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?

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 150: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 135

February 1957 Part I

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Astonishing #58

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Danger in the Streets" (a: John Forte) ★

"The Dragon's Roar!" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★

"The Endless Journey" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"Grotesque!" (a: Hy Fleishman & John Tartaglione (?)) ★

"The Night of May 10th!" (a: Bill Everett) ★★

"The Secret!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★1/2

Frustrated atomic scientist Warren Ryder can't make ends meet and keep his greedy wife happy until a freak accident in the lab gives Warren the power to turn anything he touches into uranium. I mean, just think of the advantages! Warren becomes a "Danger in the Streets" with his magic touch until the authorities threaten to ventilate him. With the help of his suddenly saintly wife and an atomic neuro-nebulizing-bobulamater, Warren's boring life is restored and, after a short jail sentence, he's a free man. Hilarious in that our hero touches an entire bus and the vehicle becomes uraniumized but the people within aren't harmed at all!

The Chinese village of Lai Chow prepares to celebrate the Chinese New Year but its dictator, the bloodthirsty Colonel, has other ideas. He bans any celebration and promises great punishment for those who defy him. The people continue to make their floats and decorations so the Colonel orders one of his tanks to be dressed up like a dragon and driven in the parade. When he gives the word, the tank will open fire on the infidels. But once the parade commences, another dragon float appears. Wait... it's not a float! "The Dragon's Roar!" Diverting little Commie yarn with a good twist and some decent Orlando graphics. 

In "The Endless Journey," an escaped con steals a scientist's experimental formula that gives the drinker the power to will himself somewhere else. Though the egghead shouts out warnings, the con quaffs the brew and transports to New York, then to Paris, then to Spain. Alas, the stays are for only a few minutes apiece. When the criminal finally wills himself back to the lab of the scientist, the cops are there waiting. Unfortunately, explains the big brain, the effects will not wear off for five years. Phffffft--the con disappears. Not sure how the scientist could be sure of the length of the hood's curse since the potion had only recently been cooked up! Ed Winiarski's 115th job for the Atlas SF/horror titles; his work continues to look rushed and amateurish but the man must have been able to hit a deadline with accuracy.

In "Grotesque!," a wanderer eats tainted berries and imagines a huge owl is chasing him in a cave. In the end, turns out those crazy 1950s scientists are up to it again, testing a molecule-reducer in a nearby lab. In the three-page "The Night of May 10th!," a series of disasters are mysteriously reversed (a derailed train, heading into a river, mysteriously swoops back up onto its track). Scientists are befuddled. Well, all except one, who oversees a time machine and is currently chewing out a bumbling janitor who keeps hitting the machine with his broom. Two stars for the unique twist and the Everett art.

Fred Benton has become one of the wealthiest men in America thanks to his "Benton Beauty Pack," utilizing a special kind of mud. A reporter arrives in Benton's office in order to write the scoop of the century for his paper: where does Benton get his mud? The businessman is only too happy to supply details but warns the newsman that he might not believe it. Years before, when Benton was a simple scientist checking the iodine levels of California mollusks, he had a strange encounter with a shadowy being below the surface of the sea. The thing splashed a special mud on his leg and the stuff felt "refreshing!" Benton went home and concocted his miracle formula before heading back for more mud. Turns out the supplier is a mermaid! The reporter snickers and thanks Benton for nothing. Later, the millionaire heads back into his office where he's placed a giant aquarium. In it is his new friend. There's not a lot of sense to "The Secret!"; we're never actually told what the goop does other than make Benton's forehead feel "refreshed." And the climax makes no sense; if he's got the mermaid cooped up in a fish bowl, how will she get him his mud? At least the Mooney art is "refreshing."-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #43

Cover by Carl Burgos

"It's Waiting For Me!" (a: Jay Scott Pike) ★

"The Invisible Woman!" (a: Syd Shores (?)  & Matt Baker (?)) ★

"The Third Ear" (a: John Forte) ★★★

"The Secret of the Strange Stone" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo) ★

"The Panhandler" (a: Bernard Baily) ★

"Ghost Ship!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★★

Every night, Jim has the same nightmare; he's in a shadowy land and knows just around the bend is some evil presence, waiting patiently to lay its claws into the man. But, every night, Jim's faithful dog, Banty, scares off the demon. Wife Cora can't stand the animal since it constantly interrupts her sleep, so she gives Banty away to a neighbor and talks Jim off a ledge.

The nightmares increase and Jim finds he can no longer go to sleep lest he be abducted by the nameless fiend. He loses weight, his health begins to deteriorate, and all seems lost. Just as I was about to yell to our hapless protagonist, "Don't worry, Jim, this is a post-code strip and no one meets a nasty end in the new Atlas Universe!," Jim hears a scratching at the front door. It's Banty, come home to rescue his master! "It's Waiting for Me!" never actually reveals what's waiting for Jim or why but I'd venture a guess that Jim, in a Freudian way, is feeling smothered by wife Cora, who spends her days at Neiman-Marcus, spending what piddly salary her hubby makes. The shadowy creature just around the bend is the collection agency, waiting to swoop in and repossess Jim's Caddy. Cora's sudden transformation, from nasty ball-and-chain who demands the canine be ejected from the house to loving, understanding wife who admits the dog has his moments, is genuinely hilarious.

