| Issue | #12 |
| Published | May 1962 |
| Frequency | monthly |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 36 |
| Editing | Stan Lee |
| Notes | Distributed to newstands in February 1962. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements and is the first Marvel comic with a letters page. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website. |
| Characters | Mike Rugger |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Reprinted | in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |
| Script | Stan Lee |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Notes | The credits depict Stan Lee covering his face with typed pages and Steve Ditko with an inkpot for a head. |
| Reprinted | in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |
| Characters | Melvin Burns |
| Synopsis | A gambling cheat encounters a Martian who offers to give him the secret of never losing if he helps the Martian locate a treasure. The crook accepts, and true to his word, the Martian puts the man under a machine that gives him the ability to know which horse will win the race and how the dice will roll. When he asks the Martian what treasure he is looking for, the Martian mocks him "Haven't you realized yet, brainless earthling? The treasure is you!" and deposits him into a Martian zoo exhibit. |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Script | Stan Lee |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Reprinted | in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |
| Characters | Alan Swan |
| Synopsis | A kind but ugly, and hence lonely, man pilots a digging machine on a one-way journey to the Earth's core where he discovers a civilization who "see with their hearts" and not their eyes in the dim light. They offer him acceptance and love. |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Script | Stan Lee |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Notes | Retold in Silver Surfer (Marvel, 1968 series) #7 (August 1969) as a Tales of the Watcher story by Stan Lee and Howard Purcell. |
| Reprinted | in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |
| Characters | Stan Lee; Steve Ditko |
| Synopsis | Lee and Ditko are having a story conference stricken with writer's block when a man walks into their office and offers to discuss ideas with them. They tell him to scram and when he doesn't take the hint, Ditko boots him out the door. The man gets up in the hallway outside and dissolves into sparkles, resolving to return to the fifth dimension as no one seems to be interested in his tales. Meanwhile, as Lee and Ditko mourn the fact that nothing supernatural ever happens to them, they decide to knock off for lunch. |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Script | Stan Lee |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Notes | Unusually, this story has the same job number as the contents page. Voted best story in this issue by more than 300 votes, according to Amazing Fantasy (Marvel, 1962 series) #15 (August 1962). |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko (Marvel, 2005 series) #[nn] (2005); in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |
| Characters | Ramon Corbo |
| Synopsis | A dictator comes down with the plague and resolves to take everyone with him by starting a war with a nation he hates, the United States. He shoots down an American plane that crosses his border and requests permission to land. He thinks this will trigger a war, but a messenger gives him a message that causes his heart to fail and he dies. The message said the plane was bearing serum to cure the plague. |
| Genre | horror |
| Script | Stan Lee |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Reprinted | in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |
| Script | Stan Lee (replies) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | An anonymous 16-year old writes from Texas asking if he broke the law by buying the book. |
| Reprinted | in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |
| Characters | Mike Rugger |
| Synopsis | A man pilots a faster than light rocket and when he returns to Earth he finds that everyone appears to be almost motionless as he is still moving faster than light. |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Script | Stan Lee |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Notes | This story received the second most votes for best story in this issue, according to Amazing Fantasy (Marvel, 1962 series) #15 (August 1962). |
| Reprinted | in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #[nn] (2007) |