Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 200: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 185

September 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #4

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Am Robot X" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

"Who or What Was... the Bootblack?" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

"What Lurks Within?" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

Sure, there have been robots built and utilized for man's purposes, but never one like Robot X! The first thinking hunk of metal, created by really smart Atlas genius, Professor Jonathan Wilkes. The old scientist is merely trying to do his part for an easier day for mankind but there always has to be one naysayer in the crowd, right?

The naysayer in "I Am Robot X" is Charles J. Wentworth, publisher of the Daily Clarion, who believes thinking robots will be the downfall of mankind. His readers agree and suddenly Prof. Wilkes finds himself battling a maddened mob at his front door. Knowing he'll be taken apart and used as scrap metal for Edsels, Robot X amscrays out the back door and heads for a nearby junkyard. There, he builds himself a smart, human-like robot to do his bidding. The faux man rents a factory and he and Robot X get to work building an army of thinking androids.

The feds track Robot X to his factory and attempt to shut the place down, but he uses a "force field of impenetrable energy" to push them back. With his army built, X heads into town and faces a kill-crazy militia. As his minions fight off the soldiers, X heads into the Daily Clarion and grabs Wentworth. Both topple from the top of the building but are rescued by a net placed below by firemen. As Wentworth rises from the netting, X pulls the publisher's face off, revealing a Martian head. Yep, the stinkin' Martians were trying to stir up unrest on Earth, buying up media outlets and playing "upon their readers' fears." With the Martian menace defeated, Robot X shuts himself down and wishes the best for Earth.

Though the plot is same-old, same-old, at least the robot design is fairly unique. X has no legs and gets around on a giant "wheel" in lieu of a torso. The innocent nature of X is a cheat since it's built on a foundation of scary behavior and menacing dialogue ("We must create an army! Then nothing can stop us from entering the city!") that ends once the real threat is revealed. As usual, the Martians stand in for the stinkin' Commies, who would also infiltrate America and spread their plague among us if they got the chance.

In the drivel known as "Who or What was... the Bootblack?," heartless, evil, pompous Simon Sledge is on his way to the most important deal in his miserable, heartless, evil life when he stops for a shoeshine. Sledge gives the bootblack guff for being poor and informs him he has only a few minutes to finish or Sledge won't pay him a penny. When the man has completed his task, Sledge heads to the meeting but finds his heartless, evil feet are heading the other way. Sledge misses his appointment and loses out on millions. The only thing missing from this hogwash is the final panel showing Sledge a few months later as a penniless shoe shiner.

With the aid of a wrecking ball and his telepathic communication skills, Dr. Droom convinces the barbaric aliens who have landed that Earth is not to be messed with. "What Lurks Within?" continues the fairly interesting mini adventures of Anthony Droom, a character who might have enjoyed a long life as one of Atlas/Marvel's initial strip heroes but oddly was abandoned after only one more installment. These Droom yarns are a historical artifact in that they give us a peek at what the boys were planning to unleash very soon.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #72

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Glob" (a: Jack Kirby & George Klein) ★★1/2

(r: Where Creatures Roam #7)

"The Patient in Room 3D" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #7)

"Will This Be the End of the World?" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #7)

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: When Stan and Jack began titling their fantasy epics "I Lived Through..." and "I Created...", they began the annoying habit of leaving their lead protagonists/narrators nameless. For the sake of clarity (and my sanity), I will begin labeling these characters "Joe" (or the rare "Joan"); don't bother sending me e-mails arguing that "The lead protagonist in 'I Killed Bamboo... Lord of the Amazon!!' is not named Joe" as I will completely ignore you. Thank you for your time.

"Joe" is obviously one of the most well-regarded painters in the world... not of portraits or landscapes or nudes, but of stuff. Joe can paint the hell out of a living room wall, believe you me. So, imagine how excited (and puzzled) Joe is when he is approached by a strange man from Transylvania who tells the painter that he has a job for him back at his castle. The money must be good because, quicker than you can say "Sherwin-Williams," Joe has boarded a transatlantic 747 and arrives in Transylvania!

In the castle, Joe is shown to a dark, dank, gloomy room and shown what he must paint: a sinister statue of a hulking beast. Joe is given strict instructions that he must combine three buckets of paint, cover the statue with the formula, and get the hell out of Dodge by midnight. Smelling easy money, Joe gets to work as the stranger bids him sweet adieu. Our hero does indeed finish his work well before midnight, noticing the coat of paint has rendered his work a gloopy, gloppy mess, but disaster strikes in the form of a freak earthquake; Joe is pinned beneath a falling beam and forced to remain in the castle after midnight. Poor Joe!

At the stroke of midnight (there are big clocks inside the castle), Joe is horrified to see the statue come to life. "I Created... The Menace I Will Name... The Glob!!," screams Joe. Fortuitously, the creature lifts the beam from Joe's (fortunately unharmed) leg before he announces he will kill the human. Joe hoofs it and the two spend quite a few panels playing Hide and Seek before the thing proclaims, "I'm hungry! I'm going down to the village to get 'something to eat!'" In the old days of Atlas, that would mean dining on a Frau or two, but in the safer days of 1961 we find the Glob grabbing a couple of trays of beer and schnitzel before heading back to the castle with intent to kill (or at least seriously harm) Joe.

But salvation arrives in the form of Joe's employer, who has come back to see what's what. Rather than get the hell out of the deathtrap, Joe demands an explanation for the Glob he's created. Seems the foreigner stumbled upon a statue, three cans of paint, and a scroll that instructed its benefactor to paint the big guy when "the statue's comrades return to Earth." Aha, so the Glob is another outer space alien here to set in motion an invasion!

The Glob returns and begins anew a grand chase through the castle until Joe finally remembers the dreaded foe of any paint: turpentine. He grabs a huge bucket of turpentine that just happens to be lying around and tosses it at the beast. "I'm melting... I'm melting!," cries the alien as he returns to being a lifeless statue. The villagers arrive to burn the castle down and Joe and the stranger barely make it out alive. The next day, Joe sits on a plane and hopes that mankind will remain vigilant in case the Glob's "comrades" do indeed arrive on Earth.

