Mystic #57
In "Trapped in the Ant Hill!", Bill Everett crafts a bizarre, underwater adventure where a man’s body is transformed to survive beneath the waves, only to find himself entangled in a royal court’s strange customs. When the king’s daughter takes a sudden interest in him, he’s tempted by her dowry—a chest of seashells that’s currency underwater but utterly useless on land. The story follows his desperate attempt to escape, his capture, and a prison sentence that hinges on a reversal of his transformation. With Everett handling every aspect of the art and lettering, this 1957 issue delivers a surreal, self-contained tale from Marvel’s early days.
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A man finds himself in an underwater world where their doctors have converted his body to survive underwater. The king's daughter is taken with him and so wishes to marry him, but he only wants her dowry treasure chest and steals it. He passes out on the surface since he can no longer breathe air, and is captured and placed in prison. The king tells him he will serve a two year sentence for his theft and then the doctors will reverse their work and deposit him on the surface. The dowry consisted of a chest of seashells, which they use for currency, but would be worthless on the surface.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).