Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 169: Atlas/Marvel Fantasy & Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 154

August 1957 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Stories of Suspense #16

Cover by Fred Kida

"The Eighth Wonder of the World" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★

"Only One Returned!" (a: John Forte) ★★

"The Swami's Secret!" (a: Bob Bean) ★1/2

(r: Crypt of Shadows #15)

"The Second-Hand Man!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"The Morning Sun" (a: Matt Fox) ★★1/2

"Bewitched!" (a: Bob Powell) ★★

Four con men buy up a worthless piece of property in the country in hopes that they can create a gold mine with "The Eighth Wonder of the World," a giant robot one of these morons has created in his "lab." They bury the thing, make a very public dig, and announce to the world that they've discovered the "Denbow Dell Giant!" That night, after the big announcement, the camp is attacked by the real Denbow Dell GIant. Luckily, the bozos rigged up explosive charges around the camp and the behemoth stumbles into one. Bloooey! These swindlers look at each other and vow to walk the straight and narrow from here on out. They've learned a lesson. I love how no one in the media comments on the sharp red shorts the giant is wearing when they dig him up. Again, we have an obviously brilliant individual who turns to crime instead of patenting this giant robot and making millions legitimately.

Milt and Bob were lowered into the deep fissure, but "Only One Returned!" That's because Milt covets Bob's girl, Gladys, and cuts the rope once they get to the bottom, leaving Bob to wander aimlessly until he falls into an underground stream. Milt is pulled back up to the surface, where he has a sob story to tell and insists that he be the one to break the news to Gladys. Unfortunately, that won't happen since Milt has been exposed to high levels of uranium and must be quarantined for several years. But, a week later, the doctor has good news for his patient: Bob was carried up to the surface by the underground stream and is safe. In fact, he'll be married that very day! More lessons learned: find your own babe and never trust an underground stream, no matter how deep it is. Bob has one hell of a set of lungs, I wager.

"The Swami's Secret!" is not that he can converse with the spirit world but that he can read men's minds. That power has gained him some good coin over the years, but he's impatient and wants more. He wants to do something monumental (stop a war, prevent an assassination, lower the cost of eggs, etc.) so that "the world" will give him anything he wants. One day, on the train, he reads the mind of a man sitting in front of him and learns that the stranger is an alien sent to scope out an invasion. The swami heads to the nearest police precinct, convinced this will be his golden Wonka ticket. Nope. A pretty dopey script that ignores the obvious: mind-reading seems to be a swell gift, but this guy chooses to live in relative poverty for years, masquerading as a fortune teller. When he's arrested for fraud at the conclusion of the story, I was disappointed that the particular ordinance he violated was not cited. 

Peter Malley buys a second-hand 1958 Plymouth Fury off a lot and immediately feels a change in his attitude from mild, meek mouse to rip-roaring rapscallion, taking corners on two wheels and shouting profanities at the hookers on 42nd St. Then Peter opens the glove compartment and sees the gun. Things are gonna get a little interesting around town... but not in "The Second-Hand Man!," which oddly shows Peter having a wingding of a day (and landing in the hospital) for three pages and then provides a clunky, full page explanation for his behavior. 

The three-page "The Morning Sun" is "hard" science fiction about a green mist enveloping the world and shutting off the oxygen. Three scientists put their big brains together to try to work out a solution. I nodded off shortly after When Professor Alfred Whitby and his colleagues came from the sea and beheld the calamity... and awoke in time for the cliched, twist climax (the green-misted world is actually a tiny speck under a microscope) that we all saw coming. Truthfully, the captions and word balloons could have been filled with emojis and I wouldn't have cared, since the three pages were artfully crafted by Matt Fox, a truly distinct visionary who always made the most abysmal scripts tolerable.

Last up is "Bewitched!," the story of  Jim Hollis, the only man in town who isn't frozen like a statue. Jim does a bit of amateur sleuthing and discovers the trouble originated from a cursed tome titled The Book of Genda. Once the volume is destroyed, peace returns to the sleepy country village. Though the script is unremarkable, the Powell art is pleasing. So ends the 12-issue run of Strange Stories of Suspense (the first four issues were titled Rugged Action and featured mostly war and intrigue tales), comprised of 69 fairly mediocre tales of fantasy and science fiction that never stepped outside the safety box (though we did hand out the elusive three-star review to three of the tales over the run). What must have the dedicated Atlas fantasy fan have made of their disappearing choices? There was no Comic Reader, no internet, certainly no house ads trumpeting the ongoing devastation; you simply showed up at the newsstand and hoped for the best.-Peter

Strange Tales of the Unusual #11

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Perfect Hide-Out" (a: Frank Bolle) ★

(r: Vault of Evil #18)

"The Rag Doll!" (a: George Roussos (?) & Joe Giella (?)) ★1/2

(r: Journey Into Mystery #16)

"Twenty Long Years" (a: Al Eadah) ★

"Untouched by Human Hands!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★

"Isolation" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★

"The Five Sinister Statues" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★

Pierre, the murderous masked bandit who has been terrorizing the residents of Paris's Montmartre, stumbles upon "The Perfect Hide-Out" when he bursts into the flat of an elderly, wheelchair-ridden woman who can neither hear nor speak. Devilish egocentric that he is, Pierre begins "confessing" his crimes to the meek Ms. Gault. Not a smart move. I had to read the last two pages over again, since the climax is more than a bit confusing. Take my word for it and don't make the same mistake.

Fred Miller and his family must move to a poorer part of town because he's filed for bankruptcy. Why? Because Fred's father (for whom Fred toiled away for years in the factory) made a bundle of cash and then hid it away. Well, good riddance to bad memories. Little Clarabelle Miller only wants to bring along "The Rag Doll!" her grammy gave her, but her pop won't have it, so he tosses it to the side and the family hops in their station wagon and heads to the new house. Fred opens the door and almost stumbles over the rag doll on the floor. After berating his wife and daughter, he tosses the mangy toy in the trash and demands his dinner.

Later that day, sure enough, the rag doll reappears in the house. Hell bent on destroying this evil souvenir of a rotten childhood, Fred picks up the doll by its neck, and suddenly its midriff explodes, ejecting thousands of dollars in cash. Fred scoops up all the cash, hands the disemboweled doll to Clarabelle, and heads to the nearest tavern, his troubles behind him. Never saw that twist coming, did we? Of course, in the pre-code days, it would have been Fred who had the stuffing knocked out of him in the end.

