| Issue | #29 |
| Published | March 1962 |
| Frequency | monthly |
| Cover Price | 0.12 USD |
| Pages | 36 |
| Editing | Stan Lee |
| Notes | Distributed to newstands in December 1961. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website. |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Pencils | Jack Kirby |
| Inks | Dick Ayers |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010) |
| Characters | Jeb |
| Synopsis | An alien armada lands on Earth with weapons that seem to disintegrate anything. Humanity is helpless before the aliens, until they demand a man vacate his farm in order to make way for a spaceport. The farmer gets so angry he lays the alien out with the butt of his rifle. The aliens disintegrate things like trucks and houses, but they don't fire at people. Once the farmer realizes this and spreads the word, the aliens retreat from the human's firearms. |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Pencils | Jack Kirby |
| Inks | Dick Ayers |
| Reprinted | in Monsters on the Prowl (Marvel, 1971 series) #12 (August 1971); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010) |
| Characters | Franz Ammergau; Gerda; Dr. Schmitt |
| Synopsis | An old clockmaker nearly dies from the cold, but is saved by the wooden figures adorning his clocks, which he has given parts of his own soul. |
| Genre | occult |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Text story with illustration. |
| Reprinted | from Marvel Tales (Marvel, 1949 series) #148 (July 1956) |
| Characters | Elias Cragston |
| Synopsis | A jilted Quasimodo-like scientist devotes all his energy into producing a cobalt bomb which is so powerful that it can shatter the Earth. He wants to destroy all of mankind for jeering at his ugliness. He sneaks on board a rocket that is going into orbit and releases the bomb, but forgot about the lack of gravitational pull, and so the bomb just remains in place until it detonates against the side of the rocket. On Earth, the woman who laughed at him when he proposed marriage, gazes skyward at the explosion and exclaims "Isn't it the most beautiful sight you've ever seen?" |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Pencils | Jack Kirby |
| Notes | Apparently whoever wrote this story thought that the ending was uplifting. The last page includes an advertisement for Fantastic Four (Marvel, 1961 series), also drawn by Kirby. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010) |
| Characters | Harry Brown; Albert Poole |
| Synopsis | A brilliant inventor's boss tries to steal his new time machine in order to take credit for it. He uses the time machine to travel to a different time, but ends up in the prehistoric period, where the electricity to power the time machine cannot be found. |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Pencils | Dick Ayers (signed) |
| Inks | Dick Ayers (signed) |
| Notes | Though many details are changed, this story is a retelling of "Behold! I Am the Master of Time!" drawn by Steve Ditko in issue #14 (December 1960). Pencil credit from Tony Thomas on 13 August 2004. Original credit: "Jack Kirby." |
| Reprinted | in Where Monsters Dwell (Marvel, 1970 series) #20 (March 1973); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010) |
| Characters | Happy Harper |
| Synopsis | A vicious practical joker gets his comeuppance in the afterlife. |
| Genre | occult |
| Script | Stan Lee |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Notes | The last page includes an advertisement for Amazing Adult Fantasy (Marvel, 1961 series) also by Lee and Ditko. |
| Reprinted | in Fear (Marvel, 1970 series) #6 (February 1972); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010) |