Tales of the Mysterious Traveler
Entry updated 7 April 2025. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1956-1959). Charlton Comics. A Tie to the 1943-1952 Radio series The Mysterious Traveler. 13 issues (but see below). Artists include Steve Ditko, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio and Bill Molno. Scriptwriters include Joe Gill. 36 pages, usually with 4-5 long strips and a short text story, plus occasional short strips as filler. Some of the text stories were sf.
Though narrators only visible to the reader are not uncommon in Horror comics they rarely affect events, usually introducing the story then appending a moral; however the Mysterious Traveler takes a more hands-on approach and sometimes intervenes. The quantity of sf in issues varies considerably: some have none, others are almost entirely sf. The quality is equally variable: there are some good tales, but many are drab with weak endings and poorer than usual story logic – though with "The Sentinel", memorably so. The art is good, with Ditko having many stories in #2-#11; his work here is solid with nice touches, but not top tier.
Though all the stories in #1 have fantasy elements, including a mummy (see Ancient Egypt) and an evil genie (see Supernatural Creatures), only "Man of a Thousand Faces" might be considered sf; here a man who can manipulate his face to change his features (see Shapeshifters) does so to commit a robbery, but then a sudden cold wind freezes his facial muscles (likely intended to evoke parental warnings about a child's gurning). #2 has "What Wilbur Saw", where the small world of Ormu seeks to solve its Overpopulation problem with Technology that regresses adults to children, who are taken by Spaceship to Earth and delivered to childless couples in a flying basket. But Wilbur, a man disappointed with his life, learns of this and sees the chance to gain respect from exposing their plans – until, through the intervention of the Mysterious Traveler, he is offered a second chance by being regressed to a child himself (see Children in SF). "The Cruel Dream" has a man haunted by a recurring dream of being abducted by Aliens who put him on trial and sentence him to life imprisonment, so as he sleeps his doctor plays a recording of a renowned Scientist explaining how Life on Other Worlds is impossible, and the patient is cured. The twist being they are on Saturn (see Outer Planets); it is also revealed that the sufferer is a prisoner enduring a life sentence. In "The Sentinel" the Traveler reveals that Mars and its inhabitants are gaseous, and are bringing the planet to Earth intent on Invasion. They are concerned that if "hit head-on by any speeding projectile whatsoever" Mars would explode, so have used "a remote control paralysing gas" that will immobilize all potentially dangerous Earth adults: when they arrive a boy sees them and picks up a stone, but then remembers he has promised his father not to throw stones; on that dilemma the story ends. "From the Depths of the Sea" has a movie director completing the scene where a boat is attacked by a sea-monster, only to have the special effects people apologize for their non-appearance; the Monster he filmed was real.
#3 has a defeated boxer hit by a car, waking to find he has just been hit by a chariot in ancient Rome (see Timeslip); he becomes a Colosseum fighter, with events echoing his recent loss, leading to the realization that his manager drugged him before the big fight: he returns to the present and gains justice. In #5's "The Man Below" a gold-hunting deep-sea diver meets Telepathic fish men who insist he is of the same species but had fled to the surface as a child and – aside from strange dreams – forgot his origins (it is not explained why their intended victim is white though they are green): to keep their existence secret they imprison him. But the man they believe him to be had been knocked unconscious by his companion, who – wanting all the gold for themself – stole his diving suit. "Greed" has a middle-aged con-man annoyed that he has to employ a young man to seduce a rich woman; n learning a Scientist has created a Rejuvenation serum, he steals some but drinks too much, becoming a child. With "When Old Doc Died" a dedicated doctor goes to Heaven (see Eschatology; Religion), but finding no one there needs medical help he wanders into Hell and aids the damned; the peeved Devil is relieved to tell him he has recovered on his deathbed and will be sent back to the land of the living. "Mr Evriman" has a Television pollster analysing his data and realizing quiz shows, where smart contestants answer questions the viewers cannot, are causing a loss of self-confidence and unrest in the populace, ready to be exploited by a new Hitler or Mussolini (see Politics; Psychology; Sociology). But then a Mr Evriman appears as a contestant on the biggest quiz show, winning each time: but people cheer him on, as they see an ordinary man like themselves: the pollster realizes Mr Evriman (that is, Mr Everyman) was created by the "collective human mind" to ease their frustrations (presumably Carl Jung's "collective unconscious" is being referenced). "Tomorrow's Punishment" tells of a crook with a mirror that shows any future event they think of: he considers robbing different banks the next day and chooses the bank where the timeline shows he will not be caught (see Precognition), but conflict within his gang leads to their downfall.
