Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 173: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 158

November-December 1958

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #49

Cover by Joe Maneely

"City of Giants" (a: John Forte) ★

"The Doctor Wears a Mask" (a: Alfonso Greene) ★1/2

"The World-Destroyers!" (a: Matt Fox) ★★

"The Little Green Man" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★★

"Morgan's Mad Machine!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★1/2

"The Room with Two Billion Cards" (a: Sid Check) ★★

After a 15-month lay-off, Journey Into Mystery returns to a depleted line-up. The question is: will it bring quality or just keep its head above water like the two remaining titles?

While working on a formula for "some sort of perfume," evil, greedy chemist Eric Wolton accidentally whips up a green vapor that makes him giant. The gears start working in that twisted (but pretty smart) brain and Eric hits on the idea of vaporizing the rest of Bromburg and transforming them into giants. Once that feat is accomplished, the mad perfumer runs around under the feet of his neighbors and robs all the jewelry stores and banks of Bromburg. The giant city council holds a meeting to solve the problem of the "City of Giants." Another loony home-taught chemist resorts to nefarious deeds in order to line his pockets. When will these eggheads learn that crime does not pay in the post-code era?

Two "eminent sociologists" visit the rural town of Compton, hoping to find an answer to the burning question: why does this burg have the lowest crime rate of any city in America? To help the men in their research, the town historian relates the sad, twisted story of Doctor Wallace, a GP who arrives in town one day and immediately sets off a furor. You see, "The Doctor Wears a Mask." Yes, the man is never seen without his odd facial disguise, but hey, as far as medicine goes, no one can beat him. In fact, the town is downright astonished by the fact that the doc practically shows up at emergencies before the excitement starts.

After several severe accidents and building fires occur, the town rabble rousers use their McCarthy-era arithmetic and demand the doctor's head on a stick. After all, there has to be some reason he's always first on the scene. When they confront the physician, they demand he remove his mask and, when he does, they get the surprise of their lives. The doc is an alien sent from (in his own words) "out there" to help humankind. But this medicine man has had enough. Humans are stupid, stupid, stupid, and he's hitting the vapor trail. Having learned a lesson, the town votes out its mayor and other corrupt officials and... well, you know the rest. A town without crime. Another of the Stan Lee-esque message stories about loving your neighbor and not giving in to paranoia, delivered at a time when Stan was also okaying anti stinkin' Commie comics. 

In "The World-Destroyers!," three aliens arrive on Earth to detonate a bomb that will lay waste to mankind but make a simple blunder that proves costly. There's no reason given for the invaders' mission (perhaps our warring ways make the rest of the universe nervous?), but the simple plot is obviously second fiddle to the great art by Matt Fox. Stockbroker Marcus Gabel finds "The Little Green Man" in a curio shop while vacationing with his wife in Hong Kong and, fascinated by the little mandarin, he quickly snaps it up and takes it back to the States with him. Immediately, Marcus sees a change in how he views the business world and his decisions reap a fortune, but success comes with a  high price. His wife hates the change in him (she notes how he's starting look just like the jade statue) and his friends begin to shun him. Is the statue using some kind of supernatural force to transform Gabel from a mild-mannered stockbroker into Gordon Gecko? We've seen this plot (and umpteen variations) before, but the pace is quick and Brodsky's simple but efficient art is a plus.

Two con men stumble onto the sure thing: a goofy old inventor who's come up with a gizmo that turns rocks into gold. They think they're swindling the geezer but they end up tutored in the long run. "Morgan's Mad Machine!" elicited at least two chuckles from this grizzled old funny book vet and the climactic reveal is handled cleverly. It might be my imagination, but Ed Winiarski's pencils actually seem to be getting better. Last up this time is "The Room with Two Billion Cards," in which a washed-up actor discovers that all the world is, indeed, a stage. This one is slow-paced but almost won me over with its dark final panel.-Peter

Strange Tales #66

Cover by Joe Maneely

"The Ghost Came C.O.D." (a: Reed Crandall) ★1/2

"The Replacement!" (a: Alfonso Greene) ★

"The Voice of Fido!" (a: Werner Roth) ★

"It Waits Under the Sea!" (a: Al Eadah) ★★1/2

"The Eerie Experiment!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"He Wore a Black Beard" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★1/2

Antique store proprietor/con man Eban Goad has the perfect money-making scheme: he scans the obits for freshly interred corpses and sends faux invoices to the estates. Most of his victims don't hesitate to send him a check to avoid late fees, but Eban sends one notice too many and the dead man shows up at the antique shop to contest his bill. Oh, don't worry, CCA, this guy's not a zombie, but a Martian in disguise! "The Ghost Came C.O.D." sees the great Reed Crandall wasting his skills on a flimsy script.

