Progress!

Check out www.mysterytales40.com/ -this is the site of the crew in Spain which won the last ebay auction for $405 and are graciously intending to share Mystery Tales #40 with everyone.

Also, at www.tv.com/lost/show/24...318/msgs.html
check out entry #9 (complete with jpg) saying "Hey...I just noticed the word "Airlines" on the cover art of that comic book. It is at the bottom of the window near that man's fingers and the green circle. So I guess the guy is in an airplane looking at the window."

I had figured the guy as sitting in a train, looking out the window, as this is what train windows look like to this day in many nations overseas with old trains, but maybe some old airplanes had this sort of look as well? I rather doubt it (airplane windows have always looked more like ships' port-holes than house windows) but maybe it was _drawn_ this way by an illustrator who was more familiar with riding on trains (almost nobody but celebrities and the aristocratic elite flew in the '40s and '50's, except for servicemen on flying-boxcar-like transports, but train travel was very common).

The crew in Spain have posted the first complete story in Mystery Tales #40 at www.mysterytales40.com/ along with their LOST speculations on those initial four pages. Much of the speculation seems like rather a reach to me (i.e., their take on the black smoke) yet it is interesting such a clear "Lost Horizons" sort of connection is indeed present.

Most interestingly of all, the McGuffin in the first Mystery Tales #40 story is a mysterious ring with probability-shifting powers. He who wields the ring finds himself mighty in pork belly futures or other such stock market probabilistic fortune-generating outcomes (...though there is also comes a dark side balancing the extreme good fortune --perhaps ala the Monkey's Paw or Hurley's winning lottery numbers-- afflicting those around the ring-bearer).

This is the second time in LOST a comic book has been featured with the device of a mighty ring translating the mental intention of the wielder into actual tangible reality around him and conferring great wealth and/or power upon the ringbearer. In Fast Friends (published in 1997), the Green Lanterns derive their superpowers from a mental ability they have to transform their thoughts into objects via mysterious rings -these rings being artifacts of a technologically advanced ancient lost civilization. Now, in Mystery Tales #40 we see the same device wherein a device translates will or intention into manifestation being used again. Interesting.

[Incidentally, I just checked and The Monkey's Paw was written in 1902 gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/mnkyspaw.htm
whereas Lost Horizon was written in 1933 www.google.com/search
-both far predate Mystery Tales #40 in 1956 and so it is possible they may have been an influence in its development. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was first published in 1954 and again in 1955, so it could have been an influence as well, but perhaps not given LOTR took awhile to catch on with broad readership in the USA. There have been lots of magic ring stories around in fairy tales and suchlike virtually forever, though, and perhaps in movies as well -though the earliest ring film I know of is "Sabu and the Magic Ring" from 1957].

I'll sure be fascinated to see whether these comic books and suchlike were direct developmental influences integral from the outset to the devising of LOST's plotline ...or if they were cleverly retrofitted in as nifty-fun dovetailing decoration and/or red herrings long after the plot was set.

The worthy and estimable Spaniards now have five stories from Mystery Tales #40 scanned and up at their site.

Interestingly, while the first story has a powerful magic box artifact which translates intention into manifestation, the second story ("Warning Voice") has a fellow avoiding disaster--including an airliner crash--through psychically "hearing" a warning inaudible to others, the third story "Crossroads of Destiny" (my personal favorite from among the bunch so far) has a brilliant scientist--Aaron all grown up?--building a powerful machine via which he may explore all the branes of the bulk in discorporeal Jacob-like fashion, the fourth story "Sammy's Secret" has a LOST lad with a secret special ability (and a big metal hatch), and the fifth story has a statue of John ...and we only see its foot until the last frame when his face is shown in the big surprise reveal.

Given the big surprise in this season's finale with John Locke in the casket, perhaps it is John who masters the deeply mysterious secret lore of the Temple and flies back and forth through time --in the flesh, as Jacob's high priest-- to listen to Jacob's Warning Voice, mess with various Crossroads of Destiny, and end up with his face on the Four-Toed Foot statue. Initially I was thinking that Aaron/Jacob's face would be on that statue, but increasingly I am thinking Aaron/Jacob is a McGuffin in LOST and if so then it could be John Locke's face on that Four-Toed Foot statue. Maybe Locke will lose a toe instead of an eye.

One nifty new angle is suggested by the story "Sammy's Secret." While Sammy reminds me a bit of Boone that similar cute-boy flavor is just superficial; the nifty aspect is in the notion of a gifted stray finding himself marooned on Earth among mere humans ...and not quite realizing what is going on. Not new with this story (Superman far predates Mystery Tales #40, I think) and yet there is something about Christian Shepard's (that name!) bloodline which has potency to it. Jack is the annointed one, Clair is the Madonna, Aaron is the pivotal one Abaddon wants so desperately to get his scaly talons on... maybe this entire bloodline is akin to Sammy in the story, in a way. Incidentally, the captain of the spaceship which rescues Sammy looks a whole lot like Alvar Hanso.

I'll post some teaser screengrab shots from Mystery Tales #40 into the LOST tribe photo gallery; the entire illustrated stories are viewable via www.mysterytales40.com/archivos

The excellent Spaniards have posted scans of the last story in Mystery Tales #40.

MARCH HAS 32 DAYS
www.mysterytales40.com/march-...k-96555

Please enjoy the story for yourself first and form your own impressions before continuing on to my speculative rantings, following below...
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Does it strike you this story fits very well with the general notion of someone desperately trying to intervene in that-which-has-already-been by changing an outcome through altering timeflows at a critical juncture? In MARCH HAS 32 DAYS are the elements and devices of:
-Fate and predestination versus free will
-Changing a disastrous outcome by making a different choice at a critical moment
-Puzzled scientists detecting anomalies in the timeflow and being all Faraday-like
-Passion and romance versus intellect and duty (a version of Yin and Yang)
-Adam and Eve (she is even wearing a red dress while laying voluptuously arrayed in bed, the Temptress, calling Mr. Uprightly Virtuous away from his muscular bright-brained duties as he ponders his magnificent erections (he is an engineer) and distracts him with an apple, er, seeing her off at the...
-Airport
-whereupon he hears a Voice, must defy fate, exercise free will, and shift time itself to change his prior choice lest he become all pathetically hysterical, beardy, weepy and need to jump off of his own
-Bridge.

So, is this, I wonder, yet more support for the notion of Jack as world-healer, sacrificing his love for Kate (and maybe Kate herself) to defeat the impending doom of the Valenzetti Equation, mend the time-space rift, prevent the planet from being swallowed by a rupturing black hole or somesuch, and stabilize the cloaked island? (I'm still guessing Aaron-Jacob is the one who somehow sets it all in motion via a diabolical experiment gone terribly wrong, though).

Ooooh boy, but I sure do hope the last line of LOST does __NOT__ turn out to be "...and we'll never know why" ...but it could happen.

Interesting that The Hidden Land cover image from Mystery tales #40 appears to have been just that, a teaser cover image suggesting the flavor of all the five tales found inside yet not itself a story beyond one image and associated captions. Then again, maybe the Spaniards have one more treat left in store to share with us from Mystery tales #40 even though MARCH HAS 32 DAYS was, they state, the last of the five actual stories in the comic book.

Are there other interpretations and theories this Mystery Tale could support or refute (if indeed the comic was a plot influence at all and is not just a glorious red herring)? Comments?

A two page text-only story about time-travelers has been posted at www.mysterytales40.com/ with a note saying it is the last story from Mystery Tales #40.