bare•bones e-zine

Thursday, October 20, 2022

The Hitchcock Project-Helen Nielsen Part One: Letter of Credit [5.36]

by Jack Seabrook

Born in Illinois, Helen Nielsen (1918-2002) was a draftsperson who contributed to the designs of aircraft in World War Two. She was also a prolific and successful author; the first of her 18 mystery novels was The Kind Man, published in 1951, and she had about 50 stories published in the digests between 1954 and 1991. Nielsen also wrote teleplays and had some of her works adapted for the screen, mostly on television, from 1959 to 1982. Five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents featured her work as well as a single episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "Death Scene." After William Fay adapted "Your Witness" from Nielsen's short story in 1959, she wrote four teleplays herself, two of which were adaptations of her own short stories. She wrote scripts for a few other TV shows, the last airing in 1963.

* * * * *

Helen Nielsen

Nielsen's first teleplay was "Letter of Credit," which aired on CBS on Sunday, June 19, 1960. She adapted the show from her own short story titled "Henry Lowden Alias Henry Taylor"; the story appeared in the July 1960 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, which was most likely on the newsstands at the time this episode aired.

The story opens as prison guard Henry Lowden arrives by train in Kirkland, thinking about Arnold Mathias, a prisoner he shot in the back and killed during an attempted escape. Lowden is troubled by the knowledge that Mathias was innocent and he carries a .38 under his coat as he disembarks. He confirms with the station master that no other strangers have arrived in town in the last two days and he gives the man a tip, asking to be telephoned at the Grand Hotel if a stranger should appear.

"Letter of Credit" was
first published here.

Using the name Henry Taylor and claiming to be a historian from Chicago, Lowden checks into the hotel and walks to the Farmer's and Merchant's Bank, where he asks to see the president, William Spengler. After witnessing elderly Josiah Wingate, the wheelchair-bound former president, complain about his successor, Lowden is shown into Spengler's office. The visitor hands the bank president a letter of credit, claiming that he wants to transfer some funds to the bank while he's in town researching a book on unsolved crimes.

Lowden confirms that Arnold Mathias was a trusted employee at the bank two years before who had been hired despite having a juvenile record. He was accused of stealing $200,000 from the bank, convicted, and sent to prison; while an inmate, Mathias went over every word of the trial transcript and drew maps of the bank. Lowden tells Spengler that he is familiar with all of the details of the case and mentions that the money was never recovered. Spengler invites Lowden to his home for dinner, where they can go over the records and maps. When the president walks out of the office, Lowden looks in his desk drawer and finds a newspaper article about Mathias's death. The name of the cellmate who also escaped, but was not caught, was Thomas Henry; Lowden is using the alias, Henry Taylor.

Bob Sweeney as William Spengler

That evening, at Spengler's house, Lowden speculates about what happened to the money, noting that Spengler, Mathias, and one other man were in the vault when the robbery occurred. He reviews the testimony carefully and concludes that Spengler must have stolen the cash when he was left alone in the vault for several minutes, transferring $200,000 to his own box and planning to pass it off as an inheritance. Spengler accuses Lowden of being Thomas Henry, the escaped convict, revealing that he checked on Henry Taylor and learned that the letter of credit was a fake. The bank president threatens to call the police and Lowden pulls out his .38, causing Spengler to admit his guilt and offer to make a deal. Lowden calls the police and tells Spengler his real identity; he knew that he could get a confession if he beat Thomas Henry to Kirkland.

Robert Bray as Henry Lowden

"Henry Lowden Alias Henry Taylor" is an excellent short story with a complex plot and a great twist ending; the reader is uncertain right up to the final moments as to whether Lowden is hero or villain. Joan Harrison hired Helen Nielsen to adapt the story for TV and it was her first attempt at writing a teleplay. The TV version is not as successful as the short story, despite using some tried and true methods to translate the narrative to the small screen.

The show opens with the train arriving in Kirkland. Lowden gets off, asks if any strangers have arrived, and gives the station agent $20 to call him at the hotel if anyone comes. The details that were provided through narration in the short story are omitted, so the viewer does not know Lowden's real name, his history with Mathias, or the fact that he carries a gun. There is a dissolve to a shot of him approaching the bank; suspenseful music and Lowden's looking around create a question of who he is and why he's there, issues that were less important in the short story because of the facts disclosed by the narrator. Lowden checks his gun and the viewer wonders if he is in Kirkland to rob the bank.

Ronald Nicholas as
Arnold Mathias

The opening scenes of "Letter of Credit" succeed in creating tension with some interesting camera work and appropriate music. The events that follow hew closely to those in the short story, but once Lowden enters Spengler's office, the pace slows down. Nielsen's script includes two long flashback sequences. The first occurs as Spengler tells Lowden about Mathias; the scene dissolves to a series of shots that illustrate the past events as related by the bank president. Between the narration and the shots, the inference is that Mathias was guilty of robbery; having Mathias appear in these sequences makes him a more identifiable character than he is in the short story, where he is never seen. This first flashback sequence is told from Spengler's point of view and he portrays himself in the most favorable light.