Reliable Dave Frome has never been late for work a day in his life, but what's he got to show for it? Nada! So Dave begins a daily routine of practicing an out of body experience, perfecting it at last after "Twenty Long Years." The first thing Dave does after looking over his body sleeping peacefully is to rob the company safe but, alas, old habits die hard and the cops come calling after they find that Dave's spirit clocked out after his robbery. Dave perfected the art of projection so well that his spirit was able to turn the dial on the office safe! Ya gotta give the guy credit for working on a plan for two decades that hinges on performing a heretofore impossible act.

In the jungles of South America, 'dozer operator Morgan Tweed learns of the myth of the Mountain of Gold, "Untouched By Human Hands!" and containing a king's ransom of the shiny stuff. Morgan befriends the natives in order to sniff out intel, finally getting them to open up in trade for some bottles of Coke! Our intrepid 'dozer dude breaks into the temple but quickly discovers that the mountain God protects its innards. The dirty American scoundrel who takes advantage of the savages is one of the most overused villains in funny books and Morgan Tweed offers up nothing to set him apart from the pack, but I dug the Robert Sale art--peculiar, I know, since I usually don't have many kind words to say about the artist, but here his work comes off like a rougher version of Matt Fox.

In the three-page "Isolation," a prisoner jumps overboard and swims to a deserted island, where he finds everything he ever wanted. Or so he thinks. Last up is the meandering "The Five Sinister Statues," a morality tale about a man who is willed the titular ornaments by his wealthy uncle. Turns out the statues are alive and grant the man's every wish, turning thought into cold, hard cash, lovely furniture, and lower electricity bills. But, as we all know, there is a price to pay, and our lucky/unlucky protagonist pays that price when the authorities come around looking for receipts for all his new toys. Not a bad little story, though a bit preachy. Time to bid farewell to Strange Tales of the Unusual, a title so forgettable that only one of its 64 stories deserved a three-star rating (Bernie Krigstein's "Mind Reader!" in #9) and certainly none of its third-grade readers noticed it had slipped away into the land of canceled comics.-Peter

World of Fantasy #8

Cover by Fred Kida

"She Lives Again!" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★1/2

"Whose Face Have I?" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"Cell #35-A" (a: Al Eadah) ★★

"The Mark of X!" (a: Matt Fox) ★

"The Secret of the Black Cloud!" (a: Dave Berg) ★1/2

"The Girl You Must Not See!" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

A shy, homely archaeologist named Henry Fabian reads an ancient Egyptian papyrus that tells of a beautiful seeress (a female seer?) who was sentenced to death by the pharaoh. Before she was killed, she drank a potion that put her into suspended animation. Guards thought her dead, wrapped her in linens, and placed her in a mummy case, but before she drank the potion she wrote that the man who finds and unwraps her will discover that "She Lives Again!"

Unlikely to find such a beautiful mate elsewhere, Fabian quits his job and sails for Egypt, where he searches until he finds the mummy case of the seeress. He unwraps her and she's more gorgeous than he imagined! She reaches out to wrap her arms around him but suddenly crumbles to dust. Good thing, too, because she had clutched a dagger that would have ended up in Henry's back! I'm always happy to see a story involving mummies and Ancient Egypt, and Joe Orlando's art is detailed and impressive. The script must not be by Wessler since it's not overly complicated and wordy.

Mort Grayson looks in the mirror one morning and wonders, "Whose Face Have I?" He looks nothing like he did the night before. Now he is a dead ringer for his old army buddy, Gene Baldwin, who saved Mort in the war. Mort heads to the home of Gene's elderly mother and finds her near death. She thinks her son has returned and dies happily. Mort picks up a telegram and reads of Gene's death in a plane crash; he sees Gene's image, hovering in the air and smiling. Looking in the mirror again, Mort sees that his own face is back! It's a corny, sentimental tale with nary a surprise in it, and the art by Paul Reinman is subpar. But I'm glad the old lady died happy.

While serving a life sentence in prison "Cell #35-A," Leo Judd is surprised when a futuristic looking man appears beside him. The man is from a dimension called Turah and has come to bring an Earthman back with him as a test. Off they go and Leo, true to form, tries to commit a robbery. As punishment, he's sent back to cell #35-A. Why is it that no Atlas protagonist can resist robbery? It gets predictable after a while. What I did not expect is the half-decent art by Al Eedah. Too bad the story's not worth it.

A selfish coward named Lucas takes a lifeboat and escapes from a sinking ship, putting his own needs before those of the other passengers. He rows to a desert island, where he methodically carves "The Mark of X!" each day on a tree to keep track of his solitude. Eventually he is rescued, but he lost track of X's and thinks it's only been three years when it's really been seventy, and he has a long, white beard! The twist ending falls almost as flat as the hideous artwork by Matt Fox, about whom Peter and I appear to disagree.

What is "The Secret of the Black Cloud!"? Scientists in West Germany are working on an important project and a mysterious black cloud seems to be spiriting them away. Is it the work of Communists from behind the Iron Curtain? A scientist named Luther Janning is not willing to help the West German police solve the mystery, but his son, Heinrich, also a scientist, is happy to help. He tries over and over to come up with an agent to dissolve the cloud but meets with no success. Unfortunately, the cloud is gobbling up one scientist after another. Finally, Heinrich invents a spray that works and, to his surprise, it turns out that his father was inside the black cloud, seizing scientists to help him work on his important project. Why? I have absolutely no idea. Nor can I understand why Luther didn't just pull Heinrich aside and fill him in. Dave Berg does a fairly good job with the art, but Wessler (as usual) can't tell a straightforward story.

