Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 189: Atlas/ Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 174

October 1960

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #61

Cover by Jack Kirby & George Klein

"I Defied Gomdulla--The Living Pharaoh!" ★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #12)

"I Dared Enter the Haunted Forest!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #13)

"I Opened the Door to... Nowhere!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Tower of Shadows #1)(r: Where Monsters Dwell #17)

"The Curse of M'Gumbu!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Fear #7)

Thanks to a couple of young brats fooling around in an Egyptian museum, the giant mummy, Gomdulla, once again walks the earth! The gargantuan bandaged pharaoh busts out of the museum and disappears into the Egyptian desert. Getting wind that a sinister cult has arisen around the resuscitated behemoth, Interpol sends their number one agent to investigate.

Paul infiltrates the cult as they are performing one of their twisted ceremonies, with Gomdulla holding court over his tiny subjects. Believing the creature to be an inanimate statue, Paul whips out his .44 Magnum and arrests the high priest of Gomdulla. Suddenly, the giant mummy arises and begins tossing huge boulders at the astonished agent. Luckily, the high priest intervenes and shuts down the bandaged behemoth. Later, at the hospital, the high priest explains to Paul that Gomdulla was actually an ancient outer space visitor who was in hibernation. Paul, from his hospital bed exclaims "I Defied Gomdulla--the Living Pharaoh!" This is pretty juvenile stuff (yeah, I know, it all is), with not much action and some awful dialogue. The real problem is that, due to the sparse word count, by the time the action gets going, it's time to shut it all down. I suspect that this is what led Stan to authorize longer "giant monster epics." We will all be the richer. Gotta admit, as dumb as "Gomdulla" may be, the Kirby/Ayers art is striking in spots.

Bigot and snob (but very rich) Darius Zorn discovers a forest in a European valley that glows in the dark and he really must have it. The local villagers warn that if Zorn moves into the forest, the Gods will dry up their crops but the self-absorbed zillionaire won't hear of it. He pays an exorbitant price for the land and then moves in. Shortly after, he is visited by a "man in black" who warns Zorn that he faces peril if he does not move out. Scoffing, Zorn throws the man off his property but then pays the ultimate price when it turns out the man in black is, in reality, an alien from another dimension in a galaxy four quadrants south of France. The creature kidnaps Zorn and exhibits him in a zoo on another planet. "I Dared Enter the Haunted Forest!" is indicative of the vast majority of Atlas tales in 1960: no matter what it all comes down to aliens from another world. Don Heck isn't given much to work with but the art is not bad to look at.

On the run from the law, a burglar steps into a curio shop and forces the owner to open the mysterious door in the back room. Little does the criminal know that he will serve his time whether it's in the pen or it's in purgatory. Every door he opens leads to another door! "I Opened the Door to... Nowhere!" couldn't even get Steve Ditko interested this time out. We never learn what the secret of the never-ending doors is but that's about the only positive. Last up is the dull "The Curse of M'Gumbu!," about a tribe of young roughnecks in the Amazon who are tired of being reined in by their witch doctor and decide to quiet him forever. The witch doctor has something to say about that, though. "M'Gumbu" crawls along at a snail's pace and sports some very weak Reinman visuals. Another loser of an issue.-Peter

Strange Tales #77

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

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

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #5)

"I Am the Beast-Man!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #10)

"The Strange Magic of Master Khan!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #5)(r: Uncanny Tales #10)

"Am I the... Unhuman?" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

Even though the menace of Taboo was seemingly eliminated thanks to a very clever scientist (see Jack's rundown on the first "Taboo" adventure back in Strange Tales #75), the big glob of mud is back! That's right, even though Taboo was blown to smithereens in outer space, the thousands of bits of the creature drifted back into Earth's atmosphere, landing in several places around the globe. Slowly but surely, the pieces began to crawl towards Central Park, where the slop began to form... to shape... to metamorphosize... into Taboo!!!

Soldier's bullets... atomic submarines... cannons... nothing can stop the great god of mud! Taboo destroys half of Manhattan but slows his progress long enough to deliver an ultimatum to the ants below him... surrender or die! But New Yorkers are tough and, to paraphrase Churchill, "We will never, never give up to a pile of s%#t like you, Taboo!" The giant laughs and begins his destructive walk through New York again when a fearful sight appears in the sky: a giant spaceship made out of mud. "Could this have something to do with Taboo?", screeches a terrified onlooker! "Hahahahaha," chortles the giant, "The ship contains the rest of the invasion party!" 

But Taboo is quite wrong, as the leader of the mud-men explains, the ship has come to take Taboo back to X-38, Third Planet from the Dimension on the Right. Turns out Taboo is an escaped mental patient (probably the bars on his cell were made of mud) and the boys are here to see that he makes it back safely. They apologize to mankind and lift off into space, leaving the onlookers to ponder our insignificance in the galaxy. "The Return of Taboo!" was just goofy enough to keep my attention. I love the panels where Taboo, his mud buddies, and even the spaceship are constantly dripping, leaving me to wonder if the army couldn't have whipped up some kind of giant Easy-Bake Oven to dry Taboo out. 

"I Am the Beast-Man!" tells the hilarious story of  a brilliant but evil genius who concocts a formula which transforms him into a dog, the best form in which to carry out a series of jewelry thefts. Our dopey amateur scientist lets us know every two or three panels that if he doesn't get back under the rays of his Dog-Man Transformer Ray™, he'll be stuck as a canine for thirty days. Just as he's pilfering the wall safe, the homeowner comes home and he's forced to flee. Unfortunately, our Man-Dog is picked up by the dog catcher and taken to the pound. Let me be the first to say that, even though this story is a dog, it got some sustained chuckles from this bored comic book reader. The title worked much better when it was used a couple months prior in Journey Into Mystery #59. Doubtless you'll remembered that beast-man, the commie who put on a bear suit and changed for the better.

