Astounding Stories #55

In "The Nightmare World of the Skull!" from Astounding Stories #55, The Skull, humiliated by another loss to the Black Hood, stakes a million dollars on a plan to end the hero’s reign—offering it to the Abominable Schemer, who proposes a dangerous scheme: to kill the Black Hood while he sleeps.

In "The Warning," a scientist’s experiment with the legendary Midas serum leads to an unexpected miracle when his dog begins turning touched objects to gold—used not for wealth, but to aid the needy. When a man driven by greed breaks in and tries to steal the dog, a violent struggle ensues, and the dog’s touch transforms both men into golden statues. The story stands as a quiet, haunting reminder of the cost of desire.

Jerry Marks comes back from the jungle with a strange idol, convinced it’s brought him luck—until his friend drops a shocking truth: the so-called relic was just an umbrella handle all along. In this six-page drama, superstition and reality collide in a story that lingers long after the final panel.

In "Mr. Justice and the Cosmic Terror!", the hero races to save the city from a colossal meteorite hurtling toward it—only to face a far more terrifying threat when the asteroid's impact unleashes a being of pure force, driven by an incomprehensible will to destroy. With the city on the brink, Mr. Justice must confront a menace that defies both science and reason.

In "Mystery in Midville," a clever but dishonest thief stumbles into a town where kindness is the norm, only to be drawn into a strange, unsettling mystery when a kind stranger warns him not to touch a locked box—its contents, he claims, took fifty years to collect. Curiosity gets the better of him, and the thief opens the box, unaware of what ancient secret he’s just unleashed.