Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 198: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 183

July 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #2

Cover by Jack Kirby & Sal Brodsky

"I Led the Strange Search for Manoo!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★

"The World Below!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #22)

"Rocky's Last Ride!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

Poor (and I do mean poor) Billy Jones can't get himself invited to any of the rich kids' parties; they tell him to stay in his own "social set." Heartbroken, Billy walks through the woods one day and stumbles upon a sight hundreds of Atlas protagonists before him have taken in: a busted-up spaceship and its mildly damaged cargo, a very strange looking alien (think, maybe, Humpty Dumpty with frog legs). The creature tells him that he is on Earth searching for the dangerous space criminal, Manoo, who has gotten the better of him and disappeared into the city. 

The alien explains that their race can morph into anything they want; right now his prey is disguised as a human. The only way to tell the invader from a normal human is that he won't cast a shadow. The creature hands our hero a ray gun and tells him to find Manoo and blast him before he destroys Earth. Billy lets out a cry of "I Led the Strange Search for Manoo!" and heads out on his trek. Even though there are millions of humans in the city, it doesn't take Billy very long to find Manoo hiding in an abandoned theater. 

Billy takes aim but just can't pull the trigger. Manoo takes the ray gun away and asks Billy where he got it. When Billy spills the beans, Manoo lowers his ray gun and explains that it is he, Manoo, who is the outer space policeman and the other big egg the real criminal. Billy doesn't know who to believe so he marches Manoo back into the forest at gunpoint and delivers him to his adversary. The two giant goofballs engage in some fisticuffs before the truth comes out and Manoo rewards his new friend for his bravery. Billy receives a gargantuan diamond for his troubles, heads back to town, buys the university all the rich kids were going to enroll in, and denies them entrance. So, in the end, Billy learns a valuable lesson: do unto others before they do it to you and if they've already done it to you then do it back even worse.

"Manoo" is the pits, the umpteenth tale that begins with a stroll through the woods and a shipwrecked alien. There's literally not one aspect of this crap I can recommend. The script is not the only low point; Kirby and Ayers are clearly running on fumes; the creature design is pathetic and it's hard to tell one human from another. And how about that climactic moral: good job, Stan! It's no wonder that this was one of only a handful of the Kirby/Lee monster tales that was ignored for reprinting.

Doctor Droom is hired by a steamship company to find their missing luxury liner, the Luxuria, which has vanished into thin air at sea. Droom boards a bathysphere and stumbles across a hatch on the bottom of the sea. When he enters the hole, he discovers it's a portal to the lost city of Atlantis. Investigating "The World Below!," he finds that the Atlanteans are about to launch a full scale attack on the surface world. Through the magical art of hypnosis, Droom quashes the invasion and saves all mankind. Though the script isn't breaking any ground and the art isn't much more than a bunch of talking heads, I still like the idea of a series character breaking up the monotony. 

Rocky Baines, manager of the local automated car wash, has been working the perfect con: he convinces the old people who drive into his wash that they've A/ run over his foot; B/ clipped his hip with their fender; or C/squashed his head under their tires. The con nets him lots of extra bucks but then this goofy guy comes in driving a "foreign model" and Rocky goes into his act, only to discover the mark ain't got no dough. When the nut hands Rocky the keys to the auto and tells him to keep it, the con artist quickly learns that this ain't no ordinary "foreign model." It's the old "Car from Mars" twist that's been used a few times before and ain't getting any newer, believe me.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #70

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Sandman Cometh!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #13)

"A Thousand Years" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Crypt of Shadows #6)

"The Stone Man" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Kull the Destroyer #12)

Afraid his only son is becoming a limp-wristed mama's boy, Steve Bronson grabs the kid off his piano stool and tosses him onto an airplane bound for Mexico. Along with his wife, Anne, Steve visits a wonderful little village, hoping the outdoor atmosphere will stimulate little Bobby's manliness. The three discover a remote cave and do some family exploring. 

In the back of the cave, they find a locked steel door. Unable to jimmy the portal, Steve grabs hold of some blasting powder and blows open the door. Behind it they find a single, shapeless statue. Suddenly, the form comes to life, tells the startled family that he is the Sandman, and relates an origin story told many times before: centuries before, the Sandman had flown to Earth from the planet Sandinia-X410 (okay, I made up that part), but his ship had crashed and the natives, afraid Sandy was an "evil spirit," locked him away in the cave. Finally, he is free!

