Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 152: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 137

February 1957 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Stories of Suspense #13

Cover by Bill Everett

"The One Who Watches!" (a: Gene Colan) ★★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #25)

"The Black Beard!" (a: Gray Morrow) ★

"When the Yogi Speaks!" (a: Bob Forgione and Jack Abel (?)) ★

"The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"The Strange Seed!" (a: Dick Giordano (?) & Vince Colletta) ★

"Tachzillo the Terrible" (a: Bill Everett) ★★

Ivan Von Gent, self-anointed "world-famous scientist," and explorer of the unexplained, sees truth in the words of an old man whom the rest of the village deems mad. The old codger claims he can see a monster rise from a local lake and Von Gent wants to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately for the brilliant professor, he discovers the secret behind the monster and it costs him his freedom. 

Nothing about "The One Who Watches!" makes sense (though the GCD cites no writer credit, I'd bet my stack of Monsters on the Prowls that the brilliance behind the typewriter was Wessler's) but then that's what makes it so readable. No explanation is made for the lake monster nor why the thing needs to be watched and Von Gent's fate (the poor egotistical scientist is fated to take over for the old man as "watcher" of the lake) is a much-used plot device, but the sheer goofiness contained within the four pages brought more than one smile to my face. The Colan art is, predictably, atmospheric and award-winning.

I can only guess at the scribe behind "The One Who Watches!," but we know Carl Wessler is responsible for the dreadful "The Black Beard!" I'm amazed Carl was able to sell script after script of cliches and "borrowed" plots, this one about a con man (who happens to know how to fly supersonic jets!) on the run from the cops who has an encounter with himself after breaking the speed barrier. Gray Morrow is wasted on talking heads who don't say much.

In the equally daft "When the Yogi Speaks!," a gang of bank robbers are desperate to get across the Canadian border without being nabbed by the cops so they (naturally) kidnap the Yogi Panjur and force him to teach them the ways of yoga. The thugs manage to float across the border without being caught but the yogi never did teach them how to land.

Henry's tired of being ignored in the diner he frequents. All the other regulars call him a "nobody" but a sudden crazed idea in Henry's worm-riddled brain takes form. He tells his fellow patrons that he is "The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" because he can predict the death of each one of them. They scoff until one of the customers walks out of the restaurant and is hit by a truck. Suddenly they're all ears! 

In the three-page "The Strange Seed!," a sadistic scientist finds the roles reversed when the plant he's been experimenting on reaches out and does a little of its own research. It's an early example of Dick Giordano's work, but not even that can save this snoozer. In the tantalizingly-titled "Tachzillo the Terrible," an escaped con slips across the Mexican border and terrorizes a small village, forcing the inhabitants to feed him and keep him hidden. When the cops get wise and approach the village, he forces a little boy to guide him through the neighboring swamp, only to discover the kid is the legendary Tachzillo the Terrible and the thug is now stranded on a small island in the middle of the swamp for the rest of his life. You'd think that, given a whole lot of free time, this dope could find a way off the little plot of land, but I guess it's a really big swamp. I was hoping we'd get an honest-to-gosh monster popping up at some point but at least we have Bill Everett's graphics to keep us company for four pages.-Peter

Strange Tales #55

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Jack-In-The-Box" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★★1/2

"Octopus!" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★★

"What Goes On Down There?" (a: John Giunta) ★1/2

"Earth-Trap!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Man Without Fear!" (a: George Roussos) ★

"The Threat from the Void" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

Clem Carter and his gang of poachers are cleaning out Africa of all its ivory, using terrorist tactics to keep native guide Keena pointing them in the right direction of new mines. When Clem gets wind of an elephant's graveyard stacked high with tusks, he forces Keena to show them the way. But Keena is terrified of the curse that accompanies said resting place and hoofs it out of camp one night. Clem & co. follow the fleeing native to his camp, where they witness a witch doctor handling an odd box. Keena explains that the object is merely a toy.

Smelling riches, Clem grabs "The Jack-In-the-Box" and pries it open, only to watch as a giant elephant god materializes before him. And that's it! End of story! This one smells like a five-pager nipped in the bud but that's okay; a fifth page would have only offered us lame justifications for the gargantuan elephant (with a six-pack and wearing a loin cloth!). As it is, "The Jack-In-The-Box" is a goofy breath of fresh air, utilizing an old trope (the greedy and sadistic explorer) that should have been left on the shelf in the early 1950s in a unique way. The Pakula art is perfect for the story's theme.

In the year 1980, the brilliant inventor Bruce Latham has come up with a fabulous new gizmo, the Histrometer, a tool that enables its owner to speak to anyone in the past. For some reason, Bruce decides the best place to test out his invention is aboard the yacht of multi-millionaire Rodney Davis, but in the middle of a demonstration, the ship is attacked by a giant octopus!

Realizing that the vessel is cruising in the Bikini Atoll waters, Bruce gets on his Histrionicometer, calls the 1954 Atoll base, and convinces a young radio operator that the yacht is in big trouble. Their only hope is that the operator grabs a rifle and shoots every octopus in sight (no, seriously!!!). Evidently swayed by Bruce's terrified voice, the ham man grabs his gun and starts picking off anything in the area with eight tentacles. Back in 1980, the "Octopus!" disappears and life gets back to normal. Millionaire Davis, clearly impressed with the Historectomometer, quizzes the egghead as to how he knew the call would work. "Simple!," exclaims Latham, "That radio man was 1954 me!"

Now, I hear you groaning and rolling your eyes (well, I can't hear that part but I can see it) and snickering. If that was young 1954 Bruce on the radio, why didn't 1980 Bruce know not to go cruising near the Atoll that day? I would argue that if you dissected these four-page mysteries as much as I do, you would reach out and grasp to your bosom any rare narrative that made you grin. And this one made me guffaw out loud. Writer Carl Wessler never explains how the box knows just who to contact and that gives it an even wackier charm. The drawback is the DiPreta art. What once used to be freeform, refreshing, and artistic, with odd angles and curves had, by 1957, degraded into the perfectly average dreck a half-dozen other pencilers pumped out for Atlas. 

