Weird Science #12 (1952)

Credits:
Cover dated March/April 1952
Cover by Wally Wood

"A Gobl is a Knog's Best Friend" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Last Man!" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Android!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Chewed Out!" - Art by Joe OrlandoStory by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

"A Gobl is a Knog's Best Friend" - A rocket ship crew heads through space, and the commander gets frustrated with the annoying pet dog that one of his crew members has brought along. Eventually the rocket ship comes across an alien planet and upon landing a bizarre looking humanoid alien drives up in a vehicle. The alien invites them to come along and the men are brought to the alien's city. There they see many other aliens, which can communicate with each other, but not the humans. Later, other creatures that look just like humans come in, and the crew is brought to an area where they are held against their will. They eventually learn the language of these new creatures, who call themselves Gobls. The Gobls claim that the other aliens, the Kongs, keep them as pets. The rocket ship crew is kept on the planet as pets and the Knogs send some Gobls to Earth, thinking it was a friendly exchange of pets. One of the most bizarre EC story names ever, with a rather obvious premise and ending.

"The Last Man!" - A man heads into the atmosphere using a pod attached to a giant balloon, hoping to beat the record of the man who has attained the highest altitude. He is eventually able to rise high enough up to break the record, but while he is up there, nuclear war occurs on Earth and the entire surface of the Earth is destroyed. Eventually the man heads back down to the planet and gets out of the pod. He heads throughout the destroyed landscape searching for any other human being. He eventually comes across a beautiful young woman and thinks they can be the new Adam and Eve, only to discover that she is his sister.

"The Android!" - A man named Ron takes on a new secretary, the beautiful Ellen. He immediately falls in love with Ellen and desires to have an affair with her to get away from his wife Lee. Ellen isn't very accepting of his advances though. One night Ron runs into his friend Cal, who tells him he has been working for the government on creating androids. Ron decides to have Cal create him an Android that looks just like him which he can use to replace himself, that way he can run off with Ellen. The android is created and Ron gives it all of his personal information so it can take his place. When he goes to see Ellen however she reveals that she is an android herself and is only on a trial run, to be soon returned to the factory. When Ron returns home he finds that the android has contacted Cal, convincing him that Ron is the android and must be returned. The android is successful in fooling Cal, who kills Ron. The main character of this story is a bit too overzealous, considering Ellen never shows as much interest in him as he does in her, for obvious reasons.

"Chewed Out!" - A young man named Harold living in Arkansas is able to unintentionally contact an alien civilization that is traveling to Earth on a rocket ship after he buys a ham radio. Harold informs the authorities and the military arrives to manage the situation. Due to the publicity a large crowd gathers around Harold's house as he contacts with the aliens, who are soon to arrive on Earth. The military leader, a pushy General gets frustrated during the event and when it is time for the alien ship to land, it doesn't appear anywhere. The aliens tell Harold that they have landed in a strange lake. The General believes things to be a hoax and has Harold arrested in the radio destroyed. He buys a hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut from one of the local vendors. Biting into something hard in the hot dog, he pulls it out of his mouth and finds the alien's very tiny, destroyed ship. This story's spring board was "Pictures Don't Lie" by Katherine MacLean. The southern locale and bullying army general were inspired by Feldstein's own experiences when he was stationed in the Air Force in Arkansas during World War II. Both Feldstein have a brief cameo in the story.

Mad #4

Credits:
Cover dated April/May 1953
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"Superduperman!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Flob Was A Slob!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Robin Hood!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Shadow!" - Art by Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

An average issue of Mad quality-wise, but it was the issue during which Mad started to become really popular, and started to hit its stride by doing parodies of other things from popular culture.

"Superduperman!" - A parody of Superman, the story stars Clark Bent, a miserable, emaciated man who is assistant to the copy boy. In love with reporter Lois Pain, Clark spends his life savings on a neckalce for her only for her to knock him aside, calling him a creep. Clark changes into his Superduperman persona, then has to battle Captain Marbles, a similar hulking presense who is trying to rob a safe. Superduperman manages to defeat Captain Marbles by getting him to punch himself in the face. Superduperman thinks Lois will be impressed with him now and reveals his hidden identiy to her, but she still thinks he is a creep and knocks him over.

"Flob Was A Slob!" - A young woman named Ramona Snarfle is engaged to her childhood sweethear, Sheldon, a rather baffoonish character who spends his time trying to catch a butterfly. The handsome Rackstraw Him appears and takes Ramona away with him. He shows her quite a good time at a variety of places, but she soon discovers that he is a crook, and when he tries to get her to sell racing forms she leaves him and returns to Sheldon. The story ends with Ramona in the present, where she has left Sheldon to sell racing forms.

"Robin Hood!" - A parody of Robin Hood, the story begins with two locals watching as the Sheriff of Nottingham passes by with a number of merchants. Robin Hood shows up and introduces his variety of merry men. They then pursue the merchants while our protagonists pursue Maid Marion. As Robin and his merry men are about to leave, our protagonists ask if they can provide them with some money since all they have is two cents. Robin Hood's merry men instead rob the men of the two cents and their clothing.

"Shadow!" - A woman named Marlo Pain shows up at a bar full of seedy looking characters, saying that she is the only one who knows the voice of the mysterious, invisible Shadowskeedeeboomboom. Shadow shows up, but due to him being invisible survives while all the men there end up killing one another. Margo and Shadow leave and Margo finds her life to be threatened. They eventually come upon a cabin connected to dynamite. Shadow convinces her to sit inside and he then pushes the trigger, killing her since she's the only one who recognizes his voice.

Frontline Combat #6

Credits:
Cover dated May/June 1952
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"A Platoon!" - Art by Bill Elder & John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"War of 1812!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Ace!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Bellyrobber!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

Another fairly good issue of Frontline Combat. This issue is notable for me for being the last EC war comic for me to acquire, and my review for this blog is actually the first time I've read the issue. Each story focuses on a particular soldier or character in particular. No real duds here, with Bellyrobber being my personal favorite of the issue.

"A Platoon!" - A story that takes place during the Korean War, it focuses on a soldier named Ed. He is an experienced soldier, but doesn't want any responsibilities, despite there being a shortage of officers. During the oncoming battle, some chaos ensues but Ed keeps a fellow soldier from fleeing and helps direct the fellow soldiers. After the battle is over, the wounded Captain wants to put Ed in for a battlefield commission, but Ed declines, still wanting no responsibilities.

"War of 1812!" - This story focuses on a wounded native american soldier, in the aftermath of a battle during the war of 1812. Flashbacks show a battle taking place in the woods between the Americans, English and native americans. The native americans, made up of a number of different tribes are led by the great chief Tecumsah. But when Tecumsah takes a bullet to the heart and dies, the native american soldiers flee. Our protagonist is soon come across by an American soldier who scalps him.

"Ace!" - This story takes place during World War I. It focuses on an American pilot, Harry Chesterfield, trying to become an ace. The story begins as he gets his third kill, requiring only 2 more to become an Ace. He and his fellow soldiers happily eat at the round table. He soon after gets his fourth kill, and the happy meals continue. Harry finally gets his fifth kill, but it results in him being led into a trap and his plane is shot down, killing him. The meals at the round table continue, but there is a noticable absent with Harry no longer there. One of the earlier World War I plane-based stories, which would become more prevalent once George Evans joined the EC ranks.

"Bellyrobber!" - This story, taking place in the Korean War, features a rather grumpy cook, for whom his fellow soldiers never see smile or in a good mood. One day he comes across a young Korean kid in their tent. Bellyrobber befriends the kid and takes care of him, showing a human side to him. One day he finds that 2 Korean soldiers have come across the tent and while Bellyrobber is able to kill them, it is not before they have killed the child. This causes Bellyrobber to return to his angry, grumpy self.