Being a he-man macho dude, Steve begins pummeling the alien, but to no avail; the monster keeps reassembling his disembodied grains. Sandman assumes a human shape and forces the Bronsons to drive him to America, so that he can scope out the vulnerability of Earth's people. Steve manages to draw the attention of the army but Sandman is not worried... once he hits the beach, it's Katy bar the door. He will absorb all the grains of sand in the world and become unstoppable. That is... until little Bobby tosses a bucket of water at the astonished creature and then scoops up all the wet sand and locks it in a crate. Steve congratulates Bobby on his intelligent thinking. Sure, the kid's reading books like a little fruitcake, but he destroyed a menace the army couldn't stop. Maybe an education isn't so bad.

No, but "The Sandman Cometh!" definitely is bad. The only things this microwaved mess has going for it are the two mighty guffaws I let out at the aforementioned scene where Steve just happens to have blasting powder while taking a hike with his family, and that climax, where Bobby takes a pretty small pail of water and destroys a six-foot-plus sand monster. I'm not sure why the Sandman can't just bust out of that crate. His plan for world conquest, as with that of other alien forces in the Atlas comics, needs a little filling in. What will he do with the world once he is its master? And how come he's called "Sandman" when he comes from outer space? Universal language?

In the deadly dull "A Thousand Years," a convict spending life behind bars wishes out loud for freedom and then is startled when the devil appears in his cell (well, we know he's the devil but Stan can't call him that lest the CCA stamp a "Refused" on the script). Old Scratch tells the con that he'll give him one thousand years of freedom for his signature. Satan gets the guy's mark and then causes an earthquake, releasing the prisoner. With hounds right behind him, the dope hides in what he believes is a plane on an air force base (best place to hide, no?). Later, he screams in shock as he realizes the craft is a rocket and it blasts into space. 

Last up is Steve Ditko's "The Stone Man," wherein an old man begs the statue of war hero Dralla for relief from hunger and poverty. The old-timer goes home and takes a nap, unaware that outside on his land gold nuggets begin popping up like mushrooms. Unfortunately, his greedy neighbors snap up all the shiny morsels and become rich, then enact laws that forbid the poor in their village. Dralla's statue is so enraged that it comes to life, transforms the gold into worthless dirt, and hustles the old man away to Valhalla. One of the better strips this month, despite its heavy moral climax (if you believe, you will win out) and awful proofreading (halfway through the story, Dralla becomes Drallas!). Sharp Ditko graphics.-Peter

Strange Tales #86

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Created Mechano!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)  ★★

"The Secret of 'Georgie's Globe!'" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

"Beware of Meeks Bringing Gifts!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky)  ★★

Little Tommy's parents are worried about him since he's been spending so much time with "that old tramp Hopkins," but the little imp loves how Hopkins can make anything out of small pieces of nothing. When the State Fair is announced, Tommy convinces the old geezer to make something "real big," like the "biggest machine in the world!" After some thinking, Hopkins agrees if the kid will give him a hand.

One year later, the giant machine is ready to be tested just in time for the State Fair. Bobby christens the nuts 'n' bolts "Mechano" ("absolute genius," sighs Hopkins while questioning whether it was a good idea to let the kid play with the soldering iron) and Hopkins throws the switch. Sure enough, Mechano walks right out of the factory and along the city streets to the fairgrounds. Unfortunately, once he gets there, Mechano is accidentally blasted with an experimental atomic transmitter. Absorbing a ray of pure energy, Mechano becomes his own man and heads out of the fairgrounds to stir up some s**t. 

The police arrive on scene and shoot the robot full of holes but it just keeps coming. Hopkins grabs a crowbar and attempts to jam Mechano's pinion bar (!) but fails to stop the marauding monster. At just that time, an unscheduled armada arrives from space on a mission to conquer Earth. A group of coneheads pop out of the ship, armed with ray guns, remarking that their intel is crap. They were told earthlings were weak and read too many funny books, not that they were gigantic steel machines. After their rays do little damage to Mechano, they hop back in their tin can and fly back into space. The police arrive and blast Mechano with machine guns, destroying the savior of Earth.

Another month, another invasion from space, but at least this one is a little different. I like the interaction between mentor and pupil and the fact that, after he's created his glorious machine, Hopkins doesn't opt to get revenge on all his neighbors who've kicked him out of the country club. The art is hot and cold; some of the panels of Mechano are nicely inked while others look almost ignored. The aliens are hilarious; are those helmets or their heads?