In the three-page "What Goes On Down There?," the emissaries of an ancient race that has lived at the Earth's core since primitive times dig their way up with an eye toward surface domination. Problem is, the invaders are the size of ants and, once they see the size of a surface dweller, the attack is wisely shelved. In the dopey "Earth-Trap!," a medium fools an old man into believing he can make inanimate objects float. Unfortunately for the fake seer (and the inhabitants of Earth), the mark is actually the vacationing "Guardian of the Force of Gravity" who sits at the core of the Earth and makes sure things don't float away. The Guardian hits a switch and everything becomes anchored to the ground. What's a con man/fortune teller to do?

"Man Without Fear!" is a garbled, indecipherable mess about Luke Gavor, a soldier who's lost his courage but finds it again when his captain gives him the old patriotic speech about bravery and cowardice. Gavor becomes the shining light in battle, the first to rush into combat and guide his comrades to victory. Later, Luke's body is found, a bullet in his back, and his CO determines the killing wound was attained while Gavor was running away from battle. There's a message here but I'll be damned if I can figure it out.

Last up is "The Threat from the Void," an amiable piece of science fiction fluff wherein a brilliant scientist invents a radio that can contact distant planets. As the globe inches towards a third world war, the egghead receives a message from Jupiter, informing him that if the powers that be don't cease their endless bickering, Jupiter will send forth firepower to destroy Earth. The message works and peace is restored. There's a twist/double twist at the climax that's been done to death but actually works here. Like DiPreta earlier in this issue, I found the usually reliable Paul Reinman to be shooting blanks. Hopefully, this is just temporary and we'll see the two favorites back to above-average status soon.-Peter

Strange Tales of the Unusual #8

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Who Dwells Below?" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"The Too-Perfect Crime!" (a: John Tartaglione) ★

"The Disappearance" (Mort Drucker) ★★1/2

"Nobody Will Ever Know!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★1/2

"You Must Not Pass" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★

"The Bullet-Proof Man" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★1/2

The doctor thinks that small, primitive, carved statues that have been found floating in the Pacific, a thousand miles from nowhere, are evidence of sub-humans living below the sea. With the help of Tensing, he lowers food and tools as bait to discover "Who Dwells Below?" The doctor is on a submarine and orders it to submerge so he can watch the bait to see if it's taken. Hours pass and the sub strikes something! A leak develops and the sub's inhabitants must exit and head for the surface, but on the way up, the doctor and Tensing are grabbed by undersea dwellers and taken to a city under a dome, where they discover that the floating statutes were bait to catch humans!

Not a bad twist ending, and Reinman's art is about as good as it's going to get circa 1957, but the story lacks enthusiasm and the irony is heavy-handed.

A scientist named Albert Evans and his partner invent an invisibility formula and Evans decides he wants it for himself, so he socks his partner, John Moore, in the jaw and makes off with the bottle of liquid. Pouring it over his own head, Evans turns invisible and attempts "The Too-Perfect Crime!" by entering a bank vault and making off with $250K. Evans later becomes visible and thinks he's in the clear until the police come and he panics. After burning all the cash, he's arrested for Moore's murder. Moore was found at the foot of the stairs in his home and he left a note stating that Evans cheated him and attacked him. The cops don't buy Albert's alibi, that he was invisible and busy robbing a bank at the time of Moore's death, so it's off to the pokey for the unfortunate scientist.

I know we've seen variations on this ending before. Tartaglione's art won't win any awards.

Lt. Tom Gorman is called before a court-martial board and made to explain his role in "The Disappearance" of an advanced jet plane called the XD-1. Gorman says that, when he took the jet out for a test run, he discovered that it flew so fast that it took him at least 5000 years into the past! He touched down in Ancient Egypt, barely avoiding being killed at Pharaoh's orders when the ruler's daughter, Na-Ni-Ma, interceded. They were married and, when Gorman suddenly found himself back in the present, he theorized that he didn't belong in the past and time caught up with him. The board members don't believe a word of it and sentence him to life in prison. That same day, archaeologists in Egypt discover the XD-1 in an ancient tomb and conclude that it's the Pharoah's solar ship, meant to carry him after death.

Mort Drucker's art makes this story quite readable. We knew he could draw planes and exciting air scenes from our reviews of his work for the DC War Comics, and he also draws credible scenes in Ancient Egypt and a reasonably cute Pharaoh's daughter. Let's face it, Drucker could draw anything!

Tired of being a nobody, George Beeman wanders out of town and into the countryside, where he notices that the sun seems to be pulsing. Elsewhere, astrologists discover that a hole has formed in the atmosphere, allowing cosmic rays to pass through in their pure form. As a result, sudden mutations occur, one of which is that George turns young and handsome and gains the power to will himself through space. He pops from place to place, using his enhanced brain power to give advice on how to stop giant, marauding plants and animals. His heroic work done, George reverts to being a nobody, and, though "Nobody Will Ever Know!" that he averted disaster, he has a newfound confidence and a much better attitude.

This story is all over the place, but Ted Galindo draws a few decent panels, especially the last three, where Ted walks toward the reader and the background is solid red.

A detour sign that has been blown off its intended spot by the wind of destiny causes the inhabitants of three different cars to rethink what they're doing. Soil Brodsky's art on this forgettable three-page entry is dreadful.

Karl Zymek is a scientific genius serving 30 years in the Federal pen for selling secrets to the enemy. He uses his big brain to cook up a formula that makes him "The Bullet-Proof Man" and allows him to escape from prison. Unfortunately, he created an impenetrable film to surround his body and it doesn't allow air or food in! He returns to the prison, begging for help, and it's uncertain whether the seal will be broken before he suffocates.

