Batman in the 1960s Issue 41: September/October 1966

 

The Caped Crusader in the 1960s
by Jack Seabrook
& Peter Enfantino

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #355

"Hate of the Hooded Hangman!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson take in a night at the wrestling matches, watching the flavor of the month, the undefeated Hangman, whose gimmick is that no one knows his real identity. Dick puts forth that the Dynamic Duo should utilize (some might say waste) their detective skills to discover just who the man under the hood really is.

Bruce quickly agrees that it would be a lot of fun to unmask a celebrity but admits that they must attack that chore in their spare time. Since Joker, Riddler, Penguin, and Catwoman all seem to be out of town, there's a lot of spare time on hand. Well, except that Dick has to tackle his homework, which leaves Batman to patrol on his own. It's while on street ops that he hears a burglar alarm sound and sees (coincidentally) the Hangman running from a burgled pawn shop. Thinking quickly, he exits the Batmobile and gives chase. The Hangman pleads innocence but Bats is on one of his "I will restore order to the streets of Gotham" tears and employs battle tactics.

The Hangman proves to be just as adept at street fighting as he is at wrestling and puts Batman out (1-2-3) on the canvas. While the Dark Knight lies in the gutter, the Hangman approaches and reaches down as if to unmask our hero. At that moment, a siren rings out and the wrestler hoofs it. The next morning, Bruce is astonished to learn that two thugs have been arrested for the pawn shop heist. The Hangman is innocent! But then why was he running? Anyone who runs down a dark Gotham street has to be up to something, no?

That night, on another solo patrol, Batman stumbles onto the Hangman in an alley where a robbery is in progress... again. That tears it! This guy is up to something! The two are involved in some light fisticuffs until the Hangman slips into a darkened doorway. Batman finds the door is locked and sighs... another villain has escaped the grasp of the World's Greatest Detective in the simplest way! The next day, Bruce and Dick are pondering the subject when their "favorite newscaster, Telman Davies" begins his broadcast and Bruce suddenly realizes that the voice of Davies and the voice of the Hangman are one and the same!

That night, Batman shows up at Gotham Arena for the Hangman's latest bout and challenges the celeb to a match. Hangman agrees but wants to take the fight upstairs to the roof. Batman agrees and the epic battle begins. Hangman gets the best of Bats and then grabs for the Caped Crusader's mask, pulling it off and revealing the face of... Telman Davies! This obviously startles the Hangman since (just in case you weren't paying attention) he's Telman Davies! Batman takes advantage of the break in the action to pop back up and deliver a crushing blow and a turnbuckle dive, with the piece de resistance being the public unmasking of the Hangman. Telman Davies is fired from his high-paying newscasting gig and run out of town (on a boat!). Batman and Robin sigh, knowing they've done good work, basically disgracing a mentally ill man and sending him off to another country.

Another really lame adventure, with some parts defying all logic. There's always a boatload of coincidence involved in a funny book story... I get it, without wink winks there would be no story... but the fact that Hangman just happens to be the number one watched news guy in Wayne Manor and the boys were at the wrestling match is a little much. The Dynamic Duo have become so mentally entwined that Dick can actually read his mentor's mind now (see reprinted panel). My personal favorite moment comes when Hangman decides he's had enough of an alleyway battle with Bats and escapes through an obviously-scouted convenient escape portal. Bats can't seem to open the door, despite the myriad of gadgets on his utility belt! Despite all this, I thought the Hangman was a nifty character and wouldn't mind a return visit once he's finished his exile in Cuba.-Peter

Jack-Between another gorgeous cover and terrific interior artwork by Infantino and Giella, I was so dazzled that the coincidences in the plot didn't bother me until the end. Having the Hangman's entire motive be to become the number one masked man in Gotham was a real letdown. It would have been better if he had been on the right side of the law and worked with Batman to solve some other problem.

Infantino/Anderson/Giella

The Brave and the Bold #67

"The Death of the Flash"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Carmine Infantino & Charles Paris

Gotham City is hit by a series of robberies by men wearing sneakers who can run super-fast! They manage to outrun both the Batmobile and the Bat-Copter, causing Batman to crash both vehicles during pursuit. Even when wearing a jet pack, Batman can't catch them! Meanwhile, in Central City, the Flash catches a pair of crooks but feels exhausted, so it's off to the doctor, who tells the speedster that he's running himself to death and he'd better slow down!

When Batman calls the Flash for help, however, the Flash can't say no, so he takes the train to Gotham City and soon ends up chasing speedsters. Flash catches one and is worn out; Batman arrives and observes that the crook's sneakers burned up, surely to prevent them from being analyzed. The crook reveals that he and his gang call themselves the Speed Boys and, unbeknownst to our heroes, the bad guys meet at the Accelerated Gentleman's Club where, wearing masks and tuxedos, they discuss their plans and explain that their sneakers are coated with radioactive isotopes and meteorite fibers that give them their pep.

The next day, a midget Speed Boy is mistaken for a kid when he steals a valuable necklace. Flash and Batman work together to catch him but, when Flash collapses, Batman knows something is wrong. Another visit to the doctor's office reveals the truth but, unfortunately, a Speed Boy is outside the doctor's office and overhears the Flash's dire prognosis. The next day, the Speed Boys rob a bank and the Flash gives chase. The Speed Boys overpower the hero and send a TV message to Batman announcing "The Death of the Flash." Back at the Batcave, Batman analyzes one of the sneakers and discovers what makes it go.

