The Hitchcock Project-Talmage Powell Part One-The Kiss-Off [6.21]

by Jack Seabrook

Talmage Powell (1920-2000) wrote hundreds of short stories and a handful of novels from the early 1940s to the early 1980s, including some novels under the Ellery Queen byline. Several of his stories and one of his novels have been adapted for television, including two for Alfred Hitchcock Presents; he adapted one himself and wrote another teleplay based on a story by a different author. Read a discussion of "No Pain" here.

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Powell's first teleplay was "The Kiss-Off," which aired on Alfred Hitchcock Presents on NBC on Tuesday, March 7, 1961. The teleplay was based on the story of the same name by John P. Foran that was published first in the November 1951 issue of Male. As the story begins, a man enters the state tax office, pulls out a gun, and holds up the cashier, who is careful to make a mental note of the criminal's appearance. Before he leaves, the holdup man surreptitiously takes a slip of paper from his pocket, crumples it up, and drops it on the floor. Using rope and a hook, the thief escapes out of a window and makes his way down to the street, where he hails a taxi.

Talmage Powell

The crook gives the driver a five dollar bill and says he just committed a robbery; he switches cabs and rides to the Plaza Hotel, where he enters and goes up to room 814. He is initially welcomed by a woman named Florrie, who calls him Ernie but then doesn't seem to recognize him. He goes into her bathroom and changes clothes before removing items that changed his facial appearance. Back in the bedroom, he asks Florrie why she sent him small gifts during his six years in prison and she tells him that she felt sorry for him while he was in jail because he made mistakes as a young man. He suggests that they get married and go to Pensacola, Florida; he tells her to go without him and he'll join her in a week.

In his own room, he is visited by Detective Cooper, who searches the room and then takes Ernie to see the district attorney. The D.A. asks Ernie if he held up the tax office, which Ernie denies, but he admits that he has no alibi. Cooper brings in the taxi driver, who is uncertain if Ernie is the man he drove. Cooper next brings in a woman who saw Ernie from a window as he escaped; she makes a positive identification, but Ernie reminds the D.A. that he spent six years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Finally, the cashier is brought in and is uncertain if Ernie is the robber.

"The Kiss-Off" was
first published here.

The D.A. reminds Ernie that he had said he'd get even with Cooper and the D.A. and that, after he got out of prison, he told Cooper where he was living. It turns out that Cooper had arrested him six years ago and the D.A. convicted him of robbing a gas station, but recently, a man named Luke Hagen confessed to the crime and Ernie was set free. The D.A. remarks that Ernie stole about $15,000 from the tax office and Ernie replies that he would have earned that amount at work during the six years he was in prison. He asks the D.A. what the jury will think of three uncertain witnesses identifying him in comparison to the four witnesses who were positive he was guilty six years ago. He asks if he's free to go and the D.A. snaps the pencil he's been holding, frustrated that Ernie will get away with robbing the tax office.

"The Kiss-Off" is a clever story about revenge, where an innocent man spends years in jail and is set free, only to commit a crime that nets him his lost wages. He then succeeds in embarrassing the detective and D.A. who put him in prison. The story was chosen by editor David Cooke for his collection of the Best Detective Stories of the Year-1952 and Cooke wrote in his introduction that "The Kiss-Off is the type of story that most editors would not buy, and that most writers would not write realizing the marketing difficulties." Presumably, Cooke was referring to the story's climax, where Ernie gets away with robbery. The slang term "kiss-off" means a dismissal, and Ernie delivers a kiss-off to Cooper and the D.A. at the end of the story.

Jack Palance as Tom Walker

Perhaps the story's inclusion in that collection was how it came to the attention of TV producers, since it was adapted for the TV series, Suspense, where it aired on March 3, 1953, with a teleplay by Richard Lortz. The Suspense version follows the story closely with some important changes. Jack Palance plays Tom Walker, as Ernie Walters has been renamed, and when he robs the tax office

 there are two employees behind the counter, a man and a woman. He wears a white wig, eyebrows, mustache, and a fake nose; he only steals $15,000 although the clerk says that he could have taken more money. Instead of escaping through a window by means of a rope, he goes outside the building, checks his pocket watch, and blends into a large crowd attending a parade. As Tom walks down the sidewalk, he is accosted by a man who claims to be confused and lost; this man will be important at the end of the show.

The scenes and dialogue stay close to those of the story for the most part, until the final scene, when Tom leaves the D.A.'s office. Detective Cooper calls him back in from the hall to say that a pickpocket has been arrested and Tom's pocket watch was among the items he stole. It turns out that he's the man who accosted Tom on the sidewalk claiming to be lost. The watch has Tom's name on it and the pickpocket identifies Tom as the man he saw, but there's a twist: the pickpocket is blind and identifies Tom by touch, which means he's not fooled by the change in his appearance. This conclusion prevents Tom from getting away with his crime and satisfies the TV censors.

Rip Torn as Ernie Walters

Foran's short story was again collected by David Cooke in his 1960 volume, Best of the Best Detective Stories, and perhaps this is where the producers of Alfred Hitchcock Presents saw it, since their adaptation was copyright 1960 and aired in early March 1961. This version is a big improvement over the version that aired on Suspense and preserves the short story's ending, though Hitchcock (as usual) tells the audience in his closing comments that Ernie (the name has been restored) was later caught after committing another crime.

"The Kiss-Off" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an excellent example of TV noir, thirty minutes of snappy dialogue, shadowy lighting, and tight plotting that feature a strong lead performance by Rip Torn as Ernie. This time, instead of a white wig, Ernie is disguised as a hobo, with a rumpled hat and jacket and excess facial hair. The tax clerk is alone, as in the short story, but here the woman enters the office as another customer and Ernie orders her to join the cashier behind the counter. The woman enters the story in a different way in each version: in the short story, she looks out of a window and sees Ernie escaping; in the Suspense version, she works with the cashier; and in the Hitchcock version, she is another customer.

Don Keefer as the tax office clerk

This time, Ernie takes all of the money that is in the cash drawer and the safe; on Suspense, he only takes $15,000 because that equals the amount of money he lost while in jail for six years. In the story, Ernie leaves the office and the clerk sounds the alarm right away; this time, he tells the clerk to wait five minutes before sounding the alarm, claiming that "'I got a cover man in the hallway.'" In this version, as he leaves the tax office, Ernie removes a handkerchief from his pocket and drops a hotel key in an ashtray by the door instead of dropping a crumpled piece of paper on the floor.

He then rides in the cab, as in the story, and makes himself memorable by giving the cabbie a ten dollar bill to pay for his ride. He visits Florrie and removes makeup from his face, transforming himself into the man she remembers. He mentions that he spent six years in jail for a crime he didn't commit and reveals that the real person at fault recently confessed, leading to his name being cleared. In the short story, this did not come out until the end, yet in the Hitchcock version it is revealed in an early scene and then reinforced later in the episode. This has the effect of changing the question in the viewer's mind from why Ernie robbed the tax office to whether he will get away with it.

Bert Freed as Detective Cooper

The scene shifts briefly to the D.A.'s office, where Detective Cooper receives a telephone call identifying Ernie as the man staying in the room that corresponds to the hotel key. Cooper then breaks into Ernie's room and frisks him. Surprisingly, Ernie has a room key on a table in his room and the hotel clerk confirms that no duplicate was requested. Cooper is a classic, tough-guy detective, throwing items around the room as he searches for the money and disguise and then shoving Ernie. Ernie remains calm the whole time, making the viewer take his side as a man wrongly jailed and harassed by a detective who can't admit error.

