Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 139: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 124

October 1956 Part IV

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Uncanny Tales #48

Cover by Russ Heath

"Power Mad!" (a: George Roussos) ★1/2

"The Whirlpool" (a: Bob Forgione) ★1/2

"The Night Watcher!" (a: Bill Everett) ★★1/2

"They'll Never Find Me" (a: Doug Wildey) ★1/2

"What Happened to Harry?" (a: Pete Morisi) ★

"The Door I Dare Not Open!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★1/2

With his new "Compound K" formula, scientist Conrad Elton finds he can bend the will of his favorite dog, Otto. So why shouldn't it work on people? Conrad begins to dream of unparalleled power, unending wealth, and a wife like Christina Urbana! Sure enough, when Conrad dumps a vial of "CK" into the punch at a social gathering, everyone in the town of Nordsburg votes him mayor and Christina accepts his proposal of marriage.

But, after just a few months of mayordom, Conrad's magic begins to wear away and, after demanding a new City Hall be built, the villagers light torches and chase Conrad and Christina (and Otto) out of town. Suddenly, while driving, Conrad realizes that it wasn't "CK" that won him the trust of his neighbors, but love. Gosh, how sweet. "Power Mad!" perfectly represents all that was bad about the post-code. Just two years before, Conrad would have been taken to the nearest town square and disemboweled for his grievous errors, but here we see him heading into a new life, completely cleansed of bad intentions. There's literally no suspense or danger in these yarns.

After his girlfriend leaves him for another man while he's fighting in the war, Jeff Dawson gives up, wanting only to die. So, naturally, he accepts a professor's challenge to recreate the raft voyage of a group of South American Indians, who disappeared and were found safe thousands of miles away in the Polynesian Islands. Days into the journey, Dawson's raft is sucked into a whirlpool and he awakens in an undersea cave, surrounded by fishmen in bad spacesuits. They tell him that he will never be released and suddenly Jeff Dawson wants to live! "The Whirlpool" is yet another story about the triumph of the will and all that, with nary a surprise nor a twist in sight (well, except for the fact that Dawson seems to exist for a long period of time on a small box of provisions). 

An alien lands in the middle of a backwoods forest, looking for the dominant species in order to duplicate it and then rule the world. Along comes brain-dead hick (well, at least that's what the other hillbillies in Coonskin Junction call the poor man) Pete, hunting raccoons with his trusty dog, Bob. But Pete ain't so dumb after all and he tricks the alien into transforming into a raccoon before he gives it both barrels. "The Night Watcher!" is a fun little distraction with some decent Bill Everett artwork. If only they gave poor Bill something to draw other than Pete, Bob, and a smoke monster. Definitely a waste of a master's talent.

In the three-page "They'll Never Find Me," escaped convict Jerry Owens hides in a satellite that is about to be launched into space. Weighing the cops outside his small shelter against fifty years in space, what will Jerry do? Well, I can't tell you that even if I wanted to because the story ends with Jerry's contemplation. In "What Happened to Harry?," the E-12 spaceship lands on Earth after five years in space and authorities are alarmed to discover that only one of the crew made it back and that's Harry. The sole survivor confesses that he had to leave the rest of his crew back on planet Zeno when a duplicate crew of explorers made it impossible to tell which batch were friends and which were foes. The climax is oddly muddled; I thought for sure we were going to be handed the old "the other guys are actually these guys from the past or future" cliche but, instead, no explanation is given.

Ben just has to get away from his wife, Julia, after a typically heated argument. When his car breaks down, he finds shelter in a remote house owned by a kindly old man who invites Ben to stay the night. "But," he warns sternly, "whatever you do, don't go through that door right there... no matter what, just don't open it, ya hear... no way no how should you go through that doorway!" Ben agrees but then finds it hard to sleep so, naturally, he opens the door and enters a misty corridor. 

