Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 124: Atlas/Marvel Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 109

June 1956 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Stories of Suspense #9

Cover by Bill Everett & Carl Burgos

"Breaking Through the Time Barrier" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2

"Nightmare" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"Look to the Stars?" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★1/2

"The Unknown Man" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★

"Flight from Mars!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★

"The Man Who Knew!" (a: Syd Shores) ★★

After crashing his time-travel plane, a scientist moves to a remote estate where his neighbors laugh at him until one day a UFO lands in his yard and aliens greet him, telling him he's on the right track and should just persevere, so he throws away his cane and greets the new day. You think my synopsis of "Breaking Through the Time Barrier" is alternately confusing and full of blueberry muffins? You should read the crap my words attempt to describe. Gorgeous Sinnott work is wasted on words that go nowhere.

No better is the inane "Nightmare," in which a jailbird dreams every night that he lives in another dimension. His prison psychiatrist tells him he must go into that world and face his demons, but it turns out the other world is his world and our world is a dream. Got that? Again, some striking graphics are wasted on juvenile twaddle. In "Look to the Stars?" a weatherman forecasts earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes with uncanny accuracy. What's his secret? He's an alien, of course, receiving messages from another planet.

Jerry Hudson wants to skin-dive for treasure in the ocean but his mom says it's not safe and he'll always be her little boy, even if he is eighteen. Proving he's his own man, Jerry stands up to his mother by sneaking out his bedroom window and meeting up with buddy Slim down at the beach. The dive goes swimmingly but, while walking along the ocean floor, Jerry happens upon a deep-sea cave and enters. Astonished, he finds a set of stairs that lead right into his own house!

Acting as though nothing is wrong, Jerry puts on some clothes and asks his ma what's for dinner. She ignores him and Jerry, despondent, heads over to the clubhouse where his buddies hang out. Again he is met with silence, except for a man who berates Jerry and demands he pay the twenty-five bucks he's owed. What gives? Well, it turns out that stairway led to an alternate world that somehow blurred into our own world and... are you still awake? Let's just say that "The Unknown Man" makes four duds so far this issue, but the difference is that Pakula's art is dreadful.

Even though his Martian foster parents have always been kind and loving to him, orphan George wants to return to Earth to soak up the vibes. His real parents died shortly after their spaceship crash-landed on Mars, so all George has ever known is the red planet. George stows away on a rocket ship bound for Earth, but he gets a whale of a surprise when he gets there. Well, it's a big surprise to George but not to the reader (he was actually on Earth the whole time and the spaceship he boarded went to Mars), nor to this grizzled old Atlas vet or anyone paying attention to the title ("Flight from Mars!")

Genius Martin Cabell believes that six or seven great brains should be running the world instead of dopey politicians, but how does he get his message across? Luckily, his buddy, John, has invented a time machine so Martin can travel into the future and see if his idea would work. He makes the jump and lands hundreds of years in the future, where the population relies on those six or seven great brains to do everything for them. Mankind has become brainless, emotionless Tik-Tok viewers. Quickly, Martin jumps into the tin can, makes it back to the present, and tells John, "Yeah... never mind!" It's obvious the scripter of "The Man Who Knew!" wanted to make some deep statement on Communism and I admire that unknown scribe for rising above his colleagues this issue and actually pondering what might make a good story. But, in the end, the story is way too preachy (as these things often are) and we are left to wonder why Martin didn't foresee the ramifications of his big idea if he's got such a keen brain.-Peter

Strange Tales #47

Cover by Sol Brodsky

"When Mankind Vanished!" (a: Frank Bolle) ★1/2

"Overflow" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★1/2

"When Sorcerers Meet" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★

"The Trial of Dr. Voltron!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★

"The New Member!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★

"The Hands" (a: Jim McLaughlin) ★1/2

In "When Mankind Vanished," grumpy multi-millionaire Gregory Winston is sick of the unwashed masses he must wade through every day to get his business done. At the eye doctor one day getting new glasses, he mentions his disdain for anything that walks on two legs and the oculist scolds him and tells him he'd miss the warmth of fellow earthlings if he were ever alone. "Like hell," the man mutters and exits the office. Suddenly, the streets are empty, cars pass by without drivers, and buildings are erected without construction workers. He can hear their voices but he can't see them! 

Sure enough, within three panels, Gregory Winston wants companionship. Sure as the name of this comic is Strange But Uplifting Stories, the oculist was right. But when Gregory heads back to the man's office, the building has become a different storefront. Winston swears, as God is his witness, he'll find that strange oculist and get his vision back. Just once I'd like one of these selfish bastards to enjoy the fruits of their labor before being transformed into a caring individual. It's really sad to see how far the line has plummeted since the advent of the CCA. One of the great "what ifs" has to be: would the quality have declined without the witch hunt?

The government of an overpopulated Neptune sends a recon team to Earth in anticipation of a full-scale invasion, but the dopes land smack-dab in the middle of the production of a science fiction movie. Mistaking the special effects for a ready, willing, and able militia, the boys from Neptune head back with their tails between their legs. "Overflow" reuses yet another overused plot device, but I still have a soft spot for Tony DiPreta's unique style.

Helen tells Chris she's dumping him because he's poor and won't get a real job, instead insisting he's a great magician. With a heavy heart, Chris admits she might be right but, gosh, magic is so... magical! Luckily, he gets a good-paying gig at a birthday party and sets out in the rain to prove just how wrong Helen is, but the dope gets lost in the storm and ends up at a creepy, rundown mansion in the middle of the woods. Seeking shelter, he enters the building to find it filled with oddballs. 

Chris learns that the other men (and one gorilla) are there for the annual sorcerers convention. When they discover there is an outsider in their midst, the wizards attack. Convincing them he's a wizard too, Chris escapes and heads home to Helen, promising his life as a magician is over. Tomorrow, he'll get a job running numbers. My gosh, this post has been filled with even more dogs than usual. The only highlight of "When Sorcerers Meet" is when Helen tells her beau she's not marrying him because his lack of a bank account will lead to quarreling. Good point, but why in the climax is she taking the guy's word for it that things are gonna change?

At "The Trial of Dr. Volton," the brilliant scientist is accused of sending his son up into space in a rocket ship but, as we learn in the twist climax, son Eddie is just a robot. The Winiarski art is pretty rough but the script elicits a few giggles. In "The New Member," Compton, a man from outer space, seeks to join a hunter's club on Earth since they don't have lions and rhinos back on Pluto. In the climax, Compton takes one of his new friends for a ride in space in his convertible space car (without aid of oxygen or any of that annoying stuff), proving once and for all that life in the 1950s was very cool.

In the preachy finale, "The Hands," a pair of disembodied hands appear in a stinkin' commie country that looks a heck of a lot like Russia, floating through the air, heading for the palace of dictator Grigor. Turns out the hands belong to Torloff, the country's "last Democratic leader," who was slain during Grigor's rise to power. Torloff, who can somehow speak through his hands (yeah, yeah, I know, this is a story about floating hands... so what if they can talk...), explains that he's there to avenge his own death and restore freedom to the (unnamed, but clearly the USSR) country. 

When Grigor's henchmen raise the possibility that the hands might be right, the dictator pulls out his Makarov to shoot them dead but the bullet ricochets and kills Grigor instead. Peace and harmony are restored to (whatever this country is called). Dreary and pretentious, two adjectives that should not be applied to a funny book strip. Artist Jim McLaughlin (who penciled only one other Atlas tale, "The Wrong Man," back in Strange Tales #32) gets the job done; he's neither awful nor brilliant, but my eyes didn't bleed (as they tend to do while looking at Dick Ayers's work) so there's that. I have to parrot Jack in that the Atlas tales seem to be getting worse and worse; trite and lazy.-Peter

Strange Tales of the Unusual #4

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Long Wait!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"The Life Saver!" (a: John Forte) ★★

"Flames of Fury!" (a: Bill Benulis) ★1/2

"The Warning Voice" (a: Tony Mortellaro) ★

"The Talking Horse! (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★1/2

"Mission to Jupiter" (a: Bob Bean) ★★

As two archaeologists named Henry and Agnes explore an underground vault in Egypt, they discover what appears to be a guardian statue that seems to move! Putting it down to a case of the jitters, they round a bend and discover a fleet of solar ships and a scroll that tells a strange story. Agnes deciphers the hieroglyphics and learns that it was written by Torus of Mandu, a planet that orbits Earth's sun far more distantly.

The Mandurians flew to Earth long ago in their solar ships and, because their orbit around the sun takes so long, the minutes that their trip takes equal millennia in our time. When they reached Earth, they found hostile cavemen and hid underground. All of the Mandurians were rescued except for Torus, who was still hiding, and he began "The Long Wait!" on Earth. Henry and Agnes realize that what they thought was a statue was really Torus but, when they run back to where they saw him, they see that he has been rescued and is being taken home in a flying saucer.

Among the many puzzling aspects of this sub-par tale is why Torus would move so slowly and last so long when he and his fellow Mandurians were moving perfectly well when they encountered the cavemen. The point of the story seems to be that the concept of time on Mandu is so different than ours that his wait of thousands of Earth years was equal to minutes in Mandurian time. Sadly, Paul Reinman's art is some of the worst I've seen from a very good artist.

As Craig Parker walks through a train terminal, he sees an old man nearly fall from a high walkway. Craig is "The Life Saver!" and catches the man before he falls. Unfortunately, important papers fall from Craig's pocket and are immediately swept up by a maintenance worker and tossed in an incinerator. Craig explains that the papers were the only proof that existed that he owned property, which he had planned to sell in order to raise money to get married. The originals burned in a courthouse fire in 1895.

The old man encourages Craig to continue on his way and Craig boards the train to Fairview. When it stops an hour later. Craig's head is spinning and he feels compelled to exit the train. He finds himself in Fairview in 1895 and runs to the courthouse, where he rescues the papers before they burn. He gets back on the train and soon finds himself at the lawyer's office, holding a singed sheaf of papers that prove he owns the land. Outside the window, the man he saved, Father Time, is glad that he turned back time for a while to help Craig.

It was obvious from the first page that the old man was Father Time, so the ending was no surprise. John Forte's art is serviceable. Once again, I feel like Rod Serling was mining old Atlas comics when he wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone--this one reminds me of "A Stop at Willoughby." Crazy, I know.

Tom Jordan, an experienced forest ranger, calls in a report that he saw flames, but when the chief arrives, he sees nothing. Later, Tom sees them again, investigates, and discovers flames shaped like people emerging from a hole in the ground. The "Flames of Fury!" tell Tom that they come from Earth's molten core and want to come up to the surface, where there is light. A bit of rain scares them, so they take off into space in a big ball and Tom is the only one who knows where a mysterious comet came from.

The GCD and the signature on page one say that Benulis drew this, but the long faces of the human characters remind me of the work of Mort Lawrence. The story is a dud but I like how the flame people are drawn.

A redhead named Phineas Ferguson is looking forward to seeing a movie called Tough Guy from Tulsa at the local theater, but he's not interested in the eight vaudeville acts also playing. Accidentally shoved by another man in line, Phineas drops a quarter and it rolls through a grate and into a sewer. He hears a voice urging him to go down below and find his quarter, so he climbs down a ladder into the sewer and finds the coin.

"The Warning Voice" tells him to keep looking, so Phineas finds more change, gets lost, and emerges in the Middle Ages, where knights bring him before the king. The voice tells him to light a cigarette and turn on his portable radio; the king is amazed and appoints Phineas the royal magician. Phineas makes a run for it and returns to his own time. In the theater, he watches the vaudeville acts until he hears the warning voice again and sees that it's the voice of a ventriloquist onstage who is talking to a wooden dummy that looks just like Phineas!

Huh? Only Carl Wessler could create such confusion in the space of a mere four pages. It was bad enough that Phineas traveled through time and back again, but the conclusion with the ventriloquist came out of left field. Again, a Twilight Zone episode comes to mind--"The Dummy."

Billy Ross sneaks out of bed every night to talk to the horses in his dad's corral. When Pop finds out, he forbids Billy from maintaining his nightly ritual. Billy insists that one horse answers back, but his dad won't hear of any discussion of "The Talking Horse!" Every night at midnight, Billy sits by his window, looking out at the corral and waiting for Conrad, the talking horse, to appear. One night, Conrad stops coming. A week later, in the woods, Billy encounters Conrad, who says that his existence will be their secret because the world doesn't believe in... centaurs!

At three pages, this story seems long, and the surprise ending is just creepy, especially since Billy has his hand placed on the centaur's waist.

Emperor Taarg knows his subjects on Jupiter will revolt unless their work is lessened, so he sends a flying saucer to Earth to bring back an Earthling to see if they would make good workers. On Earth, Professor Keller and his musclebound assistant Harold happen to see the ship from Jupiter land nearby. That's handy, since the prof wants Harold to go to Jupiter to take pictures that will prove that there is life on that planet.

The aliens capture Harold and bring him back. He soon astounds them with his feats of strength but, when he takes out his camera to photograph them, they think it's a weapon and go nuts. When Harold is chased and cornered, he uses his strength to destroy the palace, leading the emperor to order that he be sent back to Earth, since Earthlings would surely take over Jupiter if they were brought as workers. Professor Keller welcomes Harold back and opens his chest to make a few adjustments--Harold is a robot.

Another convoluted mess of a script by Carl Wessler is saved by the final panel, which caught me by surprise. Bean's artwork is average at best, but I gave this story two stars simply because I did not guess the ending in advance.-Jack

Next Week...
An Extra Long (yuck, yuck, get it?)
Adventure Co-Starring
The Elongated Man!

The Hitchcock Project-The Indestructible Mr. Weems by George F. Slavin [2.37]

by Jack Seabrook

The Knights of the Golden Lodge have a problem. The four board members meet and recite their pledge: "'We, Knights of the Golden Lodge, pledge ourselves in brotherhood unstintingly to help our fellow members and those less fortunate than ourselves.'" Cato Stone, currently in charge, sits in a large, wooden, throne-like chair at the head of the table and leads the discussion of the difficulty they have been having in selling plots in their new cemetery, which they have recently renamed Elysium Park in an effort to make it more appealing.

Brother Elkins fondly recalls when the cemetery was a golf course and Harry Brown comments that no one wants to be the first to sign up. He mentions Clarence Weems, whom no one has seen at lodge meetings recently, since his wife died, his business went sour, and he got sick. The poor man is not expected to live out the year. Brown proposes a solution: the lodge will offer to pay Weems the sum of fifty dollars a week if he will agree to be the first person buried in Elysium Park.

Robert Middleton as Cato Stone

The foursome agree to give it a try and visit Brother Weems, who lives in a fourth-floor walkup apartment. After they trudge up the stairs, Weems's pretty daughter Laura greets the lodge members at the door. Cato is noticeably winded from the climb. To the surprise of three members, Laura is dating Harry and reminds him that he is taking her to the movies tonight. Harry confesses that their wedding had to be postponed last December but, before he can explain why, they are summoned into Clarence's bedroom, where he lies in a large, four-poster bed and admits that he may not last much longer.

Cato makes an "'honest business proposition'" and Weems points out that Stone's real estate office handled the sale of the golf course to the lodge. Weems accepts the offer, remarking that "'it has the sound of an honorable arrangement,'" and signs a contract. He tells the lodge brothers that, now that Laura knows he has been taken care of, she can give up her job and get married; Cato shoots a look at Harry, aware that he will also benefit from the arrangement. Brodsky optimistically assures Cato that Weems won't last a month.

Joe Mantell as Harry Brown

After Cato and the other lodge brothers leave, Mrs. Collins, Weems's neighbor, brings him chicken broth, but he perks up and says that he feels like a steak. He also surprises her by complimenting her appearance and telling her, "'Call me Clarence.'"

Sometime later, at another board meeting, Brodsky remarks that Harry is getting married next month and Harry opens an application for active membership from Clarence Weems, who enclosed six months' worth of dues. Elkins rushes in to announce that he saw Weems walking with a woman in the park and looking very healthy! The four men head back up the three flights of stairs to check on Weems, with Cato looking visibly winded at the top and fanning himself with his hat, only to have Laura answer the door and say that her father is napping and can't be disturbed. Brodsky looks on the bright side and suggests that perhaps Clarence is just holding on until his daughter's wedding.

Russell Collins as Clarence Weems

At a lodge dance, Cato is shocked when Clarence and Mrs. Collins enter and Weems buys two tickets. Cato calls an emergency board meeting and accuses Harry of fraudulently talking the others into the scheme to support Weems so that he could marry Laura. Harry fires back that Cato's firm got the commission for the sale of the old golf course. They agree to speak to Clarence's doctor to find out how sick he really is.

Back in the Weems apartment, the board members uncomfortably share a sofa as Laura serves coffee. Dr. Allen emerges from Clarence's bedroom and explains that Weems had given up and was wasting away until the lodge gave him a reason and a will to live. The doctor compliments the men for having "'brought a dying man back from the grave.'" Stone, Elkins, and Brodsky leave while Harry stays with Laura.

At another board meeting, the brothers try to figure out how to stop the financial bleeding. Cato suggests offering Clarence $500 to tear up the contract and the others agree that it's worth a try. They climb the three flights of stairs again, with Cato rushing at first but getting progressively more winded. On the fourth-floor landing, Weems is seen pushing a heavy piece of furniture toward Mrs. Collins's apartment; when Cato sees this he cries out, "'Look! He's as strong as an ox!'" and collapses, dying of a heart attack at the top of the stairs. Dr. Allen arrives on the scene moments later and explains that Stone's heart failed because he was climbing three flights of stairs every week to check on Weems.

Don Keefer as Elkins

At Cato's funeral, there is a large flower arrangement donated by Clarence, who admits that he also gave Stone his cemetery plot: "'It was the least I could do; he tried dreadful hard to make a success out of this place.'"

"The Indestructible Mr. Weems" is a wonderful, comedic episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with an original teleplay by George F. Slavin that is a textbook example of story construction. There is no murder or crime at all, beyond some questionable ethical decisions by two of the lodge brothers: Cato Stone profits off of the sale of the golf course to the lodge to be used as a cemetery, and Harry Brown frees his girlfriend from the burden of working to care for her father by talking his lodge brothers into providing a steady stream of income for the older man. The surprise ending, where Cato Stone collapses from a heart attack, is set up beautifully by having him display a temper and by showing him get tired every time he has to make the long ascent to Clarence Weems's apartment, yet there is never a sense that he is in danger until the end.

Harry Bellaver as Brodsky

Stone and Weems are on opposite trajectories during the episode; Stone starts out seeming hale and hearty, only to decline and suffer a fatal cardiac event at the end, while Weems begins the show in bed, lamenting the short time he has left to live, only to improve steadily throughout the tale until, in the end, he outlives Stone. The direction of the show by Justus Addiss is excellent, using only a few minimal sets to tell an engaging and fast-moving story. Funniest of all are the stairs leading up to the Weems apartment; each level is clearly the same set, but on the first level there are two framed pictures on the wall, while on higher levels the walls are bare. The design of the lodge meeting room is also effective, with Stone's large, ornate chair demonstrating his seeming power and influence in what is really a social gathering place for local businessmen.

The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion quotes Slavin as saying that this was the first comedic episode of the series; earlier episodes had had humorous elements but this does appear to be the first one not focused on crime or murder. Slavin added that a rabbi told him the story that became "The Indestructible Mr. Weems" at his father's funeral! He comments that the production was kept quiet from Hitchcock, who was on vacation at the time and who was not in favor of comedies on the series. In the end, Slavin said that his teleplay was nominated for a Writer's Guild award.

Rebecca Welles as Laura Weems

George F. Slavin (1916-2001) served in the Air Force in WWII and then wrote for film and TV from 1947 to 1980. In addition to writing this episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he wrote an episode of Star Trek. His papers are held at the University of Wyoming.

Director Justus Addiss (1917-1979) worked in television beginning in 1953 and directed ten episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "A Bullet for Baldwin." In his private life, he was the lifetime companion of Hayden Rorke, who played Dr. Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie. Addis worked almost exclusively in television, from 1953 to 1968. He also directed three episodes of The Twilight Zone. His only feature film was The Cry Baby Killer (1958) for producer Roger Corman; this film was notable for being Jack Nicholson's first onscreen role.

Gladys Hurlbut as Mrs. Collins

Leading a terrific cast of character actors is Robert Middleton (1911-1977) as Cato Stone. Middleton was a formidable presence on TV and in films from 1951 to 1977. Born Samuel Messer, he was on Alfred Hitchcock Presents three times, including "Crack of Doom," and he was on Thriller twice.

