Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 167: Atlas/Marvel Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 152

August 1957 Part I

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Astonishing #63

Cover by Bill Everett

"A Tender Tale of Love" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★1/2

"The Secret Beyond Belief!" (a: George Woodbridge) ★★★

(r: Tomb of Darkness #17)

"The Terrible Toy!" (a: Bob Forgione) ★★

"The Room That Wasn't There" (a: Don Perlin) ★

"A Piece of Rope!" (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★

"The Girl with the Evil Eyes!" (a: Fred Kida) ★

(r: Chamber of Chills #21)

Lester Barnett is the worst kind of man, one who roams across America looking for lonely rich women. Lester thinks he's found his latest easy squeeze in Joyce, a gorgeous but shy lady who rents a room at Mrs. Fenly's Rooming House. Lester moves in for the kill but discovers he has competition for Joyce's affections in George Roberts, a man who rambles but always comes back. Lester intends to eliminate his rival but finds it extremely hard to land any blows. What gives? Well, there's a pretty effective twist in the climax of "A Tender Tale of Love"; I'm not saying it's never been done before, but (maybe because good stories are few and far between around here) the reveal worked for me. 

Professor John is tasked with going through the journals of brilliant genius scientist Calvin Bart, who has recently been killed in an auto accident involving a drunken milkman. While puttering about in Bart's lab, John accidentally discovers a secret hidey-hole containing the notes of long-dead scientist, Barton Calvin (hmmmmm....). Reading the log, John puts two and two together and posits that Calvin Bart and Barton Calvin are one and the same man (Atlas men of science are brilliant!). John reads on and learns that a Dr. Dane Morris had perfected a rejuvenation formula that would allow a man to live a whole lot more years than normal; Morris had given this drug to "six of the world's most brilliant geniuses..." and then the bunch of them moved to South America.

Using the map (with a big X on Morris's plantation), John visits Morris and asks him if a longer life is all it's cracked up to be and if he can have a shot of the super-drug. Morris explains that immortality is a curse rather than a blessing. He then introduces him to several of the other men who took the drug over a hundred years ago. One is an artist who just can't get that great painting right; one is a composer who has worked on his masterpiece for 85 years; and then there's George Martin, still working on overdubs for Sgt. Pepper. "Y'see, John," says Morris as he puts his arm around his visitor, "When you have an eternity to work on a project, it just never gets finished." "The Secret Beyond Belief!" is a bit preachy (just be happy with the time you're given), but I gotta say that the message is one of the most thought-provoking we've been given in the post-code era. I'd love to know who wrote this script. I love how the tale begins with Professor John turning to the readers of Astonishing (all third graders, mind you) and telling us that he really needs to tell this story to the world. Great art from Woodbridge; both he and Doxsee are turning into personal favorite discoveries.

Strange flashes ignite Earth's skies and scientists fear the worst. Could these brilliant displays of light be harbingers of an alien invasion? Meanwhile, the young son of a "high government official" is playing in the woods when he stumbles upon a toy gun. Aiming it at his bike and blasting it, the kid is astonished to see an identical bike appear. He's found a Matter Duplicator™! Racing home he shows his father the gun and is told "The Terrible Toy!" must be destroyed. "Who knows what a thing like this could mean for the economy?!," a startled father cries. Later that night, dad is visited by the aliens who are hovering over Earth's atmosphere. Do they come in peace or will they conquer? Only time and the last few panels will tell. 

In the disposable three-page "The Room That Wasn't There," Chuck Chandler stares into his bathroom mirror and sees an older version of himself in a terribly maintained room. The reflection informs him that if he doesn't do something about the road he's traveling, he'll end up in that drab room with terrible wallpaper and cockroaches in thirty years. Somehow deciding he needs money right then and there, the dope robs a bank and is caught. He's then sentenced to life in prison, trapped in the room he saw in the reflection. Looking at this art, I'm not sure if Don Perlin got better or worse by the time he was assigned Werewolf by Night.

Ed and Burt climb the Matterhorn in search of a huge chest of jewels hidden by some old goofball named LeClaire, with only one rope between them. They both swear that if one falls, the other will save him. Sure enough, Ed has to show off and attempt a jump over a crevasse; he loses his footing and goes over. Rather than have Ed drag him to his sure death, Burt cuts the rope and heads back to the village with a tale of a broken line. No one believes him and so, his guilt wracking his very fiber, Burt heads back up the mountain to find Ed's body. But Burt finds Ed safe and sound at the bottom of the crevasse and, what's more, Ed has found the chest of jewels. They're millionaires and buddies for life. What a load of hooey this CCA nonsense has unleashed upon us. "A Piece of Rope!" shows us that not only will a bad man turn good on a dime, but he will be rewarded for his bravery as well. Give me the pre-code version where Ed's corpse is standing next to the chest, snickering "Come and get it, pal!"

