Advertisement

Strange Tales Vol 1 116

Quote1  You must obey me!  Quote2
—Puppet Master (Phillip Masters)

Appearing in "The Human Torch in the Clutches of the Puppet Master!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

  • Puppet Master's One-man Submarine
    (Only in flashback)

Synopsis for "The Human Torch in the Clutches of the Puppet Master!"

Having survived his last battle with the Fantastic Four, the Puppet Master plans to get revenge on the group. Creating puppets of both the Human Torch and the Thing, and using his step-daughter Alicia as the catalyst, the Puppet Master manipulates the two into fighting each other.

The fight takes them across the city, where the Puppet Master goes in for an up close view of the fight. Spotted by Alicia, she informs the Torch of the Puppet Master's machinations, and the Torch uses his flame powers to destroy the puppets he's using to control them. The Thing is about to pummel the Puppet Master until Alicia talks him into letting him go.

Appearing in "The Radio"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Marvel Tales #133

Featured Characters:

  • Bill Barton
    (First appearance)

Supporting Characters:

  • Mr. Sparks
  • Unnamed Genie

Races and Species:

Locations:

  • Earth
    • Unidentified Apartment Building

Items:

  • Mr. Sparks' Radio

Synopsis for "The Radio"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Marvel Tales #133
A ham radio operator is granted three wishes by the person he is communicating with. However, his greed and an argument with his neighbor causes him to squander his opportunity.

Appearing in "Return to the Nightmare World!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "Return to the Nightmare World!"

In the Dream Dimension, Nightmare has prepared a potion that will bring humans into his dimension and trap them while they sleep. Doctor Strange is contacted by the police to solve a case where people can not be awakened after falling asleep. Doctor Strange discovers that the sleeping people are under a spell. Using a chant found in the Book of Vishanti, Doctor Strange is able to enter the Dream Dimension. Inside, Doctor Strange evades the first traps of Nightmare and frees the imprisoned men, but is then himself trapped. Using his amulet, Strange defeats Nightmare's minion, the Spinybeast, and escapes to the mortal world.

Notes

Continuity Notes

In the Clutches of the Puppet Master!

  • The Puppet Master was last seen in Fantastic Four #14. How he escaped death in that story is revealed in this issue.
  • The narrative of this story states that the Human Torch is returning from his battle against the Sandman, which occurred in Strange Tales #115, however continuity-wise, this story takes place between Fantastic Four #21 and 22.
  • The Puppet Master asks the cab driver to take him to Idlewild Airport, as was the name of the airport when this story was first published. Later it was renamed the John F. Kennedy International Airport following Kennedy's assassination. As such the fact that the Puppet Master refers to it as Idlewild should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.

Return to the Nightmare World!

  • The amulet that Doctor Strange is wearing here is the Amulet of Agamotto, it should not be confused with the Eye of Agamotto which is gifted to Strange in Strange Tales #126.
  • Doctor Strange's assistant Wong is not named here, and remains unnamed until Strange Tales #119.

Publisher Notes

  • As seen on page one, Story One is "Based upon an idea by Tommy and Jimmy Goodkind, Hewelett Harbor, N.Y.
  • As also seen on page one, Story One is Job#X-515.

See Also

References

More Information

More Fandoms
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
  NODES
admin 1
COMMUNITY 6
Idea 1
idea 1
INTERN 2
Note 4