Joe Mantell (1915-2010) plays Harry Brown. Mantell appeared twice on Alfred Hitchcock Presents; his other episode was "Guilty Witness." He was on screen from 1947 to 1990, appeared twice on The Twilight Zone, and had a role in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). Film fans will best remember him for delivering the final line in Chinatown (1974): "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."

Theodore Newton as Dr. Allen

The indestructible Clarence Weems is played by Russell Collins (1897-1965) in one of ten appearances on the Hitchcock TV show. A wonderful actor whose stage career began in the 1920s, he began appearing in films in the 1930s and on TV in the early 1950s. Most of what we see of him today is from later in his career, such as his role in "Kick the Can" on The Twilight Zone and his appearances on the Hitchcock show, including Fredric Brown's "The Night the World Ended."

In smaller roles:

• Don Keefer (1916-2014) as Elkins; a familiar face to viewers of The Twilight Zone from his role in the classic episode, "It's a Good Life," he was in three episodes of that series and three episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Percentage." Keefer had a long career on screen, from 1947 to 1997, and was also on Star Trek and Night Gallery as well as being part of the original Broadway cast of Death of a Salesman (1949-1950).
• Harry Bellaver (1905-1993) as Brodsky; a veteran of stage, screen and television, he appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents twice (see "Silent Witness") but is best known as one of the policeman on Naked City, appearing in nearly every episode of the series, which ran from 1958 to 1963.
• Rebecca Welles (1928-2017) as Laura Weems; prior to 1957, she acted under her real name, Reba Tassel. She was married to director Don Weis and appeared in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Backward, Turn Backward." Her career was mostly on TV from 1951 to 1964.
• Gladys Hurlbut (1898-1988) as Mrs. Collins; she worked on Broadway from 1920 to 1949 as both an actor and a playwright before starting a screen career that lasted from 1951 to 1961. She was in one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Perfect Murder."
• Theodore Newton (1904-1963) as Dr. Allen; he was on Broadway from 1928 to 1951, in films from 1933 to 1963, and on TV from 1949 to 1963. He was in seven episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "O Youth and Beauty!"

Watch "The Indestructible Mr. Weems" here or order the DVD here. It aired on CBS on Sunday, June 9. 1957. Read the GenreSnaps review here.

Sources:

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

"The Indestructible Mr. Weems." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 2, episode 37, CBS, 9 June 1957.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss Fredric Brown's "The Night the World Ended" here!

Listen to Annie and Kathryn discuss "The Indestructible Mr. Weems" here.

In two weeks: "Forecast: Low Clouds and Coastal Fog," starring Inger Stevens!

Batman in the 1960s Issue 34: July/August 1965

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

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #341

"The Joker's Comedy Capers!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Eccentric gazillionaire Cornelius Van-Van has grown tired of contemporary comedies; no one makes 'em like they used to. So Van-Van grabs the bull by the horns and hires movie producer B.C. DeNil to make a batch of slapstick comedies for Van-Van's private viewing.

Fifty grand check in hand, DeNil exits the estate and heads back to his Gotham hideout, removing his mask to reveal... the Joker! Yep, freshly paroled after six long weeks in the pokey, the Clown Prince of Crime is back! His plot is to get at Van-Van by making a series of comedies starring facsimiles of old comedians while performing robberies (got that?).

So, a bank is robbed by the famous washed-up comic, the Tramp, using his deadly pie-throwing machine, all while being filmed by a camera crew. Batman and Robin arrive just as the waddling Tramp is exiting the building. They attempt to nab the hobo but are tripped up by the criminal's sticky bubbles. Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are having a nice afternoon reading the paper in front of the fireplace when Dick exclaims, "Check this out, boss!" and then details the Caped Crusaders' failed attempts at apprehending the culprit. It's right then and there that the World's Greatest Detective declares "Hey, that wasn't us! Those guys are phonies! Wait a sec; comedy and crime blended together like a souffle! Who does that sound like, Dick?" After Dick guesses Bill Cosby, Bruce pours himself a drink.

The crime wave continues (with each heist committed by a different faded comedy star) and the boys seem helpless until Batman receives an invitation to the home of Cornelius Van-Van, where the first annual Cornelius Awards ceremony will be held. The Dynamic Duo have won the Best Supporting Players of the Year award and Corny would be grateful if they would accept in person. Using that enormous brain of his yet again, Batman decides this is the best way to catch the Joker and his cinema-graphical cronies.

At Van-Van's estate, Joker admits to his henchmen that the whole comedy-producing schtick was cooked up to get invited to the zillionaire's mansion. The real heist is about to happen. Batman and Robin show up but Joker is wise to their presence and meets them halfway. After a brief tussle, Joker is once again in handcuffs and hauled off to a waiting cell (doubtless to be soon released on parole). Van-Van thanks the boys and asks if there's anything he can do for his heroes. Batman admits he'd love to see the finished films. The delighted entrepreneur fires up the projector and pops some corn and the trio have a grand laugh. Gotham is once again safe from crime.

And once again, in "The Joker's Comedy Capers," we see a criminal genius going to extreme lengths to pull off a heist when he could just pull off the heist. Weeks of planning and the drudgery of filming accomplish what the Joker probably could have done by showing up at Van-Van's and hoisting him up over a giant blueberry pie or something equally loony. The highlight, for me, is the finale, where Bats, Robin, and Van-Van guffaw while viewing the footage of Joker committing felonies and, ostensibly, risking the lives of many innocent victims. And I'd question just how wonderful the robbery dailies were, since the boneheaded henchmen were inside a van parked outside the targets! Did the Joker only rob solid glass buildings? Definitely not a strip you'll find in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told.-Peter

Jack-I liked it, mainly because Infantino and Giella draw the Joker as menacing, something Moldoff and Paris didn't do. I don't know why DC insisted on pretending that the Tramp was not Chaplin and the Banjo was not Harpo Marx; for some reason they always change the names of famous people. The GCD reminds us that this story was adapted for the Batman TV show but it featured the Riddler instead of the Joker. It makes sense because most of the crimes are committed by the villain in costume, so the Riddler works just as well.

Mortimer and Moldoff

80-Page Giant #12: Strange Worlds of Batman and Robin

"The Captive Planet"

(Detective Comics #256, June 1958)

"The Caveman Batman"

(Batman #93, August 1955)

"King Batman the First"

(Batman #125, August 1959)

"There Was a Crooked Man"

(Batman and Robin Sunday strips, 11/12/44-12/31/44)

"The Three Super-Sleepers"

(World's Finest Comics #91, December 1957)

"Batman's Roman Holiday!"

(Batman #112, December 1957)

"The Interplanetary Batman"

(Batman #128, December 1959)

"The Winged Bat-People"

(Batman #116, June 1958)

The Batman Annuals have been replaced with issues of the 80-Page Giant series. The letters page in this one tells us that what would have been annual #8 was released as 80-Page Giant #5 with a December 1964 cover date, but we missed covering it because we were waiting for the next annual!