In the dreadful "The Invisible Woman!," the dictator of a stinkin' Commie nation is plagued by an unseen menace terrorizing the streets. Turns out it's one of the rebels stirring dissent among the people. The "Communist threat" of the month is becoming tedious since none of the bullpen writers can seem to come up with anything original.

Walt Craven is suddenly gifted with "The Third Ear," the uncanny ability to hear others' thoughts. The power hits him one day when he's at work and "overhears" a conversation in his boss's brain about a large amount of money he's embezzling. Seeing this as a perfect way of landing on easy street, Walt blackmails his boss but the plot backfires and Craven ends up in prison for ten years. It's at this point that "The Third Ear" takes its loony turn.

Once in stir, Craven sees the warden and explains that he has a way of finding out information and he'll be a mouthpiece if he's treated right. Several instances where the new prisoner rats out his co-cons convince the warden Walt's not lying and he happily accepts any info the man proffers. One day in the yard, Craven "hears" a plan for a jailbreak and heads to the warden, demanding parole for his information. The boss agrees and Walt lays out the plan for him. 

The warden orders his guards to stand outside the gates at the announced time and mow down any prisoners who try to escape. The next day, when the event is to occur, Big Duke Byrnes, the breakout's mastermind, insists that Craven accompany them on their escape since he'd been such a "nice guy" to the inmates. With no way out, Walt Craven awaits his fate. I loved this goofy little yarn and its unexpected twists, as well as its climax, which closes just as the break is about to occur. The art, by John Forte, is pleasing enough and conjures up 1940s strip art. "The Third Ear" is easily this month's best story.

Not even the mighty power of Al Williamson can save the pedestrian script for "The Secret of the Strange Stone," wherein a farmer discovers a meteorite in his field and brings it home. The rock has the power to make things disappear. After a bad night of nightmares, all starring the farmer as a ruthless dictator lording over the world with his newfound bauble, the man decides to get rid of the stone. So he does.

A group of men travel from 1991 to 1956 in order to talk sense into the lazy bum known as "The Panhandler" but discover you can't change a future convict's stripes, even when you bring along his older version as proof. Boring and predictable time travel nonsense with dreadful Bernard Baily art. Last up this time around, we follow the misadventures of a trio of would-be pirates who roam the harbor of Seaview and loot the resident yachts. The hooligans get the fright of their life when they're chased by an old "Ghost Ship!" Compared to most of the dreck found in this issue, the finale is not too bad and the final panel, where the ship speaks, is a hoot.-Peter

Journey Into Unknown Worlds #54

Cover by Bill Everett

"Inside the Pharaoh's Tomb" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★1/2

"What Cries in the Cage?" (a: Bob Powell) ★★★

"He Stalks in the Streets!" (a: Herb Familton) ★★

"The Destroyers!" (Ed Winiarski) ★★

"Needle in a Haystack" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★

"Nowhere" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★★

John Roberts is a crafty thief who has hidden from the cops "Inside the Pharaoh's Tomb" at a museum. Locked in overnight, he has an overwhelming sense that he's been there before and suspects he's the reincarnation of Pharaoh Ra-Hotep. The statute of Anubis speaks to him and he realizes that he can turn his life around, so in the morning he surrenders to the authorities. As he is taken away, a museum guard remarks that a young boy was accidentally locked in the tomb and it took him years to get over it. That boy's name was John Roberts!

This is the first Atlas appearance for artist Richard Doxsee, who will go on to draw many more stories. His art is like that of many other post-code Atlas artists in that it's pretty good and sometimes a panel here and there is impressive. I did not understand the ending at first but got it after a few minutes. That has to be worth something!

Captain Blackheart's pirate ship approaches the Tiger Shark, a ship that appears to be empty save the many birdcages hanging from the yardarms. On boarding the ship, the only person found is Jimmy Atkins, a cabin boy, who spins a strange yarn. It seems a widow named Lydia Lawrence convinced the British admiralty to let her use sorcery to avenge her husband's death at the hands of pirates and the crew of the Tiger Shark felt her wrath when she shrank them and imprisoned them in cages. The same fate befalls Blackheart and his crew when they fail to realize that Jimmy is Lydia in disguise!

Bob Powell may be the most reliable artist drawing for Atlas on a regular basis at this point, and "What Cries in the Cage?" gives him free reign to draw pirates and a kooky old woman sorceress. The result is unexpectedly entertaining!

A bitter scientist named Henry Wadsworth appears at the home of his former flame, Lois. Henry is still bitter about Lois's refusal to marry him 20 years ago and explains that he created a cell-growth serum in his lab that, when drunk by a tramp, turned the simple-minded fellow into a giant who was devoted to Henry. When Henry saw a picture of Lois in the newspaper all the old feelings welled up and he told the giant about her. Now the giant is headed for her house to kill her! Lois admits she always loved Henry, so when the giant arrives, Henry tells him to back off. Henry drops dead, the giant turns docile and shrinks to normal size, and neither learns that Lois was putting on an act.

Herb Familton's art is clunky and awkward, but the twist at the end of "He Stalks in the Streets!" surprised me. It's subtle--in the last panel, Lois's husband comes home and we see a poster advertising "Lois and John Hunt--America's Foremost Theatrical Couple." Lois admits she was only acting and we readers have to figure out what happened and then rethink the events of the story.

Three scientists named Perry, Bornay, and Fern discover the X Power and decide to use it to rule mankind. They all head home for the night and, when Bornay arrives at his house, he sees a large, black letter X burned into his front door. He calls Perry, who reports the same thing, but the call is suddenly cut off. Bornay goes to Perry's house and it's gone. The same thing happens when he goes to Fern's house. Perry realizes that their discovery and plan to use the power for evil ends has resulted in their being wiped off the face of the Earth. Moments later, Bornay is gone, too, and a young couple walk by and remark that they thought they saw a man but now he's gone.

"The Destroyers!" reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode (yet again) where, one after another, astronauts disappear. Ed Winiarski's art is nothing special but it's curious that the stories in this random issue of an Atlas comic seem a bit more interesting than usual.

Warner has a treasure map that purports to reveal the location of Redbeard's buried treasure on the Isle of Pines! Warner travels there by ship and begins digging with his bare hands, certain that he'll locate the treasure. He insists on staying on the island even when the ship that brought him there departs, convinced he'll locate a "Needle in a Haystack" and unaware that the island floats around and he's in the wrong place. Sol Brodsky's art does nothing to enliven a one-note three-pager that begs the question, why didn't he bring a shovel?

Petty thief Brad Duncan explores a museum, looking for something to steal, and wanders into a room marked "Cyclotron, Keep Out." He's exposed to the power of the atom smasher and briefly finds himself in a mysterious forest before returning to the museum. Brad decides to make the most of his discovery and use it to intercept and rob a truck carrying a lot of money from one bank location to another. He recruits a gang, carries out the robbery, and ditches his compatriots to return to the cyclotron with his loot. Brad is again transported to the forest, only to discover it's in prehistoric times and a T-Rex is on the loose! Brad is stuck long in the past and lives another 20 years as the sole human on Earth.

Angelo Torres does a great job illustrating "Nowhere," which is a cool story made even better by sharp panels. The panels where Brad is in the cyclotron are in black and white and silhouetted in order to give the impression of great power, while the dinosaur is classic Torres. This is a fitting end to an above-average issue!-Jack

Marvel Tales #155

Cover by Bill Everett

"I Walk Through Glass!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★

"Forbidden Fruit!" (a: George Roussos) ★★

"When I Close My Eyes..." (a: Bill Everett) ★1/2

"Man in a Trance!" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★1/2

"The Saucer That Couldn't Fly!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★

"The Lost Million!" (a: John Tartaglione) ★1/2

Oliver Greeley is an old miser who hides his money in a hole in the wall. Suddenly, a well-dressed man appears in the full-length mirror that stands against another wall. The man invites Oliver to join him for dinner and Oliver discovers that "I Walk Through Glass!" as he steps through the mirror and into the man's nice home. Greedy Oliver quickly goes to steal money from the man's open wall safe; he's caught in the act and escapes back through the mirror. Afraid of being pursued by cops, Oliver burns the cash and smashes the mirror, but when he checks his own hoard it's gone. Oliver realizes that the well-dressed man in the mirror is a version of himself, had he lived his life differently, and the money he burned was his own.

Any thought of an improvement in quality from this month's Journey Into Unknown Worlds is quickly dashed by the opener of Marvel Tales, a story out of the Atlas playbook that is as dull and blandly drawn as so many others. As in other Carl Wessler scripts, the odd occurrences aren't particularly interesting--they just sit there.

A Japanese pilot named Neru flies over the Gobi desert and his plane is riddled with bullets from an old man on the ground who is crawling around amid pomegranate trees. At home, Neru's father tells him the story of Lu Fang, an evil explorer who was caught in a sandstorm and found himself in the Forbidden Land. He discovered "Forbidden Fruit!" in the form of pomegranates that give five lifetimes to anyone who eats them, but he's told he has to leave now that he knows the secret. That night he throws a pomegranate over the wall of the Forbidden Land and, when he's thrown out, he discovers to his dismay that the area outside the walls is covered with pomegranates from trees growing all over. Lu Fang has spent the last 20 years trying to identify the enchanted pomegranate he threw over the wall from all the others on the ground.