What is "The Secret of Georgie's Globe?" Besides five pages of wasted space, it chronicles the adventures of Georgie, who receives the fabulous gift of a replica of Earth from his parents for his birthday (what kid wouldn't crave a globe?) and then discovers, to his dismay, that anything that happens to the sphere happens in the real world. He spills a glass of water on the Sahara and the Sahara floods, etc. Then, while moving house, the globe drops and breaks. Is it the end of the world? Not quite.

Reporter Walter Johnson is the only man on Earth who mistrusts the Meeks. Who are the Meeks? Well, they are a band of critters from another world who land on Earth and hand out gifts, claiming they are friends from another planet who exist only to make others happy. But Walter is wary. He cries "Beware of Meeks Bringing Gifts!" and forces a Meek onto his TV show to confess that the aliens are here to inherit the Earth. Their plan, to make humans fat and lazy (so that's how we got this way!) so that they could enslave them, worked like a charm until Walter Johnson saw through their scheme. I like the Kirby/Brodsky art but the (clearly) Stan statement in the last panels is a laugh.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #19

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Green Thing!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #14)

"The Haunted Paper!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #14)

"The Coming of Maaboo!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #14)

Why is a botanist so jumpy when he sees a plant sway in a breeze? His bored colleagues listen to the man's story about his efforts to create a serum to increase a plant's intelligence. Once he was satisfied that he had the right formula, he journeyed to an uninhabited island for a test and injected an ordinary weed with the fluid. The weed immediately grew six feet tall and began to move and speak.

After a shaky first step, "The Green Thing!" got its act together and demanded that the botanist ferry it to the mainland so it could embark on world domination. The man refused, raced to his boat, grabbed the outboard motor, and dove beneath the water, intending to smash the motor on the undersea rocks. Before the plant could stop him it had to do battle with a huge shark! Back on land, the botanist vainly tried to beat back the walking, talking plant with a tree limb before climbing a tree in an effort to avoid the Green Thing.

The plant compelled the tree to bend and deliver the man back to the ground, but the plucky botanist made a run for it and hid in a cave, where he found a small Ignatius Rex plant growing in the soil. This was the plant he originally intended to use for his experiments because it's known to be the highest form of plant life. The man injected serum into the little plant and it grew big and smart and defeated the Green Thing in stalk to stalk combat. Ignatius Rex bid the botanist farewell, cautioning him never again to fool with Mother Nature. That's why, when he tells his colleagues his tale, the botanist claims that his experiments were a failure.

The best thing I can say about "The Green Thing" is that it doesn't involve an invasion from outer space. Kirby and Ayers's art is adequate, as usual, but there's only so much that can be done to make a walking, talking weed visually interesting. It kind of resembles a prototype of Jack Skellington if the pumpkin head were green. The botanist makes some pretty questionable decisions along the way. Since he can't find one Ignatius Rex plant--the whole reason he went to this isolated island--he decides to inject a random weed instead, and why does he jump into the water to destroy the motor? There are plenty of surface rocks available. In my ongoing study, I see one panel with a view of Earth from space and dialogue balloons (p. 5) and zero panels depicting a group of floating heads.

A crook named Nick Rover has to leave town when he hears that the income tax boys are after him, so he relocates under another name, adding a pair of glasses and dyeing his hair black. Nick uses his ill-gotten gains to purchase the town paper, where he discovers that Olef, the old typesetter, has a knack for writing headlines trumpeting unfortunate events before they occur. "The Haunted Paper!" is always right and Nick demands to know how Olef can predict the future. The next day, the headline reads: "Smalltown Newspaper Owner Meets With Serious Accident!" and Nick quickly turns himself in at the police station, certain that a nice, cozy cell is the safest place. Back in the composing room, Olef chuckles to himself and remarks that sometimes fate needs a helping hand.

Ditko's art is so strong at this point that I wish he'd be assigned some longer stories. These five-pagers don't give him enough room! It's funny that the taxman is what strikes fear into Nick's heart; I guess he heard about Capone.

Charlie Wilkes will do anything for a buck. Presently, he's kind of beaten up and, when an old pal runs into him in Burma, Charlie tells the tale of "The Coming of Maaboo!" Having heard the legend of Maaboo, an alien who came to Earth ages ago and commanded local natives to gather up all the gold they could find and store it until he returned, Charlie hired a native guide to take him to visit the tribe. He disguised himself as Maaboo and announced that he was back and wanted the gold. The natives obliged and Charlie was on his way back to the city with his guide when the guide revealed that he was the real Maaboo and he was none too happy with Charlie.

