Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 174: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 159

January 1959

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #50

Cover by Joe Sinnott

"Worlds at War!" (a: Jack Davis) ★★

"Three Who Vanished" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

"Uneasy Lies the Head!" (a: Carl Burgos) ★1/2

"Adrift in Space!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

"The Green Fog!" (a: Matt Baker & Vince Colletta) ★1/2

In the year 1983, Martians land in a rural area and touch off a panic. The visitors request a meeting with the heads of government of the two factions on Earth, the Democrats and the Stinkin' Commies, and they are granted their wish, pronto. At the gathering, the Martian leader explains that the rest of outer space is plum tired of Earthling wars and violent antics; at some point, it is feared, humans will bring their aggression to other planets. That's a no-no.

So, informs the leader, Earth has one month to prepare for total annihilation at the hands of an even greater menace: Mars! The news startles all of Earth and the U.N. convenes a meeting, at which every nation agrees to put its differences aside and build a spacecraft to visit Mars and plead our case. In record time, that ship is built and an international crew is assembled. Blast off! When the boys land on Mars, they are in for a big surprise. Rather than armed forces, they are greeted with open arms and a wink and a nod; hey, that war stuff was just talk in order to get Earth to give up their hatreds and unite. C'mon people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together... and all that. Our crew heads back to Earth to give out the good news and peace becomes as common as mediocre Atlas funny books.

If this had been a few years before, in the paradise known as Pre-Code, that corny last panel would have been followed by an Army General excitedly predicting that, since Mars has no weapons, they'll be a pushover if we invade. Alas, no twist ending for "Worlds at War!" Just Hallmark Movie schmaltz and a heaping helping from The Day the Earth Stood Still. It's good to see Jack Davis's classic style around these parts again, even though it's short-lived. He'll have two stories published this month and then disappear again for four years. Jack does some interesting experimenting with the panel borders, enlarging some of the scenes to one-third page. 

Three men vanish at the same time under very odd circumstances. What's up? I'll tell you. Turns out these three men were casing Earth for an invasion from the "Supreme World" and they're back to give their reports to the Supreme Leader. After receiving the intel, the Leader informs the trio that they've done a heck of a job and now it's time to invade. Problem is, one of the men has become quite fond of Earth and doesn't want to see it become a slave planet, so he sabotages the Central Power and zaps himself back on Earth, confident that his new neighbors are safe. The script is nothing to get excited about (though certainly better than the opener), but Steve Ditko's art is dazzling, a teaser for what's to come in the 1960s. As with Jack Davis and "Worlds at War!," there are some detours from the usual panel framework; nothing as startling as Krigstein, but still much more freedom than was the norm. 

In the lifeless "Uneasy Lies the Head!," an assassin attempts to kill the "Leader", the all-knowing, supremely intelligent being who's ruled over Earth since the eradication of such trivial positions as the President of the United States. The thwarted attempt nevertheless raises several questions about the Leader and the "renowned" Dr. Zena aims to get to the bottom of who or what the Leader actually is. Spoiler Alert (for those who've never read an Atlas comic strip): he's a robot!

Billy is the most enthusiastic cadet on the Space Patrol, but Sgt. Devlin can't understand why the kid keeps reading those silly science fiction books. One day, the Sarge grabs Billy and throws him in a space jet and they go to investigate a strange SOS deep in space. It's during that mission that Devlin is glad the kid reads those dopey space opera stories. Don Heck's pencils at this point were still pretty darn good (this was way before he had to pick up the pace and turn in some sloppy superhero work) and the script for "Adrift in Space!" is at least readable, but the final panel, which explains everything that just happened in the previous page's panels, is pure Stan. Gotta make sure these kids don't scratch their heads in confusion and give up on Atlas science fiction.

Last up is "The Green Fog!," which chronicles the return of Dag Thale from the first solo flight in space. The festivities come to a grinding halt when a nasty green fog follows Dag out of his spaceship. The fog drifts and covers the globe, causing mass panic and calls for the head of Dag Thale. A few days later, the mist rises and Earth is much greener. It was a miracle brought to the dying soils of our world. Sigh.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #1

Cover by Don Heck

"The Strangers from Space!" ★★1/2

(a: Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, & Gray Morrow) 

"I Dared Explore the Unknown Emptiness!" 

(a: Don Heck) ★★1/2

"The Day I Left My Body!" (a: John Buscema) ★

"He Fled in the Night" (a: Uncredited) ★

(r: Kull the Destroyer #13)

"Prisoner of the Satellites!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

By the year 2000, Earth will have posts on the moon and Mars and the solar system seems to be Earth's play toy. Then a strange ship is spotted near Mars and by the time it lands on Earth, panic has set in. Fearful that the visitors are here to conquer our world, the military readies its mightiest weapons. The door to the ship opens and what appears to be a typical earthling emerges and explains it is here to begin trade negotiations. A heavy sigh is let out and, by the time the ship has rocketed into space, Earth knows it has found a new friend. Inside the ship, an ugly BEM turns off the machine that enabled it to look human and hopes that when it returns in 300 years, earthlings will be less suspicious creatures. 

"The Strangers from Space!" is yet another variation on the "we have to open our arms and welcome even the ones with tentacles and six eyes" morality tale that had become a staple of the Atlas sf story of the late 1950s. The difference here, obviously, is the detailed graphic work of  Williamson, Krenkel, and Morrow (the latter two  are name-checked in a couple of winks at the readers), which elevates (at least art-wise) this above most of the other pap being shoveled at the reader. It definitely feels like we've transitioned into a new era for Atlas genre titles. Like Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales, and Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense would continue pumping out sf yarns until the superhero craze hit in the early 1960s and then ToS would become the home of Iron Man and Captain America until those two got their own titles.

"I Dared Explore the Unknown Emptiness!" adds to my hunch that something has changed. The story, about an Earth space crew searching the galaxy for another livable planet due to our foolish overpopulation, while simple, is definitely aimed a little higher than the usual eight-year-old mentality. In the end, the tale is way too preachy and silly (the ship's captain decides, after visiting several hostile planets, that the people of Earth will "somehow correct" the errors made in the past without positing a way in which to head down that course), but I appreciate the effort and Don Heck's visuals are snazzy.