In the final story of the final issue of Astonishing, Jack Taylor stumbles across an old amulet after watching a voodoo ceremony in Haiti. An old witch tells him the bauble can help him see the future. He scoffs and then heads back to America with the souvenir. He bids farewell to his brother, who is heading to the very same resort in Haiti for a vacation. Jack's dreams are wracked by a strange but beautiful blonde who comes home with brother Ben and announces that she and Ben were married. When Ben leaves the room, the blonde tells Jack that it's he whom she really loves and they must kill her husband if they are to be together. The dream ends and Jack wakes in a sweat. The next day, Ben introduces Jack to his new bride, a gorgeous blonde he met in Haiti... Oh no, not that one again. The cherry on top of the climax to "The Girl with the Evil Eyes!" is when Jack turns to us and asks us what we'd do. I'd recommend skipping this one is what I'd do.

And so comes to a close the 61-issue run (remember, the first two issues were titled Marvel Boy) of Astonishing, a fair to middling title that shined in the pre-code era but (as with every other Atlas title) produced mostly drab and cliched tales of brilliant but flawed criminal scientists and Commie dictators. Three tales made my 50 Best Pre-Code Atlas Stories list: Bill Everett's "A Playmate for Susan" (from #12), Sid Greene's "Jessica!" (from #35), and Dick Ayers's "The Devil-Man" (from #37).-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #48

Cover by Bill Everett

"Where There's Smoke..." (a: Sam Kweskin) ★1/2

"The Woman Who Played With Dolls" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★

"The Phony!" (a: Marvin Stein) ★★1/2

"Behind the Mask!" (a: Jay Scott Pike) ★

"Don't Turn Around!" (a: Bill Everett) ★

"The Curiosity of Mr. Catt!" 

(a: Angelo Torres & Gray Morrow(?)) ★1/2

A smoke shop owner mixes a pair of tobaccos and the blend produces a strange effect: the visions he dreams come true! So, like most Atlas dreamers before him (except maybe Jack Taylor of "The Girl with the Evil Eyes!," Emil Kojer dreams of world domination and riches beyond compare. But after vacationing and plotting his future, Emil comes home to find his wife has sold off the concoction to a regular customer. And that guy is having strange dreams too! "Where There's Smoke..." The Kweskin art is pretty good but the script lacks originality. Why would a brilliant tobacconist leave his best weed lying around for just anyone to smoke?

The townsfolk insist Elsa Beatty is a daft old bat, always playing with her dolls and their doll house, but con man Floyd Coe overhears a conversation in a diner about a vial of... something... her late husband acquired in South America that is supposed to be worth a cool quarter of a mil. That's all that Floyd needs to hear. The next day, he's up at the Beatty mansion romancing the old bird and cooing sweet things in her ear. Once the two are on a first-name basis, Elsa shows Floyd her treasured doll collection and Floyd pops the question... "Um, I never told you I'm a chemist. You think I could have a look at this vial of... something you have in storage?"  

Elsa keeps beating around the bush and Floyd gets uptight, finally brandishing a pistol and demanding the old hag turn over the vial of... something. Elsa smiles and admits Floyd has already gotten a taste of the formula in the wine he just drank. Minutes later, Elsa is admiring the new doll in her collection. Saw that one coming from the get-go didn't you? Me too. The Crandall-esque art of Richard Doxsee is the only reason to weather the four long pages of "The Woman Who Played With Dolls."

An old man named Bruce Selden walks into a New York publisher's office and tells the man of the incredible life he has lived: first he was captured in the jungles of Burma by a race of cat people, then he was trapped by an island full of giant men, then staked to a beach by little people... this guy's been through hell! The gullible publisher laps it up and buys Selden's autobiography sight unseen. The book becomes a best-seller, knocking The Lighter Side of Joseph McCarthy right out of the number one spot but, hang on adventure lovers, Selden's wife shows up at the publisher's office to inform him the whole damn thing is a hoax. Selden is 35, hasn't been out of Hoboken his entire life, and now he's deserted his wife and six kids. 

The only thing Bruce Selden is good at is makeup. On the run from the law, Selden ends up off the coast of Borneo, where he's attacked by man-eating plants. Surviving the ordeal, Selden wonders if the experience would make the best-seller list! Where can I find a publisher who would buy a story full of poppycock without seeing the manuscript first? "The Phony!" is fun, dopey entertainment, with some solid Marvin Stein graphics. This was Stein's 13th and final appearance in an Atlas SF/H title. 