The D.A. and Cooper discuss the problem of the extra key and Cooper mentions that Ernie worked in the machine shop in jail and could have made a duplicate key himself. The TV show then takes a different turn from the short story and presents a very effective scene that replaces the one in the story where each of the three witnesses is brought into the D.A.'s office to try to identify Ernie. In the Hitchcock version, there is a police lineup (similar to the one Rip Torn was in in "Number Twenty-Two"), where Ernie is one of five men and the cashier, the woman, and the cabbie sit in the gallery and argue about whether they can identify him.

"Number Twenty-Two"

"The Kiss-Off"

Noir lighting highlights this scene as Cooper and the D.A. try unsuccessfully to persuade the reluctant witnesses; for his part, Ernie makes smart remarks and chides the men trying to build a case against him, reminding them (and telling the eyewitnesses) of his prior, wrongful conviction. The final scene in the D.A.'s office is similar to that in the short story, but with the added buildup in the Hitchcock version, the ending is not a surprise and the situation is clearer. Ernie says that the extra key "'must have belonged to an old occupant'" and reasons that he would have made $24,000 had he not been in jail, so the $12,000 that was stolen represents only half of what he lost. In the last lines, the D.A. tells Ernie to get out of town and stay out; Ernie replies, "'I can afford to,'" and the screen fades to black.

Mary Munday as Florrie

"The Kiss-Off" is a strong episode, in large part to crisp direction by Alan Crosland, Jr. (1918-2001), who started out as a film editor, working on features from 1944 to 1954 and on TV from 1955 to 1957, then began directing episodic television in 1956. He directed 16 half-hours and three hours of the Hitchcock series, including "The Woman Who Wanted to Live," as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Crosland directed a handful of movies, but his focus was on TV and he directed his last show in 1986.

John P. Foran, who wrote the short story, wrote short stories for pulps, digests, and men's magazines from 1949 to 1958; the two TV versions of "The Kiss-Off" are the only adaptations of his works for the screen.

Kenneth Patterson as
D.A. Phillip Bentley

Starring as Ernie Walters is Rip Torn (1931-2019), who gives an outstanding performance. Born in Texas as Elmore Torn Jr., he began appearing on screen in 1956 and was in two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as on Thriller. For decades, he played character roles on TV and on film while also appearing on stage. He became well known for his Emmy-winning role on The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998) on TV and he was married to actress Geraldine Page from 1963 until she died in 1987.

Mary Munday (1926-1977) plays Florrie, Ernie's girlfriend; she was on screen from 1951 to 1990 and also appeared on The Twilight Zone.

Florence MacMichael
as Mrs. Simmons

D.A. Phillip Bently is played by Kenneth Patterson (1911-1990), who was on screen from 1946 to 1989. He also appeared on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in "Isabel" and had a role in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

Florence MacMichael (1919-1999) plays Mrs. Simmons, the witness. She appeared on radio and on Broadway and her long screen career lasted from 1943 to 1971. She was on The Twilight Zone and she was a semi-regular on Mister Ed (1963-1965); she also is credited with roles in three other episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "Annabel."

The taxi driver is played by Harry Swoger (1919-1970), who played numerous small parts, mostly on TV, from 1959 to 1970, including appearances in two episodes of The Twilight Zone and three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; one was "Coming Home."

Harry Swoger as the taxi driver

The clerk in the tax office is played by Don Keefer (1916-2014), a familiar face to viewers of The Twilight Zone from his role in the classic episode, "It's a Good Life." He was in three episodes of that series and three episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Percentage." Keefer had a long career on screen, from 1947 to 1997, and was also on Star Trek and Night Gallery as well as being part of the original Broadway cast of Death of a Salesman (1949-1950)

Frank Sully (1908-1975) makes a brief appearance as the hotel desk clerk; he started out in vaudeville and was in numerous films between 1952 and 1967. He had a recurring role on The Virginian (1963-1967), appeared on Thriller, and was in two other episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "The Black Curtain."

Frank Sully as
the hotel clerk

Finally, Bert Freed (1919-1994) plays Detective Cooper. Freed served in the Army in WWII and was on screen from 1947 to 1986. In addition to roles on The Outer Limits and The Night Stalker, he appeared in a similar role on the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "Not the Running Type;" his grey, brush-cut hair and scowling facial expressions made him perfect for the role of detective. He also appeared in Otto Preminger's noir classic, Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950).

Watch the Suspense adaptation of "The Kiss-Off" here and watch the Alfred Hitchcock Presents version here to compare for yourself. The Hitchcock episode is also available on DVD.

Read the GenreSnaps review of "The Kiss-Off" here.

Sources:

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

Foran, John P. "The Kiss-Off." Best of the Best Detective Stories, Dutton, 1960, pp. 112–124.

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

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

"The Kiss-Off." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 6, episode 21, NBC, 7 Mar. 1961.

"The Kiss-Off." Suspense, season 5, episode 20, CBS, 3 Mar. 1953.

"Talmage Powell." Fantastic Fiction, https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/talmage-powell/.

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

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "John Brown's Body" here!

In two weeks: Our brief series on Talmage Powell concludes with a look at "Victim Four," starring Peggy Ann Garner!

The Warren Report Issue 108: October 1979

 

 

The Critical Guide to

the Warren Illustrated Magazines

1964-1979

by Uncle Jack

& Cousin Peter

Corben

Creepy #112

"The Homecoming" ★★1/2

Story by Archie Goodwin

Art by Al Williamson

"Warrior's Ritual" ★★1/2

Story by Archie Goodwin

Art by John Severin

"Nobody's Kid" ★

Story by Bob Toomey

Art by Leo Duranona

"Relic" ★1/2

Story by Bob Toomey

Art by Walt Simonson

"Beastslayer" ★★

Story by John Lakey

Art by Val Lindahn

"Sunday Dinner" ★

Story by Larry Hama

Art by Rafael Auraleon

"The Last Sorcerer" ★★★1/2

Story by Archie Goodwin

Art by Alex Nino

Sent on a mission to find another planet suitable for the human race, Jason relies on his computer to keep everything on track. After what seems like years, the explorer finally finds the right planet but, unfortunately, his tracking system has been damaged and it will be a while until he sees Earth (and his lovely Lara) again. Unbeknownst to Jason, Earth has been destroyed and his computer continually lies to its master to keep him motivated.

Although I couldn't keep track of the storyline very well, I think "The Homecoming" is the perfect tale to kick off our final reviewable Creepy (#113 was an all-reprint "special"), at least in the art department. Al Williamson's work immediately makes one nostalgic for Creepy's first Golden Age back in the mid-1960s, even if it is, as Jack notes, pretty stiff. Same goes for the name Archie Goodwin, who has been so much better in the past and who conjures up thoughts of what Warren once was.

A group of French soldiers come across an embattled fort filled with the carcasses of dead men. The fort's commandant, Captain Charliere, is found at his desk, pen in hand, his heart torn out. Only one survivor, a man thought to be a deserter, is shot and wounded as he tries to climb over the wall of the fort. Major Herge recognizes the man as York, a soldier decorated for valor only a month before.

Herge picks up the dead captain's log and reads... Charliere recounts how York came to the fort and immediately set the standard for bravery, taking on enemy forces time after time. Charliere discovers York sneaking out of the fort one night and questions him. York confesses he's a ghoul and has to eat the heart of his enemy to grow braver. Hmmm.... thinks Charliere, if that's what it takes to win the war... C'est la guerre!

Unfortunately, York's hunger grows stronger and stronger and, eventually, Charliere falls victim to the soldier's grisly need. Just as Herge finishes the disturbing diary, he is informed that York has escaped into the desert. They track him down and discover that he has attempted to eat his own heart. Like Williamson, John Severin is a name that immediately conjures up Warren quality (a word that could not be thrown around much by 1979) and it's great to see him still producing top-notch material. If only he were given a better script; this is cliched claptrap and Archie doesn't even try to hide it (well, I guess it could be argued that York's need to eat human flesh out of a desire for bravery is a bit unique). The setting and the hook had been done to death at both EC and Warren. Still, it beats McGregor and Duranona any day.

A man discovers his son was sired by his friend and goes on a rampage, murdering first his friend and then his wife with an axe. Then he goes after the kid. Anything that gets in his way (a horse, a dog, a tree, the sky) falls before his bloody axe. When the kid climbs a tree, the man starts hacking but, not being a lumberjack, he chops it the wrong way. It falls on him and his axe is buried in his head. The end. Simple as that.  There's no point, no moral, no reason. A moronic splatterfest with ugly-as-all-get-out art; I defy anyone out there to defend Duranona's art on "Nobody's Kid."

With "Relic," Bob Toomey makes it two duds in a row. Two space explorers are swallowed up by a strange creature that might be a spaceship and call for help. Their plea is answered by the shapely Cyrilla Tatterstall, who manages to find a solution to the problem in a cute little alien named Max. It's very hard to work up any enthusiasm for some of this stuff. "Relic" feels like a second chapter in an ongoing series that we just need to catch up on as it goes along. It's just more space opera tedium, meant to cash in on Star Wars and Alien. In a few spots you can identify signature Walt Simonson style, but that splash looks more like the work of Buz Vaultz.

Hunter Aaron DeKovan searches the Rockies for the myth known as the "God-Beast" but comes up short at the "Beast's Lair" when he fires his rifle and sets off an avalanche. Another story that can be described in only a couple of sentences, "Beastslayer" is the best deal John Lakey ever stumbled into: writing a vignette for a series of posters by artist Val Lindahn. The art's not bad but the type does get lost in the white stuff now and then, making what words there are hard to read. 

It's time for Daddy, Tracey, and Stacey to eat out. Guess where they pick? Why, Chef Wu's Chinese, of course. The kids have been partial to Chef Wu ever since they all crashed in the Andes and survived the ordeal... somehow (wink wink). Too bad mom didn't make it; she was a wonderful mom and so tender (wink wink). While the family is driving to Wu's, the chef has his hands full with a couple of JDs who have just committed murder and need a place to hide out. They break into Wu's and rough him up but Wu eventually gets the upper hand. The family arrive and are seated. Golly, everyone is so hungry. Wonder what's on the menu (wink wink)?

Utterly crass and stupid, "Sunday Dinner" has no surprises and ends with an embarrassingly bad reveal. The Auraleon art is not his best; every panel of Daddy, Stacey, and Tracey looks photoshopped, as if the artist had drawn separate figures and spliced them together. It's not Duranona bad but it's distracting.

Thane the Barbarian continues his search for Sharkhan the Sorcerer. Aged and weary, Thane is ready for this search to come to an end. His travels take him to a pub in the middle of nowhere, where he meets up with a young, confident warrior named Aristo. The two agree to hunt down Sharkhan together. In the end, Thane finally comes face to face with the sorcerer but, instead of cleaving him in two, he lets the wizard go. After all, if there is no Sharkhan, there is no Thane.

Easily the best story in this issue and yet another reminder of the old days, "The Last Sorcerer" continues the tale of warrior Thane, last seen in Creepy #27. Sword-and-Sorcery has always been a dicey prospect when it comes to Warren Publishing; each new adventure seems to be a rewrite of the last. But here, Archie does something different. We see Thane as a grizzled, tired old man who just wants to be done with the barbarian business but doesn't know how to retire without finishing up that last bit. When it comes time to wrap it all up, it occurs to him that if he has no goal, he may as well be dead (a la Batman and Joker in the finale of The Dark Knight). It's a refreshing concept that probably would have been fumbled in the hands of a Toomey or Dube but shines thanks to the best writer who ever worked for Warren.-Peter

Jack-Is this the last solid issue of Creepy that we'll read? It's good to see the return of Archie Goodwin, who's credited with three stories, as well as art by Al Williamson, John Severin, Walt Simonson, and Alex Nino, with varying degrees of success. "Warrior's Ritual" was my favorite this time out and I thought it was one of the best Warren stories in recent memory. John Severin is a great comic artist, perhaps the most consistent over the long term at Warren. "The Homecoming" features nice work by Williamson, but it's all a bit stiff, with characters posed or staring at the reader and little sense of action. It reminded me of a rather dull EC science fiction story.

What happened to Walt Simonson? His art on "Relic" is hardly the exciting stuff we were used to at DC in the '70s and the story is dull. "The Last Sorcerer" has more confusing two-page spreads from Nino, though it's not hard to follow. The story isn't very interesting but Nino can certainly draw when he sets his mind to it. I got a kick out of the middle portion of "Sunday Dinner" (the entree?), though reading parallel stories in columns is always annoying because I don't know what order to read them in. The final panel was ridiculous.

"Beastslayer" has very nice art but it's not really a comic book story, what with the full-page illustrations and the floating captions. There's not much to the plot and the surprise ending falls flat. That leaves "Nobody's Kid" as the worst of the issue, with gruesome panels and terrible art by Duranona.

Jordi Penalva

Eerie #105

"Robot Fighters"★★1/2

Story by Bill DuBay

Art by Jim Janes & Alfredo Alcala

"Ruins"★

Story by Don McGregor

Art by Paul Gulacy

"Beastworld"★1/2

Story by Bruce Jones

Art by Pablo Marcos

"Demons of the Zodiac"★★

Story by Gary Null & Jim Stenstrum

Art by Pepe Moreno

"Hunger Strike"★★

Story by Leo Duranona & Cary Bates

Art by Leo Duranona

"Lair of the Assassins"★★★★

Story by Larry Hama

Art by Val Mayerik

Restin Dane faces off against robots running wild while Bishop Dane and Manners become "Robot Fighters" in the future, where they are marooned following the destruction of the time castle. The human rebels decide to use Manners as a spy to infiltrate the robot ranks and they send him in a spaceship to destroy the Death Star Orb that is the central robot control center. He manages to blow up the giant orb but appears to die in the process; fortunately, he survives.

Meanwhile, Restin battles robots and determines that they are being controlled and directed by the Mandroid, which is part computer and part clone. Restin confronts the Mandroid and a knock-down, drag-out fight ensues. It ends with Restin pushing the Mandroid into the central core, where it is destroyed.

Bishop and Manners find another time castle and return to the present, where Restin realizes he needs to work the bugs out of some of his creations.

Another back and forth Rook story where we get a few pages of Restin's adventures, a few pages of Bishop's adventures, and so on. The art is not half-bad but the story, at least the part with Restin, is such a blatant rip-off of Star Wars that it's almost laughable. As usual, by the end, all of the players return to square one and little has changed.