So, is Joe going to visit the UN to warn the nations of the coming invasion? How will the world stay vigilant if Joe doesn't risk humiliation and ridicule by telling his story of a giant, gloopy Glob from outer space? No one will believe him (would you?) so Earth, I'm sorry to say, is doomed, my friends. "The Glob" is mindless comic strip fun, as are most of these Stan/Jack/Mighty Monster yarns but, unlike so many of the others, this one did not try my patience or force me to keep looking at the page numbers. 

I love all its inanities. We suspect the foreigner has a hidden agenda when he flies all the way to America in search of Joe; he does in fact tell the painter he's heard that he's a master of his craft. The guy paints houses and furniture; where is the mastery? Anyone who can handle a brush and read instructions could have done the job. Since the Glob has no super powers to speak of, what was the plan for world domination? One deli at a time? How many comrades would show up? And would they be statues or fully formed Globs? And then, most of all, there's the mystery of the bucket of paint thinner. When Joe arrives in Transylvania, he's without any baggage. Where did he get the giant vat of turpentine? You think the "comrades" left it in the corner just in case? Not likely. Give me more Glob!

"The Patient in Room 3D" awakens after an operation to increase his brain power ten times, but when questioned can give the scientists no satisfactory answers. Alas, the professors sigh, if only we could experiment on humans instead of monkeys. Finally, in "Will This Be the End of the World?," Stan/Larry dust off yet another moldy Atlas staple. When a giant white orb in the sky hurtles towards us, scientists build a huge space ark and abandon Earth. In the end, it's just a baseball heading toward a catcher's mitt. I tried to make sense of how mini-Earth could build spaceships in the time it would take a baseball to hit a mitt, but why am I bothering? You're laughing at me right now, I know.-Peter

Strange Tales #88

Cover by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

"Zzutak the Thing That Shouldn't Exist!!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Fear #3)

"The Lifeless Man!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Fear #3)

"Punishment!" (a: Don Heck) ★

Famed comic book artist Frank Johnson has thrilled millions with his monster creations for such million-selling titles as Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, and Amazing Adventures, but his editor wants him to come up with the ultimate creature feature, one that will have the readers screaming "More...more!"

While sitting at his easel pondering the situation, a stranger enters Frank's studio and hands the artist a tube of paint, explaining that this is a "new kind of paint, a three-dimensional paint!" Frank dabs a bit onto his canvas, quickly paints a rose, and watches in awe as the flower comes to life. He reaches out and pulls the rose from his easel! He tells the stranger he'll pay anything for the tube, but the man refuses payment and tells Frank to get to work painting his masterpiece. But once the man is gone and Frank dabs the paint onto his board, the tube "tells" him to fly to Mexico, where he can continue his artistry. 

When he gets to Mexico, he seems to know exactly where he's going and that route leads to an ancient Aztec temple. There, a huge canvas awaits him. The paint tells him exactly what to create: "Zzutak the Thing That Shouldn't Exist!!" All done, the monster hops off the canvas alive and threatens its creator. From the shadows emerges an Aztec elder... the stranger who hired Frank in the first place! The exotically garbed gentleman explains to the bewildered strip artist that he has painted an ancient creature called Zzutak (the second "z" is silent), a monster that will help the elder rule the world. 

The Aztec commands Frank to paint yet another monster with an eye to building an army of super-powered slaves. Frank uses the old noggin, though, and imposes his will on the new sketch, ordering Zzutak2 to obey Frank's every command. When Zzutak2 emerges from the easel, it attacks its brother and the two monsters battle to the death, bringing the temple down with them. Frank and the elder survive, with the Mexican holy man newly amnesiac and ready to re-enter society as a good guy. Frank takes a sketch to his editor and announces "Zzutak" will be the cover of Strange Tales #88; Stan tells him to go back to the drawing board.

The plot of "Zzutak, The Thing That Exists Only to Fill Pages!" is pretty much identical to that of "The Glob": painter hired by strange foreign guy to unknowingly create a monster to rule the world and, like "Glob," I found myself enjoying the heck out of "Zzutak." But why not add to the fun and name Frank "Jack Kirby" as a wink to the fans? My enjoyment of this one is obviously enhanced by my memories of reading it when it was reprinted as the cover feature of Fear #3. Those twenty-five cent extra-large funny books were the comic equivalent of a bag of Laura Scudder's Mini Tacos. Once you start devouring, you can't stop.

I'll give "The Lifeless Man!" two stars only for Ditko's charming artwork but the plot, the old standby about a kid who buys a toy soldier that later comes to life and saves him, is "Lifeless." Meanwhile, in "Punishment!," Urru of planet Phato III commits a crime, something not seen on this peaceful world in centuries, and he is sentenced to spend six months on the "Prison Planet." Of course, we all know what the "Prison Planet" is long before the truth is revealed. Double Groan!-Peter

Tales of Suspense #21

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Klagg! His Mission: Destroy Mankind!"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #20)

"Whose Face is in the Mirror?" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

"The Man from... Tomorrow!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

A rocket ship from outer space lands near Center City, a peaceful, American community, after generating a huge gust of wind. The ship's door opens and from inside emerges Klagg, an orange-skinned alien with an elongated, dome-like cranium. Carefree playboy Philip hears a radio news report about the landing, as do members of the Russian military. Klagg explains that his ship is propelled by wind and, when he realizes that the people of Earth still engage in war, he states that he will be forced to take drastic action to protect the rest of the galaxy from such barbarians.

Klagg returns to his ship and takes off! Immediately, the ship begins to emit a huge wind that wreaks havoc on Center City. Russian agents watch with interest, hoping to discover the secret of Klagg's technology so they can use it to attack the West. Philip and his girlfriend, Clair, arrive in town just as the wind is blowing. The Army tries to blast Klagg's ship, but to no avail.

The next morning, Phil tricks the Russian agents into thinking he has stolen the diagram of the wind generator from Klagg's ship. When they confront him, he explains that he pretended to have the plans so that they could all work together. A week later, the nations of Earth band together and challenge Klagg to a battle on the open seas. When the alien observes that the nations of Earth have the capacity to work together, he decides that there is hope for us after all. He promises to keep an eye on our planet and zips off into outer space. Clair tells Philip that he's like a new man!