"Behind the Mask!" is sappy crap about Bruce Chalmers, an old millionaire who covets his 24-year-old secretary but needs youth to capture her. He's told about a scientist who can change a person's face and make them young again for a hefty ten grand. Chalmers pays the price and gets his girl. The happy ending reveals that 24-year-old Lois Farr is actually an old woman, too. The only question I have is how a steno afforded such a high price tag. Perhaps she's a reaaaallly good secretary!

By 1957, full stories illustrated by Bill Everett were few and far between so, don't you know, they'd waste one of their best assets on a crappy, three-page Wessler script about a really smart Atlas genius inventor who's attacked by two burglars while testing out his newest gizmo. He's knocked unconscious, so he doesn't see the cavemen who emerge from his machine to scare off the criminals. "Don't Turn Around!" is deadly dumb but  undeniably Everett. The silliness continues in "The Curiosity of Mr. Catt!," wherein the titular Mr. Catt becomes obsessed with the murderer who once lived in his apartment. Don't worry, fate intervenes before Mr. Catt can duplicate the previous tenant's evil deed and the entire incident is laughed at over  drinks. No harm, no foul. This would be the final issue of Journey Into Mystery until November 1958. Journey and Strange Tales would be the only two survivors of the Atlas Implosion of 1957.-Peter

Journey Into Unknown Worlds #59

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Dreadful Disc!" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"I Wake Up Screaming!" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★

"Shock at Seven O'clock" (a: Ted Galindo) ★1/2

"The Strange Warning!" (a: Ruben Moreira) ★

"A Shaggy Wolf Tale!" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo) ★1/2

"The Man Who Lived Twice!" (a: Al Eadah) ★1/2

Just before he is caught by G-Men, traitor Jeff Barker uses a recipe from a book on alchemy to create "The Dreadful Disc!" In prison, he tricks his cellmate into retrieving the object, which causes anyone holding it to shrink to ten inches high. Jeff escapes and goes on a crime spree, stealing secrets until the FBI man catches him with a well-placed mousetrap! Another overly complicated script by Wessler features four pages of standard art by John Forte; the final panel shows Jeff caught in the trap but I wouldn't have realized that's what it was unless I read the dialogue.

A man is compelled to drive through the night in order to save the person he cares for the most from unknown danger. He passes police, crosses a dangerous bridge, and knocks out a burly man before entering a dark house where he sees someone lying on a couch. "I Wake Up Screaming!," he tells us, and it turns out that doctors used hypnosis to cure his mental block and amnesia. The man is Sid Black, a fugitive from justice, who underwent plastic surgery and a self-imposed mental block to start over as an amnesia victim. Doxsee's art is above average and this story chugs along nicely until the last page, when the disappointing resolution stretches credibility.

A pirate crew led by Captain Enid boards another ship called The Willow, whose captain and crew are strangely unconcerned. Captain Stoddard of The Willow warns Captain Enid of a coming "Shock at Seven O' Clock" and disappears when he is forced to walk the plank. Captain Enid grows more and more worried as the time approaches and, at seven, the ghostly crew of The Willow return to avenge the original taking of their ship by the pirates a decade before. This one doesn't make a lot of sense and Ted Galindo's graphics, while decent, can't save it from leaving the reader confused.

Charles Dawes is a businessman who rushes everywhere and ignores his doctor's advice to slow down and think about retirement. He's hit by a car while racing to catch a plane and receives "The Strange Warning" while in a coma; a man tells him, "Better Hurry! It's going to rain!" Dawes recovers and is about to board a plane when the pilot utters the same phrase. Spooked, Charles doesn't board the plane and later reads that it crashed. He wisely vows to retire and enjoy life. Fans of The Twilight Zone will have seen the ending to this story coming a mile away, since it was used in the episode, "Twenty Two." Moreira's art does little to liven up the proceedings.

Russian H-bomb tests had the unexpected side effect of making wolves intelligent; they also were able to communicate using mental telepathy and their fur grew long and sleek. American furriers are shocked when a pair of captured wolves began communicating with them and urging them to stop killing animals for their furs. The wolves demonstrate how they can pass this gift along to humans by making the men suddenly grow long hair and fur. Easily the dumbest story in this weak issue, "A Shaggy Wolf Tale!" has but one thing to recommend it, and that's some smooth art by Williamson and Mayo.

Bart Knox agrees to participate in an experiment in order to spend two weeks outside of prison, where he has three years to go on a ten-year term. Transformed into a new man and struck with amnesia, Knox enters a new life as Walter Jones. "The Man Who Lived Twice!" gets a job at Steve's service station but betrays his employer by stealing a wad of cash from his safe. Bart/Walter drops the cash in the river and disappears, returning to his old body and heading back to prison. Released early for good behavior, he seeks out his old partner, who reveals that a man named Walter Jones discarded all the cash they stole together years before. Eedah's art is nothing special, but I gave this one an extra half star because the ending was a bit of a surprise.

