Tense Suspense
Entry updated 3 March 2025. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1958-1959). Fago Publications. Two issues. Artist: Dick Ayers, responsible for most if not all of the artwork. Script writers probably include Paul Newman. 36 pages with 5 long strips, 3-4 one page strips and a two page text story, with #1 having an additional two page strip.
#1's longer strips include "The Curse of Smallness", where the explorer Watson spends years fruitlessly searching for a lost City in an unnamed region; short of funds he steals an idol from a museum, initially ignoring an inscription inflicting the "curse of smallness" on any thief. However, on returning to the jungle it begins to prey on his mind – and then the curse seems to come true. He encounters some explorers and is surprised to find they are the same size as him, but nonetheless confesses to the theft. The explorers follow his trail to discover a deserted city built by giants (see Great and Small; Lost Races); thus Watson's confusion. "A Cry for Help" has a man in an asylum claiming he is a Scientist who invented a serum to shrink people to "microscopic size" (see Miniaturization) so as to enable him to enslave the world (the desire resulting from his own short stature), but then he heard a woman's cry from one of his slides: looking through his microscope he sees a beautiful lady who urges him to drink his serum and help her. He does so, shrinking but losing consciousness and waking in the asylum. He thinks this is our world, but he is in the land of Microscopia, who had learnt of his plans and – because "all worlds are interdependent" – decided to cure him through psychiatric treatment (see Psychology), the woman being a nurse. In "He Must Be Stopped!" a Time Traveller from the future is tasked with changing the past by stopping the invention of something that will kill "thousand upon thousands of lives". But the Time Machine fails; they conclude that "Time travel is infeasible – we cannot tinker with the past." We now learn the intended destination was prehistoric times, with the intention of preventing the Invention of the wheel, the lives to be saved being those who die in motor vehicle accidents (see Transportation). One of the two other long strips has Hypnotism that works. The one-page strips and text story are crime-related.
#2's "Don't Throw That Switch" has Frank rushing to tell Lester, an old college associate and scientist, not to proceed with his experiment to suspend Gravity: Lester insists it will mean people will be able to fly (see Flying), but the other worries the overall effect will be catastrophic (see Disaster). As Frank arrives at the laboratory there is something like lightning; he assumes the switch has just been pulled and enters: but the switch is unthrown, whilst Lester has no knowledge of the experiment – Frank assumes the lightning was a kind of intervention. Confusingly the last panel then shows the laboratory and Frank's car floating but "starting to settle slowly down to Earth": this is not explained. In "They Come to the Canyon" one of a race of immense giants has a recurring nightmare of being discovered by humanity and put on display as a circus attraction. The cover and the story itself uses the now familiar image of people obliviously standing in a footprint the size of a small canyon. "Both of Me in Budapest!" has a Mad Scientist working for years in seclusion, developing an "image projector" – though Matter Duplicator would seem more apt, as it creates an exact copy of himself that can interact with physical objects; this he controls Telepathically (though he must remain motionless whilst doing so). The copy robs a Budapest bank, with him in plain sight outside, thus providing an alibi. However, his time in isolation meant he was unaware the police have developed Technology that monitors and tracks telepathic waves (see Crime and Punishment).
Of #2's four one-page strips, three are sf: in "To Be Young Again!" an aged millionaire has a scientist create a youth serum (see Rejuvenation) so with the vigour of youth restored he can become world dictator – but impetuously injects it too soon and reverts to a baby. "The Last Robot" has a government agent reporting that "Mankind is safe now from robotic domination" (see Robots), as he has finally destroyed all of them. A politician replies there is one left – the task was beyond any human agent to complete so one had to be manufactured – then shoots the agent. In "Strange" a lonely man with no shadow finally discovers a woman in the same condition; they marry, but he leaves her when – to his horror – he discovers she has no reflection. The text story "The First", has the first manned trip to the Moon: but the Spaceship, carrying three married scientific couples, goes off course and lands on Mars. It is verdant, though no animals can be seen: one couple explores and on their return the others ask if the planet is inhabited. They point to the group's reflections in a lake: "the inhabitants of Mars". This is clearly inspired by Ray Bradbury's "The Million Year Picnic" (Summer 1946 Planet Stories); it is also a variant of the Adam and Eve Cliché.
Though some of the longer strips are interesting, they have plotting issues, most notably the end of "Don't Throw That Switch"; nevertheless Tense Suspense was a reasonably good comic. The one-page strips, which in most comics tend to be filler, are effectively done here. [SP]
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