Following a clue to the hideout of the Speed Boys, the Caped Crusader coats the floor with oil and captures all but their leader, who escapes out a window and is chased by the Flash, who catches him with ease and is back to full health, having been cured by his proximity to the radiation from the Speed Boys' sneakers!

I guess that the term "Gentleman's Club" had a different meaning in 1966 than it does today. This issue marks the return of inker Charles Paris, who toiled with Sheldon Moldoff for so long before being unceremoniously dumped in favor of Joe Giella. Paris's inks over Infantino's pencils are nothing special and don't compare well to those of Giella or Sid Greene. As for the story, it's average. We all know that the Flash isn't going to die, but the fact that the radiation from the sneakers is what cures him is not what I expected.-Jack

Peter- You're right, Jack, this isn't Adams or Englehart, but I did enjoy it, nonetheless. As in 'tec #356 (below), there's much more energy than the usual Bat-venture and, Giella or no, I found the art to be much better than anything Moldoff was doodling at the time. I thought at first this might turn into a classic Marvel Team-Up-esque superhero battle, with Batman mistaking the fast thief for the Flash, but that never materialized. I guess the DC characters trusted each other much more than the Marvel heroes. I love how Gordon goads Batman with talk of failure. This from the laziest law enforcer in the DC Universe!

Infantino/Anderson

Batman #184

"Mystery of the Missing Manhunters!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff, Joe Giella & Chic Stone

"The Boy Wonder's Boo-Boo Patrol!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

Batman and Robin suddenly return after having been missing for 13 days! Commissioner Gordon and Aunt Harriet were beside themselves! The Dynamic Duo don't recall where they've been, so Robin hypnotizes Batman and the Dark Knight explains that, after saving Slippery Sam Lorenzo from a near-fatal fall off of a tall building, Batman used Sam's intel to interrupt a robbery in progress at the Temple of Tiny Treasures.

Sam proceeds to tell Batman all about Robbery, Inc., in exchange for a promise to protect him. Batman hides Sam in a cave with Robin and spends the next twelve days in a series of disguises, trying to learn more about Lefty Wright, the main threat to Sam's safety. Batman heads back to the cave, trailed by Lefty and his gang. Batman and Robin make short work of the gang members and their leader but, when the Dynamic Duo touch the Batmobile in order to grab the car phone to call Commissioner Gordon, they are zapped by an electric shock set up by Slippery Sam and  lose their memory of the last 13 days.

Sam escapes and Batman and Robin return to the Batcave, make some calls, and do some hypnosis to refresh their recollections about what's going on. They quickly locate Sam back at the cave and that's that.

In spite of a groovy cover, "Mystery of the Missing Manhunters!" is a dud. The whole business about Batman and Robin being out of touch for 13 days is ridiculous. Robin is hanging out in the cave with Slippery Sam while Batman tries on one disguise after another and learns next to nothing? Good thing the Joker didn't pick these weeks to start a campaign of terror! Worst of all, our heroes take about ten minutes to recover their memories, making the whole amnesia bit pointless.

Bruce Wayne has to attend an important meeting out of town so Robin is left on his own to patrol Gotham City. "The Boy Wonder's Boo-Boo Patrol!" begins when he sees a pretty redhead being thrown from a speeding motorcycle after the rear wheel falls off. Robin saves her from a bad scrape only to learn that she's stunt girl Viola Lance and Robin has ruined a take from a TV show she's filming. The Boy Wonder notices an air-blister on the tire and wonders if the accident was staged to harm the young woman. He decides to keep an eye on her.

The next day, Robin does some digging and learns that the show's director, Bill Porter, stands to receive a $1M insurance payment if Violet is killed. That night, Robin again rescues the stunt woman when she's sailing over a burning building by means of a balloon that appears to be pierced by a bullet. Certain that Porter is up to no good, the Teen Wonder drives Violet home, only to have to save her again when a speeding car barrels toward her. The car was driven by jewel robbers and Robin quickly knocks them out. Porter arrives and Robin learns that he and Violet are engaged to be married. A bit of investigation reveals that the balloon was punctured by a stray meteorite and Robin feels foolish for jumping to conclusions.

Violet gives him a peck on the cheek as a reward and, when the Boy Wonder returns to the Batcave and tells Bruce Wayne about his slipups, Wayne ribs him about the lipstick on his cheek.

This rare Robin solo adventure lives up to the "boo-boo" in its title by being corny and badly illustrated. We're a long way from the more mature Robin of a few years' hence who will go off to college and solve many a crime on his own.-Jack

Peter-Alas, the only smile that came to my face as a result of reading this snooze-filled issue was the title of the Robin solo. Between the two, I guess the better art was found in "Manhunters!" Neither script has a whit of wit nor anything resembling suspense. I couldn't make sense of the timeline in "Manhunters!"; were the crime-fighters out of service for two weeks or were they babysitting the whole time? I absolutely see the sense of letting a wanted criminal hang out in the Batmobile. Superhero life gets boring. The Moldoff/Greene Bruce Wayne found in "Boy Wonder Boo Boo" (pictured to the left) is unlike any I've ever seen or ever want to see again. Someone rescue me from this sludge.

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #356

"Inside Story of the Outsider!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

As our pals Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson wave bye-bye to Aunt Harriet (heading down to the local pub to slam back a few tall ones) in the Wayne Manor driveway, a delivery truck arrives and deposits two crates before them. Without further ado, the duo open the crates and are astonished to find inscribed coffins. When the lids are thrown back, wax images of the Dynamic Duo stand straight up and deliver a message from the Outsider: in one hour, both men will be dead.

Taking the threat seriously, the boys suit up and head after the truck drivers, who spill out of the cab in their work clothes: they are the Grasshopper Gang (last seen in 'tec #334). A tense, savage battle ensues but, as usual, Batman and Robin arise triumphant! They dump the bad guys at police headquarters and head back to the Bat-Cave for some detective work. Batman reveals that every time they've completed an adventure with the Outsider, they've had a peek into Alfred the butler's coffin (not just for kicks but because he was the only man who knew the Dynamic Duo's secret identities) and they head down to the cemetery for yet another look. 

Once they have a look in Al's refrigerated casket, they realize it can't be him. He's still there and just as dead as ever. What gives? Well, it's here that writer Gardner Fox decides to spill the beans on the greatest funny book mystery this side of Gwen's clone: the secret origin of the Outsider! Evidently, boy genius Brandon Crawford is following a "rare insect" into the graveyard and detects a moan in one of the mausoleums thanks to his "audiometer." He investigates and, sure enough, finds Al the butler moaning in his casket. Crawford grabs Al and hauls him back to his basement lab where he is busy perfecting every incredible invention known to mankind.

One of those inventions can regenerate cells and restore the dead to life (or something to that effect), so Brandon pops Al on a gurney and zaps him with his machine. Unfortunately, some of the rays bounce off Al and hit Brandon. He collapses and Alfred rises from the dead as a very white guy with circles all over his skin (luckily the cell transformation changes Al's stiff corpse pants into trunks!). Dubbing himself the Outsider, the creature launches his reign of terror against the Caped Crusader and the Teenage Tsunami. Which brings us back to the "present"...

Batman and Robin have tracked the Outsider to the residence of Brandon Crawford and bust into his super-secret lab, finding the Outsider there, feeling pretty confident about a world without heroes in a couple minutes. Sure enough, as the clock strikes one hour, Robin transforms into... (what else)... his coffin! Knowing he'll follow in just a couple of minutes, Batman begins playing with dials on the super-secret, super-powerful gizmos in the lab. He gets the right combination and then levels the Outsider with a devastating right upper-cross. Exposed to the "Regenerator" machine, the Outsider's body changes back into the frail but faithful Al the butler. Brandon is promised a job at Wayne Enterprises and Batman and Robin agree that Al should not be traumatized any further. They'll keep the events of the past several months close to the vest and not mention it to their servant. Al and Harriet agree to share the spare bedroom and life goes on at Wayne Manor.

How the heck does Al survive his stay inside the coffin for a long amount of time? Was the embalming phase skipped over thanks to Wayne clout? And how does Batman's keen senses not detect breathing from Al? World's Great Detective, my ass! Well, despite a whole lot of lapses in judgement, some unending exposition, and embarrassingly clunky dialogue ("Perhaps I alone--for I am a radical individualist, always experimenting, always finding new laws of nature and science--laws which orthodox scientists do not yet admit--can bring him back to life!"), I had a good time with "Inside Story of the Outsider!" Heck, it's at least more energetic and clever than the usual dopey "Penguin robs an umbrella store" plot we've been handed over and over lately. 

I'd love to find out exactly at what point Fox decided to make the Outsider Alfred. Were the fans at the gate with pitchforks and torches demanding the return of one of the most useless supporting characters in funny book history? Or was it the success of the '66 show that necessitated lots of changes in the monthly books? So, I'll give this one a shaky thumbs up but one thing I won't throw into the recommendation is the stodgy art, about as stiff and lifeless as Al in his coffin.-Peter

Jack-Since Alfred was an integral part of the hit TV show, the folks at DC had to bring him back in order to make the comics' cast line up with that of the show. All you need to know about the show's popularity is contained in this issue's ads: Batman is everywhere! There are ads for the new movie, an ad for the newspaper comic strip, and ads for giant-sized issues of Batman and World's Finest. Batman has pretty much taken over The Brave and the Bold for the rest of its run. Holy market saturation! What bugged me most about this story were the awkward poses drawn by Moldoff, not just on the splash page but throughout the rest of the tale. I haven't seen the like since the last comic I read that was drawn by Frank Robbins!

Various

Batman #185

"Batman, Junior"

Story by Edmond Hamilton

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #231, May 1956)

"Robin Falls in Love"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #107, April 1957)

"Robin's New Boss"

(Reprinted from Batman #137, February 1961)

"Robin, the Super Boy Wonder!"

(Reprinted from Batman #150, September 1962)

"The Boy Wonder Confesses!" 

Story by David Vern

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Stan Kaye

(Reprinted from Batman #81, February 1954)

"The Secret of the Ant-Man"

(Reprinted from Batman #156, June 1963)

"Robin Dies at Dawn"

(Reprinted from Batman #156, June 1963)

Jack-This 80-page giant issue of Batman focuses on the Boy Wonder, which means more corn and less excitement. Six of the seven stories are penciled by Moldoff and the other one by Mooney, which means that the artwork is not a standout. Even worse for us, four of the stories are post-1960, which means we've already covered them. Two of them are from Batman #156, so that entire issue is reprinted only three years or so since it first appeared. My favorite of the 1950s reprints is "The Boy Wonder Confesses," which is inked by Stan Kaye. It features a villain named Mr. Camera, who wears a big helmet that resembles a camera box, and the plot is one nutty event after another.

Peter- I'm the last one to ask what makes for a good solo Robin story but it might be the hilarity factor. Of the three 1950s stories, the most fun was "Batman, Junior," wherein the Boy Wonder discovers he wasn't the Dark Knight's first partner. Curiosity leads to jealousy and then, thankfully, hilarity. My favorite scene would have to be when Robin botches an intricate plan Batman and Vance (Jr's secret identity) have put into effect and then tries to make up for it. Batman's response is "er--Robin--why don't you go home and catch up on your sleep?" Priceless! The frequency of the 80-page Giants has to be due to the popularity of the TV show. DC thought it could make millions off that extra thirteen cents--and it probably did!

Next Week...
18 More Tales from
Atlas's "Tinfoil Age"

The Hitchcock Project-Total Loss by J.E. Selby [4.17]

by Jack Seabrook

Jeanette's Dress Shop is in trouble, and the owner, pretty widow Jan Manning, doesn't know what to do. She and her assistant are marking down prices in hopes of increasing sales when handsome Mel Reeves walks in; he usually takes orders from Jan for dresses and he listens to the laments of her and her assistant, Evy, before following Jan into the store's back room. He is jocular and flattering, commenting on the gizmo she has rigged up to remind her to make tea: it's a tea kettle on an electric hot plate that is connected to an alarm clock set to go off at one o'clock.

Jan goes to the bank to ask for an increase on her loan, only to have the bank manager refuse. Mel is waiting for her in the lobby and he takes her to a bar, where they share a table and she has too much to drink. He points out how badly overstocked her store is and suggests that a good fire could solve all of her problems. Continuing to feed Jan drinks, Mel explains that he has a friend who could burn down her store so that she could collect the insurance money. This friend will break through the skylight and rob the store before dropping a lighted cigarette that starts a fire, seemingly by accident. Mel explains that, after the fire, he and Jan could go into partnership.

Nancy Olson as Jan

Jan is drunk and not thinking straight. Before they leave the bar, Mel tells her to be sure to remind her accountant to take the books home with him so that they can prove what the store had in inventory before the fire. Later that afternoon, Jan returns to the store, suffering from having had too much to drink. She takes out the account books and tells Evy to remind the accountant to take them home.

Late that night, Jan is awoken by a telephone call and told that the store is on fire. She rushes to the scene, where firemen are busy fighting the blaze. The fire chief tells Jan that the store is a total loss and adds that Evy, her assistant, received a telephone call after the fire had started to remind her to get the account books. She went into the burning store and successfully retrieved at least one book, but she sustained third-degree burns in the process.

Ralph Meeker as Mel

After the fire has been extinguished, Jan enters the ruined store and observes the broken skylight. Mel walks in and congratulates her, but she is upset and orders him to leave. As she walks through the debris, she meets Frank Voss, an insurance investigator, who comments on the size of the store's inventory and the large claim that will result. He does not seem to suspect arson until she confesses that the fire was not an accident, beginning to explain that he can trace the man who broke through the skylight. He corrects her, saying that the heat blew out the skylight and no one came through it. However, Voss says that the evidence of arson is clear: the clock was set for one a.m. and turned on the hot plate automatically, igniting cleaning fluid and wrapping materials nearby. Jan tries to explain that the gizmo was only used to make tea and the fire was an accident but, in light of her confession, Voss refuses to believe her story.

Jan Manning is a stereotypical helpless woman of the late 1950s. Since her husband's death, she has tried to run his dress shop, but she does not know how to make the business succeed. She goes to the bank to beg for more money, but the bank manager talks down to her and she fails to increase her loan. Jan then goes to a bar with Mel, who makes no secret of his lust for her; she is unable to stop drinking and unable to hold her liquor. When he suggests arson, she puts up weak resistance, but the idea sticks in her head and, when she returns to the store, she follows Mel's instructions regarding the account books. In the final scene, Jan's conscience gets the best of her and she tries to confess to the insurance investigator, but even this goes wrong and he is certain that her gadget to make tea is evidence of arson. In the entire episode, Jan is taken advantage of by the men she encounters and unable to stand up for herself.

Ruth Storey as Evy

The teleplay sets everything up nicely, planting clues early on that will become important later. In the first scene, Mel observes a card on the shop's front door that lists both Jan and Evy's names and telephone numbers as contacts to call in an emergency. When Jan later speaks to the fire chief, she learns that someone called Evy after the fire had started to remind her to get the account books. Who could it have been but Mel?

In a similar way, when Jan and Mel are in the back room of the store early in the show, he makes a point of commenting on her alarm clock/hot plate/tea kettle setup, so that at the end, when the insurance investigator identifies it as the cause of the fire, the viewer knows just what he is talking about.

