Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 182: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Fantasy Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 166

September-October 1959

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Journey Into Mystery #54 (September)

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"I Unleashed Monstro on the World!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★1/2

"I Dared to Defy... the Idol's Curse!" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2

"My Other Face!" (a: Al Williamson) ★1/2

"I Know the Gargoyle's Secret!" (a: John Severin) ★★

"I Am the Menace from the Purple Planet!" (a: Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule) ★

Sam "Spell" Binder is the greatest showman on Earth, able to tame a fierce gorilla named Moko and make him do parlor tricks for sold-out audiences. But then Moko has a bad fall and suffers a concussion, rendering him unusable in the act. Binder hears a rumor of the world's largest gorilla living in a jungle on an island off the African coast and hops a plane.

Binder is pleasantly surprised to discover the natives have held "Monstro" captive for decades and would love to be rid of him. With a little gas, Binder knocks Monstro unconscious, packs him on a boat, and heads for New York, where Monstro becomes the toast of Broadway. On opening night, Binder hypnotizes Monstro and then orders his chains removed, advising the audience that all is safe. As happens with these giant ape melodramas, that is the furthest from the truth. Monstro goes ape and destroys half of New York before being gassed in a tunnel. Just before being shipped back to Africa, Monstro is examined by a vet and it's determined he is blind! No wonder he didn't respond to hypnotism.

"I Unleashed Monstro on the World!" is goofy fun; obviously, the plot was lifted from King Kong, but then so will be half of the giant monster tales penned by Stan Lee and brother Larry Leiber in the months to come. The variations here are that Monstro is an albino and that he's allowed to survive after his rampage; he's shipped back home to his African village where "he's happy again..."

Dunstan Blake fancies himself an adventurer and rapscallion, but everyone else around him knows he's nothing more than a cheat and a thief. Blake hears of an idol that has mysteriously appeared "in the Northern region of Tibet," one that is supposed to hold the world's largest diamond, and he quickly hops a plane. He finds the idol and, despite warnings from the natives, enters its core. Suddenly a noxious gas fills the chamber and Blake passes out. He awakens to find himself encased inside the idol and a voice tells him the statue is actually a spaceship now headed to Superius Rex. Dunstan Blake will be studied by an alien race! "I Dared to Defy... the Idol's Curse!" is weak and silly. This idol magically appears and science doesn't want to study it? At least it's got a nice Sinnott polish.

Jason Gibbs has been plagued by his ugly face all his life; people won't treat him like a real man once they get a gander at his sour puss. But now Jason has gotten news that Dr. Rectumus on Mars has created a potion for good looks and he barges into the Professor's lab. As he grabs the beaker holding the potion, the egghead warns him it's not been tested. Shoulda listened! With "My Other Face!," we get a really nice graphics display from Al Williamson and that's about all. One of only two stories (of twenty) this time out that doesn't start with an "I." I guess Stan thought "I Was Trapped By My Other Face!" didn't roll off the tongue.

Pierre Duval lovingly cleans and cares for the gargoyles of Notre Dame during the Second World War. When the Nazis invade France, Pierre signs up for the Underground, fighting and killing the stinkin' Nazi bastards any chance he can. But like so many freedom fighters, Pierre is caught by the Germans and sentenced to die by firing squad. He is blindfolded and awaits the bullets of death, but before any damage can come to his flesh, he hears screaming and the sound of running feet. He tears off his blindfold to find the firing squad has vanished. What gives? The war over, Pierre heads back to Notre Dame, where he discovers chips out of his stone friends as if they had been shot at! 

Gargoyles have always creeped me out, but the problem with "I Know the Gargoyle's Secret!" is that any sense of dread has been eliminated by the CCA. In the pre-code Atlas strips, the critters would have torn the soldiers to pieces, whereas here, in the Gilded Age, the Nazis turn tail and run before any harm can befall them. The other problem is that the monsters are only spotlighted in a couple of panels; the human monsters get most of the attention. Nice Severin art, but I think the best gargoyle story is still the ultra-creepy "House of Gargoyles" by Jack Sparling (from House of Mystery #175). Last up is "I Am the Menace from the Purple Planet!," wherein an alien from outer space and his super robot land in New York to deliver an ultimatum to the human race: show Gxenu the latest war weapons or face the wrath of the planet Orion Major. I'm pretty sure I don't have to break it down much further. Shameless Stan mining the rich ore Hollywood had delivered.-Peter

Tales of Suspense #5 (September)

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"I Became a Human Robot!" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★

(r: Fantasy Masterpieces #1)

"I Fought the Tyrannosaurus" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★★