Wells is serving a long sentence for second-degree murder when he decides he ain't cut out for life in a cell, so he tries to escape (armed with a butter knife) and is shot in the head for his troubles. Well, this is Atlas after all, so the bullet only "creases" him, but the upside is that his spirit leaves his body and is free to roam. So, what should Wells do with this sudden spiritual freedom? Rob another candy store? Get revenge on the jurists who convicted him? No, this convict is a little bit smarter. 

When Wells spies big-shot lawyer Martin Shaw in one of his fellow inmates' cells, he uses his mind to push Shaw into reopening his case and freeing him. Wells's spirit finally reunites with his wounded body and Shaw visits his cell, agreeing to represent him in a new case. Wells finds he still has the power to influence other minds so rather than, say, influence the warden to open the gate for him, he continues to push and push harder for Shaw to win the case in court. But the joke's on Wells; he pushes so hard that Shaw becomes exhausted and muffs the trial. Wells is found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Finally, a happy ending to one of these things! 

In the early 18th century, a simple clerk at a banking firm has daydreams about being so much more. Maybe a caveman fighting a Wooly Mammoth or a knight fighting a dragon. Something more than just these dadburned ledgers. In a fit, our protagonist quits his job and joins the crew of a sailing vessel, still dreaming of a life of adventure. In the end, we discover his name is Robinson Crusoe. Meh. "He Fled in the Night" sinks under its lifeless script and bland artwork.

Mark Coren finds himself a "Prisoner of the Satellites!" when his body is trapped in a constantly moving vortex of meteor fragments. What Mark doesn't know is that his conundrum is the work of outer space villains, preparing an invasion of Earth. Coren begins shrinking fast but, thanks to the brainwork of Earth's scientists, his shrinkage and the alien attack are thwarted at precisely the same time. Earth is safe... for now. Be careful what you wish for, Atlas science fiction fans. Here's a script that might be a little too complicated for a young audience since I had to read it twice to get the gist of what was happening. The text is definitely hard sf (The action of the orbiting fragments has set up a force which moulds the matter of Mark's body into a more solid compact unit!) and Ditko's art gives the piece the cosmic vibe the artist would become famous for during his Doctor Strange run. Mark doesn't use his sudden little person status to rob liquor stores so why should I complain?-Peter

Tales to Astonish #1

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"We Found the Ninth Wonder of the World!" ★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule)

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #4)

"I Know the Secret of the Poltergeist!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Strange Tales Annual #1, Uncanny Tales #6)

"I Was the First Man to Set Foot on... the Mystery Planet!" ★

(a: Carl Burgos)

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #4)

"I Foiled an Enemy Invasion!" (a: Jack Davis) ★1/2

Dr. Parker disappeared in a hidden corner of the world a decade ago and now Professor Briggs and the crew of Captain Kane's ship are out on the waters looking for him. They catch a four foot starfish and a twelve foot lobster and know they're onto something. A giant moving object the size of an island rams their ship and the crew takes to the lifeboats while Briggs and Kane survive by lashing together two oil barrels and floating to a nearby island.

On the island they find that natives have built an enormous wall and tied Parker to a post in front of it. Briggs and Kane soon join Parker, who admits that his serum causes creatures to experience uncontrolled growth. A turtle the size of a building bursts through the wall and the trio manage to free themselves and leave the island by means of a convenient motor boat that Parker kept handy for just such an occasion. On the water, they observe Experiment XYZ, Parker's first subject, which is a turtle the size of a mountain. The men realize that "We Found the Ninth Wonder of the World!"

It's good to see Kirby's pencils, but this story is a mashup of King Kong and Wild Kingdom. There's no real suspense and little point to the conclusion, where the men see a really big turtle. The closest thing to a sense of danger occurs in Kane's mind when he imagines bringing the big turtle back to civilization but realizes it would wreak havoc in a large city.

A young couple buy a house, not worrying about rumors that it's haunted. Objects start to jump around and they contact an investigator of the supernatural who tells them, "I Know the Secret of the Poltergeist!" He does a thorough check of the house and assures them that everything has a rational explanation, but he buys it from the young couple for further study. After they leave, he removes his mask and reveals that he is a poltergeist!

Ditko is at his peak here and the investigator looks a lot like Dr. Strange, with grey hair at the temples. As is often the case with Atlas stories, not a lot happens and the artist has to try to make things interesting with kooky events in the panels. The final. large panel, where the poltergeist pulls off his mask and is joined by the others who have been haunting the house, is great.

In the year 2095, two men are using robot labor to build an underground city when a mysterious, electric-ridden planet approaches the Earth and causes all the robots to malfunction. Tom, one of the duo, hates robots but is excited to see that the new planet has caused radioactive oil to pour down on Earth. He sets off in a spaceship to visit the new planet and secure the oil rights; when he lands, he can say that "I Was the First Man to Set Foot on... The Mystery Planet!"

He meets kind, tall, bald people who tell him that oil is their staff of life. Insisting on making a deal, Tom excitedly jumps into a pool of oil and oily arms envelop him; one of the creatures rescues him and is consumed by the pool. Another reveals that they're all telepathic robots who know he hates them and they banish him from their planet, sending him back to Earth.

I know Carl Burgos is one of the pioneers of comics, but his art here is nearly as bad as the incoherent story. Tom goes on and on about how much he hates robots, so any reader paying attention and not asleep knows that the folks on the mystery planet have to be robots.

A reporter named Mark Briton is driving around in 2008 when he begins to see billboards popping up everywhere that feature a photo of what appears to be an alien soldier holding a gun and a strange message: "The Ten Uous Are coming!" He soon realizes that they are harbingers of an alien attack and he is able to say, "I Foiled an Enemy Invasion!" after all the billboards are rounded up and the tenuous, two-dimensional soldiers step out of the pictures and surrender.

I can only assume that the page rates were so low that Jack Davis did not put a lot of effort into this story, which is as weak as the rest of the tales in this issue. The first appearance of Tales to Astonish is certainly different from the sludge we've been seeing from Atlas for quite a while now, but it still suffers from poor scripts and hasty art. The Ditko pages are the highlight.-Jack

Next Week...
Despite what Harlan Said, We Discover
This Guy Was a Heck of an Artist!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 173: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 158

November-December 1958

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #49

Cover by Joe Maneely

"City of Giants" (a: John Forte) ★

"The Doctor Wears a Mask" (a: Alfonso Greene) ★1/2

"The World-Destroyers!" (a: Matt Fox) ★★

"The Little Green Man" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★★

"Morgan's Mad Machine!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★1/2

"The Room with Two Billion Cards" (a: Sid Check) ★★

After a 15-month lay-off, Journey Into Mystery returns to a depleted line-up. The question is: will it bring quality or just keep its head above water like the two remaining titles?

While working on a formula for "some sort of perfume," evil, greedy chemist Eric Wolton accidentally whips up a green vapor that makes him giant. The gears start working in that twisted (but pretty smart) brain and Eric hits on the idea of vaporizing the rest of Bromburg and transforming them into giants. Once that feat is accomplished, the mad perfumer runs around under the feet of his neighbors and robs all the jewelry stores and banks of Bromburg. The giant city council holds a meeting to solve the problem of the "City of Giants." Another loony home-taught chemist resorts to nefarious deeds in order to line his pockets. When will these eggheads learn that crime does not pay in the post-code era?

Two "eminent sociologists" visit the rural town of Compton, hoping to find an answer to the burning question: why does this burg have the lowest crime rate of any city in America? To help the men in their research, the town historian relates the sad, twisted story of Doctor Wallace, a GP who arrives in town one day and immediately sets off a furor. You see, "The Doctor Wears a Mask." Yes, the man is never seen without his odd facial disguise, but hey, as far as medicine goes, no one can beat him. In fact, the town is downright astonished by the fact that the doc practically shows up at emergencies before the excitement starts.

After several severe accidents and building fires occur, the town rabble rousers use their McCarthy-era arithmetic and demand the doctor's head on a stick. After all, there has to be some reason he's always first on the scene. When they confront the physician, they demand he remove his mask and, when he does, they get the surprise of their lives. The doc is an alien sent from (in his own words) "out there" to help humankind. But this medicine man has had enough. Humans are stupid, stupid, stupid, and he's hitting the vapor trail. Having learned a lesson, the town votes out its mayor and other corrupt officials and... well, you know the rest. A town without crime. Another of the Stan Lee-esque message stories about loving your neighbor and not giving in to paranoia, delivered at a time when Stan was also okaying anti stinkin' Commie comics. 

In "The World-Destroyers!," three aliens arrive on Earth to detonate a bomb that will lay waste to mankind but make a simple blunder that proves costly. There's no reason given for the invaders' mission (perhaps our warring ways make the rest of the universe nervous?), but the simple plot is obviously second fiddle to the great art by Matt Fox. Stockbroker Marcus Gabel finds "The Little Green Man" in a curio shop while vacationing with his wife in Hong Kong and, fascinated by the little mandarin, he quickly snaps it up and takes it back to the States with him. Immediately, Marcus sees a change in how he views the business world and his decisions reap a fortune, but success comes with a  high price. His wife hates the change in him (she notes how he's starting look just like the jade statue) and his friends begin to shun him. Is the statue using some kind of supernatural force to transform Gabel from a mild-mannered stockbroker into Gordon Gecko? We've seen this plot (and umpteen variations) before, but the pace is quick and Brodsky's simple but efficient art is a plus.

Two con men stumble onto the sure thing: a goofy old inventor who's come up with a gizmo that turns rocks into gold. They think they're swindling the geezer but they end up tutored in the long run. "Morgan's Mad Machine!" elicited at least two chuckles from this grizzled old funny book vet and the climactic reveal is handled cleverly. It might be my imagination, but Ed Winiarski's pencils actually seem to be getting better. Last up this time is "The Room with Two Billion Cards," in which a washed-up actor discovers that all the world is, indeed, a stage. This one is slow-paced but almost won me over with its dark final panel.-Peter

Strange Tales #66

Cover by Joe Maneely

"The Ghost Came C.O.D." (a: Reed Crandall) ★1/2

"The Replacement!" (a: Alfonso Greene) ★

"The Voice of Fido!" (a: Werner Roth) ★

"It Waits Under the Sea!" (a: Al Eadah) ★★1/2

"The Eerie Experiment!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"He Wore a Black Beard" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★1/2

Antique store proprietor/con man Eban Goad has the perfect money-making scheme: he scans the obits for freshly interred corpses and sends faux invoices to the estates. Most of his victims don't hesitate to send him a check to avoid late fees, but Eban sends one notice too many and the dead man shows up at the antique shop to contest his bill. Oh, don't worry, CCA, this guy's not a zombie, but a Martian in disguise! "The Ghost Came C.O.D." sees the great Reed Crandall wasting his skills on a flimsy script.

On the run from the law and wearing a very "loud, checked jacket," killer Jack Hartley ducks into the bedroom of a dying man and steals his coat, thus assuring him of a clean getaway. Rummaging through the pockets of the coat, the criminal is astonished to find a plane ticket and heads quickly to the airport. After a brief skirmish with the pilot, the hood muscles his way on board but notices that there's no one else on the plane. The jet takes off and the cops later find Hartley's broken body in a field. Turns out Hartley took the dying man's place on a plane to Heaven, but St. Peter doesn't allow the living through the pearly gates. Or something like that. So dumb it's almost amusing, "The Replacement!" leaves so many questions unanswered and then, to compound the problem, tries to explain its plot hook in a lame, four-panel exposition that really does bring out the giggles.

In the all too predictable "The Voice of Fido!," Hank Walton wants to follow in his old man's footsteps as a new generation of ventriloquist but, instead of a wooden dummy, Hank wants to use his dog. No problem, Pop says, and sure enough Hank is an immediate hit. Then Fido starts spouting ad-libs. Sure, Pop is in the audience, but the old man admits it ain't him, so who's responsible for the new jokes? They both look at Fido and shrug. 

He's a genius and a really smart guy, but the Super-Secret Adventurers Club laughs and scoffs at Felix Bradin's notion that his little mini sub can cruise around the world under water for six months. Only one man believes in him, ultra-rich Harry Spahn! Harry promises to finance the entire trip, provided Felix takes Harry with him. Short on dough and figuring he could use the company, Felix quickly agrees but, as the days approach and Harry takes on a boss man's attitude, Felix regrets his decision.

On launch day, Felix gets up really early and jumps in the vessel, motoring away before Harry has his Omelette de la mère Poulard. Giggling, Felix can't wait until the world finds out he's conquered the undersea world. Then his curiosity gets the best of him and he explores a really weird cavern. Miles in, the cave door closes and Felix is trapped, hoping he can survive in this unknown realm on six months' worth of granola bars, Playboy magazines, and no porta-potty. As we leave a clearly disheartened Felix Bradin, we discover the steel plate cavern door is the ocean entrance to Marineland and (don't worry, CCA) the attraction will open in thirty days. Felix will be saved. "It Waits Under the Sea!" is goofy fun; we're expecting Harry Spahn to reappear, seeking revenge for the slight, but that never happens. Instead, we're given that last panel twist, one that's actually worth the wait.

In this issue's reminder that the Russkies are dirty rotten stinkin' rats, two 1977 teens run "The Eerie Experiment!" and use a special Ham radio to contact the Feds twenty years in the past to warn of a secret Commie meeting. The day is saved, but don't try to keep up with the complicated Carl Wessler (I know, I know, when have I ever used those three words together in a sentence) script. 

Okay, keep up, because I won't be repeating myself. Wally Rogers is insanely jealous of his friend and co-worker, Ralph Blaine, for stealing the company limelight with a secret project Ralph is working on that will change the course of history. Wally hatches an elaborate plot to frame his buddy for embezzlement but can't figure out a way to establish an alibi for himself in the process. Luckily, at that moment, a stranger appears in Wally's room and explains that he's from the future, out for a joy ride in his time travel machine. 

The lightbulb goes on over Wally's head and he talks the visitor into helping him with his criminal deed. But the forces of good always trump those of evil and Wally gets what's coming to him in the end. "He Wore a Black Beard" has a very complicated plot (that's two examples just in this issue of Carl Wessler taxing his brain) and the super surprising twist (sarcasm) is built upon the smile out loud assumptions that Wally wouldn't know Ralph was working on a time machine and, even funnier, wouldn't recognize his old pal with a mustache and beard. Still, that final panel of Wally running the whole scenario through his head is classic.-Peter

Strange Worlds #1

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers!" ★★1/2

(a: Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule)

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #32)

"I Captured the Abominable Snowman!" ★★1/2

(a: Steve Ditko)

(r: Strange Tales Annual #2 & Journey Into Mystery #13)

"I Am Robot!" (a: Uncredited) ★★

(r: Strange Tales Annual #2)

"I Am the Last Man on Earth!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

Why does everyone laugh when a man tells them that "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers!"? He recalls being fascinated by the subject as he grew up, yet his investigation revealed nothing certain. One day, in a remote forest, he witnessed a flying saucer land! A voice entered his thoughts and explained that it came from another solar system and its civilization was far beyond our own. Overpopulation led to space exploration, which led to an unintended landing on Earth. The alien will leave tonight, as soon as it regains its strength, and asks the man to tell no one about it until it's gone. In exchange, the man asks to see what the alien looks like, and the alien responds that it is the spaceship! Of course, after it's gone, no one believes the man's story.

This certainly feels like a milestone at Atlas Comics. The story is seven pages long and features Kirby pencils and many of the things we'll come to expect from him: inventive page designs, splash and half-splash pages, and detailed depictions of machinery. The story is not particularly novel and the big twist, that the spaceship is the alien, is handled well but followed by a pointless page of the man telling everyone what he saw in vain. Still, the story gives me hope that Atlas might try something new.

Hoping to be able to announce to the world that "I Captured the Abominable Snowman!," a greedy man steals equipment and plans from a scientific expedition and sets off alone. He finds a Lama monastery and forces an aged lama to take him to meet the Yeti. The creature approaches the lama, who transforms it into a human. The greedy explorer then learns that he must take the place of the Yeti until the next selfish man comes along.

Ditko's art is the highlight of this story, which follows a familiar pattern. The aged lama foreshadows Ditko's depiction of the Ancient One and the artist creates suspense on page four with a trio of panels that show the explorer in increasingly close shots as he awaits the Yeti's arrival.

Thorne, a scientist in the year 2468, creates a robot sensitive enough to handle a delicate object, yet strong enough to punch through a wall. This new robot can also speak and think! Thorne agrees to let the robot spend six months in his home taking care of his infant son, and if all goes well, thousands of the robots will be produced. Thorne's wife is fearful of the mechanical man, but the inventor reassures her. One day, the parents leave their son alone with the robot to test it. While they're gone, space aliens land and grab the little boy. The robot fights them off and they leave, but he is damaged in the battle. He pitches off a cliff and is found in wreckage at the bottom after Thorne returns. Everyone thinks the robot went berserk and plunged to its doom, and Thorne agrees that no more units will be produced. No one knows that it saved the child and the human race.

"I Am Robot" does not benefit from art by Kirby or Ditko; in fact, the GCD is unable to identify the artist, and I can't, either. The story is narrated by the robot but is not particularly engaging.

In the year 2035, a spaceship from Earth lands on the planet Xernes and  spacemen discover that humans could live almost 500 years before reaching old age. On Earth, people are so excited that they spend the next decade in a mass exodus to the new planet, destroying all their property before they leave. In the end, the last man and woman (named Adam and Eve) agree to start rebuilding Earth civilization.

Don Heck's art is impressive on "I Am the Last Man on Earth!" but the story is drawn out and pointless. It seems that Adam and Eve (groan) think the rest of civilization should not have given up the happy, peaceful life they had built on this planet. It didn't make much sense to me. This first issue of Strange Worlds is interesting in that it is more geared toward science fiction than the Atlas fantasy titles and it features three of the artists who would soon make Marvel a successful comic company. It'll be interesting to watch the title develop.-Jack

World of Fantasy #15

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"The Secret of Stephen Durham" (a: Kurt Schaffenberger) ★★

(r: Journey Into Mystery #17)

"He Stole 50 Years" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★

"Mystery of the Mountain" (a: Christopher Rule) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #38)

"Strange Doings in Cell 4-B!" (a: Joe Certa) ★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #19)

"The Uncanny Keys" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★

(r: Vault of Evil #16) 

"The Sinister Supermen" (a: Sam Kweskin) ★

Clark Wendall wonders, what is "The Secret of Stephen Durham"? They are close pals and research scientists, whose fathers had great adventures together, but lately, Stephen has been jumpier than ever. Clark peruses his father's diary and reads of an escape from an Aztec death trap and a close call with a giant octopus. During a lecture about how an object traveling at the speed of light will not be subject to aging, Steve jumps up and suggests that he and Clark head to Mexico.

They visit the same places where their fathers barely avoided death, and Clark wonders how Steve seems to know about these events without having read his father's diary. Back at home, Clark follows Steve and witnesses him entering a chamber where he travels at the speed of light. Clark suddenly realizes that Steve is really his father, who has kept himself young.

This has to be a Wessler script, since it has some interesting events along the way but is overly complicated and ends with a revelation that isn't very interesting or surprising. At least Kurt Schaffenberger turns in a professional job on the art.

A newspaper publisher named Slade prints lies and uses blackmail to silence complaints. He forces a scientist named Carlin to show him the Electronic Cavalcader, which brings to life events of the next fifty years. Slade spends the night watching all of the amazing things that will happen in the decades to come, unaware that, in the end, he will have aged fifty years and all his notes will be too yellowed and faded to read.

I was pleasantly surprised by "He Stole 50 Years." in which we learn that there will be a revolution in the Soviet Union in 1967 and that the Eastern Bloc will be free by 1969, atomic power plants and atom-driven planes will follow, and deadly diseases will be cured. Interplanetary travel will occur in 2000, and a woman will be president by then. It's a shame that none of this came to pass, at least not in the positive, lasting way portrayed here. I especially liked the last panel, which shows a suddenly aged Slade.

Two state troopers are puzzled by "The Mystery of the Mountain," which consists of silent explosions at Mount Rushmore in the middle of the night. A professor from D.C. is called in and posits that the explosions are coming from a parallel dimension, whose inhabitants are honoring one of their great men. Sure enough, the bust of an unknown spaceman appears next to that of George Washington. A pointless story with listless art, this one is unsettling in light of the current president's desire to see his own face join the others.

A brawny prisoner named Porter discovers that his elderly cellmate, Pop, can make things appear just by wishing. Porter decides that the "Strange Doings in Cell 4-B!" can be used to his advantage, and he forces Pop to wish for three guns and a car. The jail break is going well until the guns and car suddenly disappear and Porter and his pals are captured. To their dismay, they learn that Pop died of old age and, when he passed away, the things he wished for disappeared.

Joe Certa's art is solid if a bit on the cartoony side--Pop reminds me of Uncle Marvel from the Captain Marvel comics.

Shelton's uncle sends him out to get a copy made of the key to his safe. Shelton visits a locksmith where he sees the proprietor in a room filled with treasure! The man explains that it's due to "The Uncanny Keys," which are magical and which he received from a gypsy. Shelton grabs the key ring and finds that each key reveals a different room when put into the keyhole of any door. After finding himself in rooms filled with silver and gold, followed by a South Sea island, Shelton turns one key too many and finds himself in a prison cell with no keys. He realizes that the last key was a jail key!

Of all the Atlas artists, Richard Doxsee may be the most disappointing, since he's gone from terrific to terrible in a short span of time. The worst thing about this story is that the panels that are supposed to show the rooms filled with treasure barely show anything.

A sailing ship and its crew are mysteriously drawn toward an island by "The Sinister Supermen," criminals who were hiding out there in a cave when an H-bomb test accelerated their evolution to the point where they were all brain and little protoplasm. Having proved their unlimited power to themselves, they let the sailors leave and only the force of nature prevents the ship from being drawn into a whirlpool. The island and its inhabitants sink out of sight.

It's always hard to identify the worst story of a post, but this has to be it. The art is so weak that, in the panels where the supermen first appear, I first thought a kid had taken a marker and scribbled random lines on the page. After a few moments of study, I realized that those lines were actually supposed to be the outline of an arm and hand with a pointing finger.-Jack

Next Week...
The Era of Ditko and Kirby
Officially Begins...
But Will They Bring 
Quality With Them?

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 172: Marvel/Atlas Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 157

August-October 1958

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Tales #64 (August)

Cover by Joe Maneely

"The Secret Laboratory of Dr. Domino" 

(a: Al Williamson) ★★★

"What is Monium?" (a: John Forte) ★★★

"So This Is Mars!" (a: Bob Powell) ★1/2

"The Silent City!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★

"What on Earth?" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★★★★

"The Last Warning!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★★

Dr. Domino has a formula that can make years melt away so, naturally, every woman in the country wants it. Experts swear he's a fraud but admit all research on the good Doc proves he's really eighty years old. He's looking pretty good! But Dr. Domino needs time to whip up the potion; time and money. He sells the beverage to the highest bidder, but only he knows the whole thing is a fraud; the mixture is nothing more than water and a bit of Cuervo; the women who have become young in front of his audiences were actresses paid by Domino to put on a show.

Domino will be a rich man after the latest show and, while gloating one night in his lab, he is visited by a sorceress who claims she has the power to do anything but turn back the hands of time. She looks to Domino for the answer, but when he admits he's a phony, the woman exacts a heavy toll on the charlatan. "The Secret Laboratory of Dr. Domino" is more fun than we've had around this place in a long, long time. It's got the feel of a Marvel villain origin story (Domino notes that his appearance is all down to "an accident when working in a laboratory at the age of twenty-one!") with the bonus of dynamite Williamson art. 

