Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 136: Marvel/Atlas Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 121

October 1956 Part I

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Astonishing #54

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Old Man's Secret!" (a: John Giunta) ★★★

(r: Journey Into Mystery #16)

"Nightmare at Noon!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

(r: Worlds Unknown #1)

"Man with Wings!" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★

"No Trespassing!" (a: Hy Fleishman) ★1/2

"The World of Flame!" (a: Chuck Miller) ★

(r: Amazing Adventures #26)

"When the Walls Close In!" (a: Bob Brown) ★★1/2

(r: Uncanny Tales #9)

Larner travels to the peaks of Tibet and into a hidden valley to find an old man who supposedly knows the secret to eternal youth. He discovers the old-timer is being cared for by his son, a man who warns Larner to turn around and go back to civilization; he'll not learn anything from an old man who is too feeble to even talk. 

Larner manages to talk the younger man into letting him take the old man back to his world, where he can be cared for and studied by scientists. Realizing that what Larner says is true, the caregiver grants his wish and waves at the pair as they head back into the snow. Larner overcomes avalanches, freezing cold, and starvation but manages to make it back to the real world, only to discover that he'll never learn "The Old Man's Secret!" A literate script with decent art and an honest-to-gosh surprise ending make this one a cut above the rest. 

The striking work of Angelo Torres is all that keeps "Nightmare at Noon!" afloat. It's the simple tale of a man who owns an island and discovers pirates have landed ashore. They're keeping a beautiful maiden as hostage. Could this be the woman of his dreams?

A fighter pilot is plagued by dreams of an imperiled man with wings. Only our hero can save the man, but he must continually drop out of formation. We discover in the cliched ending that the pilot is actually Leonardo Da Vinci, dreaming up ways to take to the sky. The Forgione/Abel art is uninspired and drab, while the script (naturally, by Wessler) is a tuna sandwich left out of the fridge for three weeks.

An unusual beam of light appears on the estate of wealthy Luther Kane, drawing the locals to his land despite the "No Trespassing!" sign. When the people of the town bathe themselves in the light, their maladies disappear! With dreams of a gold mine dancing in his greedy brain, Kane puts up a barbed wire fence around his property and charges five grand a pop. The poor souls of Hooville cannot afford the ransom and Kane's property remains untouched. At that point, the Martians who have beamed the light on a small patch of Earth widen the scope and Kane's land becomes uninhabitable. The millionaire is reduced to begging for dimes on the city streets. Why did the small ray giveth miracles and the larger one taketh away? Search me. 

In the three-page "The World of Flame!" the crew of a sea-going vessel are transported to the sun, where they meet aliens who explain that a freak storm caused the ship to be sucked into their transport beam. The sailors all beg for a return to Earth, citing wives and bottles of beer, and are granted a return. There, they discuss the amazing dream they all shared, when the brightest bulb in the cabinet notes the entire crew is sun-burned despite the wintery climate. "This warn't no dream!" 

In the closer, veterinarian Whitney Chase is working on a new hormone theory with the help of elderly, brilliant scientist, Dr. Bardo, a shady guy with a very acute case of claustrophobia. Chase is certain he's stumbled across a hormone serum that will revolutionize the industry thanks to its... well, I have no idea what the thing does and neither does our unknown scripter, so let's just say it does something magical and leave it at that. Anyway, to complicate things further, Dr. Bardo is, in reality, a Nazi egghead named Franz Heinrich Hessler, who has been hiding from the Feds since his Nazi experiment days ended years before.

Hessler/Bardo tests Chase's formula on a boa constrictor and, sure enough, the snake... does something. Hessler is sure he can sell this formula to the highest bidder, buy his own island, and clone Hitler for future generations. The plan goes awry when Chase discovers his mentor's deception and tosses a serum at the old man. Suddenly, Hessler's claustrophobia grows to insane proportions. Why, I don't know. But it gives Chase a chance to call the authorities and listen in amazement as Bardo confesses he's actually Hessler and begs the cops to take him away from the closing walls. You see, a man's guilt always catches up with him in the end. "When the Walls Close In!" is over-plotted nonsense from the get-go but it sure is entertaining in its own stumbling way.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #39

Cover by Bill Everett

"Behind the Mask" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

"The Forbidden Room!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★

"I Lived Four Times!" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★

"At the Edge of Nowhere!" (a: Al Hartley) ★

"He Can't Resist" (a: George Roussos) ★1/2

"The Executioner!" (a: Wally Wood) ★★★

A master mask-maker lets his pride get the best of him when confronted by an alien from another world who asks the man to make him the perfect disguise. Later, after the alien leaves with his new identity, the artist has a case of the guilts and heads out to stop the alien's plan... whatever it might be. There are the nice Paul Reinman graphics to look at while you're making your way through "Behind the Mask," but not much else. The reveal at the climax, that the mask-maker is living on Pluto and the alien is from Earth, is forecast from page one. The real twist here is that humans can breathe on Pluto without oxygen masks.

Separated from his cave tour companions, Ralph Gornov travels deep into a mountainside and discovers the lost city of Cavernia, a city banished from the surface world two centuries before. Leader Drombru explains to Gornov that, if the surface world were to learn of his hidden city, there would be war waged. Gornov eventually escapes and Drombru readies his population to invade the surface world with their tanks and other modern weapons. "The Forbidden Room!" is filled with unexplained mysteries. How was an entire city (skyscrapers and all) moved into the inside of a mountain? How do these outcasts have rocket launchers and missiles? But, most of all, why does Drombru dress and act like Napoleon? Carl Wessler was obviously too beat from trying to work the damned toaster in the Atlas break room to work out these puzzlers. Dick Ayers contributes his usual stiff, unremarkable work.

Stefan Orjanski is a Hungarian deserter who just wants to live a peaceful life and marry a woman like the lovely Nadja. The gorgeous gal admits she might know of a sorcerer who can help with Stefan's escape and, sure enough, the wizard helps the "coward" to assimilate himself into society with a new body. However, his cowardice eats him alive inside and, eventually, Stef gives himself up to the authorities. He is lined up before a firing squad and... just before he's ventilated, Stef is transported into another body. 

This magical occurrence happens several times before our hero finally approaches the wizard, swears he'll be a good soldier, and is granted his original body back. Turns out this is a service provided for the Hungarian army by the wizard and (his daughter) Nadja, a trick they've pulled twenty times before. Carl Wessler's political views seep into "I Lived Four Times!" Any man averse to picking up a gun and wading into combat is worthless and must be dealt with in the McCarthy era.

In the three-page "At the Edge of Nowhere!" an alien lands on Earth and is amazed at how belligerent and infantile our people can be. Just wait until he turns on the evening news!

Eric Lund invents a "thought communicator" gizmo but can't get anyone interested in marketing the breakthrough. When one banker insults Lund, "He Can't Resist" planting a criminal act into the man's mind. The banker will be compelled to rob a house of its valuables. Should be a no-brainer, right? Well... I continue to be entertained by the vast number of brilliant Atlas eggheads who turn to petty crime rather than big-scale thievery when the urge overtakes them.

Brilliant scientist Dr. Morey, a/k/a "The Executioner" for his crass attitude toward the men harmed during his spaceship tests, has created man's first satellite, ready to be launched and roam the galaxy. Major Cannon, tasked with overseeing the project, believes that Morey is a cold fish who cares not a whit for the pain and suffering his gizmos create. The pilot assigned to man the satellite, Fred Burton, promises his fiance that he'll be back in six months and they can be married, but space debris creates a structural problem with the satellite and the vessel explodes, killing young Burton. Morey opines that it's back to the drawing board and heads to his lab, while Cannon is left in disgust, directing oaths at the back of the dejected scientist. It's then that Cannon is informed that Fred Burton was actually Morey's son.

The twist is one that's been used many a time before so no one will be surprised by the reveal. Another thing that doesn't surprise is that Wally Wood rescues this issue from the birdcage single-handedly. If only Wood had more to work with than talking heads for much of the story's four pages. Still, it's a fabulous four pages of art and, if you didn't know better, you could mistake this for a story pulled from the pages of Weird Science. Wally's stay with us will be short (only five appearances total in the post-code Atlas titles), but I'm pretty sure he'll make a big impression.-Peter

Journey Into Unknown Worlds #50

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Fog!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"I Entered the Forbidden Land!" (a: Herb Familton) ★1/2

"When the City Trembled" (a: Reed Crandall) ★★1/2

"Stranger Than Fiction!" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"Quarantine" (a: Werner Roth) ★1/2

"Cyclops" (a: Jack Davis) ★★1/2

(r: Monsters Unleashed #3)

Wandering through "The Fog!" in present-day London, Halliday walks through an old-fashioned door and into the past, where he is arrested as a lunatic and imprisoned in Bedlam, the notorious asylum, by its master, Will Morrow. Halliday bides his time until he can escape. Morrow follows him and, soon enough, Halliday finds himself back in the present, where policemen arrest Morrow as a lunatic.