"Klagg! His Mission: Destroy Mankind!" has many of the Lee and Kirby tropes we've grown used to. There are the usual panels with people looking at the reader and pointing at something. There is the immature man who grows up when confronted with a challenge. On pages four and twelve, there are the obligatory panels in outer space with dialogue balloons. There is the alien who is unpleasantly surprised at the backward nature of Earthlings. What the story lacks is an interesting monster or a panel with floating heads. Klagg's head shape reminds me of Hulk's adversary, the Leader; this head shape had been used before in Superman comics, so it was not new.

Joe Kane wakes up, looks in the bathroom mirror, and sees a fat man with glasses looking back at him! The mirror shatters, so Joe goes to another mirror, where the same thing happens! "Whose Face Is in the Mirror?" wonders Joe. Is he going mad? The same thing happens a third time. Joe rushes to work, avoiding mirrors on the way. As the elevator door opens, Joe sees the man in the mirror! Joe runs off and the elevator that he would have boarded crashes to the ground when its cable snaps!

Yet another variation on the classic ghost tale, "The Bus-Conductor," this short story features art by Ditko that fits the narrative perfectly. The most famous version of this story is "Twenty-Two," which aired on The Twilight Zone on February 10, 1961, possibly around the time this story was devised.

Walter Phelps invents a time machine in 1965 and uses it to travel back to Rome in A.D. 25, certain that when he demonstrates the wonders of his age, the Romans will crown him king. The moron destroys the time machine on arrival so none of his contemporaries can follow him, then tries and fails to demonstrate the wonders of TV, radio, a camera, and a cigarette lighter. Now he's stuck in the past, hoping someone else will invent a time machine and rescue him.

The GCD helpfully reminds us that we read a version of this story in Tales of Suspense #2, where it was called "Trapped in Yesterday!" That version was drawn by Carl Burgos, whose drawings are worse than Kirby's.-Jack

Tales to Astonish #23

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Unbelievable Menace of Moomba"

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Creatures on the Loose #11)(r: Chamber of Chills #25)

"Less Than Human" (a: Don Heck) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #22)

"The Voice from Nowhere!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #14)

Frank likes to tell tales of his big game hunting in Africa. Now that everyone wants authentic wooden sculptures from the native tribes, Frank uses his good relations with tribal leaders to trade for the newly popular figures. In one village, a witch doctor named Katu claims that the wooden statues are evil creatures bent on mankind's destruction. Frank laughs at the idea but, weeks later, he encounters "The Unbelievable Menace of Moomba" in the jungle!

Moomba is a big, wooden statue that moves and talks; it informs Frank that the wooden carvings that people have been collecting are really his warriors, just waiting for his signal to attack mankind. Moombah climbs to the top of a mountain and sends out his signal, at which point wooden statues around the world spring to life and turn on their human owners. The military is unable to stop Moomba, but Katu, the witch doctor, freezes the big guy by mixing together some powders and letting a strange vapor waft over him. To save himself, Moomba agrees to take all of his warriors and leave the Earth, never to return. They fly off into outer space and the people of Earth are left with no memory of the menace. The only one who recalls it is Frank, who wrote the story down in his diary and vows never to make fun of witch doctors again.

In the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "Bang! You're Dead," which aired on October 17, 1961, a white character returns from Africa with a souvenir tribal mask and refers to it in jest as "what the well-dressed witch doctor is wearing." This month's story in Tales to Astonish confirms that African tribal items had worked their way into popular culture, though the events depicted here are particularly silly. Kirby seems to be running out of ideas for new monsters. This story features two panels showing the Earth from outer space as people converse--on page three and page twelve. I wonder if these panels were intended to give the stories more of a science fiction feeling by depicting the planet as seen from afar?

In the twenty-first century, robots are everywhere and Mr. Harris can't stand them. When he arrives home to find that his wife has purchased a robot as a plaything for their son Billy, Harris is incensed, but when Billy chases a ball into the street and Roby sacrifices itself to save the lad, Harris changes his tune.

Don Heck's art is solid but the story has been told many times before and nothing new is added here.

A man traveling through space in a rocket ship lands on an asteroid to make emergency repairs. He fixes the ship quickly and suddenly hears "The Voice from Nowhere!" begging him for help. The man looks everywhere on the small rock but can find no source for the voice. Is he going mad? The voice says it's lost and that it comes from the Fourth Galaxy. The man replies that the Fourth Galaxy is about twelve years away, pointing past Vegas. The voice thanks the man for saving it and says it can return home. The man boards his ship, takes off, and realizes that the voice was that of the asteroid,. which heads toward home!

For once, they got me! I did not guess the ending in advance and got a chuckle out of it. That must be worth something! The Ditko art is excellent, as usual.-Jack

On Thursday...
Nuff Said!

And Next Week...
Atlas/Marvel's Most Famous
Dragon Makes His Debut!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 199: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 184

August 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #3

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"We Were Trapped in the Twilight World!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★

"The Teddy Bear" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

"Doctor Droom Meets Zemu!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★ (r: Weird Wonder Tales #20)

Paul Harper's just had a tremendous argument with Professor Barnes at his college. You see, Paul is a science major and thinks he knows it all, including the fact that our Earth is surrounded by alternate Earths and alternate space and time and all that complicated mega-verse nonsense. Paul is a little angry so he does what anyone would do: he grabs his girl, Cathy, and goes for a long drive in the country.

As they're tootling along, minding their own business, a sinister green fog comes out of nowhere and envelops their convertible. Paul has to stop the car and the couple explore the fog on foot. When the mist evaporates, Paul and Cathy are horrified to learn they're in some prehistoric world, complete with cavemen and dinosaurs. That means Paul was right! While he rants on and on about "I told him so! I told him so!," Cathy hits him upside the head with a Stegosaurus jawbone and tells him they'd better find a way out of this place pronto before they're served up as dinner.

After several near-fatal encounters with the wildlife, the couple stumble across a more intelligent caveman who calls himself "Cro" and shows Paul and Cathy the way out of the valley. The dazed lovebirds climb back in their car but Paul is obviously still rattled as he drives his auto off the road. Luckily, who should stop by to help but Professor Barnes (Paul never questions that his world is full of coincidences), who scoffs at his pupil's tale, even when Cathy exclaims "We Were Trapped in the Twilight World!" But the old stick in the mud has to change his tune when he finds a necklace of tiger teeth (a gift from Cro) in the back of Paul's hot rod.

