"The Lizard-Man" is the first story featured in issue #8 of the Menace anthology series published by Atlas Comics - a precursor to the modern Marvel Comics publishing house. It was written by Stan Lee with artwork & inks by Joe Maneely. The second story is called "The Werewolf was Afraid" by an unknown writer and art by John Romita. The third story is "The Face of Horror" by Stan Lee and Russ Heath. The fourth story is "3-Dimensions" by an unknown author and Russ Heath. The fifth tale is "The Wooden Woman", also by an unknown author and possibly illustrated by either Al Eadeh or Bob Fujitani. All stories were edited by Stan Lee. This issue shipped with an October, 1953 cover date and carries a cover price of .10 cents per copy.
Zraa Zromm, a sentient Lizard Man from beneath the Earth surfaces and interacts with modern society. He's a smooth one, and even gets himself a chance to speak before the United Nations general assembly. Naturally, everyone freaks out at the sight of a giant talking lizard man. Zraa Zromm loses his patience, and decides to go on a rampage through the city, thus validating all of humanity's concerns. Going back to his people below the surface, he incites them to empower the "Munntosso", which is his race's word for "volcano". Their roars awaken dozens of dormant volcanoes, which all erupt simultaneously, spilling lava across the Earth's surface.
Eric Lanson is a wealthy and successful big game hunter, who brags about having hunted every animal known to man. He prides himself on the fact that he has never killed an animal without first provoking it to attack him first. But now, he thirsts for greater sport. Having heard legends of werewolves sighted in Austria, he puts together a hunting party and goes to the foreign land in search of new prey. What he finds however, is a werewolf sitting upon a rock, holding flowers and reading poetry. Eric tries to goad the werewolf into attacking him, but the werewolf scoff and ignores him. Eric continues to prod at him, but the werewolf still refuses to move. Despite his efforts, he cannot make the werewolf attack, which whips Lanson up into a heated fury. Finally, the werewolf lunged at him and kills him. He then muses to himself that he prefers the warmth of blood from people who are "hot under the collar". He then goes back to reading his poetry.
A 37-year-old man named Derck has gone through life suffering from extreme ugliness. This has led to severe self esteem issues and a penchant for driving people away. He goes to a plastic surgeon, who tells him that he is too ugly for even his processes to work. He gives him a card for a physician in London named Basil Blake, who might be able to help him, but he charges $10,000 per operation.
Depressed because there is no way he could ever afford the money for the airfare, let alone the operation, Derck throws himself in front of an oncoming vehicle in the hopes of ending his life. The motorist strikes Derck, then gets out of his car to see if he is okay. Derck is still alive, and attempts to blackmail the man, declaring that he was at fault for hitting him. The man offers to give him $500, but when Derck sees how much the man actually has in his billfold, he tries to squeeze him for more. When the man refuses, Derck strangles him to death. The police arrive to arrest him, and Derck learns that the man he just killed was Basil Blake - the very physician who could have cured his ugliness. But there is no cure for the ugliness rotting within.
Rudi the Great is one of the greatest hypnotists in the world. He becomes the leader of a criminal gang and embarks upon a grandiose scheme. They project a video of Rudi on a movie screen and the image hypnotizes the audience into giving up their valuables. Rudi and his cronies snicker as they watch everyone follow his commands. The projected image then commands everyone to forget what they had seen. Unfortunately, this also includes Rudi and his men, who now have no idea what they were about to do.
A lonely woodcarver is tasked to create a beautiful woman instead of the usual monstrous creatures he creates for the figureheads of ships. Gustav end ups falling for the wood carving and she speaks at midnight confessing her love before returning motionless. Gustav holds off his completion date to Napoléon who ordered the figurehead and visits a witch to turn him into wood so that he may spend his days with the wooden woman on the ship. The witch mentions the wooden woman and after taking the potion Gustav kills her to silence what she knows. Upon returning to his shop he drinks the potion and turns into wood at midnight, only for the wooden woman to turn human. If Gustav hadn't killed the witch he would have known she came to his shop earlier and cast the spell to do just that.