A young man who has left his home after taking the company car and wrecking it takes the name of Billy Smith and secures a room at a boarding house run by a spinster named Miss Braden. She mentions her only other guest, a sickly young woman named Emmy Lou. When Billy sees Miss Braden visiting Emmy Lou's room after midnight, he begins to wonder about "The Girl You Must Not See!" Eventually, he insists on meeting her and Miss Braden explains that Emmy Lou is just a portrait of her when she was younger, before her fiancée jilted her. Billy decides to go home and face the music, unaware that Miss Braden knew his real identity and that he's the son of the man who left her! If stories like this are what we have to look forward to in future issues of World of Fantasy, it's too bad it didn't suffer the same fate as other Atlas comics during the implosion. I gave it an extra half star for the art by Forte, but's that's pushing it.-Jack

Next Week...
And Then There
Were Two!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 163: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 148

May 1957 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Mystic #59

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Sleep-Walker!" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★1/2

"Jigsaw" (a: Mort Meskin & George Roussos) ★★

"Something Waits on the Mountain!" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★★

"What Happened to Hassen?" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★★

"The Fatal Words!" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★★1/2

"Stormy Night!" (a: Sam Kweskin) ★

(r: Beware #7)

Greedy hypnotist Bruno Alban puts Jeffry Hamilton under a trance and learns that, in a previous life, Jeffry was a pirate who stole millions in gold and stashed it away in a safe spot. Leaving his subject under a trance, Albans has the pirate speak and lead him to the treasure. Sure enough, Albans finds the buried chest but isn't paying attention to the pirate's ramblings and misses the part about the booby trap he rigged hundreds of years before. Ka-Boom! Hey, "The Sleep-Walker!" is nothing new, obviously inspired by the Bridey Murphy fad, but it's a lot of fun and I love Doxsee's simple but effective penciling evocative of Reed Crandall. And, hey, someone actually dies in this strip!

The stinkin' Commies send some agents over to steal some of our top-secret materials. In order to break into the base holding said materials, one of the agents uses a gizmo to make him invisible. Thank goodness the Commies are pretty stupid cuz the gizmo doesn't benefit from the cloak of invisibility. In the end, the Good Guys (US) knew what the Reds were up to and laid a booby trap reminiscent of those used by pirates in the first strip this issue. "Jigsaw" would have been a lot more clever without the final three panels of exposition but the Meskin/Roussos art is pretty good.

Somewhere near San Rico lies a deadly patch of air where jets have been slamming into impenetrable barriers and crashing. Also, hey, what about the cattle that seem to be disappearing? The Air Force sends two of its crack pilots, Captains Luro and Bozza, to investigate. As they fly their jets near the danger zone, they are startled and amazed by the sight of two huge vultures flying right at them! The pilots follow the birds back to their aerie, where their master, Dr. Carlos Vega, awaits.

Once Luro and Bazzo set their jets down and approach, Vega explains that he's raised the giant birds, known as "Awks," from eggs and plans to use them to become dictator of San Rico. The boys hoof it to their planes, fire them up, and return to blast the buzzards (and their master) from the sky. The world lets out a collective sigh. How can you not love a dopey strip such as "Something Waits on the Mountain!" which, for goodness sakes, was released a couple months before the premiere of The Giant Claw? Both projects have a serious tone to them that belies the fact that neither should be taken seriously. The Krigstein art is icing on the cake; I'll bet Bernie was laughing the entire time he was at his drawing board.

Abdullah Hassen rules over Khana with an iron fist, having taken control and forced out the previous rulers, the Mafas. Hassen's chief hobby is arresting and imprisoning anyone he doesn't like. One night, a stranger breaks into the palace wine cellar and is seized by the guards. When the intruder is brought before Hassen, the dictator realizes the man is one of the Mafas; Ras Mafa begs the evil lord to allow him to take just the one bottle of wine. Hassen refuses and opens the bottle to taste the vintage wine. Big mistake. "What Happened to Hassen?" has a decent twist but its cartoony graphics are off-putting at times.

"The Fatal Words!" is a humorous three-pager about an old miser who discovers his dog can talk and attempts to make millions exploiting Rover. The dog, not happy with the proceedings, clams up. It's only three pages but it got a few chuckles out of me and the final panel is a keeper. On a "Stormy Night!," the SS Belle Lune is heading right into the biggest hurricane of all time when, suddenly, the engines stop. The men in the engine room have been turned to stone. What the heck happened? Well, the Captain soon discovers his ship has been boarded by the "Conquerors," aliens from a distant planet who are here to scout for an impending invasion. Long story short, Earth is saved by the hurricane, which the little space buggers never counted on. The art and story are both microwaved. Let's pretend this better-than-average issue went out on the high note of "The Fatal Words!," shall we?-Peter

Strange Tales #58

Cover by Bill Everett

"He Floats Through the Air" 

(a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo) ★★

"Menace from the Nether World!" (a: Gene Colan) ★★

"The Night of October Third!" (a: Dave Berg) ★

"Man Lost" (a: Pete Morisi) ★

"No Place on Earth!" (a: John Giunta) ★★

"The Secret of the Black Tube" (a: Matt Baker) ★★

Brilliant, a genius, and really smart to boot, Earl Ferrol has invented a way for man to fly without the restraint of a jet. He simply jumps out a window and glides. For one nanosecond, Earl gives pause and considers what this breakthrough could mean for modern man... then he steals the jewels from a nearby apartment. Struck by money-lust, Earl goes on a whirlwind theft flight before the cops finally nab him in an ironic twist of fate. Believe me, the Williamson/ Mayo art is the only spark to this groaner. Just once I'd like to see a criminal mastermind scratch his chin and decide he'll use his new invention for something other than personal gain. There are honest geniuses out there in the Atlas Universe, aren't there?

While at an office costume party (dressed as a sorcerer), Bill Farrin is given the unpleasant news by his boss that he's been fired for not being glib enough. Before Bill can successfully argue his future with the company, the two men are approached by a strange elfish creature who mistakes Bill for his "master." The men are led down a stairway into a dungeon where wait a handful of robed men. Before long, Bill and his boss are told that this band of magicians are about to take control of the world and were just waiting for the Big Poobah (whom they mistake for Bill, obviously) to lead the way. Using his noodle, Bill talks the magicians into putting off the attack for another thousand years when the time will be right. Back at the party, Bill's boss is impressed and gives the man a promotion. Immensely silly stuff this "Menace from the Nether World!" but, as with the previous story, the art keeps you along for the full ride. 

On "The Night of October Third!" salesman Cal Nevin breaks down in a remote part of the country and hoofs it to a lone little house. Inside, the man of the house, a brilliant and really smart Atlas scientist, has been toiling away on a "matter duplicator," a gizmo that can replicate anything (well, anything small enough to fit into its teensy drawer). Dollar signs (literally) flashing before his eyes, Cal waits until the scientist hits the sheets and then starts cloning a ten-dollar bill. Unfortunately, the greedy man is interrupted by the scientist who is shocked at Cal's avarice and demands he stop. In the ensuing melee, a fire breaks out and the scientist's lab is destroyed. The old man ponders a lifetime of work up in smoke while Cal regrets that he didn't have a Ben Franklin on him. 