This is an unusual story because it doesn't have a happy ending. In the final panel, the caption asks whether someone will be able to free Zymek in time. Who knows? At least it didn't end with him breathing freely and eating a big meal. Maybe there's hope for some more serious stories to come?-Jack

Next Week...
Gene Colan Offers More Proof
That He May Be the Best Artist
of the Atlas Post-Codes!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 151: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 136

February 1957 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Mystery Tales #50

Cover by Bill Everett

"The House of Evil!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

"The Little Black Box" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Drawings of Doom!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★

"The Man With Two Lives!" (a: ? & Vince Colletta) ★

"When the World Vanished!" (a: Gray Morrow) ★

"The Pyramid's Secret" (a: John Forte) ★★

Con man Len Conry talks a waitress into robbing old man Ellis, a hermit who lives on a hill and is rumored to be hiding sixty grand in his mansion. Though she's hesitant, Jean goes through with the plan and they hold the old man at gunpoint but the final outcome is not to Len's liking. "The House of Evil!" has some nice Torres work but its script (and predictable twist) are strictly low-grade.

Atlas's most popular prop stars in "The Little Black Box," about an inventor who whips up a "thought suggester" that bends others' wills to the man who holds the gizmo. As one does, our hero Jeffrey sells the box to a car salesman for five million bucks (!) and then watches as the shyster uses his newfound power to influence passersby to purchase the latest expensive jalopy. The sales go through the roof but the plant can't keep up with the demand and the population riots. Hilarity ensues. This is one really silly yarn. Even more fatuous is "Drawings of Doom!," which tells the tale of armed robber "Weasel" Watson, who flees the scene of the crime in a stolen vehicle and comes across a remote gas station ripe for the picking. He heads inside but is dumbfounded by what he sees: an artist at an easel taking suggestions from a crowd of hillbillies. What's so amazing about that, you say? The drawings come to life! So Weasel orders the man to draw him a gun, then a new face, then a sack of cash, and then... his orders begin to rile the designer and that's it for Weasel! 

Stilted dialogue and a dried up old prune of a plot sink "The Man with Two Lives!," the saga of a man who faces life in an insane asylum for a crime his evil side committed. His business partner, who was just as guilty of the embezzlement, is as happy as a pig in the mud about the circumstances until the evil twin pays him a visit.

While out fishing, Jack Colley feels the earth move under his feet and suddenly everything around him has changed. His friends are gone, there's no traffic on the highway and, when he gets home, his wife has disappeared. Instead of thanking his luck, Jack panics. Then his wife reappears, cleaning out a flower pot. Just like that, Jack realizes what's going on: every once in a while, the world needs to be cleaned and the entire human population is transported to another world while the dusting commences. Once everything is spick and span, earthlings are returned to their regular sofas. The final panel of "When the World Vanished!," where Jack has his outlandish epiphany, is good for a couple of giggles but otherwise this three-pager is forgettable.

Last up this time out is "The Pyramid's Secret," wherein an archaeological expedition finds the doorway to an ancient pharaoh's tomb. There they discover the boat he was set to use to discover the new world (why it's way down deep in a pyramid is anyone's guess). What the boys don't know is that one of their crew thinks he's the pharaoh himself (and his name is King!), reincarnated in a strapping strong new body. Compared to most of the junk in this issue, this one's not all that bad, but compare its average John Forte art to that fetching cover. No comparison.-Peter

Mystic #56

Cover by John Severin

"While the City Slumbers!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

"Locked in the Silent Room" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★

"The Thing Behind the Wall!" (a: Mort Drucker) ★★

"The Man Who Went Too Far" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★

"The Fish Man!" (a: Bob Powell) ★

"The Revenge of Kah Ming!" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

Ted is tired of hearing his pop tell his fantastic tale over and over but, for old Dan, it's cathartic to get it out of his system now and then. And he probably likes the attention. Decades before, Dan had come across a group of people on a remote, dusty road who identified themselves as "the molemen." These pale, angry souls revealed to Dan that they intended to take over the world and he was just the guy to help them. They informed him that they would commence their attack on Dan's birthday, April 18th, and if he didn't aid them it would be bad news.

Not wanting to give the world away to a bunch of pasty-faced rat men, Dan raced around to his father, his priest, the authorities, his senator, his garbageman, anyone who would listen, but they all mocked him and told him to grow up. When April 18th rolls around, Dan climbs to the top of the bell tower and begins ringing just when the molemen saunter into town. But fate has a way of stepping in and scotching the best of plans. A giant wall of fire rises up behind our hero and the mole people scurry off, tails between their legs. A day that will live in history: April 18th, 1906, the day of the San Francisco earthquake! Fanciful yarn with some good Reinman art is notable for its mention of "molemen," a prop Stan and Jack might have remembered five years later.

On the run from the cops, a thief ducks into his brother's house for assistance. You see, brother Paul has been working on a "suspended animation pill" and this dolt will try anything to get away from the fuzz. He strongarms Professor Paul into handing over the pill and then enters the "time-capsule" while hearing his brother tell him he'll get what he deserves on the other end. Centuries pass and no one seems to notice that capsule sitting in the lab corner even as new buildings rise around it. The criminal awakens and hears voices outside the capsule informing him that this is a germ-free world and he's carrying really bad microbes; he'll remain inside until they can figure out what to do with him. There are so many logic problems with "Locked in the Silent Room": how did Professor Paul know what would be waiting for his brother hundreds of years in the future? How does the egghead even know this pill will work? How does this "time-capsule" thingie remain undisturbed for hundreds of years? Why are there so many brilliant Atlas scientists who resemble train conductors?  Why am I wasting so much time on this one? 

Big-game hunter Al Powell stumbles onto the ninth wonder of the world while roaming through the African jungles: a friendly giant! The mammoth man explains that once he was a brilliant medic who couldn't stand to be so short so he stopped taking patients and sat at home all day watching reruns of The Jack Benny Show.  During commercials, the doc would work on one of those Atlas serums that increases the growth glands, but he discovered he was shy just one essential herb, one found only in the darkest corners of the African jungle.

The formula did indeed increase his growth but didn't stop at the advertised 6' 5" and our hapless physician was soon looking down at the treetops. After this lengthy exposition, Al Powell informs his new friend he intends to take him back to the States and make millions off him. The giant is having none of that and, in a weird, hazy segment of panels, becomes drowsy and finds himself back at the natives' village. The chief explains that the giant provides medical assistance to the natives (despite the absence of a really big stethoscope). It's then that Al Powell finds startling clarity and swears no one will ever bother his giant buddy again. Yeah, the script for "The Thing Behind the Wall!" is as captivating as a Monday night Dolphins-Panthers game but there's the Mort Drucker art to pull you through. I'd love to know what these Atlas artists, the ones who truly put their all into each panel, felt when they received their story outlines for the month.

Young psychiatrist/brilliant inventor Peter Fulton has been working on a "solar battery" headband for nutjobs at the asylum. Fulton has discovered that "if blocked mental passages could be cleared, it would eliminate certain forms of insanity" and an experiment with a violent looney tune justifies his belief. But what would happen if the battery were attached to a "normal" brain? Faster than you can say "I'm doing it for mankind," Peter pops a battery into his forehead and discovers he can read the thoughts of those around him. On the brink of morphing into "The Man Who Went Too Far," a power-mad dictator who can rule the world, Peter is stripped of his powers by the woman he loves, a gorgeous nurse with huge arms named Anne. The world is safe once more. Here's another one that's worth reading just for the hilarity; Robert Q. Sale's art is all over the map, ranging from perfectly adequate to almost satirical (nurse Anne has a 3-inch waist, a 38-inch bust, and a giraffe neck), and the plot is fun and dopey at the same time. Embrace the inane, I always say.

"The Fish Man!" is a truly dreadful three-pager about a fish store owner who begins looking like his stock; hilariously, a couple of thieves decide that a fish store is the perfect place for a holdup and break in but are scared away by the owner's appearance. I'm sure that, when paroled, these criminals moved to Gotham and stuck up bowling ball manufacturers. This one smells like mackerel left in the kitchen garbage and forgotten for a week. 

Master criminal Baron Georgi Mirov has to stop to get his eyeglass prescription filled before taking on the big job he and his henchmen have planned. Very soon, Mirov discovers that the glasses give him a window into the future; he sees the entire heist go down and it's a rousing success. One of his goons accidentally breaks Mirov's glasses and he heads back to the Oriental lens crafter who made them. He asks (rather roughly) how the man devised such a special set of peepers and he's told that the lenses were made from the glass of a crystal ball. Mirov nabs the orbuculum and exits stage right, giggling merrily all the way to his hideout. The next night, the planned robbery takes place but Mirov is in for a surprise. Rather than search for words, I've chosen to reprint the last set of panels of "The Revenge of Kah Ming!" with its uproarious twist and long exposition. You gotta love a four-page fantasy where the villain delays a big heist to visit his optician. I gotta say this issue forced quite a few chuckles from this bored old funny book reader. That's worth something.-Peter

Mystical Tales #5

Cover by Carl Burgos (?)

"The Taboo!" (a: Al Williamson) ★★

"Meeting at Midnight!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Those Whom Time Forgot!" (a: Syd Shores) ★1/2

"The Stone Figure?" (a: John Tartaglione) ★

"Warning of Doom!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★1/2

"All of a Sudden, He's Gone!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★1/2

In the South American jungle, Rex Ross is looking for gold and diamonds when he happens upon the annual procession of the Bororo Indians to the palace of "The Taboo!" Each year the Indians take their most valuable possessions and deposit them in a hidden palace. Rex paints himself red, dons a loincloth, and joins the procession, certain that the palace will yield enough wealth to make him rich. He finds himself trapped inside the sealed palace for a year and, when the Indians return for their annual visit, he sneaks out with a bagful of treasure, only to discover that the prized possessions are coconuts and beads.

Al Williamson's art is the only thing worthy of attention in this story, which features the unfortunate sight of Rex painting his body "with a paste made of the red earth and water" to fit right in with the natives. I was expecting some sort of creature to frighten him during the year he spends in total darkness inside the palace, but no--he survives, grows a beard, manages to find enough food and water to keep going, and learns that one man's treasure is another man's trash.

After Jerry Adams has a tooth cavity filled by mistake with radioactive material, he can hear what other people are thinking. In a cafeteria, he hears a man thinking about a safe robbery that netted $20,000, so Jerry blackmails the man for $5000 and the man says he can't pay till tomorrow. On a bus, Jerry hears a man thinking about a forged check and blackmails him for $5000, but this man also can't pay till tomorrow. Jerry's newfound power leads him to blackmail another man for $1000, but (yet again) the man can't pay till tomorrow. A fourth victim has a pocketful of diamonds and can't come up with cash till--you guessed it--tomorrow. Finally, after a "Meeting at Midnight!," Jerry follows a man who he thinks plans to shoot someone. Unexpectedly, Jerry follows him right into the police station and learns that some of the men he tried to blackmail were actually cops thinking about their cases! Jerry is arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years' hard labor.

That's the best summary I can come up with for this muddled mess, where Robert Sales's unappealing art and tendency to draw people who look similar to each other makes it difficult to parse out exactly what happened. I went over it a couple of times and I'm still not sure who's who.

Four hundred years ago, an earthquake caused the city of Kalsburg to sink into a chasm 1000 feet below the Earth's surface. In the centuries that followed, the town's residents forgot about the surface world, believing it to be only a legend. Hugo Beder thinks the world exists far above and sets out to climb up and prove he's right. Reaching the surface, Hugo finds himself in a contemporary city, and when he's hungry he buys a meal with gold from his pack. Crooks take Hugo for a plane ride to show him the sights and, up in the air, they try to steal his gold. He rebels and the plane crash lands; when police threaten to impound his gold, Hugo makes his way back to the town where "Those Whom Time Forgot!" are better off thinking the dangerous surface world is just a legend.

Syd Shores makes the odd choice to draw Hugo to look like Prince Valiant, and it's somewhat humorous to see the contact between him and the modern-day crooks and cops. Still, the story, like so many others by Carl Wessler, is so complicated and convoluted that it doesn't fit well in its four-page slot and ends up seeming hurried and unsatisfying.

Morse doesn't believe his young daughter Julie when she claims to dance with a stone lion in the garden in the moonlight. He finally convinces her that it was all in her imagination. They walk away and we see a tear being shed by the lion. "The Stone Figure?" is poorly drawn by John Tartaglione and never gets up a head of steam before it's all over.