Captain Hawk Gormey sets his eyes on the ship belonging to Master Khan and knows he will do whatever he must to own her. First he inquires as to a price but Khan tells him "no sale" so he stoops to less legal means. Gormey drugs the entire Khan crew and then he throws the Master himself in the brig before setting sail to the sea. But it's not long before one of his men tells the Captain that Khan has gone missing. 

Just then, they see the Oriental occultist standing on the waves. He laughs and tells Gormey that since he wanted the ship so badly he can have her now. The men watch in terror as the Master disappears and an eerie fog rolls in. It appears as though the ship is now standing still on a layer of ice. In the end, we discover that Khan's ship, with Gormey and crew still aboard, is trapped in a glass bottle. Nice little twist in the end (though I swear I've seen it before) but let's not kid ourselves, this is all Ditko, prepping for Doctor Strange in just a few years. "The Strange Magic of Master Khan!" is another of those strips that remained in my brain for 55+ years, courtesy of Where Monsters Dwell.

Standing in the shadow of his father and grandfather, two men who advanced the science of robotics, Gideon Burr boasts that he has made an even greater impact: an android so human that no one would be able to tell the difference. He is his own guinea pig and, very soon, he is conversing with an exact replica of himself. This proves troublesome when robots are outlawed and the police come to Gideon's door. But which one is the real Gideon Burr? For most of the running length of "Am I the... Unhuman?," the story is involving and clever but then a happy ending is foisted on us, I assume to avoid the clash with the CCA. That's a pity; Stan would have been better off leaving the end solution hazy.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #12

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Discovered Gorgilla! The Monster of Midnight Mountain!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #9)(r: Weird Wonder Tales #21)

"My Nightmare Has No End!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

(r: Fantasy Masterpieces #4)(r: Fear #4)(r: Tomb of Darkness #19)

"Save Me! Save Me!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

(r: Fear #3)

"A Monster Waits Outside!!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Fear #3)(r: Chamber of Chills #24)

Convinced that the Missing Link last lived in Borneo, an archaeologist named Scotty rounds up some other scientists and heads to the island where natives reveal that the Link still lives and is worshipped as a god by local headhunters! Scotty and co. make their way to Midnight Mountain, where they scale a huge wall and come face to face with Gorgilla, the giant Missing Link, half man and half ape!

Gorgilla is busy attacking the archaeologists when a T-Rex shows up and the two creatures fight. Gorgilla wins and is worn out, but Scotty decides to leave him in peace and the archaeologists fly back to the U.S.

What a load of hooey! "I Discovered Gorgilla! The Monster of Midnight Mountain!" borrows liberally from King Kong. There's the trip to the mysterious island, the great big wall, and the giant ape man. He grabs a tree that one of the men is hanging onto and then battles a T-Rex. Thank goodness Scotty and co. decide to give up--otherwise, we'd have to see Gorgilla on stage in NYC and climbing the Empire State Building.

Each night, a man's happy dreams are interrupted by the arrival of a shadowy figure. Eventually, the figure materializes and identifies itself as an alien from the planet Zendu who has crossed dimensions to change places with the dreamer. The alien explains that, on Zendu, people live for 1000 years and robots do all the work. He is bored and wants to experience the challenges of living on Earth. The dreamer agrees to change places and, once the process is underway, the alien tells him that he couldn't stand the boredom. The dreamer arrives on Zendu, in the alien's body, while the alien wakes up on Earth, in the dreamer's body. Too bad he's in a jail cell on Death Row!

Heck's art is a bit rough in "My Nightmare Has No End!," but I did not see that ending coming, which is quite an accomplishment at this point in my journey through bad Atlas comics. It's unusual that neither character is given a name.

A brilliant scientist named Albert Poole wants to steal the plans for a new national defense project, but they are on a yacht on the water. Since radar detects anything more than ten feet above the water and sonar detects anything in the water, Poole decides that the best way to approach the yacht undetected is to rearrange his body's atoms so he can walk on water. After some failed experiments he succeeds, walks to the yacht, steals the plans, and walks home. Unfortunately, he must cry "Save Me! Save Me!" because his ability to walk on water makes him sink when he steps on land!

A caption under the last panel reassures the reader that Poole will be rescued and he'll have to live the rest of his life with the guilt of his treasonous act. What I don't understand is why someone who can walk on water would sink on land. I guess it's supposed to be the principle of opposites. Reinman's art is better than usual.

Major Ford is placed in a small cylinder and launched into space in order to test a man's reaction to prolonged isolation and confinement. As the hours pass he begins to get bored, then he becomes convinced that "A Monster Waits Outside!!" The monster breaks in and suddenly Ford is back on Earth, where he is told that he hallucinated due to solitude. But why are there giant scratches on the outside of the sphere, and where did the big red claw come from?

Yet again, an Atlas story prefigures an episode of The Twilight Zone. This time it's "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." In both versions, a man in flight thinks he sees a creature, is thought to have hallucinated on return to Earth, and we are left with evidence that the monster really existed. It's fun to imagine Richard Matheson poring over Tales to Astonish for story ideas.-Jack

This Thursday...
The Dude Looks to
Us For Wisdom

And Next Week...
He is Groot!

The 100 Chapter 7: 88 & 87

Who doesn't love a list?

I devour the BFI Best Films of All Time list whenever they deem it necessary to revise and I (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

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) Starring: Edward Judd, Leo McKern, Janet Munro.

Directed by Val Guest

"They've shifted the tilt of the Earth. The crazy, stupid, irresponsible bastards. They've finally done it."

