Strange Tales #20

This July 1953 Atlas anthology delivers four tales of suspense in one dime-priced package, with Russ Heath's cover setting a wonderfully unsettling tone: a terrified woman is trapped inside a vehicle as enormous, clawed creatures — including a massive furry beast in the foreground and a wide-eyed monster looming through the shattered windshield — close in around her against a city backdrop. Story teasers along the left edge promise "The Lost World!," "Swallowed Up!," "Wilbur!," and the Fred Kida-illustrated "The Man Who Couldn't Be Punished," each accompanied by a leering, sinister face that hints at the dark twists within. A quintessential slice of 1953 pre-Code suspense comics at their most imaginative and gleefully creepy.