The Marvel/Atlas
Horror Comics
Horror Comics
Part 186
October 1961
by Peter Enfantino
and Jack Seabrook
Cover by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Dick Ayers
"The Escape of... Monsteroso!"
(a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★
(r: Monsters on the Prowl #28)
"The Watchers!" (r: Don Heck) ★1/2
(r: Giant-Size Chillers #2)
"The Joker!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★
(r: Monsters on the Prowl #29)
Phil owns a failing circus... who goes to the circus now that the public can see anything it wants on TV?... and he also "owns" (their words, not mine, gals) a nag of a wife. Nag... nag... nag... that's all Ethel does. Phil is watching TV one night when the anchorman breaks the startling news that a tribe in Africa is reporting the crash of a UFO! No one believes the natives except Phil. He tells Ethel that he's hopping a plane and bringing back a real, live alien for the circus.
But, three weeks into a sold out run at the Atlas Museum of Natural History, the creature, now dubbed Monsteroso, awakens and smashes through the walls of the building. Phil tries to plead with the authorities that Monsteroso might just be more afraid of us than we are of him, but to no avail. Even Ethel spits in Phil's general direction and rues the day she married him.
Monsteroso blazes a trail of destruction right up to the U.N. building, where it climbs the structure and perches at the top as if waiting for a treat. If a harpoon filled with knockout serum is what the big guy is waiting for, he doesn't have long to wait. Soon after a massive dart pierces his flesh, Monsteroso takes a header into the East River.
Not only do Stan and Jack rip off King Kong and Gorgo but also themselves as this particular twist had been done at least a couple times in the past year. I love how Phil arrives at the crash site and there is zero scientific presence... no professors, no archaeologists, not even the National Enquirer! Just one very keen circus owner. Jack must be chuffed, since "The Escape of... Monsteroso!" contains not one, not two, but three "Earth viewed from outer space with conversation bubbles" panels! At some point, Stan will doubtless see the positives in a 13-page strip featuring nothing but "outer space convo" panels.
Despite winning the "Golden Brain" award from his colleagues in science, Henry Fletcher is afraid to admit to his fellow eggheads that, if his new theory is correct, there are invisible forces out there that guide the human hand toward new discoveries and scientific breakthroughs. Henry can't keep his wild hypothesis to himself, so he bends the ear of his poor janitor, Tom, who smiles and listens to the professor's cockamamie rantings. Tom tells Fletcher he needs some time off and the scientist admits the old-timer might be right. As Henry Fletcher exits the building, so does janitor Tom, who happens to be one of "The Watchers!" Never saw that one coming, didja? The script is hogwash, but if there's a bright side to reading all these awful strips, it's that I've found an appreciation for the work of Don Heck. He's no Neal Adams but he obviously put some thought into his work while at the drawing board.
Cover by Jack Kirby and George Klein
"Where Will You Be, When... the Spider Strikes!"
(a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★
(r: Where Creatures Roam #8)
"What Lurks on Channel X?"
(a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★
(r: Fear #5)
"Menace from Mars!" (a: Don Heck) ★★
(r: Fear #5)
"One Look Means Doom!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★
(r: Fear #5)
Bob Carter works at the local desert atomic center in New Mexico America, blasting photons with his proton torpedo machine, but this morning Bob's day will go horribly wrong. You see, while Bob slumbered the night before, a pesky but average-sized spider crawled up onto Bob's trousers while they were lying on his couch (Bob's a 1960s bachelor, so we can excuse him for leaving clothes all over the house) and, when Bob went to work, he took the little stowaway with him. Once in the lab, the eight-legger hops off and strolls around the room.
The added extra density displayed by the gigantic arachnid triggers an alarm and Bob (accompanied by two other eggheads) rushes back into the room, only to be trapped in a giant web! The radiation has granted Melvin the power of speech and he immediately lays out his plan for the befuddled trio: he plans to gather up as many of his spider-buddies as he can find in the desert, bring them back to the lab, and blast them with proton rays. Then, world dominion awaits!
Truly, this is a magical mess. Lots of fun inanities to wade through in "Blahblahblah... The Spider Strikes!" I touched on Bob's exit from the lab but let's revisit it anyway as it certainly brightened my day. Are there no safety protocols in 1961 Roswell? Why would Bob's "associate" interrupt a dangerous experiment to let him know he's got a call? Is the call from Kennedy, wanting to know if his Anti-Castro Ray™ is ready to be utilized (now that would be a great strip for Stan to write... "I Was Responsible for the 300-Foot Dictator!"), or just another telemarketer? If Melvin has grown "as big as a house," then why does he still fit inside the lab? Most important, why is "The Spider Strikes!" only seven pages long? Did Stan feel he didn't have enough story to justify thirteen? That never stopped The Man before!
A man out walking alone in the woods is faced with the "Menace from Mars!" Seems the Martians are worried that Earth might be flexing its military muscles by sending satellites into space. Fearing Mars might be attacked, a trio of aliens arrive on Earth to interview the common man. Using a truth detector, the Martians ask their captive easy questions such as "Would you steal to become the world's richest man?" and "Who do you hate?" and "Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt?" The innocence and love the man displays during his interview convinces the aliens that Earth is a wonderful place that poses no threat to other worlds. After the ship zips away, the men in the white uniforms come and take our hero back to the mental institution from whence he escaped. It's a cute, climactic twist that I know I've seen before (and I'm sure one of the notetaking readers will remind me where) and it elevates this above the usual rubbish. But I still wanna know how Martians would know to call their world Mars and ours Earth.
Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
"Fin Fang Foom!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★★
(r: Where Monsters Dwell #21)
"The Green Things!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★
"The Touch of Midas!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★
Hoping to ward off an invasion from "Iron Curtain aggressors," Chan Luchow seeks out the legendary "Fin Fang Foom!," a deity rumored to be buried within the walls of an ancient temple. Bypassing the guards, Chan does indeed find and awaken the slumbering dragon and manipulates the creature into blazing a path of destruction across the Great Wall of China and its stinkin' commie army. Once the forces have been vanquished, Chan puts the dragon back in the temple for another long sleep, hoping no other man will stumble on the secret of Fin Fang Foom!
How a follow-up story to this origin was never planned is beyond me, but Fin would be revived by Tony Isabella for use in his "It! The Living Colossus!" series for Astonishing Tales in 1974. Worldwide fame would elude the dragon until the 1990s, when he guest-starred in several issues of Iron Man. A quasi-Fin appeared on the big screen in the under-rated Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The snake-like design of the creature is an odd one and, of course, so are his trunks.
Selfish and rich, Simon Kluge only wants to become wealthier and if that means putting someone out of their house to make way for a parking lot, so be it! Simon is convinced that there really is such a thing as the Midas touch and he's clever enough to figure out where the King went wrong. All you have to do is wear gloves when you want to eat, right? Well, "The Touch of Midas!" has one of the most obvious "twist" endings ever. Once Simon dons his gloves, they turn to gold. How could he not have predicted that?-Peter
Cover by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko
"Beware of... Bruttu" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★
(r: Monsters on the Prowl #18)
"Only One is Human!" (a: Don Heck) ★★
(r: Creatures on the Loose #20)
"The Anatomy of a Nightmare!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2
(r: Monsters on the Prowl #18)
Howard is a man of slight build who is always being picked on by big bullies. His girlfriend Anne is kind but he thinks she just feels sorry for him. One day, he picks up a comic book featuring a giant monster named Bruttu and wishes he were like the character so no one would mess with him. Howard happens to work at a lab where a new type of atomic machine is being tested and, just as he's imagining life as Bruttu, he trips and bumps into the control lever. Howard is exposed to maximum radiation and, since he was thinking about Bruttu when he slipped, he suddenly turns into the monster!
Though his mind remains the same, Howard's body is now frightening and everyone cries, "Beware of... Brutto"! Everywhere he goes, people run in terror, and he can't tell them the truth because all he can do is growl. Police shoot at him, so he escapes to the countryside. Howard thinks that he might be able to write about his unfortunate situation, but he needs to find a very large writing instrument and has to run off again when the Army appears. Howard makes a fuss at a carnival as he begins to lose his temper. Finally, he visits Anne at home, wanting to see her once before he dies. He's able to pick up a rake and scratch a message to her in the dirt, but she surprises him by vocally expressing her love for Howard and accusing Bruttu of killing the man she loves!
Shocked and heartened, Howard lumbers back to the lab, where another jolt of radiation returns him to normal. Bruttu disappears and people think he must have been a visitor from outer space who fled. Howard and Anne end up in each other's arms.
"Beware of... Bruttu" isn't a bad story and it shows that Stan and Jack were just a whisker away from creating The Fantastic Four, where radiation would change characters physically but not mentally without turning them into evil creatures. It's interesting that Howard doesn't know what to do with his great size and strength and just wants everyone to calm down! It's too bad he didn't think to write a more direct message to Anne, something like, "Hey Anne! It's me, Howard!" On page two, there's a hybrid panel where Howard and Anne are surrounded by floating heads that mock him, while on page eleven the usual panel in outer space with a dialogue balloon is slightly different in that there are a couple of satellites floating by and some sort of fire emanating from the other side of the Earth. It's notable that Howard changes into the monster and changes back at the end--I think that's a new wrinkle, one we'll eventually get very used to with the Hulk.
