Number 1786: The visibly invisible dinosaur

I read “The Invisible Dinosaur” in its first appearance in Strange Adventures #133 (1961). At the time I didn’t think there was anything unusual about this totally screwball story. Wristwatches that cause vibrations that negate the effects of aliens with whips who control humans. Intelligent dinosaurs, descended from Earth dinosaurs of 175 million years ago, captured for an interplanetary zoo. And said dinosaurs are invisible on Earth. I did not think any of that was extraordinary, nor did I question how something invisible could cast a shadow. My critical thinking skills were yet to develop, I guess.

In those days I was more interested in looking at the Murphy Anderson art. Murphy was one of my favorite artists from the Julius Schwartz editorial stable. What I see now when I look at this story is another immaculately drawn tale with an absurd plot, rendered completely straight-faced. I guess that came from Anderson’s time in the comic book trenches, drawing science fiction for Fiction House (Star Pirate), and later the Buck Rogers newspaper comic strip. He had such a solid, appealing art style, I might not have even noticed the Gardner Fox story was, well..spacey.

I scanned this from the reprint in From Beyond the Unknown #15 (1972).

More of the visibly invisible from Murphy Anderson. Just click on the thumbnail: