Mystic #58

Roderick Zorn, a man driven by obsession, ventures deep beneath the Earth’s surface, defying all reason to reach its core—only to uncover something ancient and terrible in the dark. Trapped in the collapsing tunnels with the silent, unseen horror he awakened, his fate becomes a legend whispered in fear and reverence.

In "Stretching Things," Lawrence Dawson, plagued by brittle bone syndrome, finds a shocking cure in the form of a mysterious serum developed by Doctor James Boyle. As the treatment grants him terrifying elasticity, Dawson's desperation turns deadly—first to silence Boyle, then to eliminate another scientist who threatens to undo his transformation. When the police finally close in, the truth of his condition becomes horrifyingly literal.

In "Caught in the Graft," a corrupt city official with crippling claustrophobia is sentenced to prison, where he finds a way to escape by hiding in a coffin during a transfer to the city morgue—a facility built under his own supervision. When his henchman Maxie arrives to spring him, he’s overwhelmed by the sheer number of morgue drawers, each one a potential tomb, and now faces the terrifying uncertainty of which one holds Sam.

In "The Third Arm!", Johnny recounts a terrifying encounter with a hidden world of three-armed beings who sought to remake him in their image—now, after years of running, he finds himself face to face with Mac, whose sudden revelation sends a chill through the story.

In "Vampires Also Die," a young vampire, consumed by jealousy of his brother’s strength, makes a dark pact with a witch to end his sibling’s life. His triumph turns to horror when his parents, overwhelmed with grief, reveal that his brother was the only one who could sustain him through a rare blood disorder—his nightly transfusions saving his life. Stricken with remorse, the vampire flees into the woods and takes his own life with a tree limb.

In "The Return of the Hulk!", the Hulk crashes back to Earth after vanishing into space, descending upon a quiet town with a thirst for vengeance against the human who once bested him. As his alien rage threatens to consume the community, the man who once defeated him must confront the monster once more—armed only with a mirror and a desperate plan to turn the Hulk’s own hypnotic power against him.

In "Goliath! The Monster That...Walked Like a Man!", a clever advertising man outsmarts an Atlantean advance agent by constructing a colossal mannequin taller than the legendary Goliath, using the threat of war to force the alien envoy back to the underwater kingdom. With wit and theatrical flair, he turns the tide of a looming invasion by playing on the invaders' fears of surface-world might.

In "Gruto!", a desperate journalist spins a sensational tale about an amnesiac alien, turning fear into front-page headlines. When the alien finally regains its memory, it reveals its true purpose—peaceful sharing of advanced knowledge—only to be repelled by the very humans it sought to help.