Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #3
Published March 1971
Frequency bi-monthly
Cover Price 0.25 USD
Pages 68
Editing Stan Lee

Cover Details

Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Steve Ditko
Notes The artwork is a variant of the original cover from Strange Tales (Marvel, 1951 series) #88 (September 1961)

13 page story "Zzutak the Thing That Shouldn't Exist!!"

Characters Frank Johnson (introduction); Yucoya-Tzin (introduction, not named); Zzutak (introduction, origin); Zzutak's enemy (introduction, origin)
Synopsis An American comic book artist is given magic paints which make whatever is painted with them real. He is compelled to go to Mexico and paint a monster as planned by the Aztec priest who gave him the paints. When he is ordered to paint more monsters, the artist uses his willpower to make his next monster fight the first, causing the temple to collapse on both monsters, giving the priest amnesia and ending his threat.
Genre monsters
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Steve Ditko
Notes Narrated in the first person. Frank Johnson, Yucoya-Tzin, Zzutak and Zzutak's enemy all next appear in Fantastic Four Unlimited (Marvel, 1993 series) #7 (September 1994).
Reprinted from Strange Tales (Marvel, 1951 series) #88 (September 1961)

5 page story "I Must Find Korumbu!"

Characters Hugo Barge; Korumbu
Genre horror
Script Stan Lee ?; Larry Lieber ?
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Reprinted from Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 1952 series) #64 (January 1961)

5 page story "The Man Who Hated Monstro!"

Characters Karl Krumm; Monstro
Synopsis A star acrobat is jealous of a popular gorilla at his circus and torments it. Finally, he arranges for the gorilla to break free so that it will be shot, but it has enough strength left to swing out on the trapeze to get revenge.
Genre animal
Script Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)
Pencils Paul Reinman
Inks Paul Reinman
Letters Art Simek
Reprinted from Journey Into Mystery (Marvel, 1952 series) #92 (May 1963)

5 page story "The Gentle Old Man!"

Characters Gregory "Greedy" Grundy
Synopsis A greedy landlord is captured by a time traveler who maintains a collection of 'dolls' consisting of miniaturized heartless people from different eras.
Genre science fiction
Script Stan Lee
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Letters Art Simek
Reprinted from Journey Into Mystery (Marvel, 1952 series) #94 (July 1963)

4 page story "Journey Into Nowhere!"

Characters Walter Johnson; Thomas Blake
Synopsis Two scientists working on a time machine have differing opinions about the possibility of traveling into the future. When their attempt to do so seems to take them to the stone age, they believe they have proved travel into the future impossible, not suspecting that they actually saw the world after the destruction of civilization by war.
Genre science fiction
Pencils Joe Sinnott
Inks Joe Sinnott
Notes Narrated in the second person.
Reprinted from Strange Tales (Marvel, 1951 series) #69 (June 1959)

5 page story "A Monster Waits Outside!!"

Characters Maj. Ford
Synopsis An astronaut is sent into orbit in a tiny sphere without communication. He sees a monster trying to claw its way in and panics, signalling ground control to bring him back. They think that it was a hallucination, but they find a broken claw on the spacecraft.
Genre horror
Script Stan Lee ?; Larry Lieber ?
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Notes Narrated in the second person.
Reprinted from Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 1959 series) #12 (October 1960)

5 page story "Save Me! Save Me!"

Characters Albert Poole
Synopsis A scientist makes himself able to walk on water in order to steal secret military plans from a ship. But when he returns to the shore he finds that he now sinks on land.
Genre science fiction
Script Stan Lee ?; Larry Lieber ?
Pencils Paul Reinman
Inks Paul Reinman
Notes Narrated in the first person.
Reprinted from Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 1959 series) #12 (October 1960)

5 page story "The Lifeless Man!"

Characters Joey Clark
Synopsis A young boy prefers an old wooden toy soldier to more modern toys. His friends make fun of the toy, but when they are threatened by a bear the soldier seems to drive it off with its rifle, and from then on they all love toy soldiers.
Genre fantasy
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Reprinted from Strange Tales (Marvel, 1951 series) #88 (September 1961)

7 page story "I Dared to Battle...Rorgg King of the Spider Men!!"

Characters Rorgg; Tim; Frank; Ann
Synopsis Rorgg invades a small New Mexico town and our boy hero kills him dead with a spray can of DDT.
Genre monsters
Script Stan Lee ?; Larry Lieber ?
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Dick Ayers
Notes Narrated in the first person.
Reprinted from Journey Into Mystery (Marvel, 1952 series) #64 (January 1961)