There's nothing special about this story, which details the result of one man's greed. It's an odd structure, with the pilot flying over Lu Fang, and I wonder where Lu Fang got the gun. I also wonder how likely a pomegranate is to stay fresh and edible for 20 years.

Being one of the richest men on Earth and owning a fleet of ships doesn't stop the nightmares for a miserable man who dreams every night that he's being dragged toward the end of a corridor by a man in shadows. The dreamer awakens at the crack of dawn every day, right before the dream ends, and knows that the thing dragging him represents his conscience. The end of the corridor is where he will confess all his crimes to the police. After a year of nightly misery, he sails on one of his ships and it crashes into an iceberg! He's rescued from a life raft by an Eskimo who explains that he's at the Arctic Circle, where the nights last six months! He's not looking forward to his very long sleep.

Jack's reaction after Peter
revealed the Atlas post-
code schedule

Not every twist ending is a good one, and this one is terrible. Thank goodness Bill Everett draws "When I Close My Eyes..." so we at least get three pages of decent art.

After spending two years in jail, Price tells his cellmate, Stacey, that he's been studying yoga and can put himself into a trance that will let his spirit travel back in time. He goes back to the night he was caught cooking the books and forces the man who caught him into a car at gunpoint. He drops the man off ten miles out of town and returns to his account books to cover his tracks, but he awakens back in his cell. Stacey tells him that, instead of serving ten years for fraud, he's now serving twenty for using a gun to force the man to go with him.

"Man in a Trance!" is another letdown; an uninteresting story with a dull twist and mediocre art by Forgione and Abel.

The Ross Gang has a scheme to bilk Claude Vincent out of $20,000. Arnold Ross picks up the mark and drives him to see "The Saucer That Couldn't Fly!" He thinks it's been to Mars and back and climbs aboard for a three-hour trip to the red planet. When they reach Mars, Claude is introduced to the Martian Overlord and hands him a certified check for $20K meant as an investment in the planet's rich natural resources. Back on Earth, Ross is shocked to learn that the fake Martians were late and never arrived--the ship really did go to Mars! And what of the money the fake investors handed over, along with Claude's check? The Martians used it to build a fire to keep warm!

I know, I know, it's the old "Banquo's Chair" bit all over again, with the Martians replacing the ghost who was held up in traffic. Still, it's kind of enjoyable in a dopey way, with Winiarski's art seeming more Golden Age and less wooden than usual.

When Harry Simpson sees a poor newsboy trying to sell his last paper for the day in the rain, he feels pity on the lad and spends a quarter. He soon discovers that he just bought tomorrow's paper, which has racing results, stock market quotations, and a story about a lonely old woman who tried to kill herself. Harry foregoes a quick buck and rushes to the woman's house, saving her. In return, she mails him $1,000,000! Harry rushes to the site where he bought the paper to share his good fortune with the newsboy, only to learn that the last newsboy at that corner grew up to be Walter Lane, the rich man who died a year ago and left a despondent widow.

Not much to see in "The Lost Million!" and a twist we've seen many times before, but I like the inclusion of the newsboy and the rainy New York street. I'm too young to remember newsboys on the corner, but I sure remember newsstands that sold comics in the late '60s and early '70s!-Jack

Next Week...
Angelo!

Batman in the 1960s The Final Issue: November/December 1969 + The Wrap-Up!

 

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

Novick

Detective Comics #393

"The Combo Caper!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

"Downfall of a Goliath!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson

Well... Dick is about to go to college (it seems just yesterday he was a pre-teen) and that's bringing up the tears and melancholy from Bruce and Alfred. Late one night, the Duo are making their rounds when they notice a light on in the Winslow Mansion. The Winslows are away at their beach property so the boys know something is up. Assuming it's a heist, they swing in through the open second floor window to surprise the thief but the masked man gets the better of them, stealing away in the Batmobile!

But, in his haste, the criminal left behind a clue: a soda pop tab etched with the combination of the Winslow safe! "Golly, Batman, this didn't get manufactured this way!," exclaims the Boy Wonder and the Big Guy pauses and has to agree. Batman tries the combo and, sure enough, the safe opens, revealing lots and lots of money. The thief was interrupted just in time! 

The next morning, Bruce, Dick, and Alfred pack up the car and head for the beach house as a "Last Weekend" celebration for the new college boy. Bruce mentions he first has to make a stop and, soon after, he pulls up to a shady-looking teenager standing on a corner. "Recognize him?" asks Bruce. Dick answers in the positive, "Yep, that's high school drop-out, Skeet Callum!" Master Wayne explains that he's become a member of the "Save a Punk" program and Skeet will be joining them for a weekend of love and rehabilitation. Dick grunts and Al mentally remembers to check the silverware later.