Dr. Ward Cavanaugh and Rebecca Cope run toward her mansion as flames leap from the ground and radioactive death rains from the clouds. Outside the house, Kelsey is digging a shovel into the contaminant-saturated earth, causing radioactive waste buried beneath to come to the surface. Rush, the security guard, shoots and kills Kelsey; Ward kills Rush by plunging a pitchfork into his midsection. Rebecca runs into the flaming house to rescue her baby and Ward follows her. Harris shoots Rebecca but the bullet only grazes her temple; in anger, Ward lashes out at Harris with a karate kick, knocking through a railing and causing him to fall to his death. Ward carries Rebecca away from the "Ruins" to safety.

Don McGregor reaches new highs in his quest to educate the readers of Warren comics about the ills of society, circa 1979. His purple prose is so bad that it's almost fun to read:

The flames scorched Kelsey's flesh into bubbling, black blisters. Yet he remained standing in the midst of the conflagration, squinting up at the house like some myopic martyr, waving his shovel--the stake he had chosen to die on!

You can't make this stuff up. Paul Gulacy's art is terrible; not only does he continue to use swipes for the James Coburn/Ward Cavanaugh character, but the security guard named Rush sure reminds me of the prison guard with dark sunglasses from Cool Hand Luke.

Tyler and Ruth track Peter and Monica through the jungle of "Beastworld" and are attacked by a giant bee, which Tyler kills with a makeshift spear. Peter and Monica encounter a giant grasshopper and a huge trapdoor spider. Tyler fashions more weapons and tells Ruth how great he is, while Peter is nearly killed by the spider until it is attacked by a massive wasp. Tyler kills a huge grasshopper and cooks it on a spit for him and Monica to enjoy. Meanwhile, Peter can't manage to open a can of soup without spilling its contents all over the ground. After dinner, Tyler comes on to Monica, who agrees with his assertion that it's time she let herself "'be made love to by a real man.'"

I can see why some might wonder if Bruce Jones really wrote this series, since it's terrible! If the characters didn't have different hair colors, I couldn't tell them apart, since Pablo Marcos draws all of the men alike and all of the women alike. I don't see the point of the giant insects other than to extend the length of the story. It's like The Most Dangerous Game starring adult film stars.

Mac Tavish and Spider Andromeda are chased by Zodiac mercenaries and hide in a sauna, where a woman named Ida creates an illusion that keeps them from being found. Spider passes out and Mac asks Ida to read his mind; she does so and relates the history of his long relationship with Mac. Spider's mission is to save the people of Rara Avis.

Pepe Moreno's middling art doesn't do much to enliven this chapter of the Mac Tavish saga called "Demons of the Zodiac." Nothing much happens, really--Mac and Spider hide from the bad guys and then we get a long flashback sequence. No wonder Jim Stenstrum took his name off it and had Warren credit the story to "Alabaster Redzone" instead.

The Horizon Seekers plod on, now joined by Lolo, the lone survivor from the castle of cannibal women. The foursome bed down for the night around a campfire, but Lolo is unable to control her urges and is about to take a bite of Allison's leg when she is grabbed by the jaws of a giant cockroach! The others awaken and attack one of a group of roaches, hoping that if they kill it the others will feed on it instead of them. Fortunately, they guessed right!

Try as I may, I just don't see four people
sleeping around a campfire.

I must be losing it because I thought "Hunger Strike" wasn't awful. Sure, the Duranona art is as crummy as ever and this is the second story this issue to feature giant bugs (I'm surprised Warren didn't try to turn this into a special "All Giant Bug!" issue), but it's only seven pages long and at least I know who the characters are and what's going on. After what seems like 99 installments of the story that never ends, you'd hope I know the three main characters.

The swordfighter approaches the castle of the Yagyu ninjas and is quickly admitted after he displays the head of Do-Shin in a box. He is taken to see old Lord Yagyu, who knows all about him and his mission. Lord Yagyu challenges the sword fighter to kill his son, but the son is a ninja with a child princess strapped to his front! The sword fighter quickly dispatches with his opponent and frees the princess, only to discover that Lord Yagyu burned out her eyes with a red hot poker. The sword fighter delivers justice by piercing one of Lord Yagyu's eyes with an arrow; he then makes his escape, princess in hand, by leaping into a moat.

I expect Peter will challenge my four-star rating for "Lair of the Assassins," but I enjoyed every page. Mayerik's art is great and the story moves along quickly. The swordplay reminds me of the end of Sanjuro, where Mifune's Samurai dispatches with his opponent in a heartbeat. This story is a great way to end a mediocre issue of Eerie.-Jack

Peter-The "Death Orb?" What was Warren paying Dube by this point that he didn't even try disguising his rip-offs? At least looking for goofy "homages" was more interesting than paying attention to the story. Thank Odin there's no test at end of each installment. I'm not sure what I read and what I dreamt when I was nodding off. I will not miss the Rook! Great art by Alcala wasted.

I won't spend much time explaining why Don McGregor's "Ruins" is crap. In fact, I won't spend any time. The guy wins my Most Pretentious Writer of the 1970s Award hands-down. No competition. All that needs to be said is in the panel I've reprinted here. Reading "Beastworld" (which is surely Bruce Jones's nadir at Warren) makes me wonder why the characters would wear any clothes whatsoever. Monica's jumpsuit only covers half of her ass and less than that up front and high; just enough to get a PG-13 rating, which makes clothing disposable. The story (such as it is) reminds me of one of those low-budget AIP flicks like Food of the Gods... there ain't much in the budget so bad opticals will have to do. A calm moment and then... YEAAAAAARGH... a giant grasshopper! A breath of relief after that one is dispatched and then... OMIGOOOOOOOOD... it's a giant boll weevil!!!

Duranona clearly missed Cary Bates's instructions
to somehow get a half-buried Statue of Liberty in this panel

More Star Wars rip-off, this time courtesy of Pepe Moreno. I'd love to see notes on these things: "Please make sure we get a character that looks like Chewbacca at some point." That's not the only problem with Moreno's art; it looks like a rough draft, like Louise (or whoever was in charge by this point) blindly stamped "ACCEPTED" on the boards and hurried Pepe on to his next assignment. Don't even ask me what's going on in this saga; like so many other Eerie series, it seems like there was no real plan in place. "The Horizon Seekers" just keep right on seeking... whatever they're seeking... and Jack will be happy to know we will be covering the grand finale (ostensibly subtitled "Horizon Found") in our final post in two weeks. Can't wait!

As for the final story this issue, "Lair of the Assassins," it's good in the way a John Wick flick is good; outlandish, mindless and violent entertainment with a bit of a plot and lots of gore. ★★★★ is being a bit too kind, but I will agree it's far and away the best story in this issue and continues to be the best series going in this title. I'll give it a solid ★★★

Jose Gonzalez

Vampirella #82

"The Lost Soul of Adam Van Helsing"★★

Story by Bill DuBay

Art by Jose Gonzalez

"Blind Justice"★★

Story by Bruce Jones

Art by Leo Duranona

"Prey for the Wolf"★★

Story by Cary Bates

Art by Brian Lewis

"Fever"★★1/2

Story by Roger McKenzie

Art by Val Mayerik

"Deep Love"★1/2

Story by Cary Bates

Art by Joe Vaultz

"The Night Willa Jane Gornley Went Home"★★

Story by Archie Goodwin

Art by Val Mayerik & Jeff Easley

Conrad asks Vampi to rush over to his pad. When she arrives, she finds that Adam is dying! Conrad summons Kala, high priestess to the Temple of Vishnu, and she pops over from India in the blink of an eye, wearing even fewer clothes than Vampi, to determine quickly that Adam's soul has been stolen. Kala puts Conrad and Vampi into a trance so they can find out what happened to "The Lost Soul of Adam van Helsing."

