Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 186: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 171

May-June 1960

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #58

Cover by Steve Ditko

"Return of the Martian!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

"I Found Rro... the Thing from the Bottomless Pit!" ★★

 (a: Don Heck & Jack Kirby)

"They Called Me a Witch!" (a: Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott) ★1/2

"Beware!!! Of the Little Toy Men!!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Marvel Super-Heroes #29)

Minutes after the events documented in the riveting "The Martian" (in JIM #57), Zetora the giant orange Martian breaks out of his cell and heads for Manhattan. Leaving a path of destruction behind him, the swim trunks clad behemoth crushes everything the army throws at him and finally reaches his destination: the United Nations building. There, Zetora somehow squeezes in through the small doors and faces the leaders of all the nations on Earth. He delivers his ultimatum: surrender or perish. Seeing no other way around it, the leaders quickly give in like a bunch of children on a playground and hand Earth over to the Martian. 

Luckily, Zetora picks just that moment to fall over dead. You see, earthlings might be immune to the bacteria found on our planet but... Martians are not! So this will be the deux ex machina from here on out I suppose, with Stan throwing his hands up and shrugging. If it worked for H.G., it should work for Jack and Dick, right? "Return of the Martian" is short on substance but it's got some pretty good creature art.

In "I Found Rro... the Thing from the Bottomless Pit!," a New Mexico engineer digs a hole straight through to the Earth's core and releases a fire-breathing dragon that flies all the way to San Francisco and then comes back to the original dig site (why it did this is never revealed, but I assume it just wanted to check out the surroundings). The army blasts the dragon from the sky and the monster slides back into its hole, but not before dropping a small cylinder etched with hieroglyphic-like engravings. When the suddenly very busy United Nations has the scrawl deciphered, it tells the story of a peaceful dragon race at the center of the Earth that was hoping to meet up with new friends. However, in light of Rro's violent reception, the welcome mat has been pulled. Don Heck's Rro doesn't much resemble Ditko's cover creature; someone forget to tell Don that monsters wear shorts.

In 18th-century Salem, seamstress Amanda Dalton falls hard for handsome John Redmond, but his ex-gal, Evelyn, is a jealous shrew and spreads word throughout the village that Amanda is a witch. John denies the accusations to his neighbors and chalks it up to a jilted Evelyn, and the village folk seem to take his word. Still, Amanda turns down John's offer to marry him because... she really is a witch! "They Called Me a Witch!" ends with a twist we've seen on several occasions across several publishers. Without giant monsters, the Kirby/Sinnott art is pretty bland. Oddly enough, someone thought it okay to include the postal statement right on the splash!

In the finale this issue, "Beware!!! Of the Little Toy Men!!," a newspaper reporter tries to convince his editor that a local eccentric millionaire who's passing out free toy men to kids is actually an alien from space laying the groundwork for invasion. His toy men will rise up and conquer Earth when the time is right. Then the editor tells his journalist that he's insane and to get back to work. Regardless of the rebuff, our hero makes it his duty to alert the citizens of Earth. Some truly awesome graphics from Ditko here while the script is lifeless and, in the end, ridiculous. In the final panels, the reporter finally gets his editor to believe him by revealing a secret that should have the boss calling the men in white suits rather than the FBI!-Peter

Tales of Suspense #9

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Saw Diablo! The Demon from the Fifth Dimension!" ★★

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)

(r: Strange Tales Annual #1)(r: Monsters on the Prowl #30)

"The Wrath of Chondu!" (a: Doug Wildey) ★★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #7)

"Time on My Hands!" (a: John Forte) ★

"Earth Will Be Destroyed!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(Crypt of Shadows #19)

"The Return of the Living Robot!" (a: Don Heck) ★

An intrepid adventurer overhears talk in a "gloomy Trinidad cafe" of a monster beyond all knowledge of science, a creature made of smoke that lives in the Sierra Madres. Unable to hold himself back, our hero heads to the Aztec village terrorized by the hazy behemoth. Sure enough, within minutes of arriving, the man is screaming "I Saw Diablo! The Demon from the Fifth Dimension!" The giant cloud telepathically relates his story to the bewildered human; Diablo has been on Earth for centuries, gathering up enough power to take over. Nothing on this puny planet can defeat it.

But just before Diablo gets on the walkie-talkie to his Diablo Brothers, our protagonist gets a brainstorm and fools the demon into heading home, job unfinished. Why would inhabitants of a "fifth dimension" recognize themselves as coming from a "fifth dimension?" Wouldn't they consider themselves the "first" and us the "fifth?" How do they know they're not the "sixth" or "tenth?" This must have been one of the easier big monster strips for Kirby to pump out, since Diablo resembles "The Squiggle from the Fifth Dimension." Though our brave adventurer goes nameless (he's the narrator), years later the character is identified as Ulysses Bloodstone, Monster Hunter. 

Doug Wildey's amazing art is the reason to wade through the three pages of "The Wrath of Chondu!," about a mind-reading showman who gets carjacked and must prove he really can warp men's minds. Wildey's work is extremely atmospheric, very much like that of Gene Colan's, and a breath of fresh air amidst so much monotony. Steve Gerber memorably brought Chondu back to team up with two other Atlas title bad guys (Dr. Nagan from "It Walks Erect" in Mystery Tales #21 and Dr. Morgan from "Prisoner of the Fantastic Fog" back in World of Fantasy #11) to take on The Defenders in that team's 21st issue. 

The other three-pager this issue, "Time on My Hands!," concerns a thief who steals into a government building and jumps in a just completed time machine. He sets the dial to 1975, jumps out, and heads for the local library, where he looks up the winning nags for the races on the day after he left. The knucklehead then heads back to his craft, only to find it missing. When he tells a passing cop that he's misplaced his time machine, the cop runs him in. Time machines have been illegal since 1973! Besides, the cop sighs, the dope parked his gizmo in a garbage disposal and it's been incinerated. This is an almost note for note rewrite of "Trapped in Tomorrow" from Strange Tales #68 (April 1959). The ink is barely dry before Stan is ripping himself off now.

Having destroyed their own world through nuclear war, the inhabitants of Gorgon look to make another world their own: Earth. The planet's supreme ruler orders his scientists to lock in their terrifying U-Gun on Earth and fire when ready. "Earth Will Be Destroyed!" But the eggheads are perplexed, since the U-Gun simply spins in circles, unable to fix on its target. Ya know why? Cuz Gorgon is a tiny speck on a microscope slide and it's about to be washed away. Another groaner aided significantly by the dazzling pencil of Mr. Ditko. Last up is "The Return of the Living Robot!," a sequel to last issue's "It Walks By Night!" The Living Robot survives his fall into the sea and vows vengeance on mankind by... returning to civilization and changing the dumb laws that make robots illegal. 

No destruction or widespread panic in this guy's plans. The Robot steals the identity of his friend, Cyril Stredford, a man who has the ear of the House of Commons and pleads his case to the government. Just as the law is about to be repealed, the real Cyril bursts through the doors, screaming "I Was Attacked by the Living Robot Who Wasn't Really Me!" The Robot grabs a hunk of the highway, but Cyril catches up to him and, in a brutal brawl, tosses the artificial man off a roof and then ponders whether a good robot like himself can change the views of mankind. Yep, Cyril is a robot too!!! Who'd a thunk? As dumb as this entry is, I do like the idea of sequels to these Atlas tales. I'm not saying that will raise the level of quality, but it's an interesting idea.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #9

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Return of the Genie!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Vault of Evil #11)

"No Way Out" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #34)

"I Saw Droom the Living Lizard!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Fantasy Masterpieces #8)(r: Where Monsters Dwell #28)

"Fangs of the Bear" (a: Doug Wildey) ★

(r: Crypt of Shadows #13)

After months of being stuck in a bottle resting in swamp mud, the genie is freed when an old feller happens by and pulls the cork for a peek inside. Seeking revenge on the human race, the genie flies to Manhattan and covers it with a magic vapor that removes the law of gravity. He then flies to Chicago and reduces everyone to insect size, then to Detroit, where he turns domestic pets into giants, and on to other cities.

His big idea is to bring the moon to Earth, scaring people who fear a collision. Finally, he creates an army of goliaths and takes over one country after another. The genie plans to take over the galaxy but, when his spaceship exits Earth's atmosphere, he loses his powers. Next thing he knows, he's back in the bottle in the swamp, aware that he'll remain trapped until he learns a lesson about greed.

Kirby and Ayers draw some decent panels depicting the mad genie, but the story goes nowhere. Was any reader clamoring for the "Return of the Genie!"? I know I wasn't.

In the 21st century, man can travel to the farthest reaches of our nine planets (Pluto still counted) but some mysterious barrier prevents ships from going any further. Is there "No Way Out"? Dr. Harris, a top scientist, volunteers to pilot a spaceship to the barrier and see what's up. He gets there and can't break through, so he heads home, where he sees a fish bowl and suspects that mankind is being protected, like fish in a bowl, by some mysterious force.

Far from Ditko's best work and a terrible story to boot. There is unintentional hilarity when Harris gets out of his rocket ship and takes a power drill to the invisible space barrier. Nope! That doesn't work either.

Hoping to solve the problem of overpopulation, a scientist named Henry Gordon invents a serum to make produce grow bigger so it can provide more food for hungry people. When some of his serum accidentally spills on a lizard, it grows to enormous size! "I Saw Droom the Living Lizard!" thinks the scientist, and Droom starts knocking over buildings.

The military can't stop Droom and the president declares a state of emergency. Droom heads out to the country and plucks a bomber from the sky before it can drop a nuclear bomb on him! Finally, the military attaches rockets to Droom and launches him into outer space! Droom stops growing, spends ten million years in suspended animation, and ends up on the primitive planet known as Earth, where his kind will rule until they die out.

Hoo boy, not another story where it turns out that the events we're seeing a) did not happen on Earth and b) happened a really long time ago. What a shock! Heck probably wasn't the best choice to draw this story, but how many pages could Kirby crank out in a month? Wait--don't answer that.

A man invents a robot teddy bear and sells it to a toy shop where rich people shop, intending to use the cuddly little guy to commit robberies. A rich couple buys the bear and takes it home, so the inventor has the bear steal a jewelry box and return to the lab. The next day, the inventor sells the same bear back to the toy store, claiming it's a new one, and it's purchased by a poor young man who takes it home and gives it to his disabled son. Despite the inventor's best efforts to recall it, the bear refuses to leave the boy's side. The inventor grabs a gun, goes to the family's apartment, and demands that they give him the teddy bear. The bear attacks the man and squeezes him till he passes out; the cops come and take the crook away and the boy and his bear live happily ever after.

"Fangs of the Bear" wraps up a terrible issue of Tales to Astonish. The bear doesn't even have fangs! It amazes me that Marvel reprinted all four of these stories in the 1970s. I guess they were looking to fill pages and not worried about quality.-Jack

Strange Tales #75

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"Taboo! The Thing from the Murky Swamp!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #2)(r: Weird Wonder Tales #13)

"The Return of the Totem!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #13)

"Doomsday!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"I Made the Hulk Live" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Tomb of Darkness #22)

Lewis Conrad, the famous explorer whose adventure books sell millions of copies, is in the Amazon Rainforest when he encounters "Taboo! The Thing from the Murky Swamp!" Taboo looks like a great big creature made of mud, but when he picks up Conrad, Taboo uses mental telepathy to explain that he's really an alien who is stranded on Earth. Lewis agrees to help the mucky guy get home and visits the United Nations, where every nation shares its scientific knowledge with him.

Lewis returns to the swamp and gives Taboo a device containing all of the knowledge, but the monster laughs and says he tricked us and will return to destroy all of humanity. Taboo flies off into space, where he blows up--Lewis  put an H-bomb in the device that could be detonated by remote control just in case Taboo was lying.

The splash page by Kirby and Ayers is dynamite and the story's not bad either! I was expecting some pushback from world leaders when Lewis asked if they could share all of their scientific knowledge so that he could give it to a swamp creature, but they didn't have a problem with it. I was glad that Taboo turned out to be a sneaky villain and that we were able to blow him up. That was a pretty neat trick to hide an H-bomb in the device!

"The Return of the Totem!" finds the big wooden pole hopping back to the Indian village after knocking a big hole in the wall of the jail. It picks up teepees and makes mayhem, so the tribe races to a nearby cave and hides. The old Indian visits the police to warn them, but they scoff at the thought of a walking totem pole until it attacks the mayor's home that night. The next day, the totem pole disrupts a company picnic but is stopped by the old Indian, who tosses some magic potion on the pole and causes it to fall off a cliff into water, where it drifts out to sea.

Will the totem return? I certainly hope not. These stories are hard to take and even Ditko seems to realize how silly the idea of a totem pole hopping after people is.

While arguing about whether there is a supernatural force that governs the universe and maintains order, a pair of scientists named Walter and Lynn invent a deadly gas called X-39 that will kill everyone on Earth in 24 hours and accidentally knock over a beaker of the stuff, releasing it into the atmosphere! As it spreads, the scientists chat about all of the terrible battles that have occurred throughout human history. Suddenly, a powerful wind comes out of nowhere and blows the gas safely into space! Now Walter agrees with Lynn that some force protects the universe.

Some of Paul Reinman's panels in "Doomsday!" look a bit like the work of Gil Kane, but this story is essentially a page filler. One would think that scientists would be a bit more careful with a gas that could kill everyone on Earth. Oops! Knocked it over!

A short man named Al vows to get revenge on those who mocked him, so he develops a formula to make him tall and powerful! It doesn't work, so he builds a giant robot outfit that he can wear in his quest to become ruler of the world. Al climbs inside and the suit locks around him, but he realizes that he left the key to the starter on the lab table, so now he's stuck inside!

The most interesting thing about "I Made the Hulk Live" is its title, which anticipates the Marvel hero who will come a few years later. This is another story about a scientist who makes a stupid mistake. Nothing much happens outside of his imagination.-Jack

Thursday on The 100:
No One Said These Were All
Going to Be Good Time Fun Flicks!

And In One Week...
A Genuine
Ditko Classic!