Theodore Newton
as Sam Kern

The first act ends with Lowden examining a newspaper from Spengler's desk after the bank president has left the office; a musical sting suggests that Lowden is actually the convict who escaped with Mathias and avoided being killed. Act two continues in Spengler's office; the two men do not go to Spengler's house, as they do in the short story. The show drags at this point, as Lowden goes over the trial testimony and Spengler asks questions. There is a brief interruption when Spengler's secretary brings him a report that is later revealed to show that the letter of credit is a fake. A shot from Lowden's point of view showing the bank vault creates some suspense in regard to his ultimate goal, but the scenes in Spengler's office don't suggest that he is there to commit a crime.

The second flashback sequence occurs in act two, as Lowden explains his theory of what happened. Most of the shots are the same as in the first flashback sequence, though some are new and some go on longer. The point of this sequence is to demonstrate how events can be viewed differently when looked at from another perspective; Lowden's narration eventually implicates Spengler as the guilty party rather than Mathias. After the flashback sequence ends, Lowden pounds on Spengler's desk and accuses the bank president of robbery. There are some fireworks between the men and there is a strong inference that Lowden is really Thomas Henry, the escaped convict.

Jacqueline Holt as Miss Foster

The last lines of the show reveal the truth and the conclusion is the first time the viewer learns that Lowden is the prison guard who shot Mathias and that Mathias was innocent. These details are revealed at the start of the short story, and the decision to hold them until the end of the TV show weakens the entire effort.

The actors and the director of "Letter of Credit" try to create interest and suspense with different shots, flashback sequences, and enthusiastic performances but, in the end, the episode is too talky and most of it occurs in a single room, making it somewhat dull to watch. The changes to the short story make the TV show less effective and the twist ending is less successful.

Joseph Hamilton as the station master

"Letter of Credit" is directed by Paul Henreid (1908-1992), who began his career as a film actor. His work as a director started in the early 1950s and he directed 29 episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "A Little Sleep."

Bob Sweeney (1918-1992) stars as William Spengler. Sweeney was a radio announcer and comedian in the 1940s who appeared on TV, mostly in comedies, from 1953 to 1991. He was in a handful of films and he also was a prolific TV director and producer, directing 80 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and producing 96 episodes of Hawaii Five-O. This was the only episode of the Hitchcock TV show in which he appeared; he was also seen in Hitchcock's film, Marnie (1964).

Cyril Delevanti as Josiah Wingate

Co-starring as Henry Lowden is Robert Bray (1917-1983), who was a Marine in WWII and who followed his service with a screen career that lasted from 1946 to 1968. He played Mike Hammer in My Gun is Quick (1957), was a regular on Stagecoach West (1960-61), appeared on The Twilight Zone, and was seen in five episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "Not the Running Type." He is best-known for his role as a regular on Lassie from 1964-68.

In smaller roles:

Ronald Nicholas as Arnold Mathias; he had a brief career on TV from 1959 to 1965 and also appeared in "Incident in a Small Jail" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Theodore Newton (1904-1963) as Sam Kern, Spengler's assistant; he was on Broadway from 1928 to 1951, on film from 1933 to 1963, and on TV from 1949 to 1963. He was in seven episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "O Youth and Beauty!" and "What Really Happened."
Jacqueline Holt (1929- ) as Miss Foster, the secretary; she had a brief career on TV from 1955 to 1960 and this was the only episode of the Hitchcock show in which she appeared.
Joseph Hamilton (1899-1965) as the station master; he started in vaudeville as a teenager and then appeared in local theater for decades before embarking on a career on the big and small screens that lasted from 1954 to 1965. He appeared in five episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "The Five-Forty Eight."
Cyril Delevanti (1889-1975) as Josiah Wingate, the former bank president; he was born in London and appeared on the stage there before emigrating to America in 1921. He continued to appear on stage and had a long career on film and TV, playing mostly bit parts. He was seen on the Hitchcock show three times, including "The Derelicts," and he was also seen on The Twilight Zone five times, Thriller, and Night Gallery.

Stark House recently published Turning the Tables: The Short Stories of Helen Nielsen, a volume that includes the short story that was the source for "Letter of Credit."

Read "Henry Lowden Alias Henry Taylor" online here, watch "Letter of Credit here, or buy the DVD here. Read the GenreSnaps take on this episode here.

Sources:

The FICTIONMAGS Index, http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.

IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/.

"Letter of Credit." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 5, episode 36, CBS, 19 June 1960.

Nielsen, Helen. "Henry Lowden Alias Henry Taylor." Rolling Gravestones, edited by Alfred Hitchcock, Dell, New York, 1971, pp. 74–92.

Stephensen-Payne, Phil. Galactic Central, http://philsp.com/.

Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://www.wikipedia.org/.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "Conversation over a Corpse" here!

Listen to Annie and Kathryn discuss "The West Warlock Time Capsule" here!

In two weeks: "The Baby-Blue Expression," starring Sarah Marshall!

Monday, October 17, 2022

Batman in the 1980s Issue 64: September-October 1986

The Dark Knight in the 1980s
by Jack Seabrook &
Peter Enfantino

Mandrake

Batman #399

"Strike Two!"

Story by Doug Moench

Art by Tom Mandrake

Batman has staked out Roy Spivey for over a month, but he has yet to witness the man do anything suspicious. Meanwhile, Catwoman trains her new panther! Batman finds the remnants of a suspicious chemical near the furnace in Spivey's basement and, the next day, Jim Zwaitek returns home to find Mona's shrunken head in a package that was mailed to him.

With Jason spending every evening with his new girlfriend, Batman calls Catwoman to ask for help watching Spivey; the killer buys an axe and goes after Mona's roommate, Nancy, but is stopped by Catwoman's panther, which scratches his face. Spivey rushes home to find Batman waiting for him and, with Catwoman's help, the killer is apprehended. At Mona's funeral , Catwoman tells Batman goodbye, and back at the Batcave, the Caped Crusader is happy to see Robin ready to resume work as the Dynamic Duo.

Jack: After the story got off to a great start in Detective 565, with art by Colan and Smith, it comes to a crashing halt in "Strike Two," with art by Mandrake that can best be described as terrible. We complain a lot about the writing in the comics we blog about, especially in regard to the Warren mags, but Mandrake's work on Batman demonstrates just how much a mediocre artist can take the excitement out of a decent script. It's bad enough that the first three pages are wasted on a rehash of part one of the story; Mandrake's faces are badly drawn and Batman's karate kick on page 20 is embarrassing. I'm surprised Len Wein would accept such poor work because DC had a reputation for a baseline of quality.

Peter: Of course, it was inevitable that, since I enjoyed the first chapter of this arc, the second would let me down. That's only one of the parallels "Strike Two!" has to 1980s slasher flicks: interesting setup and lamebrain windup. By the end of the issue, I had not only forgotten why poor Nancy lost her head, I didn't care anymore. If anything, Mandrake's art is getting worse. It's as if editor Len Wein jumped into a time machine and stole doodles from eight-year-old Val Mayerik. But, hey, you're probably tired of hearing me bitch about Tom Mandrake's scribbles, so I swear I won't mention it again. Never mind this is Tom's swan song on the title.

Giordano

Detective Comics #566

"Know Your Foes"

Story by Doug Moench

Art by Gene Colan & Bob Smith

Someone has left a cryptic message for Batman on the desk of Commissioner Gordon: Know Your Foes. That’s it. Just three words. But the note sends Batman into a paranoid frenzy; he and Robin head to the Batcave and fire up the Batcomputer to go through the Rogues’ Gallery for clues. Could it be the Joker? The Riddler? The Penguin? Killer Moth? One by one, the dynamic duo cross each villain off the list for one reason or another. In the end, they both get burned out from looking at too many bad guys and head for the gym, vowing to get to the bottom of the mystery… another day.

Peter: This is tantamount to one of those 1970s Marvel issues where Roy couldn't meet his deadline, so he had the Thing sit down and remember a particularly great adventure the Fantastic Four had years before. The concept here is flimsy at best. Couldn't this note be an innocent letter from someone in Gotham reminding Bats that it's parole time for the Penguin, Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc? And why does the world's greatest detective have to fire up the Atari to learn anything about Joker and Co.? Laughable. Robin has the best quote this issue: "I'm startin' to get pretty burned out on all this..." You and me both, kid.

Jack: What a contrast between Mandrake's plodding storytelling and the dynamic work of Colan and Smith! Even in a non-story like this, they manage to make the pages fun and interesting--see Batman pacing across the panel border on page two for an example. I was surprised to see Killer Moth and Black Mask as villains number three and four, but as I read on it became clear that Moench was front-loading baddies that he created or revived. As a setup of Batman 400, this story is light and fun.

"Old Enemies Die Hard"

Story by Joey Cavalieri

Art by Jerome Moore & Dell Barras

Ollie's flat has been turned inside out by someone looking for information. After Queen messes with his broken answering machine, he discovers a message from Onyx, letting him know of her whereabouts. Bad idea. Meanwhile, at the music store where she's hiding, Onyx is killing time with former Journey member, Tommie, who's putting the moves on the caped babe. Suddenly, the roof caves in and Barricade drops to the floor, vowing to retrieve a powerful bracelet Onyx has on her shapely person. Green Arrow arrives on the scene before things get too violent. Barricade promises to mop the floor with our hero.

Peter: For a backup feature, Green Arrow continues to be mildly entertaining, if more than a bit meandering; what happened to the storyline with the Mayor Bolt/Steelclaw subplot from the last few issues? Does this Barricade cat have anything to do with Bolt? Will we ever discover why Onyx is so important to this strip? I guess we'll just have to find that out together.

Jack: Cavalieri's writing continues to improve bit by bit, and the art by Moore and Barras is really good, in a mid-'80s sort of way. I'm glad we finally get to see Onyx take center stage in this seven-pager that is above-average for a Detective backup feature.

Sienkiewicz

Batman #400

"Resurrection Night!"