It seems the Shiva cult wants revenge for the death of their leader, Jadoo Bindu (apparently in Vampirella  #73--don't worry, we don't remember, either), and stole Adam's soul to get back at Vampi. Kala tells the Drakulonian babe that the only way to rescue her lover is to battle for his life on the astral plane. Vampi goes into another trance and enters said plane, where she manages to outsmart Yama, the Dark Angel of Death; Kali, the giant woman with many arms; and Maya, Queen of Illusion. Finally, Vampi reaches Adam and has to put the bite on him to break his trance. The lovers are reunited and all ends happily.

I was excited to see the return of Jose Gonzalez as artist on the Vampirella strip; he hasn't been seen in several issues and we've had to put up with Mayo and Marcos. Jose does a nice job but it's not anywhere near the level of quality he demonstrated earlier in the series' run. The funniest moments in the story came when we saw what Pendragon and Pantha were up to while Vampirella was on a quest to save Adam: Pen was at a horror film festival and Pantha was in bed with a movie mogul! Figures, doesn't it?

Retired attorney Philip Barkham went blind and hasn't practiced law in a dozen years, so he's surprised to be summoned by Johnny Daniels, who's awaiting trial for the murder of his wife Tally. Daniels explains that he and his wife spent their honeymoon in a rented bubble on a desert planet but had a fight and he flew off into space in a huff, leaving her alone. Engine trouble delayed his return for two weeks and when he got back, he found that she had killed herself. She kept a diary that explained what drove her to suicide but he ripped out the pages and discarded them in despair.

Barkham takes the case and, at trial, Daniels relates what was in the missing diary pages. Tally was menaced by a horrible creature that ate her extremities and kept her alive by providing food. The prosecutor's cross-examination points out that she could not have written a diary without arms; he insists that Daniels murdered his wife and then made up a fantastic story. Barkham puts his client on the stand and elicits the truth: Tally killed herself after discovering that she was pregnant with the monster's child and Daniels followed her instructions never to tell a soul. The jury finds him not guilty of murder.

"Blind Justice" starts out terribly, with Duranona once again using a mix of photos and childlike drawings to depict the events on the desert planet. It looks like he photographed a toy truck in a pile of dirt and then drew a little woman driving it. The monster looks like something he made out of pieces of pasta and Styrofoam. Unexpectedly, the story drew me in, despite the poor illustrations. I did not guess the ending, so kudos to Bruce Jones for keeping it interesting. Too bad he didn't have a better artist.

Sitting by the campfire, Pa tells Jamie a strange bedtime story about some men in the Old West who became "Prey for the Wolf." Old Man Dolan's mail-order bride Jenny sure was purty, but when her hubby rode off with a posse, he came back to find her topless, surrounded by three strange men, and stark raving mad. The strangers blame Indians for her assault and they've captured a Cheyenne medicine man named Wolf-at-the-Throat, who one of the strangers blithely shoots and kills. Pa's father knew that the medicine man would have had nothing to do with women, so he puts the dead Indian on a burial platform. The body disappears and wolf tracks are seen following the three strangers, who are soon found dead, their throats torn out as if by a wolf.

This story seemed much longer than its six pages, probably due to the umpteen small panels chock-full of captions and dialog. The story is simple and the art by Brian Lewis has an underground comix feel to it, especially in the panels with the topless Jenny. Lewis died in December 1978.

A Native American known as the Hawk That Hunts Walking asks the old midwife who is caring for his wife, White Fawn, what he can do to help his pregnant wife. The old woman tells him that he must bring her the hide of the great buffalo before the moon is full. She adds that he can't find the buffalo; it will find him. He heads out into a snowstorm, burning with "Fever," and eventually encounters the buffalo. The full moon emerges from behind a cloud, so he knows it's too late, but the buffalo and its child head down the mountain, past the ruins of a civilization decimated by an atomic bomb.

Mayerik's art is the highlight of this ten-pager, which works well until the disappointing ending. I like all of the Native American aspects but the twist where it's the future rather than the past and mankind was wiped out by a nuclear holocaust has been done to death.

After a skeleton with a scarf of seaweed wrapped around its neck washes up on the beach, two men agree that it's a sign that cannibalistic mermaids are in the area. Under the sea, a beautiful young mermaid is being prepared by her mother to go out on her own for the first time. She approaches a figure on the ocean floor wearing a diving suit, unaware that it's an alien who is hunting mermaids!

Joe Vaultz's art is ugly, just in a different way than Duranona's. The story is silly and seems long at six pages. The ending falls flat and my guess that the alien is hunting mermaids is only a guess because the last panel shows that it has exited the diving suit and is gripping the mermaid. Maybe he has the hots for her. I really can't say!

Ten-year-old Willa Jane Gornley stands atop a hill, wishing that an alien ship would descend from the sky and take her home. She was found as a baby, abandoned, disfigured, and disabled. She spent time in a county hospital and was adopted by a nurse, who raised her. Willa Jane grew up lonely, even though her mother and father tried to be kind. School did not go well, so when she learned to read, it was a blessing. When she read a science fiction pulp, she began to imagine that she was an alien child left behind. Her parents unable to care for her any longer, she waits until a spaceship appears and an alien seems to take her home. In reality, the alien was Death, and her lifeless body lies on the hilltop.

Again, that's my best guess as to what happened at the end of "The Night Willa Jane Gornley Went Home," since it's somewhat confusing. It looks like a spaceship lands and an alien takes her away, but the alien's face is a skull and the last panel seems to show Willa Jane's body on the ground. Did she imagine the whole thing? Did she transition to another plane of reality? Archie Goodwin's return to Warren has not been as good as we might have hoped and his stories to date are not up to the level of the best of his work before he left.-Jack

Peter-Every Vampi adventure begins with some variation of "Vampirella had encountered many great dangers over the course of her life but this would prove to be the most amazing!" and then we get just another variation on the same old Dube script. Nothing new to "The Lost Soul..." and the miracle cure was pretty dopey considering how much "danger" Adam was in. 

I'd love to know who told Leo Duranona that mixing bad art with bad photos was a great idea. Again, I think the editor was out to lunch (or, more likely, looking for a better job) when the final product came in to the Warren offices. It's not just the mixture but how random the process becomes. In one panel, we have a photo for Barkham's face and, two panels later, it's drawn. I do like that Barkham lives in a giant popcorn ball. I'll give "Blind Justice" an extra star though for the concept. Perry Mason on Mars.

The script for Cary Bates's "Prey for the Wolf" is a bit hokey (and its opening borrows from The Searchers) but it is engaging; it just doesn't have much of a finale. The art by Brian Lewis (in his only Warren appearance) is effective but comic book-y in spots. Still, warts and all, this is the best story in the issue. Roger McKenzie's "Fever" suffers from its "oh my God, this is really a post-apocalyptic world!" climax but gains points for its strong Mayerik art. I liked "Deep Love" more than Jack but I'm also confused about the climax. Was the alien diving in the suit to fool our mermaid beauty into thinking he was a human? Why bother with the subterfuge? Just go raid the mermaid village. 

