Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery, Vol. 1

Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery #1

by Stan Lee, Carl Wessler, Russ Heath (Illustrator)

Collects Journey Into Mystery #1-10

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Anthologies, Mystery

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 2008

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love reading the old Marvel (Atlas comics back then) monster and horror stories. they have a very different "feel" than today's stories. Somehow simpler and more direct. Nice collection of the beginning of this great comic. Recommended

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atlas (that's what Marvel was called before they were Marvel), like most comic book companies of the era, was a derivative company, jumping on whatever fad of the day was shipping units. EC struck gold with their “new trend” line in the early ‘50s, and the claim jumpers came a-runnin’ with their own line of Horror comics. These were all, of course, inferior to EC’s output, but there are some solid, entertaining stories in many of these imitators. Many greats worked on this title: Russ Heath, Dick Ayers, Stan Lee, Mike Sekowsky, Carmine Infantino, John Romita, Sr., Joe Maneely, along with some forgotten talents like Carl Hubbell, Jimmy Infantino, Carl Wessler, Dick Briefer, Al Luster and Charles A. Winter. I wonder how many of these stories Stan Lee actually wrote. Credits were scant back in this era, and comic historians have pieced together many of the credits in the table of contents via signatures on the splash page or stylistic cues. There are such cues in many of these stories that lead me to believe that Stan Lee wrote many more than he was credited for. I suppose we’ll never really know, because Stan has a bad memory and nobody kept track of the “funny books” they were working on back then. Issue 8’s The Strange Case of Mr. Whimple was good, and seemed familiar. A bit too familiar. Digging through my books, I deduced that it was a blatant rip-off of The Basket from EC’s Haunt of Fear No. 7 (May-June, 1951) from two years prior. Plagiarism was rampant during this era, and Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines were known to liberally borrow from Ray Bradbury. Go online and do some research for that amusing tale of how he went to work for them. Marvel needs to release more Pre-Code Horror in hardcover. More more more!

[E.R. Torre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun pre-superhero Marvel stories

Shortly before Marvel hit it really big with the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man Marvel released books like this, which owed more than a little to the EC horror books released only a few years before. Though not quite as edgy and gory as the EC books, the stories presented here are perfectly entertaining and, if you look hard, you’ll spot early examples here and there of artists who would blossom into greatness a short while later. Recommended!

[Roberto Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good chills from the Atlas era of Marvel

Read it on the phone. Good digital version. Each panel is well rendered in the guided view, witj poping colors. This stories might not get you nightmares, and may seem tame for today standards, but are a fine example of the pre-code, pre-Mighty Thor era of this book. Recommended if you can get it on comixology/kindle unlimited subscriotion, or on the $0.99 sale of Masterworks each december on amazon digital.

[Shawn Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

That's the stuff

Pre-code horror, I suspect one either loves it or loathes it. For me it's so much fun. The artwork is surprisingly good. The plots don't make a lick of sense, but who cares. Make mine Marvel!!!

[José Ignacio ZG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthology comic book of pre-code eerie short stories. All of them with a plot twist at the end that sometimes is pretty predictable.

[Arline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd have no problem ripping the book apart if it deserved it, but after the first few chapters, I felt myself drawn in to this story.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a mixed bag in terms of writing, which is mostly uncredited (only Stan Lee and Carl Wessler are identified as writers, and only on a very few of the stories), but the art is incredibly evocative. As the long reading period suggests, this is thew sort of book you pick up, read a few stories, and go back to later. Only the Jerry Robinson story in issues 9-10 has any continuity between issues, and it probably should have had another follow up, since its twist ending was one I didn't see coming.