Story by Doug Moench

Art by John Byrne, Steve Lightly, Bruce Patterson, George Perez, Paris Cullins, Larry Mahlstedt, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arthur Adams, Terry Austin, Tom Sutton, Ricardo Villagran, Steve Leialoha, Joe Kubert, Ken Steacy, Rick Leonardi, Karl Kesel, & Brian Bolland

Simultaneous explosions at Arkham Asylum and the state penitentiary allow all of Batman's enemies to escape at the same time. After running for an hour, they find their costumes hanging on the branches of a tree! Once dressed, some of the bad guys head off on their own missions, while the rest gather with the Joker and plan to go after Batman.

The villain who set this all in motion brings the other villains to him and explains the plan. Soon, Julia Pennyworth is kidnapped by the Scarecrow and Harvey Bullock is snatched by Poison Ivy. Vickie Vale is nabbed by the Riddler and Black Spider. In the Batcave, Batman is visited by Ra's al Ghul, who masterminded the plot in order to convince Batman to team up with him; if the Dark Knight agrees, Ra's will help round up the escapees. Batman refuses.

Following a riddle left by Ra's, Batman, and Robin head for a seedy waterfront dive, unaware that Alfred is at home, being kidnapped by Killer Croc. At the dive, Batman and Robin are confronted by five villains, but when the good guys seem about to prevail, the Riddler reveals that four hostages are being held and will be killed if Batman doesn't let the bad guys walk away. Worse yet, the Joker and the Penguin land a copter on the roof of police headquarters and drop an electrified cage over the entire building. The Joker calls Batman, who has returned to the Batcave, and gives him three hours to rescue the cops before he starts killing them off.

Talia shows up and offers to help the Dark Knight. Meanwhile, Poison Ivy has Harvey Bullock tied up and Catwoman's attempt to help falls flat. Batman returns to the dive, beats up some hoods, and finds a clue to Ivy's location. He rushes to her greenhouse and, with Catwoman's help, frees the four hostages and knocks out a bunch of baddies. The good guys then head to police headquarters, where they have little trouble setting everyone free and defeating the rest of the villains--all but one.

Batman makes his way to Ra's's secret location, where the bad guy has taken a dunk in the Lazarus Pit and gained even more strength and endurance. He and Batman have a big fight that ends with Ra's unintentionally falling back into the pit and the whole place caving in. Back at the Batcave, Batman's pals celebrate, but the Caped Crusader wonders if the mass escape of fiends is just one big DC reboot.

Jack: A 60-page story tells of "Resurrection Night!" and, for a big anniversary issue, it's definitely something special. I'm just not sure it's very good. Having 17 different artists with wildly varying styles illustrate the chapters gets in the way of the storytelling, and Moench's tale isn't particularly original. I'm happy to see the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, Ra's, etc., but it all seems predictable. There's a nice essay by Stephen King on the inside covers and some good full-page posters at the end, but some of the art is distracting--especially the highly stylized chapter by Bill Sienkiewicz, who also painted the cover, which I don't much care for. George Perez contributes four decent pages and the four pages by Kubert look good, but they don't really fit with the rest of the story. Peter, what did you think?

Peter: I thought it was a huge (and I do mean huge) disappointment; so bloated and padded that I had to reread the section where Ra's explains why he's doing what he's doing because I kept losing sight of the endgame. The gimmick of the Rogues teaming up to off Bats was a lot more fun in the 1966 Batman movie with Adam West. Considering that there's a veritable bullpen of artists, it's no surprise we get some extreme highs (I could have done with a whole issue of Bolland and Sienkiewicz) and some extreme lows (Leialoha and, incredibly enough, Tom Sutton, contribute barely professional work) and a whole lot of in-betweens. I really shouldn't have been surprised this didn't float my boat, since these big extravaganzas invariably disappoint. Doug's heading out the door and I hope he takes mopey crybaby Batman with him.

Oh, by the way, Stephen King shows how little he really knows about Batman by opining that it's only been "in the last four years or so" that the Dark Knight had found his mojo. Ummm... I think I'd take Denny O'Neil and Steve Englehart's scripts over Doug's any day. And did Big Steve forget about the days of Neal Adams and Marshall Rogers? Ulp.

Janson

Detective Comics #567

"The Night of Thanks, But No Thanks!"

Story by Harlan Ellison

Art by Gene Colan & Bob Smith

On what would seem to be a typical patrol night, Batman can't seem to find anyone to help. From the woman who puts a beating on her own mugger to the ledge jumper saved by the cops to the would-be car thief who actually locked the keys in his vehicle, it seems as though Gotham is safe without its Dark Knight. At least for tonight.

Peter: Guest writing by Stephen King and Harlan Ellison in the same month furthers the theory that DC was trying to put space between it and Marvel, a company going through a few changes, thanks mostly to Jim Shooter. While Marvel was dumbing down their titles, DC was emphasizing adult content with special projects like The Dark Knight and Watchmen, spearheaded by thinking-man funny book writers like Frank Miller and Alan Moore. Mark Evanier wrote about how Ellison delivered "The Night of Thanks..." to Julius Schwartz and, I'll just add, it was typical Harlan showmanship.

As Jack mentions below, Ellison crams lots of pretension into the caption boxes, but that's not the only thing wrong with this jocular adventure. The main problem I had was with the words coming out of Batman's mouth. Hard to imagine Bats calling even the lowest of scum "Puke-For-Brains." It's just not his style. For a humorous story, it's just not very funny. The sole smile elicited was from the panel reprinted here. Otherwise, this was ho-hum. Hard to believe it took Ellison fifteen years to cook and deliver this.

