Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Filbert's Frightful Future!"

After Mighty Thor began his run in Journey into Mystery as of #83......

...and before Norse mythology-related backup series like Tales of Asgard began, the one-shot shorts like this never-reprinted tale continued to fill the back of the book until the inventory was used up!

Don Heck penciled and inked this story from Marvel's Journey into Mystery #85 (1962).

Stan Lee plotted it, but experts are not sure if he scripted it.

Lee usually co-signed the later shorts he scripted, but only Heck's signature is here.

Just about everything Lee didn't script at this point was handled by his brother Larry Lieber.

(Stan's birth name is Stanley Leiber. He used "Stan Lee" on his comics work because he wanted his real name on the Great American Novel he planned to write.

When he finally realized he would be forever known for his comics and not any prose novel he might write, he legally changed his name to "Stan Lee".)

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Thor Masterworks

Volume 1 

featuring the Thor stories that appeared in front of the never-reprinted tales we present!
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Reading Room / Tales Thrice Told STRANGE WORLDS "I Am the Last Man on Earth!"

One thing Stan Lee was really good at was recycling plots (with minor variations)...

...as demonstrated in this first of three tales based on the same premise!

Plotted (and probably scripted) by Stan Lee, this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Strange Worlds #1 (1958) was illustrated by Silver Age mainstay Don Heck.

Yes, it's the "Adam & Eve begin a new Earth in the future/past" tale, which has become something of a cliche in sci-fi/fantasy.

But, it's some of the details that carry-over from one story to another that make this particular variation's multiple versions interesting.

Be here Thursday to see what I mean...

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EXCELSIOR!
Amazing Life of Stan Lee
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Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "Men in Glass"

This tale is about a recent immigrant to our shores...

...and how his actions have consequences for both the United States...and the entire Earth!

The Star Spangled Banner has always been a difficult tune to sing, but who knew it could be used as a weapon?

Illustrated by Don Heck, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #5 (1956) takes the "high note can shatter glass" trope to a whole new level.
OTOH, if the aliens' helmets had been made of plastic or "transparent aluminium" or some such instead of glass, we'd all be chanting "Hail Zarki!"

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Humans, Keep Out!"

While the Mighty Thor stories in the front of Journey into Mystery have been reprinted over and over...

...the backup stories from that period have rarely appeared since their initial publication over 50 years ago!

The last page demonstrates clever use of "camera angles", witholding the secret of how the humans avoid being destroyed until the next-to-last panel!

In fact, a 1970s "how-to" book for aspiring filmmakers used Silver and Bronze Age Marvel comics to graphically-demonstrate such things as camera work, film editing, sound effects, etc.

You can read the entire book HERE.

Writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck produced this sneaky little tale in Marvel's Journey into Mystery #86 (1962) that's only been reprinted once, in Marvel's Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 (1974)!

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Atlas-Era

Journey into Mystery

Volume #4

Monday Madness FLYING SAUCERS x FOUR #4 "Impossible Spaceship!"

The final version of the "sentient flying saucer" story doesn't even include the words "flying saucer" in the title...

...and the ship design itself is closer to classic Star Trek or 1960s Italian sci-fi like Planet of the Vampires (one of my all-time faves)...

Published in the back of Marvel's Strange Tales #101 (1962), this MadMan-era, never-reprinted, Don Heck-illustrated, Stan Lee-scripted tale was the final version of a Stan Lee plot involving sentient alien spacecraft first used in 1953 (HERE), then re-used in 1958 (HERE), and 1960 (HERE).

NOTE: Atlas had given way to Marvel several months earlier with Amazing Fantasy #15 (first Spider-Man) and Fantastic Four #1 in 1961.

(When Spider-Man received his own title a year later, the FF were cover-featured guest-stars!)

BTW, the cover feature for this issue was the introduction of the Human Torch's short-lived solo strip!

Weird Trivia: All four of the issues these stories originally appeared in had a number "1" in the issue numbering (21, 1, 11, 101)!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Haunted House Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "I Spent the Night in a Haunted House!"

Last Thursday, we saw the first version of this haunted house story...

...now let's look at how Stan Lee, his brother, and a Silver Age superstar artist re-told the tale a decade later!

Stan Lee turned the previously-used plot over to his brother, writer Larry Lieber and artist Don Heck who modified it slightly for this story from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #80 (1962).
Trivia: When this story was reprinted in Marvel's Monsters on the Prowl #26 (1973), the comics the kids were reading were updated to then-current titles...

...but the last panel still showed the kid reading Journey into Mystery...because that title had just been revived!

Be here Thursday for one more version of this tale...by Stan Lee and another Silver Age superstar!
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Marvel Masterworks: Atlas-Era
Journey into Mystery
Volume 4

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Orogo!! The Nightmare from Outer Space!!"

Behind this Jack Kirby-penciled/Don Heck-inked splash...

...lurks a mystery. which we'll delve into after you read the story!

When this Stan Lee-scripted, Don Heck-illustrated (except for the splash) tale was reprinted in Marvel's Fantasy Masterpieces #2 (1967), the cover played-up Heck's Cyclopean robot (and Dashin' Don himself)...

...but when it was first published in Atlas' Journey into Mystery #57 (1960)...

...and reprinted a second time in Marvel's Where Monsters Dwell #12 (1971)...

...it used the original Kirby cover that seems to be a reverse-angle of the splash page above and shows a radically-different Orogo with two eyes!

Did editor/art director Stan the Man have The King do the cover and splash and then pass the rest of the story to Heck to finish,...but, for whatever reason, didn't give Dashing Don the cover as reference for Orogo, so Heck came up with his own version of the robot...with only one eye?

There are several Atlas-era monster stories where Kirby would do splashes, then another artist would complete the tale.

Bookmark us and keep an eye out as we attempt to solve the half century-old mystery....

Monday Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "Gargoyle From the 5th Galaxy!"

Is this a kool cover, or what?

But, this sandals-wearing Jack Kirby-Christopher Rule scarlet alien isn't inside the comic!

Instead, we get a more humanoid, less "traditional" gargoyle-looking green alien!

To be fair, he does breathe fire, like the guy on the cover...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber and superbly-rendered by Don Heck, this tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) was actually a re-do of an earlier story (illustrated by Jack Kirby, no less), which we'll present tomorrow!

BTW, though the story was reprinted in the 1970s, the cover has never seen the light of day since its' original publication!

Pity...

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Atlas-Era Marvel Masterworks
Tales of Suspense
Volume 4