"I Walk Thru Walls!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

"I Travelled Thru Time!!" (a: Carl Burgos) ★

"I Was Trapped in the Tunnel to Nowhere!" (a: John Forte) ★★

On a planet a billion light years from Earth, a nasty plot is hatched: Gammus will travel to our world and use plan X322K (masquerade as a robot) to gain the trust of earthlings, the better to spy on our military status. Gammus saves lots of lives and becomes a hero of the people, but our government wants to cut him open and see how it is that he can operate as if he has a human brain. Once the professors decide they'll get no information from the tin can, Gammus is deactivated and put on display at the Atlas Museum for Used-Up Cliches. "I Became a Human Robot!" is the umpteenth reworking of the "distant planet invasion" plot. For the umpteenth time, I ask why a planet sixty-two katrillion miles away would have the slightest interest in a civilization that is obviously more primitive.

Rod and Kate have wanted to take an African vacation for years and when they finally make the trip, they take advantage of their time and explore dark caves. That's where they find the dinosaur egg! Overcome with awe, the couple grab the huge oval and drag it out to the sand. Unfortunately, the rays of the sun work their wonders and within a few hours the egg cracks open and out pops a baby T-Rex.

But he doesn't stay a wee lad for long, growing ten times his size in a matter of minutes, and he naturally does what dinosaurs do: they stomp things. Feeling responsible for the wreckage caused by the critter (because... well... he is responsible!), Rod won't rest until the thunder lizard is eliminated. Dinosaurs + Ditko? Sign me up. Who cares if the script makes no sense (no explanation is given for why this egg never hatched a million years ago or why it's still hatchable or why the T-Rex grows so big so fast), the ride is a fun one.

"I Walk Thru Walls!" is almost so bad it's worth reading... almost. An ex-con is hired as a janitor for a brilliant but absent genius scientist and this grunt loves to just "take things apart and put them back together again...," so he dismantles some unknown gadget and reassembles it in a way that it makes objects disappear and then reappear several feet away. Well, this ex-jailbird knows a payday when he sees one, so he starts using the "matter transmitter" to rob banks, but he doesn't plan for the one cop in New York who might be smarter than he. I laughed out loud at least one time during my reading of this nutty tale. Only in the Atlas universe do you have an uneducated criminal building something that scientists could only dream of simply because he put a few bolts in the wrong place. And then you've got the High-IQ beat cop who figures the whole thing out immediately ("I think that burglar's invented some means to make him disintegrate, pass through a wall, and integrate on the other side of it!") and sets an elaborate trap, involving a large building and a fake notice in the paper, all on his own without precinct approval. Now that's genius.

"I Traveled Through Time!!" tells the inane tale of three stinkin' commie spies who are tried and convicted of espionage and sentenced to death. They escape and head for the lab of Professor Pskov (pronounced piss-off), a stinkin' genius commie scientist, the only man in the world to have invented a time machine (evidently these commies don't read Atlas comics or they'd know there are lots of time machines popping up around town). They order the egghead to send them back in time so they can avoid the inevitable FBI raid. Pskov warns his clients that they will arrive in the past in another person's body; that's just the way it goes (what happens to the soul occupying that body is not detailed). The brilliant but politically incorrect Pskov only has time to send Vladimir Gorki back to the 18th century, where Gorki finds himself in the body of... you guessed it, Benedict Arnold, just as he's being arrested for treason. I love how elaborate the plans of these Atlas criminals can be. Rather than the usual way of meeting a freighter in New York harbor and hiding out in the cargo, these guys take it on faith that they can travel through time.

"We Were Trapped in the Tunnel to Nowhere!" tells the sad story of two bloggers, Peter and Jack, who thought it would be fun to read every post-code Atlas SF/Fantasy comic book published and regretted their decision very quickly. They shoulda listened to their wives. Believe me, that true story is so much more intriguing than the five pages masquerading as a legitimate comic book story.

Brilliant but arrogant construction engineer Eric Lansing, tired of hearing that so many other CEs are more brillianter than he, proclaims he will dig a tunnel under the sea from the US of A to Europe. A 3,000 mile tunnel! Why? Because he can. Unfortunately, halfway to his destination, Lansing and his crew encounter an undersea race of man-like fish who live in a big bubble at the bottom of the ocean. These critters are not happy about the off-ramp leading through their Atlantis and set some explosive charges to halt the construction. Lansing and his boys barely make it out of the tunnel before the ceiling caves in. 