Incredible Science Fiction #30

Credits:
Cover dated July/August 1955
Cover by Jack Davis

"Clean Start" - Art by Wally Wood
"Marbles" - Art by Bernie Krigstein
"Conditioned Reflex" - Art by Joe Orlando
"Barrier" - Art by Jack Davis

All stories are by Jack Oleck

Incredible Science Fiction was a retitling of Weird Science-Fantasy so as to ensure compliance with the Comics Code, which the comic was forced to follow for the entirety of its 4 issue run. The effect of the Comics Code wasn't too apparent in this issue, but would be in later ones. The comic was notable for featuring the only Jack Davis covers and stories for an EC sci-fi comic.

"Clean Start" - The Solar Federation, consisting of alien beings from throughout the galaxy becomes concerned as the war-obsessed humanity becomes more advanced and nears space travel. A pair of blob-like aliens, Brx and Lth head to Earth, desiring to head to the point in time wheere humanity's desire to kill each other first started. They find as they travel through time however that this aspect of humanity has always existed. So they decide instead to wipe out humanity, saving only one male and one female, so they can teach them to live peacefully and pass such mentality throughout their descendents. They set a device to go off in ten days. Lth, who has transformed herself to look like a human woman searches throughout mankind, but has a hard time choosing and ultimately decides on a random man to save as the device goes off. She returns to her ship but is shocked when the man transforms back into Brx. A strong story to start off the comic, with some good Wood artwork as well.

"Marbles" -  Mankind finally heads to space. As they head there, they make a strange discovery. As they head further into space their destinations become smaller and smaller. The astronauts claim that their planets are small enough to bring into the ship, and they soon fly around, collecting all of the planets of the solar system and bringing them into the ship. In reality, the crew of the ship have gone utterly insane. A rather mediocre story, and at 5 pages one of EC's shortest.

"Conditioned Reflex" - In the story's prologue, a scientist discusses the identification of a methane-based planet discovered by humanity due to the entire planet bursting into flames. The story shows that the planet did have life, which had discovered mankind. Feeling threatened by humanity, the aliens decide to send one of them, Quor to Earth, after having undergone surgery to make him look like a human. Quor heads to Earth and works as a farmhand, getting used to Earth habits, such as smoking a cigarette to relax. He decides to flee when the daughter of the farm owner falls in love with him. Quor quickly is able to infiltrate Earth's government buildings and find out the information he needs. He returns to his planet where he is to present before the leaders of the planet. He lights a cigarette to relax, and the spark causes the entire planet to explode. A strong story with an very interesting twist at the end. Although things are a bit repetive with the second story in the issue featuringn aliens deciding to infiltrate humanity.

"Barrier" - The Eastern and Western Alliances of Earth have been at war with each other for nearly 50 years. Believing the side that lands on the moon will win the war, the Western Alliance sends a rocket into space but it crashes into something and falls back to Earth. The Western Alliance realizes that there is a sort of barrier surrounding the Earth. They decide to team up with the Western Alliance and blow a hole in the barrier so their rocket can get through. As soon as they get through the barrier however, a flying saucer comes after them and forces them back inside. The Western Alliance scientist realizes that alien forces from space have locked humanity in, viewing them as a savage race. The THIRD story in this issue with the theme of aliens fearing humanity. How many ways can the same story be told?

Weird Fantasy #7

Credits:
Cover dated May/June 1951
Cover by Al Feldstein

"7 Year Old Genius!" - Art by Al Feldstein/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Come Into My Parlor" -  Art by Jack Kamen/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Across the Sun!" - Art by George Roussos/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Breakdown!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

"7 Year Old Genius!" - Seven year old Rufus is not only a genius, but the smartest being on Earth. He has his parents bring him to the White House to meet the President. He is stopped on the way, but is encountered by the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary of Defense has Rufus prove him genius to himself and many other people and does a background check, finding that Rufus is this way due to his father being exposed to radiation. Rufus is able to create a cure for cancer and other great things, but is pressured to develop a Hydrogen Bomb. He finds based on his study that such a bomb would destroy the Earth, so he refuses to provide it. He is viewed as a traitor as a result, and eventually relents, but gives falsified data. This results in him being discredited. Discovering some EC comics, he feels that only EC can publish his story and meets Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein, who show up at the end of the story. Meanwhile the government has finished the Hydrogen Bomb and plans to test it shortly. This story is okay, but very remiscent of "The Radioactive Child" from Weird Science #16, published about 6 months prior. It features cameos from Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein (who appeared in many early EC stories). It also features a Secretary of Defense character that was a frequently appearing character in many Feldstein-drawn stories.

"Come Into My Parlor" - A man named Stephen Lamb finishes up a report he has written on spiders. Suddenly there is a flash and a beautiful woman appears. Named Wanta, she claims that she comes from 4,000 years in the future. Wanta claims that there are no men in the future and that she and the other women of the future need to serve man. Stephen heads to the future with her where it is seemingly paradise. He can get as much food and drink as he wants and there are beautiful women everywhere. Eventually he gets drunk and Wanta leads him to a room where there is a spitfire grill. Stephen is tied up and put on the grill, as Wanta's civilization wants to literally cook and serve him. Stephen wakes up, with it all being a dream, but Wanta then appears for real. This story is inspired by Damon Knight's short story "To Serve Man" which later got adapted into a very well known Twilight Zone episode. The dream twist at the end seems tacked on, as if they needed an extra page to add to the story.

"Across the Sun!" - Humanity has sent a rocket to Mars, but it has vanished and never returned. A second rocket is set to head out, but minutes before the rocket is to blast off the original rocket returns. The crew from teh original rocket come down and say to not blast off. They tell their story, of how they were captured by a flying saucer and brought to a world that looked identical to our Earth, except that it has 2 moons. There, they meet the alien race that inhabits it. The aliens tell them that their planet is directly across the sun from the Earth such that it can never be seen. They say that they had gone to war with Earth many years ago and destroyed their civilization, which included the destruction of one of the Earth's moons. They tell the men to return to Earth and not head back into sapce or they'll destroy humanity again. Pacing's a bit poor on this story. Things go by very slow for the first 5 pages, then rush to a swift conclusion on the final page with an absurd amount of text in the last few panels.

"Breakdown!" - A woman named Mary comes to the FBI with her husband Donald, who has gone insane. She tells the men from the FBI of how one night at her farm, her brother Larry was visiting and they saw a strange light in the sky. Soon after a strange man named Mr. Trance showed up asking to use the phone. Mr. Trance stays the night, but Mary soon suspects something is wrong with him. Their dog is very scared of Mr. Trance, then soon falls over dead. Mr. Trance also doesn't cast a reflection in the mirror. Larry heads out to find Mr. Trance's broken down car but doesn't find it, only scorched marks in a field. Donald heads upstairs to see Mr. Trance but when he comes downstairs, he has gone crazy. Mr. Trance comes downstairs and explains that he is an alien being using a hypnotic shield. If his hypnotic shield isn't active, such as when he is asleep, his true form appears so horrific that it will cause a person looking at it to go insane. Larry pulls out a gun to shoot Mr. Trance while Mary and Donald flee. Larry kills Mr. Trance, but goes crazy upon seeing his true form. Back in the present, the men at the FBI reveal themselves to be aliens and remove their hypnotic shields, causing Mary to go insane. A fairly good story to wrap things up, the best in the issue. The aliens are pretty horrific looking, even if it is said in the story that they are merely the artist's renditions since their true form would cause the reader to go crazy as well.

Tales from the Crypt #24

Credits:
Cover dated June/July 1951
Cover by Al Feldstein

"Bats in My Belfry!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Living Death!" - Art by Graham Ingels/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Midnight Snack!" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig
"Scared to Death!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

One of Tales from the Crypt's most well known covers starts off this issue.