In the three-page "Man Lost," an explorer spends months traipsing through the African jungles, searching for a scientist who had gone missing years before. He stumbles upon the brilliant Dr. Hansel in a small village, only to discover the egghead has relinquished his throne as "Most Brilliantest Professor in the Atlas Universe" to devote his life to building doll houses! Disgusted, the explorer turns and heads back to the States before Hansel can explain that he's discovered a race of little people! 

Rod Phillips kisses his wife and kids goodbye then heads to the office, where he holds down a 9-to-5 at the Brilliant Atlas Scientist Company. Just another day. But then tragedy strikes when Rod enters the building and no one knows who he is. Like so many protagonists before him in virtually the same situation, Rod is perplexed. He heads back home where his wife tells him she doesn't recognize him and she's waiting for her husband to come home... after he's been gone for a year! What the Dickens? Rod realizes he's disappeared from human consciousness just like his old partner, Harry, and several other brilliant scientists who were working on a "time formula theory."

Suddenly, Harry himself approaches Rod on the street and begs him to follow him to a secret location. There, Rod meets up with all the members of the Disappeared Brilliant Atlas Scientist Club. Putting all their massive thinking caps together, the men of science deduce that something just isn't right, that some unknown force from outer space or another dimension is attempting to thwart their plans for a "time formula theory!" In the end, the unknown powers decide to allow the men to go back to their ordinary lives sans any memory of the theory. You think my half-assed synopsis is complicated, just try reading the word balloons on the final page of "No Place on Earth!" Still, for that thrill alone (certainly not for the cookie-cutter Giant art), I'd semi-sorta recommend this as a decent way to waste a couple minutes.

In the "Stinkin' Commie" Department this issue, we have "The Secret of the Black Tube," wherein said stereotypical Wessler Commies kidnap an American scientist, hoping to discover the secret of his new invention, a black tube that the enemy believes promotes mind reading. It's the typical "the other side is as stupid as we are smart" hogwash that permeated the Atlas titles in the 1950s (and before you jump on me, I'm not saying the "other side" was right; I'm just wondering if we were ever wrong) but I do have to admit the final reveal (the real secret of the tube) is pretty funny.-Peter

World of Fantasy #7

Cover by Bill Everett

"Wheels of Doom!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★★

"Someone in the Flames" (a: Dick Ayers) ★

"The Girl Who Didn't Exist!" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★1/2

"Run for Your Life" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"The Hidden Hex!" (a: Sam Kweskin) ★★

"The Man in Grey!" (a: Gray Morrow) ★★★

Rodney Ames and his brother Edwin are getting up in years and their business is in dire need of cash. Edwin complains about the young guys on motorcycles who make the streets a menace but Rodney thinks it looks like fun and buys one on time. When he zooms off, he looks 40 years younger! Rodney enters a race to win a $5000 prize while Edwin stays home and worries. During the race, Rodney runs another rider off the track to help a third rider win the prize. When he gets home, Rodney discovers that the winner was Edwin, who had also bought a bike and transformed into his younger self!

Manny Stallman's art again reminds me of Jack Kirby's work in spots. The plot in "Wheels of Doom!" is silly and I wish there were more of a focus on the bad young men zooming their cycles through town. 

On the run from the cops, Crane sees Ancient Mayans worshipping at a temple. He faints and, on waking, sees an Indian whom he thinks must be a figment of his imagination. He is taken to the plantation of Juan Lopez, who explains that the local Indians still worship Quetzalcoatl, believing that the god appears in the fires on the pyramid, robed in feathers. Crane cooks up a scheme and dresses like the god, planning to control the natives but surprised to see "Someone in the Flames." The Indians catch him and throw him in a cell, where he is visited by Quetzalcoatl himself! The Big Q turns out to be none other than Lopez, who reveals that he dresses as the god to control the Indians.

The first two stories in this issue are credited to Carl Wessler and Jack Oleck in the GCD and, sadly, Oleck's tale is even worse than Wessler's. So much for my faint hope that new blood might improve the writing at Atlas.

Nathan Finch buys a big seaside house on the New England coast for a low price and is unconcerned that it's said to be haunted by "The Girl Who Didn't Exist!" She's a pretty gal named Johanna and her ghost appears on the widow's walk one night when Nathan gets dressed up to resemble the whaler she'd loved. Romance blossoms and Nathan goes to the wharf one night to leave with her on a whaling ship. She reveals that she knew who he was all along and they agree to keep their torrid affair going at the house.

For once, the ghost is really a ghost and not a Martian or a projection or a trick by the cops! That has to be worth something, right? The art by Tony DiPreta isn't very impressive.

Ignoring his father Ivan's advice to "Run for Your Life," Jan Hublo is captured at an anti-Communist revolt in his Eastern European country. Ivan finds a book on sorcery and, the next morning, conjures a cloud that enters the prison where Jan is held but fails to set him free. Attempts with fire and invisibility the next day also fail, and the day after that, evil Col. Rokell orders Jan to be shot at dawn, only to find that the young man has vanished! When the colonel rushes out to find Jan he is mistaken for the prisoner, arrested, and executed by firing squad.

Reading an anti-Communist story by Carl Wessler that is illustrated by Robert Sale makes death by firing squad look good in comparison. There is really nothing positive to say about this one.

Wealthy Richard Knox buys a farm in Pennsylvania Dutch country and orders his workman to paint over all the hex signs because he thinks they're silly superstitions. Right away, the community is shaken by a big storm, a fire, and a tornado. The neighbors aren't happy but Knox won't back down. Eventually, everyone and everything calms down. Knox does not realize that his farm contains "The Hidden Hex!" that grew up in the middle of his crops when his workman planted them just so.

Sam Kweskin's art is not bad and I gave this one an extra half star for the early appearance of a crop circle in a comic book. Did Carl Wessler know that they would be a big thing in a few decades?

In the year 6956, a Troubleshooter escapes from the locked closet where he was held, bound and gagged. He reports to his superior officer that he was slugged by a Destroyer, who took his orders and time-travel clearance. The troubleshooters travel to the past to prevent dangerous discoveries from being made, while the Destroyers do the opposite. The troubleshooter rushes back to the 20th century but is too late to prevent the Destroyer from whispering in the ear of a man in a lab and telling him the final element that will lead to creation of an explosive that will destroy the world. Fortunately, the man in whose ear the secret was whispered is only a janitor, who has no idea what the Destroyer was talking about!