There are all sorts of scientific questions that even my uneducated brain had to ask: At no time is it mentioned what sort of transport would run through the tunnel, be it trains or personal vehicles. Was Lansing intending on build gas stations and restaurants every few miles through his massive hole? The hole has to be miles below the waves, yet the diggers wear no protective uniforms to save them from the pressure. Is the title meant to infer that Europe is "Nowhere"? The best is saved for last when the creatures blow their TNT and the roof caves in, 1500 miles from safety. Our heroes simply hop in a mine car and ride back to the States, confident there will be no structural damage or leaks ahead of them. I'm of two minds (even though, as I've admitted, I'm not sure I have one brain) about "I Was Trapped in the Tunnel to Nowhere!"; it's dumber than a $250 bill but induces more laughs than... well, a $250 bill.-Peter

Tales to Astonish #5 (September)

Cover by Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule

"I Was Trapped by the Things on Easter Island!" 

(a: Jack Kirby & Christopher Rule) ★1/2

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #24)

"I Am the Menace from Outer Space!" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

"I Can See Tomorrow!" (a: Don Heck) ★

"I Found the Nightmare Note" (a: Al Williamson) ★1/2

"I Landed on the Forbidden Planet!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★

"I Was Trapped By the Things on Easter Island!" cries a pilot to anyone who'll listen. After crash-landing on the famous, remote spot, he had witnessed the stone heads emerge from the ground, bodies and all. They stood around chatting about how they were waiting for orders from their home planet to attack and conquer Earth. The man escaped in a boat and thought people would believe his story and bomb the heck out of the island, but everyone thought he was hallucinating. The stone statues decide to leave the poor guy alone, since no one believes him, and wait for orders as long as it takes.

It's a miracle that the main character survives a pretty severe crash landing in his plane, but what's even more amazing is the sudden appearance of an abandoned native boat, just as the guy is about to be caught by the statues. Big stone objects fit in perfectly with Kirby's art style and the panel on page five, where one of the things is looking in the window as the main character sleeps, recalls a similar shot in King Kong. How did we survive the '50s with so many aliens bent on taking over?

On a faraway planet, the people decide to send Krag to Earth to gather intelligence in preparation for an invasion. Krag takes off into space, but soon sees a big, beautiful space cruiser and decides to capture it to bring it home after his visit to Earth. Krag boards the ship, finds it empty, and discovers that it's actually a living organism that swallows him up!

"I Am the Menace from Outer Space!" is a pretty good story, with more going on than there was room for in the rigid, five-page slot. Joe Sinnott's art is smooth, as always, and he draws the aliens in a lizard-like way, with circles all over their yellow skin and webbed fingers. On page two, the aliens give Krag the ability to transform into the spitting image of an Earthman, in a neat, four-panel sequence where his alien skin and outfit melt away and are replaced with a man in a suit and tie; the man looks just like Thor's alter-ego, Dr. Don Blake. Of course, this is an example of misdirection, because poor Krag never makes it to Earth. I was expecting him to fall in love with an Earth woman and never return home, but the conclusion surprised me.

A small-time crook named Willy Adams steals a camera from an antique shop. The shop owner warns him that the camera takes pictures of tomorrow. Willy tests out the device and it works so, like every single other Atlas main character, he decides to use the power to make money. He takes photos at the racetrack and the stock exchange, certain that he'll cash in, but when he takes a self-portrait and the print shows an empty chair, he realizes that he may not live through the night.

It's bad enough that Don Heck's art on "I Can See Tomorrow!" looks like it was dashed off during a subway ride to pick up his check at the publisher's office, but the story is trite and the ending a letdown. Willy is sitting in the chair when he snaps a picture, and the picture that comes out shows the chair empty the next day. Willy concludes that, for him, "there might be no tomorrow." Isn't it more likely that the chair will be empty because he'll be at the racetrack collecting his winnings?

Joe Baxter works as an assistant in a record store. After hours, he experiments with sonics, searching for a note that can render a person unconscious. "I Found the Nightmare Note," he thinks, when the store's pussycat passes out. He sells a record to Spencer Worthington, the richest man in town, and waits outside his window, watching for the moment when the old guy collapses,  but to no avail. Joe slinks home, thinking that his plan failed, unaware that Spencer is deaf and bought the record for his wife.

I know we've seen that twist ending before, and not long ago. I think Al Williamson was on the same subway train as Don Heck, judging by the quality of the artwork. It looks like someone else must have inked this.

Tim Korey is dying to know why one particular planet is considered off limits, so he hops into his spaceship and heads right for it! "I Landed on the Forbidden Planet!" he exclaims and soon discovers it's a dangerous place. He barely avoids being crushed by a gigantic wheel, he manages to escape huge stone blocks falling from above, and he sees one giant insect after another. Tim races to his ship and takes off, glad to get away from a planet that we readers see, in the final panel, is called Earth.

