Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 200: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 185

September 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #4

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Am Robot X" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

"Who or What Was... the Bootblack?" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

"What Lurks Within?" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

Sure, there have been robots built and utilized for man's purposes, but never one like Robot X! The first thinking hunk of metal, created by really smart Atlas genius, Professor Jonathan Wilkes. The old scientist is merely trying to do his part for an easier day for mankind but there always has to be one naysayer in the crowd, right?

The naysayer in "I Am Robot X" is Charles J. Wentworth, publisher of the Daily Clarion, who believes thinking robots will be the downfall of mankind. His readers agree and suddenly Prof. Wilkes finds himself battling a maddened mob at his front door. Knowing he'll be taken apart and used as scrap metal for Edsels, Robot X amscrays out the back door and heads for a nearby junkyard. There, he builds himself a smart, human-like robot to do his bidding. The faux man rents a factory and he and Robot X get to work building an army of thinking androids.

The feds track Robot X to his factory and attempt to shut the place down, but he uses a "force field of impenetrable energy" to push them back. With his army built, X heads into town and faces a kill-crazy militia. As his minions fight off the soldiers, X heads into the Daily Clarion and grabs Wentworth. Both topple from the top of the building but are rescued by a net placed below by firemen. As Wentworth rises from the netting, X pulls the publisher's face off, revealing a Martian head. Yep, the stinkin' Martians were trying to stir up unrest on Earth, buying up media outlets and playing "upon their readers' fears." With the Martian menace defeated, Robot X shuts himself down and wishes the best for Earth.

Though the plot is same-old, same-old, at least the robot design is fairly unique. X has no legs and gets around on a giant "wheel" in lieu of a torso. The innocent nature of X is a cheat since it's built on a foundation of scary behavior and menacing dialogue ("We must create an army! Then nothing can stop us from entering the city!") that ends once the real threat is revealed. As usual, the Martians stand in for the stinkin' Commies, who would also infiltrate America and spread their plague among us if they got the chance.

In the drivel known as "Who or What was... the Bootblack?," heartless, evil, pompous Simon Sledge is on his way to the most important deal in his miserable, heartless, evil life when he stops for a shoeshine. Sledge gives the bootblack guff for being poor and informs him he has only a few minutes to finish or Sledge won't pay him a penny. When the man has completed his task, Sledge heads to the meeting but finds his heartless, evil feet are heading the other way. Sledge misses his appointment and loses out on millions. The only thing missing from this hogwash is the final panel showing Sledge a few months later as a penniless shoe shiner.

With the aid of a wrecking ball and his telepathic communication skills, Dr. Droom convinces the barbaric aliens who have landed that Earth is not to be messed with. "What Lurks Within?" continues the fairly interesting mini adventures of Anthony Droom, a character who might have enjoyed a long life as one of Atlas/Marvel's initial strip heroes but oddly was abandoned after only one more installment. These Droom yarns are a historical artifact in that they give us a peek at what the boys were planning to unleash very soon.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #72

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Glob" (a: Jack Kirby & George Klein) ★★1/2

(r: Where Creatures Roam #7)

"The Patient in Room 3D" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #7)

"Will This Be the End of the World?" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #7)

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: When Stan and Jack began titling their fantasy epics "I Lived Through..." and "I Created...", they began the annoying habit of leaving their lead protagonists/narrators nameless. For the sake of clarity (and my sanity), I will begin labeling these characters "Joe" (or the rare "Joan"); don't bother sending me e-mails arguing that "The lead protagonist in 'I Killed Bamboo... Lord of the Amazon!!' is not named Joe" as I will completely ignore you. Thank you for your time.

"Joe" is obviously one of the most well-regarded painters in the world... not of portraits or landscapes or nudes, but of stuff. Joe can paint the hell out of a living room wall, believe you me. So, imagine how excited (and puzzled) Joe is when he is approached by a strange man from Transylvania who tells the painter that he has a job for him back at his castle. The money must be good because, quicker than you can say "Sherwin-Williams," Joe has boarded a transatlantic 747 and arrives in Transylvania!

In the castle, Joe is shown to a dark, dank, gloomy room and shown what he must paint: a sinister statue of a hulking beast. Joe is given strict instructions that he must combine three buckets of paint, cover the statue with the formula, and get the hell out of Dodge by midnight. Smelling easy money, Joe gets to work as the stranger bids him sweet adieu. Our hero does indeed finish his work well before midnight, noticing the coat of paint has rendered his work a gloopy, gloppy mess, but disaster strikes in the form of a freak earthquake; Joe is pinned beneath a falling beam and forced to remain in the castle after midnight. Poor Joe!

At the stroke of midnight (there are big clocks inside the castle), Joe is horrified to see the statue come to life. "I Created... The Menace I Will Name... The Glob!!," screams Joe. Fortuitously, the creature lifts the beam from Joe's (fortunately unharmed) leg before he announces he will kill the human. Joe hoofs it and the two spend quite a few panels playing Hide and Seek before the thing proclaims, "I'm hungry! I'm going down to the village to get 'something to eat!'" In the old days of Atlas, that would mean dining on a Frau or two, but in the safer days of 1961 we find the Glob grabbing a couple of trays of beer and schnitzel before heading back to the castle with intent to kill (or at least seriously harm) Joe.

But salvation arrives in the form of Joe's employer, who has come back to see what's what. Rather than get the hell out of the deathtrap, Joe demands an explanation for the Glob he's created. Seems the foreigner stumbled upon a statue, three cans of paint, and a scroll that instructed its benefactor to paint the big guy when "the statue's comrades return to Earth." Aha, so the Glob is another outer space alien here to set in motion an invasion!

The Glob returns and begins anew a grand chase through the castle until Joe finally remembers the dreaded foe of any paint: turpentine. He grabs a huge bucket of turpentine that just happens to be lying around and tosses it at the beast. "I'm melting... I'm melting!," cries the alien as he returns to being a lifeless statue. The villagers arrive to burn the castle down and Joe and the stranger barely make it out alive. The next day, Joe sits on a plane and hopes that mankind will remain vigilant in case the Glob's "comrades" do indeed arrive on Earth.

