Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 95: Atlas/Marvel Horror

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 80

March 1955 

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery 23

Cover by Carl Burgos

“Gone… But Not Forgotten?” (a: John Forte) ★★1/2
“Yvette” (a: Marvin Stein) ★★
“Revenge!” (a: Ed Winiarski) ★★★
“The Doll House!” (a: Gene Colan) ★★1/2
“Clinging Vine” (a: Manny Stallman) ★★1/2

An ocean liner magically appears in the middle of Times Square and major New York landmarks are disappearing into thin air. The world’s biggest brains have no answer for these paranormal phenomena. What no one knows is that a precocious alien child from another galaxy is popping onto Earth and stealing these objects for his playroom. “Gone… But Not Forgotten?” is a fun fantasy yarn, but you have to ask yourself (and direct the question toward our uncredited writer as well), “How come no one sees a really big kid standing over the buildings before they vanish?”

Two ghosts search the streets of post-World War II Paris for each other in the maudlin “Yvette.” This was Marvin Stein’s first contribution to the Atlas horror/sf titles, with twelve more to follow. Much better (at least script-wise) is “Revenge,” this issue’s Red Scare fable. Former Kremlin police chief Noris Vasily is tossed into a labor camp for traitors. As he sulks, he sees the man who turned him in, Ivan Gregorivitch, marched in as well.

From that moment on, Vasily’s only focus is killing his betrayer. One night, Vasily sees Gregorivitch marched into a small cabin and recognizes his best chance at evening up the score. He sneaks into the building and stabs Ivan to death. Too late, Vasily realizes he followed his enemy into the gas chamber. At least one thing will remain constant as we slip away from the pre-code and gird ourselves for the post-code years: the big, bad commies. Winiarski’s art remains crude but, at times, effective.

With the coming of the code and the banishment of werewolves, vampires, and other nasty juvenile-delinquency feeders, Stan and the boys were forced to come up with new ideas focusing on psychology and the spirit world. Paul S. Newman’s “The Doll House” is a perfect example of the new norm. Twelve-year old Nancy is still obsessed with her childhood doll house and its occupants and that makes her parents nervous. They take the house away from their daughter and place it in storage in the attic. A decade later, a newly-wed Nancy returns to the attic to find the dolls inside have aged and the house has become run-down and decrepit. The finale is too abrupt (but, of course, we are talking about a four-page strip here) and the startling revelation is left unexamined, but “The Doll House” succeeds because of its eerie atmosphere.

Orde Wilson is convinced that mankind’s next great war will be with ivy! The “Clinging Vine,” Orde claims, has a brain and is plotting the takeover of Earth. Orde details the history of ivy to anyone who will listen but, usually, the reaction is laughter, not awe. Finally, Orde goes too far when he attacks a wall of ivy and is arrested. That night, our unsung hero is strangled in his cell; the authorities have no idea who the culprit is, even as tendrils of ivy pull back through the jailhouse window. Another fanciful yarn, with some solid Stallman graphics, but too much of this reads like a Wikipedia entry on ivy.-Peter

Marvel Tales 132

Cover by Sol Brodsky

“Poison Pen!” (a: John Tartaglione) ★★

“The Old Couple!” (a: Sid Greene) ★★

(r: Tomb of Darkness #23)

“Hail the Hero” (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★★★

“The Man Who Lost Yesterday!” (a: Ed Winiarski) ★1/2

“The Man Who Wasn’t” (a: Dick Ayers) ★1/2

Cal Collins is New York’s most popular gossip columnist; his “Poison Pen!” can make a star or destroy a life. Now Cal has set his sights on the daughter of a disgraced accountant who committed suicide years before. While working on the piece, Cal is approached by a man who claims he can predict events yet to happen. After a few predictions come true, Cal begins to rely more and more on the stranger’s fortune telling. Bad idea. Collins gets his comeuppance in the predictable finale.

Bessie and John fall asleep in front of the fire while remembering the good old days. Bessie wakes up from her nap, but John has drifted into the eternal sleep, never to awaken. After a brief viewing ceremony, Bessie is left alone with John’s corpse in her living room. Feeling a chill, she descends into the basement to bring up more wood for the fire. There, she sees a younger John beckoning to his wife to join him. “The Old Couple” are reunited again!

Odd that John’s body would be left with Bessie rather than sent to the mortuary or on to the cemetery and even odder that the casket is left open. The climax, where John convinces Bessie that the “other side” is a better place, opens up a can of worms as well. Did Bessie’s heart coincidentally give out or did she commit suicide? Sid Greene’s graphics are reminiscent of Colan’s.

In the future, spacemen are not allowed to marry. That causes some discomfort for Desmond, the world’s most adept outer space pilot, who has fallen in love with the gorgeous Dina. In steps Desmond’s best buddy, Clarke, who convinces Desmond to forget Dina and concentrate on chasing immortality. That’s, of course, because Clarke has fallen hard for the fetching femme. Desmond blasts off for the moon and then to Mars and then to Saturn and on and on while Clarke stays back on Earth and marries Dina. Years later, jobless and married to an overweight couch potato, Clarke stares out the window and wonders what might have been.

Though the code has clipped the violence and monsters from the Atlas stable, it hasn’t yet diminished the acidic wit the bullpen could write into their scripts from time to time. Clarke’s closing monologue (”What a fool I was!… All because of a woman… a woman who turned into a shrew, who aged quickly, who speaks only of Desmond and looks on me as a worm!”) is more effective poetic justice than a dozen resurrected corpses. “Hail the Hero” is a darkly funny sci-fi tale with some nice Sale art.

In “The Man Who Lost Yesterday,” a murderer tries to remember what happened after he rubbed out his business partner. The fog clears when he realizes he’s a ghost, killed by police while fleeing the scene. Equally disappointing (and confusing to boot) is “The Man Who Wasn’t,” which spotlights Charlie Correl, an inventor working on a new toy rocket. Charlie is aided by his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Mr. Manley who, we later find out, is from the future. Scientists have sent Manley back into the past to help invent a new “principle of levitation” and stall the end of mankind. I’d tell you more but it’s not really worth it and, to be honest, I didn’t quite understand Manley’s logic anyway. In the trivia department, “The Man Who Wasn’t” might well be the most over-used (and dumb) title in the Atlas horror/sci-fi titles, having been utilized at least three times prior.-Peter

Mystery Tales 27

Cover by Joe Maneely

“The Buildings That Vanished!” (a: Dick Ayers & Ernie Bache) ★★★

“Feet of Clay” (a: Ross Andru and & Mike Esposito) ★★

“Costume Party” (a: Ed Winiarski) ★1/2

“Lonely Hearts” (a: John Forte) ★★1/2

“Welcome Home!” (a: Al Hartley) ★1/2

Citizens are understandably concerned about "The Buildings That Vanished!" It starts with skyscrapers and moves out into the suburbs, where serene homes crumble to dust. Only Alex Conrad isn't panicking, since he knows the truth: he developed indestructible building materials and partnered with an entomologist who has developed a line of brick-eating termites. Conrad lets the termites loose, certain that they'll destroy old buildings and he can make a mint selling his product. Sadly, he locks himself in one of his own indestructible buildings and leaves the key outside; the building is also soundproof, so no one hears his cries for help. Years later, he sits alone, a bitter old man, watching cars speed by on the highway built after the government paid everyone to move out of the town just as the termites devoured its buildings.

Dick Ayers and Ernie Bache show the influence of EC artists in this tale of poetic justice; the profile of the entomologist at the bottom of page three looks like it was drawn by someone from EC and, in the following panel, his entire head is colored red to signal his malevolence. The story depends on some huge coincidences but, for five pages, it's surprisingly effective.

Shorty Smith is a nerd who has never had a date and spends his evenings peering at couples making out in the park. A guy named Harry promises Shorty a date the next evening, but the gal turns out to be a mannequin. Shorty takes Mildred home and attempts to will her to life, but instead he becomes a statue.

The highlight of "Feet of Clay" is the early art by Andru and Esposito, who have yet to develop the annoying style that they would exhibit in DC war comics and Spider-Man comics in the '60s and '70s. The punch line, which is the point of all of these stories, is a letdown.

At a "Costume Party" meeting of the Science-Fiction Cartoonists League, the guests are all dressed like aliens from other planets. League President Burke shows up in a suit and tie and explains that aliens would surely arrive disguised as humans. His fellow members toss him into the backyard pool, only to see another alien arrive. He is unmasked as Burke, and they see a spaceship taking off from the pool.

Was anyone surprised that the person who claimed to be Burke was really an alien? If so, you haven't been paying attention to the many prior comic stories that used the same twist.

Virginia is a sexy chorus girl who makes no secret that she wants a man with money. She answers an ad in the "Lonely Hearts" column in the paper and is matched up with a fabulously wealthy Martian; he puts a tentacle around her waist and leads her to his spaceship.

John Forte can sure draw a sexy chorus girl! His Martian is pretty funny, too. Virginia gets what she wants, I guess!

It's a surprisingly pleasant "Welcome Home!" for Captain Thomas Elwood after the rocket ship he's piloting crash lands on Earth. Why, everything is just the way he remembered it from childhood! Too bad it's a dream and he's really dead, just like the rest of his crew.

Another tale told way too often, this one ends curiously. Elwood returns home and is welcomed, then remembers that everyone died long ago. He learns he is dead, but then in the last panel he's suddenly a little boy again. Huh?-Jack

Mystic 36 

Cover by Carl Burgos

“The Warning!” ★

“Which Wish, Dish…?” (a: Jay Scott Pike) ★★1/2

(r: Journey Into Mystery #15)

“The Hands of the Clock!” (a: Art Peddy) ★

“The Eavesdropper!” (a: Vince Colletta) ★

(r: Dead of Night #8)

“The World Champion” ★1/2

Cal Kemp warns the President of the United States that Venusians have landed and plan to conquer Earth. At first skeptical, the President becomes a believer when he has his Defense Secretary check the situation out. When the Army approaches the landed spacecraft, they are fired upon but, after a fierce battle, humankind has eradicated the Venusian threat. Cal then goes back to his spaceship to alert Jupiter that Earth is ripe for the picking.

The first story of the final issue of the pre-code era, “The Warning!” feels just like one of the stories that will appear in the post-code era: bland, lifeless, and safe. The UFO design is ripped off from George Pal’s The War of the Worlds, the art is sketchy and amateurish (though uncredited, the artist seems to have taken some inspiration from Bernie Krigstein), and the plot and reveal have been milked so many times it almost seems fresh.

Mary is startled to see that her old friend, Helen, who used to beg for loans, is now loaded with cash. What’s her secret? Helen won’t tell, so Mary follows her and discovers that this newfound wealth is due to Helen having saved a blind beggar’s life and being granted one wish. Not one for originality (or working for an honest buck), Mary arranges for a near-accident and she’s in the right place at the right time to save the blind beggar. When the man grants her one wish, Mary wishes she was the “most beautiful and richest queen of them all!” Suddenly, Mary is hurtled back through the ages and finds herself sitting on a throne. Mary’s ecstatic until she exits the castle and an unruly mob rushes Marie Antoinette to the guillotine.

“Which Wish, Dish…?” contains some nice Jay Scott Pike art and a clever twist, but I’d like to know exactly how Helen phrased her wish. This was Pike’s 15th and final pre-code tale, but the artist would go on to contribute 15 more times during the Atlas/Marvel post-code years of 1955-57.

Ludwig, the clockmaker, goes on a rampage and almost murders one of his customers for abusing his clock. Later, after the police leave, Ludwig breaks into the man’s house to “feed” the clock and is arrested. Behind bars, Ludwig dies and the medical examiner discovers that the dead man is a clock as well. Ludicrous and, like “The Warning,” a tale told way too many times. Even more dull is “The Eavesdropper,” wherein a con man overhears a planned murder and attempts to blackmail the would-be assassins. Of course, in the climactic panel, we discover the dope has eavesdropped on his own murder. Artist Vince Colletta was just getting his start at Atlas when the bottom dropped out. He had a total of 10 stories appear in the various titles and would see 11 more tales of mystery and suspense in Atlas’s post-code material. Of course, Colletta went on to fame as a big-name inker at both Marvel and DC (enjoying a very long stint as Jack Kirby’s assistant on Journey Into Mystery/The Mighty Thor) for more than two decades.

When one athlete wins every event in the Olympics, thousands cheer in admiration until the man opens his mouth and reveals he’s a Martian. The Red Planet deemed it a good idea to show what stamina their inhabitants possess before the big invasion. But when a female fan lays a big kiss on “The World Champion,” he drops dead from the bacteria. The War of the Worlds is shamelessly plagiarized not once but twice in the same issue! To anyone paying attention, gone were the zombies, werewolves, and vengeful corpses. The artistic pabulum courtesy of the post-Senate hearings had been fully introduced.-Peter

Uncanny Tales 29
Cover by Carl Burgos

“Only One to a Customer” (a: Sy Moskowitz)
(r: Vault of Evil #12) ★★
“The Albatross!” (a: Pete Tumlinson) ★1/2
(r: Vault of Evil #14)
“The Barefoot Man” (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★1/2
(r: Giant-Size Werewolf #2)
“Deep Down” (a: Art Peddy) ★
(r: Dead of Night #5)
“Sarah” (a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2
(r: Dead of Night #6)

A sidewalk toy salesman thinks he's hit it big when he finds a bunch of self-winding mechanical men. He charges fifty cents a piece and sells out, but that night he discovers more toy men in his valise then he thought he had. Back on the street the next day, his customers from the day before complain that the toys walked off on their own! He runs down an alley, the valise falls open, and one of the toy men shoots him with a ray gun. Next thing he knows, he's on another planet being sold as a unique mechanical giant toy!

"Only One to a Customer" starts out intriguingly and then flubs the ending, a twist that would be reused in several years on The Twilight Zone in "People Are Alike All Over." Unfortunately, Sy Moskowitz has an art style that can charitably be described as "underground," with his main character looking like something Robert Crumb might draw.

"The Albatross!" retells "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" with a modern-day crew. Pete Tumlinson's art is average at best and the only "uncanny" thing about this tale is that the seaman telling it turns out to be a ghost at the end. Yawn.

Pablo, "The Barefoot Man," wishes he had a pair of boots. Oh, the places he could go and the things he could do if only he were shod! One day, he murders a traveler on the road and steals the man's fine boots. He is soon apprehended by Federales, who tracked the boot prints in order to catch the man who wore them--a robber and a murderer! No one listens to Pablo's protestations of innocence.

So far, these tales aren't very uncanny and the art isn't very good. It's surprising that all five stories in this issue were reprinted in Marvel horror comics of the 1970s.

One spooky night, a man walking through the woods sees numerous other men crawling out of holes in the ground. They ask for his help, promising to make him rich. He follows them "Deep Down" into a hole; at the bottom, he sees a huge nugget of gold. The men explain that the gold blocks the entrance to a cave that contains a fearsome Dragila and they ask him if he can figure out a way to remove it without unleashing the beast. It seems that the first man descended in 1899 and shoved the gold in place. Every year since then, he's come up and brought someone else down to try to solve the problem. After another year passes, the latest member of the club suggests that there is no solution and all of the other men agree and emerge from their holes.

Just when I think this issue can't get worse, it does! "Deep Down" features a ridiculous story, poor art, and an insipid ending. Can Joe Sinnott save the day?

Nope. "Sarah" is an obese, middle-aged woman who collects rare historical objects and will do anything to get what she wants. She hears about a sword that belonged to Benedict Arnold and, when its owner won't sell it to her, she returns at midnight to steal it. She opens the door to leave and is confronted by a well-dressed man whom she assumes is a rival collector. Sarah is consumed by shame and runs out to confess to a passing policeman; too bad the man at the door is just a puzzled French tourist who speaks no English and stopped by the house to ask for directions.

Hoo boy, is this comic bad. Sinnott's art isn't impressive, there's nothing mysterious or uncanny about this story, and the ending is just plain dumb. Should we go back to reading lousy Warren comics?-Jack

Next Week...
Finally, the Joker!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 94: Atlas/ Marvel Horror (Last Gasp of the Pre-Code!)

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 79

February 1955 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

Marvel Tales 131

Cover by Carl Burgos

“The Man Who Bought a Dingbat” (a: Bill Everett) ★★★

“Five Fingers” (a: Paul Hodge) ★★1/2

(r: Tomb of Darkness #21)

“The Rookie” (a: Werner Roth) ★1/2

“Farewell-Moon” (a: Howie Post) ★★1/2

“While Death Waits” (a: Gene Colan) ★★★1/2

Used car dealer Honest Ernest is anything but honest. He’ll take an old couple for every dollar they have and talk them into buying a worthless piece of junk. Then one day, Ernest has a strange little man visit the car lot; the man needs a used car but only has a hundred bucks to spend. Ernest asks about a trade-in and the man shows him what he’s got. Ernest has never seen anything like it so he immediately gives a thumbs-up to the deal.

Turns out the auto travels to other worlds and the planet Honest Ernest visits is made of solid gold. One trip isn’t enough for the world’s greediest man and so he makes a return visit. Bad idea; Honest Ernest runs out of gas. “The Man Who Bought a Dingbat” is an amusing farce, with some slapstick choreography compliments of the great Bill Everett. This was Everett’s 48th and final pre-code appearance.

Pickpocket Ned Field has a unique way of plying his trade. Ned has a fake hand he keeps tucked in his coat pocket, while his real right hand lifts wallets. The thing looks so real, it even creeps out his conmen buddies. Ned grooms and polishes the hand and, in turn, it takes care of him. Then, one day, a mark catches Ned in the act and busts his fake hand. Ned laughs it off and heads home but, on the subway, the third hand reaches for a policeman’s gun and Ned gets blown away. The hand gets its revenge. The set-up for “Five Fingers” is very unsettling; Ned’s obsession with his third limb is well-written and unnerving. The story seems to be centering on Ned’s grip on reality (which would have been more interesting, I think), but then takes that unexpected turn in the end. 

Young Jed Broome can throw a 100-mile an hour fastball but country life keeps him down on the farm. Jed finally achieves his dream of trying out in front of scouts but, at the last second, decides to keep his skills to himself. It’s inexplicable that “The Rookie” landed up in Marvel Tales; there’s not one aspect of the story that qualifies as fantasy, sf, or horror unless one considers a life in the majors as a fantasy. I assume Marvel Baseball Tales was cancelled at the last moment and Stan had inventory to use.

“Farewell-Moon” concerns the race of werewolves that live on the moon, yearning for a warmer climate and looking longingly at Earth. When their leader finds “secret papers” that detail the sending of werewolves to Earth in spaceships centuries before, new ships are built and an emissary is sent on recon. When the lycanthrope (who resembles a dog) is injured in the touchdown and cared for by a small girl, the alien decides this is paradise and sends word back to the moon that Earth is uninhabitable. A charming little fable with some equally charming sketches by Howie Post.