Jack: Leave it to Harlan Ellison to contribute one of the worst stories to Detective that we've seen in a while. He manages to mix pretentious captions with low-class dialogue and reach new depths of cursing in a mainstream DC comic. At least the art by Colan and Smith is reliably sharp. Ellison's attempt at humor is weak and the story overall is forgettable.

"The Face of Barricade!"

Story by Joey Cavalieri

Art by Stan Woch & Dave Hunt

Barricade attempts to retrieve the "Wisdom Key" from Onyx but the superheroine is putting up a good fight. Green Arrow and Black Canary come to the rescue and it's the Canary who discovers Barricade's Achilles heel. The baddie is reduced to a pile of bones and Onyx slips away into the night, happy she finally got more than two panels of funny book time.

Peter: "The Face of Barricade!" is not an easy strip to follow and, before you know it, it's all over. So much for Barricade as a super-baddy. I still have no idea who Onyx is or whether she'll be back, but these seven pages are enjoyable enough.

Jack: The splash page is terrific and the story fits in a lot of excitement in seven pages. I'm glad to see that Onyx is finally being used more and I thought the way Black Canary intervened was clever. This is not the first time that a GA backup story eclipsed the Batman lead story.

Next Week...
Will the special 100th Anniversary
Issue of Creepy start a new era
of greatness with Warren?
Don't hold your breath!

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 71: Atlas/ Marvel Horror Comics

The Marvel/Atlas
Horror Comics

Part 56

December 1953 Part II

+ The 20 Best From 1953
by Peter Enfantino

Marvel Tales #119

“When the Mummies Rise” (a: Russ Heath) ★★★

“Collector’s Item!” (a: John Forte) ★★

“They Gave Him a Grave” (a: Larry Woromay) ★★1/2

“The New Life” (a: Al Eadah) ★★

“They Can’t Burn Blackie” (a: Mac Pakula) ★★

Now pay attention as this is complicated and important and I don’t have the time nor inclination to repeat myself. Eight thousand years ago, Earth was invaded by a vicious race of aliens known as the Ferus. Not finding anyone intelligent enough to conquer, the Ferus bandage themselves a la the mummies and bury themselves in the Egyptian deserts. One Feru warrior, Katan, flies to Mt. Everest where he awaits what the prophets call a “great raging of the elements.” At that time, he’ll blow his magic horn or burn some tana leaves and that’s “When the Mummies Rise!”

Fast-forward to 1952 and Katan gets his message from the gods and alerts his bandaged brethren that it’s time to awaken. The Ferus rise and fly to the Arizona desert where they can regroup and make their battle plans. Alas, the Ferus are in the wrong place at the wrong time and the world domination plot is foiled by an A-Bomb test. This is one goofy sf/fantasy tale, but that only makes it more enjoyable. Why in the world would an invasion armada decide to postpone an easy conquest because their intended victims are “backward?” Don’t you want to take charge with as little casualties as possible? And then there’s the excuse of leaving the Egyptian desert to fly across the world to Arizona because “no Earth man can spy on us while we make our plans!” There’s not much logic going on but that’s okay; where else can you get a mummy/alien invasion mash-up?

Zorna loves diamond rings. She’s got a real racket going: she convinces men to propose to her, then, once she gets the ring, she murders them and buries the bodies in her basement. But killing dozens of men can be tiring and now Zorna has vowed the next ring she gets will be the biggest diamond she can find. A happy coincidence then that Frederick is buying just that ring when Zorna lays her eyes on the bauble. It’s not long before Frederick is popping the question but this is one ring (and man) Zorna will wish she never laid eyes on. “Collector’s Item!” is really dumb (how do you get away with murdering dozens of men without a sniff of suspicion on the part of the local constabulary?) but John Forte’s enthusiastic art is infectious (and he knows his way around a lovely lady).

Duke and Bull rob a bank and almost make it out with no trouble, but it turns out Duke isn’t all that smart and he parked the getaway car in front of a hydrant. They steal a cop car and engage in a high speed chase and shootout, wherein Duke is badly wounded. The boys make their getaway, deep into the forest, opting to dig a big hole to hide their booty. Bull decides to kill two birds with one stone by burying the dying Duke along with the loot. He plans to come back in one year when the heat is off; that year is filled with nightmares about dead partner Duke spending all the bank money. After six months, Bull has had enough and heads back to the magic forest to recover his ill-gotten gains. But, once the dirt is uncovered, Bull finds his nightmares have come true. There’s no logical explanation for the climactic twist to “They Gave Him a Grave” but, to be fair, there usually isn’t a good reason for most of this stuff. That last panel, of Duke’s skeleton decked out in tux and top hat, with a blonde skeleton lying beside him, is just irrational, goofy fun.

George has been slaving his life away, working on an assembly line. Then, when he gets home at night he has to listen to wife, Lena, tell him he’a nothing and won’t accomplish diddly. But George shows everyone when he invents a “life-selector” machine, a gizmo that makes every person what they’ve always wanted to be. Problem is, Lena can’t keep her mouth shut and, very soon, the government comes calling at George’s door, wanting a piece of the new toy. George, even after entering his own machine and granted “The New Life,” is miserable once again.