Don't you just love how everything turns out for Paul and Cathy in the end? And how about the fact that Paul is the guy who proves his whole alternate world/dimension theory is true? What are the odds? Probably better than the odds that the first Cro-Magnon man would be able to name himself "Cro!" You think scientists stumbled over a tree with "Cro Was Hear" etched in its bark? How about Cro tossing his necklace at Cathy? Was that his way of saying "Let's go steady?" Alright, enough, we all know the script is going to suck, but at least Stan has a reason to order Jack and Dick to whip up some cool dinosaurs for us pre-teens.

Jim really loves Carol but she won't get rid of that damn stuffed teddy bear, even when he's trying to get to third base in the back seat of his Ford they get married! Carol insists "The Teddy Bear" is her bodyguard and if Jim doesn't like it, he can pound sand. Jim's a surveyor so, a few months after they're married, he has to go camping in the wild. Carol insists on accompanying her new hubby and brings Teddy along for the ride. One night, Jim goes out hunting a big cat he suspects has been circling their camp and he's taken by surprise. The mountain lion runs right past him and heads for Carol's tent. Horrified, Jim throws open the tent and finds the lion dead and Teddy a little worse for wear. What's more astonishing? That Teddy was actually alive or that Jim married Carol even though she was an obvious mental case?

Last up is the latest adventure of Doctor Droom! In "Doctor Droom Meets Zemu!," our hero discovers that a popular magician is actually a warrior sent from the planet Saturn to hypnotize the Earth's population. Droom turns the tables on the Saturnian and Zemu is led away (in a very posh ascot and smoking jacket) to prison. Wholly preposterous stuff (everyone knows space warriors always come from Mars!) but, as usual, very entertaining. A different "Zemu" (sans the cool attire) will battle the Human Torch in Strange Tales #103, another example of how Jack and Stan constantly cannibalized their older work for the new Marvel era in the 1960s.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #71

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"I Brought the Roc to Life!" 

(a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #10)

"The Boy Who Vanished!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Fear #4)

"The Painting" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #6)(r: Amazing Adventures #24)

After having survived his marriage ceremony, archaeologist John Avery is thrust into an entirely different but still dangerous and horrifying event. He and Anne are driving through the desert of Cairo looking for bones and stuff when Anne shouts out that a nearby sand dune looks too "geometrically perfect" and must be hiding some mysterious object.

Sure enough, when John gets a shovel and starts digging, he unearths a huge egg. "Why, this must be an egg containing the mythic Roc, a bird so gigantic it could fly away with elephants in its talons!" John decides he's going to go back to Cairo and get a crew of men to transport the egg back to "civilization." Even though John seems to be a bright guy, he leaves the egg exposed to the sun and it hatches.

Out pops a giant chick and he seems to be feeling fowl. Very soon thereafter, he gains the gift of flight and heads off to town for a good time. The big bird begins disassembling structures such as bridges and skyscrapers and carting off passenger trains (don't get yer panties in a bunch CCA--the trains were emptied first); only John Avery knows what's going on. Yep, the big fella is building a nest!

So, John goes to the World's Foremost Scientists' Bar & Grill, where he powwows with a bunch of boring characters (at one point confiding that, yes, "I Brought the Roc to Life!") and convinces them that they have to build a rocket ship version of the Roc and blast it into space. That's the only way to destroy the Giant Claw. Sure enough, once Mecha-Roc flies past the real thing, NASA hits the "Space" button and both monsters head deep into outer space, never to return. Anne tells John she's going to want a better honeymoon and he chuckles, heading back into the desert in his jeep.

When I Googled "How fast do Rocs grow wings?" I was met with a blank stare. This little guy not only grows fast (Stan could have at least leaned on the conspiracy theory that Cairo was testing A-bombs in the desert) but then takes to the air in a matter of seconds! I sure hope we get a "Return of the Roc!" wherein the metal contraption finally runs out of fuel and the big chicken heads back home.

Thirteen-year-old Billy Carter (yes, that Billy Carter) is confined to a wheelchair but dreams of walking again someday. In fact, after reading the latest issue of Journey into Mystery, he closes his eyes and dreams himself into the future. There, he meets the really pretty Alana, who makes fun of him because he won't stand up and walk, and is informed that Alana's Pop is a doctor who can do anything. Sure enough, the doc cures Billy and sends him back to 1961. There, Billy's mom sobs tears of joy when her boy walks across the kitchen and asks what's for lunch. "The Boy Who Vanished!" is the pits, no two ways about it. Paul Reinman's pencils have degenerated into lifeless scribbles and Stan/Larry's script is pieced together from old strips. Poor Billy's physical condition is called "lame" and that's a pretty good label to apply to this story.

Simon Squeed is a heartless bastitch who takes advantage of poor painters, buying their work and selling it for hundreds of times its original purchase price. But Simon finally meets his match when he steals "The Painting" from a gypsy in Bessarabia. The twist in the final panel has been done to death but it's given new life thanks to Steve Ditko, who just keeps getting better and better. This guy is going places, take it from me.-Peter

Strange Tales #87

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"The Return of... Grogg!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #23)

"The Lighthouse from Nowhere!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★1/2

(r: Creatures on the Loose #24)

"The Macabre Mirror!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #23)

Miklos Zozlov, the renowned scientist from behind the Iron Curtain, is back! When last seen in Strange Tales #83, Miklos managed to escape Grogg. Now he's defected to the U.S.A., where no one believes his yarn about the fire-breathing dragon. Miklos wonders about Grogg, so one day, when government officials send him back to Russia undercover to find out what's going on in the Northern territory where there's a news blackout, he jumps at the chance.

In Russia, Miklos is aided by a friendly farmer named Ivan Grotsky, who also hates tyranny. Together, they journey into the snowy mountains and locate Grogg, who briefly attacks them before flying off. The men find a secret army base, where the Reds have built a huge spaceship. They plan to send a thousand soldiers to Mars to set up a base from which they can threaten the free nations of Earth!