"Bats in My Belfry!" - A stage actor named Harry goes deaf. This results in the end of his acting career and a lot of financial stress for he and his wife, Joan. Harry goes to see a blind friend, John, who reveals that he went to a man who was able to give him cat eyes that permit him to see. Harry heads to see the man, who provides him with the hearing organ of a bat. Upon returning home, with hearing abilities greatly in excess of that of a normal person, Harry is able to hear Joan talking to her lover on the phone. He later notices strange things happening to him. He wakes up in the closet, hanging upside down, notices hair growing on his face and a membrane growing beneath his arms. He returns to see his friend John, who he finds turning into a panther. Harry realizes he is turning into a bat. His wife and her lover plot to kill Harry for his life insurance, but he manages to overtake the lover in an alley. Now fully transformed into a vampire bat, he drinks the lover's blood, then returns home and does the same to his wife.  This story was the inspiration for the Tales from the Crypt TV episode "Ear Today, Gone Tomorrow". The episode had nothing to do with that original story, making me wonder why they didn't name it after this story. It was in the final season of the show, and was still a rather poor episode though.

"The Living Death!" - Two medical students, Lester and Arnold are close friends, even going after the same woman, Laurie. The two head into seperate fields, with Lester focusing on curing illness through psychological means, while Arnold focuses on surgery. Lester is set to marry Laurie, but when she develops a tumor the two conflict over whether to operate on her through psychosomatic means or surgery. Arnold wins out, but she dies during the procedure. Years go by. Arnold develops a brain tumor, and with no one who can operate on him, he goes to see Lester. Lester desires to prove to Arnold that he could have saved Laurie many years before and puts Arnold into a hypnotic trance so he cannot die. Upon leaving however, Arnold is it by a car and is killed. His body doesn't die however, nor even start decomposing. People don't believe Lester at first, but do as time goes by and nothing happens to Arnold. Months pass. Arnold calls out for Lester to help him with the pain. Lester mistakenly says "Laurie", the word he has chosen to break Arnold out of the trance. This causes Arnold to die for real, and he immediately decomposes. This story was inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe story "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar".

"Midnight Snack!" - A man reads horror stories late at night. Suddenly his feels dizzy and finds himself out in the middle of town. Hungry, he stops by a restaurant but the scent of cooking meat repulses him. He leaves the restaurant and has another dizzy sensation, waking up in a graveyard. Having a shovel with him, he digs up the body of a recently buried corpse. After another dizzy spell he awakens finding the body partially devoured. He grabs the corpse and starts running, being chased by an agngry mob. He trips and falls, but then awakens at his home, believing it all to be a dream. When he opens his refridgerator however, he finds a partially devoured corpse inside. He realizes that it wasn't a dream, and he's a ghoul. Bit of a drawn out story with an obvious conclusion; this is the weakest story of the issue.

"Scared to Death!" - A man named Ralph is brought to a party held in the honor of a young woman named Cora, whose uncle Alex is quite wealthy. With Cora being the heir to her uncle's fortune, Ralph decides to start a romance with her, and eventually marries her. Not liking the way Alex is treating him, Ralph is able to convince Cora to let him kill her, and he strikes him one night while he is out on a stroll, killing him. Alex's death has a grave effect on Cora, who suffers a heart attack and becomes bound to a wheel chair. Ralph decides to kill her as well, figuring he can do it by inducing another heart attack. He tries to convince Cora that her uncle Alex is back from the grave and wants revenge. He is successful and she has a heart attack and dies. Moments later however, Alex's corpse arrives for real. He grabs ahold of Alex and carries him into the middle of a pond where the mud, acting like quicksand, quickly consumes them. Some only so-so artwork from Wood here, but overall a fairly good rotting corpse story.

Shock SuspenStories #15

Credits:
Cover dated May 1954
Cover by Jack Kamen

"Raw Deal" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by Otto Binder
"The Confidant" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Jack Oleck
"For Cryin' Out Loud!" - Art by Reed Crandall/Story by Otto Binder
"Well Trained" - Art by George Evans/Story by Carl Wessler

"Raw Deal" - A hospital patient, the sole survivor of a plane that crashed in the Pacific Ocean repeatedly screams out "I hate her!". A couple of doctors try to figure out what is going on with him and by giving him certain medication are able to get him to behave in a normal fashion. They soon find that he is referring to his wife, making them wonder why he hates her so. Through additional medication he eventually tells his story, of how he he met his wife and swiftly within a month they became married. They headed on a plane trip to Hawaii for their honeymoon, but on the way it crashed in the pacific, with them being the only 2 survivors. This surprises the doctors, as the man was the only one found. He recounts the experience of being lost in the middle of the ocean on a raft and how they had no food to sustain themselves on. Eventually his wife started drinking salt water, went crazy and died. The man slips back into his crazed state, but the doctors realize what happened to his wife, since he is not really saying "I hate her!" but rather "I ate her!" A decent start to the issue and the best story here, in an issue that is only so-so at best.

"The Confidant" - A mysterious man wearing a trench coat comes to a town where people are in search of a man who raped and murdered a 19 year old woman. The mysterious man claims to be here to see one of his children and takes a taxi ride to the darkest corner of town. The taxi driver follows him and finds him talking in an apartment to a man he believes to be the killer. He summons a number of other people and a mob grows, returning to the apartment. There they only find the mysterious man, who tells them that he can't tell them anything about the killer. The mob starts beating on him, and the man dies as a result. It is then that they find a note from the killer stating that he has to confess his crimes. They remove the trench coat of the mysterious man and realize that he was a priest. Not that good a story in my eyes as you think it would be so simple for the fact that the man was a priest to be made clear to the mob. Couldn't the priest have simply told them that fact instead of taking a beating until he died?

"For Cryin' Out Loud!" - A criminal named Marty steals $40,000 but becomes sloppy while hiding and is found out by a woman he meets at a restaurant. When she demand over half the money, he strangles her in an alley and flees. He repeatedly hears a voice in his head shouting out that he is a murderer. As he walks down the street people look at him in a strange way causing him to run off, thinking they can hear him. This happens repeatedly. Eventually he decides to head into a boiler factory with an extremely loud amount of noise to block out the voice in his head. This results in him going deaf, but the voice still shouts out. He can't take it anymore and says out loud that he is a murderer. As the story ends it is revealed that he had scratches on his face which is why everyone was giving him weird looks. This story was adapted into an episode of the Tales from the Crypt TV series, with some adjustments made to the story. Kudos to Crandall in finding ways to repeatedly cover up half of the protagonist's face until the final panel.

"Well Trained" - A detective named Tom comes home one day and finds his wife murdered, with the killer standing right over her. Tom chases down the killer and viciously beats him, but decides to not kill him and call the cops. Tom is obsessed with ensuring that the killer, who is named Mike, goes to the electric chair. He meets with him daily as he heals from his injuries telling him in great detail the process for him being executed. The daily abuse is enough to cause Mike to run off. Other cops try to shoot him, but Tom always stands in the way, desiring for him to die in the electric chair. Their chase brings them down to the subway where Mike runs on the track but is hit by the subway car as he steps on the third rail. As a result, Tom will never know if he was electrocuted on the third rail or was hit by the train first. A so-so story. I don't really understand what the big deal was at the end as Mike still suffered a rather horrific death. What does it matter if it was by being hit by a subway car instead of being electrocuted?

Piracy #1

Credits:
Cover dated November 1954
Cover by Wally Wood

"The Privateer" - Art by Reed Crandall/Writer Unknown
"The Mutineers" - Art by Wally Wood/Writer Unknown
"Harpooned" - Art by Al Williamson & Angelo Torres/Writer Unknown
""Shanghaied" - Art by Jack Davis/Writer Unknown

The final new comic title produced by EC prior to the end of the New Trend, Piracy focused, naturally, on pirates. The comic appeared shortly before the start of the New Direction comics first started getting published by EC and is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a New Direction title (although it was included with the New Direction set in the EC Library). In my mind Piracy has a fairly strong first few issues but isn't as interesting later on, which I suppose isn't that surprising considering later issues had to go through the comics code.

