Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 171: Marvel/Atlas Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 156

April-June 1958

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Tales #62 (April)

Cover by Joe Maneely

"The Girl Who Walked Thru Stone!" (a: Ruben Moreira) ★

"The Man Nobody Knew!" (a: Joe Maneely) ★★

"The Invaders!" (a: Werner Roth) ★★1/2

"Filled With Hate" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

"It Happened That Night" (a: Herb Familton) ★

"Alone in the Night!" (a: George Roussos) ★★

Rollery is just another mine-digging grunt when he stumbles upon Lialda, "The Girl Who Walked Thru Stone!" One day, deep in the mines, the fetching beauty materializes from a thick slab of stone and begs Rollery to halt the digging of the mine. The excavation, the beauty claims, is destroying her home world of Shala. The inhabitants are readying a journey to what will become Shala II, deep beneath Australia, but they need a few months to (ostensibly) dig their way further underground (nearly missing the core, I hope); could Rollery throw up a bit of confusion in order to stop the dig? Lialda promises she'll come back for him.

Deeply in love with the magical princess, Rollery blows up the mine and is arrested for his crime. Sitting in a jail for three long years, Rollery has pretty much given up on the Stone Goddess when a "mole" bursts through his cell floor and Lialda pops out with two tickets to paradise. The couple head down into the abyss, with Rollery clearly not wondering how the hell he's going to breathe underground. Pure, mindless junk with adequate art that doesn't force the 8-year-old reader to think about details (like how Lialda knew exactly where Rollery's cell was located), a/k/a Atlas post-code.

The circulation for the Wickston Star-Times increases one thousand fold when its obit editor, Tom Thurty, begins running news items before they happen. Naturally, mobsters want a piece of Thurty and, in the end, they get their just desserts. The reveal for "The Man Nobody Knew!" is from out of the blue (seems Thurty was a ghost the entire time!), but I've learnt that I'll even read through a Carl Wessler script like this if it's adorned with Joe Maneely's pencils.

"The Invaders!" from an undersea kingdom arrive on the surface world to map out their attack but find that the country dwellers are tougher than they seem. A three-page Jack Oleck script with a decent reveal and some fine Werner Roth graphics. More great art is on hand in "Filled with Hate," the story of a caretaker in a Budapest zoo who suspects one of the new attractions is an alien force biding its time to conquer the world. The script is unfocused and ends on an all too predictable note but, oh, those Frazetta/Williamson-esque panels by Orlando!

In "It Happened That Night," George Bowers insults a fakir while the man is performing in the street and suffers the magic man's wrath. George is given a pair of seemingly harmless glasses but he can see into the future... including his own fate. On page one, I saw into the future. Last up is "Alone in the Night!," wherein con man Fred Standish is wandering the docks looking for easy prey. He finds it in Nora Nichols, who owns a nice yacht moored at the pier. He tells her how gorgeous she is and he's not at all interested in her millions. She buys it... or does she? The reveal (that Nora is also a thief who was cursed to travel in this yacht until she could lure someone in to take her place) is a variant we've seen several times before, be it the adventurer and the temple of gold or the genie in the bottle, but the final panels of George screaming from the bowels of the seabound yacht are fairly chilling.-Peter

World of Fantasy #11 (April)

Cover by Bill Everett (?) & Joe Maneely

"Prisoner of the Fantastic Fog" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #7)

"Nightmare at Midnight" (a: Jim Mooney) ★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #7)

"The Sinister Stone" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #11)

"He Never Reached the Ground!" (a: Alfonso Greene) ★

(r: Crypt of Shadows #19)

"He's Coming to Get Me!" (a: Ted Galindo) ★

(r: Giant-Size Werewolf #5)

"The Mad Scientist!" (a: Ross Andru & Jack Abel) ★1/2

(r: Frankenstein #11)

Big Sam Morgan is the most powerful rackets man in the state, but his big-brain (sucker) brother, Jerry, keeps toiling away in his lab instead of working for Sammy. Jerry's working on a vapor that will shrink anything it comes in contact with. While Sammy is arguing with his little brother, the phone rings and one of the mobster's henchmen gives him the news that the Feds are closing in.

In a panic, Sam races out the door and nearly into the arms of a beat cop. As if fortune were smiling down upon him, Sam is suddenly surrounded by a thick mist. When the mist clears, he's about two inches tall and an alley cat is eyeing him as a toy. Sam swears he'll go straight if the powers that be will only return him to normal size. Just like that, Sam is his old self again and turning himself in to the beat cop. Meanwhile, his brother sighs and admits his formula will probably never work.

The (uncredited) writer of "Prisoner of the Fantastic Fog" was obviously influenced by the recently-released The Incredible Shrinking Man, which also uses sinister mist and a big cat. The difference (well, there are a lot of differences, quality-wise) is that the CCA demands a semi-happy ending, so Sam Morgan lives to see another day (albeit as a jailbird), whereas the film's Scott Carey keeps shrinking into nothingness. A fun bit of trivia is provided by the GCD: brilliant but fashion-blind junior scientist Jerry Morgan would later resurface as a member of "the Headmen" in Defenders #21 (March 1975).

A dream searches the city's bedrooms, looking for just the right person to inhabit. "Nightmare at Midnight" is a waste of four pages in both script and art, with the final panel reveal being the clumsiest twist we've seen... well, at least this month, anyway. In the three-page "The Sinister Stone," an adventurer steals a priceless ruby from a statue belonging to a primitive Incan tribe and suffers the vengeance of its owner, the Rain God. Faced with either drowning or returning to the tribe for punishment, the man picks the only way to go in the Post-Code Atlas Universe and hopes the Incans will be "merciful." Well, of course they'll be merciful; nobody dies in these things anymore so danger is a long-gone element.

Wait, did I say "Nightmare at Midnight" contained the clumsiest twist of the month? Well, let me just correct myself here and state outright that "He Never Reached the Ground!" is even more inane. Window washer Wally Ober loses his footing and takes a tumble thirty-five floors to the street... or rather, he would have hit the ground if his grandfather had not discovered the land of the magical Lamas and therefore earned a sort of security force to save his descendants, should they be in peril. Luckily, Wally disappears about two feet from the ground and reappears in the land of the Lamas, where he vows to stay for the rest of his days. Seemingly stitched together from various parts of discarded scripts, "He Never..." is, literally, three pages of panels depicting Wally falling past the windows of each floor and a final page of exposition. Wally never reaches the ground but Atlas is nearing the bottom of the barrel.

It gets no better with "He's Coming to Get Me!," where a very nervous Peter Wilcox awaits the arrival of his brother, who he cheated out of a very large fortune. But when Ralph finally shows up, it's to take Peter to a spaceship where they'll fly to another planet rich with minerals. Peter has been so out of it, cowering in the shadows of his home for so long he didn't know that space travel had become as common as riding a bus. This was Ted Galindo's 14th and final Atlas appearance and I have to say I won't miss his ugly, scratchy doodlings.

A man bearing a comatose young boy appears in the laboratory of really smart genius scientist, Dr. Mark Ferris. The stranger tells the Doc that the boy has contracted a strange disease and must be put into Ferris's experimental cryo-chamber. The boy must be frozen for a while until a cure can be found for the disease and Mark's research may have already drummed up the foundation for that cure... at least that's what I think all the scientific mumbo-jumbo boils down to. To make a really long story short (SPOILER ALERT!! but if you can't guess the holy smokes surprise from the first page, you're pretty thick), the visitor is Mark from the near future, where they've perfected time travel, and the kid is Mark's future son. The trip back to his younger self triggered Future-Mark's memory and now he can cure his son. Or something like that. How should I know? This is the kind of thing Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein would do just about every other month in Weird Science and Fantasy and the worst variation those boys cooked up is much better than this microwaved pap. At least the art's decent.-Peter

Strange Tales #63 (June)

Cover by Bill Everett

"He Never Came Out!" (a: Alfonso Greene) ★

"Uncork It... If You Dare!" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★★

"The Drowning Man!" (a: Christopher Rule) ★

"Flight Number Thirteen!" (a: Ruben Moreira) ★1/2

"The Melting Pot" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"Too Good to Be True!" (a: Don Perlin) ★

A shady local character named Joe Morse admires the statutes in Cartel's wax museum but doesn't believe Cartel's story about creating them from real criminals by means of the head of Medusa. Joe's pal Atkins wants nothing to do with Joe's plan to rob the wax museum and, after Morse headed in to do the deed, "He Never Came Out!" Cartel changes the number on the sign outside from 36 to "37 Lifelike Figures" and Atkins has an idea of where Joe ended up.

Alfonso Greene's art is about on par with this poorly written opener. First of all, if Cartel uses the head of Medusa to turn baddies to stone, why are they in a wax museum? Does he cover the stone statutes with wax? And how hard up must Joe be to want to rob a place that charges 25 cents to get in?