So, is Joe going to visit the UN to warn the nations of the coming invasion? How will the world stay vigilant if Joe doesn't risk humiliation and ridicule by telling his story of a giant, gloopy Glob from outer space? No one will believe him (would you?) so Earth, I'm sorry to say, is doomed, my friends. "The Glob" is mindless comic strip fun, as are most of these Stan/Jack/Mighty Monster yarns but, unlike so many of the others, this one did not try my patience or force me to keep looking at the page numbers. 

I love all its inanities. We suspect the foreigner has a hidden agenda when he flies all the way to America in search of Joe; he does in fact tell the painter he's heard that he's a master of his craft. The guy paints houses and furniture; where is the mastery? Anyone who can handle a brush and read instructions could have done the job. Since the Glob has no super powers to speak of, what was the plan for world domination? One deli at a time? How many comrades would show up? And would they be statues or fully formed Globs? And then, most of all, there's the mystery of the bucket of paint thinner. When Joe arrives in Transylvania, he's without any baggage. Where did he get the giant vat of turpentine? You think the "comrades" left it in the corner just in case? Not likely. Give me more Glob!

"The Patient in Room 3D" awakens after an operation to increase his brain power ten times, but when questioned can give the scientists no satisfactory answers. Alas, the professors sigh, if only we could experiment on humans instead of monkeys. Finally, in "Will This Be the End of the World?," Stan/Larry dust off yet another moldy Atlas staple. When a giant white orb in the sky hurtles towards us, scientists build a huge space ark and abandon Earth. In the end, it's just a baseball heading toward a catcher's mitt. I tried to make sense of how mini-Earth could build spaceships in the time it would take a baseball to hit a mitt, but why am I bothering? You're laughing at me right now, I know.-Peter

Strange Tales #88

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"Zzutak the Thing That Shouldn't Exist!!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Fear #3)

"The Lifeless Man!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Fear #3)

"Punishment!" (a: Don Heck) ★

Famed comic book artist Frank Johnson has thrilled millions with his monster creations for such million-selling titles as Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, and Amazing Adventures, but his editor wants him to come up with the ultimate creature feature, one that will have the readers screaming "More...more!"

While sitting at his easel pondering the situation, a stranger enters Frank's studio and hands the artist a tube of paint, explaining that this is a "new kind of paint, a three-dimensional paint!" Frank dabs a bit onto his canvas, quickly paints a rose, and watches in awe as the flower comes to life. He reaches out and pulls the rose from his easel! He tells the stranger he'll pay anything for the tube, but the man refuses payment and tells Frank to get to work painting his masterpiece. But once the man is gone and Frank dabs the paint onto his board, the tube "tells" him to fly to Mexico, where he can continue his artistry. 

When he gets to Mexico, he seems to know exactly where he's going and that route leads to an ancient Aztec temple. There, a huge canvas awaits him. The paint tells him exactly what to create: "Zzutak the Thing That Shouldn't Exist!!" All done, the monster hops off the canvas alive and threatens its creator. From the shadows emerges an Aztec elder... the stranger who hired Frank in the first place! The exotically garbed gentleman explains to the bewildered strip artist that he has painted an ancient creature called Zzutak (the second "z" is silent), a monster that will help the elder rule the world. 

The Aztec commands Frank to paint yet another monster with an eye to building an army of super-powered slaves. Frank uses the old noggin, though, and imposes his will on the new sketch, ordering Zzutak2 to obey Frank's every command. When Zzutak2 emerges from the easel, it attacks its brother and the two monsters battle to the death, bringing the temple down with them. Frank and the elder survive, with the Mexican holy man newly amnesiac and ready to re-enter society as a good guy. Frank takes a sketch to his editor and announces "Zzutak" will be the cover of Strange Tales #88; Stan tells him to go back to the drawing board.

The plot of "Zzutak, The Thing That Exists Only to Fill Pages!" is pretty much identical to that of "The Glob": painter hired by strange foreign guy to unknowingly create a monster to rule the world and, like "Glob," I found myself enjoying the heck out of "Zzutak." But why not add to the fun and name Frank "Jack Kirby" as a wink to the fans? My enjoyment of this one is obviously enhanced by my memories of reading it when it was reprinted as the cover feature of Fear #3. Those twenty-five cent extra-large funny books were the comic equivalent of a bag of Laura Scudder's Mini Tacos. Once you start devouring, you can't stop.

I'll give "The Lifeless Man!" two stars only for Ditko's charming artwork but the plot, the old standby about a kid who buys a toy soldier that later comes to life and saves him, is "Lifeless." Meanwhile, in "Punishment!," Urru of planet Phato III commits a crime, something not seen on this peaceful world in centuries, and he is sentenced to spend six months on the "Prison Planet." Of course, we all know what the "Prison Planet" is long before the truth is revealed. Double Groan!-Peter

Tales of Suspense #21

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Klagg! His Mission: Destroy Mankind!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #20)

"Whose Face is in the Mirror?" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

"The Man from... Tomorrow!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

A rocket ship from outer space lands near Center City, a peaceful, American community, after generating a huge gust of wind. The ship's door opens and from inside emerges Klagg, an orange-skinned alien with an elongated, dome-like cranium. Carefree playboy Philip hears a radio news report about the landing, as do members of the Russian military. Klagg explains that his ship is propelled by wind and, when he realizes that the people of Earth still engage in war, he states that he will be forced to take drastic action to protect the rest of the galaxy from such barbarians.

Klagg returns to his ship and takes off! Immediately, the ship begins to emit a huge wind that wreaks havoc on Center City. Russian agents watch with interest, hoping to discover the secret of Klagg's technology so they can use it to attack the West. Philip and his girlfriend, Clair, arrive in town just as the wind is blowing. The Army tries to blast Klagg's ship, but to no avail.

The next morning, Phil tricks the Russian agents into thinking he has stolen the diagram of the wind generator from Klagg's ship. When they confront him, he explains that he pretended to have the plans so that they could all work together. A week later, the nations of Earth band together and challenge Klagg to a battle on the open seas. When the alien observes that the nations of Earth have the capacity to work together, he decides that there is hope for us after all. He promises to keep an eye on our planet and zips off into outer space. Clair tells Philip that he's like a new man!

"Klagg! His Mission: Destroy Mankind!" has many of the Lee and Kirby tropes we've grown used to. There are the usual panels with people looking at the reader and pointing at something. There is the immature man who grows up when confronted with a challenge. On pages four and twelve, there are the obligatory panels in outer space with dialogue balloons. There is the alien who is unpleasantly surprised at the backward nature of Earthlings. What the story lacks is an interesting monster or a panel with floating heads. Klagg's head shape reminds me of Hulk's adversary, the Leader; this head shape had been used before in Superman comics, so it was not new.

Joe Kane wakes up, looks in the bathroom mirror, and sees a fat man with glasses looking back at him! The mirror shatters, so Joe goes to another mirror, where the same thing happens! "Whose Face Is in the Mirror?" wonders Joe. Is he going mad? The same thing happens a third time. Joe rushes to work, avoiding mirrors on the way. As the elevator door opens, Joe sees the man in the mirror! Joe runs off and the elevator that he would have boarded crashes to the ground when its cable snaps!

Yet another variation on the classic ghost tale, "The Bus-Conductor," this short story features art by Ditko that fits the narrative perfectly. The most famous version of this story is "Twenty-Two," which aired on The Twilight Zone on February 10, 1961, possibly around the time this story was devised.

Walter Phelps invents a time machine in 1965 and uses it to travel back to Rome in A.D. 25, certain that when he demonstrates the wonders of his age, the Romans will crown him king. The moron destroys the time machine on arrival so none of his contemporaries can follow him, then tries and fails to demonstrate the wonders of TV, radio, a camera, and a cigarette lighter. Now he's stuck in the past, hoping someone else will invent a time machine and rescue him.

The GCD helpfully reminds us that we read a version of this story in Tales of Suspense #2, where it was called "Trapped in Yesterday!" That version was drawn by Carl Burgos, whose drawings are worse than Kirby's.-Jack

Tales to Astonish #23

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Unbelievable Menace of Moomba"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Creatures on the Loose #11)(r: Chamber of Chills #25)

"Less Than Human" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #22)

"The Voice from Nowhere!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #14)

Frank likes to tell tales of his big game hunting in Africa. Now that everyone wants authentic wooden sculptures from the native tribes, Frank uses his good relations with tribal leaders to trade for the newly popular figures. In one village, a witch doctor named Katu claims that the wooden statues are evil creatures bent on mankind's destruction. Frank laughs at the idea but, weeks later, he encounters "The Unbelievable Menace of Moomba" in the jungle!

Moomba is a big, wooden statue that moves and talks; it informs Frank that the wooden carvings that people have been collecting are really his warriors, just waiting for his signal to attack mankind. Moombah climbs to the top of a mountain and sends out his signal, at which point wooden statues around the world spring to life and turn on their human owners. The military is unable to stop Moomba, but Katu, the witch doctor, freezes the big guy by mixing together some powders and letting a strange vapor waft over him. To save himself, Moomba agrees to take all of his warriors and leave the Earth, never to return. They fly off into outer space and the people of Earth are left with no memory of the menace. The only one who recalls it is Frank, who wrote the story down in his diary and vows never to make fun of witch doctors again.

In the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "Bang! You're Dead," which aired on October 17, 1961, a white character returns from Africa with a souvenir tribal mask and refers to it in jest as "what the well-dressed witch doctor is wearing." This month's story in Tales to Astonish confirms that African tribal items had worked their way into popular culture, though the events depicted here are particularly silly. Kirby seems to be running out of ideas for new monsters. This story features two panels showing the Earth from outer space as people converse--on page three and page twelve. I wonder if these panels were intended to give the stories more of a science fiction feeling by depicting the planet as seen from afar?

In the twenty-first century, robots are everywhere and Mr. Harris can't stand them. When he arrives home to find that his wife has purchased a robot as a plaything for their son Billy, Harris is incensed, but when Billy chases a ball into the street and Roby sacrifices itself to save the lad, Harris changes his tune.

Don Heck's art is solid but the story has been told many times before and nothing new is added here.

A man traveling through space in a rocket ship lands on an asteroid to make emergency repairs. He fixes the ship quickly and suddenly hears "The Voice from Nowhere!" begging him for help. The man looks everywhere on the small rock but can find no source for the voice. Is he going mad? The voice says it's lost and that it comes from the Fourth Galaxy. The man replies that the Fourth Galaxy is about twelve years away, pointing past Vegas. The voice thanks the man for saving it and says it can return home. The man boards his ship, takes off, and realizes that the voice was that of the asteroid,. which heads toward home!

For once, they got me! I did not guess the ending in advance and got a chuckle out of it. That must be worth something! The Ditko art is excellent, as usual.-Jack

On Thursday...
Nuff Said!

And Next Week...
Atlas/Marvel's Most Famous
Dragon Makes His Debut!

The 100 Chapter 18: 66 & 65

Who doesn't love a list?

I devour the BFI Best Films of All Time list whenever they deem it necessary to revise and (invariably) disagree with most of the findings, but I still get a kick out of browsing. Same with Rolling Stone's inane Best 100 Albums (how does Sgt. Pepper drop from #1 to #24 in the latest incarnation?); the anger I feel subsides when I see they've put a couple of Aerosmith albums on the list! We all disagree with that number one but we keep right on scrolling through each choice.

This project, which has been percolating for quite a while, originated from the constant back and forth "good natured bickering" between John Scoleri and myself. John invariably loves everything and I hate it all (for more of the discourse, I advise one and all to pick up a copy of bare•bones print magazine and read our debates about streaming and movie theaters to get a taste). I began to think it would be fun to compose a Favorite (as opposed to Best) 100 and compare our selections. Making it even more tantalizing, I managed to talk the third head of Ghidorah, Jack Seabrook, into participating. This could be interesting, since John's never seen a movie the two Georges (Romero and Lucas) didn't have a hand in, and Jack usually favors the flicks that have words at the bottom of the screen (dis-moi que j'ai tort, Jack!). I, on the other hand, can't wait to educate these two gentlemen as to what constitutes good cinema.

Every Thursday, we'll count down our picks two at a time. We're hoping this will generate discourse outside of our trio. Let us know just how crazy we are. This is going to be fun!—Peter

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) 

Starring: Charles Durning, Larry Drake

Directed by Frank De Felitta

"Bubba didn't do it."

For centuries, the debate has raged on: what's scarier—the clown or the scarecrow? Well, I don't think there's any doubt (Pennywise be damned) that the straw guy standing out in the field, whose sole purpose is to drive fear into big black birds, is the clear winner. Clowns can be funny; scarecrows not. Dark Night of the Scarecrow proves my point. In the decade-plus that made-for-TV Movies were popular on all three networks, a handful provided some solid chills. The Night Stalker, Duel, A Cold Night's Death, Trilogy of Terror, Gargoyles, and Don't Go to Sleep (the climax of which is along the lines of Scarecrow) all made my initial shortlist, but most were whittled away. Not Scarecrow.

Scarecrow wastes no time with exposition. Very quickly we know that bad dude mailman Otis Hazelrigg (Durning) and his band of cohorts (I picture a callout from the producer to all sweaty, obese, clumsy male actors in Hollywood to audition) don't like mentally-challenged Bubba just because he's different (although we come to learn that Hazelrigg might be jealous that Bubba spends so much time with pre-teen Marylee) and they'll look for any excuse to run Bubba out of town... or worse.

The perfect excuse comes when Marylee is attacked by a dog and Bubba saves her, but the message that trickles down to Hazelrigg and Co. is that "Bubba finally went too far with the little girl and kilt her!" In no time, they've got dogs and they track Bubba to his house, where his mother convinces the big guy to play "the hiding game." The bumpkins use the dogs to sniff Bubba out and they find him in the cornfield disguised as a scarecrow. They unload their firearms into the defenseless man and, in the ultimate injustice, they are later released due to insufficient evidence. As she's being shoved out of the courtroom, Bubba's mother swears in court that "there are other justices than the law." Soon afterward, each one of Bubba's assassins meets with a grisly death until only one stands: Otis Hazelrigg.

Director De Felitta (author of Audrey Rose) does a fantastic job of keeping his audience guessing who the real killer is. There are hints, but the true identity isn't revealed until that uber-creepy last shot, an image that still gives me goosebumps. Holy crap, he went there! The anchor here is Durning, who puts on a great show, waddling around behind bloodhounds, racing through the streets in his mail jeep, and sweating profusely on cue. Durning's hair gets nominated for Best Prop; by the end of the flick, with sweat rolling down his face and white hair nearly standing on end, it's a call-back to Oliver Reed in Curse of the Werewolf. 

If I have but one complaint about this classic creep show, it's the unrealistic portrayal of Otis Hazelrigg the mailman. Liar... Pedophile... Murderer... driving his vehicle with the door open. As a USPS vet of 40+ years, I know the service will excuse the first three, but that last one will get you canned.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: I didn’t know TV movies counted! This aired during a period when my life was very unsettled and I wasn’t really watching TV. Otherwise it sounds like something I definitely would have enjoyed.

John: I haven't seen this since watching it on broadcast TV, though I've since bought it on DVD and even upgraded to Blu-Ray. I guess I'm going to finally have to dig this one out for a re-watch. As for scarecrows being so scary, I guess we can safely assume The Wizard of Oz will not be showing up on Peter's list, as he's clearly unfamiliar with that famous incarnation.

Key Largo (1948) 

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, Lionel Barrymore

Directed by John Huston

"After living in the U.S.A. for more than thirty-five years they called me an undesirable alien. Me. Johnny Rocco. Like I was a dirty Red or something!"

When WWII Army vet Frank McCloud goes to Key Largo to visit the widow and father of his late Army buddy, he finds himself in the middle of a hurricane and must take shelter in the Hotel Largo. It turns out that notorious mobster Johnny Rocco is holed up in a room in the hotel, waiting for a visit from some other gangsters and avoiding the law. Can Frank survive the night as the hurricane rages and Rocco grows increasingly jittery?

I rewatched  Key Largo the other night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The credits say it's adapted from a stage play and I can see it in the way most of the action takes place in the hotel lobby. The movie is so entertaining that it makes me want to see the play if I ever get the chance. I love Bogey and Bacall and Bogart certainly gives a great performance here, but Edward G. Robinson makes the film come alive when he finally appears in a classic shot where he's lying in a bathtub with a fan blowing air on him. He and Bogart vie for attention in their scenes together; Bogart exudes quiet confidence while Robinson is bombastic.

I especially love Lionel Barrymore in this, as I do in most anything I've seen him in. Here he's a gentle but determined character, not afraid to call Johnny Rocco "scum" to his face. Perhaps the best scenes are during the hurricane, when Rocco is genuinely afraid of what the hurricane might do to him. He's a big man in the city, but he realizes he can't get the best of the forces of nature.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Classic! But most of the flicks Bogey made are classics now. I only saw Key Largo recently and was struck by the noir-ness of it. Good choice, Jack!

John: Never seen this one. I'm not a huge Bogart fan, but he's definitely been in some great movies. For what it's worth, he does eventually make my list. And something tells me this isn't the last time I'll see him on at least your list, Jack!

Mad Monster Party? (1967) 

Starring: Boris Karloff, Phyllis Diller. 

Directed by Jules Bass

"Dracula: What kind of a monster is he? A ghoul? A demon? A spook, or...?

Francesca: A human.

Dracula: They're the worst kind."

Someone please explain to me how this Rankin/Bass classic never managed to become an annual Halloween TV staple! All we got was Charlie Brown's great pumpkin and, let's face it, that was not geared to the monster kids. While Rankin Bass all but cornered the market when it came to Christmas specials, Mad Monster Party was basically a forgotten stepchild.