Batman Annual #9 is 80-Page Giant #12, with a July 1965 cover date, featuring Batman and Robin's Bizarre Adventures in Time and Space! The best story has nothing to do with time or space, however; it's eight pages of Batman Sunday newspaper comics from late 1944 that are an utter delight. The art by Jack Burnley and Charles Paris is excellent and the story, which involves a crooked man, is engaging and ends with a real surprise.

The other stories are a mixed bag. I like the ones penciled by Dick Sprang, and this time we are lucky to get four of them! The stories drawn by Moldoff are about what we'd expect. Still, this is an unusually good giant-sized comic.-Jack

Infantino/Giella

Batman #173

"Secret Identities for Sale!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"Walk, Batman--To Your Doom!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

One night, Batman, Robin, and the Gotham Police break into the secret hideout of Mr. Incognito, "the masked mastermind of crime in Gotham City"! While the good guys knock the bad guys around, a photographer snaps a couple of pics before being ejected. Mr. Incognito escapes through a trap door.

Later that day, freelance photographer Elwood Pearson visits the mayor with a shocking offer: one of his photos reveals the secret identity of Mr. Incognito and he'll sell it to the city for a cool million. Pearson explains that his days shooting photos of celebs on vacation ended when he invented an x-ray camera that reveals the faces behind the masks. The mayor asks for time and suggests that the Dynamic Duo investigate Pearson before the deadline expires.

Meanwhile, the photographer calls Mr. Carter of the Carter Real Estate Agency to say two things: 1) I have a couple of "Secret Identities for Sale" and 2) I know that you are Mr. Incognito, since my other photo showed the face beneath your mask. Carter promises to visit Pearson in an hour with a million bucks to purchase the photos.

Night falls and, while Batman and Robin are looking around outside the photographer's studio, Mr. Incognito has entered by means of a secret passageway. Pearson holds the photo of Batman and Robin up to a mirror and Bruce and Dick's faces are displayed, but neither Pearson nor Incognito recognize them. The Dynamic Duo crash through a skylight, knock out both men, and retrieve the photo. Incognito is sentenced to 99 years in jail and Pearson is found guilty of assault for trying to stop the Dynamic Duo out of greed.

It's hard to believe that Mr. Incognito is such a big deal when we've never heard of him before. On Infantino's gorgeous cover he looks like Kirby's Sandman, but inside Moldoff draws him in more mundane fashion.

Everyone is shocked when the jury returns a not guilty verdict in the trial of a criminal named Bunky Galliver. The D.A. summons the Dynamic Duo to his office and shows them photos of the people in the audience at four recent trials that all ended in unexpected verdicts. Batman notices that the same man, in disguise, was at each trial, and the Caped Crusader decides to investigate! Coincidentally, the same man's name and photo are in the daily paper, which reports that he's Franklin Knott and he's running for governor of Gotham State!

Dick Grayson disguises himself as a street urchin and tails Bucky while Bruce Wayne attends Knott's speech at Gotham Hall. Something in the way Knott speaks makes Bruce feel compelled to vote for the candidate. Dick reports that Bucky and his gang plan to rob the Keller mansion, so Batman and Robin rush to the scene of the crime and make short work of Bucky and his gang.

At the Batcave, Batman looks into Knott's past and visits a scientist named John Grover, who reveals that Knott worked for him and was fascinated by his work with E-Rays, which compel behavior in those bathed by them. Batman deduces that Knott has been using E-Rays to influence juries and make people vote for him. Suddenly, Knott walks in and shoots E-Rays at Batman, Robin, and Grover. Knott commands them to walk into Pima Lake and drown! Compelled, the trio walk into the lake. Batman recalls that he was also ordered to vote for Knott, so he uses that compulsion to save himself and the others.

Batman visits a Knott rally and knocks out the crooked politician, who is soon found guilty by a jury that is not bathed in E-Rays.

Unfortunately, John Broome's story, "Walk, Batman--To Your Doom," is as dumb as anything we read prior to the dawn of the New Look. Moldoff's graphics are as weak as ever and even Giella's inks don't help.-Jack

Peter-I would call baloney on the fact that Pearson doesn't recognize Gotham's most recognizable resident but we have to remember that the entire population of the city is drawn by Shelly Moldoff. For Mr. Incognito to receive a 99-year sentence for piddly little crimes, while Penguin, Joker, and Riddler are paroled before being arrested, is a mockery of justice. My favorite panel of "Secret Identities for Sale!" is when Bats, Robin, and the entire Gotham police force bust down a door and find Incognito sitting on a throne, a lone lamp sitting in the corner. Who thought "hey, we need a little light in this criminal's hideout!" Less enjoyable but even more ridiculous is "Walk, Batman--To Your Doom," wherein my favorite line of dialogue would have to be "Must vote for Knott--Can't drown--Must vote for Knott..."

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #342

"The Midnight Raid of the Robin Gang!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

Gossip columnist Cal Carroll has Gotham abuzz (and Dick Grayson livid) with his columns about the possible break-up of the Dynamic Duo due to Robin's jealousy about Batman's celebrity. Does the Dark Knight hog the limelight? Dick and Bruce agree to file this one under "Misunderstandings" but, as Robin heads off to elementary school, the billionaire playboy wonders if there might be a spark of truth to the rumblings.

At that moment, the hardest-working cop in America, Commissioner Gordon, calls on the Bat-Phone to invite Bats in for a chat and our hero hops in the Batmobile and runs twenty red lights to make it there in minutes. Pushing aside the empty pizza boxes on his desk, Gordon gets down to business: there's a mystery man in Gotham who's recruiting school-age kids into a life of crime. Does Batman think Robin could go undercover and get the skinny on this bad dude? Batman smiles and agrees that this is a job for Robin!

Walking home from school, Dick Grayson decides to drop in on Tom Willard, a school chum who hasn't been in class for some time. Though Tom is not in, Dick heads into the shack on the property that he and Tom used to use for... chinwags. On the wall hangs a Robin outfit. Startled, Dick pulls down the uni just as Tom enters the shack and tears the costume from Grayson's hands. Tom tells Dick there's no way he's going back to school and Dick, using the World's Second Greatest Detective Brain™, decides to play along and confess to his old bud that he wants to join the gang that Tom had told him all about at one time in the past. Tom happily agrees and promises to take Dick to "the boss." Later, the boys visit the gym owned by Al Craig (the aforementioned "boss" and a wrestling promoter) and, entering the man's office, Dick is startled to see three kids in Robin uniforms! Holy Triplicate Tornado!

Dick is introduced to Craig, who locks our teen hero in a room while he gives directions to his four Robins. Dick can hear his plans through the wall: each Robin will commit a crime in a different part of Gotham. Dick picks the lock and heads out into the night to try to talk sense into Tom Willard. Meanwhile, across town, while on patrol, Batman comes across Robin robbing a jewelry store! While Bats chases the phony, the real Robin swoops in but, due to temporary blurry vision, accidentally knocks his boss off the roof. After saving his pre-teen partner from a similar tumble, Bats tosses Robin in the Batmobile and tears off. It's there that the Teenage Titan spills the beans about the Robin Gang.

