Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

No Matter Where Humans Travel in the Universe...

...they will find a way to celebrate joy and happiness even under the most stressful of circumstances, as in this tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Unreal!"

As Mighty Thor and Tales of Asgard took over Atlas/Marvel's Journey into Mystery...

...one-shot backup tales like this one were, sadly, slowly squeezed out of the book!

The cleverly-written narration doesn't offer a clue as to which protaganist is speaking.

Of course, we assume it's the human...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted and penciled by his brother Larry Lieber (Stan's birth name was "Stanley Leiber"), and inked by Matt Fox, this never-reprinted story from the back of Marvel's Journey into Mystery #100 (1964) was one of the last non-Asgardian tales in the book.

They were discontinued as of #105.

Matt Fox began as a pulp illustrator for Weird Tales, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, and others.

When the pulps died in the early 1950s, he moved to Atlas Comics, where, because he wasn't a fast penciler, he inked others' pencils more often than doing solo pencil-ink assignments.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Atlas-Era

Journey into Mystery

Volume #4
Paid Link

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".)

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Thor Masterworks

Volume 1 

featuring the Thor stories that appeared in front of the never-reprinted tales we present!
Paid Link

Space Hero Saturdays JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

Sometimes "heroes" are everyday people...

...placed in unique situations, like colonizing a distant world, as in the tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Three Who Vanished"

One of the joys of doing things like Reading Room...

...is uncovering a rarely-seen work by one of the greats in the business, like this tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #50 (1959)!

With a (admittedly somewhat-misleading) cover by Joe Sinnott, interior art by Steve Ditko, and script probably by Larry Lieber (Stan Lee almost always had his byline on his own scripts), it's a great example of the sort of energy and creativity that was just waiting for a spark to coalesce into what would become Marvel Comics only a year or so later.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Creativity of Ditko

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)!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Atlas-Era

Journey into Mystery

Volume #4

Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

Though it doesn't look like it...

...this is a Yuletide story, and thus, an appropriate entry into the Holiday Reading Room!

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) wasn't the first time this concept was used!

You'll find out what we mean...Thursday!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories