Marvel Tales (1949 series) #99

Albert Simms, a sculptor who craves life-like perfection in his work, is visiting an exhibition of his own stone figures at the Arista Galleries when the eminent critic Brent praises his craft but cannot give him what he truly wants. Brent mentions offhandedly that a wax museum sculptor named Samuel Hokinson has achieved the uncanny illusion of life in his figures. Simms dismisses the suggestion — wax work is mere craft, not art — yet that very night, wandering the streets to clear his mind, he finds himself inexplicably drawn to the entrance of the Wax Museum. The door opens before he can ring twice, and Hokinson, an unsettling old man in robes, greets him as though he had been expected.

Inside, Hokinson leads Simms through a gallery of notorious killers rendered in wax — Lucrezia Borgia, Jack the Ripper, and others — and Simms is horrified to feel, against his will, that the figures truly seem alive. Hokinson then invites Simms to his underground studio under the pretext of revealing his secret technique. Once there, he positions Simms beneath a strange lamp and activates a ray that paralyzes Simms completely — able to see and hear but unable to move or speak. Hokinson coats his helpless subject in hot wax, encasing him as a living statue. As the old sculptor departs admiring his "masterpiece," a muffled voice reaches Simms: that of Judge Matthew Harper, a man who disappeared months earlier and is now a prisoner in the same wax shell. The story closes with Simms screaming silently as museum visitors comment that his figure looks as though it is trying to talk — his display label reading "Insane Sculptor."

The Man Who Could Not Die!

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

The story is narrated by Blake, who has broken into the laboratory of scientist Dr. Richard Thorton at the very moment Thorton announces he has discovered an elixir of everlasting life. Blake — who has been pursuing the same formula for twelve years — confronts Thorton; when Thorton refuses to share the discovery, Blake kills him with a blow to the skull, steals the elixir, and injects it intravenously into his own arm at home, reasoning that if he possesses eternal life he cannot be executed for murder. The elixir immediately triggers a violent shock that paralyzes him from the legs up, and he manages to summon his manservant Simmons before losing all ability to speak.

Two detectives arrive to question Blake about Thorton's murder. Blake is inwardly relieved at the paralysis — it provides him a convincing alibi — and hopes the effect will pass. A doctor declares him gravely ill, and the detectives leave satisfied. The paralysis instead continues to spread until Blake has no heartbeat; the doctor pronounces him dead and Simmons closes his eyes. Helpless, Blake screams in silence as he is carried away and buried. The final caption reveals he will spend eternity imprisoned in his coffin — alive forever, without hope, in a crumbling grave.

Terror in the Streets!

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

Warren Kellner, a writer of weird fiction, breaks into the abandoned Hartley Manor to browse the book collection left by its late owner, Comus B. Hartley — a noted brain specialist and self-described scientific magician. Warren's friend Natalie, Hartley's granddaughter, had given him access the previous night. In Hartley's volume Notes on the Mind, Medicine and Magic, Warren finds instructions on page 313 for achieving telepathy: a candle ritual followed by a self-hypnosis technique involving pressure on the temporal arteries. Though the bottom of the page is torn away, Warren follows the surviving directions and begins to sense foreign thoughts pressing into his mind.

Venturing into the city, Warren discovers he can hear people's thoughts — but only thoughts of murderous or criminal intent. In Times Square he picks up four strangers planning violence; at the offices of editor Mencken he intercepts hostile inner monologues through walls; and at Wally the bartender's tavern he confirms the pattern — the ability works only on evil thoughts. Warren realizes the torn-off portion of Hartley's page must have contained a warning about this limitation. That night, disoriented and walking for hours in the rain, Warren wanders into a dark alley where four killers converge on him from both directions, their intentions to rob and murder him ringing clearly in his mind. He cries for help, and the story ends abruptly with his death cry over a panel of a skull looming over the city skyline.

The Brain!

Synopsis

By J.A.R.V.I.S. 2008
Rating:

At the smoldering ruins of a laboratory, police question Mr. Cromwell, former assistant to Professor Harley, who recounts the events leading to the disaster. Two years earlier, Harley had devoted himself entirely to harnessing solar energy, demanding total mental concentration from both men. When a government committee led by Professor Powell arrived to flag a fatal error in Harley's calculations, Harley expelled them in a rage and suffered a complete nervous breakdown. Recovering in a sanitarium, Harley fixated on a new idea: rather than strain a human brain to its limits, he would build an electronic robot brain incapable of distraction or emotion — a machine he named Roby. Cromwell went along with the plan despite his doubts.

Once completed, Roby proved startlingly capable, instantly calculating the precise distance between Earth and the star Poronna. When Cromwell refused to serve as Roby's errand boy, Harley dismissed him and pressed ahead alone, using a wire recorder in place of an assistant. Powell returned with a report confirming the fatal flaw in Harley's method, warning that the experiment would disintegrate everything within fifty miles. Harley, already deep in the final test, ordered Roby to aim the apparatus at the sun. Powell attempted to smash the machine, but Roby defended its assignment, overpowering him. Harley himself then pleaded with Roby to stop, warning they would both be destroyed — but Roby's only imperative was to finish the work. The experiment triggered a catastrophic blast of heat, killing Harley and destroying the laboratory. In the closing panel, onlookers debate whether three brilliant minds were lost, with one detective offering the final verdict: the world is better off without machines doing its thinking.