Imagine for a moment you're Val Guest, standing in front of the fifth studio you've pitched your screenplay to. "It's about the end of the world. The hammer that falls is climate change, something 99% of our prospective audience knows nothing nor cares one whit about, triggered by simultaneous nuclear testing by the US and USSR. Our hero is an alcoholic, self-obsessed asshole whose best days as a newspaper reporter are far behind him. Oh, and at the end I refuse to disclose whether humanity is saved. Well, boys, whattya think?"

Never mind that The Day the Earth Caught Fire is at least three decades ahead of its time, chastising each and every one of us for our shameful waste and arrogance, it's also a very entertaining experience. The dialogue is non-stop wit, doling out scientific exposition while also veering into comedic territory now and then, delivered by an aces cast headlined by a never better Edward Judd (who, despite being given an "and introducing" billing, was a veteran of films and TV). Judd manages to elicit both sympathy and disdain in his performance as Peter Smelling, once a top journalist now reduced to writing 500-word exposes on sunspots thanks to a relationship with the bottle. 

At times, the Blu-ray treatment can expose the low-budget nature of The Day the Earth Caught Fire (Fleet Street clearly ends only a few yards from the action and gives way to painted backgrounds), but if you've ever visited London you'll marvel at just what Guest was able to get away with (during production, the director was only allowed access to one of the city's busiest avenues for two minutes at a time) and excuse any imperfections. That final scene, of the two newspaper headlines ready to roll at the printer, one displaying hope, the other doom, while the bells at St. Paul's ring, is the perfect place to leave us.

If you want happy endings and mindless fluff with your doomsday, I direct you to Michael Bay's Armageddon, but if you revel in bleak, thoughtful storytelling as I do, this is your banquet.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: This sounds like one I would've watched but I don't recall for certain. I get Val Guest movies mixed up.

John: Great flick. I'm glad that by the time I discovered it, they had released it on DVD (and carried over to Blu-ray) with the color-tinted sequences intact, which I think really enhances the experience. 

The Shining (1980)

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Jack Torrance takes his wife Wendy and son Danny to the remote Overlook Hotel in Colorado, where he has been hired as caretaker for the winter. With Jack's history of domestic violence and alcoholism, is this a good idea? Once the snow starts to fall and the family becomes isolated, strange things begin to happen, and before you know it, Jack is a raving maniac, wandering around the hotel with an axe.

I first saw The Shining the night of my high school graduation in June 1980 at the Blue Star Cinema in Watchung, NJ. I recall enjoying it and wondering what the heck happened at the end, so I ran out and bought the paperback, figuring it would give more details. I preferred the book to the movie and read all the Stephen King books I could get my hands on for the next several years.

I've seen the movie a few times in the intervening 46 years (!!) and it really holds up. I watched it again yesterday and at first was thinking it should be higher on my list. By the end, I was comfortable with it at #88 because this is a list of favorite movies, not best movies. The film is tremendously well made and the camerawork and sound blew me away. Nicholson is a riot and Kubrick uses his particular set of skills to mix humor and terror. I still don't love Shelley Duvall's performance, but she is very good at screaming and looking terrified! Danny Lloyd is terrific as Danny, the child, and I credit Kubrick for that. I was most struck by how good Scatman Crothers is as the older man who shares the Shining with Danny.

The other thing I noticed was how much the film owes to Hitchcock and Psycho, from the handling of suspense and sudden shocks to the music, especially near the end. Oh, and how much hair we all had back then! It's a great movie, but it's so disturbing that I couldn't watch it often, and I certainly don't light up when I see it's on TV and happily tune in at any point, as I do some of the movies closer to the top of my list.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Unlike you, Jack, I read the novel long before I saw the flick (at the Century in San Jose on opening night). With Kubrick at the helm and Nicholson in the lead, I was expecting The Shining to be fabulous but was immensely disappointed. I thought the fear factor in the book was dispensed with and Kubrick was fascinated with how crazy Nicholson looked in all those 1970s flicks. I know King hated what Kubrick did with his novel but I didn't read his comments until after I'd seen the movie myself so that didn't sway my opinion. Sure, it's got some classic scenes (the typewriter and the Duvall bathroom scene obviously) but there's so much more in the novel that reaches out and grabs you by the throat without resorting to cheap scares. The film also has a smell of pretension about it that turns me off. I know it was a critical darling (and remains so) but I think it's one of Kubrick's weaker projects. The mini-series wasn't much better so maybe The Shining is a story best read rather than seen.

John: I saw The Shining on home video before I read the book, and while I enjoyed it, I was too young to fully appreciate what Kubrick was doing. To be fair, only one Kubrick film has landed perfectly with me on my first viewing, but we can talk more about that in the months ahead. I'm glad I was recently able to see The Shining during a theatrical reissue, as it really benefits from the big screen experience. I did eventually read the book, and while I enjoyed it, it's not among my top 10 King books, either.

Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Starring: Robert Townsend, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Anne-Marie Johnson
Director: Robert Townsend

"There's always work at the post office."

While Hollywood Shuffle does have a narrative thread, it also plays out like a sketch comedy, and it's fantastic. Unlike most films of this nature, which often have as many (if not more) low points than they do high points, this one tends to have high points and higher points! Robert Townsend is dynamite as struggling actor Robbie Taylor. His adventures in the pursuit of an acting career are equally hilarious and heartbreaking. It was a no-brainer to include it on my list because it is so re-watchable and quotable. A couple of favorite sequences are the infomercial for Black Acting School and the movie reviews covered in 'Sneakin into the Movies'—in which we get a spin on Siskel & Ebert covering some familiar-looking films. This one has me smiling just thinking about it.—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: As with your Mighty Wind, this is one I never even considered attending. The 1980s, to me, was not an era ripe with funny comedies. To be perfectly honest, I don't associate the 1980s with much of anything in the quality department and my 100 will reflect that. 