I was exposed to the film in the theater at the Kid Zone in the basement of Harrah's Casino in Lake Tahoe, where my siblings and I would hang out while our parents were upstairs playing blackjack. Along with playing pinball machines and electro-mechanical games (this was before the rise of the video game, mind you), the movie theater was where I spent a lot of time, watching films unspool on 16mm. I distinctly remember watching two seminal films that are forever burned in my memory—the first was my introduction to Caroline Munro (kicking off a lifelong obsession) in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and the second was Mad Monster Party. It was years before I finally acquired a copy of the film on VHS and was able to experience it again. And it was just as much fun as I had remembered.

First off, the animagic puppet designs are fantastic and offer up a monster kid's dream-team: Boris Karloff as Baron Frankenstein, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, the Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Creature, the Hunchback, Yetch (think Igor as voiced by Peter Lorre) and ... It (no spoilers from me!). Add to the mix the Baron's nerdy nephew Felix, a red-hot redheaded femme fatale Francesca (with a raspy Kathleen Turner-like voice), and yes, Phyllis Diller as Frankenstein's bride, and you've got the makings of a Halloween classic. There's even a great mop-top skeleton rock band (performing "The Mummy"). 

Pre-COVID, a Halloween movie party was an annual event at The Slaughtered Lamb Cinema, and we'd always start the day with family friendly spook shows for our nieces, nephews, and other neighborhood kids. You could pretty much count on Mad Monster Party? being in heavy rotation, correcting the years of oversight of broadcast television. I still find the film as charming as ever.—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Believe it or not, I've never seen this one. I'd never even heard of it until the mid-1970s and it never seemed to turn up on TV. I had no idea Harvey Kurtzman co-wrote the screenplay. Definitely one I'll put on my "to buy" list.

Jack: I know I saw this on TV long ago but I don't remember much about it other than that Boris Karloff was in it. I think. I spent years trying to see every movie he ever made, well before that was easy in the age of DVDs and streaming. I didn't see them all, but it was fun to try!

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) 

Starring: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten

Directed by Robert Aldrich

"People who are obliged to live alone have a habit of creatin' company for themselves. Innocent fancies can become fixed delusions.."

Google informs me that I first saw Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte on ABC on January 21, 1968, its network premiere. I remember it vividly because my paternal grandmother would make a big deal about watching the "big Hollywood movies" for the first time on TV and, when she was sitting us, she'd let me stay up late to watch. The big hullabaloo around network premieres always caught my interest. Nearly sixty years later, I can recall this one scared the shit out of me, in particular the scene with Joseph Cotten standing on the staircase, reeds and mud messing up his fancy clothes, reaching his hand down for Charlotte.

There will be those of you out there who argue that Baby Jane should be in its place, but I've always had more fondness for this Deep South Gothic Noir and its nasty edge. This is a film filled with great performances: Bette Davis as the clearly deranged but sympathetic Charlotte; Joseph Cotten as the crafty doc; Olivia de Havilland playing against type and creating a soulless bitch who'll do anything for a buck; and (the deservedly Oscar-nominated) Agnes Moorhead as the loyal maid. All four seem to wink at us now and then and whisper "Ain't this all a goof?" Throw in a very young Bruce Dern and genre fave Victor Buono and you have a cast for the ages. Oh, and that haunting theme song!

At times it's unclear (at least until the final scenes) what's real and what's in the imagination of the drugged and imbalanced Charlotte. This is a film that begs to be watched a second time so that you can spot the clues; director Aldrich does a great job of avoiding "cheats" that ruin mysteries on rewatch. I usually find Bette Davis hard to watch but here she does a marvelous job detailing the breakdown of her character and the smile on her face at the climax, as she's driven away (to the funny farm?), can bring a tear to the eye of even a grizzled film vet. Not me, of course, but maybe you.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: I know I've seen this but I only remember the theme song, which I can sing from memory. I have a better recollection of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Anything from this era with Bruce Dern is definitely worth watching!

John: This is another that I'm sure I saw on broadcast television back in the day, but not since. Frankly, Baby Jane, Sweet Charlotte, Auntie Roo, Helen, Aunt Alice—and all the rest of the Psycho-Biddys, have never really drawn me in. Maybe I'll give this one a watch if the opportunity arises, since it was good enough for Peter to catapult past many other great films.

Jaws (1975)

Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss

Directed by Steven Spielberg

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Ah, summer at the beach! Time the let the kids run around unsupervised while you sit on a blanket and get drunk. But wait! You're the new sheriff at a resort town in New England and it looks like a shark is munching on local swimmers just offshore. And it's almost July 4th! Oh well, can't let the local economy get ruined! Let 'em swim!

That's a casual summary of the first section of Jaws, but things take a turn for the worse when more people get chewed up. Rewatching the movie last night, I was struck by how insistent just about everyone in the beach town is about letting the tourists do what they want, despite the increasing body count. In fact, when the sheriff finally heads off on the old salt's boat with the rich, goofy young scientist to go after the big shark, most of the rest of the townsfolk have been convinced that the big chomper has been caught and the threat is over.

The second half of the movie is an extended chase scene, where three men on a boat track down the world's biggest great white shark. The score by John Williams is a big part of why the movie works, as are the performances by the three lead actors. There's really no character development at all—they are caricatures who manage to succeed, sort of, by blowing the shark to bits. But wait—where were all the other people while the trio were out on the water chasing the shark? How long did it take? A day or so? And how far did they have to paddle back to shore at the end with those floating barrels?

Best not to think about it too hard. The movie is a lot of fun and is worth rewatching every so often. Robert Shaw's lines don't get any easier to understand with age, believe me.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Not a bad flick, In fact, I'll have way more to say about this one somewhere down the line. I believe this may be another rarity that shows up on all three lists.

John: Yeah, no real surprise there. But way further down the line.

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) 

Starring: Don Knotts, Joan Staley, Dick Sargent

Directed by Alan Rafkin

"The horribleness and awfulness of it will never actually be forgotten?"