"What is Monium?" is a clever little gem about a prospector who stumbles across the rare titular mineral and becomes a magician to make a living. The act is Zorani tossing an object through one hoop and that object materializes through a second hoop somewhere in the same arena. Not a bad way to make a living. A crook discovers the truth behind The Great Zorani's act and steals the Monium hoops to use in jewelry store heists until Zorani uses the ol' noggin to reacquire his props. A charming 1940s-style fantasy with a lot of imagination and some decent Forte art (something we don't see often enough). Rather unlike the usual Atlas character who has stumbled across a gold mine, Zarani seems happy enough pulling off his parlor tricks rather than breaking into Fort Knox. 

Bob Powell's art is the only reason to turn the page on "So This Is Mars!," a witless three-pager about a movie producer and his actor who are working on a film about life on Mars and find themselves teleported to the red planet for no obvious reason. Well, there is a reason, it turns out, but not a good one. In "The Silent City!," Rudwigsburg's clock tower manager Gustave Tarnal discovers a way to stop time and rob his neighbors blind, but clever Gustave, in the end, is not so clever.

Brilliant genius scientist Albert Feldgurt has a wild theory that the other planets in the solar system are barren because they are awaiting a "seeding" and the pods that will reinvigorate those worlds are us humans. Poor Al gets the same kind of reception for his theories that John and Yoko got for Two Virgins; the egghead is cast out of his scientist treehouse and forced to roam the streets penniless. But good things come to those who wait and, years later, Al is hailed as a messiah who reintroduced love to the world. People begin disappearing and their souls travel the galaxy to...

Well, we don't know exactly where those souls end up, since the final panel for "What on Earth?" leaves it all very hazy, which is the ending I'd choose. This could be the first "hippie" comic strip; Dr. Feldgurt's transformation from renowned scientist to bum on the street to Christ reborn is a trippy hoot, unlike much else you'll see in this era. I might be full of blueberry muffins, but I think "What on Earth?" is thought-provoking and spiritual, the kind of story that would fit well with the equally deep stories found in EC's science fiction comics. Easily one of the two or three best post-code tales I've read. This was Bob McCarty/McCarthy's 26th and final appearance in an Atlas genre zine.

Last up, Ham radio operator Don Reide gets a frantic SOS call from a young man trapped in a mining collapse. Coincidentally, Don had been trapped in the very same mine decades before and knows all the ways out. Don successfully helps the kid through the mines before realizing he's talking to the younger version of himself. Don ain't too bright if it took him that long to figure out what was going on, because I knew long before "The Last Warning!"-Peter

World of Fantasy #13 (August)

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Unsolid Man" (a: Joe Orlando) ★

(r: Giant-Size Werewolf #5)

"What Happened on the Mountain!" (a: Richard Bassford) ★★

"The Man in the Cyclotron" (a: uncredited) ★★

"The Chance I Took!" (a: Harry Lazarus) ★★★

"The Mysterious Inheritance" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"When Marty Moves" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #7)

Arnold Benson is a stinkin' Commie; there just ain't no two ways about it. But worse, he's speaking out his filthy thoughts and making the kids in town think beyond their "I Like Ike" buttons. This sort of thing can't be tolerated in a free society like 1958 America, so the cops chase Arnold out of town and into a military research facility.

It's there that Arnie finds the experimental "rocket sled" that supposedly can travel at speeds faster than... well, gosh, really fast! As he hops into the sled, the Commie hunters let off a round and damage the sled. Suddenly, Arnold is propelled forward and his entire life changes in the blink of an eye. Hard to imagine Gaines and Feldstein ever writing this kind of propaganda for EC, but Stan always seemed to be one of those guys who waved the flag if it meant more profits for the company. "The Unsolid Man" reads like something whipped up for a Joe McCarthy tribute.

George and Ed know Twin Mountain is packed full of delicious uranium and all they have to do is convince the old man who owns the real estate to sell to them. The old man agrees, with one proviso: George and Ed must remain bosom buddies the entire time they own the peaks and, if one of the men becomes greedy and evil, his share will disappear. Well, the contract gets signed, but halfway up the mountain, Ed gets guilt pangs and wants to cut the old man in on the fortune. George snickers and his thought balloon tells the real story: he aims to kill Ed and keep the uranium for himself. Bad mistake. There's nothing remotely original in the plot of "What Happened on the Mountain!," but I dig Richard Bassford's retro art. This looks like it might have been written and shoved into the vault in 1949. Highly unlikely, since Bassford was still just a pup in his early 20s when this hit the stands in 1958. "What Happened..." was the artist's one and only sale to the Atlas sf/f titles.

Joe Ryzik works at the university of a small European (read that as Commie) country, servicing the school's Cyclotron. One day, a mishap leads to Joe entering the Cyclotron and being bombarded by a whole lot of radiation. This changes Joe dramatically, making his brain ten times the size it was pre-accident and enabling him to create weapons that would not be created until 2056! But his wife, Rena, doesn't like the change in her hubby and asks Joe to change back to his old self again. Joe complies and enters the Cyclotron a second time, where he is again bombarded by a whole lot of bad stuff. But I assure you, there's a happy ending. Joe gets his regular forehead back and all those nasty ray guns and nuclear whizbangs head back to the future. "The Man in the Cyclotron" is more cautionary anti-Russkie material from Carl Wessler and contains some interesting scientific factoids I'd not have known otherwise.

Fleming is the president and CEO of the "biggest cereal manufacturer in the world," but he just can't get happy thanks to the daily headlines about juvenile delinquency, bank robbery, and the rising price of milk. Can the man not find peace in all his success? So, he's out walking in the woods when he's approached by a group of strangely dressed men who introduce themselves as ambassadors from the United Galaxy. Their mission is to change the American way of "combativeness, intolerance, and suspicion" to that of a calm, trusting people. If this could be accomplished, then Earth would be allowed to enter the United Galaxy Union. Would Fleming help the aliens reach their goal?

