Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish #3

In "I Dared to Battle the Crawling Creature! [Part 1]," a teenage explorer pilots a drill-pod deep beneath the earth, uncovering a hidden tribe and a monstrous entity lurking in the dark. When the creature threatens the tribe, he makes a desperate move to lure it to the surface and trap it in a canyon—keeping the truth buried beneath the rocks.

When a struggling writer buys a secondhand typewriter that endlessly types only "Help!" and an address, curiosity pulls him to the location—only to discover the former owner trapped in a harrowing car crash. The story unfolds with quiet dread, blending the eerie persistence of the machine with the urgency of a rescue that may be too late.

In "For Whom the Drum Beats!" from *Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish #3*, a second-string drummer’s envy of his bandmate leads him to a mysterious gypsy who offers him a gift—extraordinary skill. Though she initially refuses, his threat forces her to cast a spell, granting him fame and mastery… but at a terrible cost he can’t escape.

In "The Unbelievable Menace of Moomba [Part 1]," an explorer stumbles upon a terrifying secret hidden within traditional African wood carvings—each one a sleeper agent in a silent invasion led by the enigmatic Moomba. When the carvings come to life, their impenetrable density makes them immune to fire and weapons, turning their human creators into helpless pawns. As the threat spreads, only a native witch doctor stands a chance at stopping the tide—using ancient power to confront Moomba and force him to swear an oath to depart Earth with his entire force.

In "The Voice from Nowhere," a lone space pilot lands on a desolate asteroid only to hear a desperate plea for help—coming from nowhere. As he scrambles to understand the source, he begins to realize the voice isn’t from a person, but from the asteroid itself.

When a TV producer sets out to fake a monster movie in the Arctic, he stumbles into a hidden world beneath the ice—where ancient lizard-men and a colossal octopus guard secrets older than civilization itself. This wild, offbeat adventure from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish #3 delivers a quirky, pulpy thrill with zero regard for logic or safety.

In "Something Missing!!," a secret stowaway—Jo, the lover of one of the Mercury mission's pilots—joins the crew on a journey to the red planet, sparking tension aboard the ship. When the explorers land on Mercury, they're met with hostility from the alien inhabitants, who seem to see only threat in the humans' arrival. But it's Jo’s quiet act of love for her pilot that may be the key to proving the crew’s intentions aren’t hostile after all.

In "I Was Captured by the Creature from Krogarr!", a careless man finds himself in a bizarre predicament when an alien entity begins abducting objects through his TV—only to be thwarted by the simple, mundane act of not paying his electric bill. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, this quirky sci-fi tale blends cosmic oddity with everyday human folly in just seven pages.

In "Behold Him! He Is the Martian!", a Jupiter spy infiltrates Earth’s first Mars-bound rocket, only to find himself outmaneuvered by a Martian agent posing as Earthman Dan Blake. As secrets unravel across the void, both spies race to broadcast their lies—or truths—back to their homeworlds, each hoping to shape the fate of interplanetary travel.

In "The Gypsy's Revenge!" from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish #3, a thief's cruel act against an old gypsy in Europe haunts him years later when he encounters a fortune teller at a circus—only to find the tent floating in empty space, and the seer unmistakably the very man he wronged. The story unfolds with quiet dread, blending eerie atmosphere and a chilling sense of inevitability.

In "Where Lurks the Ghost!", a lone man spends a restless night in a decaying mansion under the watch of its caretaker—only to question whether the house’s true horror lies in what he saw… or in what he didn’t. Written by an unknown hand and illustrated by an unknown artist, this chilling tale from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish #3 unfolds with quiet dread, where silence speaks louder than screams.

In a tense, isolated outpost, an explorer races to uncover the truth behind a sudden alien invasion—only to find the line between ally and enemy blurred by a nurse who claims his bodyguard is the real threat. As suspicion grows, he begins to question who among them is truly human.

In "He Walked Through Walls!", a mysterious stranger with uncanny powers appears in a quiet town, offering people anything they desire in exchange for a signed contract. When a disillusioned clerk takes the deal to steal money and escape his life, he finds himself stranded on a remote island—trapped by the very magic he thought would set him free.

In "Run, Rocky, Run!", a desperate fugitive bets everything on hitching a ride aboard an experimental rocket he reads about—only to discover too late that it’s a tiny, pilotless prototype. The story unfolds in just five pages, blending sci-fi thrills with a tense, high-stakes chase through the unknown.

In "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall...", Bill Carter’s thoughtful gift becomes a chilling portal when a birthday mirror begins to twist his wife’s mind, drawing her under the spell of an ancient, undead sorceror. As the reflection starts to move on its own, reality itself begins to fray—until the only way to break the curse is to shatter the glass.

In "The Talking Horse," a gifted steed named Silverstreak teams up with a struggling jockey named Barney, convincing him to place a bet on their own victory in an upcoming race. When the odds turn against them and the bet goes sour, Barney’s desperate attempts to cover his loss spiral into trouble, leaving him outcast and in danger.

In "Dead Planet!", a lone warrior from a conquering race lands on a world that seems lifeless—until he realizes the silence is not empty, but full of something utterly unexpected. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, this brief, haunting tale explores isolation and perception in a universe where life wears a form no conqueror could have imagined.

In "The Scheme!", a desperate man marries a wealthy widow on the brink of death, hoping to inherit her fortune—only to discover too late that her illness is not just terminal, but contagious. Now, with his own life hanging by a thread, he must reckon with the consequences of his bargain in a story that turns greed into a chilling countdown.

In "The Frightening Fog," a sudden, unexplained mist blankets the globe, plunging cities into fear and silence. The eerie phenomenon, far from a natural disaster, is a carefully orchestrated act by unseen alien peacekeepers who’ve cloaked Earth to shield it from a looming threat.

In "When the Space Beasts Attack!!," a lone farmer’s fury becomes humanity’s unexpected weapon when an alien armada invades Earth, disintegrating buildings and vehicles but leaving people untouched. When the aliens demand he vacate his farm, Jo’s rage and a well-placed rifle shot shatter their confidence—only to reveal a startling truth about their limits. The story’s sharp wit and offbeat tone shine through in just seven pages, turning an alien invasion into a defiant, almost absurd, stand against tyranny.

In "The Man Who Blew Up the Earth!", a tormented, Quasimodo-like scientist, consumed by rage over being mocked for his appearance, channels his pain into building a cobalt bomb capable of shattering the planet. He hijacks a rocket bound for orbit, determined to unleash his vengeance on humanity—only to find his plan undone by the cold logic of space, where gravity’s absence traps the bomb in place. As the explosion tears through the sky, the woman who once laughed at him watches in awe, whispering, “Isn’t it the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen?”

In "What Happened to Harry?", a brilliant inventor finds himself stranded in the prehistoric era after his scheming boss steals his time machine and sends him back in time—only to discover that the power source he needs to return is nowhere to be found. The story follows Harry’s desperate struggle to survive and find a way home, caught between the limits of his own invention and the untamed world he’s been flung into.

In "The Return of the Gorilla-Man," the title character, once a man transformed into a beast, breaks free from captivity with a desperate goal: to reclaim his humanity. But when his attempt to reverse the transformation goes awry, he's launched into space aboard an experimental capsule—leaving behind Earth and the fate he once knew.

In "What Was the Staggering Secret of the 13th Floor," a tense moment unfolds when a nervous passer-by is trapped with a sinister spy in a hotel elevator, only to be stunned when the operator calmly vanishes upon reaching the 13th floor—claiming it doesn’t exist at all. The story’s eerie calm and unsettling logic linger long after the elevator doors close.