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

Issue Details

Issue #1
Published June 1952
Frequency bi-monthly
Cover Price 0.10 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee

Cover Details - "The Clutching Hands"

Genre horror
Pencils Russ Heath (signed)
Inks Russ Heath (signed)
Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1

5 page story "One Foot In the Grave"

Synopsis A man decides to make money by reselling flowers stolen from graves until the dead return to take their flowers back.
Genre horror
Pencils Tony DiPreta
Inks Tony DiPreta
Reprinted In Monsters Unleashed (Marvel, 1973 series) #1 (1973); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1

2 page text story "Death Finds A Way"

Genre horror
Letters typeset
Reprinted in Strange Tales (Marvel, 1951 series) #9 (August 1952); in Marvel Tales (Marvel, 1949 series) #130 (January 1955) [retitled "No Escape"]; in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Strange Tales (Marvel, 2007 series) #1 (2007); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 (2008)

5 page story "The Clutching Hands"

Synopsis A writer murders another writer to steal his work, but the dead writer's hands continue to make trouble for him. First, by framing him for the murder of his publisher, then by signing a confession to the killing, and finally by throwing the gallow's switch.
Genre horror
Pencils Cal Massey (signed)
Inks Cal Massey
Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell (Marvel, 1970 series) #21 (May 1973); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1

4 page story "Haunted!"

Synopsis A ghost scares off potential buyers of a derelict house.
Genre horror
Pencils Vic Carrabotta (signed)
Inks Vic Carrabotta
Reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell (Marvel, 1970 series) #21 (May 1973); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1

4 page story "It Can't Miss"

Synopsis An accomplice to an escaped con kills a man who looks like his buddy so that the cops will find the body and think the escaped prisoner is dead while he assumes the dead man's identity. For his trouble, he is murdered by the escaped con so as to keep his secret silent. Unfortunately for him, it turns out the identity that he has assumed is that of mental patient permanently locked up in an asylum.
Genre horror
Pencils Jay Scott Pike
Notes Pencils credit from www.atlastales.com
Reprinted in Chamber of Chills (Marvel, 1972 series) #5 (July 1973); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1

5 page story "Iron-Head"

Synopsis Bronson is a grave robber and a murderer. To avoid being captured by the authorities, he accepts a job as a deep-sea diver on a private yacht. Working for a captain named Mister Nash, Bronson discovers that the ship's crew have located a cache of black diamonds at the bottom of the South Pacific. He decides to murder the crew and keep the diamonds for himself. Donning a heavy diving suit, he blows up the yacht and swims to the ocean floor for the diamonds. Securing his treasure, Bronson slowly walks until he reaches a nearby island. The island is populated with superstitious natives who mistakenly believe that Bronson is some sort of water god. Dubbing him "Iron-Head", they hold him in high regard and keep a steady vigil over him. Bronson is afraid to remove his helmet, because if he reveals himself as a normal human, the natives will kill him. He holds out as long as he can, but within a few days, he begins to fall weak with hunger. The natives will not let him out of their sight, and he refuses to expose himself. Finally, one of the natives cuts off his head with an ax, revealing that he was never truly a god at all.
Genre horror
Pencils Dick Ayers
Inks Dick Ayers
Reprinted in Tales of the Zombie (Marvel, 1973 series) #1; in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1