Jack: I'm not familiar with this one at all. The title is vaguely familiar but I'm certain I've never seen it.

L. A. Confidential (1997)

Starring: James Cromwell, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe

Director: Curtis Hanson

"Go back to Jersey, sonny. This is the City of the Angels, and you haven't got any wings."

Up front: this is 90% all about the cast. Outside of Glengarry Glen Ross and The Godfather, I'm hard-pressed (but I'm sure John will say something about my faulty memory in the comments) to name a tighter-knit ensemble, each one worthy of an Oscar. Pearce and Crowe were foreigners no one knew anything about, Cromwell was the pig movie guy, and Kim Basinger (as the lone female star) had seen much better days career-wise. That left Kevin Spacey, an Oscar-decorated character actor who was about to hit the big time (and then flame out spectacularly decades later), as the "name" in this picture. It was James Ellroy's novel that got me in my seat at the AMC Mesa on opening day.

Spacey's great and his character provides the biggest jolt halfway through the flick but, to me, the revelation here is Cromwell, who delivers one of the screen's greatest villains as Captain Dudley Smith, cold as ice and handy with a revolver; you can just see the gears going around in his head throughout the picture's complex plots and sub-plots. This is one of those rare occasions when the movie improves upon the book.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: I saw this when it came out and really liked it, but I don't think I've seen it since.

John: It's been a while since I've seen L. A. Confidential, but I didn't come away from it anxious to watch it again and again.

Atomic Blonde (2017)
Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman
Director: David Leitch

David Percival: "Oh my God, I think I fucking love you!"

Lorraine Broughton: "That's too bad."

From the opening notes of David Bowie's "Putting Out the Fire" (from Cat People!), I was sold. Atomic Blonde is a perfectly scored '80s period piece (I'm already prepared for Peter's commentary on the songs). And it's a beautiful film to look at, before we even get to talking about Charlize Theron. I have always been a fan, but she certainly exceeded my expectations with this one. She's a full-fledged, kick-ass action star. There's a fight scene in a stairwell that's amazingly shot and choreographed, and as good as anything you'll find in a John Wick movie (it's no surprise Director Leitch co-created that franchise). The cold war thriller has plenty of interesting twists and turns, as well as some very funny bits, particularly involving handlers played by John Goodman and Toby Jones. I wasn't sure if this was going to make my top 100, but it was easier to let other titles slip off the list to ensure this one stayed on it.—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Oh, I can ignore the soundtrack but you'll get my full rundown on this classic very soon.

Jack: Never seen it.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton
Director: James Cameron

It's 1995 and John Connor is growing up! Skynet, the evil computer in the future, sends a T-1000, an advanced killing machine, back in time to kill John so he can't grow up and lead the resistance movement against the machines. Future John sends a reprogrammed T-800 back to protect young John. But can anything stop the shapeshifting, seemingly indestructible T-1000?

Man, this flick blew me away when I saw it first-run back in '91. It seemed like the special effects were nothing like anyone had ever seen before. Watching it today, they're still impressive. The movie gets off to a great start, with Arnold walking naked into a biker bar and walking out in head-to-toe black leather. He really is the epitome of cool in this movie. The chase scenes are fantastic, especially the first one with the truck chasing the moped and the last one with another truck chasing a pickup.

I like the way Cameron and Schwarzenegger play with the actor's persona, mixing humor and toughness and making Arnold a star of a different magnitude. The film slows down in the middle and could be shorter, but the little bits of philosophy (about changing the past to change the future) and ethics (about not letting one's self become a killing machine) allow for a bit of thought between kernels of popcorn.

Edward Furlong is annoying as anything as John Connor, but he does develop and grow during the movie. Has anyone ever been as tough as Linda Hamilton in this film? Robert Patrick was instantly recognizable as the T-1000 and even played it again in a cameo in—was it Wayne's World? The movie is incredibly violent but features fabulous stunt work and incredible driving. The end is satisfying emotionally. I still have a place in my heart for T2.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: I never bought into the hype. Well, I guess I did at first since I saw it opening weekend. Yep, for its time, the VFX are incredible but, past that, there's only Linda Hamilton and the decent Guns n Roses song to keep my interest. But, oh that Linda!

John: I remember being blown away by the visual effects when I saw T2 on opening night. While I still enjoy it, unlike the original Terminator, my esteem for T2 dropped considerably when I realized that the wow factor of that first viewing didn't carry over to subsequent viewings. 

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 188: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 173

September 1960

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #60

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"I Learned the Monstrous Secret of Bombu!" ★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #9)

"We Were Trapped with the Silent Monster!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #11)

"I Found the Things from Nowhere" ★1/2

(a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko)

(r: Fantasy Masterpieces #1)(r: Where Monsters Dwell #9)

"I Turned into a... Martian!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Fear #4)

Two adventurers crash their plane in the Amazon and are threatened by the natives. The pair are taken before the ancient god, Bombu, for their fates. Though the two men continuously scoff at Bombu's boasts and threats, they eventually come around to believing the creature is pretty darn powerful. Bombu can shrink an elephant to the size of a dog, transport skyscrapers to the jungle, and tempt the skies to storm. He explains to his two captives that he is actually an alien from another planet, sent here to scout for the obligatory invasion.