When the mine they’re working caves in, five workers concede that they’re going to die and confess about their shortcomings and the lives they might have led. When the round-robin gets to Grogan, he allows that he’s led exactly the life he wanted to the fullest and then details robberies and murders he been involved in. Since they will never live to see the light of day again, he seems confident that his confessions will remain in that tight dark area. Then a shaft of light reaches the miners and they’re elated to hear the voices of their rescuers. A taut, gripping narrative, “While Death Waits” offers up hope that strong writing can overcome the stifling hands of the Code around the neck of funny book writers. The art is prime Colan, using its setting to intensify Colan’s masterful use of shadows and half-lit profiles. This is, finally, the master who would help revolutionize the Marvel superheroes a decade later.

Though this was the final pre-code issue of Marvel Tales, the title would limp along a further 18 issues before receiving its pink slip. Though the scripts would become tame, at least the quality of artists contributing remained high. Among those visiting include Matt Fox, Bernie Krigstein, Joe Orlando, and Gray Morrow. The title would be resurrected in 1964, spotlighting reprints of Marvel superhero strips.

Mystery Tales 26

Cover by Carl Burgos & Sol Brodsky

“The Tunnel to Nowhere” (a: Dick Ayers & Ernie Bache) ★

“Eyes of the Cat!” (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

“I Married Cleopatra” (a: Jay Scott Pike) ★★

“The Census Taker” (a: Mort Lawrence) ★1/2

“The Other Face!” (a: John Tartaglione) ★★

Jason finds a huge hole in the back of his closet, one he’s sure wasn’t there minutes before. Berating his wife for being “sloppy” (as if a big hole in the closet is a result of not dusting), Jason enters the hole and exits into another dimension. The aliens there are less than friendly and he is captured. After their leader tells the astonished dope that he’ll have to be disposed of, Jason escapes and heads back to the hole in his closet, only to discover his wife has upped her repair work and sealed the hole. I’m not sure better art would have salvaged the disaster that is “The Tunnel to Nowhere,” but I wouldn’t mind if Stan had given it a shot. The Ayers/Bache work looks like the doodling of a first year art student; no dynamic, no life, nothing remotely original or engaging.

In “Eyes of the Cat!,” George Grubb’s hatred of felines leads to obsession when a black cat won’t stop bothering him. George takes the cat out to the wilds and dumps it numerous times but the thing just keeps coming back. On one final trip, George decides he’s going to leave the kitty in the swamp but realizes, too late, he’s become lost. He follows the cat, thinking it will lead him home, but George ends up sinking in quicksand. Shoulda treated kitty better, George!

Three archaeologists stumble onto the secret chamber where Cleopatra has been hiding for centuries. Astonished, the trio watch as Cleo rises and explains that the whole asp story was a put-on designed to throw her enemies off the track. She needs a husband now so that she can venture forth into the new world and rule her land. Only problem is, she explains, only one can marry her and the other two have to die. Garson decides he’s the most capable of fulfilling an ancient Egyptian queen’s desires so he murders his comrades and takes Cleopatra’s hand. They exit the pyramid but Garson is arrested for murder and when he points to Cleo as an explanation, she’s vanished. The climax of “I Married Cleopatra” is ambiguous and that’s a good thing. There’s a seed of doubt planted in our minds as to whether Garson had gone crazy from the heat or if that gorgeous brunette made an asp of him (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Ben Brand is startled to discover that “The Census Taker!” who comes to his door is actually from another world. Dismal SF tale with adequate Mort Lawrence art. Con-man Harry Chase takes compromising photos and blackmails the subject. While snapping a photo, Harry is run over by a car and awakens in a hospital bed some time later. The plastic surgeon explains that Harry’s face was destroyed in the accident and he had to reconstruct it using the photo in Harry’s pocket! Unfortunately for Harry, the guy whose pic he took was actually an alien from space and his fellow spacemen mistake Harry for their comrade. “The Other Face” is needlessly complicated but visually compelling. John Tartaglione (in his eighth and final appearance) had a strange style that seesawed between ugly and distinct (sometimes meeting right in the middle of those two extremes), much like a more-restrained Tony Tallarico.

Strange Tales 34

Cover by Carl Burgos

“Flesh and Blood” (a: Werner Roth) ★★★

“Moment of Glory” (a: Pete Tumlinson) ★

“The Last Barrier” (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

“The Strange Room” (a: Al Hartley) ★

“Family Tree” (a: Mort Lawrence) ★★

Scientist Foster Hale has created the perfect robot, a “Univec” that can do all of man’s thinking for him. A big business man offers Foster a king’s fortune if he’ll hand over the rights to make a Univec in human form but the egghead refuses, claiming that eventually humans would come to resent the androids. But public opinion changes Hale’s mind and he grants permission. Very soon, Univec-Humans are in every household and replacing humans at the workplace.  

Just as Foster had foretold, unemployment skyrockets and a mob stands in front of the Univec factory, vowing to burn it down. Foster intervenes and is beat to death for his troubles. As the mob gathers around the dead body, they realize that Foster himself was a robot. “But… if he made the robots… then who made him?” Precisely! Who indeed? A sharp reader, with hundreds of Atlas stories under his belt, might expect a reveal along these lines but the final panel, with the golden question, adds an exclamation point to “Flesh and Blood.”

Gas station attendant Sammy Glenn is tired of people telling him how he grew up to be a nothing, a genius in school but a flop at life. When a rich man brings his caddie in and asks Sammy to keep an eye on it for a while, the dumb gas hop decides to take it for a spin and impress all his boyhood chums. What he finds makes him happy for what he’s got. “Moment of Glory” is a schmaltzy variation on It’s A Wonderful Life, with an utterly average graphic display from Pete Tumlinson. Truly awful.

UFOs have suddenly been appearing above the U.S. What’s the story? “The Last Barrier” may just put you to sleep before you find the answer. Marriage has become a hell for the Howards but something in “The Strange Room” located at the Blue Cedars Hotel completely transforms them. As long as they stay in the room, they love each other but once they leave… Like the two stories preceding, “The Strange Room” contains sub-par script and art. 

With an eye to becoming royalty, Karl Schultz weaves an intricate tapestry of fraud in order to convince the powers-that-be that he is the rightful heir to the throne of Slovania. What Schulz doesn’t realize is that the family he’s inserted himself into was cursed with lycanthropy and “purged” by country officials. Kurt soon meets the same fate. It’s not great literature (and again, the art is weak) but “Family Tree” is entertaining enough and boasts a pretty good twist.

In our new Monday slot
on September 18th...
Jack joins Peter
for the Post-Code Age!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 93: Atlas/ Marvel Horror

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 78

February 1955 Part I

by Peter Enfantino

Astonishing 37

Cover by Sol Brodsky

“Master of the Genie” (a: Ross Andru) ★★1/2

“And Then… Mars!” (a: Bill Everett) ★★★

“Poor Pierre!” (a: Mort Lawrence) ★★

“Don’t Touch!” (a: Manny Stallman) ★★★

“The Devil-Man!” (a: Dick Ayers & Ernie Bache) ★★★★

Professor Potter has spent his entire life searching for Aladdin’s Lamp, certain that the mythical treasure actually exists and can change his life and that of his wife, Nora. A clue in one of his books convinces him that the Lamp is buried in a tomb in Naispur. Potter quits his job, grabs his wife, and flies to the site where, sure enough, he finds his holy grail. He rubs the lamp and a genie pops out, explaining that Potter can ask for anything he wishes but that the genie cannot “defy the laws of nature” and that no wish can be changed. Potter agrees gleefully and wishes that he and his wife were back at their hotel room in one minute.

A tornado picks the couple up and deposits them through their hotel window about a minute later. After several days in a coma, the pair wake up, with Nora begging her husband to stop while they’re ahead. Ignoring her, Potter wishes for ten thousand dollars and, very soon after, receives a telegram informing him that his brother is dead and the insurance company will pay Potter ten grand. You get the picture. More “The Monkey’s Paw” than “Arabian Nights,” “Master of the Genie” is a fairly entertaining, if a bit predictable, tale with a very nasty climax. Poor Potter is anything but a villain, only wanting to make life a bit better for Nora, but his greed is paid for in spades.

Bill Everett is the star of “And Then… Mars!,” the tale of an eccentric billionaire who hires fifty of the world’s greatest brains to build a rocket ship that can fly to Mars. Ship built, the scientists and rich goofball blast off and, a few panels later, arrive on Mars. The billionaire sighs and admits that it’s good to be home. He was sent to our planet to abduct all of Earth’s big brains so that we would never land on Mars! Goofy fun, with Everett’s Martian moneyman possessing an ear-to-ear smile to behold.

“Poor Pierre!,” about a circus performer who may or may not have been murdered under strange circumstances, has no story to speak of but sports some eye-catching visuals by Mort Lawrence. His crowd scenes of circus employees and customers are nightmarish. The intro to the four-page “Don’t Touch!” promises a fascinating mystery about a red dome that seems to be perched atop a rock in the sea. The dome cracks and it is revealed that inside are 100 men and women in suspended animation for the past 200 years. The idea is that war threatens to end mankind so these 100 “finest-minded” individuals will be able to help whoever has survived the big war to reestablish mankind. But, it turns out, the only thing left on Earth is the ants that invade the time capsule and, inadvertently, kill its residents. Manny Stallman’s graphics are uber-creepy and we get the feeling that something extraordinary is in store for us but, alas, the finale is fumbled. Still, a decent science fiction tale and easy on the eyes.

Dr. Parrish has become tired of the beastly jungle drums and inquires of his colleagues just what the hell is up. He’s told that the tribes are welcoming the arrival of “The Devil-Man!” to their region. When Parrish pushes, the men explain that the devil-man is, in actuality, a white man named Bob Tenney, who sits in the “Mumbo-Hut” and is possessed by an evil spirit. 

Parrish remembers Tenney as a man he went to medical school with and takes a hike into the jungle to investigate. Sure enough, he finds ol’ Tenney sitting, staring into space in his Mumbo-Hut, a large, gruesome goiter hanging from his neck. Convinced it’s this goiter that’s afflicting him and not Satan, Parrish hires two thugs to kidnap Tenney and bring him to the operating room. There, Parrish cuts into the goiter, only to discover it contains a strange gas which leaks out of the incision. Believing Tenney to be healed, Parrish heads out onto the porch to get some air, only to be verbally assaulted by a group of natives, who call him the new “devil-man.” Parrish grips his throat and feels the growth there. 

Despite some downright ugly artwork (Parrish’s head seems to shrink and expand from panel to panel like some LSD trip), “The Devil-Man” is a truly unsettling piece of fiction, similar in tone and subject to Blatty’s The Exorcist. What is the true origin of the “goiter?” Is it some strange jungle disease or is it Pazuzu circa 1954? Fortunately, the story ends without answering those questions so that our comic-warped brains can fill in the blanks: Like cancerous tentacles, he felt a frightful reaching from the thing hanging from his neck, to his mind… and then his eyes became blank and haunted and he moved blindly down the path toward… the Mumbo Hut. Now that’s an image worthy of Lovecraft, no? Very rarely will I give four stars to a story based solely on script but “The Devil-Man” is one of those rarities simply because it’s so damn disturbing. The final pre-code issue of Astonishing just happens to be the title’s best issue ever!

Journey into Mystery 22

Cover by Joe Maneely

“Mission on Earth” (a: Art Peddy) ★

“Haunted House” (a: Larry Woromay) ★

“The Man Who Watched” (a: John Forte) ★1/2

“The Blaster” (a: Seymour Moskowitz) ★

“The Human Germ” (a: Mort Lawrence) ★★1/2

As can be ascertained from the cover, things were starting to change down at the Atlas bullpen. I assume Stan had at least one eye on what was going on down the road with Kefauver and his cronies and could see the writing on the wall. This was serious business, so maybe Stan decided to put his best foot forward, toss the moldy corpses and multi-fanged vampires and werewolves and opt for a tamer, more kid-friendly atmosphere. Hence, the bland covers we’d be subjected to from here on out. You’d be forgiven for mistaking that lop-sided haunted house on the cover for any number of similar covers to come down the road on Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish.

Art Peddy’s bland artwork is almost as lifeless as the script for the opener, “Mission on Earth.” A science fiction writer is forced to teach a group of aliens (here to blaze the trail for the inevitable invasion) how to interweave themselves into the human race. Predictably, the aliens discover love and compassion and go out in the world to make peace rather than war. 

Joe accepts a bet from his buddies to spend a night in a “Haunted House.” There are a few creepy noises but no ghosts or ghouls. The next morning, the two friends come to collect Joe from the house but they can’t find him. Joe can’t figure out why his chums are ignoring him until he realizes he’s become a ghost. It’s not made clear how Joe died and became a spirit but let’s not dwell on that or on the art by Larry Woromay, which is just as “safe” as Art Peddy’s.

Karmit has been embezzling funds from his war contracts and his partner has ordered an audit. If the government catches wind of Karmit’s criminal deeds, he’ll be shot as a traitor so his partner must be dispatched as quick as possible. Karmit comes up with the perfect plan but, as with so many of these genius dummies, the plot goes awry and Karmit gets his comeuppance. “The Man Who Watched” was John Forte’s 38th and final contribution to the Atlas pre-codes. Forte would contribute a further 124 art jobs to the post code titles all the way up to May 1960, then jump ship and work for ACG and DC.

Weapons hoarder Ingram Frazer is showing off his prized collection to a colleague when they happen upon a strange firearm in one of the glass cases, under which is a card that reads “Martian Blaster.” Ingram’s friend has a good laugh and compliments him on his sense of humor but Ingram finds none of this funny. He takes the weapon out of the case, points it at his Chesterfield, and pulls the trigger. No more sofa! Well, of course, with this firepower, Ingram could rule the world! He immediately finds the world’s most brilliant physicist and hires him to produce 1,000 of the devices. He then hires a squad of goons and prepares to send an ultimatum to the United Nations. Meanwhile, 40 bazillion light-years away, two Martians are sharing a chuckle as they watch Ingram and nine other hand-picked warmongers setting a course for the apocalypse. “The Blaster” contains yet more really bad doodles and a predictable finish. 