A hospital patient's Amnesia in #9's "The Man Who Forgot" is the worst case of the doctors have seen – not even electric shocks work. One night the ward orderly decides to give him an extra strong voltage: it works, but the patient reveals he is a scientist from another Dimension whose experiments in inter-dimensional travel worked, but led to a loss of memory. The other is delighted, but the scientist – not wishing this world to know about his – gives the orderly amnesia. "Jackie and the Moon Men" has a boy watch men from the Moon arrive and depart, and narrates events to his mother, who commends his imagination. In "The Dreamer" two scientists talk at a diner, one positing "dreams can many times be a look into the future as time, as such, does not exist"; later the waiter dreams of meeting a woman on the beach – as they kiss he is kidnapped by two men from the sea who explain "for generations our people've developed rudimentary lungs! Now we are ready to make the land our home", adding confusingly "we must test the gas on you" (possibly intended to wipe out humanity, though this is not explained). The waiter wakes: later the woman appears on the beach and he, remembering the scientists' conversation, flees.
Walter in #11's "The Lives of Walter Dykes" is afraid of life and spends his days in a library, but one evening whilst wandering the beach, he discovers a cave containing alien technology, including a chair, helmet and discs: assuming they are designed for listening to music he dons the headset, puts on a disc and sits in the chair, to find himself interacting with intelligent but timorous beings on another world, killing the monsters that threaten them. Subsequently the technology is destroyed by a storm, but Walter is now ready to live a challenging life. He is convinced that what happened was real (all his senses seem to have been engaged), though to the modern eye he appears to have experienced fully immersive Virtual Reality gaming (see Videogame). #12's "Man Alone" has a student living in fear that people discover he has Psi Powers and is exceptionally Intelligent, so lives in isolation. He eventually learns there are others like him who work to benefit mankind (there are also people who want to capture him, but their motives are unexplained). In "Ad Infinitum" a scientist perfects a "microscope of infinite power" and finds a city on the surface of an atom (see Great and Small), where he sees himself, though clothed differently. The Traveler comments "Yes! There are worlds upon and within worlds! We are never alone!". In a brief strip we learn the Mysterious Traveller rescued Laika, the Dog sent into space in 1957. The truck driver in "Satisfied Customers" promises he can deliver anything anywhere. Two men hire him, at ten times his normal rate, to deliver a package to the top of a nearby hill and leave it there. Despite his suspicions he does so, but insists on staying; the men, who are in contact through a walkie-talkie, insist he must wear goggles if he does so. He sees the package tear itself open to reveal a device that fires a beam at an approaching flotilla of flying saucers (see UFOs), destroying them. The men reveal they are from the same world as the invaders, but belong to a revolutionary force that opposes them.
"Incident on the 3rd Planet" in #13 has Jupiter threatening Saturn with their X-Bomb Weapon; on learning it is based on Earth's nuclear arms a Saturnian scientist visits our planet to learn more, only to be captured by Jovian agents and taken to their spaceship, which has the controls to launch the X-Bombs from their home planet to destroy Saturn; the scientist gains the upper hand and detonates them on Jupiter, destroying the planet. "Time Waits for No Man" is set in 1850 where young Josiah Farnham steals the "elixir of life" (see Immortality) from a Native American tribe. He drinks it; time accelerates in bursts (see Time Distortion) as he witnesses the changing world over at least two centuries; then he wakes, back in his room where only minutes have passed. The Native Americans are there and take the elixir back; Josiah is now aged, though in his baffled state he is unaware of this. "Base of Operations" has two fishermen on the Canadian coast scared off by a sea monster, which is revealed to be an illusion created by aliens so they can study Earth in peace.
In 1985 two further issues were published by Charlton, numbered #14 and #15, each having an original long strip – one by Steve Ditko – plus reprints of Ditko strips from earlier issues (#15 also has an original one-page strip not by Ditko). The 1956-1959 series was not the first comic spin-off from the radio show: the one-off issue Mysterious Traveler Comics was published by Trans-World Publications in 1948, and The Mysterious Traveler Magazine appeared 1951-1952. [SP]
further reading
- Mysterious Traveler: Volume 1 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2018) [graph: collects issues #1-#5 of Tales of the Mysterious Traveler: in the publisher's Silver Age Classics series: illus/various: hb/Steve Ditko]
- Mysterious Traveler: Volume 2 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2018) [graph: collects issues #6-#10 of Tales of the Mysterious Traveler: in the publisher's Silver Age Classics series: illus/various: hb/Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia]
- Mysterious Traveler: Volume 3 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2019) [graph: collects issues #11-#13 of Tales of the Mysterious Traveler and other material: in the publisher's Silver Age Classics series: illus/various: hb/Steve Ditko]
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