At least Steve Ditko puts some effort into the art, even if the story is a rehash of one we've read over and over. From the start, I suspected that the mysterious planet was Earth, and I wasn't disappointed. Actually, I WAS disappointed by the lack of originality.-Jack

Strange Tales #71 (October)

Cover by Jack Davis

"I Dared to Defy Merlin's... Black Magic!" (a: Steve Ditko) ★★★

(r: Chamber of Darkness #5)

"I Am the Man Who Will... Destroy Your World!" (a: Don Heck) ★★1/2

(r: Fear #1)

"When the Saucer Strikes!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #6)

"I Fought the Man Who Couldn't Be Killed!" (a: Sol Brodsky) ★

(r: Fear #1)

"I Am the Man Without a Face!" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

(r: Where Creatures Roam #2)

While on a business trip in the Balkans, a man wanders into an old curio shop, where he picks up a beautiful old copy of Merlin's Diary. The shopkeeper insists that he put it down, but the man opens it and is cast back in time. He meets Merlin the Magician but remains skeptical. Merlin informs that man that he will believe when he sees a sign. The man returns to the present and looks in a mirror, where he is shocked to see that his hair has turned white. He leaves the curio shop and the owner, who turns out to be Merlin, vows to do a better job of hiding his diary.

"I Dared to Defy Merlin's...Black Magic!" is a strong story with evocative art by Ditko. Both theme and design look forward to the Dr. Strange comics. There are mentions of the mystic arts and, when the man is cast back in time, he is surrounded by multi-colored lines and finally slides down a rainbow slide into Merlin's presence. The story is a welcome break from tales about aliens invading Earth or people going to planets where the ants and spiders are giant-sized.

Mool is the emperor of a race on a planet far from Earth where they bathe once a year in rejuvenating waters that grant them eternal life. This warlike race travels to the vicinity of Earth, where Mool goes down to the surface to observe humans to decide if an invasion is a good idea. He promises to report back after 24 hours.

After landing on Earth, Mool breaks into a clothing store; he steals a suit and dons it, only to be caught by John, the proprietor, who runs the establishment with his sister, Anne. Mool tells John that he's Ralph Masters and that he's been down on his luck and was stealing a suit to wear in his job search. John feels pity for the man and hires him. Ralph meets Anne and it's pretty much love at first sight. The alien visitor, who arrived thinking that "I Am the Man Who Will... Destroy Your World!," initially thinks the Earthlings weak, but quickly responds to their kindness and love. In the end, he destroys the gadget that would send a report back to the invading force; Ralph gives up his immortality for the affection of a good woman.

I can't believe I'm typing these words, but that's two decent stories in a row! Heck's art is solid but nothing special, yet I was intrigued by Ralph's transformation from cruel, alien ruler to kind, loving Earthman--all in the space of 24 hours!

A jet pilot is flying along at night when he suddenly sees a flying saucer heading straight toward the plane! The pilot manages to avoid a collision and, when he lands, he reports what happened. All of the other passengers were asleep, except one man who says he didn't see anything. The pilot decides he needs to get some rest. The passenger who said he didn't see anything drives off, meets up with the Martian ship in a remote spot, removes his human mask, and tells the pilot to be more careful next time.

Dull art by Paul Reinman accompanies a predictable tale in "When  the Saucer Strikes!" The title is misleading since the whole point of the story is that the saucer did not strike.

In prison for armed robbery, Duke Jordan escapes after serving ten years of a thirty-year term and heads straight for the warehouse where he used to work. Duke breaks in and robs the safe but is quickly discovered by a policeman who can run super-fast, shrug off a large crate that Duke pushes over onto him, and remain unharmed by gunfire. It seems a lot has changed in ten years, since the police are now robots!

I shuddered when I saw that this story was drawn by Sol Brodsky and I was right to have that reaction, since the art in "I Fought the Man Who Couldn't Be Killed!" is pure dreck. The story is awful as well. Paul Reinman, come home--all is forgiven.

A band of gypsies arrive in the quiet country town of Goosepan and Rufus Watkins is none too happy to see them. The mayor doesn't listen to Rufus's complaints about the new arrivals and the town's leading citizens tell him to relax, so Rufus heads to the pool hall and rustles up some folks to confront the Roma. After a fight erupts and a gypsy knocks Rufus out, he and his pals don black hoods and approach the camp, blowing horns to scare the gypsies away. Before they leave, however, the head of the gypsies tells Rufus that he'll regret his actions. As a result, Rufus can say that "I Am the Man Without a Face!," since the gypsy curse means he's never able to remove his black hood without another black hood appearing beneath it.

