Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 185: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 170

March-April 1960

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #57

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Orogo!! The Nightmare from Outer Space!!" 

(a: Don Heck & Jack Kirby) ★1/2

(r: Fantasy Masterpieces 2)(r: Where Monsters Dwell #12)

"The Earth-Crawlers!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #12)

"The Metal Monster" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #12)

"The Martian Who Stole My Body!" ★1/2

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Fear #7)

"Orogo!! The Nightmare from Outer Space!!" arrives on Earth looking for laborers to bring back with him in his gargantuan spaceship. No one can avert their gaze from Orogo's hypnotic eye and soon the giant is nudging thousands of earthlings aboard his vessel. Only one man can stand up to the mighty Orogo; ironically, it's an old man who spends his time sitting on a park bench and staring off into space. It's 100% predictable why the elderly gent is not swayed by Orogo's pulsating orb, but the secret is played out over six pages. My favorite panel is when Orogo is defied and his entire metallic body shuts down; it looks like he's throwing a tantrum!

Would-be inventor Henry Salt has a nagging wife who wants her hubby to whip up a gizmo that will make them rich. Henry insists he's working on something that will make the world a better place to live. "Pshaw!" exclaims the old ball and chain, "Get to work on making my life easier!" Shrugging off his first impulse to bury a hatchet in the old crow's head, Henry continues his work.

Meanwhile, in Africa, disgraced voodoo witch doctor Tutaku escapes from prison and swears vengeance on all mankind. He heads back to his hut, grabs his magic potion, and stands triumphantly on a cliff overlooking the valley. He dumps the formula out over the land but then, in an unfortunate accident, he is killed by his own secret potion. Down in the valley, the vegetation goes wild, growing to mammoth proportions and absorbing all the water around it. Scientists decree that the world will end soon as a dry and arid wasteland if something isn't done.

Coincidentally, back at Henry Salt's place, the quasi-scientist is demonstrating to a prospective buyer the incredible function of his new invention: a machine that can stop rain from falling in certain areas. What are the chances? Henry's attention is diverted to a nearby TV screen and he learns about the troubles in Africa. After contacting the State Department, Henry is rushed to the "dark continent" by the military and saves the world! Hurrah! I can only thank Henry for having the wherewithal to work on such a niche gizmo or we would all have succumbed to "The Earth-Crawlers!" sooner or later. What would the benefits of such a machine be? I was completely caught up in this silly yarn thanks to the imaginative script and Ditko gloss.

Construction foreman Mason accepts a job in Europe to build a road through an ancient forest but runs afoul of a group of gypsies who place a curse on him. Shortly thereafter, Mason is attacked and stalked by his own bulldozer. Salvation arrives in the form of one of the gypsies who elicits a promise from the construction boss to detour his road away from the forest. A really dumb and suspenseless fantasy yarn with ho-hum graphics from the declining Paul Reinman. It's obvious that when Stan and his brother/writing partner Larry Leiber were cooking up "The Metal Monster!" they thought it perfectly fine to "borrow" from Theodore Sturgeon's "Killdozer!" (a story that would, ironically, pop up fourteen years later in an authorized adaptation in Worlds Unknown #6).

The day is not going great for John Warren. First, his Dalmatian, the uniquely named "Spot," won't behave and then John runs into a rogue Martian (here on Earth avoiding persecution on his home planet) who switches places with our hapless hero. John is stuck inside a gigantic red-orange body and can't make his neighbors see the truth. After all is said and done, the authorities take his word for it when Spot starts licking his gargantuan feet. You can't fool a dog! John gets the Martian to switch bodies and the world is safe again. Well, who knows, since the sequel, "The Martian Returns!," debuts next issue. "The Martian Who Stole My Body!" follows the Lee/Kirby (or is it really just Kirby/Kirby?) formula to a tee; pert near every gigantic menace from here on out will sport swimming trunks to preserve their modesty.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #8

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Monstro... the Menace from the Murky Depths!" ★★1/2

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

"The Story of Sammy Snork!" (a: Bill Everett) ★

"I Am the Changing Man!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

"The Runaway Planet!" (a: Doug Wildey) ★

"It Walks by Night!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

The stinkin' commies are up to no good again, this time testing atomic weapons and exposing the sea's creatures to radioactivity. Thus is born "Monstro... the Menace from the Murky Depths!," a gargantuan octopus who slinks his way into a commie port and begins destroying everything around it. In an awkward show of good faith, the American government allows Professor Faraday to fly behind the Iron Curtain to study and hopefully defeat the newly-monikered Monstro!

Faraday dives down into the sea to get a better look at the monster and evidently sees something no one else can see. He surfaces and explains to the stinkin' Red military officials that within 24 hours Monstro will disappear. Taking this as a show of cowardice, the Reds give Faraday a less than appreciative boot in the ass on his way out of town. Sure enough, the next day, the giant octopus disappears and Faraday explains to his Washington boss that he immediately recognized that Monstro had been exposed to a huge dose of radioactivity due to atomic testing and the side effects would only last a day. Chuckling, Faraday turns to the window and hopes that this will be a lesson for the commies: it's not good to mess with atomic weapons (well, unless you're the U.S., I guess).

"Monstro..." isn't more brilliant than "Orogo" or "Mummex" or "Gorgolla," but I really like the Kirby/Ayers vision this time out. Sure, Monstro never shows more than four or five of his deadly tentacles and he's got a funny set of peepers, but he's one of the more dynamic giants we've seen so far. 

By 1960, the three-page sf/f tale had become virtually extinct in the Atlas titles, yet in this issue we have two, neither of which is noteworthy. First up is "The Story of Sammy Snork!," wherein the titular bank robber stows away on a carnival ride purporting to be a Martian spaceship. Guess what? You're not going to believe it but... yep... it's a real spaceship! Sammy goes to Mars and becomes an exhibit in a zoo. Never saw that ending coming. In "The Runaway Planet!," brilliant and really smart Professor Hauptmann insists the planet that's heading for a collision with Earth will never hit. The Prof is sure that God has more of a plan for us than extinction by accident. He's kinda right. What these two short-shorts have in common is some nice art and cliche-riddled writing. Both also look like they may be "vault" stories, which would explain their length.

Ozak is sent from the planet Deth to scout an invasion plan for Earth. Ozak's greatest asset is that he can assimilate any shape or form so he impersonates television reporters and newscasters in order to spread disinformation and sow the seeds of anarchy. Unfortunately for "The Changing Man!," his awesome ability becomes his Achille's heel and his plot is derailed. The reveal is pretty silly, but Ditko (who would create a "Changing Man" character several years later for DC) does his best to keep us turning pages. 

Last up is "It Walks By Night!," wherein we discover that by 1999 mankind has become fat and lazy and depends on robots for all activities. Then, when the robots rebel against their human masters, androids are declared illegal, rounded up, and destroyed. But one lone scientist swims against the tide, building what he considers to be a bigger, stronger robot, ignoring the fact that if he's caught he'll be executed. His plan is discovered when he's testing his new toy out in the woods and the authorities converge on him, destroying the machine and cornering the genius on a high cliff. Opting for death by fall rather than firing squad, our hero (?) takes the dive. Later, after the cops have left, the man rises from the water with a bit of his metal skin showing through. Oh my God, he's a robot too! To be continued next issue. That last panel, of course, is full-on cheat, since we're given no clues throughout that this guy is anything but a brilliant but flawed scientist. Heck's design for the Robot: Mach II in "It Walks..." is just a little too close to that of "Orogo" in JIM #57. This is the second tale this month with a sequel on the horizon.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #8

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"I Dared Defy the Floating Head!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #2)

"I Live Again!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #3)

"I-Am-The-Genie!" (a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Fear #1)

"Mummex---King of the Mummies!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

(r: Fear #1)

On a hot summer day in 1965 in New York City, a huge, green, floating head appears in the sky and announces that it is the harbinger of an invasion force from the planet, Aqua Mentorus. Air force jets open fire but the head disappears and reappears over Long Island. The head explains that it can travel by thought alone and also cause destruction, something it demonstrates by willing an empty warehouse to blow up.

Fortunately, a teenager named Bruce quickly deduces that the head is just a projection and its booming voice is coming from loudspeakers. The cops arrest a group of criminals in Central Park who had planned to force an evacuation of the city so they could loot it. The mayor thanks Bruce for teaching everyone the lesson of not panicking in the face of danger.

"I Dared Defy the Floating Head!" is not a good start to this issue. The art by Paul Reinman is below average and the premise is idiotic. Why would New Yorkers not figure out that the head was being projected and the voice was coming from speakers? It's more likely that they would've ignored it.

One of the statues (presumably Evil) from last issue's "I Spent Midnight with the Thing on Bald Mountain!" announces that "I Live Again!" and climbs back up the mountain to find an empty castle. It goes on a rampage, destroying everything in its path. The living statue hops a ship to America and reaches Florida, where it enters a dark place that it thinks it can wait, undisturbed, before wreaking more havoc. Oops! The statue is on a rocket ship that takes off for outer space, never to return.

Well, I guess that's that. There was no sign of the Good statute that also fell off the mountain in the prior story. This story is at least as bad as the one about the floating head and Ditko, whose art is usually good, isn't even trying. If it weren't signed, I'd wonder if someone else drew it.

While he's in prison, Freddie Sykes passes the time by reading fairy tales. His favorite story is the one about the genie, so when he's released, Freddie heads to the library and does some research. He reads about an old gypsy who tossed a bottle with a genie in a swamp, so he heads south, locates the bottle, pulls the cork, and out comes a giant genie!

Freddie demands a solid gold castle, which the genie provides. He asks for a winged horse and gets one. Freddie's demands grow more outrageous: he tells the genie to make the Atlantic Ocean disappear and to blot out the sun. Finally, Freddie decides that he wants to trade places with the genie. The genie agrees, but what Freddie didn't realize is that, once he's a genie, he has to obey orders! The former genie confines the evil Freddie to a bottle and leaves him to ponder his fate.

The story in "I-Am-The-Genie!" is run of the mill but the art is interesting in that it's about 80% Ditko and 20% Kirby. There's the standard Kirby panel at the bottom of page five where a crowd of onlookers gaze up in horror, and the panel in the middle of page six showing the genie's face is pure Kirby, but the rest of the story is much more Ditko than Kirby, and I prefer that.

Paul Fleming's archaeological trip to Egypt takes a surprising turn when "Mummex---King of the Mummies!" suddenly rises from the desert sand. The huge mummy wanders around, looking for something in one pyramid after another before heading to Cairo. He pulls the roof off of a museum and looks inside before giving up and returning to the desert. Fleming discovers that Mummex had a spaceship buried in the sand--he was an alien from another planet and he departed from Earth!

On the planet Andromeda, Mummex--whose real name is Rakka-takes off his mummy bandages, which protected his body during space travel, and announces that he was unable to find any stranded spacemen on Earth. It turns out he's with the Galactic Missing Persons Bureau!

I feel like a broken record. Don Heck's art is pretty nice but the story is dopey. There is never any sense of menace from the enormous mummy, which just lumbers around looking for something and then departs. The revelation that it's an alien is worthy of a big groan.-Jack

Strange Tales #74

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Gorgolla! The Living Gargoyle!!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #1) (r: Astonishing Tales #22) (r: Where Monsters Dwell #35)

"Beware the Hands of Hundu!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #35)

"I Was Trapped in the Nightmare World" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"When the Totem Walks!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #10)

David Hartnell's summer assignment for his architecture class is to research the origin of gargoyles. He travels to Tibet and finds a remote valley with a gigantic stone wall. Behind the wall, David discovers "Gorgolla! The Living Gargoyle!!" The giant stone creature picks David up and nearly talks him to sleep, explaining how all the gargoyles on Earth are actually (surprise, surprise) aliens who traveled here from the faraway planet of Stonus Five and are waiting on buildings for the right time to attack the human race.

Gorgolla explains the awful events that will follow and, despite David's pleas, the creature sends out the signal for the gargoyles to stop hanging out atop buildings and start attacking. To the giant gargoyle's dismay, gargoyles arrive from all over the Earth and attack Gorgolla! Why did they turn on their leader? The gargoyles helpfully explain to David that they watched humans and learned of love and charity, which beats their slave status on Stonus Five. They're happy to serve as guardians of the human race. David goes back to class at summer's end and tells the prof that he was unable to learn the origin of gargoyles, deciding that the story of Gorgolla should be kept secret.

At seven pages, this may be the longest story we've read yet. It's not bad, and the inks by Dick Ayers really bring out all of Kirby's artistic quirks. The gargoyles really look similar to the sort of creatures we'll see in a few years in the superhero comics.

Hundu's paintings bring him fame and fortune, but nothing brings him any closer to Anne, the woman he loves, since she's in love with a writer named Mark Walker. When Anne sends Hundu a telegram that she's marrying Mark, the artist loses his temper and lashes out at the old man who cleans his studio. Mark decides to take a trip to Europe to forget his sorrow. In Germany, he sees an old gypsy man and convinces the fellow to sit for a portrait. The old gypsy gets sick before the portrait is finished and gives Hundu a box of oil paints that will make any picture he creates come true!

Hundu discovers that the paints work and uses them to create a picture of his rival, Mark, in prison on Death Row. After starting on a self-portrait of himself as dictator of the world, Hundu leaves his studio for the night. While he's gone, the old cleaner accidentally knocks the painting out the window and it falls three floors to the ground. As a result, Hundu lies broken on the floor, unable to reach the magic paint. Once it is all washed down the drain, everything Hundu magically created disappears, and Mark and Anne live happily ever after.

"Beware the Hands of Hundu" doesn't even try to make sense. The first thing Hundu paints is a silly hat on a picture of himself, in order to confirm that he was a fool for dealing with the gypsy, but the next thing he paints (of course) is a treasure chest filled with jewels. He then paints Mark on death row, followed by a picture of the Empire State Building upside down! In the end, if the paint's disappearance makes everything go back to normal, why is Hundu still injured? This is not one of Don Heck's better efforts.

Mr. Brown has a theory that people have similar dreams because there is a dream world that everyone visits while they sleep. He goes to sleep and enters the dream world, where he encounters ghostly figures and strange things. In the end, the ghostly figures reveal that they are afraid of him and consider him a nightmare creature. He awakens and wonders if life is but a dream.

"I Was Trapped in the Nightmare World" is slightly better than watching paint dry, but not by much. It's too bad this wasn't assigned to Ditko, who would have made the dream world more interesting.

Hunk and Bull escape from prison one night and make their way to a small Indian village by dawn, where they hold the natives at gunpoint and demand food. The convicts decide that they will have to kill all the Indians to eliminate them as witnesses, so an old man asks a large totem pole to come to life. That night, Hunk and Bull discover that, "When the Totem Walks!," it's coming after them! Bullets don't stop it, so the cons head back to the prison, thinking they'll be safe, but the totem pole bends the bars on the prison window and... continued next issue!

It's a little far-fetched to think of a large totem pole chasing anyone--it does more of a hop or a teeter-totter than a walk--but Ditko pulls it off and the story is reasonably enjoyable. Will we start to see more continued stories now?-Jack

On Thursday...
Peter Openly
Invites Derision

And Next Week...
Beware of...
RRO!!!

The 100 Chapter 3: 96 and 95

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

Cronocrimines (Timecrimes) (2007)                        Starring: Karra Elejalde, Nacho Vigalondo               Directed by: Nacho Vigalondo

"I'm Hector Three!"

The problem with any discussion about Cronocrimines is that too many beans would be spilled eventually. This is a movie that is propelled by the twist perhaps more than just about any other you can think of (in fact, I would recommend you not watch the embedded trailer until after you've seen the movie). The barest minimum I could give you would be: Hector is relaxing in his garden with his binoculars, exploring the beautiful countryside surrounding his home, when he spies a very pretty young woman stripping in the forest. Sending his wife off to the store, Hector goes exploring, and that's when everything goes haywire.

I'll say, to keep those of you who have no knowledge of the flick interested, that the film deals with the pratfalls of time travel. At times it's confusing, but it's always enthralling. It's the kind of science fiction what-if that Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines mined over and over in the 1950s and I have no doubt that writer/director Vigalondo was exposed to those classics. I stumbled onto this one when I was doing a deep dive on foreign horror years ago and a few other discoveries from that journey will show up soon. —Peter

Remarks from the Gallery

Jack: What the heck? Now that's one I've never heard of!

John: I haven't seen this one in years, but I really liked it. I recently picked up the Umbrella Blu-ray because it was overdue for revisiting. 

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)          

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, Walter Huston

Directed by: John Huston

Humphrey Bogart gives a stunning performance as Fred C. Dobbs, a man down on his luck in Mexico in 1925 who joins another bum and a grizzled prospector in a search for gold in the Sierra Madre mountains. Unfortunately, other people get involved and things spiral out of control for Dobbs, whose cruelty and paranoia eventually lead to his downfall.

Bogart was a big star at the time and it's impressive how well he plays such an unlikeable main character. Walter Huston won an Oscar playing Howard, the old prospector, and deserved it. Tim Holt is perfect as Curtain, the other bum, whose conscience puts him at risk when Dobbs gets increasingly nervous. John Huston won Oscars for writing and directing the picture, which holds up terrifically on rewatching. It's funny that the line about "We don't need no stinkin' badges" has become so famous, since it's not a big moment in the film.

This is one of those movies that could be much higher up on the list! —Jack

Remarks from the Gallery

Peter: Another decent pick, Jack. Bogie would have to be on my Top Ten Favorite Actors list thanks to this, Key Largo, and The African Queen.

John: Another classic that I have in the library but have yet to watch. SPOILER ALERT—Bogart does make my list!

Somewhere in Time (1980)          

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Christopher Plummer

Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc

"Is it you?"

While I prefer Richard Matheson's novel (Bid Time Return) to the film adaptation, I think the film still succeeds thanks to the chemistry between our best screen Superman and the lovely Jane Seymour. A classic tale of love transcending time, it's hard not to get caught up in the romance (thanks in large part to John Barry's excellent score). Plummer is fantastic (as always) as the protective manager of Seymour's Elise McKenna from a suitor he's sure will destroy her acting career. 

Somewhere in Time is a textbook example of a film that found its audience after a less than spectacular theatrical run. Few films are celebrated regularly at the location where they were filmed nearly 50 years after they were made, but there's a regular Somewhere in Time weekend at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan (Dawn of the Dead's Living Dead Weekend at the Monroeville Mall is another). — John

Remarks from the Gallery

Peter: Now here's a romance fantasy that actually works, thanks mostly to Christopher Reeve's restrained performance and the gorgeous cinematography. I've never read the novel, though I'm a big fan of Matheson. 

Jack: I think I read the novel long ago and I'm sure I must have seen the movie. No complaints here!

Bachelor Party (1984)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tawny Kitaen  Directed by: Neal Israel

"Gentlemen... start your boners!"

Perhaps the most underrated, least seen raunch comedy of the 1980s, a decade infamous for lousy raunch comedies, Bachelor Party holds a special place in my... heart. Long before Tom Hanks was a serious actor, he was a comedic chameleon (here slipping into the skin of Bill Murray) who starred in reliably funny vehicles like the short-lived TV series, Bosom Buddies, and the smash mermaid romance Splash (released shortly before Bachelor). I had been a big fan of Bosom while it was on the air, so I was first in line in the summer of '84 at The Pruneyard for this one. In retrospect, this film stands out from all of Hanks's filmography for its lewd behavior and continued ability to swing for the fence (in one scene, literally). It's no wonder that, once he was doing little sammitches at the Ritz with Spielberg, Hanks would change the subject every time an interviewer brought up this deliciously tasteless romp.

Bachelor Party wastes no time establishing its "stacked jokes" method of making the audience laugh so hard they miss out on some lines. It worked on me, so I went back for a second viewing only a few days after the first. So many classic scenes and lines: Rick (Hanks)'s discussion with his future father in law at the tennis court; the pimps ("This being Mel!"); Debbie (Kitaen)'s workplace; Debbie's debauched bridal shower; the dead donkey; "the car... debbie... the car... debbie..." Nick the Dick... Nymphos Without Pants... hey, I could be here all day. This is, bar none, the best raunch comedy ever made. Take that, Animal House!—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery

Jack: Bachelor Party? Bachelor Party?? Peter, Peter, Peter. What are we going to do with you? I saw this first run, albeit by the time I saw it with my guy friends at age 21 it had moved to the dollar theater. I recall it was funny. I also recall that Tawny Kitaen was really cute but looking back at her photos online that look didn't age well. Or maybe it's me that didn't age well.

John: I like Bachelor Party (the high point in Tawny Kitaen's filmography), but I'm an even bigger fan of Bosom Buddies (that will make my Top 100 should we ever get around to ranking TV shows). So much so that I loved every time Tom's colleague Peter Scolari turned up in one of Tom's features. Bachelor Party is definitely an outlier in Hanks' CV, and as much fun as it is, it doesn't have the comedic chops to top the comedies that made it onto my list.

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen

Directed by: John Lasseter

When Woody is taken by a creepy toy store owner named Al, who plans to sell him as part of a collection to a toy museum in Tokyo, Buzz Lightyear and the gang must hit the road and rescue their pal before he is taken away forever. There's just one problem: Woody has discovered that he was the star of a popular kids TV show in the 1950s and he kind of likes the idea of being famous!

Toy Story 2 is a delight from start to finish. I chose it over the other Pixar films mainly because it nails the character of the creepy toy collector who is just in it for the money and has to have a complete set (the Prospector is "mint in the box"). The scenes showing the  TV show, Woody's Roundup, nail the mid-'50s vibe perfectly, and the fact that Woody's reign ended after the launch of Sputnik is just one of countless touches that shows how well the creators of this film understand the history of popular culture.

The throwaway moments and lines are great:

• Emperor Zurg telling Buzz Lightyear, "I'm your father!" and later having a catch with his son
• Rex the dinosaur momentarily reflected in the pizza truck's rear view mirror, just like in Jurassic Park
• The looks on the faces of the male toys when they suddenly happen upon the display of Barbies partying in the toy store
• The toys crossing the busy street hidden under orange traffic cones and not realizing they are causing chaos
• The final chase on the airport baggage conveyor belt
• Every last thing Woody's horse does

This is another movie that holds up well on rewatching. As I write this, Toy Story 5 is set to come out in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait! —Jack

Remarks from the Gallery

Peter: You're almost right, Jack. This is actually the second best Pixar flick but a very close second (to Finding Nemo). I sat in a movie theater with my then seven-year-old son and laughed until I cried. In fact, I think I laughed more than he did. Toy Story 2 does contain my favorite Pixar scene of all time, the aforementioned "cones on the highway." I haven't yet seen 3 or 4 but this makes me want to catch up.

John: I just got out of a screening of Toy Story 5 as I write this, and it's another fun installment in Pixar's strongest franchise. For my money, Toy Story 3 is the strongest installment. I'll be interested to hear what Peter thinks after he gets around to watching that one.

Last Night in Soho (2021)          

Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith

Directed by: Edgar Wright

"If I could live any place and any time, I'd live here in London in the '60s. It must have felt like the center of the universe."

This is the most recent film to crack my Top 100. And with a few more years to age, I can see it ranking even higher than I was comfortable placing it at this point in time. Last Night in Soho is Edgar Wright's greatest achievement to date. And I love Spaced, Shaun of the Dead,  Hot Fuzz, and Baby Driver. I think he's one of the most gifted directors working today, with a singular voice and visual style. 

Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy play very different young women separated by decades and yet strangely linked to one another. A highlight is a brilliantly choreographed, mesmerizing dance sequence that warrants watching the behind the scenes footage of how it was accomplished in camera (only after you have seen the film, of course). — John

Remarks from the Gallery

Peter: Now we're talking. I can't remember too many movies I ignored upon release and then relented after receiving umpteen texts from my esteemed (and steamed) colleague, Mr. Scoleri, about the enjoyability of this film. This is easily Edgar Wright's best movie and one that could be watched over and over again, with each viewing revealing some new aspect you missed prior. This would definitely rank in my 150 Favorite.

Jack: Never heard of it!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 184: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 169

January-February 1960

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #56

Cover by Jack Kirby 

"I Brought Zog Back to Life!"  (a: Don Heck) ★★1/2

(r: Where Creatures Roam #6)

"I Spent a Night in the Haunted Lighthouse!" 

(a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2

(r: Fear #4)

"I Planted the Seeds of Doom!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule) ★★1/2

(r: Where Creatures Roam #6)

"I Shrunk Away to Nothing!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #6)

A gigantic snow-white monster encased in a block of ice suddenly appears in the North Atlantic. Helpfully, the thing's name, "Zog," is etched into the ice. The world's leading scientists counsel the world powers and strongly advise that the creature not be tampered with. For if it should escape its enclosure, the world would be in peril!

Scientist Charles Burton does not agree with his colleagues; Burton believes the thing should be released and then studied for hostile behavior. No one will listen to him, not even the huge audience that watches him argue his position on the Ed Sullivan Show. No, it will be up to Burton to discover if Zog is a rampaging beast or a passive visitor. Burton rents a plane, drops a "thermo-liquifying bomb" on the behemoth, and screams "I Brought Zog Back to Life!"

The military catches Burton and he's quickly sentenced to die for treason. Just as he's about to be ventilated, the execution is halted and Burton is brought to a council room where the brass and a select set of scientists are watching Zog on a TV broadcast. Remarkably, the beast is not destroying everything in its path--quite the opposite. Zog dips below the surface and rises several minutes later, once again encased in ice with the word "Zog" above its head. Burton finally sees the truth: Zog is an alien who got lost in space, landed on Earth, and quickly froze itself. You see, its home planet is made of ice and the word "Zog" is not its name but rather the equivalent of our "SOS." At least that's what know-it-all Charles Burton theorizes.

Hard to argue with the guy who lays it all out so clearly in the final panels of "Zog" in a speech so well thought out you wonder why Chuck didn't know all this before he thermo-bombed the big guy. I enjoyed this one despite the fact that it's the rare giant monster story where the destruction is imagined rather than played out. Don Heck isn't an artist I would associate with giant monster tales but his work here is okay.

John is fascinated by the old abandoned lighthouse and his buddies tell him the word on the street is that... it's haunted! Later that day, John is at sea in a small boat when it capsizes during a brutal storm and he's forced to swim to the lighthouse. Once inside, John looks around but finds no ghostly figures. Those arrive shortly thereafter on the ghostly boat that anchors just off the dock. John hides and witnesses a terrifying scene: ghost pirates ransacking the lighthouse and loading provisions onto their ship. The next day, John screams "I Spent a Night in the Haunted Lighthouse!" to his friends and, of course, they laugh... until he produces a life preserver labelled The Flying Dutchman! 100% predictable, but the sight of the pirates loading ghostly cargo onto their ship is pretty cool. What's in the crates? Where are they stored in the lighthouse? Do the provisions replenish themselves automatically?

While being chased by the dinosaur-like creatures on Planet X-41, astronaut Hank Garnett barely has time to stop and pick some of the exotic flowers he finds along the way. Once he makes it back to Earth, Hank finds the seeds absorb a whole lot more water than Earth seeds but eventually grow to be gorgeous flowers. Hank gets a brainstorm: why not sell the thousands of seeds that fall from the flower and make a bundle? Just as things are looking up for Hank, he gets back to his luxury apartment to witness an awe-inspiring event: his flower transforms into one of the dinosaurs of Planet X-41! Before Hank has to time to scream "I Was the Guy What Planted the Seeds of Doom!" he's being chased around his apartment by a T-Rex. 

Luckily, the beast collapses due to dehydration. "Of course!" reasons Hank, "Back on X-41, it rains every fifteen minutes!" With luck, Hank is able to round up the thousands of seeds he sold and he tosses those and the big guy into his rocket ship and heads for X-41, having learned that there are some areas of botany man was never meant to tamper with. Hey, it's a dopey strip, but it's got all kinds of energy and the twist, that the dinos grow from flowers, is an original one. I love how, in the final panels, Hank and his fellow astronauts agree that they should be more careful with what they bring back from now on.

At the same time Brad becomes bored of the world around him (having experienced adventure in every port in the world), he gets word that his brother is gravely ill and must have costly surgery. To work up the dough, Brad answers an ad placed by Professor Ace, whose new machine will revolutionize... something... if he can just get it to work! He needs guinea pigs, which is where Brad comes in; Ace will pay Brad ten grand to be zapped by his gizmo and shrunken down to microscopic size. The egghead has zapped animals in the past but now he wants to go for the gold. The only problem is, none of the test patients ever came back!

"Hang it!" exclaims Brad, "I'm in no matter what!" When Brad gets laser-beamed by the Shrinkobob, he vanishes immediately and, sure enough, keeps shrinking. Eventually, he ends up in an alternate universe version of Earth and wonders if he'll ever see his real home again. "I Shrunk Away to Nothing!" must be some sort of Marvel milestone as it's the first (that I can recall) to posit the theories of Earth-1 and -2 and... The only question I have is: why does he stop shrinking right there? Shouldn't he keep minimizing?-Peter

Tales of Suspense #7

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"I Come from the Shadow World!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Strange Tales Annual #1)(r: Chamber of Chills #14)

"I Know the Power of... the Genie!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

(r: Crypt of Shadows #15)

"My Name is... Robot X!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"I Was Trapped Inside of the Martian Maze!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Tomb of Darkness #15)

"I Fought the Molten Man-Thing!" 

 (a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Journey Into Mystery #15)

A shadow man from another galaxy lands on Earth ahead of an invasion armada to see if earthlings have the type of weapon that can defeat the intruders. "I Come from the Shadow World!" Casey, a really smart but "ordinary" electrician comes up with a way to destroy the beast and save the planet. Some nice Ditko graphics but a pedestrian script. I'm not sure why the world's biggest-brained scientists couldn't come up with the kind of elementary trap Casey devised. 

After her Pop puts her over his knee and gives her a good spankin' (where was Wertham when we really needed him?), naughty little Nancy wishes with all her might and a genie appears in her bedroom (Wertham material again), granting her as many wishes as his new boss can make. Once she's exhausted the little stuff (relocating the Eiffel Tower and flooding the Sahara), she wishes that she were the only person left on Earth. That gets old after a while and she tells the genie she wants it all to be back the way it was before he popped in. The genie agrees but warns he will not be back since little Nancy has exhausted him! Wish granted, Nancy hears her father warning her he's about to put her across his knee. A fun little tongue in cheek fantasy, "I Know the Power of... the Genie!" veers from the usual formula and makes a precocious pre-teen the ultimate power in town.