Upon arrival, the four are met by Deena, daughter of the recently burgled Winslows, who own the spread next to Wayne, and she invites them to a party that evening over at chez Winslow. That night, the party gets swinging; Dick and Skeet head down to the beach with Deena while Bruce mingles. Bored housewife Mrs. Winslow introduces Bruce to "world-traveler" Aristotle Onassis Aristide Naxos, whose lavish yacht sits just offshore. After coming on to Bruce, Mrs. Winslow asks him if he could go into the house and retrieve her wrap. While rummaging around, Bruce finds an open safe in the den. Deena drops in just at that moment to cast suspicion on the playboy billionaire. The family jewels have been stolen!

Bruce naturally suspects down-on-his-luck Skeet (even though we know he's way too obvious!) and tells the kid that if he coughs up the jewels, it'll go easier on him. Skeet reacts as all innocent-but-thought-guilty 1960s teenagers would: he exclaims expletives about "the man keeping him down" and "hands off me, rich pig!" and turns his back, walking towards the beach. Knowing he's blown it big time but not letting us know why suddenly he suspects the kid is innocent, Bruce sends Dick after Skeet to smooth things over.

When Dick gets to the beach, he finds Skeet unconscious with a really big bump on his head. Skeet explains that Deena clobbered him after he saw a signal come from the yacht offshore. Adding two plus two and coming up Deena, Bruce and Dick hatch a plan: Dick will grab a surfboard and create a diversion while Bruce (in his Bat-Uni) will sneak onboard and check out the scene. When he's attacked by a couple of thugs, the truth is clear: there are criminals hiding aboard! Batman busts into the Deck below and finds Aristotle  Abraxas the Greek guy and Deena with the jewels. 

The mastermind pulls a gun but Deena kicks it out of his hand, explaining she didn't want anyone to get hurt, she just wanted to punish her parents for being rich and giving her everything she ever wanted, including a beach house, a Corvette, a credit card, and two Dalmatians. But all she ever wanted from them was love, something they just couldn't give. Later that day, Dick visits Skeet in the hospital and gives Bruce's apologies for him, noting that the billionaire would have been there to give those sincere apologies in person but he's just too busy. Batman stands outside the hospital room and realizes it's the end of an era, the end of Batman and Robin.

Well, I for one, would be grateful for that information had I been paying attention in 1969, but the 2025 me knows that the Boy Wonder didn't disappear, he just went on to Teen Titans fame, a back-up, and eventually his own title. Can someone please explain to me why Frank Robbins is suddenly putting dialogue into the Dark Knight's mouth that sounds completely foreign? In this issue he calls his partner "Robbie!" Robbie? And in next month's Batman, Bruce calls his butler "Alf" more than once. I don't see the normally-near-poetic Bruce Wayne contracting names just for the halibut. I love how Bruce emphasizes the importance of the trio having a fun "last weekend" together and then picking up a JD along the way. Another very pedestrian Robbins script meant to highlight the billionaire's big heart but we all know we'll never see poor Skeet again.

Continued from the mini-adventure last issue, "Downfall of a Goliath!" finds Batgirl and Jason Bard chasing down leads in a fatal mugging in the park and finding the clues all lead to a Gotham Guardians player. After a few tussles in the locker room, Batgirl snaps the cuffs on the athlete and his criminal handler. Once again, we find that if you provide us with some pretty pitchers to look at, we don't care how trivial the plot may be. And this is pretty darn trivial. The biggest hoot, for me, was Jason Bard charging into action and, time after time, falling on his face because of his bum knee. "Argggh! Blasted pivot-knee again! Now it's locked! But I know I can still help Batgirl! Damn, there go my arches!"-Peter

Jack-Jason Bard doesn't seem very promising as a new hero, does he? He also doesn't seem like much of a representation of the injured Vietnam vet making his way back into society. Still, as you say, the Kane art is spectacular, so I can forgive some of the story's deficiencies. Not as forgivable is another weak lead script by Frank Robbins. It's too bad the Brown/Giella art isn't as good as the Kane/Anderson art...but it's better than Moldoff.

Novick/Giordano

Batman #216

"Angel--Or Devil?"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Irv Novick & Dick Giordano

In an alley outside the Gotham Theatre, where Ye Olde Avon Players will soon stage a Shakespeare festival, a pretty, young blonde is being menaced by a couple of men when Batman comes to the rescue, only to be knocked out. Back at Stately Wayne Manor, Dick Grayson is in bed with a cold. He reads about the festival and Alfred the butler has a personal interest in the troupe, since one of the actors is his brother Wilfred. Inside the theater, Batman reengages with one of the men from the alley before losing him among the costumed players. On his way back to the Batcave, the Caped Crusader picks up the young woman, who tells him she needs a lift to Wayne Manor!

The young woman identifies herself as Daphne, daughter of Wilfred Pennyworth and niece of Alfred the butler. She explains that the scene in the alley was a misunderstanding and that one of the men was her headstrong boyfriend. Batman drops Daphne off at the front door and Alfred welcomes her. Dick is taken with the pretty blonde and shows her Bruce's collection of rare theater handbills, capped off with the original manuscript for Romeo and Juliet. That night, Daphne sneaks out and returns to the theatre with a wax impression of the key that will allow her boyfriend access to Wayne Manor and the manuscript.