"The Privateeer" - Ballard James, an English Plantation owner becomes a privateer in England's war against Spain. Insistent that he is a privateer, not a Pirate, James insists on directly striking the first Spanish ship they come across rather then feigning friendship at first as a pirate might do. Weeks go by without coming across another ship however, causing James to decide to strike an allied French ship when they come across it. Rather than publicly declare himself a pirate, James attacks ship after ship, regardless of country, reporting only occasionally to England to provide the government the required part of the bounty. Eventually James attacks even a British man-of-war, turning on the very government that commissioned him. His last goal to capture merchant ships such that he can retire, James eventually comes across a trio of them only to be tricked, as all 3 are pirate ships, who defeat his crew and kill him. A decent start to Piracy with a strong art job throughout. Crandall would often do the lead off story for Piracy as well as several covers, and was probably the strongest artist at doing pirate-based stories.

"The Mutineers" - This story features a first mate aboard a ship who frequently finds himself in the middle of the captain and the crew. The captain gets upset with him for not reprimanding a crew member, while the crew wants to mutiny, which he denies them. When the ship hits a big storm, the captain refuses to adjust the sails to help them out of it, thinking it can put off a mutiny. Eventually the mutiny arrives and O'Hara helps the captain in keeping the men from taking over the ship. When the captain sends up a young crew member to climb the top of the ship and he falls to his death, O'Hara has decided he's had enough, and he leads the entire crow on a row boat away from the ship, leaving the captain all by himself. At 8 pages this would typically be the first story of the issue but it has been moved to second here. Overall its a fairly good one, although not as strong as the first and last story.

"Harpooned" - This story takes place on a whaling boat. The first mate of the boat is very upset at the captain, particularly when he comes out with the men on a row boat in an attempt to harpoon a whale. When the whale surfaces the men harpoon it, but the first mate manages to get the rope on the spear tied around the captain's neck, which throws him overboard and causes him to drown when the whale heads below water. The whale later resurfaces however, destroying the boat, and causing the first mate to be impaled on the spear sticking out of the whale. A rather poor story, but some really strong art here by Williamson and Torres. This was one of their rare collaborations in the late days of EC when Torres started doing more credited work for EC. Unfortunately they only did one more for Piracy, in the next issue.

"Shanghaied" - A ship captain named Walton is approached by a man named Pigott who has brought him some shanghaied men that can act as crew members for him once he's on the open sea. Walton is against shanghaiing and is about to send him away but notices one of the men and has Pigott bring him on board. As Pigott carries the man to Walton's cabin, Walton reveals that the man actually shanghaied him over ten years ago. Walton tells Pigott how he was shanghaied and forced to work on the open sea for several years. This started a quest of his where he searched for the man who shanghaied him, and he eventually rose through the ranks, becoming a sea captain. Pigott thinks that Walton will exert some violence on the man when he awakens, but surprisingly he shakes his hand and thanks him for getting a successful career at sea started for him A good story to wrap up the issue, with a decent surprising ending.

Weird Science #15 (1952)

Credits:
Cover dated September/October 1952
Cover by Wally Wood

"The Martians!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Captivity" - Art by Al Williamson/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Miscalculation!" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Bum Steer!" - Art by Joe Orlando/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

"The Martians!" - A rocket takes the first ever expedition to Mars. Upon arriving there, its inhabitants find a desolate world, with occasional signs that a civilization may have existed here. They eventually come across a building that they work their way through, finding books written in a Martian language. They also find a tube with symbols on it that they realize to be a film of some kind. The film displays what they take to be the humanoid Martians, battling a tentacled creatures that they figure the Martians assumed were Earthlings. Once they are able to translate the film however, they realize that the tentacled creatures were the Martians. Some good Wood artwork, but story-wise a bit weak.

"Captivity" - A pair of geologists near the Grand Canyon are suddenly thrown back in time millions of years. They soon find a Tyranosaurus Rex and flee from it, coming across a cliff that they find completely smooth, as if artificial.Luckily for them another dinosaur comes by which distracts it. They decide to follow the cliff and eventually find a rocket coming down from the skies. A group of bizarre aliens come out and attract the dinosaurs to come by them. Human beings are pulled from the ship and thrown down to the dinosaurs. When one escapes, our protagonists realize that this is how humanity got started on the Earth. A choppy at times art job by Al Williamson, with this being one of his earliest stories for EC.

"Miscalculation!" - Nerdy bachelor Melvin Sputterly one day receives in the mail a mysterious package from 1,000 years in the future. The package promises to create a harem of five beautiful women for him who will fall in love with the first man they see after being created from the dehydrated formula. Unfortunately for Melvin, the units of measurement in the instructions use different terminology than those currently used. The first woman he creates is hideously fat due to him using too much water, and the second is extremely thin when he doesn't use enough. Using a formula contained within the package he is able to cause them to dissolve into a pool of colored water. The next two women he creates are too tiny, then too tall when he messes up with the salt measurement. The last woman he creates comes out in perfect form, but when the superintendant arrives, asking why there is water pouring through the ceiling of his neighbor downstairs, she sees him first and heads away with him, leaving Melvin with nothing. One of a few "create a woman" stories that EC did in Weird Science, this is a fairly good one.

"Bum Steer!" - One night a cowboy encounters a pair of horse-like aliens that take him captive and throw in in a rocket. Inside the rocket the man finds a number of other humans. As the rocket ship takes off, one of the aliens comes out and tells them that they are being brought to their planet, but will be given all the comforts of their own planet. The men are kept well fed throughout the journey, with the cowboy being the only one who is suspicious of the aliens. When they arrive at the alien's home planet, they are brought to a large room in which they are kept locked, but they are continued to be provided with lots of food and many of them get fat. One day a beautiful woman comes in the room and tells the men that there are many other women just like her in the next room. The cowboy suddenly realizes what is going on and tells the men that he believes they are being treated just like cattle, being fattened up, then led by a decoy to the slaughter house. None of the other men believe him, but they are quickly slaughtered just like cattle when they head to the next room. A strong story to end the issue, with some of the most bizarre looking aliens in an EC sci-fi story.

The Haunt of Fear #5

Credits:
Cover dated January/February 1951
Cover by Johnny Craig

"A Biting Finish!" - Art by Graham Ingels/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Horror in the Freak Tent! - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"A Tasty Morsel!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Seeds of Death!" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig

"A Biting Finish!" - A man named Bruno flees from the police into an old house by the cemetary, looking for a secret tunnel that only he knows about. Flashbacks reveal how Bruno and another man named Bob had been after the same woman, Ellen. Bruno murders Bob and buries him in a coffin contained in a civil war cemetary. Bruno's guilt eventually reveals itself to Ellen when he talks in his sleep, causing Bruno to murder both her and the maid who witnessed it. This causes the police to chase after him, resulting in his current predicament. Bruno soon finds that the tunnel has caved in, but having a shovel with him, he digs through it. He comes across a coffin while digging and while trying to move it, his hand plunges inside. The corpse inside the coffin grabs Bruno's hand and bites it, not letting go until Bruno bleeds to death. As the story ends, the coffin is revealed to be that where he put Bob. A strong start to the issue. A rare instance where the lead off story had only 7 pages instead of the usual 8, and this story has four 7 page stories as a result (I believe the only time in EC's New Trend that this happened).