It's this last feat that turns out to be Bombu's undoing as his ferocious storm unleashes a lightning bolt that strikes down and kills the outer space visitor. Our two heroes look to the skies and wonder when the next Bombu will arrive. Though "I Learned the Monstrous Secret of Bombu!" is one cup of this and one ounce of that in the script department, the Kirby/Ayers visuals are a lot of fun. It's hilarious that this mighty menace feels the need to continually impress the two non-believers ("Wait, shrinking elephants doesn't impress you? Hold my beer!") as if his entire mission were based on convincing earthlings that there really is an armada on the way. And when will that invasion show up? Why have the Bombus left their poor emissary on his own for all these centuries? And my final question would be: if this Bombu is all that, why is he vanquished by a single lightning bolt? Doesn't bode well for the impending Bombu Brigade, does it? The Kirby/Ditko cover creature is much more imposing than the man-sized version.

Roderic Zorn, the world's greatest mining engineer, has decided he's going to dig a hole all the way to the center of the Earth. Why? Because he thinks he can. So he and a handful of workers (all clad in T-shirts and sports coats in order to survive the insane temperatures to be found at the bottom of a miles-deep hole) dig dig dig until they break through the very core of the Earth. Suddenly, a whole bunch of dragons burst through the wall of the mine and threaten the life of our intrepid explorers. Zorn, admitting that this catastrophe might be of his making and allowing how these dragons might find their way to the surface world and cause all kinds of damage before they're struck by lightning, sends his workers back up and lights a stick of dynamite. Roderic Zorn has given his life so that we might continue to read crappy comic books. 

Evidently forgetting they had just published the very similar "Rro, the Dragon That Was in a Big Pit and Came Up to Terrorize the World!!!" back in JIM #58 (also illustrated by Don Heck), Stan pushes on and gives us "We Were Trapped with the Silent Monster!," a captivating melodrama about a guy who likes to dig really deep holes for no reason at all (not even monetary it seems) and a pack of fire-breathing dragons who are silent for some reason. The latter is especially interesting because at no point does any of the knuckleheads who head down into the Earth's center stop and exclaim to his compadres, "Hey, youse guys, these monsters don't make any noise!"

A luckless baseball fan is trying to tune in to the seventh game of the 2001 World Series where the Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the Evil Empire of the New York Yankees (take that, Mr. Seabrook!) when a startling event plays over his hazy TV screen. It's a bit blurry but it seems to be two alien races battling each other for dominance. After calling every one of his friends in town and having them switch their dials 'round and consulting every issue of TV Guide he can find, our harried hero comes to the conclusion that this is no science fiction program but that his television set has become a receiver for coverage of war on another planet! "I Found the Things from Nowhere," he exclaims to no one in particular.

The thrills don't last, however and, while he's trying to bring the picture more into focus, suddenly the ball game reappears. "Oh well," our numb-skulled protagonist shrugs, "at least I'm in time to see the Yankees win Game Seven!" Turns out that, for whatever reason, this guy's set was picking up an intense battle between red and black ants in a hill outside his window. The only plus to this lame-brained tale is the striking contrast between styles of Kirby and Ditko and how the two were able to pull off collaborations despite the differences. Hilarious that this guy is so quickly convinced his TV must be picking up footage from another planet but never questions who is holding the video camera. The titles of these things are becoming increasingly more entertaining than the scripts. Watch for the sequel, "I Found the Things That Could Not Be Found!" coming soon.

Last up in this supremely dimwitted issue is the subtly titled "I Turned Into a... Martian!" wherein the first man to land on Mars is attacked by a monstrous creature and then, once back aboard his ship, finds himself switching places bodily with his assailant. The goal for the Martian is to land on Earth and do some conquering, but his plan is derailed in the end by the much brighter Earthman. Space travel was so much easier in the early 1960s when scientists were convinced that there was breathable air on Mars and an astronaut only needed a T-shirt, jeans, and a pack of Marlboros to do some exploring. Oxygen, who needs it?-Peter

Tales of Suspense #11

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Created... Sporr! The Thing That Could Not Die!" ★★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #2)

"I Know the Secret of the Flying Saucer!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

"Beware the Eyes of Igor!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"I Escaped to Another World!" (a: Don Heck) ★

A brilliant but pretty stupid scientist travels to Castle Frankenstein (for inspiration?) to work on his world-saving growth machine, a ray blaster that will increase cows, ducks, and even chicken nuggets to huge sizes. "No longer will a man have to order his wife to get him another beer from the fridge after I zap a six-pack of Moretti with my Huge-O Zapper™!" Alas, down in the village below, a crowd has gathered, egged on by the villager who lost his arm and daughter to the Frankenstein Monster two centuries before: "Ve haff to shtop dis shtranger from cooking up more terror!"

Just as our nameless genius is zapping an amoeba with his ray-gun machine, the villagers crash through the door and grab him (what they intend to do with him is anyone's guess), taking him to their (pretty useless as we come to find out) village jail. With no one to hit the "off" switch, little amoeba becomes big "Sporr!" and it destroys the castle and heads downhill for something to eat. When the townsfolk see the giant orange squid heading toward their homes, they naturally panic and head for the hills. Only Sporr's creator keeps his nerve, saving a little street urchin from being absorbed by the giant critter.

Dynamite does not even slow Sporr's gleeful journey of destruction. Luckily, our genius/idiot scientist remembers that amoebae are attracted to sugar (true fact, according to Google!) and he heads to the local sugar factory, coating himself with the stuff. He then goes out to the obligatory swamp and lures Sporr to its death in quicksand. The genius heads back into town where he swears he will never meddle in things man was not supposed to meddle with, while the townsfolk promise they'll toss their pitchforks and torches in the dump. 