Grey Morrow's solid artwork elevates this story, which benefits from an intriguing concept and a conclusion that I did not see coming. Easily the best story this issue, "The Man in Gray!" saves World of Fantasy #7 from being consigned to the recycling bin.-Jack

Next Week...
Hey, At Least We've
Got the Art, Right?

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 160: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 145

April 1957 Part IV

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Uncanny Tales #54

Cover by Carl Burgos

"Mystery in Midville" (a: John Forte) ★★

(r: Chamber of Chills #17)

"The Warning!" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★

(r: Vault of Evil #20)

"The Hidden Island" (a: Fred Kida) ★

(r: Tomb of Darkness #15)

"Inside the Tomb!" (a: Dave Berg) ★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #19)

"The Terrible Fate of Mr. Wren!" (a: John Tartaglione) ★★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #36)

"The Moving Walls!" (a: Frank Bolle) ★1/2

On the run from the law and starving, petty thief Mort Lowman wanders into Midville and finds a town devoid of greed, anger, and jealousy, The town has no crime and the only cop does little but direct traffic. All the folk in the town open their arms to Mort and, for once in his life, Mort feels happy and loved. There's just one thing, advises Mr. Dora, the man who "adopts" Mort: do not, under any circumstances, open the locked box found in Dora's living room. 

The natural crookedness arises in Lowman's heart. "I could take the treasure found in this here box and live like a king. And that's just what I'll do!,"  exclaims the dope. So Mort grabs a handy crowbar and pries the chest open. Out pops all the awfulness and black-hearted deeds Mr. Dora sucked out of his fellow Midvillians and stashed in the box. Suddenly Midville becomes the rotten place it once was and the cops come to arrest Mort Lowman for his petty crimes. You see, the crate in Mr. Dora's sitting room was Pandora's Box! Holy cow, what a surprise this was. Well, to be fair, I was expecting The "Mystery in Midville" to wind up being some kind of Martian testing facility or a really bad dream but at least we got a semi-satisfying twist and some decent art from John Forte.

Dr. Bishop has recreated the Midas touch in his lab but, in a strange twist, he's given the formula to his dog. This, he asserts, is to keep greed from common man and also because he likes to eat a meal now and then that hasn't been turned to gold. For a while, Bishop is able to control the objects the dog touches but then, one dark and dreary day, a fellow scientist enters the lab and assures Bishop he won't be leaving until he has that formula. 

The script for "The Warning!" is old news; we all know it's the Krigstein Midas touch we'll be paying attention to but, here, that touch seems to be muted a bit. Gone are the trademarked multiple thin panels and Bernie delivers his graphics in (for the most part) a standard Atlas fashion. It's still good art but it's lost the uniqueness. I was nowhere near the Atlas Bullpen in 1957 (in fact, I was nowhere near being born yet) but I have to think that Stan had something to do with reigning BK in. Hopefully, for just this one little saga.

Two misfits, a man and a woman, homely and scarred, leave the real world and travel to "The Hidden Island," a Pacific plot of land surrounded by mist and populated by Komodo Dragons. The island's magical powers turn the man into a big-muscled strongman and the woman into a babe. There, they find love and, hopefully, no mirrors. Even worse is "Inside the Tomb!" An archaeologist rises from an ancient Egyptian tomb in some sort of a trance (with a really low heartbeat!) and his fellow explorer must descend into the depths of the structure to find out how his friend became a zombie. Since not one soul has perished in an Atlas story since the advent of the Comics Corrode, all suspense and danger are discarded and all we can hope for is a little imagination and perhaps some eye-pleasing graphics. Good luck with that. The script is meh and Dave Berg does the best he can with it, but this is strictly snoozeville.

In the three-page "The Terrible Fate of Mr. Wren!," Hubert Wren survives a bad childhood to become a brilliant inventor who dreams up a gizmo that can perfectly duplicate anything. The world is his oyster until Wren proposes to a gorgeous dame but accidentally blasts her with his Duplicator Ray and, suddenly, the poor sap has two fiances. A terrible fate indeed! This one has a fun sense of mischief and some great art by Tartaglione (again, I have to believe Howard Chaykin must have been a Tart-fan). 

Last up is the shamefully padded (padded? I hear you say, how can a four-page story be padded?) "The Moving Walls!," wherein three stooges head into the Gorse Manor to steal the fabled Gorse Diamond but find a house full of startling obstacles. Three of the four pages are devoted to the crooks constantly reminding us how spooky the house is but at least pulpmeister Wessler delivers a good twist in the tail.-Peter

World of Mystery #6

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Secret of the Haunted House" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo) ★★1/2

"The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★★

"Witch Doctor" (a: Gene Colan) ★★1/2

"Hideous Hide-out" (a: Mac L. Pakula) ★★

"Secret Under the Sea!" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★1/2

"The Sinking Man!" (a: Chuck Miller) ★

In order to join a local social club (nope, not a JD gang, but one of those nice, innocent circles that probably gather on Sundays to knit and help tend to orphaned children), three wacky teens break into a supposedly haunted house only to discover the rundown old mansion is a hub for inter-dimensional travelers. "The Secret of the Haunted House" has one of the three most overused plot hooks on the Atlas carousel (picture one of those twirly things on the Atlas breakroom table that holds ketchup, mustard, and cliches) but, for some godforsaken reason, I enjoyed it anyway. Yes, you're right, the Williamson/Mayo gleam probably has a lot to do with that. I'll take it.

Jack says to hell with deadlines
and marches out of the Bare Bones bullpen

Martin was just an ordinary schlub, walking the streets until the day he was struck by lightning and became "The Most Dangerous Man in the World!" Once Martin comes out of his bolt-induced coma (a rather short one at that), he discovers that his glowing hands can incinerate anything they touch. Will Martin use his newly gained energy to save the world or destroy it? Well, that's a good question, but it's one that's not answered. Oddly enough, Martin delivers an ultimatum to his hometown to follow his orders or perish but we never find out what his endgame actually is. "Most Dangerous" is a clever variation on the Midas Touch theme and it shows Ditko slowly but surely developing that unique style we all know and love.