Dave Willock as Voss

Helpless though she may be, Jan has ethics and appears to have no hesitation about confessing in the show's final scene. As a result, she is suspected of arson and will likely be punished, both with a criminal complaint and with the loss of her business and the insurance money that should have been paid. In contrast, Mel is an unlikeable character, whose smile and sunny disposition mask a lack of ethics. He openly lusts after Jan, recommends arson to solve her business problems, and presumably is the person who calls Evy to get the books, causing her to be badly injured. In the final scene, he visits Jan at the store and is utterly unconcerned with any of this, looking forward to being partners in a business. The difference between Mel's approach to life and business and Jan's approach is stark but, in 1958 (when the show was filmed), it was a man's world.

Barbara Lord as Susan

"Total Loss" is an original teleplay written by J.E. Selby, a pen name used by Robert Lees (1912-2004) during the blacklist. Lees began as a dancer and actor in the early 1930s before becoming a writer at M-G-M. He wrote shorts and feature films and he was co-writer on several Abbott and Costello movies, including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). He wrote films from 1935 to 1952, when he was blacklisted; he then wrote for TV, starting around 1957, under the name J.E. Selby. His last credit was in 1983 and his papers are at the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Sadly, he was murdered in 2004 in a particularly gruesome incident.

Ray Teal

Director Don Taylor (1920-1998) was in the Air Force in World War Two and was also an actor, first in film and later on TV, from 1943 to 1969. He acted in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Silent Witness." In 1956, Taylor started directing TV shows, and he continued directing, mostly for the small screen, until 1980. He directed seven episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents between 1957 and 1959, including "The Deadly," and he later directed two episodes of Night Gallery.

Nancy Olson (1928- ) stars as Jan; she was on screen from 1948 to 2014 and appeared in Sunset Boulevard (1950). This was her only appearance on the Hitchcock TV show.

Jack Bryan as the bank manager

Ralph Meeker (1920-1988) co-stars as Mel; he was born Ralph Rathgeber and served in the Navy in WWII. He started on Broadway after the war in 1946 and was on screen for thirty years, from 1950 to 1980, appearing both in film and on TV. Key roles include Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and Paths of Glory (1957), as well as the TV movie, The Night Stalker (1972). He appeared on The Outer Limits and in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Revenge."

In smaller roles:

• Ruth Storey (1913-1997) as Evy, Jan's assistant; she was on screen from 1953 to 1981 and appeared in Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia (1953). She was in one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Profit-Sharing Plan."
• Dave Willock (1909-1990) as Frank Voss, the insurance investigator; he wrote for and acted on radio and he had a long screen career that lasted from 1939 to 1983 and that included voice work. He was seen on The Twilight Zone and he was also in one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "Wally the Beard."
• Barbara Lord (1937- ) as Jan's sister, Susan, who appears in a few scenes; she appeared mostly on TV from 1957 to 1989.
• Ray Teal (1902-1976) as the fire chief; he played many authority figures in a long screen career that stretched from 1937 to 1974 and he was busy as a character actor in the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents eight times, including a role in "Revenge"; he was also seen on The Twilight Zone and Thriller.
• Jack Bryan (1908-1964) as the bank manager; he had a brief TV career from 1959 to 1963.

"Total Loss" aired on CBS on Sunday, February 1, 1959. Watch it online here or buy the DVD here. Read the GenreSnaps review here.

Sources:

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.

IBDB, www.ibdb.com.

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

RadioGold Index, radiogoldin.library.umkc.edu.

"Total Loss." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 4, episode 17, CBS, 1 February 1959.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "Martha Mason, Movie Star" here!

In two weeks: "The Children of Alda Nuova," starring Jack Carson!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 130: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 115

August 1956 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Mystery Tales #44

Cover by Bill Everett

"Lost in the Labyrinth" (a: George Roussos) ★★1/2

"Menace from the Stars!" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo (?) Roy Krenkel (?)) ★★

"Danger in the Desert!" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★★1/2

"The Unsuspected!" (a: Herb Familton) ★

"Foolproof!" (a: Mike Sekowsky & Carl Burgos (?)) ★

"Don't Let Them Catch Me!" (a: Paul Hodge) ★

Explorer Dirk Kenyard will not stop until he finds the Temple of Rahshina where, deep within its dusty bowels, lies a fortune in jewels! Kenyard enters a small village close to where the Temple is supposed to be located and starts swinging his pistol, threatening the locals with death if they don't spill the beans.

Not wanting any trouble, the village's ruler agrees to provide a guide to Kenyard, a "glowing mass of luminous, pulsating light" that lures Kenyard right to the stairs of the temple. Elated, Kenyard enters and beholds the fabled treasure. Then the light goes out and the pushy explorer is left to find his way out all by himself. After all, the villager agreed to lead him in... but not out! Simple, quick, and enjoyable, "Lost in the Labyrinth" feels like a riff we've heard several times before but the Roussos graphics are a definite plus.

Ever since he was a child, Commander Kit Boyd has had one motto: "If it ain't human, kill it!" Now, with bombs falling on Earth, launched by Mars, Boyd grabs a few good men and scientists and heads to the angry red planet to bomb some stuff but finds out someone else got there first. Mars is dead. And now Boyd and his men are trapped, far from Earth, with lots of time to think about how peace and love are the only solutions. Take my word for it, the only reason to read "Menace from the Stars!" is to gaze upon the awesomeness that is Al Williamson. There's a page of soul-searching by Cmdr. Boyd that could easily have been excised but then we wouldn't have Al's visuals to salivate over.