Determined to stop this diabolical plan, Miklos and Ivan summon Grogg using a torch and set off an explosion at the army base. Miklos manages to trick Grogg into entering the spaceship, which Miklos then blasts off into space! His plan? Grogg will travel to Mars and be there to greet the Russians after they build a replacement spaceship and carry out their plan!

"The Return of... Grogg!" seems like an afterthought in this ridiculous story, where the fire-breathing dragon appears in flashback, briefly attacks Miklos and Ivan, and is tricked into being sent into space. Grogg has to be one of the dumber monsters out there, since Miklos deceives him by means of a small Grogg-like statue made of snow and some big shadows made with a flashlight. Just for the record, the obligatory panel showing Earth from space with word balloons appears on page 9, while the required panel of floating heads is on page 10. Kirby does a decent job on Grogg; it's a shame the story is so weak.

After a ship is wrecked in the fog off the coast of a small Scottish village, the townsfolk agree that they need a lighthouse. A week later, "The Lighthouse from Nowhere!" suddenly appears! Most people are happy to see it and don't ask questions, but the schoolteacher is upset that they received something they didn't build themselves. One night he blows it up! Agreeing to work day and night to rebuild it, the schoolteacher is unaware that the lighthouse was actually installed by aliens as a beacon to guide their invasion of Earth. By removing it, he saved the planet!

Even Ditko can't save this one. The only good parts are the splash page and the green aliens.

Long ago, a rich duke kept raising taxes on the people of a European province in order to increase his own wealth. When they couldn't pay, he confiscated their possessions. Finally, the only person he had not squeezed dry was Carlotta, the gypsy woman. The duke visited her and, since she had no cash, he decided to take "The Macabre Mirror!" despite her warning that it was enchanted. She told him it would have to stay with him always and he agreed that he wanted that. Just then, something mystical happened!

The duke disappeared and no one knew where he had gone, so eventually they took back their wealth and possessions. As for the duke, he was trapped inside the mirror, looking out at the inside of the gypsy's wagon, unable to escape!

Did any reader not know what was going to happen right away? Don Heck's art is usually better than this--it looks like he was in a hurry or just didn't care. This is a sub-par issue of Strange Tales.-Jack

Tales of Suspense #20

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"Colossus Lives Again" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #25)

"The Rocking Horse" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

"The Bomb" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

After the fearsome events detailed in "I Created the Colossus!," the big lug has been hanging out in Moscow, doing little to nothing 24/7. The Russkies are invited to an international fair and decide to send the giant statue as an exhibit for all to see. They lash the Colossus onto their biggest freighter and set sail for New York!

Meanwhile on Cancresorius-III, the crab-like creatures who inhabited Colossus's stone body all those months ago have declared war on the entire galaxy. King Crab spins the wheel and it's decided that Earth will fall first. The crabs head back to Earth and once again inhabit the stone statue, bringing it to life and jumping ship, heading for America the hard way. Colossus rises from the sea on a California beach, causing a panic but stepping on absolutely no one.

At that exact second, fifty miles away, Bob, a well-paid set decorator in Hollywood, is trying to make time with famous screen star Diane Cummings (think, oh, I don't know, Sue Storm) and finding the task next to impossible. Diane wants a he-man with lots of money and bravery and nice shoes, but Bob checks none of those boxes. Grant Marshall does, though, and he woos and wins the starlet. Bob is left feeling gloomy until he hears the bulletin informing the public that a giant statue has been sighted at Long Beach. Bob grabs his special effects crew (including intern Wah Chang), a couple of hammers and a bag of nails and begins building the greatest prop ever constructed.

Coincidentally (or not), Colossus ends up right where Bob wants him and rather than step on these puny humans, he stops to have a convo with them. Bob tells the big guy to turn around and meet his maker. The grey gargantua does indeed turn and beholds... an even bigger monster! Without waiting to see if this thing even moves, the crabs jump ship and burrow into the new creature. Quickly, Bob screams "Now!" and his right hand man explodes the prop, blowing the crabs to hell!

Suddenly, Diane arrives and embraces Bob, telling him he's all the man she'll ever want. Forgetting that, just twenty minutes or so before, she called him a spineless worm, Bob picks up Diane in his arms and proposes to her. Colossus stands immobile once again but, he muses, at least he ain't gettin' married!

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the Crabs to lay low and get a free ride to the US on the big boat? Walking underwater to New York must have taken them years. And how does Bob know where to build his greatest achievement? What if the traffic on the 101 was murder and Colossus opted to bypass Hollywood and head for San Bernardino instead? Of course, this was not the last we'd see of Colossus since he was rebooted in 1973 by Tony Isabella for a short-lived series in Astonishing Tales. You can read more about that here. I thought Tony's take was awful (and the dreadful art of Dick Ayers--who had graduated to penciling by 1973--didn't help), but your mileage may vary. 

Poor little "lame" Hamim wishes he had a rocking horse to keep him company; his father thinks his son is selfish for wishing for such a luxury when the family is starving but Hamim writes a letter to America and gets his wish. "The Rocking Horse" arrives and his father keeps bitching until the day an earthquake strikes and the rocking horse saves little Hamim. Stan the Man calls up Reinman, tells him he's got a "lame" script that needs some "lame" art, and Paul comes through.

A gigantic, ticking mechanism from outer space lands smack-dab in New York, setting off a panic. Could it be an explosive device? The army is being cautious, leaving "The Bomb" alone to see if it blows. Then, once a team is sent in to investigate, the object heads back into space without a by your leave. Unbeknownst to anyone not reading Tales of Suspense #20, the craft lands on Saturn, where an old man sits and ponders why no sounds were made around the mechanism. Surely, that planet must be dead and so it won't be given all "our knowledge and secrets of long life." Klaatu Barada Nikto.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #22

Cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

"I Dared to Battle the Crawling Creature!" (a: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #13)

"Help!" (a: Don Heck) ★★

(r: Creatures on the Loose #15)(r: Crypt of Shadows #21)

"For Whom the Drum Beats!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Creatures on the Loose #20)

Walter Carter is a high school bookworm who enjoys reading stories about creatures who live under the Earth's surface. When the government builds a new drilling machine and is looking for a volunteer to head way under ground, Walter is first in line! Down he goes and, in a subterranean tunnel, he comes face to face with cavemen who warn him about a big creature that crawls around and generally causes trouble.