As maudlin as "Willa Jane" might be, I still thought it fairly effective. Like Jack, I had issues with the climax, and Archie seems to borrow themes from "Benjamin Button" and Close Encounters, but despite those flaws, I can't deny it tugged at my heartstrings. Given over to Don McGregor, we'd have probably gotten a dissertation on the horrors of the adoption industry; at least Archie focuses on the human aspects of the story.

Next Week...
So did he?
Or didn't he?

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 84: Atlas/ Marvel Horror

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 69

July 1954 

by Peter Enfantino

Journey into Unknown Worlds 29

“The Man Who Wouldn’t Talk!” (a: Paul Reinman) ★★

“Werewolf Tale to End All Werewolf Tales!” (a: Paul Hodge) ★★1/2

(r: Monsters Unleashed #5)

“Of Royal Blood!” (a: Tony Mortellaro) ★★

(r: Dracula Lives #4)

“Third Grave on the Right…” (a: Al Eadah) ★1/2

“The Heritage!” (a: Gene Colan) ★★

In “The Man Who Wouldn’t Talk!,” Professor Drexel, who works for the government on high-level, top-secret weaponry, turns out to be working for the 3rd Planet of the Dogstar Sirius. An alien in our midst! What Drexel was up to is anyone’s guess as he won’t talk to the Feds, even when he’s thrown into a solitary confinement cell. His replacement, the arrogant and self-serving Professor Collins, finds a sheaf of papers in a drawer and immediately calls the President. Seems Drexel was set to secretly build a robot with a brilliant super-calculator brain, before his cover was blown.

Collins talks the President into allowing him to build this gizmo, which he nicknames “Servo” and, months later, the leaders of all the world’s countries are called to the construction site to witness the unveiling. But, alas, Collins has played right into Drexel’s hands; the giant robot is actually the vehicle the 3rd Planetians use to gain control of Earth!

"Werewolf Tale to End All Werewolf Tales" is a charming bit of nonsense about a couple who spend their honeymoon in a cabin set in what their French servant calls "Loup Garou country." Our uncredited documenter tries to throw suspicion on Henri the servant but I knew better. The "reveal" isn't all that startling but it will bring a smile to even the most jaded of horror fans.

Two con-men discover the perfect goldmine when they prey on the loved ones of the dead at a local cemetery. One of the goons is adept at ventriloquism and projects his voice as if it was coming from the grave, telling the visitors that heaven doesn’t come cheap and even the dead need an allowance now and then. The gullible bury their cash and jewelry in front of the tombstone and promise to return with more. This ploy works pretty well for the dastardly duo until they attempt to rob the “Third Grave on the Right…” Laughable and not very easy on the eyes, the highlight of “Third Grave…” is the fact that the crook who can throw his voice somehow knows what each dead relative sounds like! “That voice (gasp)…just like my George!”

Herr Kroner only wants the best for his daughter and the mutts she keeps bringing ‘round frustrate him to no end, so he has to find new ways of dispatching them. Finally, a suitor "Of Royal Blood" comes calling and Kroner is convinced that his new son-in-law will be the one. However the new suitor turns out to be…. Count Dracula! Nice twist climax, but marred by average Tony Mortellaro art.

Two space explorers manage to blast off from their world just before it ignites into a “burning ball” and land on a new world that parallels their own. Though the two men are dying of radiation poisoning, they hope to live long enough to explore this new planet. When cavemen and dinosaurs appear, the travelers excitedly get to work, laying down a document of “what went wrong” on their planet, what led their civilization to destroy itself with war. They bury the document in a time capsule and die peacefully, knowing they’ve done their part to warn Earth of the mistakes their own world made. Yep, they landed on Earth at the dawn of time! We’ve seen something like "The Heritage" countless times before (and probably with the same climatic reveal) but perhaps not with such a nice polish of paint, courtesy of Gentleman Gene.

Marvel Tales 125

“Where Monsters Prowl” (a: William Wellman & Jack Abel) ★

(r: Where Monsters Dwell #28)

“The Dictator!” (a: John Forte) ★★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #9)

“The Unwanted!” (a: Bill Walton) ★★

(a: Weird Wonder Tales #2)

“The Horror House” (a: Bob Correa) ★★

(r: Dead of Night #2)

“Murder!” (a: Doug Wildey) ★★1/2

(r: Vault of Evil #9)

A man, found half dead and dumped in a ditch, is taken to a hospital where he tells his tale of terror to a band of salivating reporters. Seems the guy stumbled upon a monster from Mars and followed it back to its headquarters. There, the man overheard the aliens’ plan for world domination by taking over the body of… a reporter. “Where Monsters Prowl” has a great title and little else. The script is unfocused and the art is weak. 

Zinyov, “The Dictator!,” worries that his people don’t believe in his cause and secretly plot against him. To weed out the traitors, Zinyov commands scientist Panef, the “great brain expert,” to concoct a formula that will kill anyone not fully invested in Zinyov’s philosophies. The serum perfected, all of Panef’s subjects are ordered to the town square and told that all traitors and non-believers will now die. The gas is released and no one dies… except Panef himself. Some very good art here by John Forte, the subject being perfect for his style, and a clever twist. “The Dictator!,” thankfully, contains very little preachiness.

After ninety years in space, Earth’s first band of Mars colonists land on the Red Planet, only to be given a cold shoulder by the residents, who warn the Earthlings to leave Mars or face total molecular blaster-ray annihilation. “The Unwanted” astronauts gas up and blast off, landing back on Earth four panels later. But, there’s no welcoming party for our intrepid crew on Earth either, since a nuclear war has left the world radiation-soaked and populated by cave men, who toss spears at the travelers and chase them back to their ship. So, the plan is to “spurt onto an orbital course around the Earth,” speed through time and, literally wait until the civilization below evolves into what was “man” before the crew left Earth. Oh, my head hurts. So, why did it take ninety years to reach Mars and virtually no time at all to return? And could our heroes have returned to Mars and tried the same “evolving evolution” trick there? I get the feeling scripter Paul S. Newman was reading a lot of Weird Science funny books and thought “Hey, I can do this too!” No. He couldn’t.

The Deckers are surprised to see a house pop up, seemingly overnight, in the vacant lot across the street. With no sign of neighbors, Mary and John get curious and investigate. The doors open and they discover the house is a trap set by aliens who want to find the Earthlings’ weakness before they invade. The weakness is curiosity. It’s an old plot but “The Horror House” is furnished nicely by Bob Correa. The art is also the star of “Murder!,” wherein Rodney murders his rich uncle and then discovers the old man left him out of his will and, instead, had the dough buried with him. Rodney and his partner in crime, Eric, dig up the old man’s grave and the green literally pops out of the coffin! From there, its only a hop, skip, and jump to betrayal and the ironic double murder. That “Ha ha ha! I’ve poisoned him! Now the money is all mine! Arggghhh! Why does my stomach burn” climax had been done to death already by 1954 but, as mentioned, at least the pedestrian nature of the plot was helped along by the noirish pencils of Doug Wildey, who can be at times calm and cool and, at other times, dark and stormy. Both sides work here.