Earthmen have invaded the planet Mars and are battling the Martians! After one big skirmish, the Martians retreat and the Earthmen quickly build a dome to protect them from Virus X, which is carried inside Martian bodies and which will kill any man who is exposed to it for 24 hours. Inside the dome, the men quickly realize that a Martian has infiltrated their ranks. There are two Robert Browns, each of whom looks exactly like the other. and both are able to answer every question tossed their way. Finally, the Martian is tripped up when fake news comes about the death of Mrs. Brown back on Earth. The Robert Brown who sheds no tears is exposed and tossed out of the dome, since everyone knows that only humans can cry!
Another fairly interesting story that flips the script by having the humans on Mars rather than the other way around. There is never any explanation for why we're invading the Red Planet. We can take comfort in the panel on page four that shows a view of Mars from space with dialogue balloons around it; perhaps Heck was taking a cue from Kirby. The twist ending doesn't hold up for me, though--why can't Martians cry, and how would humans know that?
Pressured to come up with a new type of fantasy story and facing writer's block, an author takes a pill guaranteed to cause nightmares! He falls asleep and dreams that he journeys to the tenth moon of Wozu, where he is confronted by aliens who are surprised to see that he looks just like them! The man wakes up and is frustrated that the pills didn't work--he just dreamed of his own world!
I knew something was up right away when Ditko hid the main character's face from the reader. I haven't watched "Eye of the Beholder" umpteen times for nothing! We're getting more and more of these stories about comic book writers and artists. Happily, Ditko's art is outstanding and he draws a dragon that reminds me of the work of Frazetta.-Jack
Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
"I Found the Abominable Snowman!"
(a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★
"Something Missing!!" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2
(r: Where Creatures Roam #5)
"He Waits in the Dark!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★
(r: Where Creatures Roam #5)
There is a pitched battle for ratings going on between two TV shows: "So You Want to See it!," where viewers write in with requests, and the "Don Jordan Show," which features performers. Jordan has an idea to embarrass his rival and, writing as George Smith, he asks to see a film of the Abominable Snowman. Victor Cartwright, producer of "So You Want to See It!," accepts the challenge and flies his TV crew to the Himalayas, where he plans to don a furry costume and announce that "I Found the Abominable Snowman!"
Things get dicey when the real Snowman captures the costumed Vic and takes him into a machine that drills down to the Earth's core. There, Vic learns "The Snowman's Secret!" He is really a lizard-like creature wearing a fur costume to keep warm while he searches for his missing brother, who disappeared while exploring long ago. Fred Cooper, a member of Vic's TV crew, followed his boss and hid in the drilling machine. He helps Vic escape, even managing to avoid being killed by a giant octopus when the duo fall into a pool of water! They make their way to the driller and ride it back to the surface, where they blow it up and agree to tell no one of what they found. In the end, on his TV show, Vic exposes his rival as the fake George Smith.
Where do I start? Does it get worse than this? I thought we learned a while back that the Abominable Snowman was really just a guy who wandered around so long that his hair grew really long. Apparently that was not correct; now he's really a lizard creature in disguise. Oddly enough, there are no outer space or floating head panels. Maybe they would've helped. The only thing of even minimal interest in this tale is the drilling machine, which reminds me of the one the Mole Man would soon use in the FF.
Hokey, yes, but Heck draws decent Mercurians. It's better than the story that preceded it.
In an unnamed European city stands a shabby tenement where a cruel landlord ignores the pleas of his poor tenants for heat and repairs. The janitor complains and is fired; a new janitor is hired who quietly goes about taking care of things, explaining to the tenants that "He Waits in the Dark!" but never revealing what or for whom he is waiting. When the landlord goes too far and tells the janitor to throw any tenants who complain out into the cold, the janitor directs the tenants to a place where they will be given food and shelter. He then waits for the landlord to arrive. When he does, he tells the landlord that he's taking him and the tenement far away and they will never again be separated. From then on, the building and landlord are gone!
Ditko's art is so impressive that it almost makes up for the story, which is proceeding reasonably well until it reaches the ending, which doesn't make much sense. But at least we have the art!-Jack
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| On Thursday... John Finally Gives Us a Sneak Preview of What the Rest of His List Looks Like! |
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| And Next Week... Another Ditko Classic! |
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