Hands down the best Don Knotts film, and Luther Heggs is a character he was born to play. One of my all-time favorite humor/horror hybrids (and yes—to my young eyes a pair of gardening shears stuck in the bleeding throat of Mrs. Simmons's portrait was horrifying!). 

Would-be reporter and all around fraidy-cat Luther Heggs is dared into spending the anniversary night of a murder in a long-abandoned local mansion, oddly enough resulting in his becoming a town hero. At least until the heir to the estate sues him for making up stories about the house. 

This is another film that I wish had played every Halloween (and yes, it was another regular feature in The Slaughtered Lamb Halloween lineup). I love everything about it—the use of The Munsters house on the Universal backlot, the widescreen cinematography, Vic Mizzy's finest score, the humor, a cast of recognizable character actors, and Luther Heggs's attempts to win over a love interest who's clearly out of his league—Joan Staley's Alma. 

Fans of the film will recall many memorable quotes and references, from "Atta boy, Luther," to "Let me clarify this," to "And they used Bon Ami"! I got to meet Don Knotts at the Hollywood Show many years ago and was able to get him to sign a Mr. Chicken lobby card, which he inscribed, "Atta boy, John!" It wasn't planned, but it's very appropriate that these two picks showed up this week in this series. They're perfect Halloween confections for you to enjoy!—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Yeah, this one was a staple of my childhood. It seemed it was on Channel 2 every weekend. Don Knotts was one of my favorite TV fixtures in the 1960s thanks to The Andy Griffith Show and my pre-teen brain was amazed to see he was in a movie. The other Knotts favorite is The Incredible Mr. Limpet, where Don plays a dolphin for most of the running time. Unheralded gem, that one. Haven't seen Chicken in decades but your write-up has got me feeling that a rewatch should be scheduled.

Jack: I'm aware of it but I've never seen it. I only recently came to appreciate Don Knotts, mainly through my wife, who gets a kick out of his role as Barney Fife. The Andy Griffith Show happens to be on every night around the time we settle in for some TV, so I'm always checking which episode it is and on the lookout for Ernest T. Bass.

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 199: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 184

August 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #3

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"We Were Trapped in the Twilight World!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★

"The Teddy Bear" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

"Doctor Droom Meets Zemu!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★ (r: Weird Wonder Tales #20)

Paul Harper's just had a tremendous argument with Professor Barnes at his college. You see, Paul is a science major and thinks he knows it all, including the fact that our Earth is surrounded by alternate Earths and alternate space and time and all that complicated mega-verse nonsense. Paul is a little angry so he does what anyone would do: he grabs his girl, Cathy, and goes for a long drive in the country.

As they're tootling along, minding their own business, a sinister green fog comes out of nowhere and envelops their convertible. Paul has to stop the car and the couple explore the fog on foot. When the mist evaporates, Paul and Cathy are horrified to learn they're in some prehistoric world, complete with cavemen and dinosaurs. That means Paul was right! While he rants on and on about "I told him so! I told him so!," Cathy hits him upside the head with a Stegosaurus jawbone and tells him they'd better find a way out of this place pronto before they're served up as dinner.

After several near-fatal encounters with the wildlife, the couple stumble across a more intelligent caveman who calls himself "Cro" and shows Paul and Cathy the way out of the valley. The dazed lovebirds climb back in their car but Paul is obviously still rattled as he drives his auto off the road. Luckily, who should stop by to help but Professor Barnes (Paul never questions that his world is full of coincidences), who scoffs at his pupil's tale, even when Cathy exclaims "We Were Trapped in the Twilight World!" But the old stick in the mud has to change his tune when he finds a necklace of tiger teeth (a gift from Cro) in the back of Paul's hot rod.

Don't you just love how everything turns out for Paul and Cathy in the end? And how about the fact that Paul is the guy who proves his whole alternate world/dimension theory is true? What are the odds? Probably better than the odds that the first Cro-Magnon man would be able to name himself "Cro!" You think scientists stumbled over a tree with "Cro Was Hear" etched in its bark? How about Cro tossing his necklace at Cathy? Was that his way of saying "Let's go steady?" Alright, enough, we all know the script is going to suck, but at least Stan has a reason to order Jack and Dick to whip up some cool dinosaurs for us pre-teens.

Jim really loves Carol but she won't get rid of that damn stuffed teddy bear, even when he's trying to get to third base in the back seat of his Ford they get married! Carol insists "The Teddy Bear" is her bodyguard and if Jim doesn't like it, he can pound sand. Jim's a surveyor so, a few months after they're married, he has to go camping in the wild. Carol insists on accompanying her new hubby and brings Teddy along for the ride. One night, Jim goes out hunting a big cat he suspects has been circling their camp and he's taken by surprise. The mountain lion runs right past him and heads for Carol's tent. Horrified, Jim throws open the tent and finds the lion dead and Teddy a little worse for wear. What's more astonishing? That Teddy was actually alive or that Jim married Carol even though she was an obvious mental case?

Last up is the latest adventure of Doctor Droom! In "Doctor Droom Meets Zemu!," our hero discovers that a popular magician is actually a warrior sent from the planet Saturn to hypnotize the Earth's population. Droom turns the tables on the Saturnian and Zemu is led away (in a very posh ascot and smoking jacket) to prison. Wholly preposterous stuff (everyone knows space warriors always come from Mars!) but, as usual, very entertaining. A different "Zemu" (sans the cool attire) will battle the Human Torch in Strange Tales #103, another example of how Jack and Stan constantly cannibalized their older work for the new Marvel era in the 1960s.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #71

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"I Brought the Roc to Life!" 

(a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #10)

"The Boy Who Vanished!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Fear #4)

"The Painting" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #6)(r: Amazing Adventures #24)

After having survived his marriage ceremony, archaeologist John Avery is thrust into an entirely different but still dangerous and horrifying event. He and Anne are driving through the desert of Cairo looking for bones and stuff when Anne shouts out that a nearby sand dune looks too "geometrically perfect" and must be hiding some mysterious object.