Mystery Tales 20

“The Snake!” ★★

“The Stone Men!” (a: Tony DiPreta) ★★

“Too Many Corpses!” (a: Hy Rosen) ★★

“Crime Wave” (a: Martin Rosenthall) ★★★

“The Man on the Moon” (a: John Forte) ★★

Roger Brent wants his wife Laura’s millions but her sister, Thelma, the one who keeps cobras in her house, stands in his way. So brilliant schemer Roger grabs one of the cobras, puts it in his wife’s bed, and tells the police his sister-in-law murdered Laura. The jury sees it another way though and Roger (unwisely) threatens to get even with Thelma in front of a courtroom full of witnesses. To add insult to injury, when the will is read, Laura has left only one-half of her money to Roger. 

The next night, Roger receives a call from Thelma, informing him that she found the box he used to transport “The Snake” to Laura’s room and if he doesn’t hand over his part of the estate, she’ll flap her gums to the cops. Roger heads over to Thelma’s, but finds her dying on her living room rug, claiming she was attacked by a burglar. She begs Roger to call an ambulance but he smiles and waits for her to die. To his shock and surprise, the police arrive and arrest Roger for the murder of his sister-in-law. He goes to the chair for the wrong murder. There’s not much story here and the snake itself is not much of a factor (other than being utilized as the murder weapon), but the art is a hoot. The GCD guesses it might be Larry Woromay but, to these untrained eyes, it looks more like the work of Howard Nostrand.

Diver Al Maguire locates a hidden underwater grotto filled with gold and jewels but he’s not the only one who wants the jewels. And what about “The Stone Men” who supposedly guard the treasure? Tony DiPreta’s goofy art is the highlight of a plodding fish story. In “Too Many Corpses,” a mining crew digs into an ancient graveyard and the men refuse to dig any further. All that is, except macho foreman Mike Lund, who grabs his drill and starts moving the earth aside. Bad idea.

Chilean mafioso Cucci holds the town of El Vano in his massive violent fist. Tired of small con jobs, Cucci plans the biggest heist of all time. He goes to El Vano’s weather man, pays him to broadcast a tsunami report, and then kicks back and waits for the town to empty. After silencing the weather man, Cucci and his thugs begin their looting but are halted by a strange sound, a sound like “a hundred gales!” Sure enough, a real tsunami hits and the  resulting flood kills Cucci and his men. This was the fifth and final contribution to the Atlas horror titles by Martin Rosenthall (who signed his work “Martin Thall”), whose rough and sometimes cartoony style might not be to everyone’s taste. On “Crime Wave,” I think Rosenthall’s unique vision is in tune with the dark tone of the script.

In “The Man on the Moon,” we view a future where robots have human hearts and no one can tell the difference between android and human. Our hero, a space pilot, must navigate a passenger ship through a deadly meteor storm without his robot co-pilot, which is sucked out of the damaged ship. The spacecraft lands safely on the moon, the passengers congratulating the pilot and telling him no robot could have pulled off a feat so spectacular, never knowing that the pilot himself is a robot. This might have been a more intriguing tale had not the “twist” been evident from the start.

Mystic 32

“Bennett’s Bride” (a: Al Hartley) ★★★

“Terror Below!” (a: Al Eadah) ★★1/2

“The Survivor!” (a: Ed Moline) ★★

“Death to the Witch!” (a: Mort Meskin & George Roussos) ★★★

“A Werewolf There Was” (a: Robert McCarty) ★1/2

The crash should have killed Roger Bennett but, suddenly, out of the mist comes Myra to cradle his head. Much to the surprise of the medics on the scene (who had pronounced Roger dead), the corpse pops up and walks away, seemingly unscathed. Roger falls in love with the mystery woman and, very soon, he and Myra are married. His hum-drum life takes a turn for the better, his job status improves; everything seems to be coming up roses. And then Roger comes home early to find Myra in the basement conjuring spells; his wife admits to him that she’s a witch. Roger demands she stop this foolishness (“From now on you’re going to be just an ordinary but beautiful woman… and my wife!”) and begins tossing Myra’s occult knickknacks in the furnace. As he grabs for a bloody handkerchief, Myra explains that the cloth is from the night of the accident and begs him to stop, but Roger’s on a mission and the towel burns along with all the other paraphernalia. 

Suddenly, Roger finds himself back at the crash site, dying. An old hag walks away from the wreckage, sobbing. A very creepy witchcraft story but also a genuine love story. Myra seems to be in love with the big galoot; there’s no hidden agenda, no witch’s pot to toss Roger into. I found myself almost misty-eyed by the climax of “Bennett’s Bride,” a sad denouement capped off by a startling “This man is dead!” Mention must be made of Al Hartley’s art. Though I’m not the biggest Hartley fan, I must admit that he knew his way around a woman in black.

In “Terror Below!,” Tom Evans is hoping to find some exotic form of sea creature at the bottom of the ocean. His diving partner, Jim Daland, couldn’t care less about the fish, as he’s got his eye on Tom’s fiancé, who’s let Jim know that if he comes into some money, he’s her man. Since Jim is in line to inherit Tom’s dough, he decides to kill his partner at the bottom of the sea and make it look like an accident. The job goes off without a hitch until Jim gets lost in the current and ends up in what he thinks is a big cave but is actually the belly of a giant sea monster. 

Professor Carr is convinced that his Thermo-Bomb will make the H-Bomb look like a “pebble dropped into a pond.” Only one question remains: can a pilot drop the bomb and escape the 500-mile blast radius? Only one way to find out. Without any red tape or government questions, Carr pilots a plane over the “Arctic ice fields” and drops his payload. He shoots off at full speed but the plane begins to rock from the percussion. Carr’s only hope is to point the jet upwards and try to escape the shock waves. Unfortunately, the jet continues its upward trajectory and Carr soon leaves Earth’s gravity, doomed to circle the world like a satellite. “The Survivor!” suffers from questionable scientific logic. Never mind the fact that Carr seems to think dropping a device 100 times more powerful than an H-Bomb requires no planning or safety checks. The sight of Carr rocketing into space without bursting into flames is head-scratching. Ed Moline’s art is a throwback to the pre-pre-code era; one panel shows Carr as a well-dressed thinking man and the next has him in his lab as a wild-eyed, stiff-haired goober.

The puritans of Burnham have no place for spiritualists, so when the county fair opens and a fortune teller plies her trade, the town turns up to verbally abuse the woman. Members of the town council give the old woman until sundown to get out of Burnham, after that they “can’t be responsible for what happens.” Ironically, after the crowd subsidies, a couple of the council members come in to have their fortune told. Both are told that the woman’s crystal ball (which she calls “the symbol of the world”) tells her they will die in an earthquake and the men leave angry. 

At sundown, an angry mob enters the fair and approaches the seer’s tent. As she meets the crowd at her door, a rock thrown by a member of the crowd finds its mark, killing the old woman and cracking open her crystal ball. That night, a series of earthquakes destroys the world. “Death to the Witch!” takes a standard plot line (the fortune teller) and adds a twist or two, ending on a deliciously downbeat note. 

In the finale, “A Werewolf There Was,” a psychiatrist discovers that the lycanthropy that has plagued his small village has been caused by aliens poisoning the well water. The plot is simple and takes a very odd turn halfway through, but Robert McCarty’s art (as primitive as it might be) is quite striking in spots. McCarty’s werewolf, however, would not frighten a child.