It's 1962 and Harold Simpson is a sad sack whose wife complains that he should ask the boss for a raise. He inherits a bottle of a strange substance that his Uncle Abner picked up in India and Harold reads that, if he uncorks the vessel, it will release a gas that can reverse a man's personality. Planning to make himself into an assertive, successful fellow, Harold walks by the United Nations building and hears world leaders threatening each other. He uncorks the bottle and the diplomats become madmen, physically attacking their fellows. Harold chooses the better part of valor and runs into the building, where he smashes the bottle on the floor. The diplomats revert to their original personalities, stop arguing, and avert war. No one knows that Harold saved the world!

I know it's corny, but I kind of liked "Uncork It...If You Dare!" I don't know why Carl Wessler (the GCD thinks he wrote it) set it five years in the future, but it's an accurate picture of the way things would be. I expected Harold to become a jerk and learn his lesson, but I never guessed he'd use the gas on the men at the U.N. The end, where they work out their differences, is predictable, but at least the parts leading up to it were unexpected.

After giving a man a free lunch at the Beachtime Diner, the man gives Joe Fulsom a coin that appears to come from Atlantis. Joe follows the man to the beach and sees him walk into the water. Diving in to save what he thinks is "The Drowning Man!," Joe witnesses guards from the lost city banishing murderers to live above the water. Joe blacks out and awakens in a hospital room in Atlantis, where he is happy to hear that the telepathic inhabitants determined that he is a good man and may stay in the perfect world.

That's an awful lot to pack into three poorly drawn pages. Christopher Rule's art looks like something we'd see in the back of a 1940s comic and doesn't do the writer any favors.

The pilots of "Flight Number Thirteen!" from Bulgaria take off with a plane full of passengers but are shocked and dismayed to see that all of the passengers are sitting in their seats, completely still, with sad looks on their faces. Franz and Ivan, the pilots, don't really care--they're only concerned with letting the passengers off in a forest and getting away with the cash from last night's bank robbery. The plane suddenly goes out of control, diving to avoid a storm and landing on its own power. When it lands, the passengers exit, suddenly cheerful to no longer be stranded in a parallel world. The pilots think they can hide out here and enjoy their wealth, but they will soon go into a trance and feel only sadness, as the passengers did. It's too bad Ruben Moreira's artwork is wasted on such junk. This story is utterly pointless.

A prisoner named Sam Barlow invents "The Melting Pot," a gizmo that melts all the steel in the area when it's turned on. He uses it to escape from the slammer and, once he's safely ensconced in a hideout, Sam uses the pot to steal a ton of gold bars. Satisfied with his haul, he bends the machine's oscillating lever out of shape so that it will no longer affect steel. Unfortunately, now it melts gold, and soon Sam is swimming in liquid gold, begging the cops to rescue him. I don't know how John Forte managed to do it, but the art on this one isn't half bad, even though the story is ridiculous. I read the Wikipedia page on Atlas Comics (though we're now into the Independent Comics period and Atlas is no more) and learned about the supposed discovery of scads of bad comic pages in a closet. This led to most of the artists being let go. I have to wonder if the comics we're reading now feature some of that found bad work.

The last story in this issue is called "Too Good to Be True!" The best thing about it is that it's only four pages long. A kid named Danny is jealous of the other boys, whose aunts and uncles give them swell gifts, so he invents an Uncle George. To his surprise, Uncle George appears and begins to shower the lad with gifts. His friends grow jealous and start to suggest that Uncle George is made up. Eventually, Danny begins to wonder if his uncle is a thief and brings a cop to his trailer. Uncle George then fades away, telling Danny that he was the product of his faith. Now that Danny can accept reality he has taken the first step toward manhood. When I saw that Don Perlin drew this one, I suspected we were in for trouble and I was right. His art is not much different than it would be years later on Werewolf By Night. That's not a compliment.-Jack

World of Fantasy #12 (June)

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Face in the Glass!" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

(r: Frankenstein #10)

"The Next World" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★

(r: Giant-Size Chillers #2)

"Bedlam in Barnesville" (a: Jim Mooney) ★1/2

"Hallucination" (a: Alfonso Greene) ★★

"The Enemy!"(a: Manny Stallman) ★

"Hiding Place!" (a: Al Eadah) ★

Running from the cops after robbing a jewelry store, Boris Hann hides out at the cottage of Johan, the mirror maker. When Johnan sounds the alarm, Boris tackles him, leading the roly poly man to promise Boris a magic mirror that will change his appearance to that of anyone he wishes when he looks at "The Face in the Glass!" Suddenly young and handsome, Boris (being an Atlas villain) vows to use his newfound tool to help him commit more robberies. He blows open the safe in a mansion, grabs the jewels, and is spotted by the caretaker. Boris heads back to town and his magic mirror, knocking an old man to the ground in his haste. He reaches his room, looks in the mirror, and makes a wish. The cops burst in and find Boris, lying dead on the floor and gazing into the mirror. He wished to change his face into that of the old man he knocked down, unaware that the old man suffered a fatal heart attack--and the same thing happened to Boris.