"Horror in the Freak Tent!" - This story is told by a man named Henry Hastings, manager of a carnival. At the carnival the owner of the Freak Show, Looey Glantz is an evil man who abuses the freaks and ruins the marriage of the knife thrower, Zolto. One night Zolto pulls a knife on Glantz after he abuses one of the freaks. Glantz responds by shoving 2 glowing pokers into Zolto's eyes, blinding him. The freaks take care of Zolto and train him to continue to be a knife thrower, while blind. What Zolto doesn't know is that when they have him practice, they tie up and gag Glantz, who is killed by the knives and weapons that Zolto throws at him. This story was later redone in the picto-fiction magazine Terror Illustrated #2.

"A Tasty Morsel!" - During a rainy night, a man comes across an inn at the end of the road and heads inside where he is greeted by a brutish looking innkeeper. The man heads to his room, but desiring a blanket goes back downstairs and waits in a chair by the fire for the innkeeper to return. He soon hears a moan and goes to the basement where he finds another man tied up and bleeding to death, his blood dripping into a pan. The innkeeper soon comes down and takes the man's blood, storing it in a freezer, revealing him to be a vampire. The man is caught by the innkeeper and soon suffers the same fate as the other man. He soon awakens though, revealing it to be a dream. Finding himself tied up, he accuses the innkeeper to be a vampire. This offends the innkeeper, who claims he is actually a ghoul and hates the taste of blood which is why he's draining it from him. The story ends with the innkeeper gleefully approaching him with a meat cleaver. This story is told in second person, a common style used by EC. The ending was also a common one, but a bit overused.

"Seeds of Death!" - This story tells the tale of how a dismembered hand ended up at a dump. In flashbacks we see a young woman named Connie, who is married to a brutish husband Basil. She is comforted by the handsome hired hand, Cliff, but Basil spots them together. When Connie asks Cliff to head to town and buy some Gardenia seeds, Basil takes the opportunity to kill him upon his return when he takes out some of the seeds. Basil buries Cliff and Connie, worried about him, heads to town to search for him. This angers Basil, who goes after her and attacks her in an ally. Connie hits him over the head, knocking him out, then puts him in a garbage can. Garbage men later come upon the garbage can and dump it in a truck, where his body is ground up. Connie returns home to find a mound of Gardenias, causing her to realize what happened to Cliff. This story takes an interesting approach to start the story off, with the Vault Keeper not being introduced until the second page, something that I can't recall being the case in any other EC horror story.

Crime SuspenStories #1

Credits:
Cover dated October/November 1950
Cover by Johnny Craig

"Murder May Boomerang" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig
"Death's Double Cross" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"A Snapshot of Death" - Art by Graham Ingels/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"High Tide!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

The first issue of Crime SuspenStories, E.C.'s New Trend version of a crime comic (EC had a couple of crime comics prior to the New Trend). This issue is a fairly good one, one of the better of the early issues. The first story, "Murder May Boomerang" was later reprinted in issue 19 (as already covered here).
"Murder May Boomerang" - A man drives through the rain in a car with his father. Flashbacks show the father raising the son alone after his wife died. When the son grows up, he goes to college and becomes a chemist and gets a raise that permits his father to stop working. The two go on a vacation to celebrate where they go hunting, camping, etc... One night when the son leaves his father alone he hears about maniacs that have escaped from a local prison and are where his father is. The son rushes back and finds his father beaten, and that one of the escaped maniacs have stolen some of his hunting clothes. The son heads out and kills the maniac when his father points him out to him. But later when they spot another man in hunting clothes, the father claims he was his attacker. The son realizes that his father has had a nervous breakdown and will point out anyone wearing hunting clothes as his attacker.

"Death's Double Cross" - A woman named Ruth is bored with her marriage to John, pining for his twin brother Ronald whom she loved more but had gone away years before. Ronald, who bears a mole on his face, suddenly turns up one day and the two of them plot to kill John so Ronald can take his place. John walks in as they are discussing it, and Ruth wonders if he overheard it. Ronald successfully kills John, making it look like a drowning. Soon however Ronald grows cold and has surgery to remove the mole from his face. His doctor tells Ruth he never had it removed in the first place. Ruth starts fearing for her life and is nearly killed by a safe. She wonders if either Ronald has decided to kill her, or if it has been John the entire time.

"A Snapshot of Death!" A woman named Jean is told that she has an incurable disease and has six months to live. She decides to kill herself, but doesn't have the nerve, so she goes to a man named "Red" Morgan whom she pays to find an assassin to kill her. She is soon told however that she will be able to undergo surgery to cure her illness. She is deathly afraid for her life, especially as a dark figure arpproaches the house. Eventually he is able to make it in, and carries a picture of her with him. Jean passes out. She wakes up later and it is revealed that the man is a policeman, who had come across the photo when "Red" was struck by a truck and killed.

"High Tide!" - Four men depart on a mail delivery ship from a prison island. Soon the radio announces that a killer has escaped from the prison and is on the ship. Each of the men denies being the killer and one of the men on the ship, an accountant is deathly afraid of what will happen to them. Things get worse as both the engine and radio go out. The men accuse each other of being the killer, except for the quiet boat captain. When a gun is found on board, the men agree that they will seperate the gun and ammunition and that two of the men will stay up to keep watch while the others sleep. When the accountant tries to escape, one of the men grabs the gun and shoots him. This gets one of the other men to suspect he is the killer, so they fight each other. Once the accuser has killed the other man though, he is promptly shot by the ship captain, who truly is the killer. He jumps off the boat and tries to make it to shore, but the tide comes in very quickly, and not being able to swim, he drowns.

Two-Fisted Tales #21

Credits:
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman
Cover dated May/June 1951

"Ambush!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Pigs of the Roman Empire" - Art by Bill Elder & John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"The Murmask Run!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Search!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

A strong issue throughout, with all four stories above average.

"Ambush!" - In Korea, a pair of jeeps carrying American soldiers drives down the road. One of the soldiers, nicknamed 'Lucky' carries a Kewpie Doll in his helmet which he is convinced gives him good luck. Suddenly the jeeps are caught in an ambush and the remaining soldiers are forced to hide in a ditch and exchange fire with the North Korean soldiers attacking them. The American soldiers are slowly killed until Lucky and one other man are all thats left. Lucky, convinced that his Kewpie doll will protect him, fights off the North Korean soldiers, with his companion dying. Some other soldiers arrive on a jeep to pick him up, at which point Lucky realizes that in the chaos earlier his helmet had been exchanged with another soldiers and he never had his Kewpie doll with him the whole time. A good story to start off this issue, this story kickstarted a run of Jack Davis lead stories for Two Fisted Tales taking place during the Korean War.

"Pigs of the Roman Empire" - This story begins in a Collasseum in Carthage, where wine-loving Commander Decius watches one of his slaves be defeated by a gladiator and beheaded. Decius's wisest slave Brennus warns him of the nearby marching Vandal Barbarians but Decius doesn't pay them much attention until they are nearly upon the city. Decius heads out to battle against the Vandals and while they are initially successful, the Vandals sweep around the Roman forces and march upon them from behind. Soon Decius and Brennus are all that is left and are making their way back to Carthage through the desert. Decius leaves Brennus with the remaining water, taking the wine with him when Brennus can go no further. But Decius soon finds that the wine makes his thirst even worse and he is soon dead, being ravaged by vultures. A fairly good story, providing a good example of why the Roman empire collapsed.

"The Murmansk Run!" - This story takes place in the Arctic Circle during World War 2. A Merchant Marine ship heads through the ocean in the dead of night. A crewmember named Uriah Bragg is chewed out by a superior officer for lighting a cigarette on the deck of the ship, since the light could alert enemy submarines to their position. Bragg gets angry over this as he heads back below deck. He is later awoken when it is time to be look out. Disobeying orders, he lights a can of sterno to warm himself, only concerned with hiding it from his superiors. An enemy submarine spots the light from it and launches a torpedo at the ship, blowing it up and killing everyone on board. Another strong story, and similar to "Weak Link" that I covered a few issues prior, with a single man's foolish actions resulting in the death of everyone around him. This story was written by Kurtzman at the suggestion of Wally Wood who had requested a story about the Merchant Marine.