Henri has given forty years (and his right hand) to the Foreign Legion but now regulations state that the old man must retire back to France. But Henri's sleep is disturbed by a feeling of foreboding and, despite the fact that he is a thousand miles away, he comes to the aid of his former colleagues back at the fort. The climax to "Danger in the Desert!" makes absolutely no sense; I'm not sure, but another page of exposition might have helped. Despite the botched climax, I still enjoyed the tale, which reminded me of the kind of story John Severin used to illustrate for EC.

In "The Unsuspected," Mace feels neglected by the professors in the archaeological dig and sets out to create tension between the eggheads. Literally no tension is trapped in these four pages.

Two dolts plan a bank robbery based on info given them by a machine that predicts odds, unaware they're in front of a live audience when they ask the gizmo their question. "Foolproof!" is three pages of dopiness.

Pay attention... there will be a test later. Tom wants to marry beautiful Andrea Gilbey but his overbearing brother, Lester, won't allow it. Lester has inherited their dead dad's money and hidden it away and now sits in fear of the locals who are surely plotting to get their grubby mitts on his moola. Andrea's brother, Jim, has made a servant of her and won't allow her to get her own job. It becomes way too much for Tom and Andrea and they decide to elope. Tom picks up Andrea at her place but Jim (who's having a poker party) grabs his buddies and they give chase to the couple.

Tom and Andrea arrive at Tom's place but Lester won't let them in as he's convinced it's all a plot to steal his money. That is, until he sees the three goons at his door and he exits the back door with the crazy kids, money-filled briefcase in hand. While in the woods, Tom picks some "herbs for a meal"(!) and the trio chow down. Next thing they know, they've faded away for a moment and reappear a full day ahead of their attackers. Musta been the herbs!

Lester spazzes out when he realizes he doesn't have the briefcase, eats an herb, and disappears back into the past. Why he goes backwards instead of forwards is anyone's guess. Tom doesn't have time to tell his brother that Andrea has the case of dough and the couple decide to live in the future, always one step ahead of everyone else. "Don't Let Them Catch Me!" is one of the most nonsensical tales we've run across in some time, pinballing from one inanity to another. I wonder if pulpmeister Carl Wessler was enjoying some herbs in the Atlas breakroom one afternoon when he typed this one out.-Peter

Mystical Tales #2

Cover by Bill Everett

"What Lurks Out There" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★1/2

"The Black Blob!" (a: Kurt Schaffenberger) ★★

"The Lizard!" (a: Dave Berg) ★

"Footprints in the Snow!" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★

"No Way Out!" (a: John Forte) ★

"Behind the Veil" (a: Herb Familton) ★

With nothing and no one to hold him on Earth, Lt. Perry Lane volunteers for the first manned flight into space. Once he gets "beyond the wave length," Lane is on his own and that's just how he likes it. Reaching the point where he's supposed to return to Earth, Lane begins doubting the U-turn and yearns for further exploration.

At that moment, Lane receives a startling message over his radio: "Do not return to Earth or you will die! Land here!" The message's origin is planet Rigel-II and Lane does what he's ordered. Expecting the worst, the lt. lands and exits his ship, only to be welcomed by smiling faces. The leader of Rigel-II explains that cosmic rays have altered Lane's DNA and now he can only breathe ammonia, the compound that makes up Rigel's oxygen. Eyeing up the leader's curvy daughter, Lane sighs and decides to make the best of never seeing Earth again.

The script for "What Lurks Out There" is not mind-blowing but I thought Lane's attitude toward spending life in space was refreshing. He was all set to drift through space until his oxygen ran out instead of returning to a world he had no interest in. The Orlando art is sketchier than his usual stuff but still easy on the eyes.

Miner Dennis Metcalf digs miles under the Earth's surface and stumbles upon "The Black Blob!" Stymied by the organism, Dennis slaps it in a crate and brings it to super-brain Prof. Oliver Parnell but the substance somehow escapes its prison and cannot be found. At the same time, around the world, an hour seems to go missing, playing havoc with executions and government coups. Metcalf finally locates the blob, sitting on a pub stool enjoying a lager, and trucks it back to the egghead's lab. 

Parnell, suspecting that the lost time has something to do with the blob, orders Dennis to show him the spot where it was found. After a lengthy trip down on a mine elevator, Parnell suddenly realizes that the blob is the Earth's "center of gravity" and... well, removing it wasn't a good idea. Center back in place, Earth regains its spin. You have to give writer Carl Wessler at least a little credit for trying here, even if his science makes little sense (Metcalf informs Parnell that the hole they've dug is over 3.7 million feet deep!). It's dopey but fanciful.

New grandpa Harry Lansfield sits on his son's porch, depressed he can't afford to buy little Frank a "welcome to the world" present when a telepathic plea for help slams into his brain. A man is running from a mutated lizard in Florida of 1983 and his elephant gun seems to be having no effect. Neither are his pleas for help. 

Harry does what any good citizen would do; he grabs up the family shotgun and starts blasting lizards in the front yard. The effect is the one desired and 27 years in the future the giant lizard vanishes. Supremely grateful, the voice in Harry's head introduces himself as... yep, you guessed it... Frank Lansfield! What are the odds? "The Lizard!" has some oddball Dave Berg graphics but not much else.

