Number 1561: Hidden people

Having had a close relative, now deceased, who “saw” invisible people I can tell you that those hallucinations can be very real to the person having them.

In this story from Strange Adventures #13 (1951), Scott, our main character, sees invisible people after an eye surgery. Really sees them. That’s because in fantasy and science fiction we accept as literal the extraordinary things happening to the characters. Yet when reality touches fiction, people would react to someone seeing invisible people as the extras do here, by assuming the person seeing said invisible aliens from Venus to be mentally ill. And how do we know they aren’t correct — perhaps Scott Fulton is hallucinating, and we are just seeing what he thinks he sees? Well, because this is a comic book, that’s why.

One thing bothers me, though. At the end of the story Scott is married to the invisible girl from Venus. So who conducted the ceremony? “I now pronounce you husband and, errrrr...uh...invisible wife.”

Story written by Edmond Hamilton using the pseudonym Hugh Davidson, pencils by Bob Oksner with inks by Bernard Sachs.

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Number 1013


The Cosmic Secret


Edmond Hamilton, writing here as Hugh Davidson, had a long career in the science fiction, weird tales and comic book field. I believe he wrote mainly, if not all, his comic book stories for DC, under editors Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz. The story, "Secret of the Ages" is a fantasy about living for centuries with an "elixir of youth." It's a variation on the type of story I showed Monday, from The Twilight Zone. In "Secret of the Ages" a scientist, Roger Bacon, predicts the scientific miracles that will come to the human race in time. An acolyte, Alleyn (later Allan) Kent takes the elixir, keeping him young for centuries while he follows scientific progress, keeping the formula for the "greatest secret" from his villainous rival.

The artwork is by comic book journeyman John Giunta, who drew comics from the 1940s through the '60s. He died in 1970; Hamilton died in 1977.

From Mystery In Space #2, 1951:

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Number 906


Smalle world


I like this story from Strange Adventures #4, 1950; it's fairly typical of Julius Schwartz-edited science fiction comics. Edmond Hamilton wrote it, and the title describes it: "The Crime Chase Through Time."

Ed Smalle drew it. He's another comic book journeyman. I haul out guys like Smalle to present to you because after all, these were the guys who were the backbone of the industry. Smalle was one of the early comic book artists, working for the Harry "A" Chesler shop in the 1930s, and continuing in the comics field until the mid-'50s. Information I have on Smalle says he died in 1957.

My favorite is the splash page, with the symbolic climbing from century to century. Schwartz used these types of symbolic splashes occasionally, because of their strong graphic images.

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Number 846

The World Saver comes through again

I'm an old science fiction reader but I shouldn't assume that everyone knows about Edmond Hamilton. He began his writing career in 1926 with a story, "The Monster-God of Mamurth" in Weird Tales, and was one of the most prolific and successful writers of science fiction up until his death in 1977. Hamilton, through his connections with DC editors Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz, wrote many comic book stories, most anonymously.

Hamilton was known amongst science fiction fans variously as World Saver, World Wrecker, Universe Saver, etc., for his plots, which often involved Earth being threatened with total destruction, with a hero saving the whole planet. So it is with "The Comet Peril!" from Mystery In Space #2, 1951, a story that gives Hamilton a byline. (He has another story in the issue, too, under the pen-name Robert Starr.) It's one of the future-in-the-past stories I've mentioned before: stories that were written years before the future date in the story, which we are now reading years after the date has passed. It's pretty obvious our planet didn't get hauled out of orbit by Halley's Comet's in 1986.

Artwork is by Murphy Anderson.

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Number 313

Evolution

This 5-page story from Harvey's Tomb Of Terror #12, November 1953, was appropriated (read: swiped) from the science fiction story, "The Man Who Evolved" by Edmond Hamilton. Hamilton, who was born in 1904, was a prolific writer from the 1920s until the 1970s. He wrote the Captain Future pulps. He was also a writer for DC Comics, writing many, many stories for editors Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz, both friends of his. "The Man Who Evolved," which appeared in the science fiction pulp Wonder Stories in 1931, was a favorite of Isaac Asimov, included in his anthology Before The Golden Age.

Oh yeah…the comic book story, "Evolution," was scripted by an unknown writer, but drawn by Manny Stallman and John Giunta. For a well-done Atlas horror story that may be Stallman go to The Horrors Of It All.

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