"When the City Trembled"

Paul Reinman's art is looking more and more creaky with each issue, as if he's getting tired of making an effort in service of poor scripts like this one.

Jeff believes in the legend of Shangri-La and Tom agrees to finance his expedition to look for it. In the Tibetan mountains, Jeff finds the fabled land and is welcomed, admitting to the head lama that he thinks the secret to eternal youth must be in the water. Jeff fills a jug and heads home to analyze it. He drinks a glassful right before reporters arrive to hear his announcement. "I Entered the Forbidden Land!" says Jeff, but the reporters are aghast at the aged face of the man before them--it turns out that drinking water from Shangri-La outside the borders of the land has the reverse effect.

I knew what was happening right away when we were presented only with views from behind as soon as Jeff drank the water. Familton's art is wooden, along the lines of John Forte, and the story goes nowhere.

"When the City Trembled"

When Lou Nevins, a traveling book salesman, shows up at the door of McGinty's Boarding House, where Doug Lenox resides, Mrs. McGinty is polite and attentive, but Doug tells the man to beat it, remarking that, "'in this world, it's every man for himself.'" Soon, an earthquake hits and, when Doug falls into a crevasse, Mrs. McGinty and Lou Nevins tell him to fend for himself. A tidal wave follows, with the same results. Finally, Doug changes his mind and rescues Nevins from the flood waters. Suddenly, they are all back at the boarding house and there is no evidence of an earthquake or a tidal wave. Mrs. McGinty buys a book and Nevins moves on to the house next door, where he continues trying to peddle his book on hypnotism.

In the hands of a lesser artist, "When the City Trembled" would be another flop, but this story is illustrated by the great Reed Crandall, who is only a few years out from his triumphs at EC. His work here is excellent and even includes a few panels with no or few words to get in the way. It's a treat for the eyes!

"Cyclops"

TV writer Chris Tully's scripts for the weekly show, Mobs and Mobsters, are eerily accurate. So accurate, in fact, that the real Red Benton and his mob of motorcycle-riding hoodlums want to know how Tully knows their every move. As Tully struggles to complete the script for the final episode, Benton and his gang find the writer and give chase; the writer leads the crooks to the stage of the TV studio, where Benton unknowingly confesses in front of a TV audience of fifty million people!

How does Tully know what Benton's gang is up to? "Stranger Than Fiction!" doesn't tell us, it just plods along to its uninspiring finale like many another tale by Carl Wessler.

In the future, no one gets sick, so when Carmichael is found to be ill, the leaders propose putting him under "Quarantine." He escapes and walks through the city streets, where everyone sees him and flees. Soon he is alone in the city and lonely, so he goes to the edge of town and surrenders to the authorities. They search him and find the source of his infection--a handgun that he stole from the museum. It seems he's infected with the deadly disease called violence.

"Cyclops"

We've seen this twist ending before and Werner Roth does nothing worthwhile with the premise in the three pages he's allotted.

The sailors on the S.S. Marshal, a destroyer that was hit by a torpedo and sank during WWII, wonder about the middle initial in the name of their captain, Miles U. Barret. Suggesting wryly that it stands for "Useful," they admit he's a good skipper. A submarine torpedoes the ship and it sinks; everyone aboard is rescued except for one lifeboat filled with sailors and the captain, which disappears. That boat ends up on an island, where the men find themselves trapped in the cave of the "Cyclops"! Reenacting the events of The Odyssey, they escape and agree that their official report will say it was all a mass hallucination brought on by shock. Just then, the captain reveals that his middle name is Ulysses!

