The Marvel/Atlas
Horror Comics
Horror Comics
Part 118
September 1956 Part I
by Peter Enfantino
and Jack Seabrook
Cover by Bill Everett
"Next Stop Eternity!" (a: George Roussos) ★
(r: Giant-Size Chillers #1)
"Good-Bye Forever!" (a: Joe Maneely) ★1/2
(r: Chamber of Chills #17)
"Bedlam" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★
"A World Gone Mad!" (r: Jim Mooney) ★
(r: Fear #26)
"When the Time Comes!" (a: Bill Ely) ★1/2
"Behind The Locked Door..." (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★
"Next Stop Eternity!" opens Adventure Into Mystery #3 with a heaping helping of schmaltz. Bus driver Bill Walsh is in love with Jennie but she has eyes only for "the stranger," a handsome bloke who seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Bill wishes the guy would disappear.
One night, while the stranger is riding Bill's bus, the vehicle breaks down in the middle of a driving rainstorm. The stranger exits the vehicle and heads for a nearby station... a station Bill knows should not be there! When the stranger never shows his face in town again, the authorities question Bill, since everyone knew Bill had a thing for Jennie before love found other options. Cleared of all wrongdoing, Bill drives his route again and is amazed when Jennie boards his bus.
Inventor Hugo Valgon deliberately destroys his Valgon Ray Activator™ at the risk of death at the hands of his Commie bosses. Why? Good question. One day, while monkeying around with his VRA™, Valgon accidentally plugs a tube in the wrong slot and... presto!... he's transported to a world of splendor and peace. There he meets the gorgeous and scantily-clad Risa Skara and falls madly in love with the girl. When he asks her father for Risa's hand, Pop turns him down due to Hugo's small bank account.
Determined to prove to Pop Skara that he can provide for Risa, Hugo makes a return trip to Earth and returns to Barsoom with a fleet of Air Force jets and militia arms. Dad goes mad and begins bombing runs, alarming Hugo and convincing him that the arms must be destroyed. Task accomplished, Hugo bids Risa a fond fare thee well and heads back to Earth to destroy his VRA™. When his colonel hears Hugo's sad story, he vows to cover up the destruction of the big gizmo and fight for peace in a Communist world.
Explorer Eric Lamont stumbles upon a handful of aliens while doing what he does in a South American jungle and begs the little guys to come back with him and bask in the glow of adulation sure to come to outer space visitors. The strangers politely decline, citing the color (yellow) and texture (smooth and silky) of their skin. They believe Earthlings would not take kindly to the intrusion and, to prove their point, they transform Eric into a mirror image of themselves and give him a week to prove them wrong. As expected, the ensuing "Bedlam" causes the aliens to cut their trip short and head back to Pluto. Eric sighs and wishes he'd gone to Colonel Yubek instead.
In the three-page "When the Time Comes," astronaut cadet Baker takes his first trip into space and has a hard time quelling his panic. The real panic comes when Baker exits the rocket ship and discovers the whole thing was a training exercise... he never left Earth! Not bad for a short-short but we've seen the twist a time or two. In the closer, "Behind the Locked Door...", pretty but shy Lana Cummings can't find romance but at least she's got her hobby: telepathy. Then one day, her sixth sense leads her into danger when she identifies a "Most Wanted" criminal. But happy endings are aplenty in 1956 Atlas funny books as Lana finds herself a man as a result. More romance comic fodder with banal graphics. One of the worst single issues of the post-code Atlas era... and that's saying something!-Peter
Cover by Bill Everett
"The Hidden Valley!" (a: Lou Morales) ★★
"There Were 3 Victims!" (a: Sid Greene) ★★
(r: Weird Wonder Tales #14)
"Trapped in the Tunnel!" (a: John Forte) ★★
"The Hunter's Prey!" (a: Dave Berg) ★★
"Down in the Cellar!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★
"Build Me a Machine!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★★
Magazine photographer/journalist Todd Scott is obsessed with learning the secret behind the Manaos, a tribe that disappeared 1000 years ago. Heading high into the mountains of Tibet with his faithful manservant, Arnark, Scott stumbles upon a beautiful valley hidden between the tallest peaks.
In 1994, four escaped convicts hide out on the Galaxy, a space shuttle whose main route is between Earth and a new colony on Mars. The cons want to go to Mars and they threaten Captain Sutton with death if he does not comply. Sutton cites Rule #345/3902.4893 of the Spaceway Rules and Regulations: "No escaped felons allowed on Mars!" To show they mean business, the thugs start tossing Sutton's co-pilots out one-by-one until he's the only one left of the crew.
How did these guys survive their space ordeal? And how did the Galaxy make it back to Earth? Easy! The three men grabbed onto the ship's wings and turned her around! I can't make this stuff up, boys and girls! The craziest thing about "There Were 3 Victims!" is that writer Carl "Do You Want It Good Or Do You Want It For Your Funny Book?" Wessler doesn't even attempt to explain how these three astronauts avoided the pressures of space without spacesuits and made it back to Earth without food. Carl didn't even fall back on the "they were robots the whole time" chestnut. And that makes this nonsense supremely enjoyable. Sometimes it's alright to listen to the Bay City Rollers instead of Cream. Sid Greene's art makes it look like this was a strip that sat around since the early 1940s.
The damned thing's stuck and they say their prayers. Suddenly, the elevator car appears, manned by Biff's "girl!" The boys are rescued and explain to a reporter about their savior. The paperman laughs and points at the empty elevator. When they produce the pic of Biff's girl, the journalist explains that the blonde is Janet Marlowe who died five years ago!!! This one just loads inanity atop ludicrosity and hopes no one will question its logic. I sure won't.
In "The Hunter's Prey!" two big game hunters are looking for water buffalo when they happen upon a mammoth! But those mammals are extinct, I hear you say. Well, the exposition comes in the final panels when an alien arrives just as the two gunmen are about to be trampled. Seems as though he accidentally let the big guy out of his interplanetary zoo cage.
A failing commie dictator (well, we're never told he's Russian, but this is a Stan Lee-edited strip written by Carl Wessler, so...) demands that his top scientist build him a time machine so he can travel back fifty years (armed with blueprints for deadly weapons such as H-bombs, jet fighters, and rap music) and be BMOC. Though the egghead warns the czar that there are flaws in the time travel theories, the despot demands success. Time machine built, the egotistical, warmongering madman heads back half a century into the past and comes out the other side as... a baby! The extraordinary work of Steve Ditko would be enough to make "Build Me a Machine!" one of the best yarns of 1956, but the script by Wessler is also a clever winner.-Peter
Cover by Sol Brodsky & Carl Burgos
"Stone Face!" (a: John Giunta) ★1/2
"Those Who Vanish!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2
"The Mystery of the Missing Man" (a: Bill Walton) ★
"The Box That Wouldn't Open!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★
"The Secret of the Sargasso Sea!" (a: Bill Benulis) ★★
"The Sea Serpent!" (a: Ross Andru & Mike Esposito) ★1/2
Richard Dell, who runs a sideshow, buys a stone statute from a farmer whose plow uncovered it in a field. Dell displays "Stone Face!" but everyone thinks it's a fake. When Richard announces that he believes the stone man is real, it comes to life and turns everyone but Dell to stone. Distraught at what he has done, Richard announces that he no longer believes the creature is real, and it turns back to harmless stone.
The stone creature explains, in a long caption, that it's a dealer in black magic from a distant planet who was turned to stone and banished to Earth as punishment. How can we punish the writer and artist of this story for wasting the five minutes it took me to read it? I was certain that Dell would use a mirror to turn stony solid again, but no such luck.
After spending 20 years in the clink, Pete Arlen is free but without prospects. Near a pool called Chi-Ha-Nichi in Wyoming, he meets Chief Red Dust, an old Indian who claims that the water makes anyone who bathes in it 20 years younger. Since the chief says he's 104 but looks about 80, Pete buys the title to the pool for 25 bucks. In a nearby cafe, he meets Linda and Eddie and makes a nice profit by selling the title to the pool to Eddie for $3000. A few days later, Pete learns that not only are folks paying $500 each to bathe in the pool, it works! After a quick dip, "Those Who Vanish!" are sent back 20 years through a time warp and return looking younger. Pete decides to hop into the pool after everyone is gone, only to discover himself back in jail, twenty years before, once again starting his two-decade stint behind bars.
The GCD credits this story to Carl Wessler and I can believe it, since it makes twists and turns that don't make a whole lot of sense, and because the end is a flop. More impressive is the art by Ditko, who draws an impressive 80+-year-old Indian chief. Pete's face is a bit weird but Linda and Eddie look like they could have stepped out of a Spider-Man comic less than 10 years later.
Harvey Wilson wants to marry Gina and return to the States from the Middle East, but Gordon Dunbar holds an IOU from Harvey's gambling debts and threatens to show it to Gina if Harvey won't go along with his scheme to rob an old curio shop. That night, Harvey steals a small box from the shop and gives it to Gordon, warning him that he should throw it away due to scary noises Harvey heard in the shop. Instead, Harvey and Gordon visit Gina and, when Gordon enters a back room to open the box, a cry for help is heard. Harvey investigates and finds only the box, which the native shop owner quickly retrieves. Harvey and Gina agree to head for the U.S., while in the shop, the native proprietor adds a small figure to his shelf that looks just like Gordon.
The dreadful story in "The Mystery of the Missing Man" is matched by the dreadful art. Bill Walton should have stuck to basketball.
"The Box That Wouldn't Open!" is no better. Three hoods read in the paper that Dr. Neil Farr has made a discovery worth millions of dollars, so they break into his house, find him studying a metal box, and conclude that it must be valuable. They then do all they can to open it while he keeps popping pills. At Police HQ, Sgt. Dan Boyd has a hunch that the doc is in trouble, so he rushes to the house, then to a machine shop where the thugs have taken Farr and his box to try to pry it open. Boyd arrives and corners the thugs; Farr reveals that the box is empty and the pills are his great discovery, since they allow for thought communication.
Why is Captain Pearly Marston insistent on piloting his ship, which carries vital rocket fuel, into the whirlpool near the Sargasso Sea? Even he doesn't know. Once the ship reaches that sea, the crew find other ships that have ended up there. On one of them, the captain explains how he and his ship endured a similar fate. That night, Marston's crew report that the rocket fuel has suddenly vanished and, next thing they know, their ship is being towed to safety by... a rocket ship! It seems that the other ship on the Sargasso Sea was a rocket ship; it took the fuel from Marston's ship, headed out to space, and towed Pearly's vessel to safety. The art by Bill Benulis makes "The Secret of the Sargasso Sea!" worth reading; it doesn't hurt that it only lasts three pages.
It's funny how some of these stories can be elevated by quality art. Benulis, Ditko, Reinman (sometimes) and a few others were toiling for little money and no recognition, yet they turned out pages that still impress seven decades later.
Finally, in the "only at Atlas in the post-code years" comes "The Sea Serpent," which turns out to be a friend to humans and ships rather than a big, scaly monster. At this point in their career, Andru and Esposito draw art that is recognizably theirs but doesn't yet hit the excesses they would reach in the '60s and early '70s with bug-eyed characters. The best panels in this story are the ones with the sea serpent, which is actually pretty cool, at least until it turns into a Disney creature that uses its head to nudge ships out of trouble.-Jack
Cover by Russ Heath
"Invasion of the Metal Men!" (a: Joe Maneely) ★1/2
"I Am Nobody!" (a: John Forte) ★★
"The Moon for Sale!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★
"Forever and Ever" (a: Kurt Schaffenberger) ★1/2
"The Man Who Never Was!" (a: Harry Lazarus) ★1/2
"Address Unknown!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★
After the "Invasion of the Metal Men!" gets underway in 1983, the robots attack the capital city and take over the government. Senate President Milford speaks to the gallery, announcing that the metal men come from another planet and have brain power equal to that of humans, as well as impenetrable bodies. "'No! That's wrong!'" yells Ned Webb, a young ham radio operator who is thereafter mocked by everyone for daring to disagree with the brilliant Milford. A week later, the onslaught of the metal men is suddenly stopped by Ned, who leads them into a lake, where they vanish (and rust?). Ned tells the senators that he figured out that the robots were being controlled by radio waves from outer space, so he got on their wavelength and took over. The senators take credit for Ned's success and he laments that "'I'm still a nothing.'"
John Mason is an actor who hosts the popular TV true crime show called Booked. He is so worn out from all of his celebrity appearances that he is happy to accept an offer from a mysterious fat man who will send him to a parallel world where he is unknown. It only costs $10,000! John agrees and forks over the money. He walks into the parallel world, where he is happy to realize that "I Am Nobody!" Happy, that is, until he overhears a couple of spies plotting and karate chops the gun from one of their hands. The F.B.I. rush in and want to arrest John, thinking he's a spy too and not believing him when he says he's a famous actor. He runs off and returns to his original world, relieved to be famous.
Despite having been swindled before, Herman Doakes can't resist responding to an ad offering to sell lots on the moon for a dollar. He borrows a buck from his skeptical friend John, mails it off to P.O. Box X, and waits, his faith unshaken. Soon, a moon man knocks at his door to tell Herman that he now owns the whole moon because he was the only person who responded to the ad. As a result of his faith, he will run the moon men's business when Earthlings conquer space travel.
"The Moon for Sale!" contains no surprises, since anyone who has read more than a handful of Atlas comic book stories knows from page one that the ad will turn out to be legit by page four. The moon man is yellow with black spots all over his head and he wears a red turtleneck. I guess it was hard to keep coming up with interesting designs for alien creatures.
After his spaceship suddenly explodes on a trip to Venus, an astronaut is cast into the vast reaches of space, where he is lucky to be picked up by the space version of the Flying Dutchman. Kurt Schaffenberger's cartoony visuals are the only thing that makes this three-pager worth a look.
If the GCD didn't credit this story to Carl Wessler, we wouldn't have much trouble identifying the author, since (as usual) the twists and turns never quite make sense. It's like a plot developed by Yogi Berra. The art by Harry Lazarus is serviceable.
When a young couple from Venus and their baby son mysteriously appear in Alex Gordon's barn, the farmer must fend off an angry mob. The GCD editor suggests that Ross Andru may have done some work on this story, which is signed by Vic Carrabotta; I've reproduced a panel here that could be the work of Ross the boss.-Jack
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| Next Week... Nope, that's not Peter griping about mediocre Bat-comics, it's the latest Penguin epic! |
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