"Witch Doctor" is an inane and supremely silly tale about a movie company in Africa that lands on the wrong side of the titular medicine man. The maladies that befall the cast of the film escalate as did my giggles. But never mind that cuz Gene Colan to the rescue. Colan's guys are tough, girls are gorgeous, and noir the noirest. The dopey script (courtesy of the reliable Carl Wessler) and strong graphics continue in "Hideous Hide-Out," about a sweet old woman who runs a unique museum. Her pieces are not made of wax but are animal subjects frozen in suspended animation. Enter the vicious Rocky Larsen gang, who are looking for somewhere to hide and decide that Mrs. Turner's museum is just the right place. A huge smile came to my face as I watched Most Wanted Criminal Rocky and his gang sit outside the museum all day waiting for a good time to invade. I'd be looking for a hiding spot a bit faster but then I'm not a wanted felon. That's four well-illustrated stories in a row. May be a record for a post-code Atlas issue. Could the streak continue?

Well... Sol Brodsky's art on "Secret Under the Sea!" is not up to the standards set previously this issue but the work is certainly not bland nor boring. As for the plot of the three-pager: a strange sea captain can locate sunken ships and no one knows how he does it. It's uncanny. The secret, once the captain gets under the sea, is that he's likely one of Namor's second cousins. The truly wretched art arrives finally in the form of "The Sinking Man!," penciled by Chuck Miller, who has one of those generic styles half the bullpen acquired over the years. Lots of talking heads (in this case, bald heads) going on about time travel and mental telepathy. I'm sure there was more but, seriously, you're not going to read this tripe so why go on about it? Let's hold on to those first three stories this issue (and honorable mention to the fourth) and pretend "The Sinking Man!" never appeared.-Peter

World of Suspense #7

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Face!" (a: Joe Maneely) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #32) 

"When the Creature Escapes" (a: Al Williamson & Ralph Mayo)

(r: Chamber of Chills #13) ★★1/2

"The World's Strangest Crime" (a: Bernard Baily) ★1/2

"The Lost Island!" (a: Pete Morisi) ★

"Escape from Nowhere!" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★

(r: Amazing Adventures #28)

"To Walk Unseen" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

Roy Farnum has put up with cranky old millionaire, Wallace Lawson, for 14 years in hopes of inheriting his millions, but when Farnum learns of a long-lost son, he is certain his dreams of wealth will not come true. Farnum meets a stranger who, for $1000, takes him to  meet an inventor whose machine can change a man's face to resemble "The Face!" in a photograph. For another $8000, Roy has his face changed into that of Andrew Lawson, the missing son; the inventor takes Farnum's face as his own. The old man dies, the will is read, and--surprise! (NOT)--Wallace left his fortune to Roy rather than to his no-good son. Roy suddenly realizes he's been had by the inventor, who is none other than Andrew Lawson!

Carl Wessler once again packs eight pages of captions and dialogue into a four-page story where the twist is telegraphed well before the last panel. Joe Maneely's art may not be what it used to be, but it's still pretty good.

After catching a strange sea creature, Dr. John Halsey brings it back to the aquarium, where he begins to sense that it is highly intelligent. Eventually, the creature begins trying to communicate telepathically with the doc, who fears what it might do. "When the Creature Escapes," Halsey grabs a gun and searches, soon learning that the nearby atomic pile is reaching the danger point. The doc finds and shoots the creature, only to learn that it entered the atomic pile and stabilized it, possibly saving the world from destruction. Oops!

Williamson and Mayo do their best with a rather static story, providing a nice half-splash page with the creature being pulled from the sea in a net, as well as a very sharp panel of Halsey shooting  among its tentacles. I did not expect the creature to be benevolent, so the ending was satisfying.

Warren and Grayson decide to commit "The World's Strangest Crime" using their new machine that can send a man back in time and view scenes from the past. The Cooper Gang stole $20,000 in gold coins a century ago and Grayson proposes going back to that moment, grabbing the loot, and returning to the present while the gang members are too startled to react. Everything goes smoothly until Grayson returns with the money and he and Warren are surprised by a man from 100 years in the future, who grabs the money and disappears back to his own time while they are too startled to react.

Jack Oleck demonstrates that he's learned well at the feet of Carl Wessler, penning a story that plods along to a dull finish. At least Bernard Baily's artwork is not the worst we've seen from him.

Joe Brock breaks out of the death house and makes his way to a port, where he holds a boat's crew at gunpoint and insists that they take him along on their scientific expedition to the South Seas. A storm washes the boat ashore on a remote island, where Brock notices a Geiger counter clicking furiously. He assumes that this means that the island contains valuable uranium, so he pretends to see dangerous animals in the jungle. The rest of the crew get back on the boat and leave. Brock thinks he's sitting on a fortune in uranium until he sees a beetle that has grown as big as a man. When he sees a sign with a warning that the island is being used as a disposal area for atomic waste, Brock realizes that he'll grow giant-sized just like the beetle.

I usually like Pete Morisi's quirky style, but on this story he was just collecting a paycheck. The story itself is awful and the worst part of all is the idea that Brock somehow thinks he can profit from being left alone on a remote island with uranium. Does he think he'll mine it all himself? Then what? Wait for a passing ship and cart it back to civilization? The ending is worse--he's being exposed to high levels of radiation and his main concern is that he'll grow bigger?

The Great Myron has always managed to escape, no matter the challenge. But when he's hit by a truck while crossing the street, Myron's return to life may be his most daring escape yet. "Escape From Nowhere!" pushes the boundaries of what should be included in a comic titled World of Suspense, since next to nothing happens and there's little to no suspense.

Fred Beasley delivers laundry to various folks. One of his customers is Doc, a scientist, who tells Fred that he's working on an invisibility liquid. Like every Atlas protagonist, Fred immediately thinks he can cash in. The Doc tells Fred that if a tiny bit of the liquid is rubbed on the skin, it produces temporary, safe invisibility, but too much will produce permanent invisibility, followed by death!

Fred tries a little and robs a grocery store, certain that he's invisible when the sole customer does not appear to see him. The crook returns to Doc's office, where he and Doc get into a scuffle and Fred is soaked with the liquid. He rushes outside and the same man who had been in the grocery store ignores him. When the police come to take Fred away, Doc explains that he was just kidding about the fluid causing invisibility and death. After the police leave with Fred, we see that the man on the sidewalk wears a placard: "Blind and Deaf."

After reading the last three Atlas comics from April 1957, the idea of being blind doesn't seem so bad. This ridiculous story depends on the blind man being present both in the store and on the sidewalk when Fred thinks he's invisible. Pretty far-fetched if you ask me.-Jack

Next Week...
Now This is More Like It!