Arriving at Craig's Gym, the boys are set upon by wrestlers (who have been misled by Craig to believe these guys are phony Caped Crusaders auditioning for a ring gig) but make quick work of the dopes. They arrest the Robin Gang and Al Craig and then attend to more important matters: getting Dick an eye test. Commissioner Gordon's twin brother, who happens to be an optometrist, diagnoses Robin as recovering from a blow to the head, nothing a few eyedrops, rest, and refraining from dirty magazines for a while can't cure. The Gotham Tattler headlines scream "Robin's Eyes Are Perfect Again" and the boys have a laugh until the damn Bat-Phone rings again.

You might find it amazing that every teen in this strip looks like Dick Grayson until you remember that's the m.o. of Sheldon Moldoff. All the kids look like Dick, middle-aged men (and women) resemble Bruce, and old-timers naturally appear to be Gordon; there are no deviations. The phony/legit Robin scene, where Dick knocks Bats off the roof, is a knee-slapper and could have led to all sorts of fun misidentifications . I thought, for a moment, that Batman might have tossed the wrong Robin into the hot rod a la Jill St. John in the premiere of the '66 show, but no such luck. For once, I loved the minimalist (nonexistent?) artwork by Moldoff and Giella. A dumb script begs to have laughable graphics.-Peter

Jack-Did anyone picking up this comic in 1965 believe for one minute that Robin had really gone rogue? I thought it was funny that Commissioner Gordon referred to Robin's friends as "playmates"; I suspect Bruce Wayne has playmates of a different sort. This wasn't a bad story overall, just not up to the Infantino entries.

Next Week...
That ol' Sinnott Magic!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 123: Atlas/Marvel Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 108

June 1956 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Mystery Tales #42

Cover by Sol Brodsky

"The Darkroom" (a: John Forte) ★

"The Captive" (a: Jerry Robinson) ★1/2

"The Man who Was Nowhere!" (a: Jack Abel) ★

"The Trap!" (a: Bob Bean) ★1/2

"We Claim This Planet!" 

(a: Lou Morales & Christopher Rule) ★

"The Hidden One!" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★★★1/2

Donald Short is an amateur photographer and, as we zoom into his darkroom one evening, we overhear him whining out loud about his wife. If only she would be like other wives and adopt an interest in his hobby. "Oh well," moans the big baby, "might as well get these photos developed." Just then, an Atlas lightning bolt zigzags its way in through the window of Donny's darkroom and zaps the tray of developing liquid. The shot Don had taken, of soldiers marching in a parade, comes to life!

Experimenting, Don discovers that he can blow up the photos and enlarge the uniformed men. As a bonus, the soldiers seem to ignore the fact that Don is a big sissy who mewls about girls who won't play in his sandbox and follow his orders. Like any accidental Atlas genius, Don decides world domination is in the cards. But first, he's sleepy, so he grabs some warm milk and goes to bed. The next morning, the new emperor of the universe awakens and heads to his darkroom, only to discover it's been tidied up. His wife enters and explains that, for Don's birthday, she took the plunge and became an amateur photographer. Her first duty was to clean up "The Darkroom." Well, he wanted a photo pal, he got one. Poor Don wishes it was still 1954 so he could bury the hatchet in his wife's head. It certainly would have given this strip a much-needed kick in the ass.

Screenwriter Brad French has his panties in a bunch when an exploitation director wants to turn his script about a screwed-up Richard the Lion-Hearted into a noble epic. Brad harrumphs off set only to find himself in some sort of 14th-Century time warp. What gives? Well, actually, Brad discovers he's "The Captive" of some aliens dressed as knights, ready to conquer Earth. When Brad tells them they're not dressed for the day, they jump in their spaceship and fly away, vowing to return when they get it right. Nothing about "The Captive"  makes sense except the striking Jerry Robinson art.

Don's the test pilot for an incredibly fast jet (how about 100,000 feet altitude in five seconds flat?) but, as so many Atlas test pilots before him can testify, going really fast can be detrimental to your time/space continuum. Before he knows it, Don has gone back in time and landed in some 15th-Century kingdom populated by unfriendly villagers. They chase the pilot around the town a few times but he manages to get back to his jet and fly off back to our time. If he'd only stuck around a couple more panels, Don would have found out that it wasn't the past he was visiting!

These accidental time warp travel stories are beginning to stack up on top of each other and the writers (in this case, pulp hack Carl Wessler) aren't finding original ways to get their characters into these situations. It doesn't even seem like Wessler did any research for "The Man Who Was Nowhere!" (yeah, I know, they were only getting a buck a page or some ungodly wage, so research was definitely not in the cards) on jet planes. No jet has ever hit 100,000 feet (never mind in five seconds) and then at 100,000 feet, he's got Don "leveling off at five miles," which is roughly 26,000 feet. That's quite a leveling off. Never mind all my muttering, this story is nowhere.

Mind reader Julius Keaton is in the middle of his show when the thoughts from a foreign agent spill into his brain. He announces to the crowd that there are three men in the audience who will be selling government secrets to the scumbag commies and, sure enough, three guys get up and run for the exit. Afraid the mind reader will spill the beans to the cops, the trio attempt to hunt him down, but to no avail. The only solution is to hire another mind reader to find the Great Keaton! "The Trap!" is so dumb it's almost enjoyable. The three stooges, after being fingered at the auditorium, forgo hiding out somewhere and, instead, wait at the back exit for Keaton to leave, but the illusionist is two steps ahead of the dolts and heads out the front with the crowd! I said almost enjoyable.

In "We Claim This Planet," Mars and Venus happen to send advance scout teams at the same time in anticipation of a full-scale invasion of Earth. A huge blast sends them running for their ships. Yep, both parties landed in White Sands during A-Bomb testing. Not one to be left out, it turns out that the planet Mercury has been visiting Earth as well. One alien child has been entrusted to a foster family in Mayville to grow up as an Earthling (Mercury is "no place to bring up a boy these days!"). The only way to distinguish Mercurian kids from our own is that the aliens have a green-toned band of skin around their chests. 

Town bigot Bull Morgan does not like it one bit; in fact, he's staging rallies to incite his neighbors to toss this alien out (in this case, a wall will do no good, I suppose) and, once his anger has caught fire with the other ding-dongs of Mayville, he demands that every male child in town be brought to the square and forced to take their shirts off to display their chests. That way, the alien will be outed. But the joke's on Bull since the Mercurian lad has a lot of friends in Mayville and every child who disrobes has a green band.

