Number 2593: A key not to own, here in the Twilight Zone

Like my peers in the late '50s and early '60s, I watched television, everything everybody else watched. We watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller, One Step Beyond, Outer Limits, and of course The Twilight Zone. Even if one had never watched the latter, today we know that the show’s title has taken on a meaning as part of our speech, “twilight zone” means to me an event that has a level of strangeness, not easily understood. Other definitions may vary, but people know it means something mysterious when they hear the phrase.

There was nothing new about such stories with O'Henry-style endings, but the musical theme and host Rod Serling’s dramatic openings to the the stories have stayed in the culture for decades now...60 years at least.

When I saw a Twilight Zone comic book I snapped it up. I showed this story from the Gold Key Twilight Zone #4 (1963) in 2007. It’s drawn by Alex Toth, and its ending fits into those stories enjoyed by the fans of the Twilight Zone and the genre.

Number 1677: Where did you go, 2014...the Twilight Zone?

We find ourselves on the last day of 2014, and as usual the year went by too fast. Years have a tendency to do that. Someone once said the older one gets the faster time goes. Seems like it, anyway.

Or perhaps we are victims of the phenomenon of missing time, as in “The Day That Vanished,” from Twilight Zone #14 (1966). I have shown this story before, but these are new scans. The art is by Reed Crandall. The Grand Comics Database credits the script to Dick Wood.

We will all get together around the corner in 2015. Happy New Year, everyone! My advice is to not party too hearty. There are New Year’s Eves from my youth that I recall not at all. They are my personal version of missing time.

Number 1012


Crandall and Evans in the Twilight Zone


The first issue of the comic book version of the popular TV show, The Twilight Zone, came out in 1961. The entire issue was blessed by the artwork of two top comic book artists, Reed Crandall and George Evans. This shows them at the tops of their form, Crandall penciling and Evans inking. Both had years of experience behind them, and both spent a few years at the ne plus ultra of comics, EC.

This issue was published as part of the Dell Four Color series, #1173, 1961.

Number 330


The Day That Vanished


The Hairy Green Eyeball is having a "Flying Saucer Week," and I'm joining in the celebration. I scanned this great story by Reed Crandall from Twilight Zone #14 several months ago, then forgot it until I saw the Eyeball's blog on Sunday. I posted a flying saucer story that day, too.

This Twilight Zone story has the aura of alien abduction mystery, missing time. That could creep me out because I've experienced missing time. But mine is more along the lines of, "Where did all the damn time go?" as I get older and my life hits warp speed.

Good story, and of course the Crandall art is great.

Number 224


The gold key


I want you to click on the picture of this cover of Twilight Zone #4 from August 1963, and tell me what's happening in this painting. Go ahead and look. I'll wait until you're finished.

Back so soon? I was practicing the Twilight Zone theme music on my kazoo. You're puzzled, but you're right, there is nothing happening on the cover. What we see is a European street scene, and the silhouette of a figure on the wet cobblestones. I don't know how many covers there were that got away with this, but while the painting is mysterious, evoking a rainy night, this is not a typical cover of a comic book, even a Gold Key comic. I don't know who the cover artist is.

The story this cover illustrates--and we know that because the story is called "The Secret Of The Key," and there's a key in the cover painting--is drawn by master comic artist Alex Toth. This is a wonderful 10-pager by Toth, with great drawing. Among his other talents, Toth was excellent at period pieces. He also liked actor Errol Flynn, whose face adorns the lead character, a thief who steals the gold key. And yes, the object is a gold key, just like the name of the comic book company.