Last week, we looked at the first two stories included in Strange Adventures #6 (March 1951). This week, we'll look at the final two stories. (I'm leaving out some short non-story features and a humor page.)
We start with "The Last Man and Woman," written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Jack Lehti. It's a story that one could be tempted to mock. First, the main characters are Adam Numan and his wife Evelyn. Adam and Eve--in a story titled "The Last Man and Woman." Right away, we know (in general terms) how this is going to end.
Also, when Adam invents a suspended animation technique that will essentially allow him to visit the future and talk to the important people of that era, Eve decides to go along to make sure he doesn't run off with a futuristic glamor girl and worries that her clothes might be out of fashion.
But I'm not going to mock the story. Well, I'm not going to mock beyond pointing out the initial temptation to mock it. Because the story's execution, especially in terms of Lahti's imaginative art, is superb.
Adam arranges for an underground chamber in an area safe from earthquakes.Other factors mentioned tell us he's intelligently planning his venture, adding verisimilitude to the tale.
But a lightning stike damages the clock that was supposed to wake them up every 100 years. They sleep for three million years, missing out on a nuclear war and mankind's descent into barbarism. When a now mutated humanity begins to again progress, they realize the planet is dying. They leave for the stars, hoping to colonize another planet. They've found Adam and Eve, but there's no room on their ship. So the two sleepy heads are given their own small ship and the ability to go back into suspended animation during the thousands of years it takes to travel between stars.
Eve more than makes up for her earlier silliness by encouraging her despairing husband. They begin to search for the rest of humanity, visiting planet after planet over the course of thousands of years. At one point, Eve uses a ray gun to save Adam from an alien monster.
Finally, they give up trying to find the rest of humankind. Instead, they find a pleasant planet and settle down. And so we get to the ending that was so obviously telegraphed throughout the tale--Adam and Eve settle on what we realize is Earth.
But this effectively told story, so attentive to details and given backbone by the great artwork, makes us forgive this predictability. The story has earned its ending.
"The Vampire World," written by Mann Rubin and drawn by Cresto, starts off with the discovery of a planetoid that has apparently been trying to sneak up on Earth. What's even more worrisome is the giant tentacles that are springing from the alien world. Mankind mobilizes its armies, but what can they do when the planet finally attacks us?
The first tentacle makes contact in Africa and sprouts more tentacles. It starts sucking up diamonds. It also proves impervious to attack. Later, other tentacles land in Iran and Pennsylvania and start syphoning off oil and coal.
Mankind seems doomed. But a scientist has a plan. A huge supply of uranium is gathered together in one spot, then sprayed with a deadly poison. The tentacle falls for the trap, sucking up the poisoned uranium and dying. Other tentacles also die and the Vampire World retreates into space.
It's another pretty good story. I have been able to find out absolutely nothing about the artist Cresto, other than he drew this story, tentatively drew a couple of covers, then disappeared from comic book history. But his art here is pretty good. The lack of a final shot of the Vampire World running away (or lurking nearby to one day renew its attack) would have been a benefit. In graphic storytelling, its always better to show rather than merely tell. But that's a nitpick. The art we are given is effective and often powerful.
That's it for Strange Adventures. Next week, we'll jump ahead a decade or so to look at a Marvel Comics science fiction tale. Then, in two weeks, we'll visit with Green Lantern.
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