Another dud from Don Heck. The odd thing about this story is that it ends with Maaboo menacing Charlie but it begins with Charlie back in the city, a bit beaten up and without gold, but not that bad off. I guess Maaboo didn't rough him up too badly.-Jack

Tales to Astonish #21

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Trull! The Inhuman!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Creatures on the Loose #10)

"It Happened on 'The Silent Screen'" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #8)

"Open Wider, Please!" (a: Don Heck) ★

An alien rocket ship crash lands in Africa, killing its sole occupant. The creature's life essence survives and floats through the air, looking for a new form to inhabit. Meanwhile, Phil, an engineer whose career came crashing down when a large bridge that he designed fell apart right after being dedicated, is on a ship bound for Africa, where he tries to forget his former fiance, Gloria, who dumped him after the bridge collapsed.

Gloria has taken up with Bart, the foreman of a construction crew slated to build a village in the African jungle. The project will utilize a big steam shovel designed by Phil. On site, Phil stops Bart from whipping a recalcitrant elephant and, just then, the wandering life force decides to enter the steam shovel, bringing it to life. The steam shovel suddenly acts on its own and announces that its name is Trull and it's an alien who plans to rule the world.

Phil, Bart, Gloria, and the work crew are forced to assist Trull as it studies the people of Earth and plans to take over. Gloria makes a run for it and is saved from certain death by the very elephant that Phil had spared from a beating by Bart. The elephant destroys the sentient steam shovel and the alien's life essence floats off again, presumably waiting for a sequel. Gloria tells Phil that she wants him back now that he's proven his manliness, but he tells her that she and Bart deserve each other.

"Trull! The Inhuman!" is truly all over the place. It's interesting that the Trull on the cover looks nothing like the big red steam shovel of the story; perhaps Lee and Kirby realized that it would look too silly. There was a tradition in science fiction stories of inanimate objects taking on lives of their own, but only in a 1961 Atlas tale would this be merged with a story about an alien who wants to take over the world. For the record, we have a floating heads panel on page 7 and panels with views of the Earth from outer space with dialogue balloons on pages 3 and 10.

"It Happened on 'The Silent Screen'" depicts movie theater patrons going to see a film called The Hulk. At the end they leave and the creature steps off the screen and into the auditorium! But wait, it's only a movie about that! No, the creature steps off the screen again! No, it's just a movie! And so on. A waste of five pages and of Ditko's talents.

Finally, in "Open Wider, Please!," a dentist determines that his patient is really a Martian spy. They grapple and it turns out that the patient is a robot from the Red Planet! The dentist pushes the robot's off button and ends the menace before revealing to the reader that he's a robot from Venus! Hoo boy, how many times will they pull out that twist ending? At least Don Heck draws a pretty nurse.-Jack

Thursday...
Jack Gives
a Damn

And Next Week...
The Sequel Absolutely
No One Begged For!

The 100 Chapter 15: 70 & 69

 

Who doesn't love a list?

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

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

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

Red River (1948)

Starring: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan

Directed by Howard Hawks

"Y'know, there are only two things more beautiful than a good gun... a Swiss watch or a woman from anywhere... you ever have a good Swiss watch?"

John Wayne's Tom Dunson is flat broke after putting everything he had into his cattle. Now, the only thing that might save him is a cattle drive from Texas to Missouri through treacherous terrain. The longer the drive drags on, the more estranged his adopted son, Matt (Clift) and the rest of the cowboys become from the single-minded Dunson. Eventually, "father" and "son" collide and Matt leaves the old man behind and takes control of the herd. Dunson swears he'll track the young buck down and put a bullet in him. Mutiny on the Bounty out west.

Well, it never quite gets to that point. In fact, the cop-out Hollywood climax is just about the only flaw in this classic western, the first to really exhibit Wayne's acting prowess (it's this film, supposedly, that convinced John Ford that Wayne was ready to play Ethan Edwards) and Montgomery Clift's film debut. Both actors are stunning. According to Peter Bogdanovich, director Hawks was concerned that Clift would go overboard with his method acting (for comparisons of what could have gone wrong, see Paul Newman in The Left Handed Gun) so he told the actor to concentrate on Wayne. Hawks makes several turns away from the norm, chief among them the fact that Matt and fellow gunslinger Cherry develop a friendship rather than settle for the obligatory showdown on the streets of Abilene.