"The Hidden One!" is an effective but subtle anti-racism tale that doesn't outstay its welcome with a lot of preachiness. I'd call it an equally powerful anti-Blacklist commentary, but we all know Stan was about as anti-Commie as anyone in the 1950s. If you squint just right and picture Bull with orange hair, you could also make the claim that this Atlas cautionary tale is timely. The story arrives just in time to save Mystery Tales #42 (and the Atlas output of 1956, frankly) from being totally awful.-Peter

Mystic #48

Cover by Carl Burgos

"He Changed at Midnight" (a: Hy Fleishman) ★

"Across the Threshold" (a: Bill Benulis) ★★★

"The Strange Switch!" (a: Lou Morales) ★

"Out of the Storm" (a: Tony Mortellaro) ★1/2

"The Matter with Harry!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★★★

"The World That Vanished!" (a: Pete Morisi) ★★1/2

Another of those pesky Mercurians has landed on Earth, this time in the small town of Thornton, and is witnessed by Denny Robbins, the local couch potato. Once the creature exits its ship it morphs into human form, but Denny can ID the thing. He just won't until a large enough reward is posted. The alien gets the last laugh in "He Changed at Midnight." The art is just barely at average level and the script is lazy. The Mercurians were busy cats in the 1950s and, oddly, none of them seemed to be made of fire.

Fred buys an old estate cheap at auction but his buddy, Milt, claims the house has an "air of the unknown" about it and Fred should take care not to piss off any supernatural beings. Fred scoffs and gets to work cleaning up. That night, after Fred hits the sheets, a group of alien thingies from another dimension pop up out of the well in the basement and have a look around. Observing Fred in bed, sawing logs, the creatures determine this would be a great world to invade.

They head back down the well, vowing to venture back "Across the Threshold" soon, but that ain't happenin' since, the next day, Fred unknowingly staves off the end of mankind by capping the well. It's hard for me not to like any story that Bill Benulis illustrates. So much care and style go into each panel, as if Benulis had months to work on each page instead of hours. It's high time for a book-length study on the artist. Can you hear me, Fantagraphics?

In the forgettable "The Strange Switch," it turns out the new kid helping the scientists at the observatory is from Pluto. He just wanted some good shots of his home planet and then hoofed it, without even mopping the floor! Bob has (literally) reached a crossroads in his life, the doctors saying he has something in his brain that's too small to diagnose. Bob falls into a pit of self-pity and depression until he comes to that literal fork in the road while out walking one night. A scream forces him to investigate a house by the side of the road. A man with a gun is threatening a group of party-goers until Bob gives the thug a firm right cross. The crowd react as if they know Bob, one woman identifying herself as his wife. The vision disappears and Bob realizes he's seen into the future. There's a lot of haziness in "Out of the Storm" and it's not all because of the rough Mortellaro art. The maudlin finish, where Bob ponders the frailty of mankind and the whims of the universe, made me want to guffaw rather than contemplate.

Timid Harry Townes would do anything to get a date with the boss's daughter, Velma, but she doesn't even know he exists. One day, two events collide at the same time: Velma announces she's going on a cruise and Harry's uncle dies, leaving him the princely sum of three hundred pounds (three hundred pounds of what is never clarified). Harry says "Screw it!" and books passage on Velma's cruise ship. 

While on board, Harry does whatever he can to spend time with Velma, including fetching her drinks and mopping her sweaty brow, but the girl won't budge on a date. While the ship is anchored in an African port, Harry visits a bazaar and buys a striking ring which, the seller claims, empowers the wearer. Suddenly, from out of the blue, a woman screams. Harry swirls and sees a girl being chased by a giant wearing a red suit. As the woman approaches him, Harry pokes the big man with his parasol and watches in amazement as the brute goes down in a heap.

The girl introduces herself to Harry as a Venusian and explains the big lug is a Martian who followed her to Earth. Her ship ready to blast off, the Venusian begs Harry to come back with her to her planet and live as royalty. Harry, remembering he's in love with Velma, politely declines and returns to the boat. There, Velma confesses she saw the entire fight and now finds Harry extremely macho and charismatic. Harry grabs her, lands a big one on her lips and releases her, realizing he never really loved her. He returns to the Venusian he rescued and they blast off into space, together forever. A truly cute and whimsical tale, "The Matter With Harry!" found this grumpy old man actually rooting for the titular pipsqueak. I even liked the primitive Stallman art, which actually fits this tale very well. 

The first successful expedition to Mars discovers that the planet was inhabited at one time and the evidence is a great, abandoned city. When the crew breaks into one of the buildings, they discover a room where a recorded voice details the evacuation of the planet but never confesses which planet the escapees came to rest on. When the crew make it back to Earth, they get their answer. "The World That Vanished!" is a clever little sci-fi yarn that makes good use of black and white in the "documentary" of the death of Mars. Overall, Mystic #47 is one of the best Atlas comics since the advent of the Code.-Peter

Mystical Tales #1

Cover by Bill Everett

"On a Lonely Planet" (a: Bill Everett) ★1/2

"Just Say the Magic Words" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★1/2

"Nomad of Outer Space!" (a: Bob Powell?) ★★1/2

"The Endless Search" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★

"The Man Who Saw Too Much!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★1/2

"Anyone Want a Jinni?" (a: Syd Shores) ★★1/2

Captain Edward Parker is both a baseball fan and an astronaut who lands his rocket ship "On a Lonely Planet," where he encounters purple aliens with big ears who don't seem to respond to his efforts to make friends. After a tense standoff, he catches a ball that comes sailing toward him from a nearby field. He tosses it to an alien and soon discovers that they play baseball and that sports are the common denominator that will link planetary races.

Bill Everett does his best with this story, but the constant positivity about humans meeting aliens is wearing thin.

Hiding out in a cheap room, an escaped convict reads a newspaper ad about a crash course in magic and sends away for it in hopes that he'll learn how to become invisible and avoid the cops. When the book comes, he says the magic words and manages to make fire spring up from a stove. He ventures out to the street and, when the police spot him, he conjures up a herd of large animals to block the fuzz. More cops arrive and he does the rope trick, climbing a rope into the sky. Suddenly, he finds himself back in prison, where his roommate admits that he wrote the magic book and it was a fraud!

"Just Say the Magic Words" is entertaining for a three-pager, but the conclusion makes no sense. If the magic book was fraudulent, why was the convict able to make magical things happen, and why did he end up back in prison? Sol Brodsky's art is barely adequate.

Simon Miller enjoys telling his young son John about his dreams that men will build space ships that will travel between planets someday. Simon's wife tell him to stop, but when John grows older he builds a rocket ship and takes off. Years go by and Simon grows older, sad that his son is gone. One day, while Simon is out walking, a whole fleet of rocket ships land in a field and John emerges, telling his father that he was a "Nomad of Outer Space!" who would not return home until he had built the fleet his father dreamed of. Simon is delighted that his dreams were not in vain.

The GCD puts a question mark next to Bob Powell's name as artist but this is undoubtedly his work, and fine work it is. Powell is one of my favorite artists to appear frequently in Atlas comics. This story is particularly impressive, despite a thin premise.

Cedric Chalmers is a modern artist whose portraits are scorned by their subjects because they have a somewhat cubist appearance. He exhibits the portraits at an art gallery and, to his surprise, receives a check for $50,000 from the royal family, who bought all of the paintings. Cedric conducts "The Endless Search," looking all over the world for the royal family, only to learn in the end that they are on Saturn and look just like the people in his paintings!

