Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 160: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 145

April 1957 Part IV

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Uncanny Tales #54

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Mystery in Midville" (a: John Forte) ★★

(r: Chamber of Chills #17)

"The Warning!" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★

(r: Vault of Evil #20)

"The Hidden Island" (a: Fred Kida) ★

(r: Tomb of Darkness #15)

"Inside the Tomb!" (a: Dave Berg) ★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #19)

"The Terrible Fate of Mr. Wren!" (a: John Tartaglione) ★★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #36)

"The Moving Walls!" (a: Frank Bolle) ★1/2

On the run from the law and starving, petty thief Mort Lowman wanders into Midville and finds a town devoid of greed, anger, and jealousy, The town has no crime and the only cop does little but direct traffic. All the folk in the town open their arms to Mort and, for once in his life, Mort feels happy and loved. There's just one thing, advises Mr. Dora, the man who "adopts" Mort: do not, under any circumstances, open the locked box found in Dora's living room. 

The natural crookedness arises in Lowman's heart. "I could take the treasure found in this here box and live like a king. And that's just what I'll do!,"  exclaims the dope. So Mort grabs a handy crowbar and pries the chest open. Out pops all the awfulness and black-hearted deeds Mr. Dora sucked out of his fellow Midvillians and stashed in the box. Suddenly Midville becomes the rotten place it once was and the cops come to arrest Mort Lowman for his petty crimes. You see, the crate in Mr. Dora's sitting room was Pandora's Box! Holy cow, what a surprise this was. Well, to be fair, I was expecting The "Mystery in Midville" to wind up being some kind of Martian testing facility or a really bad dream but at least we got a semi-satisfying twist and some decent art from John Forte.

Dr. Bishop has recreated the Midas touch in his lab but, in a strange twist, he's given the formula to his dog. This, he asserts, is to keep greed from common man and also because he likes to eat a meal now and then that hasn't been turned to gold. For a while, Bishop is able to control the objects the dog touches but then, one dark and dreary day, a fellow scientist enters the lab and assures Bishop he won't be leaving until he has that formula. 

The script for "The Warning!" is old news; we all know it's the Krigstein Midas touch we'll be paying attention to but, here, that touch seems to be muted a bit. Gone are the trademarked multiple thin panels and Bernie delivers his graphics in (for the most part) a standard Atlas fashion. It's still good art but it's lost the uniqueness. I was nowhere near the Atlas Bullpen in 1957 (in fact, I was nowhere near being born yet) but I have to think that Stan had something to do with reigning BK in. Hopefully, for just this one little saga.

Two misfits, a man and a woman, homely and scarred, leave the real world and travel to "The Hidden Island," a Pacific plot of land surrounded by mist and populated by Komodo Dragons. The island's magical powers turn the man into a big-muscled strongman and the woman into a babe. There, they find love and, hopefully, no mirrors. Even worse is "Inside the Tomb!" An archaeologist rises from an ancient Egyptian tomb in some sort of a trance (with a really low heartbeat!) and his fellow explorer must descend into the depths of the structure to find out how his friend became a zombie. Since not one soul has perished in an Atlas story since the advent of the Comics Corrode, all suspense and danger are discarded and all we can hope for is a little imagination and perhaps some eye-pleasing graphics. Good luck with that. The script is meh and Dave Berg does the best he can with it, but this is strictly snoozeville.

In the three-page "The Terrible Fate of Mr. Wren!," Hubert Wren survives a bad childhood to become a brilliant inventor who dreams up a gizmo that can perfectly duplicate anything. The world is his oyster until Wren proposes to a gorgeous dame but accidentally blasts her with his Duplicator Ray and, suddenly, the poor sap has two fiances. A terrible fate indeed! This one has a fun sense of mischief and some great art by Tartaglione (again, I have to believe Howard Chaykin must have been a Tart-fan). 