Equally dull is "Footprints in the Snow!" Poor Danny Wyatt is so poor (how poor is he?) that he can't even afford to pay for a night out with his best girl, Hazel. He promises Hazel that if he ever strikes it rich he'll marry her. That night, while walking home, Danny runs into a Plutonian named Zig and his fortunes change. Zig asks Danny to hide him from the suspicious government authorities and in exchange Danny will be rewarded with riches beyond his imagination.

Danny agrees and suddenly has enough dough to hit the town with a different dame every night. When Hazel comes calling, reminding Danny of his promise, the dolt tells her that now that he's rich he's going to play the field. Zig smiles and tells Hazel he knew Earthmen were no good. "You're right, dad...," she sighs, "take me home!" Indeed.

In "No Way Out," a man fights for freedom from a valley that won't allow him to escape. No explanation is given and none is needed. A truly wretched issue of Mystical Tales comes to a much-anticipated finish with the dreadful sci-fi soap opera schmaltz of "Behind the Veil." Throat-cutting tycoon Theodore Moss has stepped on a human ladder all the way to the top, stealing inventions and leaving poor and destitute scientists in his wake. Now, blasted with isotopes, Moss gets his just desserts from his victims. Well, no, actually he doesn't. In the final panels, Moss sees the error of his ways and swears to make good on all his past bad deeds. Sheesh. Bring back the scumbag lechers who populated the Atlas business world pre-CCA. Please!-Peter

Mystic #50

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Man of Mystery!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★★★

"The Thing Called... X!" (a: Ross Andru & Mike Esposito) ★1/2

"Creature in Hiding!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★★

"The Master!" (a: Ed Moore) ★

"When the Door Opens" (a: Paul Hodge) ★★

"In the Darkness" (a: Hy Fleishman) ★★

Thomas Beeres is a nebbish who is gazing in a shop window at a poster advertising the quiz show, Hit the Top, where the top prize is $50K. A "Man of Mystery!" stands next to Thomas and encourages him to fill out an entry blank, promising a fortune if Thomas listens to the man. Thomas enters and soon receives the news that he'll be on the show. Outside the studio, the man of mystery tells him to choose the "mythology" category and provides the answers to the first round of questions.

Thomas gets all the answers right and immediately his personality changes; he thinks his family members are only after his money and he is certain that the only person he needs is the mysterious stranger. Thomas goes on the show again and wins again. When he appears for the third week, the mystery man tells Thomas that he will give him the answer to the $50K question for half the money, but Thomas declines, certain that he knows it all. Of course, he fails to answer the question, which asks the name of the Norse God of Evil; outside, the man of mystery begins to look for another victim and reveals that he is Loki.

I enjoyed this look at the mid-'50s mania for TV quiz shows, well-illustrated by Vince Carrabotta. I'll overlook the fact that we've seen similar personality changes before (see "Footprints in the Snow," above, for example) and that the end is typically mild; most of the story's four pages are entertaining and I was intrigued to learn how Thomas would fail in the conclusion.

Professor Dodd has invented a powerful insecticide--"The Thing Called...X!"--and wants to test it in the Louisiana bayou. Jeff Martin takes the prof  and another man up in a plane and sprays X over a large swatch of bayou below. The trio land and check out the area they just sprayed (with no masks or protective equipment), finding that all of the vegetation and insects have grown to giant size! They manage to avoid being eaten by a beetle and, the next morning, they find that everything has returned to normal. Prof. Dodd decides X is too dangerous to market, never realizing that it was the three men who shrank!

Prof. Dodd is a moron, as are his cohorts. I knew they had shrunk to tiny size right away. Don't these people read Atlas comics?

A man climbs Mt. Everest and finds the Abominable Snowman, only to discover that he is a man as well. The Abominable tells a story of how he was born over 500 years ago and was the handsomest guy in the land. Fearing the ravages of old age, he created and drank an elixir of immortality; he subjected himself to many tests but could not die. Eventually, he went to Mt. Everest to live out his endless days alone, a "Creature in Hiding," because all of the tests he put himself through ravaged his handsome face.

Stallman does a decent job with a thin plot, but the lack of a final shot of the Snowman's ravaged face kills any momentum the story had built. Instead, we get a close up of the mountain climber's wide eyes as he looks at the Abominable's face.

Royce Grimm is a pipe-smoking creep who treats his dog cruelly. He doesn't much like it when he suddenly finds himself in a doghouse in the rain. Ed Moore's rudimentary graphics match the throwaway quality of this three-page filler.

By 1989, most people owned a rocket ship and had vacationed on the moon. Not Anton Dwolak! The poor street sweeper can't afford it, so he keeps promising his kids that one day they'll fly to Sirius and be given souvenir puppies by the kind creatures who live there. Anton's prayers seem to fall on deaf ears, so he has an idea: he and his neighbors will rig up a fake spaceship and pretend to fly the kids to Sirius, where costumed neighbors will hand out puppies from the pound.

Everything goes off without a hitch and the kids love the flight and their cute l'il doggies, but the neighbors can't understand how it happened, since the ship went nowhere and they hadn't boarded it yet! Every reader of this issue has to raise their hand if they didn't see this coming right after Anton had his big idea. The old bit about flying to space in a fake ship that turns out to be real has seen so many versions by this point that they're running out of ideas.

