Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3

In "Klagg!, Part 1," an alien visitor named Klagg arrives on Earth only to be horrified by humanity’s endless wars—so horrified he declares war on the planet itself. When a hero steps forward, they rally communist agents and democratic forces into an unlikely alliance, proving that even divided nations can stand united.

In "Whose Face Is in the Mirror?", a man wakes to find a stranger's face staring back at him from the mirror—then shatters. When the same thing happens in two more mirrors, he flees his home, desperate to avoid reflections, only to face his doppelgänger in the elevator. The story unfolds with quiet dread, each mirrored encounter tightening the grip of unease.

In "The Man from... Tomorrow!", a desperate inventor from the future arrives in the Roman Empire of 25 A.D., armed with advanced knowledge and gadgets meant to prove his identity. But without electricity, fuel, or modern infrastructure, his devices fail—leaving him stranded and his claims unproven in a world that can't believe him.

In "Beware of... Bruttu [Part 1]," a lonely scientist’s life takes a monstrous turn when an accident transforms him into a creature feared by all—except perhaps the one person he never thought would see past his appearance. As he struggles to communicate and reclaim his humanity, he finds unexpected connection in the quiet kindness of a girl who sees him for who he truly is.

In a tense, isolated outpost on Mars, a lone human soldier begins to suspect that one of their own is not who they claim to be. When a lie about a lost comrade triggers an unexpected reaction, the truth about who’s human—and who isn’t—begins to unravel.

In "The Anatomy of a Nightmare!" from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3, a struggling science fiction writer takes a risky shortcut—pills to force a nightmare—hoping for inspiration. What he dreams of, though, is a grotesque vision of red-eyed aliens, only to realize it’s just his own life, twisted and amplified.

In "I Entered the Dimension of Doom!", a curious teenager stumbles upon a strange construction crew digging a mysterious hole in the street—only to realize it's no ordinary excavation. As the dig reveals a hidden rift between dimensions, the teen must stop a sinister plan by two-dimensional beings using the hole as a gateway to invade Earth.

In "The Creature from the Black Bog!" from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3, a retired couple stumbles upon a stranded alien in the Everglades, trapped in the thick mire of a mysterious bog. With the help of the couple, the alien begins to repair his ship—offering a surprising bargain that leaves them younger, and with no memory of the encounter.

In "Going Down!", a desperate elevator operator bets everything on a dangerous ruse, manipulating a wealthy passenger into tipping him big—only to find the man’s promise of reward is far more sinister than he ever imagined. The story unfolds in chilling silence as the elevator plummets, and the line between greed and doom begins to blur.

In "The Changeling," a teenage stowaway from a distant future dares to defy the warnings of scientists who say humanity has evolved beyond Earth. With a stolen faster-than-light ship, he journeys back to the planet of his ancestors—only to discover that time has made Earth a world not just foreign, but unimaginably small.

In "The Insect Man," a soldier sealed in a capsule for isolation testing begins to unravel when a telepathic insect attacks him in the dark. Though authorities dismiss his ordeal as stress, a fragment of the creature remains—hidden in the pod, waiting.

In "Beware... the Ticking Clocks!", a king finds himself trapped in his own clockroom, where time itself seems to turn against him as an assassin closes in. With gears turning and shadows shifting, the king’s prized timepiece holds a secret far more sinister than mere mechanics.

In "Long Live the King!", a cunning prince marries a widowed queen, lured by her wealth and power. As his schemes unfold, the portrait of her late husband seems to stir—its gaze fixed, its silence broken by a spectral warning that echoes through the night.

In "The Death of Monstrollo!", a movie producer’s ambitious sci-fi project—a towering robotic monster built for a film—faces cancellation amid bad press. Just as he prepares to scrap the machine, an alien invasion forces his hand: the robot, designed for spectacle, becomes humanity’s unlikely defender. When the aliens unleash nerve weapons and toxic gas, the machine stands unharmed, driving them into retreat. Though the public mourns the lost investment, the producer knows the truth—the machine wasn’t just a prop, it was a savior.

In "The Unseen!", a scientist's ambition leads him down a dangerous path when a communist agent offers him a fortune for his work on an invisibility ray. Greed overrides caution as he completes the device—only to discover too late that the ray has made him intangible, trapped in a body he can no longer control, with no way to reverse the transformation.

In "The Hidden Face," a hate-filled alien preacher, masked beneath layer after layer of hood, finds his crusade unraveling when he’s caught in the act. As police close in, he frantically peels back each concealing layer—only to discover there’s always another beneath, deeper and more insidious than the last. The story lingers on the quiet, haunting moment when the truth of his concealment becomes undeniable, leaving the weight of his own deception to define him.

Jo, a struggling artist with no talent, finds sudden fame after receiving enchanted paints from a gypsy—only to lose everything when his obsession with perfection drives away his lover. When the gypsy returns, she casts a new spell, making Jo see his former love as more beautiful than ever.

