Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #4
Published July 1959
Frequency bi-monthly
Cover Price 0.10 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee
Notes Distributed to newstands in March 1959. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. All new stories in this issue are narrated in the first person. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website.

Cover Details - "The Day the Martians Struck"

Characters Darius Wolfe
Genre science fiction
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Christopher Rule
Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

5 page story "I Was a Prisoner of the Martians!"

Characters Darius Wolf; Miss Smyth; Malcolm Avery
Synopsis A bullying director is kidnapped by Martians using the science fiction movie he's filming as a cover. They're forced to land because of a malfunction, and explain that they'll have to let him go...if one of the actors or crew that he abused tries to rescue him.
Genre science fiction
Pencils Joe Sinnott
Inks Joe Sinnott
Notes Job number from Dr. Michael J. Vassallo via the Atlas/Timely discussion group.
Reprinted in Creatures on the Loose (Marvel, 1971 series) #21 (January 1973); in Fantastici Quattro, I (Editoriale Corno, 1971 series) #115 (September 2, 1975) [as "Imprigionato dai marziani", Italian translation]; in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

2 page text story "Masquerade"

Characters Tommy; Kitty Blake; Old King Cole
Synopsis A man with no imagination is invited to a costume party by his girlfriend, but stumbles across real fairy-tale folk instead.
Genre occult
Letters typeset
Notes Text story with illustration.
Reprinted from Journey Into Unknown Worlds (Marvel, 1951 series) #38 (October 1955)

5 page story "My Forbidden Paintings!"

Characters Ashley Crane
Synopsis A painter buys a magic brush with the power to make three paintings become real. He makes himself handsome and a famous painter. Finally he makes himself dictator of a European country, but one of his paintings inspires the people to revolt and depose him, leaving him imprisoned.
Genre occult
Pencils Don Heck
Inks Don Heck
Notes Job number from Dr. Michael J. Vassallo via the Atlas/Timely discussion group.
Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

4 page story "I Made Time Stand Still"

Characters Sydney Burr
Synopsis An inventor accidentally makes time stand still, leaving himself the only person able to move. He robs everyone before restarting time, but it turns out all the frozen people could see what he did and he is arrested.
Genre science fiction
Notes Penciler credit and inker credit from Dr. Michael J. Vassallo via the Atlas/Timely discussion group. Job number speculative based on other stories in this issue and the lack of any contemporary Marvel story with this number.
Reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl (Marvel, 1971 series) #20 (December 1972); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

4 page story "I Love a Mermaid!"

Characters Alethea
Synopsis A man always drawn to the sea falls in love with a mermaid. When he dives under the water to pursue her, he realizes that he is also a merman, and his yearning for the sea was a yearning for home.
Genre fantasy
Pencils Carl Burgos
Inks Carl Burgos
Notes Job number from Dr. Michael J. Vassallo via the Atlas/Timely discussion group. Art credits from Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish, formerly Bob Forgione was credited.
Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

5 page story "The Man Who Floats in Space!"

Characters Capt. Racer; Bogane
Synopsis Space pirates get the idea of using an empty space suit floating in space as a decoy to lure in unsuspecting freighters to be ambushed, but an intelligence operative hides in the space suit to signal the space patrol when they get close, and together they apprehend the leader of the space pirates.
Genre science fiction
Pencils Steve Ditko (signed)
Inks Steve Ditko (signed)
Notes Job number from Dr. Michael J. Vassallo via the Atlas/Timely discussion group.
Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)