Dan and Ruth Mason are on a train heading into New York City to see a show. Dan sees a creepy man get on at one stop and sees the same man get on at two more stops! When the same man gets on at a fourth stop, Dan decides it's a "Warning of Doom!" and begs the conductor to stop the train. Dan pulls the emergency brake and the train screeches to a halt, barely avoiding a disastrous collision with a heavy truck. Dan talks to reporters and he and Ruth miss the show, which features a four-man act called the Dancing Simpson Quads, who look exactly like the four men who boarded the train!

This story reads like a Ripley's Believe it or Not! anecdote eight up to the final panel, which comes out of nowhere. Who are the Dancing Simpson Quads? What is a dancing quad exactly? Quadruplets? Did Dan see four brothers who looked exactly alike get on the train at four different stations and this had nothing to do with the near-miss? I guess it's irony of a sort.

In 1650, an inventor named Roger Macklin dreams of horseless carriages but is far ahead of his time. His boss, chemist Edward Latham, gives him a formula that will send him 300 years into the future. He also gives Roger an antidote. Roger drinks the potion, and "All of a Sudden, He's Gone!" and no one in 1650 remembers him. In 1950, he designs and builds a fantastic new car and, by 1955, he's rich and famous. Soon, unscrupulous investors take over the company and Roger grows broke and desperate. He accidentally drinks the antidote and is sent back to 1650, where he picks right back up with his old life. In 1956, no evidence remains that he ever existed.

It's not a great story, but the saga of Roger Macklin is hardly the weakest one in this disappointing issue. Manny Stallman's art is adequate and he draws the crooked syndicate man who takes over Roger's car company to look like the Penguin, with a particularly long nose.-Jack

Spellbound #32

Cover by Carl Burgos

"When the Finger Points" (a: Bob Powell) ★★1/2

"Almost Human!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★1/2

"The Prisoner!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★

"Something in the Bottle" (a: John Tartaglione) ★1/2

"Where the Sorcerer Stalks" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"The Last Seconds of Ken Stewart" (a: Mac Pakula) ★

Young Billy Harris comes home upset and his father, Joe, convinces the boy to explain why. It seems Billy was walking around, pretending to be a sheriff, and when he pointed his finger at a man with a facial scar and said "Bang!," the man disappeared! The same thing happened twice more with two more scarred men. Joe insists that Billy try it on him and, fortunately, Dad does not disappear. Joe tells Billy it was all in his imagination, but why do they hear a news report on the radio about three scarred terrorists who inexplicably vanished?

Bob Powell makes "When the Finger Points" a fun read and I did not know what was going to happen, which counts for something. The final twist has been done to death, but it doesn't ruin four nicely-drawn pages.

An anthropologist named Anton Drew discovers bones in South Africa that suggest an "Almost Human!" race existed alongside the early ancestors of man. After presenting his findings, he returns to South Africa to look for evidence of what happened to this ancient race. Little does he know that they survived, unchanged, and recently drilled to the surface, where they plan to destroy mankind before it can destroy them. Too bad Drew sets off a blast that starts a chain reaction in the underground atomic piles the creatures use to power their advanced city; the ensuing cataclysm ensures that they'll again be buried for centuries!

Two decent stories in a row! This one is actually interesting, not to mention the detailed, attractive art by Angelo Torres, who seems to have taken his Atlas assignments more seriously than some other artists I won't mention.

Matt Caine returns home to the town he hates with just a dollar in his pocket. He confronts a scientist named Morton who has learned how to make Manna, a miraculous food that tastes like whatever the person eating it desires. Matt bites into a piece and it takes like steak, just as he hoped, so he takes the piece and leaves. An hour later, the Manna in Matt's hand is rotten and when he enters a diner and orders coffee and doughnuts, they taste horrible. Matt returns to Morton's shack and discovers he's now "The Prisoner!" of his own greed and gluttony, since once someone eats Manna, no other food tastes good and Manna can only be made and eaten in the rundown village.

The uncredited author is doing something interesting here, calling the food Manna after the miraculous food that appeared to Moses and the Israelites in the desert and christening the greedy man at the center of the story Caine, which is awfully close to the Bible's first murderer who can't escape his crime. The Winiarski art is average, but the story has a little more substance to it than much of the Atlas dreck.

Michael Scanlon is unhappy because pretty Peg prefers a polite, tidy, gainfully employed milquetoast named Harold over the rude, scruffy, penniless Michael. Walking through an alley, Michael finds a bottle and pulls the cork to release a genie, who says he can only grant one wish a year. Michael wishes that Peg would be swept off her feet for him and his wish immediately comes true. However, Peg tells Michael he has a year to change his ways. Scanlon gets a job and cleans up his act, working hard in the daytime and relaxing in his sloppy digs at night. The year passes and Michael rushes home to find that Peg has tidied up his place, including throwing out the dirty old bottle. So much for the second annual wish for wealth!

Another lighthearted and fairly well told story! "Something in the Bottle" suffers from the art by John Tartaglione, but I liked the last panel, which shows the bottle lying in the junkyard with the genie unable to escape.

In Medieval England, the people of Oxbury believe that a house near town is the place "Where the Sorcerer Stalks," since they hear strange sounds coming from inside and believe the wizard can make wood talk and glass come to life. The people burst in to discover that the so-called sorcerer claims to be an inventor who has discovered electricity, TV, and radio. The villagers set fire to the hut and the sorcerer and his son lament that the townsfolk are not yet ready for such inventions. John Forte's strips all look alike to me--a mix of wooden poses and slightly goofy expressions on his characters' faces. This one isn't worth a second glance.

Mr. Crane accuses his employee, Ken Stewart, of stealing $30K from the office safe. Ken denies it, but when Crane calls the cops, Ken runs down eighteen flights of stairs and emerges outside. Dodging cops, Ken runs into another tall building and takes the elevator to the eighteenth floor. The cops follow, so Ken climbs out a window onto the ledge. He loses his footing and, as he falls, he seems to fade from sight! He finds himself back in the office as a phantom, one day before, and sees that Crane simply misplaced the $30K. In "The Last Seconds of Ken Stewart," before he goes splat on the pavement, Ken types out a note explaining where the money is. He reappears in mid-fall, is saved by a net, and Crane rushes up to apologize, having found his note.