On the evening of the final performance, Bruce, Dick, and Alfred sit in the audience watching the play while Daphne rushes back to Wayne Manor and uses her key to gain entrance. She is caught in the act of stealing the manuscript by Alfred and shoots him when he won't give her the priceless document. Fortunately, the gun is a theater prop that only shoots blanks. Daphne doesn't know this, however, and thinks she's killed her uncle. Bruce returns to Wayne Manor and discovers what's happened just as Daphne delivers the manuscript to her boyfriend, who had been holding her father hostage.

In the end, it's Alfred to the rescue, as he prevents Daphne's boyfriend from skewering her father. Batman takes over and mops up the crooks but it's Wilfred, aided by Dick Grayson, who prevents Daphne from making Juliet's death scene turn real. All is forgiven among the Pennyworths, Dick Grayson, and Batman.

"Angel--Or Devil?" is about as good a Batman story as we're going to get from Frank Robbins, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano. I found myself captivated as I read and, for once, it was not dull or obvious. Giordano's inks really make Novick's pencils shine and the plot, featuring Alfred's relatives, made sense from start to finish. There's a sequence where Dick shows Daphne the manuscript, which is kept under a bust of Shakespeare that looks just like the one that hid the button to open the doors that hid the elevator to the Batcave in the TV series! I was worried that Dick was going to spill the beans to Daphne, but instead I think Robbins and co. were just teasing readers familiar with the TV show prop. I think the series is heading in a good direction as the decade comes to an end.-Jack

Peter-We all knew Daphne really wasn't a bad girl, despite all the many criminal acts she committed and should have been jailed for. I love how 12-year-old Dick tries to put the moves on the gorgeous blonde, despite it being past his bedtime. Frank Robbins writes 'orrible dialogue for the Brits but then, 'alfway through the adventure, 'e must've 'ad enough and dropped the pidgin English altogether. Thanks mostly to the art, I found this installment very bearable.

Adams

The Brave and the Bold #86

"You Can't Hide from a Deadman!"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Neal Adams

Why is everyone trying to kill Batman? First Robin points a gun at him, then Commissioner Gordon fires and misses. The Dark Knight quickly deduces that his old friend Deadman must be entering other peoples' bodies and trying to kill him for some reason. After avoiding a slew of random citizens with murder in mind, Batman confronts Deadman and explains that someone must be controlling his actions.

On the other side of the world, in the citadel of the Society of Assassins, the Sensei listens while Willie Smith and Lotus provide an explanation as to what's been going on with Deadman recently. None of it makes much sense, but the upshot is that Willie told Deadman that Batman is his enemy and Deadman is controlled by some sort of hypnotic suggestion.

In Gotham, Batman happens upon Hill Bros. Circus, Deadman's old employer, which is in town. Deadman's brother Cleve is wearing the Deadman suit and doing his act, so Deadman enters his body and requires Batman's aid to prevent him from falling to his death. An Indian dude named Vashnu shows up and summons Deadman to Nanda Parbat, a city somewhere on the other side of the world.

Batman rents a private jet and he and Deadman fly to Nanda Parbat, where Willie Smith and other bad guys try to blow them away. For some reason, Boston Brand seems to be alive but not doing so well; Batman and Deadman track down Smith and his cohorts in a snowstorm and confront the Sensei, who is in a grumpy mood. Batman says bye-bye to Boston Brand and the Sensei stalks off through the snow.

I guess this story made sense to someone at the time but read today it's a garbled mess. Deadman's original run in Strange Adventures had come to an end less than a year before, so I guess Neal Adams wanted to try to wrap up the story by bringing his hero back again not long after his appearance in The Brave and the Bold #79. The art is stunning, perhaps the best single issue's work we've seen in a 1960s Bat comic. That goes a long way toward making up for the incomprehensible story. I'm so glad we decided to cover The Brave and the Bold in this blog, since it's where the greatest Bat-artist ever started drawing our favorite hero!-Jack

Peter-There's a point at the end of this adventure where Cleve Brand thinks to himself, "This whole thing is too much for me!" Brotha, I know where you're comin' from. I couldn't make heads or tails of Bob Haney's story this issue; way too much Rama Kushna and Nanda Parbat for this Deadman rookie. I take Haney to task now and then for his silly plot devices and dopey dialogue but I'll give him massive props for doing research on someone else's character (Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino were the proud fathers) for a single story. It could not have been easy fashioning a plot around all this goofy mysticism and supernatural backstory. No matter, as I can gaze upon Neal Adams's insanely atmospheric graphics. Once you see Neal's Dark Knight, how could you ever prefer Sheldon Moldoff? This was Neal's last issue of  The Brave and the Bold but he'd return to Batman soon. 