Not a great way for Journey to Unknown Worlds to end its run! As was so often the case, the best thing about the last issue was the cover.-Jack

Marvel Tales #159

Cover by Fred Kida

"The Man Who Believed!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"The Last Look!" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★1/2

"Wish You Were Here!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

(r: Tomb of Darkness #14)

"Four Who Vanished!" (a: Al Eadah) ★

"Behind the Iron Gate!" (a: Matt Fox) ★

"The Terrible Touch!" (a: Syd Shores) ★★1/2

(r: Journey Into Mystery #17)

After framing his co-worker for tampering with account books, Hugh Radcliff is haunted by dreams, where spectral figures try to convince him he no longer belongs on Earth. A psychoanalyst tells Hugh to insist to his tormentors that he does belong here, but that night, in his dream, "The Man Who Believed!" ends up in limbo, stuck in the darkness between the real world and the dream world. Only his wife's voice calling to him saves Hugh from being stuck forever. Paul Reinman pulls some old tricks out of his bag to enliven this story, such as a panel where Hugh's head is seen surrounded by words and another where he is struggling in the dark. It's a good thing, too, because the story makes little sense on its own.

A fake swami named Ross tells his partner Cooper that he saw the future in his crystal ball: Cooper will kill a man and the police will apprehend him! Cooper doesn't believe it and their relationship becomes increasingly strained until, one night, Ross makes a run for it. Cooper follows and holds Ross at gunpoint in an alley. They struggle and Ross shoots and kills Cooper! As he is led away by the police, Ross realizes that the man he saw in the crystal ball was himself, wearing Cooper's striped jacket! Bernie Krigstein's strips tend to look like he spent more time on them than most of the other Atlas artists. Here, a mix of his signature small panels, the use of blue and black to depict nighttime scenes, and dynamic action make "The Last Look!" a cut above the rest.

Franz Necco makes a living drawing greeting cards, but when his boss criticizes his sloppy work he wanders through Greenwich Village and finds a little shop, where an old man sells hand-drawn, perfumed greeting cards for a buck a piece. Franz buys a few, copies them, and sends out the originals--two are "get well" cards and the recipients experience miraculous recoveries. Franz returns to the little shop, volunteers to be the old man's assistant, and discovers his formula for making the perfume that renders the cards magical. He quickly draws a "Wish You Were Here!" card showing himself in a room with piles of money. Franz mails it and, the next day when he receives the card, he finds it has come true and he's in a room with a pile of money. There's just one problem: he did not draw a door, so he's stuck and can't remember the formula to make more magic perfume! Ed Winiarski is certainly in the bottom group of Atlas artists, and his work on this tale is no exception. The surprise ending is a letdown.

A quartet of robbers become "Four Who Vanished!" after their failed attempt at a bank heist leaves them on the run from the fuzz. They wore Halloween masks for the robbery to hide their faces and they happen on a house in the country where a party is in progress. What better way to mix in than to join the fun while wearing masks? The partygoers all seem like folk from the late 1600s and, eventually, they are revealed to be the ghosts (I think) of those involved in the Salem Witch Trials, which occurred on the site of the house. At least I think that's what happened. It's not terribly clear and Al Eedah's art is forgettable.

Chuck Morgan was sentenced to ten years in the pen, but his hatred of being cooped up led him to accept a deal whereby he was put into suspended animation for 1000 years with the promise that he'd be let out on awakening. What does he find "Behind the Iron Gate!"? A society of the future where cops read the minds of criminals before they break the law. Chuck doesn't get far before he's back in stir. Taking a cue from Bester's The Demolished Man and Dick's "The Minority Report," this three-pager briefly ventures into a fascinating SF topic. Matt Fox seems to have been a well-regarded pulp cover artist, but his work here is ugly, even worse than that of Sale.

An old prospector named Si lies on his death bed, gasping out the story of his search for a lost gold mine. He followed an Indian map but noticed that landmarks seemed to move. Finally realizing that someone must be behind it, he locates the mine and discovers a very old King Midas, who explains that he uses telepathy and teleportation to prevent anyone from finding him. Si grabs at the old king and runs off. On his deathbed he proves the truth of his story by removing his gloves and displaying his hands, which turned to gold when he touched Midas! The art by Syd Shores on "The Terrible Touch!" is excellent, giving Krigstein a run for his money as best in issue.

So ends the long, first run of Marvel Tales, which had begun in 1939 as Marvel Comics, changed to Marvel Mystery Comics, then changed to Marvel Tales  in 1949 to feature horror stories. The title would return in 1964 as a reprint comic for the new Marvel super heroes stories and run for 30 years.-Jack

Next Week...
The Implosion Continues as
Three More Titles Go Up in Smoke!