I found "Sporr!" to be one of the most entertaining giant menace yarns of the new Atlas Age. So many giggle-worthy aspects: why does this guy feel the need to trek all the way to Transylvania and Castle Frankenstein to test out his theories on growth and did he feel a little embarrassed when the locals reminded him that it's actually Castle Dracula that's located in Transylvania and that Frankenstein's estate is actually about 1700 kilometers down the Larry Talbot Highway in Germany? An extra star has been awarded for the panel where frightened villagers stand above "Transylvania," watching Sporr destroy everything they've built, when one of their number calmly shouts, "Hey, guys, I just forgot... I lit the fuse on some dynamite before we left town. Let's see what happens!" Also, why would our smart/dumb egghead assume quicksand would kill a giant amoeba?

Like a lot of the Kirby/Lee giant monster stories on the horizon, "I Created... Sporr! The Thing that Could Not Die!" (or should that be "I Created Sporr, the Thing that Could Not Die... Until It Died!") is a story I read in that first wave of early 1970s reprint titles, in this case as the cover story of Where Monsters Dwell #2. Let's just agree here and now that Dwell and its sister pub, Where Creatures Roam, were the comic book equivalent of Doritos Nacho Cheese Chips for us pre-teen monster kids.

Steve Ditko saves the day yet again with his art in "I Know the Secret of the Flying Saucer!" wherein a UFO itself narrates the tale of a Martian invasion of Earth. The only novelty in the script is that, once the ships are cracked open, we learn there are no pilots. Mars just wants to know what we're up to so they fly back home without destroying any major tourist attractions. 

Master thief Igor learns how to use hypnotism in order to up his game. He and his three henchmen then make a short 3-D film of Igor going through his hypnosis speech ("Look into my eyes... deeper... deeper...") and take it down to the local movie theater. They put the audience into a trance but are too stupid to avoid watching the film themselves. The climax shows the quartet in prison (same cell!), having completely forgotten what the heist was going to be in the first place. The novelty in "Beware the Eyes of Igor!" is that these four clods decide a movie theater is their prime target rather than, say, Bruce Wayne's charity ball. Last up is "I Escaped to Another World!" A jailbird sees a report on TV about a scientist who has built a time machine and decides going back 100 years in the past would be perfect for his situation. But, after breaking out of the pen and convincing the professor to send him back to 19th-century London. the dope accidentally murders his own grandfather (what are the chances?) and then ceases to exist. By this time, every outcome of time travel had been dished out in funny books, so why not continue to recycle, right?-Peter

Tales to Astonish #11

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Found Monstrom! The Dweller in the Black Swamp!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Fear #1)

"I Was Face-to-Face with the Forbidden Robot!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Fear #1)(r: Dead of Night #10)

"I Dared to Look Into the Beyond!" (a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #6)(r: Crypt of Shadows #18)

"I Wore... The Mask of Drothor!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Chamber of Darkness #7)(r: Dead of Night #10)

A novelist from up north takes his wife, Sara, and young son, Billy, to Bayou Country to soak up the local color. One day, as John is writing, his wife tells him that Billy has been gone for hours. John grabs his rifle and heads to the nearby swamp to look for the lad. He finds Billy, who tells his dad that "I Found Monstrom! The Dweller in the Black Swamp!" Sure enough, a giant creature rises from the mud and begins to lumber after father and son, who escape only when an alligator chomps onto Monstrom's leg.

John and Billy rush home, where Sara joins them in the car and they barely avoid being squashed by a giant foot. The sheriff doesn't believe the writer's story until another man confirms it. As Monstrom lumbers through the town, wrecking things left and right, it starts to rain, and the creature is scared by a bolt of lightning. The townsfolk realize that it's afraid of fire, so they light torches and chase it back to the swamp, where it sinks back into the muck.

Little do the Earthlings know that Monstrom is down there with his spaceship, which crash landed on our planet ten centuries ago! He's super-intelligent and realizes that we're just too dumb and scared to reason with. It's back to suspended animation for Monstrom until humans evolve some more!

This is a pretty standard monster tale until the last panel on page five, where Kirby draws a view of the Earth from outer space. The regular Atlas reader at this point begins to shake with fear, afraid that we're going down that road again. Sure enough, the final panel on page seven is more than half filled with captions, explaining that Monstrom isn't really bad, he's just a misunderstood alien. Was this the way Stan and Jack got around the ban on horror comics?

By 1967, robots had been banned for five years because they were considered dangerous. Ralph is unhappy about his inability to provide a good life for his wife, Anne, so he happens on a brilliant scheme to capture an illegal robot and become a hero! But where to find an illegal robot? Ralph heads for the warehouse where robots are kept after they've been deactivated. He restarts one and uses his Apple watch to monitor its progress until he loses track of it near an abandoned castle.

Ralph scales the castle wall, enters the fortress, and is able to exclaim that "I Was Face-to-Face with the Forbidden Robot!" He throws a chain around the machine's neck and gets an electric jolt in return; later, Ralph hurls a spear at the robot, which chases him. In desperation, Ralph throws his lantern at the hunk of metal and ignites a fire. The robot saves Ralph and is destroyed; though Ralph is hailed as a hero, he confesses that robots got a bad rap and the laws banning them are rewritten.

Lather, rinse, repeat. This is one of the dumbest stories yet! Ralph's plan is idiotic and the idea that he has to scale the wall of a castle to search for the robot is bizarre. Oh, and when confronted with a robot in a castle, what better to do than throw a chain at it, hurl a spear at it, and toss a lantern at it? Of course, the payoff is that the robot was just misunderstood all along, and Ralph's moronic plan ends up canceling the ban on robots. At least Don Heck's art is decent, though I can't imagine what he must have thought when he was handed this script.