Some Atlas stories elicit yawns. Some elicit eye rolls. Some elicit groans. This one elicited a "huh?" When Johan gives Hans the magic mirror, he says it will change his appearance. There is nothing about suffering the fate of the person whose appearance he takes on. I guess that's the trick and we're supposed to think Johan held back that bit of information on purpose? The ending doesn't really work and Forte's half-page first panel is awful.

Out in the desert, a mirage looks like a city and a scientist named Benson has invented a machine to pull living things out of the mirage and into our world. He demonstrates by pulling a bird into the desert and now wants to take it one step further by summoning a man. His colleagues try to stop him, but that night he goes forward with his experiment and finds himself in "The Next World," where everyone thinks the desert is just a mirage. Richard Doxsee should be commended for taking this disaster of a script and giving it visual life. I had to go back and forth and read it a few times to make any sense of it.

When a string of home robberies create "Bedlam in Barnesville," the neighbors blame eccentric old coot Hank Brody. Nick Gabel leads a posse of torch-bearing citizens to Hank's house and the old man runs off. In the days that follow, entire houses begin to vanish! The stolen goods are found in the space that used to be occupied by Nick's house and it turns out that Hank had been feeding termites, which made short work of all the houses. Jim Mooney can always be counted on for solid, if uninspired, artwork, but this is yet another story that makes absolutely no sense. At the start, the townsfolk think Brody is nuts because he appears to be spreading birdseed and then shoos the birds away with a rolled up newspaper. At the end, it turns out that he was feeding termites and keeping the birds away. But why? And what termites could devour house after house overnight? Don't fantasy stories require some internal logic?

Cooper insists that something is getting into his mind, but Dr. Morse insists it's just a "Hallucination." Eventually, Cooper insists that his mind is being searched by aliens who are investigating the possibility of invasion. The doctors thinks he's nuts, but one night an alien force exits Cooper's mind and heads back to outer space to report that humans are completely irrational and Earth is worthless to invade. The doctors agree that Cooper thinks he's the only one who can save humanity--no wonder he's been in the State Hospital for the Insane for years!

Now that's an ending I did not see coming. What a relief! This story is in the vein of others we've read, such as the one where aliens take over a dog and think it's a representative of the highest form of life on Earth (which it actually may be). Still, any glimmer of originality or entertainment is welcome at this point.

A bolt of lightning zaps a dinosaur egg that had been lying in a cave for a very long time. A T-Rex hatches and grows to its full size. It encounters "The Enemy," another great big dino that defeats it in battle, and it limps back to the cave from whence it came. On a movie set, two workmen wonder where the other dino came from that just battled their robot dino.

This one definitely elicited a groan and Manny Stallman's dinosaurs are nothing special.

Richard has invented a machine that he calls an electronic receiver. It can look into the past, see what someone was doing, and retrieve things thought lost from their "Hiding Place!" His no good gambler cousin Herb sees dollar signs and uses the machine to find out where a fortune was hidden a decade before. Herb rounds up some other gamblers and they all head to the Brazilian jungle to get the loot, but Richard discovers that the machine has been used. He finds Herb with the aid of the machine, retrieves the map, and destroys it and the receiver, leaving Herb in the jungle with three angry crooks. If the rest of this issue (save "Hallucination") weren't so bad, this story would be the worst, but it benefits from the bad company. Art and writing are well below average.-Jack

Next Week...
Blink and You'll Miss the 
Atlas Career of Richard Bassford

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!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 166: Atlas/Marvel Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 151

July 1957

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Adventure into Mystery #8

Cover by John Severin

"The Man Who Couldn't Be Killed!" (a: Jim Infantino) ★★

(r: Strange Tales #176) 

"The Voice from Nowhere" (a: George Woodbridge) ★★

"Effigy!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★★

(r: Vault of Evil #16)

"We the Jury" (a: Ruben Moreira) ★1/2

"The Night of March 5th" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Mister Mason's Strange Problem" (a: Dick Giordano) ★

Convicted murderer Henri Berney is sentenced to hang on Monday on Devil's Island but he has a card up his sleeve. Using a tunnel he's dug over a long period of time, Henri escapes into the jungle and forces a medicine man to hand over a potion that automatically erases all Mondays from Henri's life. In his mind, he's become "The Man Who Couldn't Be Killed!" Bad mistake, that, as the warden points out in the final panel, since Henri was born on a Monday. Amusing fluff with some spare and gritty work by Jim Infantino (Carmine's little brother). 

David Warner, a retiring entertainer, loses his will to live when he inadvertently switches suitcases with another passenger, and gone are all his show-biz mementos. Meanwhile, aboard another plane, the man who has become the benefactor of Warner's souvenirs experiences some deadly weather in the skies. Luckily, "The Voice from Nowhere" guides the plane to a safe landing. Later, when the man returns the luggage to Warner, we learn the suitcase contained Warner's ventriloquist dummy. Most of the story is sappy but that twist is clever and the Woodbridge art is easy on the eye.

Painter Guy Mason has been obsessed with his "arch-nemesis," Fred Waters for decades. Fred always had to beat Guy to the punch on everything, including the girl. Yep, that's right, Waters stole Mason's girl right from under him. So a high-falutin' psychiatrist tells Guy he should paint a portrait of Fred Waters and then destroy it, thus ending any rivalry between the two. 

Guy's buddy thinks he's a nut but encourages him anyway so, once the painting is done (complete with Fred holding a gun, since Guy wants their last meeting to be on an even keel), the buddy steps out of the studio while the artist gets ready to riddle the canvas with bullets. But Guy has a big surprise waiting for him. "Effigy!" ranks as the best story of the month because it's a witty little tale with a couple of very effective twists and the Torres art is gorgeous. Look sideways at a few of the panels and you'd swear it was mid-'60s Ditko.

The bland, three-page "We the Jury" (about a man on trial for murder who wishes he could see into the jury room and then gets his wish) marks the debut of Ruben Moreira, an artist who will only hang around in the Atlas SF/H Universe for just under a year, contributing six times before heading off to the then-greener pastures at DC. "The Night of March 5th" thoughtfully combines two of the three most overused plot devices in 1957 Atlas titles: stinkin' Commies and time travel. A foreign agent is tasked with stealing a top-secret mystery-box from the gizmo's inventor and becomes curious about its capabilities. He pushes a button and it teleports him one year into the future. There he sees a newspaper headline touting his handler's arrest for murder. I think we all know where this one is going.

Last up, "Mister Mason's Strange Problem" takes care of the third most microwaved plot device of 1957, the guy who is suddenly unknown to all around him. Mister Mason assaults a fakir in India and incurs his wrath. This was the second of only four contributions Dick Giordano made to the Atlas books. His work is solid if unspectacular. That word could be applied to the short life of Adventure Into Mystery, which was canned with this issue. Of the 48 stories contained within its 8 issues, only four were awarded three stars.-Peter

Strange Tales #59

Cover by Fred Kida

"Help! Help!" (a: Gene Colan) ★

"When the World Went Mad!" (a: Bernie Krigstein)  ★

"What Waits in the Dungeon?" (a: George Woodridge)  ★★

"Trapped in the Burning Sands" (a: Doug Wildey) ★★1/2

"The Fearful Fate of Mr. Foster" (a: Dan Loprino) ★★

"The Death Mask!" (a: Jim Mooney) ★1/2

A man sits in a movie theater, starving and paralyzed because, years before, in the war, he was hit with shrapnel and now that hunk of steel sits in his back, waiting to kill him. Luckily, a painting team moves in and notices the man sitting in his seat, long after the movie ends, and they call the medics. The end. There's absolutely nothing strange about "Help! Help!" other than the fact that Stan decided to place it in Strange Tales rather than Mainstream Ho-Hum Tales. The moral, I guess, that we learn from this guy's ordeal is that you should let your wife know when you're going to the flicks.

The FBI is investigating a strange series of disappearances--up, up, up in a puff of smoke go a two-story home, a lighthouse, and even a bridge. What the heck is going on? The clues lead to the lab of Professor Haughton, a crazed Atlas genius who has created a "solvent" that can make big stuff vanish. As the nutty Haughton explains to his captive Federal pursuer, he could use this formula for the betterment of mankind but, nope, he's going to rule the world. Thank goodness for that lab assistant with a conscience! "When the World Went Mad!" is a grind, a total waste of time, and not even Bernie could work up enough enthusiasm to help us through.

Skilled thief Fillipo gets word that a vast fortune awaits he who is brave enough to break into the Villa Cenedella and make his way downstairs. But "What Waits in the Dungeon?" It's a little hazy as to how our protagonist meets his horrific end (it all happens off-panel) but the whole affair is more interesting than the first two entries this issue and the atmospheric Woodridge art is nifty.

At the end of World War II, Hans Loring buries the booty he stole while on his march across Africa, unaware his buddy Luther is watching. Luther shoots the man and leaves him for dead, noting where the treasure has been buried and planning to revisit this part of the desert when the dust settles. But Luther must be a lousy shot because Hans survives the ambush (not knowing who shot him) and the men are shipped home.

