WHAT IF MARVEL MASTERWORKED THE ATLAS ERA HORROR AND FANTASY COMICS?

When many people think of Marvel's forays into horror comics, the first thing that comes to mind is the late 50s "Atomic Era" Monster Comics, which Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and the rest of early Marvel's usual suspects pumped out in the pages of Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, and Strange Worlds. In fact, a couple of those monster anthologies- Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery- had been around since the start of the decade. Long-time readers were used to a certain product that they would no longer be getting with the turn to Atomic Monsters, so I'm sure the editorial changes came as perhaps a shock of terror and strange astonishment! While the seems a fair bet in today's Masterworks climate to expect to see many of the latter-day monsters achieve Masterworks glory, we shouldn't discount the altogether different sinister stylings of early Marvel horror.

Many of the stories found within the titles mapped herein are grounded precisely in the kind of content that made do-gooders like Dr. Fredric Wertham race off to Congress to save the children who flocked to them for thrills and chills. Zombies, witchcraft, werewolves and wacky weirdness abounded in titles like Spellbound, Suspense and Menace. These comic titles were all anthologies, keep in mind, and they exemplify perfectly the period of time when comics were in transition between the dominant periods of superheroes of the 40s and late 50s/early 60s revivals.

Many of comicdom's finest creators of the times are in the mix here, with work turned in by Stan Lee, Dick Ayers, Jerry Robinson, Joe Maneely, Bill Everett, Russ Heath, Al Williamson, and many more. With rumors that Masterworks will soon be hard-charging into genre material, such as actively pursuing Silver Age Monster material from comics like Tales of Suspense or Tales to Astonish (maps of which are covered in the Silver Age section of the maps), it is not beyond the realm of possibility that any one of these books could be covered in Masterworks! Enjoy perusing the maps found to the right of the introduction you're reading, and should one of these volumes particularly tickle the fancy of your Masterworks fandom, don't just dream about it! Drop Marvel Comics a letter and tell them about it! Or vote for it in the next Masterworks Survey.

Until you have the book in your hand, however, please enjoy this part of MarvelMasterworks.com! This page is still under construction, so check back often to see when the next batch of maps have been uploaded.

-- by Gormuu

NOTE FROM CHRIS: The maps on this page have been compiled from many various sources, but as you will notice, there are still quite a few issues without data. If you own any of these issues with missing data, any information you can supply would be greatly appreciated by all visitors to this site. I'd love to get accurate story titles and page counts for these issues. (And if you can supply an artist credit or two, that would be the icing on the cake!) If you can help, please e-mail CLEAZER72@YAHOO.COM)

_______________________________

Website design by Doug Roberts and John Thomas. All images on this site are copyright of Marvel Comics. This site is for reference purposes and promotion of the Masterworks line of books as well as Marvel Comics and their properties.