Wednesday Worlds of Wolverton MARVEL TALES "Gateway to Horror"

For Halloween, we're devoting this feature to the demented delineations of Basil Wolverton...

...such as this sordid story from Marvel Tales #104 (1951)!

Marvel Comics (known as this point as Atlas Comics) embraced horror comics as much as any other publisher during the 1950s, occasionally pushing the borders of "good taste" with work by Basil Wolverton, Russ Heath, Bill Everett, Joe Maneely, Steve Ditko, and others.

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Creeping Death from Neptune

Life and Comics of Basil Woverton

Volume One: 1909-1941

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Holiday Reading Room MARVEL TALES "Man Without Fear"

"What holiday?"

Why, Halloween, of course!

Or...is it!

Is this never-reprinted story by writer Carl Wessler and artist Joe Sinnott from Atlas' Marvel Tales #140 (1955) a Halloween treat...or trick?

You tell us, kiddo!

Monday Madness MARVEL TALES "Last Man Alive!"

This lovely cover by Bill Everett is sorta true...

...but it's also sorta deceiving!
Read about Freddie Kruger (yep, that's his name)...

So he wasn't the last man alive...nor was he even on Earth!

Why the disconnect between the cover for Atlas' Marvel Tales #153 (1956) by Bill Everett and the story illustrated by Ed Winiarski?

Two possibilities!

1) the cover was conceived and drawn before the story was written, and the tale, done later on, was modified from the basic premise!

2) Editor Stan Lee (who probably didn't write the story) failed to convey the concept of the already-done story properly to the cover artist, and it was too late in the production process to correct it!

Trivia: It's not unusual for a one-shot character's name to became famous for another reason later on!

This character has no relation to the villain of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise!

Conversely, when Raymond Burr's character in the first Godzilla film, reporter "Steve Martin" was resurrected 29 years later in Godzilla 1985, a certain comedian by the same name had become extremely famous!

Despite that, Burr's character retained the name in the sequel...

BTW, the story's author is unknown and neither the cover nor the tale has ever been reprinted.

This is its' first appearance in 67 years!

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Ten-Cent Plague

Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

Monday Madness MARVEL TALES "Dictator!"

There's a rumor floating though the 'Net that the current coronavirus is a man-made disease!

It's unlikely, but, what if someone did do that horrible deed?

Did artist John Forte and an unknown writer of this story about a fat, insecure dictator from Atlas' Marvel Tales #125 (1954) predict something that could happen over 65 years later?

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Ten-Cent Plague

Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

Holiday Reading Room MARVEL TALES "Louie's Leprechaun!"

A never-reprinted tale about a leprechaun on St Patrick's Day?

Talk about yer pot o' gold, and the "Luck 'O the Irish", eh?

Written by Carl Wessler, and illustrated either by Vic Carabotta or the team of Arthur Peddy and Bernie Sachs (experts disagree on who did it), this story from Atlas' Marvel Tales #143 (1956) hasn't seen print in 66 years!

Considering the numerous illogical aspects to this tale (not the least of which was how the leprechaun mailed a letter minutes after he was sealed back in the ground, but before Louie got home only minutes later), it's not a bad story...if you don't think too hard about it.

And after several pints of Guinness to celebrate the day, most of us won't...

Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON "Fiends with Four Arms" / MARVEL TALES "Starmen"

From Atlas' Space Squadron #2 (1951)...

...here's the cover-featured tale which was a rarity for Atlas Comics...a text story!

We don't know who the scripter is for the text feature from Atlas' Space Squadron #2 (1951), but the artist is Werner Roth who became the primary Jet Dixon artist as of this issue, replacing George Tuska.
Roth is best-known as the penciler (after Jack Kirby) of most of the early (1965-1969) run of Marvel's X-Men!

Oddly, the feature was reprinted a couple of years later in Atlas' Marvel Tales #116 (1953)...when Jet Dixon's replacement series, Speed Carter: SpaceMan, was being published!

Since the Marvel Tales cover wasn't a reprint of the earlier Space Squadron cover (or even related to the story), the title was changed, and the insert art replaced by a generic spaceship.

But the character names remained the same!

Note: This is the only Jet Dixon story to ever be reprinted!

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas Era Tales to Astonish

Volume 1

Reading Room MARVEL TALES "Return of the Monster"

One attempt at updating the Monster in the 1950s involved terrorists...

Art by Syd Shores

...who wanted Frankenstein's secrets to create an invincible army!

Illustrated by Gene Colan and Vince Alascia (with a splash panel taken from the cover by Syd Shores), this tale from Atlas' Marvel Tales #96 (1950), this tale was one of several produced by Atlas Comics.

Note, the author is unknown.

Art by Larry Lieber and VInce Colletta

When the story was reprinted in 1974, the Monster's look was modified on the new cover art to look more like Marvel's new version who had his own series!