On the run from the law and wearing a very "loud, checked jacket," killer Jack Hartley ducks into the bedroom of a dying man and steals his coat, thus assuring him of a clean getaway. Rummaging through the pockets of the coat, the criminal is astonished to find a plane ticket and heads quickly to the airport. After a brief skirmish with the pilot, the hood muscles his way on board but notices that there's no one else on the plane. The jet takes off and the cops later find Hartley's broken body in a field. Turns out Hartley took the dying man's place on a plane to Heaven, but St. Peter doesn't allow the living through the pearly gates. Or something like that. So dumb it's almost amusing, "The Replacement!" leaves so many questions unanswered and then, to compound the problem, tries to explain its plot hook in a lame, four-panel exposition that really does bring out the giggles.

In the all too predictable "The Voice of Fido!," Hank Walton wants to follow in his old man's footsteps as a new generation of ventriloquist but, instead of a wooden dummy, Hank wants to use his dog. No problem, Pop says, and sure enough Hank is an immediate hit. Then Fido starts spouting ad-libs. Sure, Pop is in the audience, but the old man admits it ain't him, so who's responsible for the new jokes? They both look at Fido and shrug. 

He's a genius and a really smart guy, but the Super-Secret Adventurers Club laughs and scoffs at Felix Bradin's notion that his little mini sub can cruise around the world under water for six months. Only one man believes in him, ultra-rich Harry Spahn! Harry promises to finance the entire trip, provided Felix takes Harry with him. Short on dough and figuring he could use the company, Felix quickly agrees but, as the days approach and Harry takes on a boss man's attitude, Felix regrets his decision.

On launch day, Felix gets up really early and jumps in the vessel, motoring away before Harry has his Omelette de la mère Poulard. Giggling, Felix can't wait until the world finds out he's conquered the undersea world. Then his curiosity gets the best of him and he explores a really weird cavern. Miles in, the cave door closes and Felix is trapped, hoping he can survive in this unknown realm on six months' worth of granola bars, Playboy magazines, and no porta-potty. As we leave a clearly disheartened Felix Bradin, we discover the steel plate cavern door is the ocean entrance to Marineland and (don't worry, CCA) the attraction will open in thirty days. Felix will be saved. "It Waits Under the Sea!" is goofy fun; we're expecting Harry Spahn to reappear, seeking revenge for the slight, but that never happens. Instead, we're given that last panel twist, one that's actually worth the wait.

In this issue's reminder that the Russkies are dirty rotten stinkin' rats, two 1977 teens run "The Eerie Experiment!" and use a special Ham radio to contact the Feds twenty years in the past to warn of a secret Commie meeting. The day is saved, but don't try to keep up with the complicated Carl Wessler (I know, I know, when have I ever used those three words together in a sentence) script. 

Okay, keep up, because I won't be repeating myself. Wally Rogers is insanely jealous of his friend and co-worker, Ralph Blaine, for stealing the company limelight with a secret project Ralph is working on that will change the course of history. Wally hatches an elaborate plot to frame his buddy for embezzlement but can't figure out a way to establish an alibi for himself in the process. Luckily, at that moment, a stranger appears in Wally's room and explains that he's from the future, out for a joy ride in his time travel machine. 

