Amazing Stories of Suspense #194
In "The Door That Wouldn't Open!", Jack Kirby crafts a chilling tale of ambition and consequence, as a scientist harnesses a radical device to achieve invisibility—only to face a terrifying side effect that accelerates his aging. Kirby’s stark storytelling and expressive art, inked by Christopher Rule and lettered by Artie Simek, bring a tense, introspective edge to this 1982 Alan Class classic. The cover, a striking collaboration by Bill Everett and Carl Burgos, captures the story’s eerie, suspenseful tone with its haunting imagery.
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A scientist uses a device that makes the particles of a living body move at the speed of light, rendering him invisible to the eye. He conducts a series of stunts in order to build up a name for himself so he can them go public and cash in. After forty days he glances into the mirror and realizes that he has aged forty years during that time due to a side effect. He realizes with the little time left to him that he can no longer use his knowledge for selfish gain.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).