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

Issue Details

Issue #26
Published December 1961
Frequency monthly
Cover Price 0.10 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee
Notes Distributed to newstands in September 1961. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website.

Cover Details - "The Four-Armed Things!/He Walked Thru Walls!"

Characters William Cartwright
Genre science fiction; occult
Pencils Jack Kirby
Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010)

7 page story "Look Out!! Here Come the...Four-Armed Men!"

Characters "Anne Morgan"; William Cartwright; Bruno
Synopsis An explorer learns of an invasion of four-armed aliens. His nurse tells him his bodyguard is one of the aliens, but he realizes that she is the real alien.
Genre science fiction
Script Stan Lee ?; Larry Lieber ?
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Dick Ayers
Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell (Marvel, 1970 series) #8 (March 1971); in Chamber of Chills (Marvel, 1972 series) #19 (November 1975); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010)

2 page text story "The Weatherman"

Characters Willie Wimms; Hugh Wimms
Synopsis In the future, young boy's afternoon is nearly ruined by a scheduled rainstorm, but when he runs into the rainmaker's magical assistant, he gets a delay.
Genre occult
Pencils Joe Maneely
Inks Joe Maneely
Letters typeset
Notes Text story with illustration.
Reprinted from Strange Tales (Marvel, 1951 series) #49 (August 1956)

6 page story "He Walked Through Walls!"

Characters Silas Birch; Charles J. Cragmore
Synopsis A stranger performs feats of magic, and offers anything that people might want if they sign a contract. He helps a disgruntled clerk steal money and get away, but the clerk is stranded on an island forever.
Genre occult
Pencils Jack Kirby
Reprinted in Fear (Marvel, 1970 series) #4 (July 1971); in Incroyable Hulk, L' (Editions Héritage, 1968 series) #56 (March 1976) [as "Le passe-muraille!", French translation]; in Chamber of Chills (Marvel, 1972 series) #22 (May 1976); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010)

5 page story "Run, Rocky, Run!"

Characters Rocky Jordan
Synopsis A criminal on the run plans to stow-away on the experimental rocket he reads about, but finds out too late that is an advanced miniature rocket that cannot carry a pilot.
Genre science fiction
Script Stan Lee ?
Pencils Bob Forgione
Inks Bob Forgione
Notes The last page includes an advertisement for the Fantastic Four (Marvel, 1961 series). Retold as a Tales of the Watcher story as "Run, Roco, Run" by Stan Lee and Howard Purcell in Silver Surfer (Marvel, 1968 series) #5 (April 1969). Stan Lee given a tentative writer's credit based on his authoriship of the retelling.
Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell (Marvel, 1970 series) #8 (March 1971); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010)

5 page story "Dream World"

Synopsis A man repeatedly dreams that his bed is levitating, and can’t tell if he’s dreaming or not.
Genre horror
Script Stan Lee
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Notes Narrated in the second person. This story is presented, according to a caption, because of positive response to "The Silent Screen" in issue #21 (July 1961), a similarly structured story. The last page carries an advertisement for Amazing Adult Fantasy (Marvel, 1961 series), also by Lee and Ditko. Stan Lee adopts Cartesian philosophical skepticism regarding dreams.
Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell (Marvel, 1970 series) #8 (March 1971); in Chamber of Chills (Marvel, 1972 series) #19 (November 1975); in Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko (Marvel, 2005 series) #[nn] (2005); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #3 (2010)