Believing it the right thing to do, Fleming agrees to let the visitors dump a special chemical into the Fleming line of breakfast foods, a potion that will guarantee a more peaceful, gentle race. The chemical does the trick and humanity is reduced to blubbering, cheerful idiots. As the flying saucers show up, Earth smiles as one but Fleming, who never ingested any of the chemical himself, wonders if this is a great new age or if the aliens used him to pave the way for an invasion. And "The Chance I Took" leaves us hanging there, never answering Fleming's fearful, cynical question, to the delight of this old comics fan. Too many of the 1958 Atlas tales close out with a ray of sunshine and hope for a better day, so it's nice to read a tale that makes you pause.

Jack Holten attends the reading of his uncle's will, only to be shocked by the news that Uncle Jim left him nothing. Bewildered by "The Mysterious Inheritance," Jack does what any Atlas Universe citizen might do: he travels the world, researching his ancestors. What he finds will rock his world and help him realize that Uncle Jim left him the greatest inheritance of all. Zzzzz. Last and possibly least is the dreadful "When Marty Moves" about an old maid who accidentally gives life to a plastic doll and finds happiness for the first time in her life. Then her next door neighbor finds out about the doll and takes him for a little ride to a local bank for an unauthorized withdrawal. Maudlin script and dull graphics.-Peter

Strange Tales #65 (October)

Cover by Joe Maneely

"Afraid to Open the Door!" (a: Dan Loprino) ★★1/2

"The House That Cried!" (a: Christopher Rule) ★

"The Ragged Man" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★

"The Terrible Tree!" (a: John Forte) ★★★

"The Perfectly Frightened Man" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★1/2

"When the Curtain Falls!" (a: Bernard Baily) ★1/2

A crook named Morse bursts into a strange room, looking for enough money to guarantee that he can avoid the cops and a stint in prison. In the room sits a bearded old man, who welcomes the crook and identifies himself as John Hayes. To the crook's surprise, Hayes explains that he's a scientist who invented a room that serves as an entranceway to a frightening world that is inhabited by scary creatures.

Hayes points out that there are two doors in the room--one leads to the normal world and the other to the scary world. The problem is, he doesn't know which is which and he is "Afraid to Open the Door!" because picking the wrong one would be disastrous. Hayes has been trapped in the room for a decade, afraid to make the wrong choice, and now shares his predicament with the crook. I enjoyed this story! The highlight for me is the panel I've reproduced here, where the scientist peers into the other world and sees one of the scary creatures. There's only one problem: if the scientist was able to open the door, see the other world, and run back to safety, why can't he do it again?

A hobo named Smitty happens on a shack and asks Elvira Lanson, who lives there, for a meal. She's happy for the company, but when he's finished eating, Smitty pulls a gun and demands she hand over all her money. He begins to hear a strange sound and she explains that it's coming from "The House That Cried!" Elvira tells Smitty that she and her husband were dispossessed when he got sick and couldn't make the payments. After that, everyone who moved in discovered that it was impossible to fix up the house, since it would return to its decrepit condition overnight. Smitty listens patiently, but when Elvira tells him that her husband's ghost emerged from a mirror and chased off a gambler, that's just too much. The hobo changes his mind when she walks through a closet door and he realizes she's a ghost! He runs out of the house in terror. I just can't get excited about Christopher Rule's art and this story is a three-page shaggy dog tale that doesn't go anywhere.

Otis Larr is rich, obese, and cruel; he laughs when his ex-partner, John Norwood, requests money to pay for an operation for his wife. Larr relaxes on his yacht, instructing his brother Hubert to swab the deck. Suddenly, Larr's Geiger counter begins to click like crazy and the businessman decides to buy up the rights to a nearby island and the water around it. On the island, he meets "The Ragged Man" who owns it and agrees to pay $1,000,000 for the rights. Larr goes on to buy up rights for all the land nearby, since his Geiger counter keeps going off. Finally, a surveyor breaks the news that there is no uranium anywhere in the area. Hubert reveals that the Geiger counter was set off by a nuclear powered submarine prowling the waters underneath the yacht!

A pretty good twist helps this story end on a satisfying note, as the main character is highly reminiscent of a certain current U.S. president. Doxsee isn't given much to work with but still gives it the old college try.

Every night, Ross Evans sneaks out and cuts a bit more across the vast expanse of a giant redwood named Goliath. Why? One day, it topples over and crushes his house, allowing him to collect a bundle on his home insurance policy. But "The Terrible Tree!" gets its revenge, as Ross soon finds out. A wooden elevator he's in crashes to the bottom of the shaft, the wooden ladder of a fire truck attacks him, 

a wooden picture frame on the wall above him falls off and nearly hits him. Realizing all of the objects must have been fashioned from wood taken from Goliath, Ross buys a motorboat and tries to escape on the water, only to discover that the vessel is also fashioned from redwood.

I don't know what's come over me, but I enjoyed this story, perhaps because of the absurdity of it all. The idea of cutting down a redwood so it will fall on your house and you can collect insurance is goofy enough, but the series of events that subsequently befall Ross made me smile. You'd think the dope would check to see if the boat were made of wood before he bought it! John Forte seems to have been having fun, and the last panel provides no escape for Ross. I like that there was no happy ending!

Bob was thrilled when the gang at the office bought him a special birthday present: an ancient book on wizardry from 1596 that they ordered by mail from England. A paper in the book shows that Bob is descended from a witch who could doom people with her words and he has inherited her power. Bob tried it out and it worked; he told one co-worker to go to blazes, and the man was surrounded with flames; he told the rest to get lost, and they disappeared! Now Bob is "The Perfectly Frightened Man" as he relates his day at work to his wife, Helen. She insists it's all a practical joke and that the book says it was printed in the U.S.A. in 1596, which is impossible. Bob responds, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle," and guess what he turns into!

Robert Sale's art always turns me off, and this weird tale is no exception. I do like the idea of the gang at the office writing to a bookseller in England for a centuries-old book on witchcraft to give Bob as a birthday gift, and I like his sassy wife, but the end, where he's a monkey, is silly. Why does the book say it was printed in the U.S.?