Reed Crandall and Jack Davis both in an issue of an Atlas comic? Be still my heart! Davis turns in four pages of fun artwork and makes the most of a cliched story that ends with a surprise. If Atlas is destined to become the home of castoff artists from EC, count me in!-Jack

Marvel Tales #151

Cover by Bill Everett

"Barely Human" (a: Joe Orlando) ★1/2

"Secret Weapon!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"A Phantom in the Sky!" (a: Jay Scott Pike) ★1/2

"Who Walks in the Ruins" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"It's Alive" (a: Bill Everett) ★1/2

"The Parasite!" (a: Werner Roth) ★1/2

Frequent stories about mountain climbers in the Himalayas encountering the abominable snowman lead anthropologist Alvin Murray to believe that the snowman is seeking his face when it gazes into the eyes of hikers. Murray recalls an expedition years ago when he uncovered a wooly mammoth and a primitive man encased in ice; he brought the man back to the U.S., thawed him out, and kept him in a cage to study. After taking the man back to the Himalayas, he escaped and Murray barely got away from the "Barely Human" creature. He vows to return to the snowy mountains to look for the prehistoric man, uncertain who will be hunting whom.

"A Phantom in the Sky!"

What is it with Atlas and the abominable snowman lately? Was it in the news around 1956? Joe Orlando is a decent artist, but so little happens in this story that it's hard to work up much interest.

People around the world were afraid of the armada of alien ships that was slowly heading toward Earth from outer space. Their fears were eased when a young scientist named Anthony Ludlow created a "Secret Weapon!" that made the invaders use their great strength to complete projects beneficial to earthlings and then leave with a message to spread throughout the galaxy that Earth should never again be invaded. Ludlow finishes the job by destroying the weapon so that it will never fall into the hands of a tyrant.

Is there anything as dull as a science fiction story where the invading aliens from outer space turn into good guys? Probably not, and we're seeing a slew of them. Paul Reinman's art continues to deteriorate slowly from its earlier peak.

"Who Walks in the Ruins"

A Nazi pilot named Lt. Vohlar sees a blimp flying in the sky and decides that capturing it would be his ticket to promotion. He follows it through a dimensional barrier and lands in a world where everyone is happy and no one grows old. He falls in love with pretty Johanna Ritter, who teaches him to fly the blimp; he leaves her and takes off alone in it, flying back through the dimensional barrier and landing in Nazi Germany. He is told that the blimp is an antique and, when he looks in a mirror, he sees that he has aged and is now an old man.

Good Lord, Carl Wessler can sure write a bad story, can't he? From the start, "A Phantom in the Sky!" makes no sense. Why would a Nazi pilot be excited to see a blimp during WWII? Not to mention the nonsense about the other dimension and the dopey finale where he discovers that inter-dimensional travel sure can age a guy.

"It's Alive"

Ken Murdock is a stamp collector who is obsessed with the Midas Stamp, convinced that if he finds it, he'll be rich. He travels to Cairo and steals the stamp from a sheik; escaping into the desert, he finds that all he touches turns to gold. The stamp blows away and is left lying on the ground by the members of a passing caravan, who conclude that Ken has lost his mind.

It's not easy to rate these stories since they are all so poor. I gave "Who Walks in the Ruins" a single star instead of a star and a half because the art is almost as bad as the writing.

Why did Captain Linden flee from a strange planet before completing his exploration? He explains that his mission was to find life on another world, but after two years and over fifty planets, he and his crew landed on one similar to Earth. They made their way through curious, bamboo-like growth and noted strange lines on the ground, but they found no sign of life until they began to hear loud thumps coming from below the surface. When they determined that a large crater had moved closer to their rocket ship, they blasted off into space and returned to Earth. Captain Linden later realized that, regarding the planet Vita, "It's Alive"--the bamboo stalks were hair, the odd lines were pores, and the crater was a mouth.

"The Parasite!"

Even Bill Everett can't save the latest iteration of the old "the planet was really a living being" story. At least it's only three pages long.

Ben is a clever young scientist who invents an unbreakable plastic, but his uncle, who owns the company, wants to take all of the credit. When Ben invents a metal that resists heat, his uncle insists that it belongs to him and announces to the world that he'll control the rights and that it can be used for space travel. Soon, "The Parasite!" disappears without a trace. Ben is not aware that aliens from outer space witnessed his uncle's announcement and whisked him away to their planet in order to protect the Earth and other worlds from the results of his greed.

At least Werner Roth manages to draw a cool, green alien, so this story isn't a complete waste of time. If the goal of this exercise is to find the gold among the dross, this issue of Marvel Tales yielded no gems.-Jack

Next Week...
Robin Saves the Day!