Strange Suspense Stories #53

Two Viking-like warriors clash violently on a frozen Arctic landscape, while a lone figure in a spacesuit stands small in the background beside a rocket — a striking collision of ancient and modern that perfectly captures the offbeat thrills Charlton delivered for a dime in 1961. The cover teaser promises a story called "the Ice Princess," and with that snowy battlefield and those two ferocious combatants rendered by Maurice Whitman, it's easy to see why readers couldn't leave this one on the rack. Strange Suspense Stories #53 also boasts a full roster of interior work from Joe Gill, Bill Molno, and Vince Alascia, making this a fine example of the era's wildly imaginative anthology comics.