"Search!" - Another story taking place during World War II, this time in Italy. A soldier named Joseph Angliosani is in a trench with a younger soldier, manning a machine gun. The foot of a dead soldier sticks out from the trench. Joe tells his colleague about the fact that he won't take any break from the action since he is searching for his older brother Mario, who supported the family after his father died. He hasn't seen Mario in years but will recognize him based on a ring that he wears. The German soldiers continue to press towards them and after one fire fight the younger soldier is killed. Joe grabs his machine gun and departs. A blast later hits the trench, revealing that the corpse whose foot was sticking out was that of his brother Mario. While not at the level of some other Kurtzman solo stories that I've covered thus far in this blog, it is still another good story to wrap up the issue.

Weird Science-Fantasy #24

Credits:
Cover dated June 1954
Cover by Al Feldstein

"...For Posterity" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Teacher from Mars" - Art by Joe Orlando/Story by Otto Binder
"The Pioneer" - Art by Bernie Krigstein/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Upheaval!" - Art by Al Williamson/Story by Harlan Ellison

Weird Science-Fantasy was the combination of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, both of which failed to be popular enough to last past their fourth year. The comic originally started off as a 15 cent quarterly, but soon went back down to the standard 10 cent comic. It changed to a bi-monthly in 1955 and eventually had its title changed to Incredible Science-Fiction. Quality was fairly high in the early issues, with things dipping towards the end of its run.

"...For Posterity" - This story features two prospectors who one night find a flying saucer land nearby. The two men walk up to it and when the door opens, walk inside. The door of the flying saucer suddenly shuts and it blasts off into space. They suddenly pass out and when they awake the door opens. Outside of the saucer they find a civilization made up entirely of women. The leader of the women tells them that they are now in Earth's future. Due to the fallout from nuclear weapons, all males went sterile and eventually died out. The women were able to survive due to a element that allowed them to self-reproduce, but now that element has entirely run out. The women need the two men to help inpregnate then; they will then be returned to the past with no memory of what happened. The men awaken back on Earth and believe it to be just a dream, but discover roses by their sleeping bags revealing that it was true after all. A decent story to start things off, featuring what is probably the ultimate male fantasy.

"The Teacher from Mars" - Martian Professor Mun Zeerohs comes to Earth to become a teacher. Zeerohs finds his student on Earth cruel and intolerant, particularly a boy named Tom Blaine who constantly makes fun of Zeerohs and criticizes both him and the Martian race as a whole. Zeerohs also finds Earth hard getting used to, such as the wasting of water that is such a precious resource on Mars, and his fear of snakes, which are much more dangerous on Mars. Tom Blaine's pranks continue, he wastes water in front of Zeerohs, hides his glasses, pours salt in his food, plants snakes in his bedroom and even starts lynching him and falsely accusing him of murder. Zeerohs decides to return to Mars. The next day a special event is held on the campus and a major in the space patrol announces the heroic act of Zeerohs' son, who saved the life of Tom Blaine's father, being killed in the process. Blaine and the others, now with a newfound respect for Zeerohs start supporting him and he decides to stay on Earth. This story was adapted by one written by Binder and his brother Earl under the name "Eando Binder". An obvious metaphor for racial intolerance, it reminds one of similar such stories told in Shock SuspenStories and is similar in theme to "In Gratitude" from Shock SuspenStories #11 (although with a much happier ending).

"The Pioneer" - A Professor Latham causes a large explosion while testing a type of fuel. After he recovers, he becomes obsessed with furthering his research on the fuel so as to provide man with the ability to travel into space. Latham's students make fun of him for it and he gets so worked up that he ends up quitting when brought before the Board of Trustees. Latham spends his life savings on buying a farm in the countryside where he can work on building a rocket engine without interruption or disturbance. Soon however a neighbor named Jenkins stops by and laughs at his attempts to build a rocket engine just as his students had. Latham eventually gets upset enough that he turns on the engine while Jenkins is standing near it, burning him to a crisp. Latham is soon met by the local state troopers who take him with them. Before a government panel Latham explains the capability of his engine. He is kept in heavily guarded living quarters where his guards relay his directions on his rocket ship, which they tell him is being built. He eventually receives his last meal on Earth and is brought to the rocket where he is strapped aboard He feels electrifying pressure as the rocket blasts off. In actuality, Latham has been sent to jail for Latham's murder, convicted and put in the electric chair, but he deluded himself into believing that he was going into space. A really good story, my favorite of the issue.

"Upheaval!" - A rocket ship in search of a lifeform more advanced than man has had no succes thus far. They start thinking about heading back to Earth, with the conclusion that man is the most advanced lifeform in the galaxy, but stop on one last planet. The ground of the planet is quite soft, and once the men step out of the rocket ship it sinks right through the surface of the planet. The men are soon swallowed up by the surface of the planet as well, finding themselves in a sort of protoplasm-like environment. Suddenly both the rocket and the men are expelled from the planet back to the surface. They quickly get back in the rocket and blast off. One of the men comments that they finally have found a lifeform more advanced than man - the planet itself, which was a single organism. He comments on them facing the ultimate insult, having been vomitted up by the planet. This story was written by Harlan Ellison, who wrote the story while in college and submitted it to EC. Ellison went on to become one of the most well known modern science fiction writers. This was his sole story that appeared in an EC comic.

Mad #23

Credits:
Cover dated May 1955

"Gopo Gossum!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Scenes We'd Like to See!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Believe It or Don't!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"The Barefoot Nocountessa!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

One of the simplest covers of all time to an EC comic kicks off this issue of Mad, which was the final issue of Mad in comic form before it became a magazine with the next issue. EC's humor comics are still not my cup of tea, but it is by far the best of the 3 that I have reviewed thus far.

"Gopo Gossum!" - This story is a parody of Walt Kelly's Pogo strip. In it, the Gopop Gossum of the title visits some big city cousins and returns home to the woods with his fellow animal creatures, convinced that the animals have to join political parties to make it big time. The remaining pages of the story feature animal parodies of various politicians at the time (many of which are lost to me, since this comic was published almost 30 years before I was born), and all of the animals are blown up. In the final two panels it is revealed that the bit city cousins Gopo met were Disney characters and that they meant an event type of party, not political parties.

"Scenes We'd Like to See!" - This story features a series of typical movie scenes, which are then retold in more interesting and funny fashion. It begins with a romance scene, then also goes into a fencing scene, a battle at a fort with indians, an escape from Nazis and a hero about to get bumped off by some mobsters. While an interesting concept, a lot of this story reeks of laziness to me. For the first 7 pages, entire scenes are repeated in black and white with only the final panel being changed, making for quite a bit of space wasted. Things only get interesting with the final scene, which reduces the 15+ scene of a hero in mortal peril escaping as is the typical cliche, to a 2 panel scene in which he is immediately killed by the bad guy.

"Believe It or Don't!" - This is a short 3 page feature that features various hard to believe people, accomplishments, etc... For example, Stalin was born in the Bronx, the water in Niagara Falls does not fall, but rather travels up, and various others. My favorite is the South American Indian "Symbol of Death" which causes death if gazed upon within a year. After this brief explanation is says "Too bad if you looked".

"The Barefoot Nocountessa!" - This story is about the Barefoot Nocountessa of the title, a beautiful woman who always walks barefoot. The story is told by a Humphrey Bogart lookalike called Humphry Yogurt who is talking about her at her funeral. It features various anecdotes about her, such as a pair of rich men fighting over her, her falling in love with a stench ridden bum and various others. At the end of the story it is revealed that she was murdered due to her smelly feet.