As far as Wayne goes, Red River, to me, is his second greatest role, one I don't think any other actor could have pulled off so effectively. My maternal grandfather was a very important person in my life and his favorite actor was John Wayne so whenever we were at my grandparents' house and a John Wayne flick was on, I'd grab a seat. That's probably how I saw this one for the first time. Wayne could be divisive thanks to his personal views on politics and race but, as a movie star, he had few peers.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: Red River is certainly a great movie. I haven't seen it in so long that I didn't think to include it on my list, but it sure could have been there. I don't agree with the Duke's politics but I love his movies. If I didn't watch movies where the star's politics didn't align with mine, how could I enjoy all those great Clint Eastwood flicks?

John: Also on my list of unseen John Waynes.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine

Directed by John Ford

"I'll be all around in the dark—I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look—wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there."

Released from prison during the Great Depression, Tom Joad returns to his family in Oklahoma, only to find that they have been thrown off their land and must pack up the truck and move to California. The trip along Route 66 is harrowing and, when they arrive in the Golden State, it doesn't seem so golden—they are but a few of the desperate folks taken advantage of by the big farmers. Things only get tougher for Tom and the Joads.

I read John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, in my late teens or early twenties and was immediately hooked. Over the course of the next few years, I read nearly everything Steinbeck ever wrote. But The Grapes of Wrath remains my favorite, and one of my favorite novels of all time.

I don't recall when I first saw the movie, but it's a classic, with gorgeous black and white cinematography by Gregg Toland and a terrific cast, led by Henry Fonda as Tom and Jane Darwell as Ma Joad, his mother. John Carradine plays Casy, a preacher who has lost his faith and who gets involved in organizing workers, only to meet a bad end. The rest of the cast is equally great, from John Qualen down to a young Darryl Hickman.

John Ford directs this powerful film, which shows on screen how bad things can get when the government fails to rein in the captains of industry. As I watched, I lamented the lack of serious, popular movies being released today; the only one I could think of in recent years to tackle social justice themes like this was One Battle After Another. I prefer the old films, which value storytelling and acting over curse words and graphic sex and violence.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: I was forced to watch The Grapes of Wrath in 8th grade English and loved it. This one still packs a hell of a wallop. Henry Fonda seemingly could do no wrong.

John: Haven't seen Grapes of Wrath, haven't read Grapes of Wrath, so nothing more to add there. But I do take umbrage at the claim that contemporary films don't value storytelling and acting, and are only about sex and violence. I can only imagine such a claim coming from someone who avoids watching contemporary films, or somehow only manages to see bad ones. I personally would never discount a film with a good story and great acting just because it happens to contain sex and violence. And I also don't assume a film with sex and violence can't have a good story or great acting. I love a lot of old films, and would never allow the occasional bad one to besmirch my opinion of all the rest. I'll just leave my soapbox here in case I need it later.

Poltergeist (1982) 

Starring: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke

Directed by Tobe Hooper

"They're here."

Another classic from the amazing moviegoing year of 1982. A wonderful Jerry Goldsmith score, a fine cast (including the always entertaining, underrated James Karen), and some grand visual effects make this an extremely rewatchable film. 

Sure, it's a Spielberg production, so his sense of wonder is ever-present, but it does a disservice to the great Tobe Hooper to attempt to diminish his role in the making of the film. It has several great moments of terror, including everyone's favorite clown, and the ultimate "maggot ridden midnight snack" scene. And all because they just moved the tombstones... If you want to get upset about anything, the claims of it robbing its key plot point from Richard Matheson's Twilight Zone episode, "Little Girl Lost," are valid.—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: Yeah, this is a good one. It sure feels like Steve got behind the camera for a few of those shots. Lots of bright lights and people looking off at something incredible. Lots of kids doing kid things. Name me another Tobe Hooper flick that felt anywhere near this. But that's neither here nor there; Poltergeist is still a lot of fun. Maybe not Top 100 worthy but a good watch anyways.

Jack: I remember seeing this when it came out. It was fun. I probably watched it on VHS after that but I haven't seen it in ages.

Casino Royale (2006) 

Starring: Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench

Directed by Martin Campbell

"Bond... this may be too much for a blunt instrument to understand, but arrogance and self-awareness seldom go hand in hand."

