Amazing Adult Fantasy #12

In "Melvin and the Martian!" from Amazing Adult Fantasy #12 (1962), a con artist gets more than he bargained for when a visiting alien offers him the power to never lose at games—on one condition. As Melvin tests his newfound luck, the Martian's true intentions slowly reveal themselves in a twist that leaves him far from the winner he thought he’d become.

In "I, the Gargoyle!", a lonely man with a gentle spirit ventures deep into the Earth’s core aboard a digging machine, seeking solitude in the planet’s hidden depths. There, he stumbles upon a quiet civilization that perceives the world not through sight, but through empathy and feeling—offering him a connection he’s long been denied.

In a quiet moment of creative frustration, Lee and Ditko are stymied by writer’s block when an odd stranger interrupts their office, offering tales from beyond the ordinary—only to be unceremoniously shown the door. As he vanishes into sparkles and retreats to the fifth dimension, the two creators, bemused and a little disappointed, finally admit that nothing truly strange ever happens to them—before deciding it’s time for lunch.

In "The Plague!" from *Amazing Adult Fantasy* #12, a dying dictator, consumed by paranoia and rage, attempts to drag the world into war by shooting down an American plane he believes is a threat. But as he prepares to unleash chaos, a single message arrives—too late to change his fate—revealing the truth behind the plane’s mission.

In "The Living Statues!", a lone astronaut returns from a faster-than-light journey to find Earth frozen in near-perfect stillness—every person and thing suspended in time, as if caught in a single, breathless moment. The silence of a world that never moved while he traveled becomes a haunting mystery he must unravel, one frozen step at a time.