There he witnesses a grim scene... his wife, Julia, standing over his fallen form, admitting she's poisoned him for the insurance money. He turns away and finds another door. Opening that, he sees himself captured by savage natives, the kind with bones in their noses, after the ship he's sailing on shipwrecks on a deserted island. Suddenly, Ben awakens to find himself in a partially constructed house with workers all around him. They inform him that the house is just now being built; Ben smiles and promises himself he'll find a pay phone to call Julia to tell her how much he loves her. Sure, right after he sees a glimpse of a future where the woman has killed him for his dough. Sounds like someone you want to run back to. The Mooney art reminds me that, aside from Bill Everett's work on "The Night Watcher!," this issue is filled with merely competent art.-Peter

World of Mystery #3

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Bugs!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

"Who is Raymas?" (a: Jack Davis) ★★★

"The Mystery Man!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

"I Received Letters from Nowhere!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"The Man Who Failed!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★

"Nobody" (a: Bernard Baily) ★

A metal thingie resembling the wing of an airplane crashes into the barn belonging to a hick farmer and his young son. The boy insists that the object is a spaceship, but the older man is having none of that. He cuts open a section and inside spots some bugs. The boy once again insists the craft is from outer space and that, with his younger eyes, he can see the "bugs" are actually space travelers. Having had enough of his son's poppycock, the hillbilly tosses the metal into the garbage and orders the boy back into the house. The last panel of "The Bugs!" proves the kid was right. The art of Angelo Torres is so radically different than that of some of the hacks working on the Atlas genre titles that anything sporting its sheen is, like those stories blessed with Everett, Ditko, Heath, and Maneely, eminently more readable despite cliched scripts.

A troop of entertainers, including Raymas the Magician, are forced to work in the factories owned by the stinkin' commies. Unfortunately for the Reds, Raymas begins a reign of mischief, shutting the plant down and forcing the State's leader, Baruta, to sign a peace treaty with a neighboring country. The politics are hazy, as is the meandering script, but the Jack Davis work is solid and the whole thing has an EC vibe to it. In my book, that makes this a standout this month.

Government agent Peter Dennis is tasked with finding an answer to why so many people across the world are sending large sums of money to a Professor Moros, who preaches a belief known as "cosmic harmony." When Dennis finally finds Moros, he tells the professor to denounce his own beliefs and tell the sheep who are sending him dough to put a halt to it. Dennis believes the old man is a crackpot, but an incident at a rally changes his mind. After Dennis is accidentally shot, Moros heals his wounds and begins to fade away, explaining that he will return when mankind is ready to hear his message of peace. The reveal for "The Mystery Man!" is very Klaatu barada nikto, but the graphics by young Steve Ditko are eye candy. Agent Dennis is a dead ringer for Ditko's Norman Osborn.

In "I Received Letters from Nowhere!," Eugene Page buys a ratty old mailbox from an antique store and, when it's installed, the relic spits out recipes for riches. Page's interest is piqued after he makes thousands on the tips received, but when he enlists the aid of postal inspectors, he discovers that the antique dealer has been running a scam. So how did his tips pay off?  In the inane "The Man Who Failed!," an inventor attempting to create a time travel machine accidentally whips up a space travel gizmo, sending him to Pluto. 

A strange being (let's call him "Nobody" for now), oddly dressed in what appears to be a superhero outfit is discovered in the desert and brought to a bevy of scientists for study. The creature cannot talk but, with the magic of word balloons, we discover that his name is Holdar and he's from another dimension. Some of his buddies from Dimension X arrive (they're invisible) and tell Holdar that the pressure from arriving on Earth has caused him to lose his memory. Now that the earthlings have found him and will no doubt yearn to trace his origins, Holdar must make the supreme sacrifice and remain on Earth.

After reading three more crappy Atlas comics,
Peter makes a startling confession

Holdar transforms into human form and regains the power of speech, explaining to the scientists that his name is John Billings and he was exposed to an atomic explosion, which explains his amnesia. The world's most brilliant men all nod in agreement that such a cataclysmic event would cause memory loss and no blisters. They accept Holdar's story, thus adding weight to P. T. Barnum's theory. The good will generated by the art for the first three stories in this issue is erased by the sheer ugliness found in the last three.-Peter

World of Suspense #4

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Something Is In This House" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"Bait!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★★

(r: Strange Tales #173)

"He's Hiding on Earth!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★

"They Were Reborn!" (a: George Roussos) ★★

"Volcano!"(a: Hy Fleishman) ★1/2

"Brainwash" (a: Bob Forgione) ★★

Phil Evans has a recurring nightmare in which he visits a big house where a maid and a dog both run in fright when they see something that Phil can't see. He wakes up and his wife Julie suggests a vacation, but as they drive, they suddenly see the house in Phil's dream. Phil approaches it alone (because there are some things a man must do alone) and the maid is terrified. Phil confronts her and she tells him that he is a ghost!