The lightbulb goes on over Wally's head and he talks the visitor into helping him with his criminal deed. But the forces of good always trump those of evil and Wally gets what's coming to him in the end. "He Wore a Black Beard" has a very complicated plot (that's two examples just in this issue of Carl Wessler taxing his brain) and the super surprising twist (sarcasm) is built upon the smile out loud assumptions that Wally wouldn't know Ralph was working on a time machine and, even funnier, wouldn't recognize his old pal with a mustache and beard. Still, that final panel of Wally running the whole scenario through his head is classic.-Peter

Strange Worlds #1

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers!" ★★1/2

(a: Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule)

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #32)

"I Captured the Abominable Snowman!" ★★1/2

(a: Steve Ditko)

(r: Strange Tales Annual #2 & Journey Into Mystery #13)

"I Am Robot!" (a: Uncredited) ★★

(r: Strange Tales Annual #2)

"I Am the Last Man on Earth!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

Why does everyone laugh when a man tells them that "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers!"? He recalls being fascinated by the subject as he grew up, yet his investigation revealed nothing certain. One day, in a remote forest, he witnessed a flying saucer land! A voice entered his thoughts and explained that it came from another solar system and its civilization was far beyond our own. Overpopulation led to space exploration, which led to an unintended landing on Earth. The alien will leave tonight, as soon as it regains its strength, and asks the man to tell no one about it until it's gone. In exchange, the man asks to see what the alien looks like, and the alien responds that it is the spaceship! Of course, after it's gone, no one believes the man's story.

This certainly feels like a milestone at Atlas Comics. The story is seven pages long and features Kirby pencils and many of the things we'll come to expect from him: inventive page designs, splash and half-splash pages, and detailed depictions of machinery. The story is not particularly novel and the big twist, that the spaceship is the alien, is handled well but followed by a pointless page of the man telling everyone what he saw in vain. Still, the story gives me hope that Atlas might try something new.

Hoping to be able to announce to the world that "I Captured the Abominable Snowman!," a greedy man steals equipment and plans from a scientific expedition and sets off alone. He finds a Lama monastery and forces an aged lama to take him to meet the Yeti. The creature approaches the lama, who transforms it into a human. The greedy explorer then learns that he must take the place of the Yeti until the next selfish man comes along.

Ditko's art is the highlight of this story, which follows a familiar pattern. The aged lama foreshadows Ditko's depiction of the Ancient One and the artist creates suspense on page four with a trio of panels that show the explorer in increasingly close shots as he awaits the Yeti's arrival.

Thorne, a scientist in the year 2468, creates a robot sensitive enough to handle a delicate object, yet strong enough to punch through a wall. This new robot can also speak and think! Thorne agrees to let the robot spend six months in his home taking care of his infant son, and if all goes well, thousands of the robots will be produced. Thorne's wife is fearful of the mechanical man, but the inventor reassures her. One day, the parents leave their son alone with the robot to test it. While they're gone, space aliens land and grab the little boy. The robot fights them off and they leave, but he is damaged in the battle. He pitches off a cliff and is found in wreckage at the bottom after Thorne returns. Everyone thinks the robot went berserk and plunged to its doom, and Thorne agrees that no more units will be produced. No one knows that it saved the child and the human race.

"I Am Robot" does not benefit from art by Kirby or Ditko; in fact, the GCD is unable to identify the artist, and I can't, either. The story is narrated by the robot but is not particularly engaging.

In the year 2035, a spaceship from Earth lands on the planet Xernes and  spacemen discover that humans could live almost 500 years before reaching old age. On Earth, people are so excited that they spend the next decade in a mass exodus to the new planet, destroying all their property before they leave. In the end, the last man and woman (named Adam and Eve) agree to start rebuilding Earth civilization.

Don Heck's art is impressive on "I Am the Last Man on Earth!" but the story is drawn out and pointless. It seems that Adam and Eve (groan) think the rest of civilization should not have given up the happy, peaceful life they had built on this planet. It didn't make much sense to me. This first issue of Strange Worlds is interesting in that it is more geared toward science fiction than the Atlas fantasy titles and it features three of the artists who would soon make Marvel a successful comic company. It'll be interesting to watch the title develop.-Jack

World of Fantasy #15

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"The Secret of Stephen Durham" (a: Kurt Schaffenberger) ★★

(r: Journey Into Mystery #17)

"He Stole 50 Years" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★

"Mystery of the Mountain" (a: Christopher Rule) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #38)

"Strange Doings in Cell 4-B!" (a: Joe Certa) ★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #19)

"The Uncanny Keys" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★

(r: Vault of Evil #16) 

"The Sinister Supermen" (a: Sam Kweskin) ★

Clark Wendall wonders, what is "The Secret of Stephen Durham"? They are close pals and research scientists, whose fathers had great adventures together, but lately, Stephen has been jumpier than ever. Clark peruses his father's diary and reads of an escape from an Aztec death trap and a close call with a giant octopus. During a lecture about how an object traveling at the speed of light will not be subject to aging, Steve jumps up and suggests that he and Clark head to Mexico.