Fifteen years later, the two are reunited in an African village and Hans suggests they share the fortune since they were always such good mates. Luther happily agrees and the men set out across the desert, with Luther planning his friend's murder every chance he gets. Once they reach their destination, they discover they've run out of food and water. Hans opts to look at the bright side; he's been dead all these years and only wanted to lure his murderer out into the desert for his revenge. Yes, it's predictable but done the correct way (as pulpmeister Wessler does here) and adorned with sharp Wildey graphics. "Trapped in the Burning Sands" doesn't get bogged down in details (why does Luther wait fifteen long years to go back for the treasure and, if he needs that treasure map Hans drew years ago, how was he going to find the spot on his own?) and that's a good thing.

Billionaire Amon Foster is tired of being old and ugly; he wants to be strong and vibrant again. So he pays a shady character to get what he wants and, soon after, Foster is flying to a remote cabin and discussing his future with a bearded character who warns him that if he drinks this potion, he'll receive exactly what he wants, but there is a catch. Amon poo-poos any side effects and drinks the beverage down. And he gets just what he wanted. The plot device of the three-page "The Fearful Fate of Mr. Foster" has been done literally to death but this variant comes with a genuinely clever twist.

In "The Death Mask!," ex-actor Orrie Lait has mastered his new job, the big heist. Lait has used his expertise as a makeup man to disguise himself as other master criminals in the city, thereby throwing the cops off his scent. But, as happens with these genius ex-actor/criminals, Lait does one job too many and is undone by... a ghost! The Mooney art is not bad and the script is good for a few laughs but the ending reveal (Lait can't remove his latest makeup job when the cops come calling) makes little sense.-Peter

Uncanny Tales #55

Cover by Bill Everett 

"A Suit of Clothes!" (a: George Roussos) ★

"Trapped in the Room of Mystery!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

"Which One is Real?" (a: Syd Shores) ★

"The Nick of Time" (a: John Giunta(?) & Sid Greene(?)) ★

"Impossible?" (a: Bob Bean) ★1/2

"Lost in the Mad Maze!" (a: Frank Bolle) ★★1/2

Con man Ed Tallis never paid a penny for something he could steal. So, in the Bahamas and needing a new suit, he visits a tailor who promises that he can make Ed "A Suit of Clothes!," one suit that can change into anything Ed desires. The crook thinks the tailor is a loon but goes along with the joke since he'll be paying the guy with a rubber check, anyway.

The suit is complete and Ed stands before a mirror, admiring the lean cut, when the tailor tells the suit to change to a tuxedo. Wham-O, it's a tuxedo. Several more tests ensue but Ed is convinced and writes his tailor a check. But deceit runs both ways in the Atlas Universe and Ed will soon regret having cheated the brilliant suit-maker. The penultimate issue of Uncanny Tales does not get off to a memorable start; the twist is a variant on a plot device we just read in "The Death Mask!"

While out hunting, Albert Cotter becomes caught in a blizzard and takes refuge in a well-furnished shack. Convinced that the sanctuary has been placed there by the forest service to aid such wayward hunters, Albert helps himself to the comfortable bed and, after waking from his nap, eats the food in the fridge. But, oddly and suddenly, everything seems to float in the shack, and Albert panics. Opening the door, he sees the storm has subsided and makes his way home. Hours later, two scientists enter the shack (which is actually some kind of test module) to find its contents disheveled and theorize that aliens from another world must have visited. That final panel declaration in "Trapped in the Room of Mystery!" makes no sense to me. Why would the nattily-dressed eggheads jump to such a conclusion? Still, Angelo Torres seems to shrug off the sub-par script and lets it rip with yet another fine graphic display.

In the abysmal "Which One is Real?," two crooks evade the police with a device one of them made that can project ultra-realistic images. So what we get is four pages of cops shouting "Holy cow, a mountain just appeared in the middle of the road!" and not much else. I love how even the degenerate criminals in the Atlas Universe are geniuses! Equally lame is "The Nick of Time," wherein Cornelius Jones, late for a date with the gorgeous Ada, hits upon the perfect excuse: he'll adjust the arms of the town's clock back one hour and blame his tardiness on the mechanical malfunction. Alas, the dope didn't realize he was setting the clock (and therefore the entire town) back a whole year! Ada slaps his face when he lays one on her full, sensuous lips, cuz he's only known her six months! Two co-workers stop him in the town square to tell him all about a new promotion that Corny witnessed months before! This craziness has to stop! And after four pages it does.

