So much has been written about "pre-hero Marvel/Atlas monsters" that it seemed only fair to devote some weird words to classic "pre-Code Atlas creatures." Besides being the output of the same publisher some years apart, the genius of editor/writer Stan Lee presided over both achievements. Although monsters were a monthly mania in the pre-hero books, with Jack Kirby as the chief cover artist, they were only a sporadic part of the horror/fantasy mix in the pre-Code days. But though they appeared less frequently, they were often memorable. Witness the three presented here; not only are they excellent examples of the form, they also offer a gallery of the three top pre-Code Atlas fantasy cover artists: Russ Heath, Bill Everett, and Joe Maneely.

     Spellbound #3 (May 1952) is one of the great Atlas books, with a killer "creature" cover by Russ Heath and five stories that are entertaining reads with enjoyable art.

     The fun inside starts with "The Thing Behind the Wall," a tale of greed that stretches back to the beginning of World War II and ends with a powerful silent panel. Ogden Whitney's art paces the story perfectly and shines with its own quiet energy-especially in the triumphant finale.

     Next up is "The Worm," by Stan Lee and Fred Kida, a crime caper where a rich bully's wife talks his timid brother into murdering him. The huge human-headed worm (shown on the cover) does appear in a dream sequence.

     "The Flat Man" is a good entry in the off-beat "two-dimensional dudes" sub-genre. It's got all the depth you'd expect in a quickie about a "2-D" man but still amuses. The art is unsigned, but Hank Chapman is credited as the writer.

     "Crazy Glass" is an eerie yarn about a carnival fun-house mirror with outstanding art by Manny Stallman. Lastly, "X" is a superb four-pager drawn by Cal Massey-with a terrific splash panel. The story is a somewhat standard "murder will out" gig, but Massey's art gives it an admirable terseness.

     Menace #3 (May 1953) is another winner all the way. The werewolf cover by Bill Everett is sensational, and the insides feature four stories written by Stan Lee. "Men In Black" (catchy title) by Lee and John Romita is an awesome chiller about bigotry and hate crimes and weird retribution.

     ""Werewolf," engagingly drawn by Everett, has a lot of plot twists that don't lead anywhere special but make for a wild ride.

     "Rodeo" benefits from Russ Heath's clean and expressive realism in a story that shows there's still life in the familiar "love triangle leads to murder attempt plot".

      The wrap-up is "You're Gonna Live Forever," by the phenomenal team of Stan Lee and Joe Maneely. A "public enemy" on the lam stumbles into the lab of a chemist who's just invented a cell regeneration serum that promises immortality and the ability to withstand lethal wounds. He shoots the scientist and drinks the serum and decides to hide out in the Louisiana bayou country. There, of course, he meets the grim fate he deserves. Maneely drenches the pages with luminous intensity.

     Astonishing #30 (Feb 1954) is another really fine issue, with an "extreme impact" Joe Maneely creature cover, a couple of fantastic stories, and three worthwhile page-turners.

     "The Eyes," leads things off, with superior rendering by Pete Tomlinson. This is the story of giant tentacled eyeballs that rise up out of the ocean. They have the power to emit a beam that liquifies human flesh. Their mission is to raid graveyards, to plunder the eyes from fresh corpses, which they take back underwater and grow into giants like them. It's a riot, and the gag ending is only the slightest bit of a cop-out.

     There's a sci-fi yam that's not brilliant but at least has appealing art by Joe Sinnott, then another "unwilling immortality" fable, and a time travel tale about a hen-pecked genius who builds a device that transports him to the future where he finds life equally frustrating.

     The last offering, "Until You are Dead," is a good example of that Atlas specialty - the "death row" story. A crook commits murder during a bank robbery, and knowing it's only a matter of time before he's apprehended, tries to figure out a way to beat the gas chamber. He takes hostage a chemist and his daughter, and under threat to the girl, the scientist is forced to invent an antidote to the poison gas. But the narrative's climax involves a reversal that makes sure poetic justice is served. It's well done, and Tony di Preta's fast-paced art whirls the reader along and through the whip-crack ending.

     These three books also nicely illustrate how Atlas fantasy evolved through its peak years: the vitality of 1952 when Stan Lee's easygoing yet reliable way of working with freelancers built up an impressive stable of artists, prodigious 1953 when the four-color fantasy formulas yielded macabre masterpieces month after month, and the last hurrah of horror that marked early 1954 when publishers got their final fling at outrageousness as the era of censorship approached.

     The giant worm, the werewolf, and the flying eyeballs are indeed fit company for such pre-hero delights as Fin Fang Foom and Tim Boo Ba, created during the second wave of creatures, when fantasy comics enjoyed a renaissance in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Pat Calhoun has been collecting, researching and appreciating comic books since the early 1960s, and is a nationally recognized comic book historian. Pat resides in Santa Rosa, California.