In "It Crawls by Night!", a desperate farmer faces a terrifying threat when his experimental night-growing plant begins to rampage through the countryside, crushing everything in its path. With nowhere left to run, he takes refuge behind a mysterious meteorite that fell earlier that day—only to discover the strange rock has a deadly effect on the monstrous vine. As the plant withers at the touch of the meteor, the farmer and his neighbors race to harness its power, using tools to break up the rock and stop the spreading menace before it’s too late.

In "Never Trust a Martian!" from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3, Cold War paranoia meets interplanetary intrigue when a group of communist spies attempt to stage a fake Martian invasion—only to be swiftly eliminated by the real Martians, who fear exposure. The story unfolds with tense suspense, blending sci-fi espionage and alien dread in a sharp, no-nonsense tale.

In "Seven Long Years," a crime boss, haunted by a symbolic act of breaking a mirror, attempts to reform—only to find his past repeating itself when he breaks another mirror during his first return to crime. The story unfolds with a chilling sense of fate, as one man’s desperate bid for redemption collides with an inescapable pattern.

In "The Face!", a desperate thief flees with a stolen ruby, only to be haunted by the ever-present visage of the Indian Lama whose temple he violated. As he tries to escape across the country by train, the face follows him—unrelenting, inescapable—until panic drives him to pull the emergency cord and leap from the moving train, unaware he’s just chosen the most perilous moment to jump.

In "Oog Lives Again!", a frozen alien awakens in a remote Arctic outpost, his mocking laughter echoing as he taunts the terrified scientists who've just freed him—only to declare that humanity is the one in need of quarantine, not the other way around.

In "John Doe," a reclusive inventor forms a deep bond with a humanoid robot he built, treating it as a true companion. When the robot selflessly intervenes to save him from a wild bear, the moment forces his friends to confront a startling truth about their friend’s true nature.

In "His Name Was... Merlin!", a struggling stage performer who calls himself Merlin is visited by the ghost of the legendary wizard himself—appearing as a ragged, forgotten man. Offered a chance to master the ultimate illusion, the magician learns the final trick: total disappearance—only to cheat the spirit out of his payment. When the real Merlin vanishes from the theater after the performance, the man’s final act leaves behind only silence… and a lingering dread.

In "Back from the Dead!", a fugitive seeking refuge on Easter Island stumbles upon an ancient scroll that awakens the island’s mysterious stone heads—only to discover they’re not statues at all, but alien beings who see him as a curious specimen to be taken along. The story unfolds with a blend of eerie atmosphere and sci-fi wonder, as the line between myth and extraterrestrial reality blurs.

When a group of stranded space pilots mistake a massive space dragon for a threat, their panic nearly leads to disaster—until they discover the creature isn’t a monster, but the planet’s silent guardian, shielding them from deadly asteroids. This gripping six-page tale from *Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3* blends suspense and wonder in a story where fear and misunderstanding collide with a truth far more extraordinary.

In "It Was Only a Simple Barber Shop... or Was It??!", Mugsy Bogar flees from danger, seeking refuge in a seemingly ordinary barbershop—only to find himself trapped in a far more unsettling reality. The quiet routine of a haircut takes a dark turn as the barber’s calm demeanor hides something far more sinister.

In "The Ghost Rode a Roller Coaster!" from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3, a haunted amusement park becomes the stage for a chilling reckoning when a dead engineer’s spirit rides the very roller coaster he built—only to drag his former employer on a final, terrifying journey through the park’s twisted tracks.

In "The Creature from Krangro," an alien commander arrives on Earth with a mission to prove his bravery by capturing three humans—only to accidentally seize statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, this six-page science fiction tale from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3 blends cosmic humor with a touch of interstellar confusion.

In "Inside the Fallout Shelter!", a man’s self-centered plan to survive the end of the world backfires when a false alarm traps him alone in his bomb shelter for a month—stranded without a can opener and running out of food. The story unfolds with tense, claustrophobic dread as his isolation becomes a test of endurance, revealing how far he’ll go when his survival depends on nothing but his own wits.

In "The Monster in the Iron Mask!" from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense #3, a seemingly unstoppable alien terrorizes Earth—until a clever magician uncovers the truth behind the creature’s invincibility. With a twist rooted in deception and a weakness as unexpected as it is simple, the battle shifts from brute force to wit.

In "The Man Who Found Shangri-La!", a desperate thief gambles everything on a perilous quest, using his brother as his guide to the fabled hidden valley. What begins as a hunt for treasure spirals into a harrowing journey through mountainous ruins and primal danger—where one man’s greed leads to a grim end, and another’s quiet resolve uncovers a paradise shaped by unseen justice.

In "The Crackpot," a disillusioned inventor abandons his latest creation, unaware it’s a weapon of unimaginable power. When a curious boy stumbles upon the device, he unwittingly uses it to disintegrate three figures in a moment that changes everything—without understanding what he’s done.