Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 197: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 182

June 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #1

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Torr" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Strange Tales #175)

"Midnight in the Wax Museum" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Strange Tales #175)

"I Am the Fantastic Dr. Droom!" (a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #19) 

Paul Ramsay stands trial for the murder of his best friend, John Carter (not of Mars), but what would push a man to commit a cold-blooded killing such as this? I'm glad you asked... Some months before, Paul and John were two crazy astronomers, making jokes about Orion's Belt (just how tight does that belt have to be?!) and calling up grocers to ask if they had "Prince Albert in a can" when fate steered them down a different country road.

Just as Paul excitedly tells John that a UFO is tracing their signal beam, John wonders aloud if the occupants will be friendly. Too late, the ship lands and out pops "Torr," a hideous, furry, orange behemoth who quickly destroys Paul's rifle and then takes over the earthly form of John, all the better to blend in with the human race. He orders Paul to drive him to the city and, during the drive, Torr maps out his plan of destruction and conquest of Earth. Paul knows he must do something or mankind is doomed, so he grabs a pistol from a nearby cop and blasts Torr/John with a fatal shot.

Of course, this is how Paul ends up on trial. Just as the jury is about to bring back a (surely Guilty!) verdict, John bursts through the doors, much to the surprise of everyone in attendance, and blurts out the climax: Paul's deadly bullet actually killed Torr's "personality" rather than John himself (good trick, that) and the moment Torr died, John was returned to his bullet-riddled body. Paul is free to go and he and John (still leaking blood from the bullet hole) head back to the observatory to see what trouble they can get into next.

The first issue of Atlas's final new science fiction title begins with a wet noodle, a ho-hum, no-action melodrama pieced together with elements of dozens of previous Atlas giant monster tales. The creature design is, to say the least, interesting: orange fish with facial hair and yellow briefs. Even though I fully accept that Torr comes from some distant galaxy and couldn't find anyplace else more interesting, the fact that John survives his gunshot (does the bullet simply disappear and the skin heal?) despite being on a morgue slab for what must be months is a bridge too far. And where is the dead body of Torr? Back in the cave? The logic is Torr-ible.

Dangerous criminal Pierre La Roc picks a wax museum in which to hide out from the law but discovers the wax figures are alive! Brief but effective, thanks mostly to Ditko's choreography, "Midnight in the Wax Museum" makes good use of an old cliche. 

Doctor Anthony Droom is summoned to the Himalayas to care of a sick old man. When he is there, he is told he will not be paid for his services (he's fine with that), he will have to walk across coals (sure, why not?), and he must face the deadly Gorlion (half-gorilla, half-lion, of course) before climbing a suspended rope that leads, finally, to the sick man's room. There, Droom learns that the old man, a lama, is dying and was searching for the perfect candidate to pass his occult skills on to. Droom agrees, receives an Oriental facial and becomes the new lama. Now he will be taught all the skills he needs to fight the evil side of black magic.

"I Am the Fantastic Dr. Droom!" is a landmark story in several ways. It heralds the coming of Marvel's super-hero resurgence (Fantastic Four #1 arrives just five months later) and lays the groundwork for Ditko's Dr. Strange two years later. It's also the first continuing feature in an Atlas sf/fantasy title, appearing five times in Amazing Adventures and then rebooted (as Dr. Druid in order to avoid confusion with that guy from Latveria) by writer Roger Stern for Weird Wonder Tales in 1976. The character also made guest appearances in The Incredible Hulk and Ghost Rider.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #69

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Was Captured by... Korilla!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★

(r: Creatures on the Loose #12)

"The Iron Giant!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Kid Colt Outlaw #164) 

"When Darkness Falls!!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #13)

A cabbie picks up a late night fare who demands to be taken to 1446 Elm Street. The driver doesn't like the strangely garbed man's attitude but desperately needs the money, so it's 1446 or bust. Once they get there, the passenger pays his driver and exits the vehicle, but his cape gets stuck in the door and his true identity is revealed: he's a big furry monster!

The thing threatens to kill the cabbie but our hero manages to make his getaway and heads right for the nearest precinct. The Sarge there naturally scoffs at the description of "a big furry monster" but dispatches a couple of his best beat cops to investigate. They return shortly to inform their CO that a masquerade is in process at 1446 Elm Street and the owner of said establishment told the cops that the whole incident was a misunderstanding. The cops tell the cabbie to blow but our protagonist is determined to get to the bottom of the freakish incident.

He heads back to Elm Street, where he is surrounded by two furry monsters and forced into the house where he meets their leader. It's at this point that the driver screams "I Was Captured by... Korilla!" The really big hairy orange monster explains that he was captain of a race of warriors on his home planet, a band of vicious barbarians who held the rest of the population as slaves. But the imminent threat of revolution had the warriors thinking they might need another planet to conquer and live on. That would be Earth!

Soon a deadly gas will be released into Earth's atmosphere and all living humans will no longer be... living. The cabbie sees an open back door and escapes, but first he turns the tables on his captors. He manages to beam a message to Korilla's world, informing the Great Poohbah that the invasion has been a failure. Korilla's commander is so mad that he sends a gas to Earth that is deadly only to Korilla and his crew. The cabbie saves mankind!

Terrible giant monster tale in both planning and execution. The creature designs are lame (Korilla's arm is bigger than the rest of his body!) and Korilla and the boys waste a lot of valuable time telling our hero all about their origin instead of just straight up killing the pesky human. Three hairy stooges. Oddly enough, there's no panel of Earth with word balloons this time out. I kinda missed it.

Crazy ol' Ben Perkins talks to his locomotive--why, he's even named her "Annie!" One day, a band of thieves board the train and steal the loot it carries. Before they leave, they grab ol' Ben and shoot up the train. Ornery cusses. Well, they get off into the night and dump poor ol' Ben in the middle of Injun territory because "dead men tell no tales!" But before they can cover much ground, the pack of them are chased by... you guessed it, "The Iron Giant!" Why, dagnab it if Annie ain't run off her rails and is dead set on runnin' down the dirty hombres that stole her engineer. Hours later, the sheriff rounds up the exhausted thieves (no one dies in a 1960s Atlas comic) and slaps the cuffs on 'em. The West is safe once more. The only thing that makes this one stand out, obviously, is the rare western backdrop. When it came time for reprinting, Roy opted to dump this snoozer into Kid Colt Outlaw!

Last up in this truly abysmal issue is "When Darkness Falls!," wherein a man swears he sees the mannikins in a department store moving around. The "twist" is that our protagonist is also a dummy. Slap this issue in mylar and never look back.-Peter

Strange Tales #85

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Return of Gargantus!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

"The Man Who Fell!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #25)

"The Ape Man" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #24)

Because the readers of Journey Into Strange Tales demanded it! "The Return of Gargantus!" Years after Gargantus was seemingly defeated by the thin air found on the surface world, little Billy (the co-star of "What? What? What the Hell is Gigantus/Gargantus?" has grown up, his pop has died and he's refused to turn the famed bathysphere over to science for study. Billy knows that if men of science get hold of Dad's startling creation, they'll want to explore the nether regions of the sea.

Just as Billy is remembering everything that happened to him all those years ago, his wife Anne returns from Wal-Mart with the groceries in tears (Anne is in tears, not the groceries); a group of Science Wives had met her in the Frozen Tater Tot section and told her of their mates' new invention: a submarine that can dive even deeper than Billy's dad's. The wives are so proud of their four-eyed he-men, but Anne can only stutter out excuses for her limp-wristed Bill. For his part, Bill completely ignores his wife's shame and concentrates on the startling news about the streamlined sub. He must stop the dive at all costs.

When Bill gets to the harbor, the trio of stud scientists scoff at his protests. "Go back home and drop a line in your goldfish bowl, ya wimp!" cries Professor Frank, with a Marlboro hanging from his mustached lips, and the vehicle enters the water. Sure enough, less than five minutes later, the trio are whining about the giant monster on their tail and Bill is sprinting home to wipe the dust off his dad's pride and joy. Bill drops down and sees a horrifying sight: Gargantus has the sub in his giant paws and is about to crush it like a soda can. 

Just as it looks like it's curtains for the taunting trio, Gargantus recognizes Bill's diving bell and gives chase. Bill barely makes it out of the sea ball before his old nemesis breaks water and towers above the frightened man, telling him that since Bill's dad has shuffled off this mortal coil, it's up to Bill to tell mankind they are doomed. Bill refuses and heads for cover; the monster, unable to find his prey, heads into the city to make some noise (no humans are harmed, I assure you). While the city is being torn to shreds, Bill gets to work on modifying his pop's bathysphere. 

His work done, Bill confronts Gargantus while he's about to lay waste to the entire US militia and issues a challenge to the giant behemoth: meet me in the ocean at noon or Bill will spread the word that Gargantus is a big chicken. The big orange galoot accepts and the next day, the two face off. Unknown to the sea creature, Bill has electrified the bathysphere and, because the further down you go, the more magnified the current becomes, Gargantus is fried to a crisp. The world is safe once more. Everyone except Anne apologizes for calling Bill a wuss.

It's tough to come up with reasons to read these things since just about every story is the same but, for me, the highlight has to be Anne coming home from the store to tell Bill he's a coward (you thought I made that part up, didn't you?) and then completely disappearing from the story. You'd like to think that after she dressed him down, she filed for divorce and took up with Robert Oppenheimer. 

Hans, the mayor of a small European village, has the hots for fortune teller Katrina and will do anything to win her love. Katrina wants nothing to do with Hans but accepts his wager that if she tells his fortune and it comes true, he'll leave her alone. The oracle predicts that Hans will be "injured by a fall." Hans heads home and instructs his butler to tie him up in the basement so there's no way he can fall. The butler gone, Hans settles in for an uncomfortable evening with images of Katrina dancing in his head. Then the chandelier falls on him. I have to admit to a soft spot for "The Man Who Fell," which I can recall reading one lazy summer day in 1973 in the pages of Where Monsters Dwell. The twist is pretty clever but the art is sub-par.

Last up is Steve Ditko's "The Ape Man!" Salty Gruner is convicted of being a commie (the only way you get tossed in the clink in the Atlas Universe) and sentenced to spend the rest of his days in a prison on Lost Island. The guards warn Salty and his comrades that the island is surrounded by a shark-filled sea and the jungle contains the legendary Ape Man. Not one to believe in old wives' tales, Salty escapes into the jungle with an eye to building a raft and sailing to New Jersey but quickly comes face to hairy mug with the titular beast. The gorilla politely informs Salty that he was once a human being and ran afoul of a native witch doctor who cursed him to prowl the jungle until another poor soul could take his place. Before he knows it, Salty has lost his prison uni and grown quite a bit of hair, cursed to wander the foul jungles of Lost Island forever. The last time we saw this "twist," I think it was attached to a genie. Still, Steve ignores the idiocy of the script and gives his all and we are the better for it.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #18

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Kraa the Unhuman!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #15)

"The Mysterious Mr. P!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

"Enter.... the Robot!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #20)

A geography teacher decides to liven up his dull existence by spending his summer break on a trip to Africa, where he will investigate the Wabuzi tribe and the strange statues they've started making. He manages to hire a guide to take him into the jungle, but after the guide robs him and abandons him, the teacher goes on alone, determined to find the Wabuzi. As he gets closer, he sees larger and larger statues of a grotesque figure until he finally reaches the village.

The natives worship "Kraa the Unhuman!" and, though the teacher at first thinks it's a giant statue, the creature is alive and captures him without much effort. "Kraa!" tells the teacher he'll grant one last request before slaying him, so the teacher asks Kraa to tell his origin story. The giant explains that, months ago, stinkin commies parachuted into the jungle, planning to use it for illegal nuclear testing. At that time, Kraa was a regular Wabuzi tribesman. He fell into a hunter's trap and was exposed to radiation from the nuclear testing!

Kraa grew into a big, orange monster and soon found himself the object of worship of the other members of the tribe, who did not recognize him as one of their own. He didn't mind being worshipped and liked when they made statues of him. Kraa decided that, when he stopped growing, he'd attack the civilized world to punish it for what it had done to him. The teacher feels sorry for Kraa and rubs ointment on his back to help soothe the pain from radiation burns. Kraa is surprised by the man's kindness and saves him from being crushed by a giant python, falling off a cliff during the struggle. The teacher returns home, where his students are amazed to see a newspaper report showing that the Wabuzi have carved a new idol in the teacher's image!

Whenever a giant creature falls off a cliff and we don't see its dead body, you can be sure he'll return in a future issue, supposedly in response to overwhelming reader demand. I fear the same may happen with Kraa. As I read the story, I was expecting him to be a visitor from outer space, but instead he's a victim of an atomic blast, the Atlas explanation for grotesque changes to the human form. Kraa isn't particularly interesting to look at, but the fact that he's a former tribesman makes it credible that he's not bad, just misunderstood. This story features one panel showing the Earth as seen from space and one floating heads panel. Had it been a year earlier, the teacher's last request might have been to gain the power to knock over a bank.

Who is "The Mysterious Mr. P!"? Teenaged girls hang around the stage doors at theaters where he plays his clarinet, hoping for his autograph. He came out of nowhere one day and quickly rose to the top of the charts. One day, some stinkin' commies show up and offer big bucks if Mr. P will give a tour in their country. He goes along and they lock him in a dungeon, where they insist that he tell the world that he just loves dictatorships. Instead, he starts playing his clarinet and all the commies can't help but follow him out the window and into the clouds, because he's the Pied Piper!

I had to wonder why the teens of 1961 would be so excited about a clarinet player whose music was probably at least a decade behind the times. It didn't take me long to identify "Mr. P" as the Pied Piper. Thanks goodness he's saving the world for democracy.

Max Garr is an obnoxious foreman in a coal mine who is not happy when the boss tells him, "Enter.... the Robot!" The mechanical man will work in the mines but Max doesn't want to lose his job, so he leads the machine down into a shaft and fiddles around with its wiring so it stops working. When Max is trapped in a cave-in with the robot, he's dismayed to learn its purpose is to tunnel for safety--but because Max wrecked its wiring, now it won't work!

Ditko does a nice job with the shadowy world of the mine, but that's about it in this story where nothing that happens is a surprise.-Jack

Tales to Astonish #20

Cover by Jack Kirby

"What Was 'X' the Thing That Lived!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Fear #2)

"One-Way Journey!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Fear #2)

Comic book writer Charles Bentley pens a story about a giant sea serpent attacking a ship and being destroyed by an atomic warhead. After the story is published (in Tales to Astonish), representatives from Naval Intelligence demand to know how Bentley learned of the true incident! He convinces them that he made it up and they leave.

His next story concerns a radioactive, two-headed demon from outer space. The same thing happens again after publication, when the Air Force informs Bentley that his story depicted true events. Once again, it's chalked up to coincidence.

Bentley wracks his brain for another story and ends up writing about an alien called X who can transform itself into any shape and can't be destroyed. The editor is so happy that he gives the writer a week off and Charles heads for the mountains to go fishing. He gets to the resort and sees on TV that X is on the rampage! It's back to the typewriter to change the ending to one where the creature is defeated. It's published but X keeps on going! Bentley suspects that his typewriter at home is the key, recalling that he bought it at an old antique shop in Europe.

But it's not so easy to get rid of X! The creature confronts the writer, fully aware of his plan, and chases him into the sewers beneath the city. Bentley manages to escape and return to his typewriter, but X follows him to his apartment and prevents him from writing a new ending! Only when Charles throws the typewriter out the window and it smashes on the pavement does X finally disappear.

We've seen these self-reflexive stories before and they're always the same. In "What Was 'X" the Thing That Lived," Kirby gets to draw a few monsters rather than being stuck with just one, but there's never any real sense of danger. The story isn't funny, so we're just left with a bloated, 18-page mess that is a chore to read.

A rich industrialist named Adam Gree wants to live forty years in the future, certain that it will be a Golden Age without war or disease, so he fires all his employees, sells all his businesses, and uses the cash he raises to pay scientists to build him a time machine. He travels to 2001 and finds it just as he predicted, but there's a catch--he's now 90 years old and will die soon!

Ditko's art is the best thing about "One-Way Journey!," yet another time travel story with a twist that falls flat. At least the splash page looks cool.-Jack

Thursday...
They're Heeeeere!

And Next Week...
Get Ready For
Another Marvel Prototype!

The 100 Chapter 14: 72 & 71

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

Aliens (1986) 

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser

Directed by James Cameron

"We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly."

No, it's not nearly as good as Alien, of course, but this is one riotous, rollicking mindless ride once it shifts into second gear about an hour or so in. James Cameron (the only time you'll hear that name on this list) was coming off the unexpected success of Harlan Ellison's The Terminator and that gave him a bit of pull in Hollywood. He levied that newfound mojo into a higher budget for the floundering Alien II and managed to make his $20 million budget look like $200 million. It's a very easy film to describe to newcomers who might want to take a look: Rambo in Space. I saw this opening night at the Cinema 150 right up the road from where young teen John Scoleri resided.

Some of the dialogue is cringeworthy (Bill Paxton's  overcaffeinated "Dude, let's paaaaaaahty" one-liners, in particular remind you just why the 1980s should be excised from history, yet those bon mots are what most of the knuckleheads remember today) and Ripley's see-saw attitude toward the trip ("There's no way I'll go down on that planet... Okay, I'll go down but I ain't gettin' off the bus... ok, I'm going in") can be confusing, but the action is non-stop and the climactic fight between Ripley and the Queen a dazzler. After this one, the franchise took a header. And, hey, for the first time on the 100, the kid ain't annoying!—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: In my memory, this was one of those sequels that was better than the original, like Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2, Terminator 2, etc. Alien was good but this was supercharged! I haven't seen it in decades, but I have fond memories of it.

John: As far as I'm concerned, Aliens doesn't deserve to be within 100 films of Alien on a list like this (and we'll get to that one in time, but it's going to be a while). I'm honestly shocked that you can somehow forgive all of the '80s excess of this film when you so openly complain about it in so many others. I give Cameron credit for being smart enough to distance himself from the tone of Ridley Scott's far superior original, but I think he must have still been high on Rambo fumes when he sat down to write it. And I'd put it about on par with that one, which is similarly distanced from the much preferred First Blood. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous Queen vs Power Loader set-piece. Thankfully, in 1986 we had films like Highlander to cleanse the palate after disappointments such as this.

 

The Warriors (1979)

Starring: Michael Beck, James Remar

Directed by Walter Hill

"Can You Dig It?"

"Warriors! Come out to play-ay!"

A charismatic figure named Cyrus calls a meeting of representatives from 100 gangs in New York City. Each gang sends nine members to the Bronx, where Cyrus calls for a truce, suggesting that if the gangs all work together, they will wield incredible, city-wide power. Among the gangs in attendance are the Warriors, from Coney Island. Suddenly, a shot rings out from the crowd and Cyrus is killed! The shooter points at the Warriors and accuses them of the assassination. The police arrive and all the gangs scatter! Can the Warriors make it home by subway from the Bronx to Coney Island without being caught by the cops or wiped out by rival gangs?

I must have seen The Warriors on VHS a year or two after it came out. I watched it with my guy friends and loved it from the start. Watching it again this week, I was struck by how accurate the portrait of NYC in the late '70s is. It really was dirty and dangerous, but it had an appeal that is missing in today's high rent, low risk metropolis. What works best about the movie is the rival gangs, each of whom has something unusual in the way they dress or act. Most memorable are the Baseball Furies, who wear baseball uniforms, carry baseball bats, and paint their faces.

I watched the director's cut, in which Hill added transitions from scene to scene that are made to look like comic book pages. Best of all on the disc are interviews with cast and crew, where the costume designer reveals that the idea of painting the Baseball Furies' faces was inspired by Kiss—"they were big at the time." At about an hour and a half, it's not too long and the ending, when the villain clinks beer bottles together and taunts, "Warriors! Come out to play-ay!" is what everyone remembers.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: A classic (another that just barely missed my list) but no mention of the A+ end credits song by Joe Walsh (remade by Eagles later that year for The Long Run)? This is another of the movies from 1979 that I must have seen twenty times. My favorite scene isn't even a gang fight; it's the nice, tender moment between Swan and Mercy on the subway where the posh kids are giving them the stink-eye. Great little break between skull bashings.

John: While not on my list, I do think this one is a lot of fun. And another great David Patrick Kelly performance! What stands out to me is how a film that should not hold up to scrutiny, in particular given the colorful costuming of each of the different gangs, manages to rise above it. It somehow works and fits in the world Hill created. It feels like New York before it was walled off into a maximum security prison. I personally recommend skipping the director's cut, at least until you've had a chance to experience it as it was initially released. 

The Fog (1980) 

Starring: Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Jamie Lee Curtis

Directed by John Carpenter

"At the bottom of the sea lay the Elizabeth Dane, with her crew, their lungs filled with salt water, their eyes open, staring to the darkness."

Another John Carpenter classic, and a great modern day ghost story. The crew of the Elizabeth Dane lay at the bottom of the ocean for 100 years after the founders of Antonio Bay intentionally lit fires to cause their ship to crash. As present day locals prepare to celebrate the town's centennial, a fog returns to Antonio Bay, and there's something in it! The film features one of Carpenter's most haunting scores.

The human cast is fantastic, from Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, and Janet Leigh to the many members assembled from Carpenter's stock company: Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Loomis, and Darwin (Napoleon Wilson) Joston! And we can't forget the ghosts, led by makeup effects artist Rob Bottin as captain Blake, who are incredibly creepy with their unforgettable glowing eyes!—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Adrienne Barbeau! If you were a male teen in the 1970s, only Farrah boiled your eggs faster. Just watched this recently and, while it won't show up on my 100 List, I still got a kick out of it. You can tell Widow's Bay took a lot of inspiration from The Fog (but that's okay since JC obviously borrowed his atmosphere from EC Comics and maybe a little Fulci). And one more time: Adrienne Barbeau.

Jack: I remember seeing this in a theater when it came out. It was scary and fun. I probably saw it again on VHS way back when but I haven't watched it in 40+ years.

Deliverance (1972) 

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty

Directed by George McCowan

"Did you ever look out over a lake and think of somethin' buried underneath it? Buried underneath it. Well man, that's just about as buried as you can get."

Four buddies go for a canoe trip on the Cahulawassee River (actually the Chattooga) in Georgia and attract the attention of some unrefined folk along the way. An encounter leads to death by self-defense using a bow and arrow and the boys find themselves stalked by the dead man's kinfolk. The father of so many "rednecks vs. city boys" flicks that it would take me days to list (and to be fair, a few of those were pretty dolgarn good), Deliverance is one harrowing, engrossing thriller. 

The leads (the fourth man is Ronnie Cox from The Car) are all solid. Beatty and Voight always elevate what they're in but if you've never seen Burt Reynolds in anything but his good 'ol boy comedy flicks, you're in for a real treat (although he was equally good in 1974's The Longest Yard). Each man has his own obvious personality trait: Reynolds the macho asshole; Beatty the overweight city boy dismissive of the hill people he comes in contact with; Cox the moral compass; and Voight the buddy who just wants to fit in but doesn't really know why he's come along. By movie's end, these guys all seem to have switched personality traits.

There's a lot to recommend here; some critics pointed to the ecological theme (the end of nature) while others found the photography (by Vilmos Zsigmond) to be the highlight. For me, it's the breakneck pace; there's no time to catch that breath. No sooner do we bury the mountain man than we're back in the canoes, facing the rapids and more unfriendly inbreds. I think the first time I saw Deliverance must have been its TV premiere in 1975. I remember all the kids at school echoing the famous "Squeal like a pig!" line during recess the next day. Voight spotting Burt in the distance, pulling back his bow just before he lets it fly, still raises the hairs on the back of my neck fifty years on.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: I've seen this more than once but not in a while. I agree it's a great flick. Now that banjo music will be stuck in my head.

John: It's a good film, but not one that compels me to revisit it with any frequency, so not a candidate for my Top 100.

The Road Warrior: Mad Max 2 (1981)

Starring: Mel Gibson

Directed by George Miller

The ayatollah of rock and rollah!"

In the not too distant future, civilization has collapsed and what few people are left fight to the death for oil and gasoline to power their engines. Mad Max Rockatansky, a former policeman whose family was killed, happens upon a makeshift fortress in the Australian Outback where survivors guard a tanker full of gas. He decides to help them fend off attacks by a group of violent lunatics led by someone who calls himself Lord Humongous and this leads to a wild, extended chase, with every sort of vehicle trying to catch and stop Mad Max as he drives the tanker toward a safer area.

I watched this last night and was struck by the humor, the violence, and the sheer propulsion of the long chase that makes up the latter part of the film. I can remember when this came out and Mel Gibson was one of the coolest movie stars on the planet, long before he went off the deep end. George Miller's direction seemed spectacular at the time, though I've long since lost interest in his career. The Australian Outback filming locations sure are bleak, as is the narrative, but there's still enough here to make it an enjoyable watch. The flood of post-apocalyptic films that followed in its wake have dimmed its effect somewhat, but it was groundbreaking at the time.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Now this is one of those sequels that is better than the original. This was released during that dynamite summer of 1982, where we got Poltergeist, Rocky III, E.T., Carpenter's The Thing, Blade Runner, and Conan. We'll never see a summer like that again. I think I lived at the Century Theater. Anyway, I loved this one, though not nearly enough to include it on my list. 

John: George Miller is one of a kind, and The Road Warrior is one of those rare handful of films that managed to launch an entirely new genre of copycat films. The look and feel would be emulated for years to come but never matched (though Miller himself has delivered several strong examples in the franchise since). I'll even go on record agreeing that this one surpasses the original (though I'm still a huge fan of Mad Max, particularly with the original Australian dialogue track). 

Highlander (1986) 

Starring: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown

Directed by Russell Mulcahy

"There can be only one."

Immortals. Sword fighting. Beheadings. And Queen! Highlander was my first exposure to Christopher Lambert who with, the support of the late, great Sean Connery in one of his most entertaining performances, we see him evolve from a clumsy barbarian to an accomplished sword master. And it was also my first exposure to Clancy Brown who, as a result of this film, I would subsequently expect to portray the nastiest of villains whenever he showed up onscreen (and he all too often happily obliged).

Russell Mulcahy took his experience shooting music videos and created a visually stunning adventure. The use of the Queen songs is far more effective than how their music was deployed in Flash Gordon. (Yes, there were the inevitable sequels, as well as a TV series, all of which seem to have  forgotten the whole 'there can be only one' mantra.)—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: This movie sucks and so does the Queen soundtrack. And you can quote me on that. I think we have Highlander to blame for all the Harlequin bodice rippers of the 1980s. Or is it the other way around? At any rate, all of it should be thrown on a pile and ignited ASAP. I knew there would be some interesting picks made by my pal, John, but this is the first one that made me roll my eyes.

Jack: I've not seen this, but I don't know why. It seems like something I'd enjoy.

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 196: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 181

May 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #68

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

" 'Spragg' Conqueror of the Human Race!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★1/2

(r: Creatures on the Loose #15)

"Where Walks the Ghost" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #16)

"The Man from Mars!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #15)

After a massive earthquake rocks Transylvania, Professor Bob asks his boss if he can investigate. After arriving in Dracula's home town, Bob is given the cold shoulder by the villagers when he asks them about a strange, hastily erected wall just outside of town. With all the skill of a mountain climber, Bob scales the tall structure but is amazed to find that, at the top, the wall is electrified!

Not one to give in easily, Bob returns the next day with a rented plane (from Transylvania Plane Rentals, no doubt) and flies over the fence. The plane disintegrates and Bob is lucky that (for some reason) the other side of the wall is stocked with haystacks. His fall is cushioned and he travels farther inland to investigate. What he stumbles on drops his jaw to his feet. Several villagers, obviously under the spell of some diabolical mind control, lugging heavy mechanical instruments around a small mountain.

You think Bob has had it bad already? Just imagine the chills that run up his spine when he sees the hill has eyes! Yep, the mound of earth is alive and spouting out instructions for its slaves. Bob quickly learns the thing's name is " 'Spragg' Conqueror of the Human Race!" and that the only reason he, himself, is not under the control of the evil mountain is that his helmet is made of steel. Lucky Bob!

Bob has stumbled upon the evil Spragg just as it is about to reveal its horrifying origin: millions of years before, when our sun exploded and made the planets, Spragg and his colleagues became part of the underground, just waiting patiently for the right time. Now's the right time. What is Spragg's mission? To become the ruler of Earth and a really rich mountain. It dreams of receiving big bundles of cash and jewelry as tribute (honestly, this is really his goal--I ain't making this up!). With billions of dollars and lots of slaves at his command, Spragg will be the most powerful mountain in Europe!

But Bob has an ace up his sleeve and a keen knowledge of how mechanical instruments can be used against evil hills. He transforms lots of pipes and fuel (!) into a "rocket apparatus dynamo" and Spragg achieves liftoff, sending it into the deeps of space. Man is safe once again thanks to Bob the Builder. Just for that final series of panels of Spragg, angry look on his face, blasting into the air, this story is worth slogging through. This is one entertaining strip, possibly the first in Atlas history to feature a menace incapable of movement! But for its mental capabilities, Spragg might be dismissed as a novelty by locals who've been terrorized by more imposing monsters in the past.

In "Where Walks the Ghost," "Big" Monk McGraf escapes police custody and heads into the country to look for a place to hide. He finds a perfect house but the real estate agent swears it's haunted. Once Monk gets the keys, he threatens the agent with death but, the surprise is on Monk, the old man is the ghost that haunts the dilapidated estate. Scared out of his mind, Monk rushes to the police to beg them to arrest him. Last up is the equally lame "The Man from Mars!," wherein famously cheap carnival owner Joe Krunk hits on the idea of a new attraction: a man from Mars! He talks a skid row bum into dressing up as the alien but then Joe gets the surprise of his life when... yep, you guessed it... the bum is the real deal. Only Joe was fooled.-Peter

Strange Tales #84

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Wonder of the Ages!!! Magneto!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #24)

"Twelve Silent Men!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"They Met on Mars!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #24)

Super freak Hunk Larken (all eight feet and 350 pounds of him) only wants to find his place in society but everyone treats him like a carnival attraction. Hunk thinks he's found a friend in a man who acts as his agent, trying to farm Hunk out to a professional sports team, but his gigantic proportions throw his timing off and baseball, basketball, and boxing all go out the window.

Without a job and on his own, Hunk stumbles upon a carnival, where the owner hires him for the freak show. That goes well for about twenty minutes and then the big galoot grows tired of perfect strangers asking him how the weather is up there and starts pounding hayseeds into the ground. Once again, Hunk is without a vocation. Then, he answers an ad placed by the government looking for a few good men to send up in rocket ships to do a little space testing.

Astronaut Hunk Larken exits Earth's atmosphere and rockets right through a strange radioactive mist that makes him feel really ill. NASA brings him home immediately but, upon exiting the capsule, Hunk discovers that he can attract metal objects with his left arm and repel them with his right! Gone is Hunk and in his place stands "The Wonder of the Ages!!! Magneto!" The big guy swears, as God is his witness, he'll never go hungry again and starts robbing banks and picking up big boats and silly stuff like that.

Meanwhile, Hunk's sports agent sees the behemoth on TV and contacts the government, informing them that the only reason the giant is acting up is because he's been mistreated by his fellow man. Magneto just needs a little kindness and he'll stop his criminal ways. Hunk overhears a news report that the government plans to send another ship into space. Knowing he'll never fit in on Earth, he stows away on the rocket and blasts off to parts unknown. In space, Hunk "Magneto" Larken gets a message from NASA, informing him that the rocket is a gift from Earth and apologizing for the rude behavior shown him. The ship has enough food onboard to last for years. "Good luck to you, Magneto! May you find your destiny--out there!"

Here's an apology for ya--we've treated you like the ugly stepsister for years so, to make up for it, we're blasting you into space and you may or may not find a planet more to your liking; if not, you'll die of starvation! There's entirely too much character buildup and not enough payoff (we're to page eight of thirteen before Hunk gets his powers) but the draw here is the obvious inspiration for the X-Men's most famous nemesis just a couple years before the title was launched. Hunk is unique in that he doesn't grow to 20 feet tall or sprout fangs and a hairy suit (unlike the guy on the cover); he's already a really big guy. Sometimes, spotting these early influences is the most fun these 1960s Atlas strips provide.

Victor Fabius, the world's most successful lawyer (122-0 with 88 knockouts in the courtroom) has grown bored with his relatively small fortune and decides he really must expand his horizons and make some serious coin. So Victor does what any other inhabitant of the Atlas Universe would do: he steals an experimental time machine and travels one hundred years into the future, with an eye to checking out old horse racing magazines and Wall Street Journals and then heading back to 1961 armed with lots of sure-fire info with which to grow his fortune. Victor runs into a problem when he's put on trial for stealing the time machine. "Twelve Silent Men!" begins with a ludicrous concept (if time travel is possible then everyone would travel to the future to cash in) and fizzles out quickly.

Last up is "They Met on Mars!," a fairly decent red-scare quickie about two aliens who meet on the red planet, ready to declare that world as their own. Turns out one is American and one is a stinkin' commie. Of course, since this is 1961, the Russkie is scouting an outer space base for the commies to destroy anything and everyone they find objectionable. Have no fear, since the American blows up the USSR ship and flies away to freedom. This one starts promisingly but transitions into overly familiar (Stan Lee) territory. At least the always dependable Steve Ditko is holding our collective hand as we make our way through the land mines of the Cold War.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #17

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Beware of Googam, Son of Goom!!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #16)

"There is Something Strange About Mr. Jones!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Fear #10)

"What Lurks in the Mountain?" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Creatures on the Loose #18)

Two issues ago, we read about Goom, a creature from space who wanted to rule the world but was outsmarted by an astronomer named Mark. Little did the scientist know that Goom left his infant son, Googam, hidden in a nearby cave!

Mark's teenaged son, Billy, is out exploring one day when he is captured by Googam. When Mark points a rifle at the young alien, Googam breaks the gun in half and announces that he's moving in with Mark and his family. They will be his prisoners until he's fully grown and his powers mature. Googam puts a force field around Billy each night to prevent the family from escaping.

A local busybody named Sara pays a visit to Mark's house and is scared away by the sudden appearance of Googam, but by the time she gets home she's convinced herself it was a prank. Googam keeps growing and getting stronger, passing the time by demonstrating how he can shrink Mark's family just by concentrating. Mark tries to alert the mailman with a note thrown out the window, but Googam witnesses this and chases the letter carrier away.

Finally, Billy has an idea. He challenges Googam to a game of tag and the alien chases the lad down the mountainside, where Googam sinks in quicksand that Billy avoided by climbing a tree. Will Googam return in a future issue?

"Beware of Googam, Son of Goom!!" features the odd spectacle of a big monster who never goes anywhere and who never really menaces anyone. In addition to the red swim trunks that match his skin color, he also appears to have some sort of cape that only appears when he raises his mighty arms. During the time he lives with Mark's family, does he wash his outfit? Does it have to be washed in cold water because it's red? Does he have an extra-large bathrobe to wear while Helen is doing the laundry?

The other thing we've mentioned before is Kirby's penchant for including, in what seems like every story, at least one panel that shows a view of planet Earth from outer space, with dialogue balloons showing what the earthbound characters are discussing. Why? Is this supposed to make the story seem more universal? This story includes two such panels, one on page eight, where Sara and her husband discuss her need to know what's going on with Mark's family, and another on page eleven, where the mailman talks to others about Goom and they insist he needs a vacation. What does it all mean?

A petty crook named Freddy Sykes ambushes an old scrub woman in an office building and steals her purse, netting him fourteen dollars. A cop spots him leaving the building and Freddy hides among the crowd at Grand Central Station, where he overhears Mr. Jones say that he keeps his entire fortune in a locker that is one hundred percent safe! We may realize that "There is Something Strange About Mr. Jones!," but Freddy isn't that savvy, so he follows the man to the waterfront. Freddy holds Mr. Jones at gunpoint and demands to see his locker. Jones obliges, grabbing Freddy and jumping off the side of the pier. Jones pulls Freddy down and shows him where his fortune is hidden--in Davy Jones' Locker!

Heck is best when drawing sinister people and avoiding monsters, so this short tale works reasonably well, though the twist ending is hardly a surprise.

After taking over yet another country, the stinkin' commies work the locals hard. One of the old natives reveals that  a spaceship landed outside the village, so the greedy Red general demands to know more, thinking that capturing an alien ship will make him the greatest hero since Lenin. After using threats to get information, the general marches to the mountain outside the village, where he imagines what the aliens will look like. He reaches the top of the mountain and is angry that he sees no aliens, until the mountain itself launches into space, taking the general and his soldiers along for the ride.

There's little story in "What Lurks on the Mountain?," so Ditko has to find a way to fill five pages. The full page splash gives away the ending and page four features three panels that show what the general imagines the aliens look like, so Ditko gets to draw a dragon and two monsters. This makes two stories this month where a mountain blasts off into space!-Jack

Tales to Astonish #19

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Rommbu!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #7)

"The Thing with the Red Eyes" (a: Don Heck) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #7)

"The Terrible Trap!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #7)

Being a brilliant geologist wasn't enough for John Hunter--he turned to a life of crime thinking the money was better. He's sentenced to life imprisonment and put on a train to the penitentiary, but the train trip is interrupted when a spaceship lands on the tracks and John escapes out a bathroom window. From the spaceship comes "Rommbu!," a big, red alien wearing tight shorts. As the big guy explains to a crowd of onlookers that he's a warrior from the Fourth Galaxy, whose inhabitants have chosen Earth as their next site of conquest, John scampers aboard the flying saucer to hide.

Rommbu demonstrates the awesome superiority of his weapons by pointing a ray gun at a pair of folks and shrinking them to twelve inches high. He announces that he'll return to the sky to await his fellow warriors and takes off into space! Rommbu soon senses John's presence aboard his ship and uses a Mind Prober to read John's mind and learn about his criminal past. The big red dude decides that John's lack of concern for his fellow humans will make him useful. Just then, American jet fighters attack Rommbu's ship in vain. He admits to John that, if Rommbu is defeated, the invasion will be called off.

When John learns that Rommbu needs to land somewhere to recharge his ship's batteries (how?), he recommends the deserted volcanic island of Watuna and the ship lands there, after blowing up a Polaris missile and lifting a submarine out of the water. John convinces Rommbu to land his ship right in the middle of a volcanic crater and, very soon, the volcano erupts, destroying Rommbu, his ship, and John Hunter. John's younger brother realizes that his sibling gave his life to save the people of Earth.

These giant alien/monster stories are definitely going in a different direction. No more do they appear and head straight for a large city where they can stomp around and do damage. It's interesting that John is killed at the end; usually, it seems like the main character finds a way to escape. I suppose he was allowed to sacrifice himself because he was a crook who had been sentenced to life in prison. I want to point out one more Kirby-ism in this story that seems to pop up frequently--the panel of floating heads in a crowd, usually featuring a selection of men's hats, eyeglasses, and facial hair to distinguish one person from another.

Back in the Roaring Twenties, Vince Kane was in charge of the Yellow Spider Gang. He doesn't care for Al Rocco, who is trying to take over the gang, so when he passes a store window and sees a pincushion doll that resembles Al, he buys it and shows it off the next time the gang gets together. To Vince's surprise, every time he sticks a pin in the doll, Al winces. A quick bit of research at the public library convinces Kane that the doll is some sort of voodoo thingy, so he goes to his office on the thirtieth floor and pulls the doll out of a drawer without turning on the lights. He drops the doll out of the window without looking at it and--surprise!--Al reveals that he's there, too, and that he switched the face on the doll so it resembles Vince. What will happen when it hits the ground?

The story's title is "The Thing With The Red Eyes," which refers to the voodoo doll. Where exactly can one find a store like this? I might bring my shopping list. Heck draws a pretty spooky doll, but what kind of an idiot is Vince not to look at the doll before he drops it out of the window?

Bart Magor is a proud, bald hunter who enjoys torturing animals. Universal Zoos, Inc., telephones and asks him to round up a new supply of wild beasts; just for fun, he brings along a little maze to watch a mouse struggle to find the exit. In Africa, Bart sets a trap and begins to collect wild animals, all the while watching the mouse run around in the maze. The next day, Bart is himself trapped by a pair of giant aliens who drop him in a maze and enjoy watching his futile efforts to escape "The Terrible Trap!"

Ditko really nails this one, especially his drawings of the animals and the aliens, who are both scary and fun. Bart refers to the rodent in his maze as a mouse but it sure looks like a rat to me.-Jack

Thursday...
Antonio Bay Celebrates
its Centennial!

And Next Week...
You'll Be Amazed at
These New Adventures!