Scientists George Collier and Harold Brant are both coming close to the breakthrough in cellular shrinkage they’ve been experimenting in for years. George announces one day to Harold that he’s done it! He’s about to publish his findings in the Atlas Journal of Shrinkage (Cellular or Otherwise) and Harold will be left in the dust. That’s just not going to happen, decides Harold, so he does what any other egghead would do. Rather than, say, chopping down George with an axe or shooting him with a laser beam, Harold fires up his almost-ready equipment and shrinks himself down to molecule size (a size that will last only twelve hours). Once George enters the lab again, Harold will enter his bloodstream for a fantastic voyage through the man’s pores, plant a poison inside him, get back out, and revert back to his original shape and size. Only problem is, once Harold hops a ride in his partner’s genes, George doesn’t feel right and visits his doctor, who shoots George full of antibiotics. The medicine attacks and kills Harold. 

An imaginative romp, “The Human Germ” was just the ticket after the previous dismal quartet. Sure, it’s packed full of head-scratchers (for instance, will Harold’s body still regain its original size and come busting out of George?) but at least there’s a ladle full of fun to go with the quart of dumb. Mort Lawrence must have heard my pleas for competent visuals and come to my rescue. Lawrence, overall, would fall firmly into my second tier of Atlas artists (along with DiPreta, Stallman, etc.) but this issue, compared to the other four delineators, he’s Eisner, Frazetta, and Everett combined.

Journey into Unknown Worlds 33

Cover by Carl Burgos

“The Man in the Box!” (a: Bill Benulis & Jack Abel) ★★

(r: Vault of Evil #1)

“Bomb Blast” (a: Manny Stallman) ★★

“The Pen Pal” (a: Lou Cameron) ★★

“Those Who Listen” (a: Howie Post) ★1/2

“Half-Human” (a: Bob Forgione) ★★1/2

Every night at the stroke of midnight, a very small man climbs out of his tiny green box in the curio shop and heads out into the world to do good deeds. Once he’s done his good deed for that night, he crawls back into his little box and sleeps the day away. One night, a burglar breaks into the shop and steals “The Man in the Box!” Whimsical fantasy with a dark climax.

A nuclear sub goes dark in the middle of a “Bomb Blast” and the ship is damaged, sinking to the bottom of the sea. Suddenly the hatch door begins turning and, to their amazement, the crew are looking out into Atlantis. An intriguing fantasy-thriller is woefully short and capped off by an extremely silly reveal (it turns out that the blast sent the sub 5000 years into the past!), ruining what might have been a superior yarn.

Carl Springer begins receiving letters through his wall from a Plutonian resident. The two strike up a friendship and the letters keep coming. Then one day, Carl feels woozy. He calls in a doctor who tells him his white blood cell count is high but that it’s not much to worry about. Carl receives one more letter after the doctor’s visit; the alien explains that he is taking over Carl’s body and will initiate the coming invasion of Earth. Transformation complete, the alien smiles just as he’s led to the electric chair, where “Killer” Springer is due to be executed.

“The Pen Pal” is Lou Cameron’s only contribution to the Atlas horror titles, after having quite the career drawing horror comics for Ace (The Hand of Fate, Web of Mystery, The Beyond), Story (Mysterious Adventures), and ACG (Adventures Into the Unknown). Once the Code arrived, Cameron stuck around and pencilled six more stories for Atlas, before heading to DC in 1958. After leaving comics, Lou became a successful novelist, writing several well-received crime novels and creating the extremely popular western paperback series, Longarm (as by Tabor Evans).

Aram, the protagonist of “Those Who Listen,” travels from town to town, urging the listeners to quit their jobs and leave town. In every town, Aram is treated with the same derision and, sometimes, violence. Finally, he gives up, boards his starship, and explains to his commander that the people of Earth won’t listen and when the sun explodes, they’ll die of ignorance. Not only is the plot of “Those Who Listen” shaky (Aram never explains to his audience why he wants them to change their lives) but the art is atrocious. Some characters are unformed and sketchy as though the colors were laid down on uninked pencils.

Beloved eye doctor William Lea has always been there for his patients, working long hours and traveling long distances at the behest of a phone call. One night, while making a house call, Lea is bitten by a werewolf and, very soon, begins to transform into one himself. This werewolf is a little bit different than the norm; he stays furry all the time. At first, fangs and fur won’t stop Dr. Lea from seeing to his patients (all of which, luckily, are blind), but eventually the doc has to face facts. He’s starting to lose his human half. So, there’s only one thing left to do: the doc whips up a serum that transforms him into a seeing eye dog!

“Half-Human” is one goofy read, from Lea’s “fangs be damned” proclamation to the side-splitting exclamation from one of Lea’s patients (“Say, doc, do you keep dogs in here? I get the same smell as I do at the kennels where our dogs are kept!”) to the uproarious climax where we are introduced to the new “Doc!”

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