There's almost a decent story here and it's helped immeasurably by the art by Joe Sinnott, who has quickly become one of the stalwarts at Atlas. Like many a story by Carl Wessler (I don't know who wrote this one), things chug along reasonably well until they come to a screeching halt with a concluding twist that makes me scratch my head. The last panel has Rufus sitting alone in a room with innumerable black hoods piling up around him as he swears that he has learned his lesson about intolerance.-Jack

Coming This Thursday...
The Most Controversial...
The Most Daring...
The Most Fun...
What Is It????

And Next Week...
More Proof That
Heck Was No Hack

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

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 151

July 1957

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Adventure into Mystery #8

Cover by John Severin

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

(r: Strange Tales #176) 

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

"Effigy!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★★

(r: Vault of Evil #16)

"We the Jury" (a: Ruben Moreira) ★1/2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Strange Tales #59

Cover by Fred Kida

"Help! Help!" (a: Gene Colan) ★

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Uncanny Tales #55

Cover by Bill Everett 

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

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

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

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

"Impossible?" (a: Bob Bean) ★1/2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World of Mystery #7

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

"Pick a Door...!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★

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

"Obey... Or Die!" (a: Sam Kweskin) ★

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World of Suspense #8

Cover by Richard Doxsee

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

"Dead End" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★1/2

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

"Forbidden!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

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

"The Secret Room" (a: John Forte) ★★

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 158: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 143

April 1957 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Mystery Tales #52

Cover by John Severin

"Mystery of the Silent Fog!" (a: Bernard Baily) ★

"The Fish Men!" (a: Marvin Stein) ★★

"The Betrayer" (a: Dick Ayers) ★

"The Too-Perfect Crime!" (a: Pete Morisi) ★

"The City That Died!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★1/2

"Midnight on the Moor!" (a: Mort Drucker) ★★

After a rollicking storm leaves the town of Middleton enveloped in a thick haze of "silent" fog, the townsfolk become rattled and start throwing out crazed theories about what's happening to them. When the town idiot ventures into the fog and returns with a wild tale of seeing outer space all around the town, the mayor posits that the town is the target of an experiment by government scientists to see how normal people react to space travel. 

He orders his friends and neighbors to go home and dress in the craziest costumes they own. Soon, the fog lifts... Was it just coincidence or the result of a crazed liquid lunch in the Atlas break room? The goofy last panel sure doesn't solve the "Mystery of the Silent Fog!" nor does it edjamucate us on the disasters a non-silent fog could put into motion. The art by Bernard Baily is the safe, stiff, boring work we've seen become the norm around these parts.

During a routine dive in his bid to be the man who discovers Atlantis, deep-sea diver Hank Ferris stumbles upon a series of holes in the bottom of the sea. Upon further investigation, he finds the portals are actually windows above the world of "The Fish Men!" The gilled goons capture Hank and explain they were just about to commence their worldwide invasion of the surface world and Hank is invited along to watch. 

Hank shivers in fear as he realizes the gill men easily outnumber his surface world brothers and sisters. But, in the grand tradition of War of the Worlds, nature steps in to halt the illegal immigration of these sea thugs. The sun burns their scaled skin and the warriors are forced back into the depths to plan another invasion some rainy day. A perfectly enjoyable (albeit completely inane) fantasy that neither taxes the brain nor scars the eyeballs. The Marvin Stein art at times reminded me of Don Heck's work.

After a vicious bout with amnesia, Paul Declaire heads back to France in order to discover the identity of the man who betrayed his platoon in WWII. Eleven men died that day at the hands of the Germans, with only Paul surviving. Now, he hears the voices of those long-dead comrades in his head, begging him to find "The Betrayer"! Well, let's help Paul solve this mystery. He's the only one who survived. Everyone else died. He had amnesia for years and couldn't piece it all together. I think I've got it...

In the three-page mundanity known as "The Too-Perfect Crime!," Roger Reynolds invents a camera that can shrink its subject to miniature size so, naturally, Roger starts photographing expensive sports cars on the street and taking them home in his pocket. Later, he reverses the process and sells the autos for big bucks. But when the cops get suspicious, Roger turns the camera on himself so he can hide. Problem is, once the detectives have left, the dope can't reach the camera to revert himself back to normal size.

Bart Graham and his fellow explorers stumble upon a priceless cache of gems buried under an ancient Mexican temple. Bart wants to split the profits with his partners but they, understandably, remind Bart that anything found on the expedition belongs to the museum! Bart's having none of that crap so he grabs the jewels and disappears into the night. He soon comes across yet another ancient temple, but this one is populated by ancient citizens. Has Bart stepped into a time warp? Well, kinda, but don't expect a sane rationalization to "The City That Died!" Instead you're going to get another of those cockamamie Atlas scientific theories guaranteed to made you giggle. The Winiarski art continues Atlas's backslide in the graphics department. What was once dependable has become spotty.

