Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY / WHERE MONSTERS DWELL "Ruler of Earth!"

We had something much different for today's post...

...but after Don the Con's announcement at the United Nations that the US government would now refer to Artificial Intelligence only as "Super Intelligence",  my mind immediately returned to this article we posted last year at fellow RetroBlog Hero Histories!

So, let's travel to the "future" year of 1990...as seen from 1962...

Appearing as the cover-featured story in one of the final pre-Mighty Thor issues of Atlas' Journey into Mystery (#82 in 1962), this story by plotter/editor Stan Lee, writer Larry Leiber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers is a clear Cold War/anti-Communist parable!

But, when the tale was reprinted at the end of the Cold War in Marvel's Where Monsters Dwell #25 (1973)...

...editor Roy Thomas had the hammer and sickle and red star insignias removed from the Russkies' hats...

...and replaced with an "H", which was explained with the change in the dialogue balloon above!

HYDRA???

Why not AIM...who were always more tech-oriented?

So, presumably, there are at least two worlds in the Marvel Multiverse where ROE presides, to this day, over a peaceful Earth!

Bonus for putting up with this all this fanboy mishigas...the lovingly-detailed original art for the spash page by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers!

BTW, did you note how warm, cuddly, and almost teddy-bear-like the cover's RoE is, compared to the version in the story itself?

Monday Mecha Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "Guardian of the Stars!"

What's kooler than a Jack (King) Kirby cover?

How about the Steve Ditko story it leads into?

Did the cover or the story come first?

The total redesign of the robot indicates whichever was done first wasn't provided to the other artist as reference!

Also, shouldn't the title be "Guardian of the Earth"?

Of course, that would be a "spoiler", ruining the drama shown on the cover...

Illustrated by Steve Ditko, this tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #17 (1959) was probably plotted by Stan Lee, though the scripting doesn't read like his work.
Trivia: Though both the Jack Kirby cover and the Steve Ditko story have been reprinted, they weren't reprinted together!
Each was reprinted in an expensive Omnibus devoted to that particular artist's work!

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Ditko Unleashed
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Monday Mecha Madness SPELLBOUND "Too Human to Live!"

They say Artificial Intelligence will Replace Humans in Many Jobs...

...even as co-workers...and management!

Pencilled by Vic Carrabotta and inked by Jack Abel, and likely plotted by editor Stan Lee, this cautionary tale from Atlas' Spellbound #16 (1953) has a clever twist ending that would've been appropriate for an episode of The Twilight Zone!

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Taylor Illustrated History

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Holiday Reading Room AMAZING ADULT FANTASY "Beware of the Giants!"

It's not often you see Stan Lee's signature on cover art...

...(behind the giant boot) perhaps because it was probably meant as the title page for the following story (and, to tell the truth, I think the splash page below would've been a better cover)...

Hah!

Bet you thought I had forgotten St Patrick's Day, eh? 

This Stan Lee-scripted/Steve Ditko-illiustrated piece from Atlas' Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 (1962) has one fatal flaw...the clothing and architecture are more mid-European (Germany/Austria/Switzerland) than Celtic (Irish/Scottish)!

BTW, one of the rarely-noted aspects of this series were the kool individualized contents pages for each issue...

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Amazing Adult Fantasy Omnibus
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Monday Mecha Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "Iron Hulk!"

Last Christmas, we presented a tale about a child and her robot...

...who was so emotionally-attached to her, it sacrificed itself to save her!

But, that wasn't the first time that plot was used...

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959), scripted by either Stan Lee or Larry Lieber, is extremely similar to the previously-presented 1963 story, minus the "Christmas present" element and making the robot look like a life size toy soldier.

Note the lovely art by Joe Sinnott.

While most of you know Sinnott as one of the best inkers in the business, he was also a competent penciler as well.

Ironically, Joe didn't ink most of his own pencil work, since it was subcontracted by Vince Colletta's prolific studio for use by Charlton, Gold Key, and Dell and inked by Colletta himself!

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Brush Strokes with Greatness

Life and Art of Joe Sinnott
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Friday Fun WORLD OF FANTASY "Man from Tomorrow!"

Admittedly, Humor is Subjective...

...but the conclusion to this tale made me chortle.
And since this is my blog, this is where it goes!



OK, not quite Twilight Zone level irony...but it'll do!

Illustrated by Carl Burgos, likely-plotted by the book's editor Stan Lee, and probably-written by Stan's brother and Atlas/Marvel writer-artist Larry Lieber (Stan's birth name is Stanley Lieber), this neve-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #17 (1959) of a con gone wrong hits all the right "silly" notes for me!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
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Friday Fun JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Comic Strip!"

Did a Comic Strip Creative Ever Hold the Power of Life or Death...

...over everyone around him, or was this just a power-trip fantasy of writer Stan Lee and/or artist Steve Ditko?




Regrettably, we can't ask either of the creatives of this story from Marvel's Journey into Mystery #81 (1962), as they've both passsed beyond this mortal coil!
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Marvel Masters of Suspense: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
Volume 2
which reprints this story
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Monday Mecha Madness at Christmas! TALES TO ASTONISH "It Walks Like a Man!"

Sometimes a child becomes too attached to a Christmas present...

...or is it vice versa...as seen in this story (written in 1963 and set in 1973) which has only been reprinted once since its' initial publication in Marvel's Tales to Astonish #45 (1963).

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Robert Bernstein, and illustrated by Paul Reinman, this tale was one of several from Atlas/Marvel in the 1950s and 60s based on the theme of an automaton developing emotion and protecting the human object of its' affection.

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas Tales to Astonish

Volume 4
(with the only reprint of this story in over a half century!)