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Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Strange Tales #4
Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Strange Tales, Vol. 4
Collects Strange Tales #31-39.
From the heart of the 1950s comes another dose of horrific monsters, unhinged lunatics, rampaging robots, and outer space invaders-the hallmarks of the explosive Atlas Era! Yes, it's a new batch of classics from the time when your comics kept you up at night. Chock full of stories that run the spectrum of twists, surprises and shocks, Marvel Atlas Era Strange Tales features a host of artistic talent rarely seen a single series! So prepare yourself for just a few of the shocks they have in store for Werner Roth will find out whether or not you're made of "Flesh and Blood." Joe Sinnot sets off the "Danger Signal." Like it or not, Paul Reinman will discover whether you're "Man or Beast." John Romita sets his sights on "The Target." And Bill Everett reveals "Karnoff's Plan." Marvel Atlas Era Strange Tales is a dark trip into the wry and subversive heyday of horror comics that pushed comics hysteria to the breaking point. So why don't you see what all the hubbub was about and come join us for a scare?
From the heart of the 1950s comes another dose of horrific monsters, unhinged lunatics, rampaging robots, and outer space invaders-the hallmarks of the explosive Atlas Era! Yes, it's a new batch of classics from the time when your comics kept you up at night. Chock full of stories that run the spectrum of twists, surprises and shocks, Marvel Atlas Era Strange Tales features a host of artistic talent rarely seen a single series! So prepare yourself for just a few of the shocks they have in store for Werner Roth will find out whether or not you're made of "Flesh and Blood." Joe Sinnot sets off the "Danger Signal." Like it or not, Paul Reinman will discover whether you're "Man or Beast." John Romita sets his sights on "The Target." And Bill Everett reveals "Karnoff's Plan." Marvel Atlas Era Strange Tales is a dark trip into the wry and subversive heyday of horror comics that pushed comics hysteria to the breaking point. So why don't you see what all the hubbub was about and come join us for a scare?
232 pages, Hardcover
First published April 20, 2011
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60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 9, 2019
Alot of the artists form the Atlas era of Marvel are mostly forgotten today. A few of the big names like Kirby kept to the mainstream light but most faded away. These are some great stories showcasing these lost artist and sometimes writers, yes Stan Lee occasionally let others write the comics back, then. Good entertaining read. Recommended
April 24, 2024
Curious and dated, just like me!
December 2, 2023
Marvel might have done better to juggle the contents of the first three volumes so that the Pre-Code stuff ended with Volume 3 and Volume 4 started with the post-code material. The quality takes a nosedive with issue 35, when the Comics Code Authority kicks in. The writing was B-level before the Code, and sunk down to abysmal levels once the Code was implemented.
The artwork is good and sometimes even great. I really appreciate the ink and brush artists here in this modern photoshop era of comic book artwork. These guys were good because they had to be. Making a mistake was costly to a comic book artist back then.
All of the stories in issue 31 are great, but it's The Strange Ones! that really takes the cake. We find a group of scientists who, as mutants, help humanity and search out for others of their kind to help keep the world safe. This is, in a nutshell, the premise of the X-Men nearly a decade prior to their debut. They even use the word mutant for chrissakes! Paul S. Newman should have sued Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Marvel for stealing his idea.
Issue 32's Harley's Friends is a tale of an old miser who buys an old abandoned lodge in the woods...the better to hide his money! In an attempt to find a safe place to hide his loot, he pries up some floor boards, and that's when he finds them. Three corpses. Rather than, I don't know, scream or call the cops, he instead chuckles how they won't steal his money. As he further descends into madness, he begins sitting them at the table, at the fireplace, even putting them in his car as he drives into town. The man who murdered them goes to check on the bodies. He has a heart attack due to the shock of them having gone missing and falls into the hole in the floor where the bodies were stored. When Harvey returns to the cabin he puts his friends back in the floor he is delighted to find another “friend” waiting for him. The killer comes to, banging on the floor, but Harvey assumes it's his imagination playing tricks on him and allows him to suffocate.
While issue 34 is the final pre-Code issue collected in this book, it is the first watered down one as well. Gone are all macabre elements, gone are all shock endings, and gone was my enjoyment until issue 38. While there are some okay stories in 34-37, they pale by comparison to the issues that came before and after. Issue 38's No Escape! plays like an episode of The Twilight Zone. In it, a disenchanted married couple come to an agreement that they should have never been married. Then there is a show on television showing them all of the different outcomes that could have come if they didn't meet. As it turns out, all of them end up with them being married, so they decide that they were meant to be. Awwww. I won't give away the twist ending.
Issue 39 is better still, as we get stellar Bill Everett artwork in Karnoff's Plan! Also in this issue, Blind Spot!, with artwork by the incredible Sid Greene, is a riff on the age old beauty is in eye of the beholder cliché, but done with a space alien bent. UFOs and the fear of Communist infiltration factor high in these stories, just like they did in most entertainment of the day.
This is a decent, albeit incredibly uneven read. It's worth owning for the artwork and historical significance alone.
The artwork is good and sometimes even great. I really appreciate the ink and brush artists here in this modern photoshop era of comic book artwork. These guys were good because they had to be. Making a mistake was costly to a comic book artist back then.
All of the stories in issue 31 are great, but it's The Strange Ones! that really takes the cake. We find a group of scientists who, as mutants, help humanity and search out for others of their kind to help keep the world safe. This is, in a nutshell, the premise of the X-Men nearly a decade prior to their debut. They even use the word mutant for chrissakes! Paul S. Newman should have sued Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Marvel for stealing his idea.
Issue 32's Harley's Friends is a tale of an old miser who buys an old abandoned lodge in the woods...the better to hide his money! In an attempt to find a safe place to hide his loot, he pries up some floor boards, and that's when he finds them. Three corpses. Rather than, I don't know, scream or call the cops, he instead chuckles how they won't steal his money. As he further descends into madness, he begins sitting them at the table, at the fireplace, even putting them in his car as he drives into town. The man who murdered them goes to check on the bodies. He has a heart attack due to the shock of them having gone missing and falls into the hole in the floor where the bodies were stored. When Harvey returns to the cabin he puts his friends back in the floor he is delighted to find another “friend” waiting for him. The killer comes to, banging on the floor, but Harvey assumes it's his imagination playing tricks on him and allows him to suffocate.
While issue 34 is the final pre-Code issue collected in this book, it is the first watered down one as well. Gone are all macabre elements, gone are all shock endings, and gone was my enjoyment until issue 38. While there are some okay stories in 34-37, they pale by comparison to the issues that came before and after. Issue 38's No Escape! plays like an episode of The Twilight Zone. In it, a disenchanted married couple come to an agreement that they should have never been married. Then there is a show on television showing them all of the different outcomes that could have come if they didn't meet. As it turns out, all of them end up with them being married, so they decide that they were meant to be. Awwww. I won't give away the twist ending.
Issue 39 is better still, as we get stellar Bill Everett artwork in Karnoff's Plan! Also in this issue, Blind Spot!, with artwork by the incredible Sid Greene, is a riff on the age old beauty is in eye of the beholder cliché, but done with a space alien bent. UFOs and the fear of Communist infiltration factor high in these stories, just like they did in most entertainment of the day.
This is a decent, albeit incredibly uneven read. It's worth owning for the artwork and historical significance alone.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews