| Issue | #17 |
| Published | March 1961 |
| Frequency | monthly |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 36 |
| Editing | Stan Lee |
| Notes | Distributed to newstands in October 1960. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. All new stories in this issue are narrated in the first person unless otherwise specified. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website. |
| Characters | Vandoom's Creature |
| Genre | monsters |
| Pencils | Jack Kirby |
| Inks | Steve Ditko; Dick Ayers ? (touch-ups on monster) |
| Notes | Cover inker and touch-up artist from Nick Caputo via the Error Tracker (February 2009). |
| Reprinted | in Where Creatures Roam (Marvel, 1970 series) #4 (January 1971) [without touch-ups on monster]; in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #2 (2008) |
| Characters | Ludwig Vandoom; Vandoom's Creature |
| Synopsis | Vandoom, the owner of a Transylvanian wax museum, sets out to build a new monster in order to bring customers back to the museum. A lightning bolt brings the creature to life, but despite the fearful attacks of the villagers, it is not hostile and does not strike back. An invasion force of Martians lands and Vandoom convinces his creation to attack them. The wax figure defeats them, but the effort drains the life force out of it. |
| Genre | monsters |
| Pencils | Jack Kirby |
| Inks | Dick Ayers |
| Notes | This story is divided into two chapters: an untitled first chapter (6 pp), and chapter 2—"The Mark of Vandoom" (7 pp). |
| Reprinted | in Where Creatures Roam (Marvel, 1970 series) #4 (January 1971); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #2 (2008) |
| Characters | Bobby Davis; Tom Davis; Alice Davis; |
| Synopsis | A young boy cleans out the attic of the old house his family moved into and meets a ghost from the Revolutionary War era. |
| Genre | occult |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Text story with illustration. |
| Reprinted | from Astonishing (Marvel, 1951 series) #49 (May 1956) |
| Characters | Bruno |
| Synopsis | A man kills to gain possession of a magic crystal that grants him four wishes, but even his carefully worded wishes backfire, stranding him on the moon. |
| Genre | occult |
| Pencils | Steve Ditko |
| Inks | Steve Ditko |
| Notes | Narrated in the third person. |
| Reprinted | in Where Creatures Roam (Marvel, 1970 series) #4 (January 1971); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #2 (2008) |
| Characters | Mr. Smith |
| Synopsis | A scientist builds an ultimate bomb and plans to use it to hold the world hostage. He hides it in a room believed haunted, but when he goes to give his ultimatum to the UN he realizes that he is now a ghost. |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | Don Heck |
| Inks | Don Heck |
| Reprinted | in Tower of Shadows (Marvel, 1969 series) #9 (January 1971); in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 2006 series) #2 (2008) |