Chief stagehand Otto Groat watches from backstage as Dick, the leading man in a play, romances lovely Carlotta Delys before plunging a dagger into his own heart. When Otto observes the pair's romance becoming real offstage, he substitutes a real dagger for the fake one and Dick nearly kills himself during a performance. Backstage, Otto is trapped in a room when a teapot boils over and extinguishes the flame of a gas jet. Too bad the only thing he has to force open the door is the rubber dagger that should have been onstage!

There's nothing strange about "When the Curtain Falls!," a story that would fit better in a romance comic. I'm a fan of Baily's art but his heart wasn't in this one.-Jack

World of Fantasy #14 (October)

Cover by Joe Maneely

"The Three Dead Flies!" (a: Jim Infantino) ★★

"The Strange Escape" (a: Don Perlin) ★1/2

"Lost in the City That Doesn't Exist!" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★1/2

"The Mole Mystery!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★1/2

"Deadlock!" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★

"The Yogi's Secret" (a: Dick Giordano) ★★1/2

Chet Harron forces a scientist named John Eager to sign over the rights to his miraculous serum to Chet, ignoring John's pleas that he needs the serum to save his sick son. Years pass, and Harron builds a big, successful drug company. One day, the old man tells his scientists to create a youth serum to make him young again. John Eager turns up, looking not a day over thirty and telling Harron that he has invented the exact youth serum Harron craves.

Eager gives Harron a jar containing three flies whose lives have been prolonged by the serum, and Harron signs over the rights to his company to Eager. After he signs, Harron sees "The Three Dead Flies!" and angrily smashes the vial of serum. Eager explains that the flies just needed another dose and Harron has destroyed the only sample of the youth serum. Later, Eager visits the grave of his father, revealing that he is really the son of the man Harron swindled.

Am I nuts? Are the Atlas stories starting to improve? This was is pretty good. Jim Infantino will never be among my favorite artists, but the tale of Harron and Eager held my interest and had a decent, if predictable, twist ending.

Ivan Krull started a war against the United Countries of the World and lost, so he was sentenced to life in prison. He kept inciting riots in jail, so he was sent to the sub-basement to serve out his time in isolation. After years of solitude, he hears a sound of rushing water and digs down to attempt "The Strange Escape" on an underground river. Emerging into the light, Ivan discovers that he is alone on Earth, since everyone else emigrated to a new planet!

Krull's story is straightforward and over quickly, in a mere three pages. We've seen the bit about everyone leaving Earth before and Perlin's art is as expected, with one panel that looks so much like the work of Jack Davis that it could be a swipe.

Two tycoons named Carl Mason and Earl Borden are flying to Rio de Janeiro, planning a coup that will allow them to take over most of the world's industry. A storm causes the plane to crash in the jungle, where the duo encounter bald giants who take them to a futuristic city made of plastic. The locals reveal that they are mutants who control everything by brain power, so when Mason and Borden hold them at gunpoint and demand that they come back to civilization with them, the mutants wipe every memory of the encounter from the men's brains. The duo find themselves back in the plane, no longer desiring world domination.

A dull story is not enlivened by Howard O'Donnell's art. When I see big, bald heads on mutants, I always think of Curt Swan's big, bald heads from various issues of Superman comics, and O'Donnell's baldies can't compare.

Cook and Moore use a giant drill-car to drill down 1000 miles below the Earth's surface. They find a city of gold, but their greed makes them lie to the professor, who invented the drill-car, and say they found nothing. The professor dies of a broken heart and Cook and Moore buy the drill-car for a cheap price and head back down to the golden city. After loading the car full of gold, they discover that every metal in the area turns to gold. Unfortunately, that means their drill-car is now gold and thus too soft to drill back to the surface. They resolve to wait till the effects wear off, having learned a lesson about greed.

That drill-car looks awfully familiar doesn't it? I wonder if Stan and Jack had "The Mole Mystery!" handy when they created the Mole Man story a few years later in Fantastic Four. The ending is sappy. Also, if they drilled down, wouldn't they have left a big hole that they could return to the surface through?

Fred Palmer invents a machine that can control men's thoughts. He sells it to the rich and powerful Hubert Winslow, who uses the machine to force others to sell their assets to him at a steep discount. Fred falls in love with Winslow's pretty daughter, Joyce, and soon realizes what Hubert is doing, but when the inventor confronts the wealthy man, Winslow uses the machine to control Fred's thoughts so that the inventor lies to Joyce and claims he was trying to extort her father. Joyce visits her Pop and knocks the machine off his desk, smashing it and ending his ability to control men's minds. In the end everyone apologizes, shakes hands, and promises to be better.

Joe Orlando's panels are solid and the story does veer into the realm of fantasy, in that it involves a thought control machine, but the title "Deadlock!" is an odd choice. The introductory caption suggests that Joyce breaks a deadlock between Winslow and Palmer, but that's stretching a point.

An Englishman named Clyde Lipton is kind to a yogi named Yama Nuri who turns up at his door, offering to work for food. Clyde invites the man in, feeds him, and they enjoy playing chess together. The yogi accepts Clyde's offer to stay as long as he likes and promises to teach Clyde how to project an image of himself that is indistinguishable from the real person. One evening, Nuri accompanies Clyde to work at the patent office and they are playing chess when Communist agents steal a valise of secret plans. The agents kidnap Clyde and Yama and fly them to a country behind the iron curtain, but multiple images of Lipton and Nuri exit the airplane and scatter, leaving the agents confused as to where the plans went. Back at home, Clyde knows nothing of the adventure his image shared with the yogi's image.

I enjoyed "The Yogi's Secret." Dick Giordano is one of my favorite inkers of all time and, while his pencils aren't as impressive as his inks, he does a nice job with this story. I like that Clyde has white hair, smokes a pipe, loves chess, and works as a security guard.-Jack

Next Week...
Could Strange Worlds #1 Be the 
Dawn of Atlas Phase III?