For an issue that started out promisingly, this one ends with a splat on the pavement. Wessler's script is terrible (again) and Pakula's art is not even at the level of something a child would bring home for Mom to hang on the fridge.-Jack

Next Week...
Can the Talents of 
Angelo Torres Save Us
From Boredom?

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 150: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 135

February 1957 Part I

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Astonishing #58

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Danger in the Streets" (a: John Forte) ★

"The Dragon's Roar!" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★

"The Endless Journey" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"Grotesque!" (a: Hy Fleishman & John Tartaglione (?)) ★

"The Night of May 10th!" (a: Bill Everett) ★★

"The Secret!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★1/2

Frustrated atomic scientist Warren Ryder can't make ends meet and keep his greedy wife happy until a freak accident in the lab gives Warren the power to turn anything he touches into uranium. I mean, just think of the advantages! Warren becomes a "Danger in the Streets" with his magic touch until the authorities threaten to ventilate him. With the help of his suddenly saintly wife and an atomic neuro-nebulizing-bobulamater, Warren's boring life is restored and, after a short jail sentence, he's a free man. Hilarious in that our hero touches an entire bus and the vehicle becomes uraniumized but the people within aren't harmed at all!

The Chinese village of Lai Chow prepares to celebrate the Chinese New Year but its dictator, the bloodthirsty Colonel, has other ideas. He bans any celebration and promises great punishment for those who defy him. The people continue to make their floats and decorations so the Colonel orders one of his tanks to be dressed up like a dragon and driven in the parade. When he gives the word, the tank will open fire on the infidels. But once the parade commences, another dragon float appears. Wait... it's not a float! "The Dragon's Roar!" Diverting little Commie yarn with a good twist and some decent Orlando graphics. 

In "The Endless Journey," an escaped con steals a scientist's experimental formula that gives the drinker the power to will himself somewhere else. Though the egghead shouts out warnings, the con quaffs the brew and transports to New York, then to Paris, then to Spain. Alas, the stays are for only a few minutes apiece. When the criminal finally wills himself back to the lab of the scientist, the cops are there waiting. Unfortunately, explains the big brain, the effects will not wear off for five years. Phffffft--the con disappears. Not sure how the scientist could be sure of the length of the hood's curse since the potion had only recently been cooked up! Ed Winiarski's 115th job for the Atlas SF/horror titles; his work continues to look rushed and amateurish but the man must have been able to hit a deadline with accuracy.

In "Grotesque!," a wanderer eats tainted berries and imagines a huge owl is chasing him in a cave. In the end, turns out those crazy 1950s scientists are up to it again, testing a molecule-reducer in a nearby lab. In the three-page "The Night of May 10th!," a series of disasters are mysteriously reversed (a derailed train, heading into a river, mysteriously swoops back up onto its track). Scientists are befuddled. Well, all except one, who oversees a time machine and is currently chewing out a bumbling janitor who keeps hitting the machine with his broom. Two stars for the unique twist and the Everett art.

Fred Benton has become one of the wealthiest men in America thanks to his "Benton Beauty Pack," utilizing a special kind of mud. A reporter arrives in Benton's office in order to write the scoop of the century for his paper: where does Benton get his mud? The businessman is only too happy to supply details but warns the newsman that he might not believe it. Years before, when Benton was a simple scientist checking the iodine levels of California mollusks, he had a strange encounter with a shadowy being below the surface of the sea. The thing splashed a special mud on his leg and the stuff felt "refreshing!" Benton went home and concocted his miracle formula before heading back for more mud. Turns out the supplier is a mermaid! The reporter snickers and thanks Benton for nothing. Later, the millionaire heads back into his office where he's placed a giant aquarium. In it is his new friend. There's not a lot of sense to "The Secret!"; we're never actually told what the goop does other than make Benton's forehead feel "refreshed." And the climax makes no sense; if he's got the mermaid cooped up in a fish bowl, how will she get him his mud? At least the Mooney art is "refreshing."-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #43

Cover by Carl Burgos

"It's Waiting For Me!" (a: Jay Scott Pike) ★

"The Invisible Woman!" (a: Syd Shores (?)  & Matt Baker (?)) ★

"The Third Ear" (a: John Forte) ★★★

"The Secret of the Strange Stone" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo) ★

"The Panhandler" (a: Bernard Baily) ★

"Ghost Ship!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★★

Every night, Jim has the same nightmare; he's in a shadowy land and knows just around the bend is some evil presence, waiting patiently to lay its claws into the man. But, every night, Jim's faithful dog, Banty, scares off the demon. Wife Cora can't stand the animal since it constantly interrupts her sleep, so she gives Banty away to a neighbor and talks Jim off a ledge.

The nightmares increase and Jim finds he can no longer go to sleep lest he be abducted by the nameless fiend. He loses weight, his health begins to deteriorate, and all seems lost. Just as I was about to yell to our hapless protagonist, "Don't worry, Jim, this is a post-code strip and no one meets a nasty end in the new Atlas Universe!," Jim hears a scratching at the front door. It's Banty, come home to rescue his master! "It's Waiting for Me!" never actually reveals what's waiting for Jim or why but I'd venture a guess that Jim, in a Freudian way, is feeling smothered by wife Cora, who spends her days at Neiman-Marcus, spending what piddly salary her hubby makes. The shadowy creature just around the bend is the collection agency, waiting to swoop in and repossess Jim's Caddy. Cora's sudden transformation, from nasty ball-and-chain who demands the canine be ejected from the house to loving, understanding wife who admits the dog has his moments, is genuinely hilarious.

In the dreadful "The Invisible Woman!," the dictator of a stinkin' Commie nation is plagued by an unseen menace terrorizing the streets. Turns out it's one of the rebels stirring dissent among the people. The "Communist threat" of the month is becoming tedious since none of the bullpen writers can seem to come up with anything original.

Walt Craven is suddenly gifted with "The Third Ear," the uncanny ability to hear others' thoughts. The power hits him one day when he's at work and "overhears" a conversation in his boss's brain about a large amount of money he's embezzling. Seeing this as a perfect way of landing on easy street, Walt blackmails his boss but the plot backfires and Craven ends up in prison for ten years. It's at this point that "The Third Ear" takes its loony turn.

Once in stir, Craven sees the warden and explains that he has a way of finding out information and he'll be a mouthpiece if he's treated right. Several instances where the new prisoner rats out his co-cons convince the warden Walt's not lying and he happily accepts any info the man proffers. One day in the yard, Craven "hears" a plan for a jailbreak and heads to the warden, demanding parole for his information. The boss agrees and Walt lays out the plan for him. 

The warden orders his guards to stand outside the gates at the announced time and mow down any prisoners who try to escape. The next day, when the event is to occur, Big Duke Byrnes, the breakout's mastermind, insists that Craven accompany them on their escape since he'd been such a "nice guy" to the inmates. With no way out, Walt Craven awaits his fate. I loved this goofy little yarn and its unexpected twists, as well as its climax, which closes just as the break is about to occur. The art, by John Forte, is pleasing enough and conjures up 1940s strip art. "The Third Ear" is easily this month's best story.

Not even the mighty power of Al Williamson can save the pedestrian script for "The Secret of the Strange Stone," wherein a farmer discovers a meteorite in his field and brings it home. The rock has the power to make things disappear. After a bad night of nightmares, all starring the farmer as a ruthless dictator lording over the world with his newfound bauble, the man decides to get rid of the stone. So he does.

A group of men travel from 1991 to 1956 in order to talk sense into the lazy bum known as "The Panhandler" but discover you can't change a future convict's stripes, even when you bring along his older version as proof. Boring and predictable time travel nonsense with dreadful Bernard Baily art. Last up this time around, we follow the misadventures of a trio of would-be pirates who roam the harbor of Seaview and loot the resident yachts. The hooligans get the fright of their life when they're chased by an old "Ghost Ship!" Compared to most of the dreck found in this issue, the finale is not too bad and the final panel, where the ship speaks, is a hoot.-Peter

Journey Into Unknown Worlds #54

Cover by Bill Everett

"Inside the Pharaoh's Tomb" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★1/2

"What Cries in the Cage?" (a: Bob Powell) ★★★

"He Stalks in the Streets!" (a: Herb Familton) ★★

"The Destroyers!" (Ed Winiarski) ★★

"Needle in a Haystack" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★

"Nowhere" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★★

John Roberts is a crafty thief who has hidden from the cops "Inside the Pharaoh's Tomb" at a museum. Locked in overnight, he has an overwhelming sense that he's been there before and suspects he's the reincarnation of Pharaoh Ra-Hotep. The statute of Anubis speaks to him and he realizes that he can turn his life around, so in the morning he surrenders to the authorities. As he is taken away, a museum guard remarks that a young boy was accidentally locked in the tomb and it took him years to get over it. That boy's name was John Roberts!

This is the first Atlas appearance for artist Richard Doxsee, who will go on to draw many more stories. His art is like that of many other post-code Atlas artists in that it's pretty good and sometimes a panel here and there is impressive. I did not understand the ending at first but got it after a few minutes. That has to be worth something!

Captain Blackheart's pirate ship approaches the Tiger Shark, a ship that appears to be empty save the many birdcages hanging from the yardarms. On boarding the ship, the only person found is Jimmy Atkins, a cabin boy, who spins a strange yarn. It seems a widow named Lydia Lawrence convinced the British admiralty to let her use sorcery to avenge her husband's death at the hands of pirates and the crew of the Tiger Shark felt her wrath when she shrank them and imprisoned them in cages. The same fate befalls Blackheart and his crew when they fail to realize that Jimmy is Lydia in disguise!

Bob Powell may be the most reliable artist drawing for Atlas on a regular basis at this point, and "What Cries in the Cage?" gives him free reign to draw pirates and a kooky old woman sorceress. The result is unexpectedly entertaining!

A bitter scientist named Henry Wadsworth appears at the home of his former flame, Lois. Henry is still bitter about Lois's refusal to marry him 20 years ago and explains that he created a cell-growth serum in his lab that, when drunk by a tramp, turned the simple-minded fellow into a giant who was devoted to Henry. When Henry saw a picture of Lois in the newspaper all the old feelings welled up and he told the giant about her. Now the giant is headed for her house to kill her! Lois admits she always loved Henry, so when the giant arrives, Henry tells him to back off. Henry drops dead, the giant turns docile and shrinks to normal size, and neither learns that Lois was putting on an act.

Herb Familton's art is clunky and awkward, but the twist at the end of "He Stalks in the Streets!" surprised me. It's subtle--in the last panel, Lois's husband comes home and we see a poster advertising "Lois and John Hunt--America's Foremost Theatrical Couple." Lois admits she was only acting and we readers have to figure out what happened and then rethink the events of the story.

Three scientists named Perry, Bornay, and Fern discover the X Power and decide to use it to rule mankind. They all head home for the night and, when Bornay arrives at his house, he sees a large, black letter X burned into his front door. He calls Perry, who reports the same thing, but the call is suddenly cut off. Bornay goes to Perry's house and it's gone. The same thing happens when he goes to Fern's house. Perry realizes that their discovery and plan to use the power for evil ends has resulted in their being wiped off the face of the Earth. Moments later, Bornay is gone, too, and a young couple walk by and remark that they thought they saw a man but now he's gone.

"The Destroyers!" reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode (yet again) where, one after another, astronauts disappear. Ed Winiarski's art is nothing special but it's curious that the stories in this random issue of an Atlas comic seem a bit more interesting than usual.

Warner has a treasure map that purports to reveal the location of Redbeard's buried treasure on the Isle of Pines! Warner travels there by ship and begins digging with his bare hands, certain that he'll locate the treasure. He insists on staying on the island even when the ship that brought him there departs, convinced he'll locate a "Needle in a Haystack" and unaware that the island floats around and he's in the wrong place. Sol Brodsky's art does nothing to enliven a one-note three-pager that begs the question, why didn't he bring a shovel?

