Venus 16

"Where Gargoyles Dwell!" is the title to the first story in issue #16 of the Venus ongoing sci-fi adventure magazine published by Marvel Comics under their Atlas imprint. The story was written, drawn, inked and lettered by Bill Everett. Everett also rendered the cover art illustration to this issue. All stories were edited by Stan Lee. This issue shipped with an October, 1951 cover date and carries a cover price of .10 cents per copy.

"Where Gargoyles Dwell!
Venus takes a taxicab to the Graycar building on West Fifty-First St. She asks the elevator operator to bring her to the Corpo Construction Company on the thirteenth floor, but the operator tells her that there is no thirteenth floor to the Graycar building. She gets off on the fourteenth floor and finds a small stairwell that takes her down to an area between the two floors. She opens the door to room 1319. Inside, the room is in shambles and there are several dead bodies on the floor. A gargoyle bust calling itself Gara, King of Gargoyles springs to life and tries to kill Venus. She manages to avoid the flying stone bust and leaves the building.

Venus contacts her friend Whit Hammond and explains what happened. Whit in turn, telephones the police who show up at the Graycar building to investigate the matter. However, they cannot locate the thirteenth floor. The stairwell that Venus used earlier has disappeared. The police lieutenant chides Venus for sending him on a wild goose chase, and warns her to leave him alone.

Venus returns later that evening and scales the cables of the elevator shaft until she finds another entranceway to the elusive thirteenth floor. The room is still in shambles, but the gargoyles appear to be inert. Inside the room is Sylvia Corpo, the daughter of Henry Corpo, the founder of the Corpo Construction Company. Sylvia professes that she is the Queen of the Gargoyles and is responsible for bringing the statues to life. However, the gargoyles have since turned against her and they now wish to kill her. Venus and Sylvia fight one another, during which time Gara and the other gargoyles return to life. They begin chasing Sylvia until she stumbles and falls into the empty elevator shaft. The elevator car snaps and plummets down crushing Sylvia and the gargoyles.

Appearances

 * Venus, Aphrodite Ourania


 * Whit Hammond


 * Gara, King of the Gargoyles
 * Sylvia Corpo


 * Pete (a police officer)


 * Los Angeles Police Department


 * Humans
 * Goddesses
 * Gargoyles


 * New York
 * New York City
 * Manhattan
 * Beauty Magazine
 * The Graycar Building


 * None


 * Taxicab

Appearances

 * Venus, Aphrodite Ourania



















"Thru the Lens"

 * Writer - Unknown
 * Penciler - Joe Maneely
 * Inker - Joe Maneely
 * Colorist - Unknown
 * Letterer - Unknown
 * Editor - Stan Lee

Appearances




















Appearances

 * Venus, Aphrodite Ourania



















Notes & Trivia

 * Job number, "Where Gargoyles Dwell!": 8795.


 * "Where Gargoyles Dwell!" is reprinted as the second feature in Marvel Spotlight, Volume 1 #12.


 * "Thru the Lens" is reprinted in The X-Men #88.


 * Possible first appearance of Gargoyles in the canonical Marvel Universe.