Strange Suspense Stories #40

This February 1959 Charlton anthology delivers the eerie atmosphere the title promises, with a Steve Ditko cover that stops you cold: a strange, insectoid alien figure stands encircled by glowing, interlocking energy rings while enormous alien hands and rocky formations loom in the foreground, all rendered in Ditko's distinctively unsettling style. The deep shadows and electric hues give the scene a genuinely otherworldly charge, perfectly suited to a book built around tales of the unknown. With Joe Gill writing and the art team of Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia handling interior duties, Strange Suspense Stories #40 is a fine snapshot of late-1950s sci-fi and suspense comics at their most imaginative.