Derek is a scientist in the year 2050, when people routinely pass through a time tunnel to travel into the past. No one thinks travel to the future is possible, but Derek is determined and works until he invents a time machine that will go forward rather than backward. Clutching a pennant that reads "2050 A.D.," Derek zips forward 1000 years, only to find a primitive planet with no inhabitants. He sadly plants his little flag on a hill and returns to his own time, convinced he's gone into the past like everyone else. If only Derek had looked a little further, he would've seen the marker that explained that mankind left Earth in the year 3045, looking for a larger, more fertile planet.

Kirby and Ditko do a decent job of illustrating a story that is reasonably interesting until the twist ending, which we've seen many times before. "I Dared to Look Into the Beyond!" is a misleading title. I enjoyed the panel of Derek sitting in his time machine, which looks suspiciously like the one Rod Taylor used in the movie, which was released around the time this comic came out, holding his little "2050" flag.

A mask maker named Markas is depressed because his former fame has disappeared and now he only makes masks for parties. He reads the ancient legend of Drothor, an ugly man  who long ago turned to the Black Arts. Markas creates a mask of Drothor and dons it, convinced that he can commit robberies with abandon because no one will recognize him. Sadly, the cops follow him home and, when he pulls off the mask, his face still looks like that of Drothor!

Thank goodness that Ditko gave his all when he drew "I Wore... the Mask of Drothor!" The story is as dumb as they come. The splash page is a winner, though.-Jack

This Thursday...
All Work and No Play...
Right, Jack?

And Next Week...
Gomdulla Shows Mummex
How to Get Business Done

The 100 Chapter 6: 90 & 89

 

Who doesn't love a list?

I devour the BFI Best Films of All Time list whenever they deem it necessary to revise and I (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

A History of Violence (2005) 

Starring: Viggo Mortenson, Maria Bello, Ed Harris

Directed by: David Cronenberg

"My husband does not know you. He wouldn't know you, somebody like you."

This is a deceptively easy movie to summarize once you've seen it but, while you're watching it for the first time, the pieces take a long time to fit together. Mortenson's Tom Stall sure seems like Smalltown, USA's most loved diner owner, a guy who'd give you that piece of pie and coffee for free if you were down on your luck; he'd be the first one out to the neighbors' place to help put out the barn fire. After some trouble at the diner involving two psychopaths lands him on the nationwide news, you can see he's very uncomfortable with the attention. But surely that's because he really doesn't believe himself to be a hero, right?

When mobster Ed Harris comes to town and harasses Tom, telling him he knows his real identity, it's surely a horrific case of mistaken identity, right? Family man Tom couldn't really be gangster Joey Cusack, hiding from his past, could he? Once you know the twist, you can look for the clues, and David Cronenberg does not cheat. That's a very important point. A lot of these "he's not who he seems to be" flicks will manipulate characters, dialogue, and situations to fit their ultimate surprise reveal, but Cronenberg leaves a trail of breadcrumbs (the way Mortenson watches himself on TV and shakes his head can be construed differently on the second viewing), almost hoping you'll see what's coming. Once we do find out the big secret and Viggo's demeanor changes, it's done organically, as if Tom Stall might just have a split personality. 

This cast is top-notch, from Mortenson to the incredibly sexy Bello to the never more hammy William Hurt (in what could only be described as a glorified cameo). In an interesting contrast, Mortenson would work with Cronenberg again two years later in Eastern Promises, a movie that takes the premise of History and reverses it.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery

Jack: I saw this in a theater when it came out. I remember that my wife and I were on vacation somewhere and knew nothing about it. We walked in cold and I was blown away. This should probably be on my list. Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris are great in it, but William Hurt just cracked me up. His scene near the end is a classic.

John: Undoubtedly a great flick—perhaps Cronenberg's best. And one that was under consideration for my top 100 but didn't quite make the cut on the day. A fantastic cast (Ed Harris, who is always great, is particularly good in this), but I have to call out the one you failed to mention—Maria Bello. She's great as Tom's wife, who's learning about his history along with the audience. 

To Be or Not To Be (1942)

Starring: Jack Benny and Carole Lombard

Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch

When the Nazis invade Poland in 1942, the members of a Polish acting troupe must rise to the occasion to stop a spy from exposing members of the underground resistance movement.

This has always been one of my favorites and rewatching it recently I found that it was as good as ever. The movie is a delight from start to finish. It was filmed right before the U.S. entered the war, but it was released in early 1942, after Pearl Harbor. Jack Benny is very funny as "that great, great Polish actor, Joseph Tura" (as he says of himself more than once) and Carole Lombard is extremely good as his wife, an actress with a fondness for handsome young men. Twenty-two-year-old Robert Stack plays the Polish-American flyer with a crush on her, and the entire cast is perfect, from Sig Ruman as Ehrhardt ("So they call me concentration camp Ehrhardt!") to Felix Bressart as the actor who just wants his moment to shine, to Lionel Atwill as an actor who is such a ham that he almost blows their cover.

If you haven't seen To Be or Not To Be, watch it! It influenced Mel Brooks in The Producers and he then remade it in 1983.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: You stumped me again, Mr. Seabrook! I've heard of Jack Benny and Carole Lombard but never heard of the flick. I've definitely heard of Joe Tura (inside joke).

John: I was aware of the Mel Brooks remake but too haven't seen either version.

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Herk Harvey, Sidney Berger

Directed by: Herk Harvey

"Profane! Sacrilege!"

One of the creepiest films on my list. Yes, modern audiences will likely see where things are going from the outset, but let's be honest, what makes the film great is not any sort of plot twist, but the haunting nightmare visuals throughout. Hilligoss's wide-eyed performance is certainly odd, but it somehow works in this context. And Gene Moore delivers just the right spooky score to underline the visuals. 

