Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 187: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction + Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 172

July-August 1960

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #59

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"I Unleashed Shagg Upon the World!" ★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Strange Tales Annual #1)(r: Tomb of Darkness #18)

"I Was Trapped in Horror House!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"The Revenge of the Wooden Woman" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

"I Am the Beast-Man!" (a: Don Heck) ★★1/2

While rummaging through ancient Egyptian ruins, an archaeologist stumbles upon a strange mechanical device hidden beneath the desert. When he flips the switch on the panel, he gets the shock of his life as the nearby sphinx rises up and begins to talk to him. It introduces itself to the excavator as "Shagg, warrior from the third galaxy" and lays out its plot for world domination.

Our hero is drawn within the idol itself and must watch as Shagg works itself across the globe, destroying everything in its path. At one point, riddled with guilt, he screams "I Unleashed Shagg Upon the World!" but, alas, no one can hear him. After destroying Paris (and defeating the "battle-hardened" Parisian troops), Shagg decides America is where it's at and makes the long journey to the States. Reaching New York, Shagg is able to lay waste to skyscrapers while, at the same time, having an inner monologue with his prisoner. 

When Shagg spills the beans about a future invasion by the "fellow third galaxy warriors" who awakened him, our intrepid archaeologist reminds the big lunk that it was he, the puny human, who activated the switchboard. "Ah crap," the sphinx grumbles, "that means my backup ain't arrived yet. I'm too early!" Realizing that a few nukes could surely destroy a lone third galaxy warrior, Shagg uses his Cosmo-Gamma-Electro-Magnetic Wave-Doohickey™ to reassemble all the buildings he's damaged and erase all traces of himself from the minds of earthlings. He then heads back to Egypt for another slumber. With his memory erased, our hero, who fortunately took copious notes while he was terrified for his life, ponders whether the scrawl on the paper is from a fevered brain or whether Shagg will return another day!

These giant monster thrillers are pretty much criticism-safe since they're all loony and make little sense. That said, I always like to point out some of the more... imaginative aspects such as Shagg's boast that he comes from the "Third Galaxy." Is that meant to be third galaxy from our galaxy or third galaxy from the left or... which galaxy does Earth reside in?

In the formulaic "I Was Trapped in Horror House!," an escaped con finds himself hiding out in a carnival haunted house and, in the end, realizes it's actually the gateway to Hell. Well, Stan can't use the word "Hell" because that's a bad thing and the CCA would swoop in and shut Atlas down in a heartbeat, so he does the next best thing and shows the grim reaper and a sign outside the attraction that promises any who enter will meet their "true fate." Truly awful, with a microwaved script and rough panels courtesy of Paul Reinman.

Captain Cork loves only one thing more than the sea and that's the figurehead on his schooner, the beautiful Valkyrie. One dark day, pirates board Cork's ship and toss the Captain and his crew into a small rowboat with enough rations to last two days. Laughing, the pirates head off for treasures and adventures to come, little knowing that they will soon face "The Revenge of the Wooden Woman!" It's all very predictable (but then there are very few surprises to be found in Atlas Comics by 1960), but it's also a charming fantasy with some typically top-notch graphics from Mr. Ditko. If I was a ten year old kid in the Summer of '60 who knew nothing about good art, I'd be watching and waiting for this unnamed penciler who seemed to be able to make the most mundane of subjects magical and other-worldly. That said, the atmospheric splash (above) looks nothing like Steve's usual work.

You say, Peter, if these things are so formulaic and cliche-ridden and, sometimes downright boring, why do you keep reading the damned things? Good question, one that I and my writing partner ask ourselves and each other at least 15-20 times a week, depending on how many stories we have to read. My answer? "I Am the Beast-Man!" 

Secret Commie agent Igor Grozick boards a Russkie sub, armed with the most deadly disguise known to Western Civilization: a bear suit. No, now hang on, don't scoff. Just be patient. Igor's plot is to "sail" (in a life raft) from international waters (it's very hazy as to where the Russkies drop him off) to America and infiltrate the nuclear testing site just before a bomb is blasted, pose as a bear and, eventually, unmask the Americans for the fools they are. Igor easily does this despite the fact that he's on foot, has no visible food or water, and Nevada is hundreds of miles away from any seaport. Stop thinking for a moment and just go with the flow.

Anyway, our stinkin' commie protagonist manages to get to the site just as the bomb goes off and then waits patiently with his bear suit on for the scientists to arrive. When the big thinkers show up, Igor confronts them with a "talking bear" routine, explaining that the radiation from the bomb test has given him the power of speech. The scientists are awestruck (and apparently blind) and take their modern miracle back to the lab. When faced with examination and possible dissection, Igor reminds his captors that, under the Geneva Convention, bears have the same rights as humans and can deny any probing or bodily intrusions. 

Once the word gets out, Igor becomes a public sensation, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, giving lectures on hibernation and, at the United Nations, answering that age-old question, "Does a bear..." Just before he announces his intent to run on the next Republican Party ticket, Igor gets word from his bosses that it's time to take the suit off and show the American people just how gullible and stupid they are. He tells his audience that he must have a moment alone, heads in to his dressing room to finally take this stupid bear costume off, and (suhprize suhprize suhprize) finds that the disguise is now permanent. Igor looks at himself in the mirror, shrugs, and decides maybe it's not the Americans who are the дурацкий.

Now this is what I call a story. "I Am the Beast-Man!" made me laugh out loud more than Trump's recent "election integrity" speech, topping every inane twist along the way. I won't take up much more of your time but let's examine Igor's trip from sub to Nevada. I would assume the vessel dropped Igor somewhere off the Gulf of Mexico, which means he would have had to paddle several miles and then walk at least 1500 miles in a single day (Igor notes by morning I was at my destination...) across desert and mountains without any visible transport. With a large bear suit in his attache. Then he sits through the radioactive fallout, never exhibiting any side effects, and calmly converses with some very highly skilled and super-intelligent scientists while wearing a bear suit. The first thing I'd be thinking, were I Ivan, would be: can they see my face through this stupid mouth hole? Second, I'd think about the fact that my words don't synch with my lips. Then I'd worry that maybe that really big zipper on my back isn't hidden properly. Perhaps the Russkies were right; the Americans are gullible morons.

Perhaps my favorite image from "I Am the Beast-Man!" is Igor, standing on stage, holding his speech in his paws, debating the pros and cons of hibernation with a room full of hoity-toitys. This is comedic gold and the proof that even Stan had a sense of humor now and then. That is, if Stan meant it to be a joke.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #10

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"I Brought the Mighty Cyclops Back to Life!" ★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #1)

"I Was Trapped in Nightmare Valley" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #4)

"Behind My Door Waits... Medusa!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #4)

"I Am the Shaggy Creature" (a: Don Heck) ★★

Duncan, a spoiled, rich young man who's never grown up, is on a boat ride with his girlfriend, the luscious Amanda, and he pops the question. Amanda turns him down, citing the fact that Duncan is a spoiled, rich young man who's never grown up, and then watches as Duncan proves her point by sulking. Ignoring possible danger, Duncan steers the craft into a fog bank and shudders as the ship hits something solid. Turns out the couple have run aground on an uncharted Mediterranean island and they make the best of their misfortune by having a look around the snow-covered landscape.

After scaling a steep mountain, Amanda and her halfwit beau stumble upon a terrifying discovery beneath the ice: the giant Cyclops of mythological lore! Sensing he's found the greatest archaeological relic of the 20th century, Duncan grabs an axe and starts chopping away, dollar signs flashing in his eyes. Though Amanda tries to talk him out of it, Duncan keeps swinging and soon the monster is free. Sure enough, the one-eyed behemoth rises from his icy tomb and chases the couple into a narrow crevice in the mountain. While it's trying to root them out, a ship appears on the horizon and the giant decides he wants a larger meal.

Duncan, feeling guilty as hell, exclaims "I Brought the Mighty Cyclops Back to Life!" and tricks the monster into walking on thin ice. Falling through the thin glacier, the Cyclops is trapped... until the next adventurer comes along. Amanda, seeing a vibrant he-man hero for the first time, agrees to be Mrs. Duncan and the couple sail off into the sunset. Though the script for "Cyclops" mines the same territory as King Kong, the art is dazzling. Though not as chilling as the Harryhausen version, this Cyclops is still a formidable figure and thankfully doesn't spend time delivering speeches about his past conquests or what he intends to do when he reaches the mainland; he just menaces. I have to also admit that this story holds a fond place in my nostalgic funny-book heart. I still remember walking into Thrifty Drugs at the ripe old age of eight and begging my mom to fork over fifteen cents for the first issue of Where Monsters Dwell, the cover subject of which was this here Cyclops. I took that comic home and read it to tatters. 

In the drab "I Was Trapped in Nightmare Valley!," a hunter heads into a forbidden Himalayan region despite the warnings of the locals. Turns out aliens landed there centuries before and possessed the local foliage. The trees are just waiting for their time to conquer Earth. Just then, a volcano erupts and wipes out the threat. Thank goodness for that. Much better is Steve Ditko's "Behind My Door Waits... Medusa!" An old man in a curio shop relates the tale of how he came to possess a very lifelike statue of a terrified man.  Behind an ornately carved door sits the most famous of the gorgon sisters, just waiting for her next victim. Of course, the customers who inquire then scoff at the old man's story, but none dares open the door. Some really special graphics here by Ditko; we never actually see Medusa, just a brief glance (and even then it looks like her mane is alive with bucatini rather than vipers), but the penciling is so detailed we never even give that a second thought. Like "Cyclops," this is one I vividly remember from the early days of Where Monsters Dwell.

Last up is "I Am the Shaggy Creature," wherein really smart genius and "world's greatest scientist" Victor Phillips is on the run from the police for making "fool-proof burglar tools" (!) and must hide out somewhere they won't suspect. He quickly whips up a potion that will turn him into a gorilla and just as quickly invents an antidote. He grabs both vials and heads off to a local carnival where he hides in one of the tents. When the cops finally trace Phillips to his hideout, he downs his formula and jumps into the gorilla cage, antidote at the ready. Unfortunately, Phillips doesn't allow for monkey body... monkey brain. Another strip that highlights just how squanderous these Atlas big brains could be. Phillips has the know-how to invent lots of legal, money-rich devices and he chooses to excel at a better safe cracker. Heck's art is adequate but it's the humorous final panel that wins the day.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #10

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"I Was Trapped by Titano the Monster That Time Forgot!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott) ★1/2

(r: Tower of Shadows #7)

"Only I Know When the World Will End!!!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Fear #1)

"Something Lurks Inside!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Fear #1)

"What Was the Strange Power of Simon Drudd!!" ★★

 (a: Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule)

(r: Fear #1)(r: Crazy #76)

A humongous crab known as Titano has started appearing in various watery spots around the globe. It's so big that no one has ever seen more than a portion of the creature. The U.S. Navy is assigned to locate and destroy Titano, so they set out to sea and quickly find him. A descent by bathysphere gives the Navy men the first glimpse of the big fella, and soon an officer named Hartnell hatches a plan. A submarine is painted with luminous paint to attract Tinano's attention and passes by him. Titano gives chase and the sub heads north until it reaches the arctic. Just as Titano lunges for the underwater vessel, it swerves, and Titano is trapped in a glacier!

I am a bit concerned by what I just read in "I Was Trapped By Titano the Monster That Time Forgot." In the last panel, the Navy men wonder what will happen if the glacier thaws. With today's concerns about global warming, how long will it be before we start seeing online reports of Titano sightings? What then?

Why is everyone searching for the man known only as Kartu? He sits alone in a cave in Virginia and thinks back to his sudden, unexpected appearance on Earth, when he turned up in midtown Manhattan, claiming that he was from another planet. Kartu was taken to a hospital, where he said that he came from the planet Aqua-Centurius. He had been vacationing on Sertius Major and was on his way home when he suddenly found himself in a space and time warp that cast him into NYC. The only problem was that he knew that Earth was going to be destroyed the next day when a runaway planet crashed into it!

No one listened to him and he made his escape into the Blue Ridge Mountains. The next day, astronomers witnessed one planet collide with another and destroy it! Everyone realized that Kartu was telling the truth but had gotten mixed up about which planet he was on. Unfortunately, they can't make use of his knowledge because he's in hiding.

"Only I Know When the World Will End!!!" features average Heck art and a story that is a variation on others we've seen before. I'm getting tired of stories that begin in the middle and then have the main character think back to how it all began. I'm also tired of the titles with someone exclaiming, "I Know This or That!"

Ted Karson is the first man sent into outer space. When his ship returns, it circles the Earth and he sends no radio message. People wonder why! When a capsule is dropped from the ship, it's assumed to be a bomb, and his ship is destroyed. The capsule lands and is opened to reveal Karson's flight log.

He wrote that, on his way back to Earth, he landed on Planet X, where he discovered a race of evil, giant spiders. Karson rushed back to his ship, only to find spiders inside. He realized that they traveled on radio waves! One of the creatures bit him and he discovered that he carried a horribly contagious infection. He could not return to Earth and he could not send a radio message that the spiders could use to travel to our planet. His ship had to be destroyed and, by doing so, Earth was saved. A statue is erected to Karson, the man who saved his planet.