I was one of those who questioned the casting of Daniel Craig. Guy just didn't have that look, y'know. Never mind that all the guys previously had the look and were making dogs. Well, there were a couple of decent Bond flicks post-Connery (On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Goldeneye and th-th-that's all, folks) but I couldn't tell you how many times I walked out of the theater after watching the latest one (and I kept going to see them! what was wrong with me?) thinking, "What the hell was the plot again?" and, "Wouldn't it be great if they'd find a writer who took this seriously?"

Anyway, like the lemming I was, I saw Casino Royale on opening weekend and loved it. Went back and saw it the following week. I loved Connery but I never believed he would kill a guy in cold blood. He got all the girls and always escaped the fancy gizmos the bad guys aimed at him but he was a good looking, well-mannered British spy. Craig is exactly how M describes him: deranged. Maybe psychotic. He sure looks like he's having a good time with his first kill in the men's room scene that opens Casino. He looks and acts like a dangerous killing machine.

In addition to Craig, there are a lot of other plusses: Mads Mikkelsen's Le Chiffre is a great villain, sinister but vulnerable. How about the fact that Le Chiffre doesn't even die by Bond's hands? There's no protracted chase up a snowy mountain or flight into a volcano. He's shot in the head by another bad guy! Vesper (Eva Green) is one of the best of the "Bond Girls" but adds so much more to the plot than eye candy. She dies in a really nasty way but her influence lives on; it could be argued that the Craig-starring films that follow evolve around Bond's obsession with Vesper. The card game scenes are riveting and unpredictable. 

The best is saved for last. The new 007, standing over who will become his latest kill, dressed to the nines, uttering those famous words and eliciting goosebumps from all who hear them: "Bond, James Bond." Cue the theme.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: I liked this movie a lot when it came out and I may have even watched it again on DVD. The Craig series of Bond films was odd in that one and three were great and the rest were awful. The last one was so bad that it soured me on the whole series. I still prefer Roger Moore.

John: My first Bond was For Your Eyes Only, and based on that, I would have been happy to call it my last. But a friend was a fan, so I got to experience Octopussy in the theater as well. And it didn't change my opinion. If Roger Moore had anything to offer, it was long gone by then, and it soured me on the franchise for years. I think my next Bond was Goldeneye, and I didn't even dip into the Connery films until the early 2000s, when I decided to give the entire series a watch. I stalled out in the Moores, I'm sure to no one's surprise. Well, maybe Jack's. So, when Casino Royale landed, I didn't have any issues with Craig in the role. And I thought he was great. The film was gritty and lacked the silly gadgets and gizmos (and his run did a good job with that until it reached its fourth installment, the low point in an otherwise spectacular series). I just caught CR again on the big screen on James Bond day, and loved it just as much as I did the first time. Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judy Dench, Jeffrey Wright, and Giancarlo Giannini are all fabulous in it. Seeing it has inspired me to revisit the Craig series one more time, even the dip in quality that Spectre brings, right through the epic conclusion of No Time To Die, which I assume my not carrying decades of Bond baggage allowed me to enjoy. While none of the Craigs made it into my Top 100, a couple, including this one, were certainly contenders.

Cry-Baby (1990)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Amy Locane

Directed by John Waters

"You've made me the happiest juvenile delinquent in Baltimore!"It’s not easy being a juvenile delinquent in Baltimore in 1954! Cry-Baby hangs out with the Drapes at Turkey Point but falls in love with Allison, a pretty girl who hangs out with the Squares at the R.S.V.P. Charm School. Allison is drawn to the handsome biker but her Square boyfriend and her prim and proper aunt stand in the way. Will these two star crossed lovers be able to find happiness together?

I had to include a John Waters film in my Top 100 and Cry-Baby is my favorite. It had me from the first scene, where all the teenagers are lined up in the school gym to get vaccinated. The cast is a riot—Johnny Depp was born to play Cry-Baby and Amy Locane is perfect as Allison. But it’s the rest of the cast members who really crack me up, from Traci Lords as one of the Drapes to Patty Hearst (yes, that Patty Hearst) as her mother!

What really makes the movie work are the musical numbers, where Waters contrasts the cool, rockabilly style of the Drapes with the corny, Doo Wop style of the Squares. It’s clear that Waters loves the time period and the look; it’s as if he sat down and made a list of everything he could think of that typified the mid-fifties and then found a way to get it all into the movie. It’s a love letter to mid-century Baltimore and a satire at the same time.