Our stinkin' Commie story for the issue is "Impossible?," about a top secret meeting of the good guys that is interrupted by an invasion of the bad guys. The day is saved when the toys on a war diorama defend the free world from Communism and kill the Reds dead. In the finale, "Lost in the Mad Maze!," George and Eddie have heard tell of a secret pharaoh's chamber, a room filled with priceless gems and gold goblets fit for a king. Eddie is the brains and he's been given the directions to get halfway into the chamber. George is the brawn and all he wants is wealth. When the boys break into the pyramid, they discover a room full of diamonds and George wants to grab as much as possible and hit the highway; Eddie argues that the real treasure awaits within the secret chamber and they should go on. 

George gives in and they push on into uncharted territory, but Eddie does not trust his partner, so he drops diamonds on the ground to mark the way back with an eye to killing George later on and keeping the treasure to himself. They arrive at the secret chamber and it's as advertised, with both men planning their futures in a matter of seconds. Eddie pulls a gun and explains he doesn't trust George, so he's going to put a bullet in him and then follow the trail of diamonds back to civilization. That's when George confesses he thought Eddie was accidentally dropping diamonds and so he would pick them up, not wanting to waste a single one! That final panel, one that elicited an out-loud guffaw from this here half-asleep comic reader, was worth all the eye ache I endured from Frank Bolle's mediocre doodlings.-Peter

World of Mystery #7

Cover by Fred Kida (?) and Carl Burgos (?)

"Pick a Door...!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"The Night I Lost My Body!" (a: Marvin Stein) ★1/2

"Obey... Or Die!" (a: Sam Kweskin) ★

"Last Seen Entering the Fog!" (a: Al Eadah) ★

"The Raving Beauty!" (a: Christopher Rule) ★ 1/2

"The Man Who Wasn't Afraid!" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

A 75-year-old man named Lon Fremont finds himself in a cave where a hooded figure tells him to "Pick a Door...!" The doors are labeled Guilt, Conscience, Remorse, and Punishment. One by one, Lon goes through the doors, until he emerges a young man on a street corner. Lon was about to help rob a jewelry store but his journey has convinced him to give up his life of crime. Paul Reinman's art has deteriorated to the point where it is painful to look at, especially in light of what he was capable of only a few years before. The story is one we've seen before, where a person at a crossroads experiences a mysterious event that makes him go straight.

Sims is hiding from the police and avoiding a life sentence, so he answers a scientist's advertisement looking for a volunteer who is willing to let his brain be transferred into another body. The experiment is a success and, when Sims awakens in his new body, he attempts to smash the machine so that he'll never go back. The scientist stops Sims and it's a good thing, too, because Sims looks in a mirror and sees that his brain now inhabits the body of an ape! Marvin Stein's art on "The Night I Lost My Body!" is marginally better than that of Paul Reinman on this issue's first story but, again, the narrative is trite.

Luke Dawson discovers that he accidentally invented a transmitter that makes people comply with his orders when he gives them. He tells people to put themselves in harm's way, then "Obey...Or Die!" The way to avoid death is to pay Luke large sums of cash. When the police start to chase Luke he takes a taxi out of town and climbs the side of a mountain, unaware that his voice will echo back at him across a ravine and compel him to leap to his death. A few more of these poorly written, poorly drawn comic stories may have me considering leaping off the edge of a cliff!

A small-time London crook named Bertie Hodgkins runs from the police and ends up on a lonely heath, where he sees a man press a knob on a box that emits fog. When the fog is gone, the man has vanished! Bertie sees another man with a similar box, tackles him, grabs the box, and turns the knob. The crook was "Last Seen Entering the Fog!" When it dissipates, Bertie finds himself at what he thinks is the men's hideout. He offers to share his skills but they reveal that they are from another dimension. They use the fog to travel between worlds and decide to turn Bertie over to the London authorities as a show of good faith. I don't recall seeing the name Al Eedah before in these comics, but if this story is any indication of his work, I hope we don't see him again.

Gordon Brent has a problem: his wife has always thought of herself as "The Raving Beauty!" but doesn't like seeing signs of age in the mirror, so she's told George he must find her a perfect glass that only shows her as she wants to see herself. The proprietor of an old curio shop sells George just the thing and, before you know it, Marsha is trapped in the mirror forever, always beautiful and less able to nag her hubby. I gave this one an extra half star because Christopher Rule draws a pretty Marsha and because I only had to suffer through three pages of it.