There are so many great scenes, but the one that always gives me goosebumps is when Hilligoss is in the shrink's office and he turns around in his chair. The simple dark circles around the eyes makeup is so chillingly effective; kudos to director and star Harvey for being the scariest actor/director in the history of cinema. And in a film filled with... creepy people... the creepiest may be the lecherous next door neighbor, brilliantly portrayed by Sidney Berger!—John

Remarks from the Gallery

Peter: Not bad. When I was a kid I saw this three or four times and still couldn't keep it separate in my brain from Curtis Harrington's Night Tide. Yeah, I know, completely different flicks, but same kind of weird atmosphere. 

Jack: I must have seen this long ago but I don't really remember it. I feel like it was circulating in a crummy print.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Alfred Molina, Kirsten Dunst

Directed by Sam Raimi

"Peter Parker? 'Brilliant but lazy.'"

Growing up, The Amazing Spider-Man was my favorite comic title; its writer, the late, great Gerry Conway, just seemed to come up with hook after hook (most of them used as foundation for the movies). I was lucky enough to experience the wonders of the early 1970s arcs like The Death of Gwen, The Death of the Goblin, The Gwen-Clone, The Jackal/Professor Warren, and The Punisher. When I heard Sam Raimi would be helming Spider-Man (2001), I was thrilled, but the finished product was less than thrilling. It's okay, don't get me wrong, but that Goblin uni pretty much ruins the flick for me.

So, I went into Spider-Man 2 with lowered expectations but found quickly that Raimi had finally figured it out; Alfred Molina's Doc Ock is the best realization of any of the Spidey villains on screen. The trick is to portray the bad guy as a real man and therefore a real threat, as opposed to Willem Dafoe's hammy Norman Osborn. The script (with a helping hand from novelist/comic book enthusiast Michael Chabon) is packed with the kind of self-reflecting dialogue you don't usually associate with guys in spandex. The El scene manages to sustain an incredible amount of suspense even if you do know how it's going to resolve itself. And, as much as I like Tom Holland as Spidey in the new cycle, Tobey Maguire is Peter Parker.

Alas, this was the last time we'd experience that kind of Spidey movie for several years (Spider-Man 3 was a bloated, rambling disaster and don't get me started on the two Andrew Garfield crapfests), but hold on to this one, the second best Marvel superhero movie of all time.-Peter

Remarks from the Gallery

Jack: Ah, for the good old days when Marvel movies were fun! I liked the first Spider-Man movie a lot, but I agree with you that this one was even better, in large part due to Alfred Molina as Doc Ock. Tobey Maguire was a great choice to play Peter Parker. Now you have me wondering what your #1 Marvel flick is!

John: For me, Spider-Man was the beginning of the end (for a while, anyway) of the great Sam Raimi. And while we are in agreement that this one is the best of the Tobey Maguire cycle, I cannot agree that he was the best Spider-Man. Garfield was different, but not drastically better. For my money, Tom Holland is Peter Parker/Spider-Man. 'Nuff said.

Stagecoach (1939)

Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell

Directed by: John Ford

In the Old West, an eclectic group of folks travel by stagecoach from Arizona to New Mexico and are joined by the Ringo Kid, who has just escaped from prison and who vows to avenge the murder of his father and brother when they reach their destination. Can they make it to Lordsburg without being killed by Apaches?

Rewatching this classic today, it holds up well and gets better as it goes along. Stagecoach made John Wayne a star and it's easy to see why; as the Ringo Kid, he is tough and tender, a crack shot and kind to Dallas, the prostitute who has been run out of town by the upstanding wives. Claire Trevor is excellent as Dallas, both tough and gentle, and by the end of the movie she has won over her fellow passengers. Thomas Mitchell won a well-deserved Oscar for playing drunk Doc Boone, who can't stay away from the bottle but manages to sober up in time to deliver an unexpected baby en route.

I could go on and on about the great cast! Don't miss John Carradine as a Virginia dandy who fought in the Civil War and who comes within moments of killing the new mother in order to prevent her from being violated when the Apaches capture the stagecoach. The Indian attack is a thrilling piece of work that features one amazing stunt after another as Apaches get shot and fall off their horses at top speed. Ford's direction is top notch as usual, moving from comedy to drama to action effortlessly.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery

Peter: Try as I might, I could never get into this one. I'll give it the respect due because it started something big, but Ford and Wayne both (and separately) made so much better later on. 

John: Another John Wayne film that I've never gone out of my way to check out.   

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Starring: Kurt Russell, Dennis Dun, Victor Wong, James Hong

Directed by: John Carpenter

"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?"

There's no such thing as a bad John Carpenter/Kurt Russell pairing, in my opinion. And this one may just be the most quotable of the bunch. Russell's Jack Burton is a classic character. I still recall seeing this in its opening weekend 40 years ago and loving it from the outset. It took time, but it has finally achieved some of the acclaim it has long deserved. It's a great action film, a fantastic comedy, and one of the best US-made martial arts films. Carpenter was years ahead of his time when he made this; back when the sort of wire-fu films were known only to a hardcore contingent of film fans. 

Of course the film doesn't entirely rest on Jack Burton's shoulders (his own beliefs to the contrary). Dennis Dun is his perfect partner in this buddy film, and Victor Wong's Egg Chen and James Hong's Lo Pan are perfect icons of good and evil. It's also got a great Carpenter score (I'm even a fan of the theme song Carpenter sings!). There's a part of me that acknowledges this should be higher on my list, but it's just one more example of how tough it can be trying to rank 100 favorites.—John

Remarks from the Gallery

Peter: We'll just agree to disagree on this one. I have vague memories of walking out on this one before it was over. Silly, hammy, and meandering. 

Jack: Wasn't this trashed on release? I never saw it. I don't think my list includes a single Carpenter flick.