Review: Amazing Adult Fantasy #12 (May 1962)

Amazing Adult Fantasy #12
Marvel Comics
May 1962

Story: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko

Respecting my intelligence (as the cover blurb claims), this issue of strange fantasy tales has five new stories.  Written by Stan Lee, with amazing Ditko artwork, this series does have a different feel then the other similar books on the stands, even if that difference is mostly artificial, such as a consistent look through the issue (one artist), and a table of contents...plus, it says that it is "The Magazine That Respects Your Intelligence!".  Unfortunately, it still has a title that may lead one to believe it is a wholly different type of magazine!

This issue debuts a letters column (I assume written by Stan Lee), which features one great letter response to a reader discussing the "adult" in the title"

...the only reason we put the word ADULT on the cover is to distinguish our carefully-edited, and literately written mag from the usual crop of comics which seem to be slanted for the average 6 year old with a 3 year old mentality!"

Heh.  Perfect Stan Lee hyperbole..especially as he is writing a large portion of those other comics!  Great stuff! This type of connection with the readers, I believe, was a big part of the Marvel Age of comics taking fandom by storm.

The stories:

"Melvin and the Martian!"  Melvin Burns...cheat... card-shark.. crook... can he bluff a martian?  I was rather disappointed by this story, as since the alien is searching for a human, why was he looking under rocks and such?  The twist ending just didn't work for me.

"I, the Gargoyle"  Mr. Alan Swan (Ugly duckling...swan...awesome name!), one of the most generous and nicest people in the world was born with the visage of a gargoyle...not able to find love...signs up to drive the atomic mole machine to the center of the earth, knowing that he will never return.  Good story, but I found it funny that the world's most sophisticated machine, the Mole Machine,  is just in a yard next to a dilapidated shack...and not at an awesome futuristic military complex.  And it is manned by an old-farmer looking guy.  Weird.

"Something Fantastig?" [sic]  A neat story that breaks the barrier between "reality" and "comics".  In it, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are in their office with no story and a looming deadline...then, they are met by a stranger selling a strange tale to them.  This is a fun, quick, story.

"The Plague!" Ramon Corbo, takes over a county by force and becomes an evil dictator.  The, his country beset by the plague, he orders war against America.  This is another great tale of irony!

"The Living Statues" Mankind finally develops a faster then light spaceship.  Lazy man Mike Rugger plans to cheat his way into piloting the test ship...and gain fortune and glory.  But, what affect can a faster-then-light vessel have on a man?  This is a great story dealing with some scientific thought mixed with a lazy, evil person getting what they deserve.