Sitting on death row, awaiting his date with the executioner, convicted mass murderer Blackie Radburn is given an odd alternative to frying in the chair: his sentence will be commuted if he volunteers to fly in a rocket ship to a newly-discovered planet which seems to be zigging and zagging towards Earth. Blackie volunteers and the ship blasts off but Blackie learns he can’t escape fate when he lands on an electrified planet! “They Can’t Burn Blackie” has yet another wildly illogical plot but the twist is cute.

Mystic #25

“A Fella Needs a Zombie” (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

“Revolt of the Robots” (a: Ross Andru & Mike Esposito) ★★

(r: Journey Into Mystery #13)

“Have You Ever Seen a Huge, Black Vampire” (a: John Romita) ★★

(r: Giant-Size Chillers #1)

“The Couple Next Door” (a: Al Eadah) ★

(r: Giant-Size Chillers #2)

“The Toy Train” (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★

(r: Chamber of Chills #12)

Ziggy pulls a jewel heist back in the States and leaves one man dead. The cops are hot on his trail so he hops a boat to Haiti, where he lives comfortably on his spoils until a Mr. Cato comes knocking at Ziggy’s door. Cato knows all about the big man’s checkered past and he wants lots of dough to keep his mouth shut. Ziggy spends the next week trying to devise a foolproof way of killing Cato and the answer comes in a sleazy little bar. Ziggy overhears two men talking about a ceremony to raise the dead and, suddenly, Zig knows “A Fella Needs a Zombie.” As usual, mistakes are made and Ziggy gets his just desserts in the end when the zombie he raises turns out to be Mr. Cato, who had died of the fever a few days before. One of the most humorous aspects of some of these tales is the willingness on the part of the protagonist to believe in the unbelievable. Ziggy noses in on a conversation about voodoo and immediately thinks, “That’s it! I’ll use a zombie!”

In a future where robots have become thinking machines, one man, Philip Evans, leads the charge for destroying all robots. As Evans predicted, the robots begin revolting, attacking and killing their masters, with worldwide domination their goal. Luckily, Philip Evans has planned for just such a day and crafted “robot sensors,” automatons who seek out and eliminate robots. There’s a clunky twist in the finale of “Revolt of the Robots” that’s easy to predict from the get-go, and the pace is much too slow, but the Andru/Esposito art is some of the pair’s better work in the Atlas pre-code horror titles.

In the silly Stan-Lee scripted “Have You Ever Seen a Huge, Black Vampire,” a remote Austrian village is infested with vampires and the townsfolk hire a constable to destroy the bloodsuckers. The chief erects huge fences, around the cemetery, issues a gun and ax to each villager and then, exhausted, heads home to his coffin for some rest. Even worse is “The Couple Next Door,” about a woman who always has to own something bigger than what the Jones’s got and keeps her hubby working day and night in order to feed her frenzy.

Little Teddy lives with his sadistic Uncle Jonas, who beats the child and forbids any toys or play time. A spirit comes one night and gives Teddy “The Toy Train.” When Uncle Jonas finds out about it, he beats Teddy and commences to dismantle the train set. Instead, the train runs Uncle Jonas down. The End. There’s a very nasty, queasy edge to “The Toy Train” that sets it apart from most Atlas pre-codes; the panel of Teddy receiving his beating (blackened eye and all) might seem like pushing the boundaries, but comes off more as sleazy exploitation. Robert Sale’s art is cartoony, exaggerated, and ugly. This is a vile five pages.

Spellbound #18

“When the Martians Strike!” (a: Gil Evans) ★★1/2

“Sleep, My Love!” (a: Jim Mooney) ★

“The Weaker Sex!” (a: Dick Ayers) ★1/2

“The City” (a: Tony DiPreta) ★★★★

“Terror in Time” (a: Al Eadah) ★★1/2

With the Martian invasion only days away and weapons useless against the coming armada, inventor Percival Q. Perry tries to sell the Army on his inflatable balloon idea. Percy is sure the balloon is the trick but the brass throw the brain out on his rear and await doomsday. Not one to take no for an answer, Percy grabs a small plane, flies up to Earth’s atmosphere, and inflates a balloon the size of Earth. Once Percy releases the big ball, the Martians are tricked into firing on the faux Earth. The released gases destroy the Martian invasion and assure Earth of another day. “When the Martians Strike!” is a fun and fanciful little SF/fantasy tale and, if taken as such, very enjoyable. What gave me a huge smile was, obviously, the Earth-sized balloon, but also the Army’s “Radar Lingo-Translator” which bounces off the enemy’s “pulses” and translates their radio messages. Nice trick that.

Ralph Durkin discovers his wife is a witch so he guns her down but, with her dying breath, the old crone curses Ralph with sleepless nights. Should he fall asleep at night, she’ll claim him. So Ralph takes jobs that allow him to stay up at night and sleep during the day. Unfortunately, his final job, as a stoker on a freighter, lands him in the Arctic, where the nights are six months long. “Sleep, My Love!” is a daft and incoherent loser that almost seems to be made up of two discarded scripts.