Another ridiculous denouement awaits those who make it through the four pages of "Midnight on the Moor!," wherein businessman Ken Barrow becomes stranded in Edinburgh mere hours before an important board meeting. His only way out is a haunted stretch of swamp. Will Ken make it? The only way I made it was focusing on the joys of Mort Drucker's penciling. Mort singlehandedly represents the word "art" in this dismal issue of Mystery Tales.-Peter

Mystic #58

Cover by Bill Everett

"Those Who Vanish!" (a: Richard Doxsee) ★★1/2

"The Straw Man!" (a: Joe Maneely) ★

"The Day the World Ended!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★1/2

"Dinosaur" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★★

"The Swami Strikes Back!" (a: Ed Winiarski) ★

"Maha the Demon!" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

Unlike Mystery Tales #52, Mystic #58 has more than its share of good art and it gets started quickly with the atmospheric work Richard Doxsee contributes to "Those Who Vanish!" Clyde Duvlin is a genius inventor who just can't stand to be patient and wait his turn, so he schemes to rid himself of the upper rungs of management at World Electronics. Clyde invents a camera that transports its subject to wherever the developed picture is mailed and he takes advantage of the US Postal Service by mailing pics of all his bosses to places hither and yon.

Laughably, it seems those supervisors can't get back to the US and Clyde becomes the man in charge at WE. Unfortunately for him, his gorgeous wife is proud of the beautiful colors found in her hubby's developed pics and sends one she took of Clyde to her brother... who's serving time in a Chinese prison! That climax is alternately brilliant and giggle-worthy. Also hilarious is that Clyde invents this dazzling camera but doesn't realize its true power until his wife mails a pic of herself to her mother and is teleported to the old lady's living room. File Doxsee in with Angelo Torres and Al Williamson as pencilers who can lay out work that is alternately brilliant and sketchy but all the while dazzling.

Farmer Paul Miller always sees to it that "The Straw Man!" in his field is dressed to the nines in good times but pestilence and drought have struck Paul's farm and he decides it's time to pack it in and sell the land. A preacher comes to Paul's farm and begs him to pray to God for rain but Paul tells the holy man that he's all prayed out. Suddenly, it begins to pour and the priest points to the straw man, who's now in a kneeling position. The lord works in mysterious ways, indeed. There's no rhyme or reason as to why Paul had to endure all his traumas when a religious scarecrow watched over his farm the entire time, but I'm not one to pick nits. I wouldn't have been able to identify the art as belonging to Joe Maneely had it not been signed; gone are the detailed, gorgeous visuals Maneely was once responsible for and in their place is something very average and very 1958 Atlas.

On the eve of war, brilliant scientist Dr. Eric Norath discusses the future of Earth with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law. Both women declare hatred for war and the men try to explain calmly that those stinkin' evil commies will stop at nothing to rule the world. Something must be done to stop the Red Threat!!! A few days later, Norath is working in his lab when he accidentally tips over a vat of a solution he's working on (let's call it... oh, I don't know... how about oxychloride x?) and the liquid begins eating a hole through everything it touches.

Word is sent out to the government that nothing can contain the chemical and Americans watch as it dissolves miles of earth and moves downward, seemingly to the core of the planet itself. When the government appeals to the stinkin' commies to ally with them to find an antidote, the entire world joins forces and a solution to the solution is found. The Nations are at last United in peace while Mrs. Norath scolds her husband for dumping the juice and holding the antidote the whole time. With "The Day the World Ended!," writer Carl Wessler probably counted on very few of his 8-year-old readers being familiar with the old Lights Out radio show and its 1938 episode "Oxychloride X," which Wessler happily ripped off, later cashing his $27 check from Stan. 

Explorers in the Amazon run across some preserved dinosaur eggs and are elated by their historic find. Well, almost all of them, that is. All but Osborne, who hates mosquitoes and animals and vegetation and just wants to go home. So Osborne hides the eggs, stomps some fake dino tracks in the dirt, and waits to see what happens. His colleagues are mortified and skulk out of camp the next night, leaving Osborne alone. Surveying the camp, he finds giant prints in the dirt that he didn't make! Anything Bernie Krigstein worked on automatically becomes readable and the delightful (and delightfully simple) "Dinosaur" is a perfect example. The script (by Krigstein himself?) is almost a comedic romp, filled with funny dialogue and sight gags, and Bernie lays out the story in his trademark multi-mini-panel style. If only we could have had whole issues filled with Krigstein's work.

