Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 141: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 126

November 1956 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Marvel Tales #152

Cover by Joe Maneely

"Trapped in the Chinese Garden" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★1/2

"When the Bubble Burst!" (a: Joe Orlando & Wally Wood) ★

"When Mongorr Appeared" (a: Norman Maurer) ★

"Beware the Invisible Trap!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★1/2

"The Menace of the Mole-Men!" 

(a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★

"The People That Never Were!" (a: Gray Morrow) ★

Enwright becomes enamored of his neighbor's Chinese Garden and decides he has to have it at any cost. When Mr. Omen tells him no, Enwright fumes. Omen explains that the Garden comes with a curse and must be maintained at all times. Sometime later, Omen falls ill and is taken to the hospital, where he (obviously) cannot water his Garden. In a panic, he calls Enwright for help, but the once-friendly neighbor now tells Omen that he will only water the foliage if he can purchase the plot.

With no other choice, Omen agrees and Enwright quickly becomes the toast of New York, displaying his new treasure to the beautiful people of the city. After a while, the bloom is (literally) off the rose and caring for the Garden becomes too much of a chore. Enwright lets the magical vegetation go to pot and suffers the consequences. "Trapped in the Chinese Garden" has some nice graphics by Mac Pakula, but Enwright's sudden transformation from loving neighbor and plant enthusiast to total jerk in just a few frames is not entirely believable. The climactic panel, where Enwright is literally trapped in the garden but looks hopefully at the sky for rain, perfectly captures the safety of these post-code strips.

In the three-page "When the Bubble Burst!," a Martian, encased in a bubble, suddenly appears at the White House, demanding an audience with the President. The Commander-in-Chief obliges and listens to the alien as he unveils the shocking news: there are Venusians living on Earth! Mars wants to escalate its war with Venus and so the emissary is here to assassinate the U.S. leader. Of course, the Martian reminds POTUS that Earth weapons will not pierce his incredible bubble but, luckily, the Prez is actually a Venusian and blasts the alien's sphere. Atlas writers must have had some secret intel, since this is at least the dozenth time Venusians and Martians have declared Earth a battleground. Wood and Orlando are magical when on solo trips but obviously cancel each other out when they team up. This art is bland and lifeless.

Treasure seekers find an odd chunk of crystal while searching for diamonds in Africa. Suddenly, a man appears identifying himself as Mongorr, explaining that he must have the crystal but will exchange wonderful gems for the rock. Suspicious, the two men hoof it but are soon tracked down. Mongorr takes his crystal and leaves a pile of diamonds in exchange, but our treasure seekers are too bummed out by their loss to have a look. I was elated when I saw the title, "When Mongorr Appeared," thinking finally we're getting to the "Giant Monster" era of "I Found Sporr" and "Bruutu, Monster of the Seventh Dimension!" but, alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, we get a barely illustrated fantasy with a really lame but ironic climax.

Professor Volan invents a vapor that can project a moving picture of a person's thoughts. He sells it to the leader of his unnamed country (think, oh, I don't know, Russia), who then uses it to weed out his political enemies and anyone who might be a threat to his power. In a deliciously ironic climax, Volan uses his vapor to show his people the leader's true colors and they elect Volan President. But when some of Volan's vapor leaks out and his thoughts are pictured, we learn that the people of the Commie Country might have been better off with the other guy! For once, a clever (though typically heavy-handed at times) political essay in an Atlas funny book, All that's missing are some decent graphics.

In the vapid "The Menace of the Mole-Men!," a strange fog envelops a small village and mole-like creatures (who wear space suits) emerge from the Earth's center to wage war on society. Only the quick wits of a small boy ward off disaster. Here I was, as with the previous selection, hoping for a prototype of Marvel yet to come, but I was dismayed to find nothing of  the kind. Just a fog. In the finale, "The People That Never Were!," inveterate gambler Randolph Knox discovers a hidden city when he becomes trapped in a rockslide (don't ask for more details, please). Once introduced to the inhabitants, Knox becomes BMOC and woos the daughter of the town's leader, talking his girl's pop into loaning him one hundred grand to open a casino. From there, it's just a matter of time before the Eden becomes a hovel. There's your moral: gambling is bad. So was this issue.-Peter

Mystery Tales #47

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Man with No Face!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"At the Stroke of Midnight!" (a: Reed Crandall) ★★

"The Only Woman!" (a: Herb Familton) ★★

"A Knock at the Door" (a: Bob Powell) ★1/2

"Something Strange About Smithtown!" (a: Joe Certa) ★★

"When They Wake Up!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

In "The Man With No Face!," hardened criminal Dany Rice is chased around the globe by a spirit dubbed "Detective X," a voice that inhabits multiple bodies in order to get Danny to surrender to authorities. This one just meanders through its four pages, giving us endless word balloons like, "You'll never find me now!" Spoiler alert: Danny's found and, of course, decides it's the right decision to give himself up. 

Professor Proctor is amazed by the sudden materialization of a nattily dressed alien who introduces himself as Dagon. Before you get all excited, thinking of Lovecraftian demons, I'll remind you this is the Post-Code era and the name was probably just picked randomly out of a hat rather than through some kind of inspiration. Anyway, this other-worldly Bowie impersonator tries to convince Proctor that he has a lot of vital information to impart to the egghead about atomic energy, but first Proctor must tell Dagon what our scientists have already learned. And Dagon is on a deadline: "At the Stroke of Midnight!" he will turn back into a pumpkin or some such and the Earth will have lost out on some pretty cool insights.

Suspicious, Proctor refuses to divulge his knowledge and security comes charging in to arrest the goofball in tights. Dagon easily gives him the slip and, sure enough, disappears at midnight. All Proctor is left with is an x-ray inadvertently taken of Dagon that reveals... he had wings! A really goofy distraction that doesn't make a lot of sense and wastes the talents of Reed Crandall but that does have a great final panel, one that doesn't really have any bearing on atomic energy or distrust in your fellow man, but still looks kinda cool.

Homely Ted Davis resigns himself to a life without women. They don't appreciate his inner self, averting their gaze when they see his unattractive features. All that changes when Ted visits a local museum exhibit focused on a gorgeous (incredibly unwrinkled) mummy named Princess La-Ni. Ted is convinced that, if he possesses the Princess's gargantuan diamond necklace, he can get any girl in town. Shortly thereafter, Ted meets the enchanting Evelyn Vinson, who cares not one bit about Ted's appearance nor his priceless gem. Evelyn only cares about the love within. She's "The Only Woman!" who won't run and hide from Ted!

Ted proposes and Evelyn accepts, but their bliss is interrupted when the woman is kidnapped by two mummies and no ransom is forthcoming. The police have no answers, so Ted does what any heartbroken man would do: he revisits the Princess La-Ni exhibit and finds Evelyn. She's the Princess! I think. Or maybe she's replaced the Princess? Who knows? If scripter Carl Wessler knew, he was being coy. Or inventive. Or both. The Herb Familton art is nothing to alert the media about, but it does the trick well enough. Evelyn must have been one divine soul before she was reduced to mummy status, because Ted is the absolute definition of ugly, thanks to Familton.

In the three-page "A Knock at the Door," Jameson has a voodoo doll made to resemble his cousin, who won't lend him money, in order to... well, he's got a plan. Unfortunately, the doll has friends and they come to rescue him. The "evil doll" trope goes back as far as horror comics do, but this is as tame as they come, thanks to the evils of the Post-Code. The word "voodoo" is never used, probably because it became taboo after the CCA stepped in, and the final panels of the dolls making their escape would never elicit fear from a pre-teen.

Traveling salesman Fred Ames stops in Smithtown to pick up some orders, but finds the population has been replaced... by aliens! Yep, spores from space land on Earth and duplicate the town's occupants. But, never fear, the CCA notified the previous tenants before they were eaten or absorbed or whatever and warned them. They got out and live on the edge of Smithtown now. Yes, there is "Something Strange About Smithtown!" It's not the fact that it's a blatant rip-off of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but rather that it's devoid of anything resembling chills and thrills. These aliens just want to have fun for a year (their lifespan) and then they'll fade away. Ames remarks what bad condition the town has fallen into, but it couldn't have been invaded very long before. The only plus is the decent art by Joe Certa; his splash is goofy as hell, with that young boy looking like he's about to set off firecrackers under Ames's feet!

In the finale, "When They Wake Up!," two cave explorers stumble across two ancient men who appear to be in some kind of a coma. Next to them is the potion that will awaken them, and nearby are what appear to be powerful weapons. The two dopes decide to wake the sleepers and convince them the world is a bad place that needs to be run by four men as peaceful as themselves. The trick does not work and, by story's end, there are now four sleepers. There's some really sharp work from Ditko here and the story's not bad, but these two explorers must be dopes to accept when the old guys offer them a drink to celebrate their upcoming monarchy.-Peter

Mystic #53

Cover by Bill Everett

"Inside the Locked Trunk!" (a: George Roussos) ★★

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

"The Threat!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★1/2

"The Man Who Wasn't!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★★1/2

"He Walks in the Night!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"The City That Sank!" (a: Bernard Baily) ★

Neil is handsome but shy and feels trapped in the home he shares with his older brother, Caleb. Caleb reminds Neil not to look "Inside the Locked Trunk!" and promises that it holds great riches that will belong to Neil when Caleb dies. One night, Neil is overcome by curiosity and opens the trunk. Peering inside, he falls in and emerges in a parallel world, where he meets pretty Helen Barnes, who is similarly trapped and living with her older sister, Lydia. Neil and Helen fall in love and escape back to Neil's world via the trunk; they say goodbye to Caleb, who is left alone to admit that he lied to his brother about the empty trunk because he feared being alone.