A group of explorers in the African jungle find an abandoned city guarded by natives who have a limited vocabulary. They tell of a treasure but warn that it is guarded by a monkey god. Kessler, "The Man Who Wasn't Afraid!," goes it alone after his colleagues depart; he shoots his way into the cave where the treasure is hidden, removes giant rubies from the eyes of an idol, and is shocked to discover that the monkey god is really a giant ape! So ends a dreadful issue of World of Mystery. I guess we should assume that Kessler will be torn to shreds by the ape. If only the same fate had befallen this issue!-Jack

World of Suspense #8

Cover by Richard Doxsee

"Prisoner of the Ghost Ship" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★1/2

"Dead End" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★1/2

"The Amazing Bardini!" (a: Emil Gershwin) ★1/2

"Forbidden!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"The Very Old Man" (a: Sol Brodsky (?)) 

"The Secret Room" (a: John Forte) ★★

Martin has boarded a ship called the Fortune, looking for a legendary spot in the Pacific Ocean where the past meets the future. The captain and crew decide to get rid of Martin and take the fortune in cash he has sitting in his cabin, so the captain abandons Martin on a derelict ship, whose crew's bodies are below decks, having died of hunger or thirst. After a few days Martin is rescued and tells his rescuers that he found the legendary spot: the derelict ship was the Fortune in the future and its dead crew were the ones who left him to die. It's not a good sign when they can't even come up with an original cover, is it? This issue's cover is a partially-recolored page three of this story. "Prisoner of the Ghost Ship" makes little sense and Doxsee was uninspired.

What's so special about the new sports car stolen by Jed Havel and Arnie Farrel? It runs great and looks cool, but when they run out of gas in Death Valley and their extra tanks of fuel don't help, they discover it's the first vehicle to run on water, something in very short supply! "Dead End" is poorly drawn but the ending surprised me, so I added a half star to what's essentially a one-star story.

Mike Gregg is a criminal mastermind who reads about a hypnotist named the Great Bardini in the paper and comes up with a new angle to cash in. He talks Bardini into becoming a prize fighter and the hypnotist wins every bout by entrancing his opponents. Eventually, he's set up to fight the champ, and Gregg tells him to throw the bout so Mike can win big. Mike watches the fight on TV and is thrilled when Bardini appears to lose, but when the crook goes to collect his winnings, he learns to his dismay that Bardini actually won. The real hypnotist was his wife, who hypnotized Gregg into thinking her hubby lost!

I'm not sure why the story is titled "The Amazing Bardini" when every reference to the hypnotist calls him (or her) "The Great Bardini," but never mind--this is the umpteenth Atlas tale where Carl Wessler comes up with a convoluted plot that leads to a disappointing payoff. Have we seen Emil Gershwin in an Atlas comic before? He did some good Golden Age work and was George Gershwin's cousin.

After climbing a mountain trail all day, Matt Taylor sees a sign on a house that reads, "Forbidden!" He ventures on to a town below the trail, where the residents express no knowledge of or interest in the sign or the house. Matt is undeterred and enters, where a scientist explains that the townsfolk are all robots. Suddenly, the robots burst in and surge toward Matt, who finds himself back on the trail, where he sees the sign and town all over again. Good lord, not another story that ends with the same events about to take place. Poor Ed Winiarski was stuck with  this dud, and his art reflects his lack of enthusiasm.

"The Very Old Man" is Abner Peters, who is fired one day by J.J. Bascombe, the head of Bascombe Enterprise Inc. J.J. lies and tells Abner that his fondest dream would be to convert the factory into a home for the aged. Abner quickly discovers that he can make wishes come true just by concentrating really hard, and when a cynical Bascombe visits him right before he dies, the scientist makes one more wish come true and the factory is changed into an old folks home. The GCD suggests that this may have been drawn by Sol Brodsky, and it does look like his work in spots, but it also looks like the last gasp of a writer and company that had utterly run out of ideas. Who would want to read about a factory turning into a nursing home? How does this fit in a comic called World of Suspense?

People in the neighborhood begin to notice that things are looking up for unassuming baker Thad Tyrone. A new suit, a new car, stacks of cash to deposit at the bank--what's going on? A hood named Ollie Nash investigates and, in "The Secret Room" at the back of the bakery, he finds a giant mass with tentacles that close around him! In the morning, the cops find a dead Ollie in the middle of a giant lump of Thad's new quick-rising dough. It's telling that this dopey story easily wins best of issue, despite less than stellar work by John Forte. At least the three panels of Ollie being attacked by a tentacled mass in the dark are entertaining.

This is the last issue of World of Mystery, which appeared (almost) bi-monthly from April 1956 to July 1957. Of all the stories, only one earned three stars: "When Walks the Scarecrow" from issue #2. Not a great record.-Jack

Next Week...
Bernie Helps Usher Out the
Long-Running Marvel Tales!