Price: 0.25 USD
Pages: 52
On-sale Date: 1971-07-13
Editing: Joe Orlando (editor)

The Iron Messiah!

The Phantom Stranger / cover / 1 page


  • Genre:fantasy-supernatural; superhero
Characters:
The Phantom Stranger; Chuma (The Iron Messiah); Ororo (doctor); Ngumi (witch doctor)
Synopsis:
The artificial metallic form of the god Chuma rises from the Earth.
Reprints (2)

Issue Data

Indexer Notes

Cover price increases from 15 to 25 cents. Page count increases from 36 to 52 pages.

On-sale date from copyright registration.

The Iron Messiah!

The Phantom Stranger / comic story / 14 pages

Script:
Len Wein (credited) (script)
Joe Orlando (credited) (story idea)
Pencils:
Jim Aparo (credited)
Inks:
Jim Aparo (credited)
Colors:
?
Letters:

  • Genre:fantasy-supernatural; superhero
  • Job Number:J-1296
Characters:
The Phantom Stranger; John Kweli; Chuma (The Iron Messiah); Ororo (doctor); Ngumi (witch doctor); Amos Trent (oil company executive)
Synopsis:
Cyberneticist John Kweli returns from America to his African home to find his people harassed by the armed force of an oil company to get them to move off their ancestral land, under which are vast pools of oil. To rally his dispirited people, Kweli creates a metalic, cybernetic incarnation of the god Chuma... that exhibits human characteristics in a most unexpected way.
Reprints (3)

Indexer Notes

Connections?: In this story written by Len Wein, an African female doctor and longtime friend of John Kweli, who remained in her native country to serve her people (rather than seek her fortune in America), is named "Ororo". ...Four years later Wein and Dave Cockrum would create "Ororo Munroe" (aka Storm) for Giant Size X-Men (Marvel, 1975 Series) #1.

I Battled for the Doom-Stone

comic story / 7.67 pages


  • Genre:adventure
  • Job Number:J-1317
Characters:
Hale; Professor Amos Simpson; Roy Cathcart; native chief; ape-like creature
Synopsis:
An explorer discovers that a missing scientist has undergone a fantastic transformation.
Reprints (1)

The Magic of Kirby!

DC Comics; Mister Miracle / promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.33 page

Mail to the Phantom Stranger

Mail to the Phantom Stranger / letters page / 1 page

Script:
Pencils:
Leonard Starr (header illustration only)
Inks:
Leonard Starr (header illustration only)
Colors:
?
Letters:
typeset

  • Job Number:J-1297
Characters:
The Phantom Stranger (header illustration only)

Indexer Notes

Readers' comments on issues #10, 11, and 12. Between pages 2 and 3 of previous story.

Satan's Sextet

Doctor Thirteen / comic story / 8 pages


  • Genre:fantasy-supernatural; horror-suspense; detective-mystery
  • Job Number:J-1187
Characters:
Doctor Terrence Thirteen; Satan's Sextet (rock band); Willard Wentworth (middle-aged millionaire); young hippie-like party guests
Synopsis:
The frontman of a rock band playing a party at a millionaire's beach house leads a group of young people and their middle-aged millionaire host to a watery doom "Pied-Piper style". Saved from drowning when a strong riptide frees him from the piper's thrall, Willard Wentworth (the millionaire) turns to Doctor Thirteen to investigate these horrific events.
Reprints (2)

Indexer Notes

Doctor Thirteen drives a dune buggy.

I Scout Earth's Strangest Secrets!

Mark Merlin / comic story / 7.67 pages


  • Genre:detective-mystery; fantasy-supernatural; adventure; science fiction
  • Job Number:J-1318
Characters:
Mark Merlin; Elsa Magnusson; Mrs. Phipps; Mr. Wakely (uranium hunter); Wakely's miners; Mr. Cole (museum owner); Joss (museum manager); Danton (crooked real estate developer); Mr. Lemmon (owner of Ridgely Hills Caverns); tourists; single-celled amoeba creatures
Synopsis:
Mark Merlin introduces himself and discusses the type of cases he takes on.
Reprints (1)

Indexer Notes

writer credit by Bob Hughes.

This is a reprint of the first appearance of Mark Merlin.

["Let's Rap" with Carmine Infantino]

DC Comics [as National Periodical Publications, Inc.] / promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.33 page

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