Let's Play Ball! MYSTICAL TALES "On a Lonely Planet"

Can playing a sport unite alien cultures?

This never-reprinted story from Atlas' Mystical Tales #1 (1956) suggests an answer...

OK, it's an ethnocentric (species-centric?) conceit that the aliens were playing something even remotely like baseball, but illustrator Bill Everett and the unknown writer still manage to "sell" it for four pages.

BTW, despite the title, Mystical Tales was an almost-totally "hard sci-fi" anthology!

Only a handful of stories from the anthology's 8-issue run have been reprinted...all in the 1970s...which makes even the reprints almost a half-century old!

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Atlas Era Tales of Suspense

Volume 1

Monday Madness MYSTICAL TALES "Man Who Saw Too Much!"

Here's one of those stories that make you scratch your head and ask...

..."what were they smoking/drinking/ingesting whan they created this?"

What's the "speed of time"?

How would it alter the composition of a piece of metal never designed to be played as a musical instrument by a human to allow it to be played. much less to transport the player through time?

Perhaps it's just as well we don't know who scripted this weird story!

The Grand Comics Database attributes Ed Winiarski as the sole artist for this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Mystical Tales #1 (1956), but there are clear aspects of long-time Atlas-Marvel artist Werner Roth's style in there as well.

Did he re-draw panels or did he pencil the entire story with Winarski just inking it?

So many questions, so few answers...

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas-Era Journey into Mystery

Volume 1

Monday Madness MYSTICAL TALES "Try-Out!"

Here's a never-reprinted tale from 1957...

...that could never be told today!

See if you can figure out why...

Consider...what current technology could be used in the place of the projector?

If the protaganist used anything like a smart phone, tablet, or other hand-held device, the audience would just claim another, hidden, device was supplying the images!

But when this story appeared in Atlas' Mystical Tales #8 (1957), tech was a lot simpler!

If artist Sid Check's work (especially the inking) looks similar to Wally Wood's, there's a good reason for it...Check worked in the same studio as Wood, Joe Orlando, and Harry Harrison, often assisting them the way they assisted him when deadlines loomed!

BTW, the writer is unknown!

Readers: Note that Google's AI "unpublished" this post at 3:59am, hours before it was scheduled to be published at 6am, claiming it violated Terms of Service, specifically. their Spam Policy...

"This may include unwanted promotional or commercial content, unwanted content that is created by an automated program, unwanted repetitive content, nonsensical content, or anything that appears to be a mass solicitation."
The only link in the post is to Amazon.com...and I'm an authorized Amazon Associate!
Does Google consider Amazon links "spam"?
Did GoogleAI get turned down for a cyber-date with Alexa, and thus is taking out its' cybersexual frustration on me?
Enquiring minds want to know!
Heck, I want to know if I have to drop my Amazon ads from my blog posts!
If this post is "un-unpublished", you'll know my questions were justified!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room MYSTICAL TALES "Lair of the Thunder Lizard!"

Bernie Krigstein was one of the most under-appreciated artists of the 1950s...

...and this kool tale he illustrated just begged to be unearthed for the first time in almost 70 years!

Scripted by Carl Wessler and rendered by Bernie Krigstein, this never-reprinted piece from Atlas' Mystical Tales #8 (1957) is a low-key character study enhanced by Krigstein's naturalistic art.

Bernie was already phasing out of comics and into mainstream commercial art (including book and magazine illustration).

This tale was one of his last stories before leaving the comics field altogether.

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Messages in a Bottle

Comic Book Stories by B Krigstein

Reading Room MYSTICAL TALES "Endless Search"

It's said that artists see things not as they are, but as they should be..

...a concept Cedric Chalmers inadvertantly discovers in this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Mystical Tales #1 (1956)!

Despite its' title, the short-lived Mystical Tales was actually a sci-fi/science-fantasy anthology.

To this day, almost none of the tales have been reprinted, despite being rendered by a number of well-known artists like Joe Orlando (who did this story), Bob Powell, Reed Crandall, Bill Everett, and Bernie Krigstein!

The writers for almost all of the stories, however, are unknown.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room: MYSTICAL TALES "Nomad of Outer Space!"

It's mind-blowing how much Atlas (pre-Marvel) stuff hasn't been reprinted...

...such as this story from Atlas' Mystical Tales #1 (1956)!

While hunting thru files for un-reprinted Jack Kirby tales for last week's Kirby Reading Room mini-marathon, I came across a lot of never-reprinted material!

This Bob Powell-rendered story is just the tip of the iceberg!

It's also inadvertently-appropriate since this week is the 50th Anniversary of the debut of Star Trek, which inspired many would-be scientists in various disciplines to live their dreams (not to mention creatives like writers, illustrators, sfx experts, etc)!

Sadly, we don't know the writer of this tale...

BTW, despite the title, Mystical Tales was an almost-totally "hard sci-fi" anthology!

Only a handful of stories from the anthology's 8-issue run have been reprinted, all in the 1970s, which makes even the reprints 40 years old!

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Atlas Era Tales of Suspense

Volume 1