love a four-page fantasy where the villain delays a big heist to visit his optician. I gotta say this issue forced quite a few chuckles from this bored old funny book reader. That's worth something.-Peter

Mystical Tales #5

Cover by Carl Burgos (?)

"The Taboo!" (a: Al Williamson) ★★

"Meeting at Midnight!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Those Whom Time Forgot!" (a: Syd Shores) ★1/2

"The Stone Figure?" (a: John Tartaglione) ★

"Warning of Doom!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★1/2

"All of a Sudden, He's Gone!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★1/2

In the South American jungle, Rex Ross is looking for gold and diamonds when he happens upon the annual procession of the Bororo Indians to the palace of "The Taboo!" Each year the Indians take their most valuable possessions and deposit them in a hidden palace. Rex paints himself red, dons a loincloth, and joins the procession, certain that the palace will yield enough wealth to make him rich. He finds himself trapped inside the sealed palace for a year and, when the Indians return for their annual visit, he sneaks out with a bagful of treasure, only to discover that the prized possessions are coconuts and beads.

Al Williamson's art is the only thing worthy of attention in this story, which features the unfortunate sight of Rex painting his body "with a paste made of the red earth and water" to fit right in with the natives. I was expecting some sort of creature to frighten him during the year he spends in total darkness inside the palace, but no--he survives, grows a beard, manages to find enough food and water to keep going, and learns that one man's treasure is another man's trash.

After Jerry Adams has a tooth cavity filled by mistake with radioactive material, he can hear what other people are thinking. In a cafeteria, he hears a man thinking about a safe robbery that netted $20,000, so Jerry blackmails the man for $5000 and the man says he can't pay till tomorrow. On a bus, Jerry hears a man thinking about a forged check and blackmails him for $5000, but this man also can't pay till tomorrow. Jerry's newfound power leads him to blackmail another man for $1000, but (yet again) the man can't pay till tomorrow. A fourth victim has a pocketful of diamonds and can't come up with cash till--you guessed it--tomorrow. Finally, after a "Meeting at Midnight!," Jerry follows a man who he thinks plans to shoot someone. Unexpectedly, Jerry follows him right into the police station and learns that some of the men he tried to blackmail were actually cops thinking about their cases! Jerry is arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years' hard labor.

That's the best summary I can come up with for this muddled mess, where Robert Sales's unappealing art and tendency to draw people who look similar to each other makes it difficult to parse out exactly what happened. I went over it a couple of times and I'm still not sure who's who.

Four hundred years ago, an earthquake caused the city of Kalsburg to sink into a chasm 1000 feet below the Earth's surface. In the centuries that followed, the town's residents forgot about the surface world, believing it to be only a legend. Hugo Beder thinks the world exists far above and sets out to climb up and prove he's right. Reaching the surface, Hugo finds himself in a contemporary city, and when he's hungry he buys a meal with gold from his pack. Crooks take Hugo for a plane ride to show him the sights and, up in the air, they try to steal his gold. He rebels and the plane crash lands; when police threaten to impound his gold, Hugo makes his way back to the town where "Those Whom Time Forgot!" are better off thinking the dangerous surface world is just a legend.

Syd Shores makes the odd choice to draw Hugo to look like Prince Valiant, and it's somewhat humorous to see the contact between him and the modern-day crooks and cops. Still, the story, like so many others by Carl Wessler, is so complicated and convoluted that it doesn't fit well in its four-page slot and ends up seeming hurried and unsatisfying.

Morse doesn't believe his young daughter Julie when she claims to dance with a stone lion in the garden in the moonlight. He finally convinces her that it was all in her imagination. They walk away and we see a tear being shed by the lion. "The Stone Figure?" is poorly drawn by John Tartaglione and never gets up a head of steam before it's all over.

Dan and Ruth Mason are on a train heading into New York City to see a show. Dan sees a creepy man get on at one stop and sees the same man get on at two more stops! When the same man gets on at a fourth stop, Dan decides it's a "Warning of Doom!" and begs the conductor to stop the train. Dan pulls the emergency brake and the train screeches to a halt, barely avoiding a disastrous collision with a heavy truck. Dan talks to reporters and he and Ruth miss the show, which features a four-man act called the Dancing Simpson Quads, who look exactly like the four men who boarded the train!

This story reads like a Ripley's Believe it or Not! anecdote eight up to the final panel, which comes out of nowhere. Who are the Dancing Simpson Quads? What is a dancing quad exactly? Quadruplets? Did Dan see four brothers who looked exactly alike get on the train at four different stations and this had nothing to do with the near-miss? I guess it's irony of a sort.

In 1650, an inventor named Roger Macklin dreams of horseless carriages but is far ahead of his time. His boss, chemist Edward Latham, gives him a formula that will send him 300 years into the future. He also gives Roger an antidote. Roger drinks the potion, and "All of a Sudden, He's Gone!" and no one in 1650 remembers him. In 1950, he designs and builds a fantastic new car and, by 1955, he's rich and famous. Soon, unscrupulous investors take over the company and Roger grows broke and desperate. He accidentally drinks the antidote and is sent back to 1650, where he picks right back up with his old life. In 1956, no evidence remains that he ever existed.

It's not a great story, but the saga of Roger Macklin is hardly the weakest one in this disappointing issue. Manny Stallman's art is adequate and he draws the crooked syndicate man who takes over Roger's car company to look like the Penguin, with a particularly long nose.-Jack

Spellbound #32

Cover by Carl Burgos

"When the Finger Points" (a: Bob Powell) ★★1/2

"Almost Human!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★1/2

"The Prisoner!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★

"Something in the Bottle" (a: John Tartaglione) ★1/2

"Where the Sorcerer Stalks" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"The Last Seconds of Ken Stewart" (a: Mac Pakula) ★

Young Billy Harris comes home upset and his father, Joe, convinces the boy to explain why. It seems Billy was walking around, pretending to be a sheriff, and when he pointed his finger at a man with a facial scar and said "Bang!," the man disappeared! The same thing happened twice more with two more scarred men. Joe insists that Billy try it on him and, fortunately, Dad does not disappear. Joe tells Billy it was all in his imagination, but why do they hear a news report on the radio about three scarred terrorists who inexplicably vanished?

Bob Powell makes "When the Finger Points" a fun read and I did not know what was going to happen, which counts for something. The final twist has been done to death, but it doesn't ruin four nicely-drawn pages.

An anthropologist named Anton Drew discovers bones in South Africa that suggest an "Almost Human!" race existed alongside the early ancestors of man. After presenting his findings, he returns to South Africa to look for evidence of what happened to this ancient race. Little does he know that they survived, unchanged, and recently drilled to the surface, where they plan to destroy mankind before it can destroy them. Too bad Drew sets off a blast that starts a chain reaction in the underground atomic piles the creatures use to power their advanced city; the ensuing cataclysm ensures that they'll again be buried for centuries!

Two decent stories in a row! This one is actually interesting, not to mention the detailed, attractive art by Angelo Torres, who seems to have taken his Atlas assignments more seriously than some other artists I won't mention.

Matt Caine returns home to the town he hates with just a dollar in his pocket. He confronts a scientist named Morton who has learned how to make Manna, a miraculous food that tastes like whatever the person eating it desires. Matt bites into a piece and it takes like steak, just as he hoped, so he takes the piece and leaves. An hour later, the Manna in Matt's hand is rotten and when he enters a diner and orders coffee and doughnuts, they taste horrible. Matt returns to Morton's shack and discovers he's now "The Prisoner!" of his own greed and gluttony, since once someone eats Manna, no other food tastes good and Manna can only be made and eaten in the rundown village.

The uncredited author is doing something interesting here, calling the food Manna after the miraculous food that appeared to Moses and the Israelites in the desert and christening the greedy man at the center of the story Caine, which is awfully close to the Bible's first murderer who can't escape his crime. The Winiarski art is average, but the story has a little more substance to it than much of the Atlas dreck.

Michael Scanlon is unhappy because pretty Peg prefers a polite, tidy, gainfully employed milquetoast named Harold over the rude, scruffy, penniless Michael. Walking through an alley, Michael finds a bottle and pulls the cork to release a genie, who says he can only grant one wish a year. Michael wishes that Peg would be swept off her feet for him and his wish immediately comes true. However, Peg tells Michael he has a year to change his ways. Scanlon gets a job and cleans up his act, working hard in the daytime and relaxing in his sloppy digs at night. The year passes and Michael rushes home to find that Peg has tidied up his place, including throwing out the dirty old bottle. So much for the second annual wish for wealth!

Another lighthearted and fairly well told story! "Something in the Bottle" suffers from the art by John Tartaglione, but I liked the last panel, which shows the bottle lying in the junkyard with the genie unable to escape.

In Medieval England, the people of Oxbury believe that a house near town is the place "Where the Sorcerer Stalks," since they hear strange sounds coming from inside and believe the wizard can make wood talk and glass come to life. The people burst in to discover that the so-called sorcerer claims to be an inventor who has discovered electricity, TV, and radio. The villagers set fire to the hut and the sorcerer and his son lament that the townsfolk are not yet ready for such inventions. John Forte's strips all look alike to me--a mix of wooden poses and slightly goofy expressions on his characters' faces. This one isn't worth a second glance.

Mr. Crane accuses his employee, Ken Stewart, of stealing $30K from the office safe. Ken denies it, but when Crane calls the cops, Ken runs down eighteen flights of stairs and emerges outside. Dodging cops, Ken runs into another tall building and takes the elevator to the eighteenth floor. The cops follow, so Ken climbs out a window onto the ledge. He loses his footing and, as he falls, he seems to fade from sight! He finds himself back in the office as a phantom, one day before, and sees that Crane simply misplaced the $30K. In "The Last Seconds of Ken Stewart," before he goes splat on the pavement, Ken types out a note explaining where the money is. He reappears in mid-fall, is saved by a net, and Crane rushes up to apologize, having found his note.

For an issue that started out promisingly, this one ends with a splat on the pavement. Wessler's script is terrible (again) and Pakula's art is not even at the level of something a child would bring home for Mom to hang on the fridge.-Jack

Next Week...
Can the Talents of 
Angelo Torres Save Us
From Boredom?