"Hey, Mom and Dad! Look!
Have you thought about this yet?"

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 156: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 141

March 1957 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Tales #56

Cover by Bill Everett

"Something Is On This Ship!" (a: Doug Wildey) ★★

"The Metal Master!" (a: Vince Colletta) ★1/2

"More Than a Mortal!" (a: Pete Morisi) ★

"Hide-Out!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"Nothing Can Stop It" (a: Howard O' Donnell) ★★

"The Shock!" (a: Reed Crandall) ★★

An aging sailor uses subterfuge and the superstitions of the sea to get himself a good job aboard the Sulu Queen but discovers too late that there might be something to this "haunted ship" nonsense. In the end, he discovers that "Something is On This Ship!" Eye-pleasing Wildey graphics balance out the stale plot.

An artist wishes there were more hours in the day so that he could create more beauty on his canvass so he does what any other painter would do... he builds a sophisticated robot that can paint exactly as he does. But, in the end, should man create artificial beauty, creations without soul, just because he can? I gotta tell you, while I was reading "The Metal Master!," I wished for a robot who could read a lot of these dismal, pretentious Atlas SF tales for me and find something original to say about them. "The Metal Master!" was good for a chuckle or two (chief among them the fact that a painter could suddenly become a brilliant scientist and build an intelligent automaton seemingly on a whim) and its final preachy panel is very prescient in these AI-dominated times. 

Joel Barr is a bit obsessed with William Shakespeare, so much so that Joel is convinced that the Bard was "More Than a Mortal!" How else could one man have concocted such masterpieces of literature? So, Joel makes it his life's work to prove that Shakespeare was... I don't know... a Martian or something? In a slightly off-topic sub-plot, we discover our protagonist has killed his uncle for an inheritance and that revelation plays into the "startling" twist found at the story's climax. This is one brutally bad funny book story. Pete Morisi does his best with the meandering script.

Mobster Rick Dawn makes a pretty penny providing shelter for crooks on the lam but he sure wishes he could get rid of a few of his competitors. Imagine the dough he'd bring in if he were the only game in town! Well, as fate (and Atlas Comics) would have it, when he's making that wish, Dawn is (for some reason) palming a peculiar hunk of glass and it's not long before he gets the news that the cops have raided all the other "Hide-Out!" proprietors in the city. Holy cow, could this worthless piece of glass he found in a deserted hovel be his secret weapon? Yes. Do we get any reasoning for this miracle? What do you think? Rick's inevitable fall comes when he accidentally breaks the bauble and police come to arrest him. Now where will he hide? "Hide-Out!" becomes more and more disjointed as the panels stumble on.

In the three-page "Nothing Can Stop It," a brilliant scientist creates a dissolving formula so that he can break into department stores and steal mink stoles for his gorgeous girlfriend, Carol. No, I'm serious. Despite Carol's pleas that a mink stole really isn't her thing (now, diamonds, that's another story...), the egghead pushes on with his research and creates a formula for an acid that eats through anything. Anything. As the scientist and police look on, the acid makes its way through the earth and heads for China, Armageddon its natural goal. Having had enough, Carol spins and heads for the door, swearing she could never love a man who would destroy the Earth. This one is a hoot, a very short burst of hilarity that came as a perfect tonic after the previous three snoozers. Carol's final reaction, blurting out muffled obscenities and insults, is the bee's knees. The list of brilliant Atlas chemists who used their brains for bad behavior is a long and storied one.

Joe Dillon is a real deadbeat, moving from town to town, staying only long enough to accrue lots of bills and skipping out before the creditors can nab him. His latest residence is a real pit but it's cheap. One night, Joe gets out of bed, trips over a frayed wire, and reaches out to the radiator for support. He gets "The Shock!" of his life in more than one way--Joe is teleported to another city! After interviewing startled passersby (remember, Joe is in his pajamas), he ascertains he's in Nebraska, a thousand miles away from his home. 

For some reason, touching that radiator and receiving a shock at the same time gives Joe the power of teleportation! The wheels begin turning and it's not long before Joe has a plan for a big heist involving the safe at his job site. Joe robs the safe and rushes back to his house but is in for a rude awakening when he discovers the electricity has been shut off due to nonpayment! I giggled through this light, breezy fluff, the twist is a good one, and it's always good to see the dependable Reed Crandall show up in an Atlas comic book.-Peter

Uncanny Tales # 53

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Mud Walks!" (a: Joe Orlando) ★★★★

"Guinea Pig!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★1/2

"Inside the House of Shadows" (a: Syd Shores) ★

"The Dreadful Discovery" (a: Angelo Torres) ★1/2

"Dead Silence!" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★

"Nerve-Wracker!" (a: John Forte) ★

Sadistic Commandant Hass has an almost gleeful way about him as he makes his way around the concentration camp he oversees. Is it the fact that he personally sends so many Jews to their death or is it the huge fortune he's got buried under the camp? When two prisoners inadvertently stumble across Hass's hiding place when they attempt to build a Golem from mud, the commandant has them put to death to keep them quiet.

The war ends and Hass goes to prison for his crimes but is released ten years later. He immediately makes his way to the now-closed camp and digs for his treasure, unaware of the muddy figure making its way towards him. I'd have to go through my notes but I'm 99.9% sure this is the first time I've awarded a four-star medallion to a post-code story and "The Mud Walks!" absolutely merits the distinction. For one, it's a lot edgier than any of its contemporaries; revisiting the holocaust a mere ten years later seems like a very risky proposition, especially for a funny book. Sure, many Atlas yarns have featured sadistic Nazis as their evil protagonists but Hass seems much more realized and believable. There are no panels of the commandant behind a desk giving out orders or grinning wickedly over his cache. The panels depicting the doomed inmates are stark and depressing, a job well done by Orlando. Easily the best post-code story I've read thus far,

In "Guinea Pig!," Parker comes across a spell in an old book that can make wishes come true if the subject will speak a Latin phrase out loud. Afraid of side effects, Parker "befriends" a vagrant in the park and brings him home for a hot meal, later convincing the man to read the aforementioned Latin incantation. Once spoken, the man seems to have the power to make all his wishes come true. Convinced of the book's power, Parker reads the phrase and wishes for the vagrant's death but gets his own comeuppance in a clever twist. 