George Roussos's art is average at best and Wessler's story features his usual, confused plotting. The ending, where Caleb is alone and laments his condition, is sad, but it doesn't make up for another run of the mill story.

Tod betrays his partner by selling a large number of pearls that they found and absconding with the money to a remote spot in the South American jungle. Planning to hide out for six months and then return to civilization a rich man, Tod realizes that "I Entered the Forbidden Lagoon!" The title body of water is a swell place to relax, but natives warn Tod that if he doesn't leave right away, he'll incur the water's wrath. Tod ignores the advice and camps by the lagoon for months after chasing away the natives and burning their village to the ground. When he returns to the U.S., he finds himself haunted by visions and sounds of the lagoon's waters rushing toward him.

Tod heads back to the jungle, only to find a dry lagoon bed. He spends weeks "at the lagoon basin, rebuilding the damage" he did, and soon the lagoon is full of water again and he is free from its curse. Tod does quite a job as a solo construction man, rebuilding all of the native huts from scratch with what looks like a sledgehammer or maybe an axe. What he can't rebuild is the sub-par artwork by Herb Familton or the minutes I spent reading and thinking about this story.

A great big, shiny ball from outer space has landed in the White House lawn! Aliens inside announce that they will ask Earth to join the federation of planets if its people prove themselves worthy. The president of the U.S. listens to his advisors for the next week and agonizes over what to do. In the end, the aliens emerge and tell the Prez that Earth passed the test because it sent his daughter Peggy, an open-minded, optimistic girl, as a representative.

It must have been rough in the fifties, what with aliens visiting the Earth on a seemingly daily basis. Actually, this story takes place in 1982, which means that Reagan was the president. He likely would have listened to the advisor who said to nuke the aliens, and where would Earth be then?

A palooka named Danny Mack loses a fight to Fred Willis and his manager dumps him. Danny then tells his pretty, redheaded girlfriend Kitty that he's washed up and she should forget him. Out in the alley, Danny meets a professor who takes him to his lab and shows him a robot version of Danny, built to be the perfect boxer. Danny agrees with the prof's plan to make a fortune, and "The Man Who Wasn't!" begins winning fight after fight, until he's up against the heavyweight champ. But there's a hitch--the prof tells Danny that the champ is also a robot who is guaranteed to win, since the prof intentionally messed up wires in the robot Danny.

Danny knocks out the prof and climbs into the ring himself, where he takes a beating but finally defeats the robot champ with a well-timed sock to the jaw. After the fight, Danny spills the beans to the boxing commissioner, retires from fighting, and hooks back up with Kitty, who admits that she could tell the difference between Danny and the robot.

I was all set to dislike this story when I saw the ugly, half-page splash that Dick Ayers chose to open it with. However, the story drew me in and, by the end, I was rooting for Danny. The wordless panel I've reproduced here is my favorite. A GCD comment compares this story to the "Steel" episode of The Twilight Zone; once again, I wonder if Rod Serling was secretly reading Atlas comics and mining them for ideas!

George Farren is a scientist who invents a machine that can track down criminals by picking up their thoughts. After showing it to the cops, he goes home to his wife and young daughter. George skips dinner and heads to the basement to put the finishing touches on his machine, but when he tests it, he summons an ancient, immortal man who will soon use his wisdom and power to enslave the world. George pulls a gun, but the evil man uses his mind to prevent him from firing it. Just then, George's daughter knocks on the door and the evil dude is distracted, so George wallops him in the noggin with his gun butt, killing him. George muses about the first law of man being to protect his young and concludes that love is greater than evil.

Not long ago, I would have assumed that the uncredited writer of this muddled mess was Carl Wessler, but the recent arrival of Jack Oleck has put that theory to the test, since Oleck's stories are just as bad. One thing's for sure--the art by Robert Q. Sale is hideous.

A pilot named Tex Avery (!) lands on an aircraft carrier and relates a strange story about having discovered "The City That Sank!" He landed his plane on an island that had developed the technology to rise out of the ocean and descend again; the leader (of course) plans to rule the world any day now. Tex managed to escape and report back, but the aircraft carrier's captain doesn't believe his story and has him confined to quarters. Meanwhile, the ship plows through the fog and is about the encounter the island.

At least, that's what I think happened at the end. It's not clear. Wessler's story is another version of the tired bit about a group planning to take over the world, and Bernard Baily's art is below average for him.-Jack

Next Week...
Learn the (Reprinted) Secrets of
The Batcave!