When we worked our way through the DC horror comics, we frequently encountered Jack Oleck. I don't recall if his stories were as bad as "Something Is In This House," but this one demonstrates that he must have learned at the feet of the master of confusion and dopey twist endings himself, Carl Wessler. Why does the maid call Phil a ghost? Who knows? It's page four, so it has to be over. Paul Reinman's art is mediocre.

Three scientists take a fishing trip and one hooks a bizarre fish from the depths that appears to have lungs. The boat captain is disappointed in the catch, especially when the trio want to cut the trip short and head back to land with their fish. The creature thinks back to its origin in the time of dinosaurs; when they became extinct, it shrank and hid in the depths of the ocean. Now it will grow again and go on the attack! Well, it would have if the captain hadn't cut it up to use for "Bait!" the next morning.

I'm getting used to Manny Stallman's art, which has an EC vibe in spots. The story isn't much and depends on the reader accepting that the captain is a simpleton.

Professor Duncan lectures his students, suggesting that even though there is no water on Mars, the Red Planet may still sustain intelligent life. A student named Bellows upsets the prof by arguing that any life form that could exist without water must be very simple. At home, Duncan muses about his true identity as a Martian, gathering data for the coming invasion; he catches Bellows snooping outside and follows him to the lake, where the professor confronts the student in a boat and admits that, as a Martian, "He's Hiding on Earth!" The boat tips over and Duncan disappears--Bellows realizes that he must have drowned because Martians would not need to know how to swim on a waterless planet.

Another alien invasion foiled by a simple thing! H.G. Wells must have been rolling over in his grave. Just once I'd like to see an Atlas Martian succeed! Sales's art is average and creates no reader interest or excitement.

Rex Mott and his mob held up an armored truck and stole a half-million bucks, but when a policeman makes a TV announcement that they know who did it and have blocked all exits from the city, Rex is concerned. He sees a TV interview with a scientist who can put people in suspended animation for 200 years, so Rex and the gang seek him out and take a very long nap. Upon awakening, they are greeted by bald men of the future and boast of their crime. One of the future men hands Rex a contract to appear on stage and Rex blithely signs it, only to discover that the whole thing was a fix; they never traveled into the future and his boastful confession was recorded.

I was so convinced that "They Were Reborn!" was a prototype for "The Rip Van Winkle Caper," an episode of The Twilight Zone, that the ending caught me off guard. It's not as clever or effective as Serling's twist, but the premise of this story is so similar to the later TV episode that I wonder, and not for the first time, if the great TV writer secretly read and mined Atlas comics for some of his plots (also see "The Bugs!," above).

Gerald Hawkes is a rich jerk who buys up the leases to the land in a Mexican village and then orders the residents to pay up or get out by tomorrow morning. Gerald has his eye on minerals under the ground, but that night, a nearby "Volcano!" erupts and pours gold nuggets into the village. The next morning, the villagers pay off their leases in gold and Gerald is forced to leave the area.

Simple, silly, and forgetful, the story matches Hy Fleishman's art.

A new American fighter jet being tested over Russia encounters problems and the pilot is forced to land in enemy territory. The plane explodes and the Russkies grill the pilot for details of the new plane, but he refuses to divulge any information. Starvation doesn't work. Depriving him of water doesn't work. He even resists the charms of a sexy agent named Marla. Diplomats order his release and the pilot returns home, where it is revealed that he is a robot and he, not the plane, was what was being tested! He resisted the enemy's attempt to "Brainwash" him!

Not a bad little story, with solid art by Forgione and Abel, this wraps up an underwhelming issue with a minor surprise and some good old anti-Communist themes.-Jack

Next Week...
The 200th Issue of Batman
Has to be Something Special, Right?