I saw this in a theater when it came out and it always stuck with me. I just watched it again and guffawed my way through it. One highlight is when Cry-Baby tells Allison about his late father, the Alphabet Bomber, who blew up places in alphabetical order—the airport, the barber shop, the car wash, the drug store… Oh, and the bass player in Cry-Baby’s band is reading an early issue of Tales to Astonish in one scene, despite the fact that that comic wouldn’t be published for another six or seven years! All is forgiven. We all know that only the mentally deficient read comic books and they lead to juvenile delinquency!—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: I don't think I've ever seen a John Waters flick. The sheer eighties-ishness of this would have screamed "Stay away!"

John: I seem to recall seeing A Dirty Shame, because I like Chris Isaak but I've otherwise pretty much avoided the work of John Waters, as it's not my cup of tea (and I think by now I've demonstrated a pretty wide range of tea-drinking). I'm still trying to wrap my head around a John Waters flick showing up on Jack's list!  

Burnt Offerings (1976) 

Starring: Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Anthony James

Directed by Dan Curtis

"God when it comes alive - tell them, Brother. Tell them what it's like in the summer."

Dan Curtis's crowning achievement and the source of the single most frightening image I have experienced in a film. Absent are the cheesy soap opera elements that often plagued Dark Shadows and low-budget limitations of several of his telefilms. Burnt Offerings features an amazing cast—arguably the best assembly of Curtis's career, delivering my favorite scary haunted house story. I read and enjoyed Robert Marasco's source novel (after having seen the film), but I honestly feel that William F. Nolan improved upon it, particularly the ending. Even composer Robert Cobert rises to the occasion, providing haunting melodies and one of the greatest music box themes to appear in a horror film.

Oliver Reed and Karen Black are great as the married couple hired to be caretakers (along with their son and an aunt, played wonderfully by Bette Davis) of a luxurious home (the Dunsmuir Mansion in Oakland, California, later famous for being Morningside Mortuary in the original Phantasm). Of course, the deal was too good to be true and we soon find out why, as the family begins to fall apart, while the house... well...

Much like Trilogy of Terror, with its indelible image of the Zuni Fetish doll, Burnt Offerings features a similar visual icon that stuck with almost every viewer who saw it, in the form of a chauffeur first introduced in a black and white flashback, played by the late, great, character actor Anthony James. I sang his praises when discussing the Unforgiven, but it was this role that not only seared his image, but also his name, into my memory forever. As an aside, I was so taken by his performance and his ability to send chills up my spine with just a simple smile that I decided, years later, to seek him out, with the intention of interviewing him for the original incarnation of bare•bones (as part of a never fully developed series on pivotal horror influences called "Giving Me The Creeps"). When I came home one day to hear a gentle voice on my answering machine saying, "Hello John... this is Anthony James," I nearly flipped out. I ended up speaking to him for about an hour, having a wonderful time explaining how much his work had impacted me and learning about his second career as a fine artist. He sent me a signed copy of a book of his paintings, and he arranged for me to get a private pre-opening viewing of a gallery show of his artwork in San Francisco. Sadly, he didn't come to town for that, so we never met in person. Our closing up shop with bare•bones prevented me from finishing the piece, but I will always have fond memories of our brief interaction. And despite his kind and generous demeanor, I still get a little chill whenever I see that smiling chauffeur.—John

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: I thought fersure this would be higher on your list. I saw this three or four times at the Almaden Twin (wish I could remember its co-feature at the time) and it creeped me out every time. But then anything with Bette Davis generally creeps me out. The pool scene, in particular, is a highlight.

Jack: I mainly remember this for an old Bette Davis and something to do with a swimming pool. It's been awhile.

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

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 182

June 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #1

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

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

(r: Strange Tales #175)

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

(r: Strange Tales #175)

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

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #19) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Journey Into Mystery #69

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

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

(r: Creatures on the Loose #12)

"The Iron Giant!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Kid Colt Outlaw #164) 

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

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #13)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Strange Tales #85

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

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

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

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #25)

"The Ape Man" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #24)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tales of Suspense #18

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

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

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #15)

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

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

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #20)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tales to Astonish #20

Cover by Jack Kirby

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

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Fear #2)

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

(r: Fear #2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday...
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Another Marvel Prototype!