The story in "Something Lurks Inside!" is unusually clever and Ditko does his usual good job of illustrating it. This doesn't seem like a retread of a narrative we've read before, so it's more enjoyable than most of the Atlas tales.

A pair of scientists, Bentley and Simon Drudd, work to develop a serum that will restore youth. Everyone laughs at them, but they persist and finally nail it. Bentley wants to share it with the world, but Drudd wants to keep it for himself, postulating that he can take it over and over, accumulate knowledge, and rule the world! Drudd points a gun at Bentley and locks him in a walk-in freezer. Drudd drinks the serum and gets younger and younger until he ceases to exist. Bentley pulls the burglar alarm and tells the story to the cops when they arrive and let him out.

I was enjoying Kirby being Kirby in "What Was the Strange Power of Simon Drudd!!" until the end, when he fell back on the tired plot device of the scientist getting younger and disappearing. Maybe he watched The Incredible Shrinking Man on TV right before he churned this one out.-Jack

Strange Tales #76

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Am Dragoom! The Flaming Invader!" ★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #2)(r: Weird Wonder Tales #11)

"Beware!! The Ghosts Surround Me!!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Strange Tales Annual #1) (r: Fantasy Masterpieces #1)

(r: Vault of Evil #19)

"The Dummy and Me!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Uncanny Tales #10)

"I Found the Mad Universe!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Uncanny Tales #11)

Victor Cartwright's monster movies are entertaining and profitable, but no one takes him seriously. Then one day, from the planet Vulcan arrives a giant creature made of fire who proclaims, "I Am Dragoom! The Flaming Invader!" Nothing on Earth can stop him and he surrounds the planet with a blanket of flame, making everyone beg for mercy. Dragoom is just settling in as world emperor when he is told of five fire creatures that have arrived in Mexico! He flies there to see them and, believing that they are fiery police from Vulcan, Dragoom flees the Earth, never to return, not realizing that they were just dummies created by the monster movie-maker Victor Cartwright. No one will sneer at him again!

Not bad at all! The end is fairly predictable, but Kirby and Ayers go to town with their depictions of Dragoom. He fills the splash page and takes up more than half of pages three and four. That's a lot of flames to color!

Hans and Gustav commit a robbery in a Transylvanian village and run into the forest. When Hans falls and breaks his leg, Gustav shoots and kills his partner to prevent the man from being caught and revealing his identity to the cops. Deep in the forest, Gustav comes upon a spooky hovel. Inside, he encounters creatures who explain that they live in a parallel dimension--they can't hurt him and he can't hurt them.

Gustav thinks the house is a good hiding place until he passes out. When he awakens, the cops arrive and he's ready to give himself up, but they can't see or hear him because he's now in a different dimension!

What exactly is the point of "Beware!! The Ghosts Surround Me!!"? First of all, there aren't really any ghosts, and they never exactly surround Gustav. Why does he end up in another dimension? Is it the dimension where the creatures live? Who knows? When their dimension is depicted, it resembles a futuristic world, but at the end, Gustav wanders off into a landscape of purple and blue circles. I don't think Carl Wessler was still writing Atlas stories by this point, but the random ending reminds me of something he'd pen.

A ventriloquist has a gambling debt and some crooks show up during his act to collect. After he's done performing on stage, he uses a brief moment of darkness to try to get to his dressing room, where he keeps a gun, but a crook is guarding the door, so the ventriloquist and his dummy head for the prop room. He evades the crooks only to find his gun gone from its drawer. The duo climb out a window and tumble into an alley, where the crooks find them lying on the ground and shoot the tall one. The crooks leave and the short one gets up, relieved that they thought he was the dummy and mistakenly shot the real dummy.

"The Dummy and Me" is just plain awful. Anyone with any sense could see the end coming a mile away. Paul Reinman's art isn't getting any better, either. he's now at the bottom of the Atlas artists.

Professor Dark has built a super-duper microscope that allows him to study the details of the tiniest atom. He discovers that atoms are tiny worlds and on one of them he observes signs of life! Dark witnesses war between the silhouetted creatures and is so horrified that he destroys the microscope. "I Found the Mad Universe!" he tells his assistant, not wanting to display more war and give anyone ideas for new weapons. He calls the atom world--wait for it--Earth!

Auggh! Not again! How many times do we have to suffer through this hackneyed plot and overused surprise ending? Ditko's art is really good, so there's that.-Jack

This Thursday...
Jack Extolls the Virtues of
Benny and Lombard!

And Next Week...
See What Happens When
Don Heck Puts His Foot Down and
Demands Better Scripts!