Suddenly finding reserves of bravery, Walter goes looking and discovers a great big lizard! "I Dared to Battle the Crawling Creature!" says he and the cavemen help out by dumping a load of salt, knowing that the lizard won't crawl over it for some reason. Walter decides that the best thing to do is to lure the big lizard up to the surface, which he does without much difficulty. Luring it to the edge of the Grand Canyon, Walter makes sure that it ends up at the bottom and he's able to escape by means of a handy helicopter. Government agents make Walter promise to say nothing, so he heads back to school to face more bullying.

The Crawling Creature isn't much of a threat. It's not an alien or a Commie and it never menaces a big city. It really doesn't do much at all. Fortunately, Walter's complex plan works, though the big lizard lives in case of a sequel. There is a panel where we see the Earth from outer space and three dialogue balloons on page 10, but no panels with floating heads this time.

A writer buys a second-hand typewriter to replace one that breaks and soon finds that the machine has a mind of its own, typing out a message crying for "Help!" It gives instructions to go to Liberty Road and Route 42. The writer heads out and, at the designated location, finds a car teetering on the edge of a cliff, its driver afraid to move. The writer hooks up a chain and tows to car safely away from the edge. The driver gets out and, when he hears about the magical typewriter, reveals that he is the person who sold it to the second-hand shop! 

I like a story about a writer who buys a magical typewriter. Don Heck is at his best when drawing men in suits who like to smoke cigarettes, so this five-pager is right in his wheelhouse.

Max Kole may be in the Swinging Six, a hot jazz band, but he doesn't like being second drummer, since all the chicks dig the first drummer. After a gig in Transylvania, Max visits a gypsy known as Madame Grimm and insists that she cast a spell to make him the greatest drummer. She reluctantly agrees but gives him the usual warning. Max quickly becomes the undisputed king of the drums, but there's a catch--he can't stop playing!

"For Whom the Drum Beats!" ends with Max unable to stop drumming. Any reader above the age of five saw this coming a mile away. At least Ditko provides cool graphics, even though the portrait of the hip jazz group and its adoring teen fans seems a decade or two out of touch.-Jack

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Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 198: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 183

July 1961

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Amazing Adventures #2

Cover by Jack Kirby & Sal Brodsky

"I Led the Strange Search for Manoo!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★

"The World Below!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Weird Wonder Tales #22)

"Rocky's Last Ride!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

Poor (and I do mean poor) Billy Jones can't get himself invited to any of the rich kids' parties; they tell him to stay in his own "social set." Heartbroken, Billy walks through the woods one day and stumbles upon a sight hundreds of Atlas protagonists before him have taken in: a busted-up spaceship and its mildly damaged cargo, a very strange looking alien (think, maybe, Humpty Dumpty with frog legs). The creature tells him that he is on Earth searching for the dangerous space criminal, Manoo, who has gotten the better of him and disappeared into the city. 

The alien explains that their race can morph into anything they want; right now his prey is disguised as a human. The only way to tell the invader from a normal human is that he won't cast a shadow. The creature hands our hero a ray gun and tells him to find Manoo and blast him before he destroys Earth. Billy lets out a cry of "I Led the Strange Search for Manoo!" and heads out on his trek. Even though there are millions of humans in the city, it doesn't take Billy very long to find Manoo hiding in an abandoned theater. 

Billy takes aim but just can't pull the trigger. Manoo takes the ray gun away and asks Billy where he got it. When Billy spills the beans, Manoo lowers his ray gun and explains that it is he, Manoo, who is the outer space policeman and the other big egg the real criminal. Billy doesn't know who to believe so he marches Manoo back into the forest at gunpoint and delivers him to his adversary. The two giant goofballs engage in some fisticuffs before the truth comes out and Manoo rewards his new friend for his bravery. Billy receives a gargantuan diamond for his troubles, heads back to town, buys the university all the rich kids were going to enroll in, and denies them entrance. So, in the end, Billy learns a valuable lesson: do unto others before they do it to you and if they've already done it to you then do it back even worse.

"Manoo" is the pits, the umpteenth tale that begins with a stroll through the woods and a shipwrecked alien. There's literally not one aspect of this crap I can recommend. The script is not the only low point; Kirby and Ayers are clearly running on fumes; the creature design is pathetic and it's hard to tell one human from another. And how about that climactic moral: good job, Stan! It's no wonder that this was one of only a handful of the Kirby/Lee monster tales that was ignored for reprinting.

Doctor Droom is hired by a steamship company to find their missing luxury liner, the Luxuria, which has vanished into thin air at sea. Droom boards a bathysphere and stumbles across a hatch on the bottom of the sea. When he enters the hole, he discovers it's a portal to the lost city of Atlantis. Investigating "The World Below!," he finds that the Atlanteans are about to launch a full scale attack on the surface world. Through the magical art of hypnosis, Droom quashes the invasion and saves all mankind. Though the script isn't breaking any ground and the art isn't much more than a bunch of talking heads, I still like the idea of a series character breaking up the monotony. 

Rocky Baines, manager of the local automated car wash, has been working the perfect con: he convinces the old people who drive into his wash that they've A/ run over his foot; B/ clipped his hip with their fender; or C/squashed his head under their tires. The con nets him lots of extra bucks but then this goofy guy comes in driving a "foreign model" and Rocky goes into his act, only to discover the mark ain't got no dough. When the nut hands Rocky the keys to the auto and tells him to keep it, the con artist quickly learns that this ain't no ordinary "foreign model." It's the old "Car from Mars" twist that's been used a few times before and ain't getting any newer, believe me.-Peter

Journey Into Mystery #70

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Sandman Cometh!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★

(r: Monsters on the Prowl #13)

"A Thousand Years" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Crypt of Shadows #6)

"The Stone Man" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Kull the Destroyer #12)

Afraid his only son is becoming a limp-wristed mama's boy, Steve Bronson grabs the kid off his piano stool and tosses him onto an airplane bound for Mexico. Along with his wife, Anne, Steve visits a wonderful little village, hoping the outdoor atmosphere will stimulate little Bobby's manliness. The three discover a remote cave and do some family exploring. 