Finally released after fifteen years in the pokey, Charlie Cowan hurries to the spot where he buried thirty-six grand in stolen cash before his partners can catch him. Loot in hand, Charlie sees his old mates coming for him and ducks into a haunted house. Once "Inside the House of Shadows," Charlie discovers the rotted old structure is a gateway to the past. Charlie arrives at the moment he was caught by the cops fifteen years ago. He has only moments to make a fateful choice. You have a choice too and I urge you to skip this one.

Two scientists search for the elusive white whale, a mammal with a brain similar to that of man, but when they finally find a specimen, it gives them pause to reflect on life, destiny, and man's inability to make a good cup of coffee. "The Dreadful Discovery" isn't quite dreadful but it is dreadfully boring and, in the end, quite pretentious. The quasi-Williamson-esque Torres art usually can pep up a dragging storyline but here Angelo's muscular graphics just sit flatly on the paper.

In the maudlin, predictable three-pager, "Dead Silence!," a surgeon pleads with his colleagues to perform a Thoracic Aortic Dissection Repair on a patient in the ER but his cries of anguish fall on deaf ears. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that he's even in the operating room, unmasked and in his street clothes. That is, of course, because they are operating on him! This is a plot that could be placed way in the back of the Atlas Vault of Ideas, ignored for a few years and no one would miss it. While we're at it, hide the story's O'Donnell art in that vault as well. In the equally bad "Nerve-Wracker!," a bored millionaire loves to play elaborate practical jokes on his friend but, in a convoluted and incredibly dopey climax, the buffoon gets his just desserts. Speaking of dessert, I'm leaving this tuna jello behind and searching for another "The Mud Walks!" Pray for me!-Peter

World of Fantasy #6

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Worm's-Eye View" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★

"The Three Heads" (a: Dave Berg) ★★

"The Machine That Talked Too Much!" (a: Bob Powell) ★★1/2

"He Saw It In the Swamp!" (a: John Giunta (?) and George Roussos)★

"The Child!" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★1/2

"Monkey Man!" (a: John Forte) ★

After fleeing the U.S. following an armed robbery, Luke Dowd hides out in the Amazon Rainforest, where he discovers the secret herb that Jivaros use to shrink heads. Luke is determined to use his knowledge for personal gain, so when he returns to the U.S. he evades the police and commits robberies by shrinking himself and squeezing through tiny spaces. "The Worm's-Eye View" is his undoing when he encounters a hungry cat! Luke hides between walls and finds himself stuck in place when the herb wears off and he reverts to full size. The police discover him trapped!

Richard Matheson's The Shrinking Man was published in 1956, so it's possible Carl Wessler read it and used the idea for this story. Richard Doxsee's art is above average but the four-page limit forces events to an abrupt conclusion.

On the run from the cops, a crook ducks into an old curio shop where he finds a Central American statue with three heads. He picks up the statue and wishes he could be elsewhere. Suddenly he's spinning and is dumped in the grass outside a ruined temple. He wishes the temple were new again, goes for another spin, and finds himself in a new temple filled with treasure. The man fights off a temple guard and one of the statue's heads breaks off in the melee. More guards approach and the man wishes to escape, but the wish fails! Back in the curio shop, the proprietor finds the statue on the floor, one head broken off, and wonders what happened. He thinks of the legend that the idol grants one wish per head and wonders how the object ended up broken on the floor.

"The Three Heads" is a fairly standard Atlas tale, where there's the germ of an idea but the story is too short to develop it and the surprise ending is a disappointment. Dave Berg's art is nothing special, which makes me think that his years of drawing "The Lighter Side" for Mad were successful more due to the writing than the art, which never changed much.

A scientist named Rupert Rawley invents a machine that can identify and locate criminals just by feeding it a physical clue found at the scene of the crime. The cops are amazed that the machine works, but it can't seem to lead them to the money that was stolen by the thieves! Rawley tinkers and tinkers but nothing works until the cops use the machine when its inventor is not around. It turns out that the machine was able to find all the loot after all, but Rawley was keeping it for himself!

Anyone reading "The Machine That Talked Too Much!" knows early on that Rupert Rawley found the money and was keeping it. The only thing keeping us reading is to find out how and when the cops will see the light. As usual, Bob Powell's graphics are a highlight; his attention to detail and his ability to draw striking panels have not changed since his Golden Age work.

On his deathbed, Ted's uncle gives him a strange bequest--a parrot that belonged to the pirate, Jean Lafitte, and that will bring back one piece of Spanish gold per day when asked. The old man warns Ted not to ask for more but, after his uncle has died, Ted gets impatient and takes the parrot to the swamps outside New Orleans, hoping it will lead him to the treasure. Instead, Jean Lafitte appears and gives Ted a whack. Forever after, Ted is a broken man, haunting the bars with tales of his failure.

The GCD says John Giunta may have penciled "He Saw It In the Swamp!," which was inked by George Roussos. Whoever is responsible has a lot to answer for, because it's just plain bad, both in story and in art.

John and Betty's one-week-old baby boy astounds the world when he begins to talk in coherent sentences. Soon, "The Child" is growing fast and announces that his evolution was speeded up one million years. By age four, he knows it all and has had enough, so he builds a spaceship and takes off, leaving a note for Mom and Dad. They hope for the best for mankind's future.

It's a bit odd that this story manages to be both depressing and hopeful in a mere three pages. It's depressing that everyone doesn't know what to do with the kid and ignores his helpful suggestions for things like conquering diseases, yet it's hopeful (in the usual, sappy Atlas way) because, in the last panel, Dad tells Mom that the child will come back someday to a better mankind. Good luck with that!

"Shanghai" Slader is a crooked sailor who hangs around Miami Beach with a monkey on his shoulder. He tries to teach the monkey to rob purses and pick pockets, but it doesn't go well, despite Slader's attempts to teach his pet and his constant repetition of "monkey sees, monkey does." Slader and his monkey stow away on a ship and end up in the Bahamas, where the sailor takes a job as handyman at the J.P. Henderson estate. That night, Slader robs Henderson's safe and shoots the homeowner when he's confronted. Unfortunately, the monkey finally follows Slader's advice of "money sees, monkey does," picking up the gun and shooting the crooked sailor.

Dreadful stuff. John Forte's art has gone from wooden to just plain ugly, and "Monkey Man!" lacks anything resembling an interesting character or situation. The ending is no surprise to any reader paying attention.-Jack

Next Week...
Jack and Peter Plead With Their Readers
to "Hang On... The Good Stuff Has Got to Be
Right Around the Corner!"