(November 1961)

Marvel, 1952 Series
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Volume
1
Price
0.10 USD
Pages
36
Indicia Frequency
monthly
On-sale Date
1961-08-31
Publisher's Age Guidelines
Approved by the Comics Code Authority
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
Atlas Magazines Inc.
Brand
MC
Editing
Stan Lee (editor)

Issue Notes

Includes 10 pages of paid advertisements (pages 2, 9, 15, 19, 25, 27, 33-36 of comic including inside front cover, inside back cover and back cover); pages of comic not numbered. On-sale date from 1961 Periodicals, Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
This issue has variants:
Parts of this issue are reprinted:

Thing in the Black Box; Midnight at the Wax Museum (Table of Contents)

cover / 1 page (report information)

Script
Stan Lee
Pencils
Jack Kirby
Inks
Dick Ayers
Colors
Stan Goldberg
Letters
Artie Simek

Genre
fantasy-supernatural; science fiction
Characters
Dan Harper; Bob Crane
Reprints
Keywords
monsters

Indexer Notes

Inking credit from Nick Caputo via the GCD Errors list, December 2008. Original indexer had not credited an inker.

The Thing in the Black Box! (Table of Contents: 1)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee ? (plot); Larry Lieber ? (script)
Pencils
Jack Kirby
Inks
Dick Ayers ?; Marvin Stein ? (see notes)
Colors
Stan Goldberg
Letters
Artie Simek

Job Number
V-377
Genre
fantasy-supernatural
Characters
Dan Harper; Pandora
Synopsis
A shipwrecked man meets the legendary Pandora, who tricks him into releasing the demons from her box. Humanity is helpless against the demons, but the man forces Pandora to recall them by dispelling her illusory beauty.
Reprints
Keywords
monsters

Indexer Notes

Ayers inks per Nick Caputo, September 2014. Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr. credits Marvin Stein but Nick sees no evidence of his inking on this story.

Narrated in the first person. This story is retold in Chamber of Darkness (Marvel, 1969 series) #3 (February 1970) as "Something Lurks on Shadow Mountain" by Roy Thomas and John Buscema.

Job number from Tom Lammers and Ger Apeldoorn via the Atlas/Timely discussion group.

Story is pages 3-7, 10-11 of comic (pages of story numbered 1 to 7).

The Remedy Oil (Table of Contents: 2)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
Marie Severin
Inks
Marie Severin
Colors
?
Letters
typeset

Job Number
J-984
Genre
science fiction
Characters
Mrs. Gerrity; Tom Gerrity; Officer O'Malley; Logarithm
Synopsis
An old-fashioned shopkeeper unwittingly saves the life of a boy from Mechanica when her remedy oil lubricates the gears in his brain.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Text story with illustrations. Text story is pages 8, 26 of comic (pages of story not numbered).

Midnight in the Wax Museum (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee ? (plot); Larry Lieber ? (script)
Pencils
Jack Kirby
Inks
Dick Ayers ?; Marvin Stein ? (see notes)
Colors
Stan Goldberg
Letters
Ray Holloway ?

Job Number
V-378
Genre
science fiction
Characters
Bob Crane
Synopsis
An artist falls asleep in a wax museum and after midnight he is awoken by a sound. When he investigates, he finds that the wax figures are really aliens who are observing humans. He flees and summons the police, who attack the aliens with tear gas. The entire wax museum begins to shudder and the whole building lifts off into space. They leave behind a book which states that their intent was to pass along beneficial knowledge, but the humans are too dangerous and perhaps they will return in a thousand years.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Ayers inks per Nick Caputo, September 2014. Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr. credits Marvin Stein but Nick sees no evidence of his inking on this story. Bob Crane, the fictional protagonist, is described as an artist for Journey into Mystery.

Job number from Tom Lammers and Ger Apeldoorn via the Atlas/Timely discussion group.

Story is pages 12-14, 16-18 of comic (pages numbered 1 to 6).

The Mechanical Men! (Table of Contents: 4)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee (signed as Stan Lee [early- to mid-career])
Pencils
Steve Ditko (signed as S. DITKO)
Inks
Steve Ditko (signed as S. DITKO)
Colors
Stan Goldberg
Letters
Artie Simek

Job Number
V-404
Genre
science fiction
Characters
Patrolman Patrick Smith; Z-4
Synopsis
An alien plot to infiltrate Earth with robotic dolls is unwittingly foiled by a police officer trying to get rid of peddlers.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Job number from Tom Lammers and Ger Apeldoorn via the Atlas/Timely discussion group. Lee credit noted by Stephane Petit via the GCD Errors list, February 2010.
Story is pages 20-24 of comic (pages of story numbered 1 to 5).

Forever Is a Long Long Time! (Table of Contents: 5)

comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script
Stan Lee ? (plot); Larry Lieber ? (script)
Pencils
Don Heck
Inks
Don Heck
Colors
Stan Goldberg
Letters
Ray Holloway ?

Job Number
V-379
Genre
science fiction
Characters
Luther Kane; Dr. Jonathan Weems
Synopsis
A greedy businessman bullies a scientist into giving him a device that can give humans the 1,000-year lifespan of a giant redwood. He ignores the scientist's warnings and uses the ray on himself alone in his mansion, finding to his horror that the ray also renders its subject as immobile as a redwood.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Narrated in the first person. This story is a retelling of "I Can Live Forever!" drawn by John Forte, in issue #55 (November 1959). The original has a more sympathetic main character and a happy ending.

Possible Lee plot/Lieber script per Nick Caputo. Original indexer credited Stan Lee solely based on his later plot credit for another version of this story in issue #103 (April 1964).

Story is pages 28-32 of comic (pages of story numbered 1 to 5).

Editing
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. Thing in the Black Box; Midnight at the Wax Museum
  2. 1. The Thing in the Black Box!
  3. 2. The Remedy Oil
  4. 3. Midnight in the Wax Museum
  5. 4. The Mechanical Men!
  6. 5. Forever Is a Long Long Time!
This issue was modified by, among others
  • Bill Borre
  • Ray Bottorff Jr
  • Roger Brochu
  • David Bruce
  • Nick Caputo
  • Steve Coates
  • Gregory Fischer
  • Merlin Haas
  • Matthew Head
  • Ethan Hoddes
  • machinal jocelyn
  • Ramon Schenk
  • Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr (R.I.P.)
  • Jim Van Dore