In the lame "My Name is... Robot X!," it's 1990 and master criminal Joe Kane begins using a robot to help him with his heists. The big tin guy hates what he's doing, but Joe is his boss, so he keeps right on bending bars and breaking open safes. That is, until his joints rust due to a lack of oil right in the middle of a heist. Looks like Joe's crime spree will have to be put on hold. In 1975, the Martians have put trade talks on hold until we simple earthlings can figure out how to get out of their mystery maze box. Earth's smartest scientists give the box a crack, but no dice. Looks like we'll have to do without those Martian hovercrafts for one more year. "Hang on just a sec'!" exclaims simple spaceship steward, Will, "Can I have a go at this thing?" And just like that, Willy becomes the only man who doesn't scream "I Was Trapped Inside of the Martian Maze!" 

After a particularly harrowing close call, pilot Frank Harper loses his nerve and turns in his wings. His boss talks him into taking a vacation and thinking the situation over. Frank agrees and heads to the Pacific island known as Napuka for a little R 'n' R, but his beach time is interrupted by the eruption of the island's long-dormant volcano. Out of the lava lurches the Molten Man-Thing (or "Man-Thing" for short), a living glop of lava that heads for the nearest native village.

Using the intuition of a pilot, Frank realizes that lava cannot just get up and walk, so something must be inside the beast, something like a living engine. Frank manages to lure the thing into a wind tunnel at a local airstrip. The cool air proves to be too much for lava thing and it heads back to its home inside the volcano, leaving Frank to explain the scientific hows and whys to a bunch of natives who have no idea what he's saying. That's OK, though, I was having a hard time making heads or tails of the baloney he was spouting, too. Like all the best Atlas monster destroyers, Frank just happens to know what makes this one tick. The Kirby-Ditko team (I see lots of Kirby but very little Ditko) do what they can on "I Fought the Molten Man-Thing!" but there are way too many talking heads and not enough Molto.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #7

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"He Waits for Us in the Glacier!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Strange Tales Annual #2) (r: Where Creatures Roam #2)

"We Met in the Swamp!" (a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #5)

"I Lived a Ghost Story!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #5)

"I Saw the Other World!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★

(r: Fantasy Masterpieces #1)

"I Spent the Night with the Thing on Bald Mountain!" 

(a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #2)

While cruising near the North Pole, an atomic sub encounters a giant glacier and uses gamma rays to melt through it. This releases a giant creature that lifts the sub up and then uses mental telepathy to tell a strange story. The creature explains that it is an alien from another planet and it has spent a million years waiting for the major life forms on Earth to die out. First, the dinosaurs disappeared, then cavemen, and on through the various civilizations of mankind that warred with each other. The creature warns that atomic weapons could finally wipe out the human race and, when they do, it will rise from the glacier and claim Earth for its planet. The creature fades from sight and the sub commander ponders its warning.

"He Waits for Us in the Glacier!" is a combination of a boring history lesson and a cautionary tale. The story is nothing new, but Don Heck draws a nice giant creature.

A reporter journeys deep into Black Tree Swamp to interview an old man named Lem Whipple, who spends his time looking up at the sky. Lem explains that he's waiting for aliens to return and confesses that "We Met in the Swamp!" Years ago, an alien ship landed in the swamp and got stuck. Six aliens emerged and offered Lem their greatest treasure in exchange for tools to free the ship. He complied and they gave him a box and took off. Once Lem realized that, when the aliens return, it would be to conquer mankind, he vowed never to look inside the box and to keep watching the skies until it was time to sound the warning about the aliens' return. The reporter opens the box to find only air, which Lem realizes is the most important thing to anyone traveling through space.

A bit of a letdown, but I'm enjoying this new Atlas development where Ditko inks Kirby. Look at the face of the man on the cover--pure Ditko, while the giant creature is all Kirby. In this story, Ditko succeeds in smoothing some of Kirby's rough edges and improves some of the faces without taking too much of the Kirby style away.

A real estate agent named Howard tries to talk a prospective buyer named Lang out of purchasing the old Greenwood place because it's haunted. Lang insists on checking out the house and agrees to spend a night there. At night, ghosts appear and make a believer out of Lang. The next day, he tells Howard he wouldn't buy the house for anything. That night, Howard heads to the Lang house and joins his fellow ghosts, glad that they avoided having a human move in.

"I Lived a Ghost Story!" reminds me of the sort of tale found in 1970s Charlton ghost comics--safe, corny, and not particularly well illustrated.

A cameraman runs into the street, shouting "I Saw the Other World!" Explaining that he's discovered a parallel dimension, the cameraman says he found a most unusual camera the day before. When he took random photos on the street and developed them, he saw an ultramodern city and concluded that it exists side by side with his own. The cameraman supposes that the camera came from that world, but the man he's talking to doesn't believe him. Just then, the sky gets dark, a lightning bolt strikes, and a hand emerges from an electrical force field and grabs the camera. The man that the cameraman was talking to has also disappeared! The cameraman thinks he imagined the whole thing. In the parallel dimension, the man who disappeared is now in the position of the cameraman, trying to convince a stranger on the street that another dimension exists.

Dick Ayers's art is even worse than Paul Reinman's, and this four-pager was a bit confusing at the end. I finally figured out what happened, though. The big hand coming from the sky reminds me of a Batman story with a big green hand coming out of the sky.