Adams

Batman #217

"One Bullet Too Many!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Irv Novick & Dick Giordano

Bruce Wayne and Alfred the butler say a sad goodbye to Dick Grayson as he heads off to start his studies at Hudson University. After Dick leaves, Bruce tells Alfred that it's time to shut down the Batcave and vacate Stately Wayne Manor, which is too big for them. They move into an apartment building in downtown Gotham City, where Bruce will inhabit the penthouse suite and manage the Wayne Foundation from offices downstairs.

Bruce visits Dr. Susan Fielding, whose husband was killed by gangsters. Bruce offers an interest-free loan to help her keep running her practice and reappears later as Batman, determined to solve her husband's murder. After Susan provides some clues, Batman goes undercover and spreads the word among the underworld that Susan is going to tell the cops who killed her husband. That night, a killer visits Susan and, when Batman intervenes, he is shot in the arm. A bit of quick deduction leads to the arrest of the killer, but just as Bruce sits down to write Dick a letter, a man enters his office and points a gun at our hero!

Every so often, the Batman series takes a big step forward, and "One Bullet Too Many!" marks one of those steps. Robin heads off to college, remarking that his draft card says he's now a man and ending thirty years of boyhood. Bruce and Alfred are appropriately sad, and this leads to the second big change as Bruce departs from Wayne Manor and the Batcave in favor of a penthouse suite downtown! It's a lot to process in one issue. The crime solving part of the story is less interesting and seems to be a bit of an afterthought, but the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger may indicate some of the influence of Marvel comics on the Caped Crusader.-Jack

Peter-"One Bullet Too Many" is a strictly average adventure with a landmark event--the so-long to Robin. There's a clunky soap opera vibe to the initial Wayne-Dr. Fielding encounter and you almost get the feeling that a future relationship is being set up. But then, Wayne beds every woman in Gotham who isn't over forty. It was obvious that the titles would have to leave the camp behind and embrace the darkness of the early 1970s if they were to survive. The art's not by Neal Adams yet but you can sure feel his presence all over the last issue of Batman of the 1960s.

Adams

Detective Comics #394

"A Victim's Victim!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

"Strike... While the Campus is Hot"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson

While busy composing a letter to Dick Grayson (who left for college approximately 45 minutes prior), Bruce Wayne is interrupted at his desk in the Wayne Foundation Building by a man calling himself "Dakota." This guy's obviously incensed by something he perceived the billionaire playboy committed since he's holding a loaded pistol under Bruce's nose. Not one to appreciate a handgun in his face, Bruce lets out with a violent kick to the shin and a tussle is underway. Once the fisticuffs end, the two parties decide to talk it out.

Dakota is a Native American race car driver who was shot in the eye while competing against a Wayne Industries car and he was unable to finish the race after a fiery crash. Dakota seems to think Bruce had him shot for either the money or the glory. Bruce snickers and shows Dakota his bank book, putting to rest any notion that the entrepreneur needed the $1400 prize. Bruce promises the guy he'll investigate and get to the bottom of the event.

That night, Batman takes his sleek new Batmobile (a sports car) out of the garage of his new penthouse suite hideout at Wayne Foundation. A glimpse into the hero's mind tells us that he's decided to streamline his entire operation now that Robin is off at college. His new one-way mirrored windows allow him to see out but no one can see in. His fancy new license plate (handed over by the Commish at the Gotham Golf Club the day before) grants him the same immunities to the law that ambassadors have. After a few moments reflecting on how all this helps him fight crime more efficiently (because, well, the Batmobile stuck out like a sore thumb), the Dark Knight arrives at the racetrack.

Walking the track, the Caped Crusader can eerily pull up the scene of the crash even though he was away on business that day. He inspects the Wayne Industries-sponsored car and finds a spent shell casing, undeniable proof that the shot came from within that car. In a wild coincidence, the guilty parties show up to retrieve that evidence and Bats shuts himself in the car. He overhears big time gambler "Chance" Collins and his thugs confess to the shooting for monetary reasons. 

When the goons open the car, Batman pops out and throws a few knuckle sammitches at the trio but they somehow get the better of our brave hero. Just as Chance is about to demonstrate on Batman the trick pistol lodged in the grill of the race car, Dakota bursts in and interrupts, saving Batman's bacon and forcing Chance to exit stage left. The criminal hops in the mothballed race car and almost makes it past "killer curve," the lap where Dakota ate dirt months before, when Dakota forces him off the road. Chance's car bursts into flames, killing him, and Batman and Dakota are left to ponder the frailty of life.

What a dismal, lazy way to end our journey through the 1960s. This is a Frank Robbins special, filled with clunky exposition, dopey dialogue, and a mixed-message climax. Dakota spouts Indian cliches (as does Bruce, who should know better) because Frank learned everything he knew about Native Americans from low-budget 1950s westerns. Batman doesn't even check on the car carrying Chance, instead admitting to Dakota that maybe the gambler had it coming. This is the Batman who doesn't believe in carrying a gun and thinks that "justice shall be served"? This radical revamping of the Dark Knight's surroundings is vapid and takes a lot of the mystique away; worse, it makes no sense. Bruce is "streamlining" because the kid is off at school? Relocating to the middle of the city? How long before one of the rogues gets pictures of Batman exiting his new Formula-1 and traces the vehicle back to Wayne Enterprises? Batman now ostensibly receives the freedom of running red lights whereas before he had to stop at a hard yellow while chasing the Joker van for fear of receiving a ticket? Hokum.

Bruce Wayne and Alfred receive a startling letter from Dick Grayson, who left for college mere minutes before. Just as sure as the world turns and Arnold Ziffel is America's mascot, Dick Grayson runs into trouble on his first day at Hudson Academy. Seems a little riot has broken out on campus but Dick notices the usual sides are reversed. The Dean wants to keep peace, promising he'll call no authorities to break up the protest, but the students' mouthpiece, "Fire Brand" Fran, seems to be firing up the crowd, pushing them toward a confrontation. The police arrive and start busting heads but Dick notices a fatal flaw, immediately recognizing that these cops are phonies. Before he can voice his theory, he's busted over the head and tossed in a squad car.

Dick is dumped in a deserted silo but, luckily, he's worn his "reversible" shirt, which transforms into a complete Robin outfit (don't ask). He makes the change and uses his Bat-rope to escape the silo. He engages in some fist-fighting with a couple of the goons but then reinforcements arrive and he faces a sure TKO. To be continued... "Strike..." is pure Robbins, with all the dreck and dull dialogue that entails. The campus riot was, of course, the go-to plot device in comics as well as television in 1969 but the apex would be reached some months later, after the events at Kent State. We get it, Frank, you are a hip writer guy trying to solve today's problems with a typewriter, but the character swings in Dick Grayson never made much sense. He would go from lingo-spouting teenager to millionaire mama's boy who doesn't trust hippies in the space of a couple of issues. Kane and Anderson do their best (and "Full-Figured" Fran is some of their best) but the team doesn't have much to work with. If you're one of the three people who really dug the Robin back-up, you can read our analysis of said disaster starting here. 

And that's that, the 1960s.-Peter

Jack-Kind of a disappointing final issue for the decade. The art on the Batman story is barely better than what we got from Moldoff and Giella. I'm intrigued by the trend of having more Bruce Wayne and less Batman, along the lines of what was going on in Wonder Woman, where Diana Prince ditched her alter ego. I don't recall a sports car replacing the Batmobile and wonder how long that lasted. The story is straightforward and, while not great, it's better than the art. The Robin story isn't much better and Kane and Anderson aren't doing their best work here either, especially in the shots of Dick's face. At least we get the usual Kane layouts and cheesecake to keep us awake.

THE TEN BEST 1960S ADVENTURES

Batman #180

Peter:

1 "The Creatures That Stalked Batman" (Detective #279, May 1960)

2 "Batman's Interplanetary Rival" (Detective #282, August 1960)

3 "The Mystery of the Man-Beast" (Detective #285, November 1960)

4 "The Menace of the Planet Master" (Detective #296, October 1961)

5 "The Challenge of Clay-Face" (Detective #298, December 1961)

6 "The Flame-Master" (Detective #308, October 1962)

7 "Castle with Wall-to-Wall Danger" (Detective #329, July 1964)

8 "The Million-Dollar Debut of Bat-Girl" (Detective #359, January 1967)

9 "But Bork Can Hurt You" (Brave and the Bold #81, January 1969)

10 "The Senator's Been Shot" (Brave and the Bold #85, September 1969)

Jack:

The Brave and the Bold #85

1 "The Second Batman and Robin Team" (Batman #131, April 1960)

2 "The Blue Bowman" (Batman #139, April 1961)

3 "Bat-Girl!" (Batman #139, April 1961)

4 "Batwoman's Junior Partner" (Batman #141, August 1961)

5 "The Challenge of Clay-Face"

6 "Castle with Wall-to-Wall Danger!"

7 "The Track of the Hook" (The Brave and the Bold #79, September 1968)

8 "The Sleepwalker from the Sea" (The Brave and the Bold #82, March 1969)

9 "The Senator's Been Shot!"

10 "Angel--Or Devil?" (Batman #216, November 1969)

The Best Artist Not Named Neal Adams:

Peter: Carmine Infantino

Jack: Gil Kane

The Worst Story of the Decade:

Peter: "Batman! Drop Dead... Twice!" (Detective #378, August 1968)

Jack: "The Case of the Abbreviated Batman" (Detective Comics #360, February 1967)

Best Cover: 

Peter: Batman #180, Kane/Anderson

Jack: The Brave and the Bold #85, Adams

Next Week...
More Stinkin' Commies!
And Atlas Goes Weekly!