Whipped husband Mike Benson has had enough of his wife’s gallivanting around town and frequent women’s meetings; now his daughter is acting up as well. When Mike loses his job to a woman, he suddenly sees the light: women are taking over the world! Hard to tell if “The Weaker Sex!” is satirical or misogynistic, as the actions of its characters are befuddling and exaggerated (wife Clara is a shrewish bully and daughter Alice is a nasty little brat), so what little clever commentary there might be is hidden by ridiculous behavior.

“The City” flourishes, populated by happy, smiling people, until one day when the bombs fall. Most dig their way underground, bringing their massive weapons with them, and continue the foolish war from below. Some survivors build spaceships and blast off to “more livable planets in space” while the war continues unabated. Generations later, a space ship lands atop the burned-out rubble, descendants of those original space travelers back to explore the dead planet. Even while pumping out the one-sided and silly “red scare” strips, Stan Lee would let one or two thought-provoking science fiction tales sneak through. “The City” is neither silly nor propaganda but, rather, a bleak and nihilistic wake-up call.

Gonar is messing around with black magic when he is hurled 250 years into the past. He takes advantage of his vast knowledge of history and becomes a seer to the villagers around him but it’s only a matter of time before those same villagers accuse Gonar of witchcraft and hang him. I’m not a big fan of Al Eadah’s work, it’s entirely too chaotic and amateurish for my tastes, but with “Terror in Time,” Eadah hits a nice Ghastly-like vibe. The climactic panel of Gonar’s body, in shadow, hanging from the gallows, is also quite stark and effective.

Strange Tales #24

“The Things in the Coffins” ( a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

“Mission to Mars!” (a: Ed Goldfarb) ★★

“Russia!” (a: Sam Kweskin) ★★★1/2

“Come In!” (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★

“The Fat Man” (a: Bob Fujitani) ★

Joe Grey takes a high-paying job at a rundown cemetery and notices that none of the tombstones have markings. Who’s paying for the upkeep on this ratty hunk of real estate? Curiosity gets the best of Joe and he digs up one of the graves, only to discover a long shining metal tube. Prying the capsule open, he unwittingly unleashes a horde of Plutonian aliens, buried 10,000 years before and jonesing for an invasion. A goofy little bit of nonsense (who’s signing the checks?) that is 100% entertaining because of Joe Sinnott’s grimy visuals. Like Romita and Colan, Sinnott was so perfectly fitted to the horror genre thanks to his use of shadows and distinguishing facial features.

If you found a coverless, tattered copy of Strange Tales #24 and read "Russia," you'd swear you stumbled onto a ratty copy of one of EC's "New Direction" titles (right down to the offbeat art of Kweskin). Recounting the fall of Russian tsar Nicholas II (and his seemingly immortal adviser, Rasputin), but veering off into "what if" territory after the slaughter of the entire family at the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1917. In this version, Anastasia is saved from the slaughter by an admiring soldier named Ivan Korovsky, who then spirits her away to safety and semi-happiness until the pair are hunted down by the Bolsheviks. Ivan is murdered and Anastasia escapes, only to die soon after from an unknown malady. The last thing she sees as she lay dying in bed is Rasputin, calling out "...let harm come to me... and Russia will be ruined.”

The story ends there with no questions answered. I don't pretend to understand what the hell writer Carl Wessler is trying say here but it grabbed my attention nonetheless. Hard to believe Stan Lee approved of a story that lacks a zombie, giant monster, or a message any pre-teen could understand. Yeah, Stan dug giving a good kick in the ass to the commies even in the early fifties but usually the boot was worn by Captain America, not a 17-year old Russian girl.

After atomic wars have left the world a barren wasteland, Earth sends out an SOS to other planets and hears back from Mars. A group of Earth’s finest men, all bearing the “gift of diplomacy and training,” are selected to be our emissaries and sent on a “Mission to Mars!” Immediately, Johnny begins to wear on the other six men, with his constant pranks and one-liners, and when the men get to Mars, the captain tells Johnny to keep his trap shut, lest he offend the Martian government. Turns out, the Martians turn a cold shoulder to the dour sextet and gravitate to Johnny; seems the Martians love a good joke. Goldfarb’s art is perfect for this space opera but the script is predictable and silly. Why would our top brass send a man like Johnny, with what appears to be no special talent other than a gift for the punchline, into space?

“Come In!” is a silly three-pager about a draftee who stops in at a fortune teller to see whether he will die in combat. The seer assures him he will not and the young man, pleased with the message, steps out of the old woman’s tent and into the path of a bulldozer. Truly wretched Carrabotta graphics.

In the finale, “The Fat Man,” a ship’s cook named “Cookie” (what else?) collects as much food as he can while the ship sinks and then manages to latch on to a life raft. Bill and Alec, two of his fellow crewmen gravitate towards the boat and the trio drift for days, without food or water. Well, Cookie has plenty of food but he won’t share.