They visit the same places where their fathers barely avoided death, and Clark wonders how Steve seems to know about these events without having read his father's diary. Back at home, Clark follows Steve and witnesses him entering a chamber where he travels at the speed of light. Clark suddenly realizes that Steve is really his father, who has kept himself young.

This has to be a Wessler script, since it has some interesting events along the way but is overly complicated and ends with a revelation that isn't very interesting or surprising. At least Kurt Schaffenberger turns in a professional job on the art.

A newspaper publisher named Slade prints lies and uses blackmail to silence complaints. He forces a scientist named Carlin to show him the Electronic Cavalcader, which brings to life events of the next fifty years. Slade spends the night watching all of the amazing things that will happen in the decades to come, unaware that, in the end, he will have aged fifty years and all his notes will be too yellowed and faded to read.

I was pleasantly surprised by "He Stole 50 Years." in which we learn that there will be a revolution in the Soviet Union in 1967 and that the Eastern Bloc will be free by 1969, atomic power plants and atom-driven planes will follow, and deadly diseases will be cured. Interplanetary travel will occur in 2000, and a woman will be president by then. It's a shame that none of this came to pass, at least not in the positive, lasting way portrayed here. I especially liked the last panel, which shows a suddenly aged Slade.

Two state troopers are puzzled by "The Mystery of the Mountain," which consists of silent explosions at Mount Rushmore in the middle of the night. A professor from D.C. is called in and posits that the explosions are coming from a parallel dimension, whose inhabitants are honoring one of their great men. Sure enough, the bust of an unknown spaceman appears next to that of George Washington. A pointless story with listless art, this one is unsettling in light of the current president's desire to see his own face join the others.

A brawny prisoner named Porter discovers that his elderly cellmate, Pop, can make things appear just by wishing. Porter decides that the "Strange Doings in Cell 4-B!" can be used to his advantage, and he forces Pop to wish for three guns and a car. The jail break is going well until the guns and car suddenly disappear and Porter and his pals are captured. To their dismay, they learn that Pop died of old age and, when he passed away, the things he wished for disappeared.

Joe Certa's art is solid if a bit on the cartoony side--Pop reminds me of Uncle Marvel from the Captain Marvel comics.

Shelton's uncle sends him out to get a copy made of the key to his safe. Shelton visits a locksmith where he sees the proprietor in a room filled with treasure! The man explains that it's due to "The Uncanny Keys," which are magical and which he received from a gypsy. Shelton grabs the key ring and finds that each key reveals a different room when put into the keyhole of any door. After finding himself in rooms filled with silver and gold, followed by a South Sea island, Shelton turns one key too many and finds himself in a prison cell with no keys. He realizes that the last key was a jail key!

Of all the Atlas artists, Richard Doxsee may be the most disappointing, since he's gone from terrific to terrible in a short span of time. The worst thing about this story is that the panels that are supposed to show the rooms filled with treasure barely show anything.

A sailing ship and its crew are mysteriously drawn toward an island by "The Sinister Supermen," criminals who were hiding out there in a cave when an H-bomb test accelerated their evolution to the point where they were all brain and little protoplasm. Having proved their unlimited power to themselves, they let the sailors leave and only the force of nature prevents the ship from being drawn into a whirlpool. The island and its inhabitants sink out of sight.

It's always hard to identify the worst story of a post, but this has to be it. The art is so weak that, in the panels where the supermen first appear, I first thought a kid had taken a marker and scribbled random lines on the page. After a few moments of study, I realized that those lines were actually supposed to be the outline of an arm and hand with a pointing finger.-Jack

Next Week...
The Era of Ditko and Kirby
Officially Begins...
But Will They Bring 
Quality With Them?