Ed Knight, host of the TV show, "This Strange World," talks General Brewer into letting him hitch a ride on a bomber jet flown by Captain Roark in order to record the full fury of a storm. Up they go, and Knight rolls the camera as Roark fires cannons into the hurricane to try to break it up. Surprisingly, the shells come right back and the plane is torn to pieces by the raging winds. The men bail out and Knight rushes to the studio to develop his film. That evening, viewers of "This Strange World" are treated to film of alien ships flying through the hurricane; when Roark's cannons fire on them, they abandon their plan to attack Earth!

We need to coin a new term for these endings--perhaps "Wesslerian"--where the writer attempts to pull off a twist but it comes from so deep in left field that it lands with a mighty thud. Such is the fate of "In the Darkness." The highlight of this story is the art by Hy Fleishman; either he or the colorist made a good choice to depict the scenes inside the hurricane in blue/black and white, which works well.-Jack

Spellbound #29

Cover by Joe Maneely

"The Man in the Cellar" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★1/2

"He Walks Among Us" (a: Al Hartley & George Roussos) ★1/2

"They Meet By Night!" (a: Tony Mortellaro) ★

"Someone is Following" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★

"The Hole in the Ground" (a: Bill Draut?) ★1/2

"None Are So Blind" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

Jim works hard at his job all day and then comes home and works on his time machine in the cellar till midnight, ignoring his devoted wife, Vera, and their kids. After tireless effort, he sends a guinea pig ten years into the future but realizes that he can't prove it. One day, Jim comes home from work to find that Vera and the kids have sent themselves ten years into the future. Jim joins them and discovers that his machine was a success!

Forgione and Abel don't seem very inspired by "The Man in the Cellar" and neither was I. Vera is so supportive of Jim's hobby that she and the kids never see him. The end where he discovers that his machine worked and now, he's a successful member of the board of directors at his factory is yet another example of Carl Wessler writing a sunny finale that has zero effect on the reader.

Robert Mace is a young actor playing a robot in a movie. One evening, he goes home and finds industrial magnate Carleton Forst waiting for him. Forst explains that Mace is the last of five robots built by a now-dead scientist; Forst plans to use Mace to control industry. After the man leaves, Mace is convinced he's wrong, but his investigation leads to the conclusion that he is, in fact, a robot. When Forst returns to take control, the magnate accidentally falls out a window to his death and Mace realizes that Forst's brain was linked to his own by mental waves. Now that Forst has died, Mace will die as well.

"He Walks Among Us" has an absurd premise and the story unfolds in such a clunky manner that it has to be by Wessler. The pointless ending makes me certain of that! The art, by Al Hartley and George Roussos, is competent but no more.

Al Mortell is a bungler who repeatedly screws up at his uncle's factory. Even worse, he's embezzled money and the accountant is coming tomorrow to check the books! On his drive home, Al encounters a group of aliens who give him a bag full of money to provide them with examples of scientific progress that they can take home. He wonders why they refer to him as a kindred spirit and discovers when he gets home that the money is confederate--the aliens were just as bungling as Al!

Titling this terrible story "They Meet By Night!" doesn't make it the least bit exciting, and Tony Mortellaro's sub-par art continues this issue's trend of pages not worth perusing. Take a look at the panel I've reproduced here, in which Al is smoking a cigarette.

Fred Brown is an ordinary guy who has saved $200 and plans to spend it on a trip to Mexico. He's walking home through dark alleys when he realizes that "Someone is Following" him. His pursuer reveals himself to be a man from the future, who cautions Fred not to give his $200 to Lester Marlin, an old school chum who has invented a matter duplicator. Doing so would wreck the future world economy! Fred agrees, but instead of giving Lester the money he uses the machine to duplicate his own wad of cash and soon becomes one of the richest men in South America.

By default, this is the best story so far in this dreadful issue. Robert Q. Sale's art is a bit of an acquired taste, but it's decent enough and the twist ending actually makes sense for a change.

While walking in the woods one summer day in 1865, mathematician Charles Dodgson sees an elf disappear into "The Hole in the Ground." Dodgson falls through a similar hole and discovers an underground community of elves who keep wonderful creatures in chains and ask him to plead their cause to his brethren, since they want to live on the surface. Dodgson thinks them cruel and, when he returns to the world above the ground, he writes Alice in Wonderland as a coded warning, hoping someone will read between the lines.

The GCD suggests that this is Bill Draut's work, and I can see it in the close up of the elves on page two. Some of the shadows make me think of Mike Sekowsky, too, such as panel three on page three, where Dodgson sweeps away the elves.

Dave Miller is a kind-hearted guy who runs the Flying Carpet ride at the amusement park and gives free rides to smiling kids. The ride isn't making money, so he's forced to shut it down; he also has to listen to his shrewish girlfriend, Jean, who won't marry him until he gets a steady job. Walking home one evening, Dave encounters a flying saucer and sees green-skinned aliens emerge from it. No one believes his story, so he confronts the aliens, who explain that their planet died and they need a new home. Dave insists that they come into town with him to show everyone that he was not making them up. Just then, smiling green alien kids emerge from the ship, and Dave has a change of heart. Soon his ride is up and running again, and crowds come to see the funny green aliens who now work the ride.

Steve Ditko keeps this issue from being one for the recycling bin with "None Are So Blind," which features an uncharacteristically cogent script by Wessler and art that is a mix of classic Ditko (the main characters) and what looks to me like an imitation of Al Capp's style, in regard to the smaller pictures of the backup characters. It's not a bad little story and it's easily the best in the issue.-Jack

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A Gen-You-Wine Mystery!