Last up is the shamefully padded (padded? I hear you say, how can a four-page story be padded?) "The Moving Walls!," wherein three stooges head into the Gorse Manor to steal the fabled Gorse Diamond but find a house full of startling obstacles. Three of the four pages are devoted to the crooks constantly reminding us how spooky the house is but at least pulpmeister Wessler delivers a good twist in the tail.-Peter

World of Mystery #6

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Secret of the Haunted House" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo) ★★1/2

"The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★★

"Witch Doctor" (a: Gene Colan) ★★1/2

"Hideous Hide-out" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★★

"Secret Under the Sea!" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★1/2

"The Sinking Man!" (a: Chuck Miller) ★

In order to join a local social club (nope, not a JD gang, but one of those nice, innocent circles that probably gather on Sundays to knit and help tend to orphaned children), three wacky teens break into a supposedly haunted house only to discover the rundown old mansion is a hub for inter-dimensional travelers. "The Secret of the Haunted House" has one of the three most overused plot hooks on the Atlas carousel (picture one of those twirly things on the Atlas breakroom table that holds ketchup, mustard, and cliches) but, for some godforsaken reason, I enjoyed it anyway. Yes, you're right, the Williamson/Mayo gleam probably has a lot to do with that. I'll take it.

Jack says to hell with deadlines
and marches out of the Bare Bones bullpen

Martin was just an ordinary schlub, walking the streets until the day he was struck by lightning and became "The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" Once Martin comes out of his bolt-induced coma (a rather short one at that), he discovers that his glowing hands can incinerate anything they touch. Will Martin use his newly gained energy to save the world or destroy it? Well, that's a good question, but it's one that's not answered. Oddly enough, Martin delivers an ultimatum to his hometown to follow his orders or perish but we never find out what his endgame actually is. "Most Dangerous" is a clever variation on the Midas Touch theme and it shows Ditko slowly but surely developing that unique style we all know and love.

"Witch Doctor" is an inane and supremely silly tale about a movie company in Africa that lands on the wrong side of the titular medicine man. The maladies that befall the cast of the film escalate as did my giggles. But never mind that cuz Gene Colan to the rescue. Colan's guys are tough, girls are gorgeous, and noir the noirest. The dopey script (courtesy of the reliable Carl Wessler) and strong graphics continue in "Hideous Hide-Out," about a sweet old woman who runs a unique museum. Her pieces are not made of wax but are animal subjects frozen in suspended animation. Enter the vicious Rocky Larsen gang, who are looking for somewhere to hide and decide that Mrs. Turner's museum is just the right place. A huge smile came to my face as I watched Most Wanted Criminal Rocky and his gang sit outside the museum all day waiting for a good time to invade. I'd be looking for a hiding spot a bit faster but then I'm not a wanted felon. That's four well-illustrated stories in a row. May be a record for a post-code Atlas issue. Could the streak continue?

Well... Sol Brodsky's art on "Secret Under the Sea!" is not up to the standards set previously this issue but the work is certainly not bland nor boring. As for the plot of the three-pager: a strange sea captain can locate sunken ships and no one knows how he does it. It's uncanny. The secret, once the captain gets under the sea, is that he's likely one of Namor's second cousins. The truly wretched art arrives finally in the form of "The Sinking Man!," penciled by Chuck Miller, who has one of those generic styles half the bullpen acquired over the years. Lots of talking heads (in this case, bald heads) going on about time travel and mental telepathy. I'm sure there was more but, seriously, you're not going to read this tripe so why go on about it? Let's hold on to those first three stories this issue (and honorable mention to the fourth) and pretend "The Sinking Man!" never appeared.-Peter

World of Suspense #7

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Face!" (a: Joe Maneely) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #32) 

"When the Creature Escapes" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo)

(r: Chamber of Chills #13) ★★1/2

"The World's Strangest Crime" (a: Bernard Baily) ★1/2

"The Lost Island!" (a: Pete Morisi) ★

"Escape from Nowhere!" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★

(r: Amazing Adventures #28)

"To Walk Unseen" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

Roy Farnum has put up with cranky old millionaire, Wallace Lawson, for 14 years in hopes of inheriting his millions, but when Farnum learns of a long-lost son, he is certain his dreams of wealth will not come true. Farnum meets a stranger who, for $1000, takes him to  meet an inventor whose machine can change a man's face to resemble "The Face!" in a photograph. For another $8000, Roy has his face changed into that of Andrew Lawson, the missing son; the inventor takes Farnum's face as his own. The old man dies, the will is read, and--surprise! (NOT)--Wallace left his fortune to Roy rather than to his no-good son. Roy suddenly realizes he's been had by the inventor, who is none other than Andrew Lawson!