Petty thief Brad Duncan explores a museum, looking for something to steal, and wanders into a room marked "Cyclotron, Keep Out." He's exposed to the power of the atom smasher and briefly finds himself in a mysterious forest before returning to the museum. Brad decides to make the most of his discovery and use it to intercept and rob a truck carrying a lot of money from one bank location to another. He recruits a gang, carries out the robbery, and ditches his compatriots to return to the cyclotron with his loot. Brad is again transported to the forest, only to discover it's in prehistoric times and a T-Rex is on the loose! Brad is stuck long in the past and lives another 20 years as the sole human on Earth.

Angelo Torres does a great job illustrating "Nowhere," which is a cool story made even better by sharp panels. The panels where Brad is in the cyclotron are in black and white and silhouetted in order to give the impression of great power, while the dinosaur is classic Torres. This is a fitting end to an above-average issue!-Jack

Marvel Tales #155

Cover by Bill Everett

"I Walk Through Glass!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★

"Forbidden Fruit!" (a: George Roussos) ★★

"When I Close My Eyes..." (a: Bill Everett) ★1/2

"Man in a Trance!" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★1/2

"The Saucer That Couldn't Fly!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★

"The Lost Million!" (a: John Tartaglione) ★1/2

Oliver Greeley is an old miser who hides his money in a hole in the wall. Suddenly, a well-dressed man appears in the full-length mirror that stands against another wall. The man invites Oliver to join him for dinner and Oliver discovers that "I Walk Through Glass!" as he steps through the mirror and into the man's nice home. Greedy Oliver quickly goes to steal money from the man's open wall safe; he's caught in the act and escapes back through the mirror. Afraid of being pursued by cops, Oliver burns the cash and smashes the mirror, but when he checks his own hoard it's gone. Oliver realizes that the well-dressed man in the mirror is a version of himself, had he lived his life differently, and the money he burned was his own.

Any thought of an improvement in quality from this month's Journey Into Unknown Worlds is quickly dashed by the opener of Marvel Tales, a story out of the Atlas playbook that is as dull and blandly drawn as so many others. As in other Carl Wessler scripts, the odd occurrences aren't particularly interesting--they just sit there.

A Japanese pilot named Neru flies over the Gobi desert and his plane is riddled with bullets from an old man on the ground who is crawling around amid pomegranate trees. At home, Neru's father tells him the story of Lu Fang, an evil explorer who was caught in a sandstorm and found himself in the Forbidden Land. He discovered "Forbidden Fruit!" in the form of pomegranates that give five lifetimes to anyone who eats them, but he's told he has to leave now that he knows the secret. That night he throws a pomegranate over the wall of the Forbidden Land and, when he's thrown out, he discovers to his dismay that the area outside the walls is covered with pomegranates from trees growing all over. Lu Fang has spent the last 20 years trying to identify the enchanted pomegranate he threw over the wall from all the others on the ground.

There's nothing special about this story, which details the result of one man's greed. It's an odd structure, with the pilot flying over Lu Fang, and I wonder where Lu Fang got the gun. I also wonder how likely a pomegranate is to stay fresh and edible for 20 years.

Being one of the richest men on Earth and owning a fleet of ships doesn't stop the nightmares for a miserable man who dreams every night that he's being dragged toward the end of a corridor by a man in shadows. The dreamer awakens at the crack of dawn every day, right before the dream ends, and knows that the thing dragging him represents his conscience. The end of the corridor is where he will confess all his crimes to the police. After a year of nightly misery, he sails on one of his ships and it crashes into an iceberg! He's rescued from a life raft by an Eskimo who explains that he's at the Arctic Circle, where the nights last six months! He's not looking forward to his very long sleep.

Jack's reaction after Peter
revealed the Atlas post-
code schedule

Not every twist ending is a good one, and this one is terrible. Thank goodness Bill Everett draws "When I Close My Eyes..." so we at least get three pages of decent art.

After spending two years in jail, Price tells his cellmate, Stacey, that he's been studying yoga and can put himself into a trance that will let his spirit travel back in time. He goes back to the night he was caught cooking the books and forces the man who caught him into a car at gunpoint. He drops the man off ten miles out of town and returns to his account books to cover his tracks, but he awakens back in his cell. Stacey tells him that, instead of serving ten years for fraud, he's now serving twenty for using a gun to force the man to go with him.

"Man in a Trance!" is another letdown; an uninteresting story with a dull twist and mediocre art by Forgione and Abel.

The Ross Gang has a scheme to bilk Claude Vincent out of $20,000. Arnold Ross picks up the mark and drives him to see "The Saucer That Couldn't Fly!" He thinks it's been to Mars and back and climbs aboard for a three-hour trip to the red planet. When they reach Mars, Claude is introduced to the Martian Overlord and hands him a certified check for $20K meant as an investment in the planet's rich natural resources. Back on Earth, Ross is shocked to learn that the fake Martians were late and never arrived--the ship really did go to Mars! And what of the money the fake investors handed over, along with Claude's check? The Martians used it to build a fire to keep warm!

I know, I know, it's the old "Banquo's Chair" bit all over again, with the Martians replacing the ghost who was held up in traffic. Still, it's kind of enjoyable in a dopey way, with Winiarski's art seeming more Golden Age and less wooden than usual.

When Harry Simpson sees a poor newsboy trying to sell his last paper for the day in the rain, he feels pity on the lad and spends a quarter. He soon discovers that he just bought tomorrow's paper, which has racing results, stock market quotations, and a story about a lonely old woman who tried to kill herself. Harry foregoes a quick buck and rushes to the woman's house, saving her. In return, she mails him $1,000,000! Harry rushes to the site where he bought the paper to share his good fortune with the newsboy, only to learn that the last newsboy at that corner grew up to be Walter Lane, the rich man who died a year ago and left a despondent widow.

Not much to see in "The Lost Million!" and a twist we've seen many times before, but I like the inclusion of the newsboy and the rainy New York street. I'm too young to remember newsboys on the corner, but I sure remember newsstands that sold comics in the late '60s and early '70s!-Jack

Next Week...
Angelo!