Egregious in both art and script, "The Swami Strikes Back!" tells the tale of a group of college punks who kidnap the titular entertainer to teach them how to project their spirit. In this way, they can rob a bank. Hard to believe a four-page story could take so long to read but allow for nodding-off time. Nap time continues with "Maha the Demon," about a museum guard who unwittingly unleashes an ancient pharaoh onto present day streets. The "stranger in a strange land" angle is amusing for a couple panels but then the entire affair ends tediously.-Peter

Mystical Tales #6

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Iron Trap" (a: Dick Ayers) ★

"The Forbidden Room" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2

(r: Tomb of Darkness #11)

"The Sinking Man!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★

"He Hides in the Tower" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★

"In the Dark Attic!" (a: Dave Berg) ★1/2

"The Clock Strikes Thirteen" (a: Howard O'Donnell) ★

An unhappy physicist named Andrew Kastro is experimenting with atomic matter when it explodes, causing a brief flash of light and making everything in the room giant-sized! After two hours, he grows back to normal size and it dawns on the genius that it was he who got smaller while everything around him stayed the same. Like most Atlas protagonists, Andrew's thoughts turn to crime, and he decides that he'll shrink himself down and steal a valuable pearl from a museum. All goes as planned until Andrew forgets about the two-hour limit on his small size and is caught in "The Iron Trap"--a ventilating shaft--as he exits the museum with the pearl.

Groan! Dick Ayers was uninspired and his art is lifeless. The story isn't much different from "The Too-Perfect Crime!" in this month's Mystery Tales in that both deal with someone who accidentally discovers how to shrink himself and turns to crime. You'd think these brilliant scientists would see the pitfalls.

Helen is an aging woman whose husband forbids her to enter "The Forbidden Room" in their mansion. She can think of little else and finally opens the door one night while her husband sleeps. Inside the room she sees... her husband, who welcomes her! As she reaches for him he disappears; she passes out and wakes up on a psychologist's couch, where she is told that she is really an aging spinster about to wed who has finally conquered her fear of marriage, which was represented by the forbidden room. Got it? Even Joe Sinnott can't make this interesting.

The sole survivor of an explosion on a ship, Andrews finds himself on an island that is strangely familiar. He recognizes one thing after another and finally comes to a time machine; pushing a button, he finds himself back in the water, just having left the sinking ship and heading for the island, where the events will play out time after time.

"The Sinking Man!" is only three pages long and still seems tedious, but the art by Angelo Torres is at least bearable, if hardly his finest work.

From the moment Tony Lund sees Dorwin Manor, he becomes obsessed with the idea that there must be money hidden in the basement. He meets and seduces Madge, a pretty servant who works at the manor, and when she is about to elope with him he sneaks into the basement and finds the cash. Arnold Dorwin catches him in the act and a gun battle ensues, but Tony ends up locked in the attic after Arnold turns out to be a ghost and Madge discovers Tony's treachery.

I have to hand it to Bernie Krigstein--he put more effort into this terrible script than most Atlas artists would have. "He Hides in the Tower" has enough twists, turns, and verbiage for a ten- or twenty-page story, yet none of it is interesting or original.

A young man is used to using his handsome face to cheat people, so when he is approached on the street by a wrinkled old man offering to paint his portrait, the young man jumps at the chance, figuring he can cheat the old man out of some valuable pictures. Up the stairs they go till they are together "In the Dark Attic!," where the artist seems to paint an imaginary portrait on an imaginary canvas. In the end, the old man wraps the imaginary canvas around his face and, when the young man emerges into the daylight, he does not realize that the old man's wrinkled face has replaced his own.

Dave Berg's particular art style, which tends to exaggerate faces, is perfect for this tale, though the denouement will surprise no one.

Villagers are shaken when "The Clock Strikes Thirteen," thinking that the imported edifice bears a curse. Little do they know that Fuller faked the thirteenth strike, certain that everyone in town will be so focused on the clock the next day that he can rob the local bank. Rob it he does and, when he's trying to get out of town, he's easily captured. It seems the thirteenth strike presaged someone about to suffer a great loss, and that someone turned out to be Fuller.

