The Marvel/Atlas
Horror Comics
Horror Comics
Part 135
February 1957 Part I
by Peter Enfantino
and Jack Seabrook
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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?
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
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.
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| Jack's reaction after Peter revealed the Atlas post- code schedule |
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.
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
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| Next Week... Angelo! |
1 comment:
In that panel at the end, Harry Simpson has a real Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak look.
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