In the back of the cave, they find a locked steel door. Unable to jimmy the portal, Steve grabs hold of some blasting powder and blows open the door. Behind it they find a single, shapeless statue. Suddenly, the form comes to life, tells the startled family that he is the Sandman, and relates an origin story told many times before: centuries before, the Sandman had flown to Earth from the planet Sandinia-X410 (okay, I made up that part), but his ship had crashed and the natives, afraid Sandy was an "evil spirit," locked him away in the cave. Finally, he is free!

Being a he-man macho dude, Steve begins pummeling the alien, but to no avail; the monster keeps reassembling his disembodied grains. Sandman assumes a human shape and forces the Bronsons to drive him to America, so that he can scope out the vulnerability of Earth's people. Steve manages to draw the attention of the army but Sandman is not worried... once he hits the beach, it's Katy bar the door. He will absorb all the grains of sand in the world and become unstoppable. That is... until little Bobby tosses a bucket of water at the astonished creature and then scoops up all the wet sand and locks it in a crate. Steve congratulates Bobby on his intelligent thinking. Sure, the kid's reading books like a little fruitcake, but he destroyed a menace the army couldn't stop. Maybe an education isn't so bad.

No, but "The Sandman Cometh!" definitely is bad. The only things this microwaved mess has going for it are the two mighty guffaws I let out at the aforementioned scene where Steve just happens to have blasting powder while taking a hike with his family, and that climax, where Bobby takes a pretty small pail of water and destroys a six-foot-plus sand monster. I'm not sure why the Sandman can't just bust out of that crate. His plan for world conquest, as with that of other alien forces in the Atlas comics, needs a little filling in. What will he do with the world once he is its master? And how come he's called "Sandman" when he comes from outer space? Universal language?

In the deadly dull "A Thousand Years," a convict spending life behind bars wishes out loud for freedom and then is startled when the devil appears in his cell (well, we know he's the devil but Stan can't call him that lest the CCA stamp a "Refused" on the script). Old Scratch tells the con that he'll give him one thousand years of freedom for his signature. Satan gets the guy's mark and then causes an earthquake, releasing the prisoner. With hounds right behind him, the dope hides in what he believes is a plane on an air force base (best place to hide, no?). Later, he screams in shock as he realizes the craft is a rocket and it blasts into space. 

Last up is Steve Ditko's "The Stone Man," wherein an old man begs the statue of war hero Dralla for relief from hunger and poverty. The old-timer goes home and takes a nap, unaware that outside on his land gold nuggets begin popping up like mushrooms. Unfortunately, his greedy neighbors snap up all the shiny morsels and become rich, then enact laws that forbid the poor in their village. Dralla's statue is so enraged that it comes to life, transforms the gold into worthless dirt, and hustles the old man away to Valhalla. One of the better strips this month, despite its heavy moral climax (if you believe, you will win out) and awful proofreading (halfway through the story, Dralla becomes Drallas!). Sharp Ditko graphics.-Peter

Strange Tales #86

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"I Created Mechano!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers)  ★★

"The Secret of 'Georgie's Globe!'" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

"Beware of Meeks Bringing Gifts!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky)  ★★

Little Tommy's parents are worried about him since he's been spending so much time with "that old tramp Hopkins," but the little imp loves how Hopkins can make anything out of small pieces of nothing. When the State Fair is announced, Tommy convinces the old geezer to make something "real big," like the "biggest machine in the world!" After some thinking, Hopkins agrees if the kid will give him a hand.

One year later, the giant machine is ready to be tested just in time for the State Fair. Bobby christens the nuts 'n' bolts "Mechano" ("absolute genius," sighs Hopkins while questioning whether it was a good idea to let the kid play with the soldering iron) and Hopkins throws the switch. Sure enough, Mechano walks right out of the factory and along the city streets to the fairgrounds. Unfortunately, once he gets there, Mechano is accidentally blasted with an experimental atomic transmitter. Absorbing a ray of pure energy, Mechano becomes his own man and heads out of the fairgrounds to stir up some s**t. 

The police arrive on scene and shoot the robot full of holes but it just keeps coming. Hopkins grabs a crowbar and attempts to jam Mechano's pinion bar (!) but fails to stop the marauding monster. At just that time, an unscheduled armada arrives from space on a mission to conquer Earth. A group of coneheads pop out of the ship, armed with ray guns, remarking that their intel is crap. They were told earthlings were weak and read too many funny books, not that they were gigantic steel machines. After their rays do little damage to Mechano, they hop back in their tin can and fly back into space. The police arrive and blast Mechano with machine guns, destroying the savior of Earth.

Another month, another invasion from space, but at least this one is a little different. I like the interaction between mentor and pupil and the fact that, after he's created his glorious machine, Hopkins doesn't opt to get revenge on all his neighbors who've kicked him out of the country club. The art is hot and cold; some of the panels of Mechano are nicely inked while others look almost ignored. The aliens are hilarious; are those helmets or their heads?

What is "The Secret of Georgie's Globe?" Besides five pages of wasted space, it chronicles the adventures of Georgie, who receives the fabulous gift of a replica of Earth from his parents for his birthday (what kid wouldn't crave a globe?) and then discovers, to his dismay, that anything that happens to the sphere happens in the real world. He spills a glass of water on the Sahara and the Sahara floods, etc. Then, while moving house, the globe drops and breaks. Is it the end of the world? Not quite.

Reporter Walter Johnson is the only man on Earth who mistrusts the Meeks. Who are the Meeks? Well, they are a band of critters from another world who land on Earth and hand out gifts, claiming they are friends from another planet who exist only to make others happy. But Walter is wary. He cries "Beware of Meeks Bringing Gifts!" and forces a Meek onto his TV show to confess that the aliens are here to inherit the Earth. Their plan, to make humans fat and lazy (so that's how we got this way!) so that they could enslave them, worked like a charm until Walter Johnson saw through their scheme. I like the Kirby/Brodsky art but the (clearly) Stan statement in the last panels is a laugh.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #19

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"The Green Thing!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #14)

"The Haunted Paper!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #14)

"The Coming of Maaboo!" (a: Don Heck) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #14)

Why is a botanist so jumpy when he sees a plant sway in a breeze? His bored colleagues listen to the man's story about his efforts to create a serum to increase a plant's intelligence. Once he was satisfied that he had the right formula, he journeyed to an uninhabited island for a test and injected an ordinary weed with the fluid. The weed immediately grew six feet tall and began to move and speak.