Strange Tales 30

“Science Fiction” (a: Bill Benulis) ★★★

“Look Ma… a Vampire” (a: Mort Drucker) ★1/2

“Kill Him!” (a: Bill Walton) ★1/2

“The Slimy Things!” (a: Seymour Moskowitz) ★

“The Thing in the Box!” (a: Dick Ayers & Ernie Bache) ★

Bruce Baron, editor of Many Worlds magazine, has seen more than his fair share of science fiction stories but this new one, by an unknown known only as “Mr. Charles” is the best he’s ever read. Unfortunately, once the man has dropped off his manuscript, he disappears and Bruce has no way of contacting him. The story appears and is an immediate success. Everyone loves it… even the U.S. Government, which sends two Feds to Baron’s office for the intel on “Mr. Charles.” Seems as though the story had some particularly interesting bits on an “atomic convector” that come way too close to the truth. Bruce explains he knows nothing about the man and the Feds leave, with a caution to Bruce to call them if Charles makes a return visit.

After the G-Men leave, Bruce is told by his wife/secretary, Carol, that Charles had visited the office while the editor was having his powwow with the FBI. Bruce races out of the building in time to see Charles enter a cab and he follows the mystery man to his house. When Charles answers the knock, Bruce is astonished to see the man has scaly feet. Charles grabs his editor by the lapels and hauls him inside, where he explains that he is an emissary from Saturn, and when Saturnians relax, they tend to revert to their bestial forms. Charles is here to pave the way for an invasion, and Bruce Baron must die! Just then, one of the Feds fires through the window and Mr. Charles disintegrates into a puddle of ooze. Bruce is cautioned not to tell anyone what happened and heads home to his gorgeous wife, Carol, who’s just getting out of bed. Unfortunately for Bruce, it turns out Carol is from Saturn too.

The script is microwaved and reheated and has some rather sizable holes (it’s never explained why this super-secret agent from Saturn decided it would be a good idea to tip the enemy’s hand through a sci-fi story), but Bill Benulis’s photo-realistic art is stunning, giving the strip an otherworldly effect. For comparison sake, I’d point to Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg. Carol is obviously inspired by Marilyn Monroe and the G-Men are suitably shaded. 

Not so successful is the dreadful “Look Ma… a Vampire” about a poor schmuck who’s looked like a bloodsucker all his life and just can’t get no respect. To have an operation to remove all his vampire features would cost him two grand, so he goes on a robbery spree to raise the dough. When the operation is complete, he’s shocked to discover the surgeon is a vampire and only performs the operations in order to line up victims. Quite a bit of trouble to go to, no?

When rumors spread (and grow more fantastical with each telling) through Centertown that the sheriff has a prisoner in his jail, a mob breaks into the man’s jail cell and hauls him out to be hanged. With the man swinging from a rope, the town doctor and sheriff arrive to notify the satisfied lynchers that the dead man was being quarantined at the jail and was carrying a highly-contagious fatal disease. “Kill Him!” is an example of Atlas wanting to emulate EC’s Shock SuspenStories but not having the tools to come close. The rival company excelled in creating tension and melodrama in their “mob mentality” yarns but no other company seemed to be able to understand those stories were more than just a set-up for a twist ending. Only a simple sentence from the sheriff’s mouth might have halted the proceedings but then we wouldn’t have that “tragic” climax. It all comes off as very faux-EC.

After a quick trip to the washroom, a passenger on a New York-to-California flight discovers everyone on the plane has vanished but the plane keeps right on flying. The man overhears two aliens discussing their plan to steal America’s most dangerous bomb in order to rule the galaxy. For some reason, the passenger is invisible to “The Slimy Things” so he grabs a parachute and jumps off the plane (yes, it’s just that easy!). Landing, he immediately hoofs it to the Atomic Energy Building to warn the top scientists of the aliens’ plan but no one can see the poor dope. Is he dead? Has he entered into another dimension? I don’t know. You won’t know. And it’s for certain our uncredited writer didn’t know. “The Slimy Things” is a perfect example of lazy storytelling and exists only to fill four pages.

Resentful that the company he works for has made millions off his research, Charlie Cobb decides to kill his boss in a very elaborate way. He injects a poisonous frog with growth hormones, which will allow the small amphibian to grow to epic proportions, and leaves the creature in his boss’s office in a lunchpail. But the plan is quashed when the boss finds the pail in his office and thoughtfully has one of his subordinates deliver it to Charlie’s lab. Charlie gets eaten by the giant frog. “The Thing in the Box!” has one of those elaborate murder schemes that hinges on lots of events coming in to play; the story is almost laughable but it’s bogged down by way too much expository.

Uncanny Tales 22

“The Unctuous Undertaker” (a: Bill Benulis & Jack Abel) ★

(r: Journey Into Mystery #9)

“Half-Man!” (a: John Tartaglione) ★★

(r: Crypt of Shadows #9)

“The Locked House!” (a: Doug Wildey) ★1/2

“Seeing Eye” (a: Chuck Winter) ★

(r: The Frankenstein Monster #9)

“The Horror of Sleepy Hollow!” (a: Dick Ayers) ★

(r: Crypt of Shadows #9)

A spy known as X-8-8 is giving the Soviets fits, stealing government secrets and leaving Russkie agents dead and stacked like cords of wood. One of the higher-ups suspects an undertaker who seems to be near each scene of the crime and, when they follow the mortician back to his base, sure enough they discover his secret. The secret of “The Unctuous Undertaker” is ludicrous and out of the blue and the reveal explains nothing.

In the near future, scientists have perfected cloning, creating the “Half-Man!” Humans being what they are, prejudice rears its ugly head and the clone race is treated like ugly step-sisters. But then, suddenly, an invasion from space forces the military to expedite the cloning and the resulting army of half-men are sent into battle deep in outer space. The human race develops a new respect for the clones but, for some strange reason, that respect evaporates when the winning soldiers land their ships and are marched into concentration camps. 

There’s no reason given for the sudden one-eighty turn so the climax makes little sense. The hatred for the half-men almost seems to be a subtle analogy to the anti-communist witch-hunts that were going on in Washington, ironic given the fact that Stan drops a “Better Dead Than Red!” message in just about every Atlas comic published in the 1950s. John Tartlaglione seems to be channeling Bill Everett here.

One night, George and Lisa discover their windows and doors are shut tight and can’t be open. Chalking it up to the frost, they hit the sack and wake to find “The Locked House!” open once again. But the paperboy hasn’t come, nor has the milkman, and George’s ride to work is late. What’s going on? They walk across the street to the Joyce’s place and discover the family dead from some kind of poisoning. Suddenly, a spaceship lands and an alien approaches the terrified couple, explaining that every human in the world is dead except for George and Lisa; they will be kept safe in their homes for examination. Silly script and weak Wildey art.

An extremely stupid con-man decides he’s going to steal a blind millionaire’s “Seeing Eye” dog but when the deed goes down he discovers the man is not what he seems. Contains one of the most inane reveals in the Atlas era and the Chuck Winters art ain’t up to snuff. But, compared to Dick Ayers’s work in “The Horror of Sleepy Hollow!,” Winters’ pencils stand up to Frazetta and Ingels. A businessman attempts to drive his partner mad by impersonating the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow fame. You guessed it… the real McCoy shows up! The character dialogue is interchangeable and the twist climax is a surprise only to those who might never have read a horror comic before. This issue is the pits, easily the worst in the Uncanny run.

In Two Weeks...
A simple... yet oh-so
effective yarn from 
Bill Benulis!