Alec and Bill grow weary and thin but Cookie keeps his portly figure. At last, an island is spotted and they land, greeted by friendly natives. Bill warns that many of the natives in these islands are cannibals; "watch your step!” When a huge feast is promised, Cookie beams with visions of roast pig and “fowl galore,” but the other two survivors just want off the little island. The natives present a boat to Alec and Bill but demand that Cookie stay. That’s okay with him, he’s hungry, but Cookie’s demeanor shifts when he discovers he’s to be the feast. “Others too skinny,” grunts the chief.

Decidedly un-PC, “The Fat Man” is a story that would never see print in today’s climate of hurt feelings and specialty groups but, beyond its obvious stereotyping, “The Fat Man” shouldn’t have seen print because it’s an awful story, a variation on an old trope that should have been taken out to sea and sunk with an anchor ‘round its neck years before. Cookie’s obsession with food, to the detriment of everything else including his own safety, is eye-rollingly ludicrous and exaggerated for the sake of the (also predictable) punchline.

Uncanny Tales #15

“Escape From Mars” (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★★

“The Man Who Saw Death!” (a: Tony DiPreta) ★

“Who Called?” (a: Al Eadah) ★

“Phooey on Phoonga” (a: Ross Andru) ★★★1/2

“Home Sweet Home” (a: Myron Fass) ★

Every September on over-populated Mars, there’s a lottery held that will determine the few Martians who will leave in a ship for the beautiful and lush planet Earth. Cinda and her husband, Spiro, have already been stealing food from their starving neighbors so murder is only a means to an end. With lottery tickets in hand, the couple happily board the ship and blast off for the new paradise. As their Ark nears the Earth’s atmosphere, they see the ships in front of theirs exploding.

Just then a voice comes on over the loudspeaker, proclaiming the riders of the spaceship as the “lucky ones,” brave souls sacrificing themselves as part of the “new plan for Mars.” Below, on Earth, crowds watch in awe as the sky lights up with shooting stars. By the end of 1953, it seems as though every funny book had to have a story about Mars. Most were cliched and not worth the paper they were printed on but some, like “Escape From Mars,” were grim and witty and certainly worthy of our four-color attention.

Abrasive scientist Simon Knight has been working on a super-duper lens that should make it easier to count the blades of grass on Venus (“if there is grass on Venus!”). Right about the same time, reports come in of UFOs causing trouble nearby (scorching crops and kidnapping pretty blondes, that sort of thing), but Knight is having none of that. No such thing as aliens, says the egghead. He finally gets his lens installed in the most powerful telescope in the world, aims it at Venus, and… nothing. The damn planet isn’t even there! With a little adjustment to the right though, the Professor zeroes in on a scene of utter chaos: bug-eyed monsters looting and pillaging in a town that looks awfully familiar. Too late, the multi-diploma’d dope realizes the telescope is catching a scene from the next town over! “The Man Who Saw Death!” is a really dumb sci-fi tale, one that leaves so many questions unanswered (for instance, how does this big-brain not realize he has the telescope pointed in the wrong direction and why would a man of science be so dead set against believing in life on other planets?) but that’s okay because I really didn’t need a sixth page of expository. Next…

Ulp, not one bit better is “Who Called?,” a horror story set in (what else?) a remote European village under siege by a brutal vampire killer. At each murder scene, there are two constants: a note that reads “He called… and I came” and the same black cat. Authorities are perplexed, so amateur sleuth Stefan suggests that all the cats in the village be slaughtered (!) and that might nip the killer in the bud. One night, while out hunting felines, Stefan comes across the cat that’s been spotted at each crime and gives chase, crying out “Here, Kitty!” All of a sudden, a female vampire descends from the sky and attacks Stefan, confessing her name is Kitty and he called her. Oh boy. I wanted to see the deleted panel of Kitty penning her little notes.

Tired of the comical way humans view aliens, General Phoonga of Pluto decides it’s a good time to invade Earth. But his own people don’t feel the same way and they let him know it with protests and banners reading, “Phooey on Phoonga!” Undeterred, Phoonga has a massive military built up and the militia blasts off for Earth. It’s only when Earth fights back that Phoonga realizes he might not be the military genius he thought he was. Tail tucked between his legs, Phoonga orders a complete retreat back to Pluto. Unfortunately for the General, the pacifists he left behind have taken up arms and they blast the General out of the sky, hoping for a new, more peaceful life for Pluto.

At first, “Phooey…” seemed like yet another thinly-veiled critical commentary on the bloodthirsty Russkies but, as the satire unfolds, it becomes more clear that the tale is an anti-war message directed at all earthlings. Ross Andru’s art is fabulous and that might be due to the fact that human characters are kept to a bare minimum and the Plutonians are a wild reptilian concoction. The dialogue is crisp and very funny, as when Phoonga tells his armada: “Alert all space ships to take battle stations! We’ll swoop down without warning! It’ll be easy! The stupid humans will think we’re advertising breakfast cereal!”

Finally, “Home Sweet Home” is the utterly dreadful tale of a spaceship hijacking, adorned with the equally dreadful art of Myron Fass, who seemingly never understood the dramatics of a well-choreographed panel. The scenes depicted could have just as easily been dramatized with stick figures.

THE TOP TWENTY STORIES FROM 1953