It's back to Earth after some pretty decent art this issue, as Howard O'Donnell puts no effort into illustrating a story that is needlessly complicated and has yet another letdown of an ending.-Jack

Spellbound #33

Cover by Carl Burgos

"At the End of the Dark Hall" (a: John Forte) ★★

"Don't Throw That Switch" (a: Ted Galindo) ★

"The Gypsies' Secret!" (a: Angelo Torres) ★★1/2

"No Way Out!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

"The Fury of Nick Foster!" (a: Harry Lazarus) ★

"The Unhuman" (a: John Tartaglione) ★

Pierre Denoir steals a woman's purse and flees through the fog-shrouded Parisian streets, ducking into a building and racing down the stairs. "At the End of the Dark Hall" he opens a door that reveals a group of criminals seated round a long table. Pierre recognizes them and remarks that they are all supposed to be dead! They chase him around for a while and he at first begs to join them and then grabs a gun and takes a wild shot before racing back up the stairs and into the waiting arms of the police. The fog has lifted and they point to the sign above the building entrance that reads "Mme. Rousseau's Wax Works."

It's nice to admit that, for once, Carl Wessler surprised me with the ending of this story. I was expecting Pierre to realize that he was dead just like the rest of the criminals. Instead, we get the old bit about the wax dummies seeming to come to life. John Forte's art, which I don't usually like very much, is rather evocative in the panels with fog and in the candlelit cellar.

Walter Garland learns a terrible secret from his dying grandfather--the old man has spent eighty years maintaining a machine that kept an unknown person from aging. The old man dies before he can tell Walter the young man's identity (hint, hint) and Walter quickly determines that his sworn enemy, Howard Blye, must be the man! Walter confronts Howard, who cries "Don't Throw That Switch!" and begins to pay blackmail money and welcome Walter into high society. Walter falls hard for Howard's fiance Joyce and, in order to get rid of his rival, turns off the machine. Not surprisingly, the young man who has been kept vibrant for eight decades turns out to be Walter.

Unlike the prior story, I knew what was going to happen in this one by the end of page one. The art by Ted Galindo does nothing to elevate the tired storytelling.

Tony Hayden is a con man who travels from town to town selling fake patent medicine at sideshows and carnivals. In one location he happens on a gypsy settlement and thinks he can make a quick buck selling his "medicine" (flavored water) to the seemingly ignorant folk. His spiel is interrupted by Kazar, a burly, bald Roma who says that Tony's product is fake and no substitute for the real thing that Kazar doles out. Kazar agrees to give Tony his secret formula to help his people and Tony promptly makes up more fake bottles of medicine and sells them as if they were Kazar's elixir. The people revolt once the trickery is discovered and they beat Tony and leave him in an alley. Kazar appears and cures Tony with his own formula before disappearing and leaving Tony to lament his failure to recognize a genuine cure-all.

"The Gypsies' Secret!" benefits greatly from fine work by Angelo Torres, who seems to rise to the occasion when given anything resembling an interesting script. This time out, the story mostly makes sense and has a satisfying ending, though I question why Kazar was so willing to give Tony his formula when Tony is obviously dishonest and Kazar could simply have given it to his own people himself.

Caught again on his sixth attempt to break out of prison, Blackie doesn't plan to give up, even though it seems that there is "No Way Out." A new prisoner says he's a chemistry professor and tells Blackie about a formula he's made from powdered wings that will give anyone who drinks it the ability to fly. Blackie takes a drink and is flying over the prison walls when he finds himself drawn toward the searchlight--too bad he didn't know the wings were those of moths!

Robert Sales's art isn't getting any more attractive and this three-pager is just plain silly. Some of Sales's panels really look like he's struggling with anatomy and perspective.

Nick Lazarus is a deep sea diver hired to recover undersea plant specimens for a scientist. Sick of encounters with sharks, Nick is excited to receive a radio message inviting him to join a salvage job where he thinks he'll get rich. The scientist insists that Nick finish out his contract, so Nick lies and says he sees nothing but rocks on the ocean floor. He tosses the ship's charts of the ocean floor overboard to force the scientist to abandon the mission, but when Nick brings up samples of undersea rocks he learns that they mention a treasure house in Atlantis, whose riches Nick will never find now due to the loss of the charts.

Holy cow, what a complicated way to get to yet another Atlantis ending! Harry Lazarus's art is mediocre and the script, undoubtedly by Wessler or Oleck, adds nothing new to the Atlas canon.

Who is leaving the mysterious notes that answer the major problems faced by scientists working on Project Satellite? Dr. Taylor decides that one of his fellow scientists must be "The Unhuman," a mutant with super brain powers. Dr. Fenn is shot and dies just before he reveals the identity of the unhuman. After Dr. Taylor rules out the other two, he is shocked when Dr. Fenn appears, having faked his own death. Taylor says the world isn't ready for Fenn's brilliance, so Fenn agrees and vanishes. This story should have vanished! The world wasn't ready for such uninteresting art and prose.-Jack

Next Week...
More Krigstein Magic
To Save Us From Madness!