Carl Wessler once again packs eight pages of captions and dialogue into a four-page story where the twist is telegraphed well before the last panel. Joe Maneely's art may not be what it used to be, but it's still pretty good.

After catching a strange sea creature, Dr. John Halsey brings it back to the aquarium, where he begins to sense that it is highly intelligent. Eventually, the creature begins trying to communicate telepathically with the doc, who fears what it might do. "When the Creature Escapes," Halsey grabs a gun and searches, soon learning that the nearby atomic pile is reaching the danger point. The doc finds and shoots the creature, only to learn that it entered the atomic pile and stabilized it, possibly saving the world from destruction. Oops!

Williamson and Mayo do their best with a rather static story, providing a nice half-splash page with the creature being pulled from the sea in a net, as well as a very sharp panel of Halsey shooting  among its tentacles. I did not expect the creature to be benevolent, so the ending was satisfying.

Warren and Grayson decide to commit "The World's Strangest Crime" using their new machine that can send a man back in time and view scenes from the past. The Cooper Gang stole $20,000 in gold coins a century ago and Grayson proposes going back to that moment, grabbing the loot, and returning to the present while the gang members are too startled to react. Everything goes smoothly until Grayson returns with the money and he and Warren are surprised by a man from 100 years in the future, who grabs the money and disappears back to his own time while they are too startled to react.

Jack Oleck demonstrates that he's learned well at the feet of Carl Wessler, penning a story that plods along to a dull finish. At least Bernard Baily's artwork is not the worst we've seen from him.

Joe Brock breaks out of the death house and makes his way to a port, where he holds a boat's crew at gunpoint and insists that they take him along on their scientific expedition to the South Seas. A storm washes the boat ashore on a remote island, where Brock notices a Geiger counter clicking furiously. He assumes that this means that the island contains valuable uranium, so he pretends to see dangerous animals in the jungle. The rest of the crew get back on the boat and leave. Brock thinks he's sitting on a fortune in uranium until he sees a beetle that has grown as big as a man. When he sees a sign with a warning that the island is being used as a disposal area for atomic waste, Brock realizes that he'll grow giant-sized just like the beetle.

I usually like Pete Morisi's quirky style, but on this story he was just collecting a paycheck. The story itself is awful and the worst part of all is the idea that Brock somehow thinks he can profit from being left alone on a remote island with uranium. Does he think he'll mine it all himself? Then what? Wait for a passing ship and cart it back to civilization? The ending is worse--he's being exposed to high levels of radiation and his main concern is that he'll grow bigger?

The Great Myron has always managed to escape, no matter the challenge. But when he's hit by a truck while crossing the street, Myron's return to life may be his most daring escape yet. "Escape From Nowhere!" pushes the boundaries of what should be included in a comic titled World of Suspense, since next to nothing happens and there's little to no suspense.

Fred Beasley delivers laundry to various folks. One of his customers is Doc, a scientist, who tells Fred that he's working on an invisibility liquid. Like every Atlas protagonist, Fred immediately thinks he can cash in. The Doc tells Fred that if a tiny bit of the liquid is rubbed on the skin, it produces temporary, safe invisibility, but too much will produce permanent invisibility, followed by death!

Fred tries a little and robs a grocery store, certain that he's invisible when the sole customer does not appear to see him. The crook returns to Doc's office, where he and Doc get into a scuffle and Fred is soaked with the liquid. He rushes outside and the same man who had been in the grocery store ignores him. When the police come to take Fred away, Doc explains that he was just kidding about the fluid causing invisibility and death. After the police leave with Fred, we see that the man on the sidewalk wears a placard: "Blind and Deaf."

After reading the last three Atlas comics from April 1957, the idea of being blind doesn't seem so bad. This ridiculous story depends on the blind man being present both in the store and on the sidewalk when Fred thinks he's invisible. Pretty far-fetched if you ask me.-Jack

Next Week...
Now This is More Like It!

"Hey, Mom and Dad! Look!
Have you thought about this yet?"