Sure enough, when John gets a shovel and starts digging, he unearths a huge egg. "Why, this must be an egg containing the mythic Roc, a bird so gigantic it could fly away with elephants in its talons!" John decides he's going to go back to Cairo and get a crew of men to transport the egg back to "civilization." Even though John seems to be a bright guy, he leaves the egg exposed to the sun and it hatches.

Out pops a giant chick and he seems to be feeling fowl. Very soon thereafter, he gains the gift of flight and heads off to town for a good time. The big bird begins disassembling structures such as bridges and skyscrapers and carting off passenger trains (don't get yer panties in a bunch CCA--the trains were emptied first); only John Avery knows what's going on. Yep, the big fella is building a nest!

So, John goes to the World's Foremost Scientists' Bar & Grill, where he powwows with a bunch of boring characters (at one point confiding that, yes, "I Brought the Roc to Life!") and convinces them that they have to build a rocket ship version of the Roc and blast it into space. That's the only way to destroy the Giant Claw. Sure enough, once Mecha-Roc flies past the real thing, NASA hits the "Space" button and both monsters head deep into outer space, never to return. Anne tells John she's going to want a better honeymoon and he chuckles, heading back into the desert in his jeep.

When I Googled "How fast do Rocs grow wings?" I was met with a blank stare. This little guy not only grows fast (Stan could have at least leaned on the conspiracy theory that Cairo was testing A-bombs in the desert) but then takes to the air in a matter of seconds! I sure hope we get a "Return of the Roc!" wherein the metal contraption finally runs out of fuel and the big chicken heads back home.

Thirteen-year-old Billy Carter (yes, that Billy Carter) is confined to a wheelchair but dreams of walking again someday. In fact, after reading the latest issue of Journey into Mystery, he closes his eyes and dreams himself into the future. There, he meets the really pretty Alana, who makes fun of him because he won't stand up and walk, and is informed that Alana's Pop is a doctor who can do anything. Sure enough, the doc cures Billy and sends him back to 1961. There, Billy's mom sobs tears of joy when her boy walks across the kitchen and asks what's for lunch. "The Boy Who Vanished!" is the pits, no two ways about it. Paul Reinman's pencils have degenerated into lifeless scribbles and Stan/Larry's script is pieced together from old strips. Poor Billy's physical condition is called "lame" and that's a pretty good label to apply to this story.

Simon Squeed is a heartless bastitch who takes advantage of poor painters, buying their work and selling it for hundreds of times its original purchase price. But Simon finally meets his match when he steals "The Painting" from a gypsy in Bessarabia. The twist in the final panel has been done to death but it's given new life thanks to Steve Ditko, who just keeps getting better and better. This guy is going places, take it from me.-Peter

Strange Tales #87

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"The Return of... Grogg!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #23)

"The Lighthouse from Nowhere!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Creatures on the Loose #24)

"The Macabre Mirror!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #23)

Miklos Zozlov, the renowned scientist from behind the Iron Curtain, is back! When last seen in Strange Tales #83, Miklos managed to escape Grogg. Now he's defected to the U.S.A., where no one believes his yarn about the fire-breathing dragon. Miklos wonders about Grogg, so one day, when government officials send him back to Russia undercover to find out what's going on in the Northern territory where there's a news blackout, he jumps at the chance.

In Russia, Miklos is aided by a friendly farmer named Ivan Grotsky, who also hates tyranny. Together, they journey into the snowy mountains and locate Grogg, who briefly attacks them before flying off. The men find a secret army base, where the Reds have built a huge spaceship. They plan to send a thousand soldiers to Mars to set up a base from which they can threaten the free nations of Earth!

Determined to stop this diabolical plan, Miklos and Ivan summon Grogg using a torch and set off an explosion at the army base. Miklos manages to trick Grogg into entering the spaceship, which Miklos then blasts off into space! His plan? Grogg will travel to Mars and be there to greet the Russians after they build a replacement spaceship and carry out their plan!

"The Return of... Grogg!" seems like an afterthought in this ridiculous story, where the fire-breathing dragon appears in flashback, briefly attacks Miklos and Ivan, and is tricked into being sent into space. Grogg has to be one of the dumber monsters out there, since Miklos deceives him by means of a small Grogg-like statue made of snow and some big shadows made with a flashlight. Just for the record, the obligatory panel showing Earth from space with word balloons appears on page 9, while the required panel of floating heads is on page 10. Kirby does a decent job on Grogg; it's a shame the story is so weak.

After a ship is wrecked in the fog off the coast of a small Scottish village, the townsfolk agree that they need a lighthouse. A week later, "The Lighthouse from Nowhere!" suddenly appears! Most people are happy to see it and don't ask questions, but the schoolteacher is upset that they received something they didn't build themselves. One night he blows it up! Agreeing to work day and night to rebuild it, the schoolteacher is unaware that the lighthouse was actually installed by aliens as a beacon to guide their invasion of Earth. By removing it, he saved the planet!

Even Ditko can't save this one. The only good parts are the splash page and the green aliens.

Long ago, a rich duke kept raising taxes on the people of a European province in order to increase his own wealth. When they couldn't pay, he confiscated their possessions. Finally, the only person he had not squeezed dry was Carlotta, the gypsy woman. The duke visited her and, since she had no cash, he decided to take "The Macabre Mirror!" despite her warning that it was enchanted. She told him it would have to stay with him always and he agreed that he wanted that. Just then, something mystical happened!

The duke disappeared and no one knew where he had gone, so eventually they took back their wealth and possessions. As for the duke, he was trapped inside the mirror, looking out at the inside of the gypsy's wagon, unable to escape!

Did any reader not know what was going to happen right away? Don Heck's art is usually better than this--it looks like he was in a hurry or just didn't care. This is a sub-par issue of Strange Tales.-Jack

Tales of Suspense #20

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"Colossus Lives Again" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #25)

"The Rocking Horse" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"The Bomb" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

After the fearsome events detailed in "I Created the Colossus!," the big lug has been hanging out in Moscow, doing little to nothing 24/7. The Russkies are invited to an international fair and decide to send the giant statue as an exhibit for all to see. They lash the Colossus onto their biggest freighter and set sail for New York!

