JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 327
While the majority of Johns’s work has been for DC, he done some work for other
publishers, most notably a run on Marvel’s Avengers (2002 – 4). He has also written for
television, including penning episodes of Justice League Unlimited, Blade, and Smallville.
Selected Bibliography: For more information on Geoff Johns, go to http://www.geoffj ohns.com.
Matthew J. Smith
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY. With a fi rst issue cover dated June 1952, Journey into
Myste r y began the way of Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Strange Tales as one
of many horror/science fi ction/suspense anthologies issued by Martin Goodman’s
Atlas (offi cially Canam Publishing Sales Corporation) line of comics. Initially more a
journey into the mysterious rather than actual mysteries, these stories were generally of
the ironic “just desserts” variety with elements of horror thrown in. Most of the stories
boiled down simply to murder for money or revenge plots. Not all the stories used
supernatural elements, but vampires, ghosts, zombies, and witches were welcome to
serve as the agents of undoing for the greedy, jealous, cruel, and selfi sh.
Each issue contained four or fi ve stories. Th e lead story was seven pages while sub-
sequent tales were three or four. Th is led to a direct “set-’em-up-and-knock-’em-down”
style of storytelling that left no room for character or even plot development. Th e main
character’s obsession (something to either obtain or avoid at all costs) is established;
that obsession then quickly causes his or her death.
Issue #23 (cover dated March 1955) brought with it the Comics Code seal of approval
and the changes that it dictated. Th ough Journey into Mystery’s covers were ghoulish but
not gory, gone were vampires, zombies, and the many ambulatory skeletons. Individual
story titles dropped all references to these creatures, as well as the word “death.” Instead,
there was a turn to incredible phenomena as readers were intrigued by titles such as
“What was ‘Farley’s Other Face?’ ” “What happened in ‘Th e Haunted Halls!’ ” and “Can
you solve the strange mystery of ‘Th e Woman Who Played with Dolls?’ ”
Due to the collapse of Atlas, there was a 15-month gap between issues #48 and 49.
Journey into Mystery returned with an orientation toward science fi ction. A gigantic
Viking alien adorns the cover of #52 (5/59) heralding the arrival of Jack Kirby.
Th ough Stan Lee and Carl Wessler are two of the few credited writers, it is no
coincidence the Godzilla-like Bombu, Xemnu, Rorgg, Spragg, and Lo-Karr (some
of whom graduated to Marvel’s superhero comics) followed Kirby. With #83 Jour-
ney into Mystery became the home of Th e Mighty Th or and with #126 was offi cially
re-titled to refl ect this. In 1972, there was a 19-issue revival of the original title.
Th e fi rst fi ve of these had new stories and featured Gil Kane covers. Th e others were
reprints from the pre-superhero days.
1996 saw the “death” of Th or, and with #503 a return to the Journey into Mystery title.
Th is incarnation hosted Th e Lost Gods until #514 when Shang-Chi, Master of Kung
Fu, Th e Black Widow, and Hannibal King, Vampire Detective succeeded them. Th e
title ended with #521.