Joe Orlando does an adequate job drawing regular people and the cubist figures in the paintings, but the end of this story is telegraphed early on. At least our old pal Carl Wessler concludes with a logical finish and not something out of left field.

When a horn-like object falls from the sky into Carl Avery's back yard, Carl picks it up, thinks it resembles a trumpet, and blows into one end. He is catapulted fifty years into the future, where he is branded a spy and chased by the authorities. He blows into the horn again, hoping to return to his own time, but is tossed further into the future, where he witnesses a terrible war of rocket ships.

Carl tries blowing into the other end and suddenly is back in 1956, where an Army colonel arrives to retrieve the horn, which is really a vital section of a new, experimental rocket. Carl decides to keep his mouth shut about what he saw.

"The Man Who Saw Too Much!" suffers from Winiarski's art, which reminds me of the kind of strips one would see filling the back of comics in the 1940s. The story isn't much of a story at all and exhibits Carl Wessler's usual confusing plotting.

A Jinni wishing for a master finds his lamp rubbed by a succession of people who don't appreciate his gifts. First, a fisherman wishes for a boatload of big fish, but the onslaught sinks his vessel. Next, a peddler wishes for a wagon full of gold, but the heavy cart crashes through a bridge. Third, a young man wishes for a sports car but soon totals it. Still thinking, "Anyone Want a Jinni?" the Jinni is summoned by a poor man who only wishes for a job and food for his children. All goes well and the Jinni settles in, happy to serve someone who thinks of others.

Syd Shores provides art that fits this morality play perfectly. The Jinni is a big, half-naked man wearing a turban, a loincloth, and slippers with toes that curl up to a point. The contrast between the greedy men and the generous man is well told and the four-page length is just right. It's not a great story, but, as Peter always says, the art is what we come for.

This is the first issue of a new title, but it is interchangeable with any of the other Atlas titles.-Jack

Spellbound #28

Cover by Bill Everett

"When Time Stood Still!" (a: John Romita) ★★

"The Forbidden Garden" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"The Strange Guests!" (a: Bill Everett) ★1/2

"The Old Man of the Sea!" (a: Gene Colan) ★★1/2

"Farewell to the Sun!" (a: Werner Roth) ★★

"This is the Forest Primeval" (a: Joe Orlando) ★1/2

Visiting the abandoned fishing village of Bay Harbor, a young man is surprised to find a single resident: an elderly man in a shop filled with clocks who explains that each clock ticks 61 seconds per minute, thus allowing him to have saved up an extra 89 years to live in the town. The young man asks the old man to engrave his initials on his pocket watch and sees that everything the man does is invisible, including eating, driving his horse and carriage, and attending a square dance. Suddenly, a bell rings and the man rushes back to his shop, saying that today is an important day in his life. The young man follows and finds the man gone and the shop in ruins. He assumes he imagined it all, but how did the initials get engraved in his watch?

Early in the story, the young man recalls that the village was thriving 84 years ago until everyone left when the fishing ran out. All I can figure is that, at the sound of the bell, the old man's time ran out, he disappeared, and his shop fell into ruin as if he'd not been there for decades. The uncredited writer of "When Time Stood Still!" doesn't provide any explanation, so the reader is left to puzzle it out. John Romita's art reminds me a little of the work of Jack Davis in spots. As we'll see in his run on Spider-Man in the '60s, he's fond of drawing gents wearing hats and smoking pipes.

When artist Frank Bond visits a large, castle-like house in Paris to see if he wants to rent it as a studio, the agent has yet to arrive, so he explores the interior and comes upon "The Forbidden Garden." He witnesses a meeting between Pierre and Marianne, lovers kept apart by her father, a duke. Three swordsmen appear and Frank leaps into action to help Pierre defeat the swordsmen. The couple make a run for it and, when Frank re-enters the house, he meets the real estate agent, who tells him about a long-ago couple who were aided by a mysterious man.

We've read this story umpteen times in Atlas comics and there's nothing new or fresh in this version. I find John Forte's art to be wooden, so it adds little to a tired narrative.

John and Isabel Gilford meet a couple at the airport who look lost, so they invite them to stay at their home. The couple introduce themselves as Osgood and Nola Whitley and, before you know it, the Gilfords and the Whitleys are fast friends. The only thing unusual about "The Strange Guests!" is that they go to bed very early. For their part, the Whitleys have a secret that they don't want to reveal to the Gilfords. Eight years pass and it's time for the Whitleys to leave. At the airfield, they board a rocket ship bound for Venus! Meanwhile, the Gilfords decide to visit the folks and also rush to the airport, where they, too, board the ship for Venus!

It makes very little sense, I know, especially the final panels where all of the Venusians suddenly have oblong faces once they board the rocket ship. At least we are treated to three decent pages by Bill Everett.

A ship sailing across the Atlantic toward Portsmouth keeps changing course every time the crew spots "The Old Man of the Sea," who is in a small rowboat and who looks like the survivor of a shipwreck. The ship barely misses destruction by an undersea eruption, a pod of whales, dangerous rocks, and a meteor. Upon finally reaching port, they observe that the old man was not a figment of their imagination but rather King Neptune, who boasts that he was happy to cheat Davy Jones out of a victim.

Seeing a new story by Gene Colan reminds me of how little we've seen of his art in recent months at Atlas. It's a shame, because no one's pages look like Colan's. His style is unmistakable and his use of shadows is great. The story is a letdown; we read along, wondering who the old man is, only to have him be revealed as Neptune. I would've preferred a ghost.

Don and Louise Todd can't afford to spend the summer in Europe like their friends, the Hitchcocks. Instead, they visit Moonbeam Amusement Park and take a trip to the sun on a flying saucer. To their surprise, the ship actually heads into space and flies to the sun; it passes through a wall of fire and lands in an idyllic spot, where the Todds are welcomed by the locals, who resemble munchkins. They work one day a week and spend the rest of their time enjoying themselves. The Todds return to their home on Earth after saying "Farewell to the Sun," but when the Hitchcocks visit and tell them all about their trip to Europe, the Todds keep mum, certain they would not be believed.

I associate Werner Roth with mediocre art on The X-Men in the '60s, but his work on this story is actually pretty good. The highlight is the sun people, who look like chubby little folk who smile a lot. I didn't mind the ending, which is not really a twist and probably more satisfying for that reason.

Henry Parker waits to hear if the board will elect him president of the world's most powerful company despite his radical ideas and his thirst for change. Suddenly, while walking to the water cooler, Henry passes through a time warp and realizes that "This is the Forest Primeval." He stomps around, trying to cause change, and returns to the present to find that giant ants have replaced humans as the dominant species! But wait, it was only a dream! Henry awakens, is made president, and vows to make no big changes, having learned his lesson.

If only Peter and I could learn our lesson and realize that Atlas comics in 1956 are not destined to reveal many hidden gems! Yet we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.-Jack

Next Week...
Four More Exciting
Batman and Robin Adventures!