Meanwhile on Cancresorius-III, the crab-like creatures who inhabited Colossus's stone body all those months ago have declared war on the entire galaxy. King Crab spins the wheel and it's decided that Earth will fall first. The crabs head back to Earth and once again inhabit the stone statue, bringing it to life and jumping ship, heading for America the hard way. Colossus rises from the sea on a California beach, causing a panic but stepping on absolutely no one.

At that exact second, fifty miles away, Bob, a well-paid set decorator in Hollywood, is trying to make time with famous screen star Diane Cummings (think, oh, I don't know, Sue Storm) and finding the task next to impossible. Diane wants a he-man with lots of money and bravery and nice shoes, but Bob checks none of those boxes. Grant Marshall does, though, and he woos and wins the starlet. Bob is left feeling gloomy until he hears the bulletin informing the public that a giant statue has been sighted at Long Beach. Bob grabs his special effects crew (including intern Wah Chang), a couple of hammers and a bag of nails and begins building the greatest prop ever constructed.

Coincidentally (or not), Colossus ends up right where Bob wants him and rather than step on these puny humans, he stops to have a convo with them. Bob tells the big guy to turn around and meet his maker. The grey gargantua does indeed turn and beholds... an even bigger monster! Without waiting to see if this thing even moves, the crabs jump ship and burrow into the new creature. Quickly, Bob screams "Now!" and his right hand man explodes the prop, blowing the crabs to hell!

Suddenly, Diane arrives and embraces Bob, telling him he's all the man she'll ever want. Forgetting that, just twenty minutes or so before, she called him a spineless worm, Bob picks up Diane in his arms and proposes to her. Colossus stands immobile once again but, he muses, at least he ain't gettin' married!

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the Crabs to lay low and get a free ride to the US on the big boat? Walking underwater to New York must have taken them years. And how does Bob know where to build his greatest achievement? What if the traffic on the 101 was murder and Colossus opted to bypass Hollywood and head for San Bernardino instead? Of course, this was not the last we'd see of Colossus since he was rebooted in 1973 by Tony Isabella for a short-lived series in Astonishing Tales. You can read more about that here. I thought Tony's take was awful (and the dreadful art of Dick Ayers--who had graduated to penciling by 1973--didn't help), but your mileage may vary. 

Poor little "lame" Hamim wishes he had a rocking horse to keep him company; his father thinks his son is selfish for wishing for such a luxury when the family is starving but Hamim writes a letter to America and gets his wish. "The Rocking Horse" arrives and his father keeps bitching until the day an earthquake strikes and the rocking horse saves little Hamim. Stan the Man calls up Reinman, tells him he's got a "lame" script that needs some "lame" art, and Paul comes through.

A gigantic, ticking mechanism from outer space lands smack-dab in New York, setting off a panic. Could it be an explosive device? The army is being cautious, leaving "The Bomb" alone to see if it blows. Then, once a team is sent in to investigate, the object heads back into space without a by your leave. Unbeknownst to anyone not reading Tales of Suspense #20, the craft lands on Saturn, where an old man sits and ponders why no sounds were made around the mechanism. Surely, that planet must be dead and so it won't be given all "our knowledge and secrets of long life." Klaatu Barada Nikto.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #22

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"I Dared to Battle the Crawling Creature!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #13)

"Help!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

(r: Creatures on the Loose #15)(r: Crypt of Shadows #21)

"For Whom the Drum Beats!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Creatures on the Loose #20)

Walter Carter is a high school bookworm who enjoys reading stories about creatures who live under the Earth's surface. When the government builds a new drilling machine and is looking for a volunteer to head way under ground, Walter is first in line! Down he goes and, in a subterranean tunnel, he comes face to face with cavemen who warn him about a big creature that crawls around and generally causes trouble.

Suddenly finding reserves of bravery, Walter goes looking and discovers a great big lizard! "I Dared to Battle the Crawling Creature!" says he and the cavemen help out by dumping a load of salt, knowing that the lizard won't crawl over it for some reason. Walter decides that the best thing to do is to lure the big lizard up to the surface, which he does without much difficulty. Luring it to the edge of the Grand Canyon, Walter makes sure that it ends up at the bottom and he's able to escape by means of a handy helicopter. Government agents make Walter promise to say nothing, so he heads back to school to face more bullying.

The Crawling Creature isn't much of a threat. It's not an alien or a Commie and it never menaces a big city. It really doesn't do much at all. Fortunately, Walter's complex plan works, though the big lizard lives in case of a sequel. There is a panel where we see the Earth from outer space and three dialogue balloons on page 10, but no panels with floating heads this time.

A writer buys a second-hand typewriter to replace one that breaks and soon finds that the machine has a mind of its own, typing out a message crying for "Help!" It gives instructions to go to Liberty Road and Route 42. The writer heads out and, at the designated location, finds a car teetering on the edge of a cliff, its driver afraid to move. The writer hooks up a chain and tows to car safely away from the edge. The driver gets out and, when he hears about the magical typewriter, reveals that he is the person who sold it to the second-hand shop! 

I like a story about a writer who buys a magical typewriter. Don Heck is at his best when drawing men in suits who like to smoke cigarettes, so this five-pager is right in his wheelhouse.

Max Kole may be in the Swinging Six, a hot jazz band, but he doesn't like being second drummer, since all the chicks dig the first drummer. After a gig in Transylvania, Max visits a gypsy known as Madame Grimm and insists that she cast a spell to make him the greatest drummer. She reluctantly agrees but gives him the usual warning. Max quickly becomes the undisputed king of the drums, but there's a catch--he can't stop playing!

"For Whom the Drum Beats!" ends with Max unable to stop drumming. Any reader above the age of five saw this coming a mile away. At least Ditko provides cool graphics, even though the portrait of the hip jazz group and its adoring teen fans seems a decade or two out of touch.-Jack

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