A successful sculptor named Anton George moves to a castle atop Bald Mountain in Central Europe, where he creates giant statues of two figures representing Good and Evil, locked in battle with each other. During a storm, the Evil statute is struck by lighting and springs to life, chasing George around the castle before grabbing him and hurling him at the Good statue. Good suddenly comes to life and puts George down safely before battling with Evil, a fight that ends in both falling to their death. George wonders what caused Good to come to life and save him from Evil.

For my money, Steve Ditko is single handedly making these comics worth reading at this point. "I Spent the Night with the Thing on Bald Mountain!" is really stretching things as a title, since the mountain is never identified, the statute is hardly a "thing," and the sculptor spends a few minutes being chased by it--hardly "spending the night." In any case. Ditko gives it his all and makes it worth a look.-Jack

Strange Tales #73

Cover by Jack Kirby & Bill Everett

"Grottu, King of the Insects!" (a: Jack Kirby & Bill Everett) ★★

(r: Strange Tales Annual #1)(r: Where Monsters Dwell #3)

"I Saw the End of the World!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Fantasy Masterpieces #3)

"I Was Captured by the Mole Men!" (a: Don Heck) ★★★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #14)

"I Am a Walking Time Bomb" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

A reporter named Frank receives an urgent telegram from his friend, a scientist named Lynn, alerting him to the biggest story of the century! Frank hops on a jet plane and soon is with Lynn, who tells him that an African native wrote to Lynn about an army ant that is as big as a house and has human intelligence! Frank and Lynn voyage for three days to Mombasa, Kenya, before making their way into the jungle.

The native, Kasenga, tells them that, months ago, Commies came to Kenya and conducted an atomic bomb test. Not long after, the natives saw a swarm of army ants, and one of them was "Grottu, King of the Insects!" Grottu led the army ants on a path of destruction and communicated by mental telepathy. Frank, Lynn, and Kasenga soon locate the army ants and Grottu and find that they are headed to Mombasa to destroy it! The men convince everyone to evacuate the city, but when the ants arrive, Grottu leads them to the port. It plans to spread destruction to other countries! Luckily, Frank has a plan. He lures Grottu to a warehouse, where a huge amount of sugar is dumped on top of him. The rest of the army ants come scurrying for the sugar and smother Grottu, killing him and eliminating the menace.

I was remined of D.W. Griffith's 1909 short film, A Corner in Wheat, where the villain is smothered by a load of grain dumped on top of him. I guess we've officially reached the Atlas era of giant monsters created by atomic blasts, and it's a relief to read something other than alien invasion stories or tales about people who suddenly develop powers and want to use them to get rich quick. Everett's inks let Kirby be Kirby and don't alter the panels quite as much as Ditko's inks do.

When a scientist figures out how to build a time machine, the scientific community says it's too dangerous and the military shuts him down. He begins to work in a hidden cave and builds the device, with which he travels to the future, stopping in 2009, 2109, 2209, 2959, etc. What he finds is that the development of civilization goes in an endless loop, with mankind advancing, going backward, and advancing again. In the end, he finds himself back in his lab, again figuring out how to build a time machine.

Ditko's regular panels are good enough, but his depictions of the scientist in his time machine, traveling through space and into the future, really stand out in "I Saw the End of the World!" Ditko's first Captain Atom story would hit the stands a month later, and I see strong similarities in this tale to that later work.

A young detective in the NYPD argues with his more seasoned colleague about the merits of acting quickly or taking time to think. Just then, a subway guard rushes in to report the disappearance of a subway train filled with passengers between 42nd and 59th Streets! The detective goes underground to investigate and finds a tunnel branching off from the regular line. He follows the tunnel down into the Earth and comes face to face with the  mole men! The detective manages to escape capture, board the subway train, and guide it back onto the regular line, arriving at the 59th Street station. To his surprise, the passengers are not happy, informing him that the mole men were members of an advanced race that was going to share knowledge about how to live underground, something that could come in handy in case of an atomic war. The young detective, chastised, admits to his older partner that sometimes it's not good to act without thinking.

This is the kind of story I've been waiting for! Although the end is a bit much, there's some thought behind what happens and Heck's art is above average. In a sense, the writer takes bits and pieces of Atlas cliches and weaves them together into something that seems new and more interesting.

A robot from Xenon Major lands on Earth and makes his way to the U.N., where he announces that "I Am a Walking Time Bomb" and he will explode in 24 hours! The choice is to surrender to the other planet's conquering forces or to be utterly destroyed. People are skeptical, so the robot is taken to a hospital for examination, where he is surprised to see that Earthlings care for their elderly. On Xenon Major, people are killed when they're too old to work. Out on the street in NYC, the robot is again surprised when a mother protects her child; on Xenon Major, no one risks his life for another. Eventually, the robot decides that people of Earth should be left alone and he heads speedily home to explode and destroy his own unworthy planet. At the U.N., representatives of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. shake hands, promising to stop their conflict.

Not as good as the story before it, but still not bad! Reinman's art isn't as strong as Heck's at this point, and the story features some of the cliches we've come to expect from Atlas, but perhaps the new, six-page length allows the writers to develop their themes a bit more.-Jack

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