After a shaky first step, "The Green Thing!" got its act together and demanded that the botanist ferry it to the mainland so it could embark on world domination. The man refused, raced to his boat, grabbed the outboard motor, and dove beneath the water, intending to smash the motor on the undersea rocks. Before the plant could stop him it had to do battle with a huge shark! Back on land, the botanist vainly tried to beat back the walking, talking plant with a tree limb before climbing a tree in an effort to avoid the Green Thing.

The plant compelled the tree to bend and deliver the man back to the ground, but the plucky botanist made a run for it and hid in a cave, where he found a small Ignatius Rex plant growing in the soil. This was the plant he originally intended to use for his experiments because it's known to be the highest form of plant life. The man injected serum into the little plant and it grew big and smart and defeated the Green Thing in stalk to stalk combat. Ignatius Rex bid the botanist farewell, cautioning him never again to fool with Mother Nature. That's why, when he tells his colleagues his tale, the botanist claims that his experiments were a failure.

The best thing I can say about "The Green Thing" is that it doesn't involve an invasion from outer space. Kirby and Ayers's art is adequate, as usual, but there's only so much that can be done to make a walking, talking weed visually interesting. It kind of resembles a prototype of Jack Skellington if the pumpkin head were green. The botanist makes some pretty questionable decisions along the way. Since he can't find one Ignatius Rex plant--the whole reason he went to this isolated island--he decides to inject a random weed instead, and why does he jump into the water to destroy the motor? There are plenty of surface rocks available. In my ongoing study, I see one panel with a view of Earth from space and dialogue balloons (p. 5) and zero panels depicting a group of floating heads.

A crook named Nick Rover has to leave town when he hears that the income tax boys are after him, so he relocates under another name, adding a pair of glasses and dyeing his hair black. Nick uses his ill-gotten gains to purchase the town paper, where he discovers that Olef, the old typesetter, has a knack for writing headlines trumpeting unfortunate events before they occur. "The Haunted Paper!" is always right and Nick demands to know how Olef can predict the future. The next day, the headline reads: "Smalltown Newspaper Owner Meets With Serious Accident!" and Nick quickly turns himself in at the police station, certain that a nice, cozy cell is the safest place. Back in the composing room, Olef chuckles to himself and remarks that sometimes fate needs a helping hand.

Ditko's art is so strong at this point that I wish he'd be assigned some longer stories. These five-pagers don't give him enough room! It's funny that the taxman is what strikes fear into Nick's heart; I guess he heard about Capone.

Charlie Wilkes will do anything for a buck. Presently, he's kind of beaten up and, when an old pal runs into him in Burma, Charlie tells the tale of "The Coming of Maaboo!" Having heard the legend of Maaboo, an alien who came to Earth ages ago and commanded local natives to gather up all the gold they could find and store it until he returned, Charlie hired a native guide to take him to visit the tribe. He disguised himself as Maaboo and announced that he was back and wanted the gold. The natives obliged and Charlie was on his way back to the city with his guide when the guide revealed that he was the real Maaboo and he was none too happy with Charlie.

Another dud from Don Heck. The odd thing about this story is that it ends with Maaboo menacing Charlie but it begins with Charlie back in the city, a bit beaten up and without gold, but not that bad off. I guess Maaboo didn't rough him up too badly.-Jack

Tales to Astonish #21

Cover by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

"Trull! The Inhuman!" (a: Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) ★★

(r: Creatures on the Loose #10)

"It Happened on 'The Silent Screen'" (a: Steve Ditko) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #8)

"Open Wider, Please!" (a: Don Heck) ★

An alien rocket ship crash lands in Africa, killing its sole occupant. The creature's life essence survives and floats through the air, looking for a new form to inhabit. Meanwhile, Phil, an engineer whose career came crashing down when a large bridge that he designed fell apart right after being dedicated, is on a ship bound for Africa, where he tries to forget his former fiance, Gloria, who dumped him after the bridge collapsed.

Gloria has taken up with Bart, the foreman of a construction crew slated to build a village in the African jungle. The project will utilize a big steam shovel designed by Phil. On site, Phil stops Bart from whipping a recalcitrant elephant and, just then, the wandering life force decides to enter the steam shovel, bringing it to life. The steam shovel suddenly acts on its own and announces that its name is Trull and it's an alien who plans to rule the world.

Phil, Bart, Gloria, and the work crew are forced to assist Trull as it studies the people of Earth and plans to take over. Gloria makes a run for it and is saved from certain death by the very elephant that Phil had spared from a beating by Bart. The elephant destroys the sentient steam shovel and the alien's life essence floats off again, presumably waiting for a sequel. Gloria tells Phil that she wants him back now that he's proven his manliness, but he tells her that she and Bart deserve each other.

"Trull! The Inhuman!" is truly all over the place. It's interesting that the Trull on the cover looks nothing like the big red steam shovel of the story; perhaps Lee and Kirby realized that it would look too silly. There was a tradition in science fiction stories of inanimate objects taking on lives of their own, but only in a 1961 Atlas tale would this be merged with a story about an alien who wants to take over the world. For the record, we have a floating heads panel on page 7 and panels with views of the Earth from outer space with dialogue balloons on pages 3 and 10.

"It Happened on 'The Silent Screen'" depicts movie theater patrons going to see a film called The Hulk. At the end they leave and the creature steps off the screen and into the auditorium! But wait, it's only a movie about that! No, the creature steps off the screen again! No, it's just a movie! And so on. A waste of five pages and of Ditko's talents.

Finally, in "Open Wider, Please!," a dentist determines that his patient is really a Martian spy. They grapple and it turns out that the patient is a robot from the Red Planet! The dentist pushes the robot's off button and ends the menace before revealing to the reader that he's a robot from Venus! Hoo boy, how many times will they pull out that twist ending? At least Don Heck draws a pretty nurse.-Jack

Thursday...
Jack Gives
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The Sequel Absolutely
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