Shock SuspenStories #8

Credits:
Cover dated April/May 1953
Cover by Al Feldstein

"Piecemeal" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Assault!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Arrival" - Art by Al Williamson/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Seep No More!" - Art by George Evans/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

Another strong issue, with no below average stories.

"Piecemeal" - A man named Eric comes to visit his much older brother Sidney and meets his young and very attractive wife, Sally. Once Sidney goes to sleep Sally invites Eric to the pool outside and the two quickly fall in love.  Sidney is a collector of rare marine specimins and the two plot to murder him by getting him to overdose on sleeping pills the night of a big shipment he is expecting. That night the shipment comes but Sally convinces Sidney to go to bed before he can show it to her and Eric. Sally is successful in getting him to overdose on his sleeping pills as planned. She and Eric go outside to the pool to celebrate but Sidney's shipment, a man-eating shark, which he had put in the pool, eats Sally and Eric's arm, killing both of them. This story is a decent start to the issue.

"The Assault!" - Seventeen year old Lucy goes missing for 36 hours then turns up crying, claiming that she has been raped by an old recluse name Hodges who lives in a cabin by the outskirts of town. An angry mob confronts Hodges in his cabin and beats him to death. Days later a man named George shows up at Lucy's home wanting to talk to her about what happened to Hodges and they go to the woods to talk. An extended flashback shows George and Lucy meeting and spending a lot of time together, with her lying to her parents about where she has been. The night she dissappeared she was with George the whole time. George proposed to her, but Lucy claims their entire relationship is just for kicks and she's slept with several other men. She then lied about being raped by Hodges, a good friend of George's to cover up where she had been. George wants to reveal the truth, but she reminds him that she's underage and he'll go to jail if he does so. Knowing how rotten she is, George pulls out a gun and shoots her in the face. As often is the case, the "Shock" suspenstory is the best story of the issue and brought the usual level of controversy a few issues later in the letters column.

"The Arrival" - This story takes place on Mars, where one day the Martians see Earth burst into flames. Thousands of years go by and no life from Earth is seen. One day a light is finally seen departing from Earth. The Martians attempt to communicate with the Earthlings on the rocket ship and are able to through the usage of a translation device. The Earthlings tell the Martians about human history and the fact that there was eventually a nuclear war that occurred that resulted in the destruction of the planet. A few managed to survive and rebuilt the planet, building a greater civilization. The rocket ship lands on Mars and its passengers come out to meet the Martians, revealing themselves to be rats. A fun and entertaining story; my only complaint is that Williamson's artwork seems to falter after the first page.

"Seep No More!" - A man named Mr. Finner is questioned about the dissappearance of a young actress named Irene who lived in the same rooming house as him. Finner had murdered Irene after she spurned his advances and stuffed her body in the attic above his room. One day Finner wakes up to see a large splot of blood on the ceiling. He cleans it up, but it reappears even worse later on, forcing him to paint the entire ceiling to cover it. He is also forced to replace his bed sheets after the blood spills all over it. With the blood dripping from the ceiling he puts down a pail to collect it. All of this odd behavior convinces his landlady to call the cops on him and he confesses to the murder. The cops reveal to him however that he was imagining it all and tip over the pail, revealing it to be empty. A good modern retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's the Tell Tale Heart. EC did another Tell Tale Heart inspired story a few months later in The Haunt of Fear #20.

Frontline Combat #9

Credits:
Cover dated November/December 1952
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"Abe Lincoln" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"First Shot!" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Choose Sides!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Bull Run!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

This issue is the first of what was planned to be a seven issue series dedicated to the Civil War, told in chronological order. Unfortunately only 3 issues in the series were published (the other two being Two Fisted Tales #31 and #35) before the change in format and cancellation of both of EC's war comics forced a premature end. Overall its a fairly strong issue, with the first and the last stories being the best storywise. Art-wise things are good throughout.

"Abe Lincoln" - This story tells various anecdotes from Abraham Lincoln's life, including him hunting a turkey, pulling a prank by walking kids' muddy feet over the ceiling, saving a pig from the mud and other stories. It is framed by an elderly black man telling the stories and hoping that nothing happens to Lincoln in the Civil War.

"First Shot!" - This story takes place at Fort Sumter, where the first shot of the Civil War takes place. The story looks at a few soldiers in particular over a 3 day period. The Union soldiers attempt to defend the fort, but later surrender. After 2 days without anyone being killed, some of the Union's bags of gunpowder explode, killing one of their own soldiers.

"Choose Sides!" - This story takes place in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the few states that has not decided yet whether to secede from the Union or not. The story focuses in particular on an old man who watches as a group of Union soldiers march by. The crowd gets riled up, claiming that the Union soldiers are foreigners. The old man gets so riled up that he pulls out a pistol and shoots at the troops. This causes them to fire upon the crowd and the old man dies.

"Bull Run!" - This story focuses on the battle of Bull Run. It focuses in particular on three Union soldiers who like much of their fellow troops figure the war will be over in 3 months. They agree to all stick together and call themselves the three musketeers. One of them is soon shot and killed and the troops are forced to pull back and leave him there. As they retreat another one is killed. The last one retreats in defeat with the remaining soldiers, being forced to sleep by a doorway along with some other soldiers.

Two-Fisted Tales #24

Credits:
Cover dated November/December 1951
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"Hill 203!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Bug Out!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Rubble!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Weak Link!" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

"Hill 203!" - This story features a small group of U.N. troops manning the hill of the title. 4 men are responsible for holding the hill, manning a machine gun. A group of North Korean soldiers come up the hill, posing as South Korean troops and kill one of them. Chinese troops also storm the hill during the night and the men are successful in holding the hill, although they all end up dead. One of the more average Davis Korean stories that frequently led Two-Fisted Tales.

"Bug Out!" - A soldier in the Korean War flees when his forces are encountered by North Korean soldiers. He makes his way to a destroyed Korean village where he finds some North Korean soldiers eating. He shoots all of them with their own guns, then starts stuffing his face with their food. Suddenly a flee of American jets pass overhead and bomb the village. The narrative turns to the present, where the soldier is paralyzed, held in a hospital, remembering the story again from the beginning. A strong story, that was based on a real life event someone told Kurtzman.

"Rubble!" - This story tells the story of the rubble that a U.N. long-tom gun sits on during the Korean War. The rubble was part of land that belonged to the Chun family. The husband of the house works hard to build his home personally. He promises his wife he'll create a well, but he is always occupied by other things. Years pass, and troops head through the area, destroying the home with a single artillery blast. U.N. soldiers eventually come across it and use it to station the long-tom gun. Eventually it is moved off and water starts gushing from an underground spring unearthed by the blast, creating the well Chun always spoke of creating.. Another strong story, done entirely by Kurtzman, with the sympathetic Chun family, who worked so hard to build their home only for it to be destroyed and them killed in mere moments.

"Weak Link!" - this story takes place during World War II in Germany. A group of U.S. troops head through the forest. Two of the men are requested to man a bazooka on a nearby hill to prevent any tanks from crossing the river. One of the men, Pringle is very nervous and wants to flee. Once his companion is killed, he does flee the hill. This results in the tanks getting through and his entire squad is killed, including himself. The only story of this issue to not take place during the Korean War. Its another good story, rounding out an overall strong issue, showing that the actions of one cowardly soldier can result in everyone being killed.

Weird Fantasy #11

Credits:
Cover dated January/February 1952
Cover by Al Feldstein

"The Two-Century Journey!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Shrinking From Abuse!" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The 10th At Noon!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Thing in the Jar" - Art by Joe Orlando/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

"The Two-Century Journey!" - Mankind establishes a giant, 2 mile long spaceship in order to transport a group of 750 people to a planet 193 light years away that mankind hopes can be established as a space colony to save the Earth's overpopulation issues. The story shows the life of those that live in the ship and the Earth-like civilization they establish. Aging is greatly slowed down in the ship due to the strong hull of the ship blocking cosmic rays, forcing the elderly to sacrifice their lives so the ship itself won't become overpopulated. Eventually they reach the planet, only to realize that the planet is overpopulated just like Earth and that its inhabitants have done the same thing they have. Quite a wordy story, but overall a very good one.

"Shrinking From Abuse!" - A scientist named Hugo is working on developing a formula that enables him to shrink matter such that he can use it to shrink tumors and cure cancer. He shows this to a colleague of his, but constantly harasses his weakly wife. Hugo accidentally injects himself with the formula when he falls and starts shrinking. He climbs to a spoon so his wife will notice him, but she doesn't notice him and swallows him. Insider her body, he shrinks more and more until he is killed by a white blood cell. This story is similar in theme to "Lost in the Microcosm" from Weird Science #12 (1950).

"The 10th At Noon!" - This story features dueling story lines. In one, the Eastern Alliance threatens an ultimatum that will cause them to detonate a hydrogen bomb if their demands aren't met by December 10th at noon. In the other story, a pair of scientists work on a device that enables them to transmit a camera into the future and take a picture. They send the camera into the future to see the weather on the day of a football game, incidentally, December 10th, shortly after noon and find the ruins of New York city, destroyed by the hydrogen bomb. This story has an interesting splash panel, but otherwise is a rather mediocre one.

"The Thing in the Jar" - A farmer calls a local chemist to stop by his farm, where he shows him a small pond that causes anything that goes into it to be dissolved, as if it were acid. The chemist takes a sample of the water from the pond and brings it to his laboratory where he and his assistant discover that the liquid is actually an alien creature. They are able to get it to talk by connecting equipment to the flask it is kept in. Not trusting the creature, they get it drunk by pouring liquor into it and the creature reveals that the rest of its race will be invading Earth. The chemists burn the remains of the pond, but while they are out the creature fools the cleaning lady into dumping it down the drain, releasing it into the ocean. An interesting plot to this story, featuring a liquid-based alien.

The Crypt of Terror #18

Credits:
Cover dated June/July 1950
Cover by Johnny Craig

"The Maestro's Hand!" - Art by Al Feldstein/Story by Al Feldstein
"The Living Corpse" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by ???
"Madness at Manderville" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Ivan Klapper
"Mute Witness to Murder!" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig

"The Maestro's Hand!" - A man named Doctor Hellman comes to a lonely cabin in the woods where he finds a package waiting for him. Flashbacks reveal that Hellman was engaged to a woman named Virginia and had taken her to see the great musician Vladimir Borrstein. Virginia immediately falls in love with Vladimir's talens, which include not just playing the piano, but also painting. Virginia breaks off her engagement with Hellman and instead gets engaged to Vladimir. Hellman is convinced that Virginia is merely in love with Vladimir's talents, not him, and when Vladmir injures his hand, Hellman takes the opportunity to have it amputed. Vladimir is so distraught over losing his hand that he kills himself, and Virginia does the same shortly afterwards. Back in the present, Hellman opens the package, which is revealed to be Vladimir's severed hand. The hand comes alive and tries to kill Hellman. He tries all he can to avoid it, but it eventually grabs him by the throat and strangles him. Later the police find Hellman's body which shows that he actually imagined it all and strangled himself. A strong start to the issue, with good story and art from Feldstein.

"The Living Corpse" - A middle aged man named Jed Bryant works at a morgue. One night a corpse is brought in, but becomes alive, grasping Jed and causing him to be knocked out. Jed wakes up earlier and the corpse is gone, causing him to forge the books as if it was never there. Days later another corpse arrives and the same incident happens again, causing Jed's hair to go completely white in shock. Jed is convinced no one will believe him and instead of going to a doctor he goes to a theatre where a man named Satanus the magician defies death after beind held underwater. Later another corpse is brought to the morgue which is the murdered assistant of Satanus. Satanus himself is soon revealed to be the "living corpse", who had been faking his death so he could be brought to the morgue and the proof of his involvement in his assistant's murder could be  destroyed. The two struggle, and Satanus is knocked out when his head strikes a wall. Jed puts him in the freezer to hold him while he tries to call the police, but the shock of seeing a corpse come to life for the third time is too much and he dies of a heart attack. Locked in the freezer, Satanus freezes to death. A so-so art job, but another strong story.

"Madness at Manderville" - A woman named Marion is continuously nervous, including dropping dishes and being convinced that there are noises and lights outside when her husband Tom doesn't notice anything. Marion continues to go crazier and crazier, as the family dog is found dead. Tom brings her to a mental institution but upon arriving there, it is Tom who is committed as he wasn't noticing any of the things that were really happening. The ending to this story is a bit contrived, with Tom being committed over rather flimsy reasons. A similar ending was done in far superior fashion in the story "My Brother's Keeper" from Shock Illustrated #2.

"Mute Witness to Murder!" - A woman named Pam witnesses a neighbor murdering his wife which causes her to suddenly go deaf in shock. Her husband calls for a doctor to come, but the doctor, Dr. Bask, is the very man who committed the murder. Knowing she witnessed it, he has her committed to a mental institution where he plans to murder her by claiming she needs brain surgery, then murdering her during it. Pam soon regains her voice but keeps quiet, and manages to overpower Dr. Bask when he comes to take her. Bask, who has a heart condition begs her to call for help, but she refuses and he dies. This story was adapted for an episode of the Tales From the Crypt TV series late in the show's run. It is a type of story that would have fit better in Crime SuspenStories, having no supernatural elements to it.

Panic #5

Credits:
Cover dated October/November 1954
Cover by Al Feldstein

"Tick Dracy" - Art by Bill Elder/Story by Nick Meglin & Al Feldstein
"Baseball Jargon"/"Golf Match!"/"Football Terms!"/"Basketball!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Al
Feldstein
"Spots Before Your Eyes!" - Art by Joe Orlando/Story by Al Feldstein
"You Too Can Hook a Zillionaire!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein

My first issue of Panic, which EC brought into play to act as a Mad-imitator, just as many other Mad imitators were coming into the market. Unlike Mad, which was edited by Harvey Kurtzman, Panic was edited by Al Feldstein, who edited most of EC's other comics. Overall I wasn't much of a fan of EC's humor comics and that applies here. This is a so-so issue at best and I don't have much thoughts on the individual stories.

"Tick Dracy" - This is a parody of the well known comic Dick Tracy. In this story Tick tries to
solve the mystery of why his wife Mess Falseheart keeps getting cuts on her face. Tick chases down
and murders various parodies of Dick Tracy villains, despite the fact that they've all gone clean
and are innocent. At the end of the story it is revealed that Dick Tracy's face (which is always
shown from the side) is razor thin and him kissing her every night is cutting up her face.

"Baseball Jargon"/"Golf Match!"/"Football Terms!"/"Basketball!" - This story shows literal
translations of various baseball terms that we're used to hearing, to comedic effect. The story also
covers golf, football and basketball in similar such fashions. The story is more of individual panel
gags than a traditional story.

"Spots Before Your Eyes" - This story features parodies of 3 newscasters. The first covers a sportscaster, who goes through a long spiel before revealing that there were no sports that day. The second covers a weather caster who spends much of the broadcast doing tic-tac-toe. The third covers a garden expert who shows how to have a fine garden by having to spend massive amounts of money.

"You Too Can Hook a Zillionaire!" - This story features a movie that is created that can show ordinary women how they can find a zillionaire to marry. It features the ordinary woman, played by a Lauren Backache who moves into a fancy apartment building with two roommates played by Marylin Mahrone and Betty Graball. Marylin and Betty end up finding zillionaires to marry through dumb luck, while the man Lauren finds ends up being an unemployed bum, showing that an ordinary woman won't be able to hook a zillionaire after all. This story was a parody of the movie How to Marry a Millionaire.