If you missed the last one….
Return of the Slime! Last time I was focused specifically on slime that was of a plant variety. This time I have opened 
the doors to any gelatinous goo, whether plant or animal or other. This means we get giant space amoebas like on Star Trek.
Which also means we can begin with the movie, The Blob (1958), which inspired much of the sticky, messy monsters that followed. Stealing from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space”, the film opens with a meteorite falling to Earth and cracking open. The pink jello that oozes out jumps up the arm of the hick stupid enough to poke it with a stick. By the end of the flick, Steve McQueen has his hands full with a tidal wave-sized beastie. Only after he realizes it is affected by cold, does the Air Force air-lift the troublesome liquid to the Arctic. A sequel was inevitable. Larry Hagman directed the 1972’s Beware! The Blob! The original was remade in 1988. You can’t keep a good slime down. With the CGI we have now, I suspect another remake is imminent.
Golden Age
“The Monster From the Fourth Dimension” (Weird Science #7, May-June 1951) was written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. The scientist, Willy, brings a creature from the Fourth Dimension. Hank has a lot of trouble dealing with the meat-colored thing. Willy uses a machine he invented to go to the Fourth Dimension and gets his brain cooked. Again, it is up to Hank to clean everything up. Plenty of H. P. Lovecraft in this one.
“The Thing That Grew!” (Adventures Into Terror #7, December 1951) has Professor Borglum dropping his blood into an experiment and creating a blood-sucking slime. The prof ends up as food!
“The Glistening Death” (City of the Living Dead, 1952) has a greedy nephew imposing on his uncle. The rewards are great wealth and a beautiful girl. Too bad she’s the slime monster!
“Mind Over Matter” (Weird Mysteries #5, June 1953) was written by an unknown author. Another scientist invents a liquid slime so corrosive nothing can hold it. It takes his bumpkin neighbor to point his out.
“Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes” (Haunt of Fear #24, March-April 1954) was written by Otto Binder. Bethy hates being married to Jake. He beats her and drinks. She starts having an affair with Clem. Later a slime creature eats Jake. Bethy escapes and goes to have a bath. The slime eats her in the bath. Both Jake and Bethy are now part of the creature. This one was written by Otto Binder who once had been a Science fiction writer along with his brother Earl, as Eando Binder.
“The Creeping Death” (Spook #28, April 1954) A slimy single cell organism grows to a gigantic size. Blowing it up saves the day…or does it?
Silver Age
“Creature of the Swamp” (Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #28 , December 1969) was written by an unknown author. Another scientist invents a growing slime that becomes gigantic in size. He kills it by spraying a dehydrating liquid on it. The movie The Blob is a likely inspiration.
Bronze Age
“The Killer Slime” (Eerie #31, January 1971) was written by Steve Skeates. Another scientist invents a man-eating slime that is intelligent. To get rid of it, he and his fellow docs plan to trap the slime in oil drums and dump them in the ocean. The slime has other ideas, like “bumming a ride” all over the world.
“The Cosmic All” (Creepy #38, March 1971) was written by Wally Wood. The spaceship Aldren lands on a planet with a giant protoplasm for a lake. After they escape they go to another planet where the locals attack them. The spacemen shoot them all. The aliens are happy to die that way since the space travelers are in for a worse fate. The captain and his gal turn to slime as they bring peace to Earth…
“The Creature That Devoured Detroit” (Aquaman #56, March-April 1971) was written by Steve Skeates. Aquaman faces off against a slime creature as big as a wave. Scientists are to blame and smashing fists and a self-destruct button save the day. Skeates wrote “The Killer Slime” for Warren a month earlier so he must have had slime on his mind.
“I, Slime” (Scream #1, August 1973) was written by Al Hewetson. A legless man is the town’s mailman. When the lunatics escape from the asylum, they surround and kill him. Only he turns into a slime. He fills the locks on the doors, trapping the madmen inside, starving them to death. The mailman has his revenge. Jose Gual incorporates photos into his backgrounds for an unusual look.
“The Slime Thing” (Mystery Comics Digest #14, October 1973) was written by Don Glut. Theodore Golderson is a chemical plant owner who hates the protesters around the place. Later he encounters the creature his pollution has created. Fortunately for Theo he is in a Gold Key comic and is allowed to mend his ways. If he had been in an old EC Comic he would suffered a much worse fate… Environmentalism finally shows up.
The next comic was something special. An entire issue dedicated to oozy, sticky stories all concerned with a slime alien named Goo.
“Ooze” (Midnight Tales #7, June 1974) was written by Nick Cuti. Arachne and Professor Coffin find a book written by a magician named Sorbus. They take it to their friend, Professor Metz.
“Goo” (Midnight Tales #7, June 1974) was written by Nick Cuti. Alien space created named Goo fights the T. rex.
“Slime” (Midnight Tales #7, June 1974) was written by Nick Cuti. The magician, Sorbus, discovers Goo in his well. When the king finds out about the creature, he wants it to eat the barbarian horde that threatens the land. Unfortunately, Goo has fallen in love with the magician’s daughter, Regina, because of a love potion. He’s too busy making goo-goo eyes to fight the invaders.
“Muck” (Midnight Tales #7, June 1974) was written by Wayne Howard. This continues Professor Coffin, Arachne and Metz’s story. The Professor is jealous of the others meddling in his research. He reveals that Goo has not died but still lives under the university. A series of Muck Murders take place but it is Metz who is behind them. Goo is invited to talk before the university in the last panel.
“The Slime Creature of Harlem Avenue” (Eerie #93, June 1978) was written by Bill DuBay. Two boys discover a man hiding an alien from space. They inadvertently stop an invasion by alien slime creatures. The bizarre mix of Alex Nino art and Bill DuBay’s “ethnic” writing is a confusing mess that has dated poorly. It is one of the few Warren comics to feature an all-black cast. Inclusion or Blaxploitation?
“Jimmy Olsen–Blob!” (Action Comics #563, January 1985) was written by Craig Boldman. What would happen if Superman’s best pal became a blob? He is able to rescue a girl who falls from a building, but the rest of his life is ruined. All he needs to turn back into himself is a little rain.
Covers
Conclusion
Return of the Slime certainly shows that the Frankenstein myth persists long after Mary Shelley wrote her book. The scientists in these stories are evil, misguided or just unfortunate. Anthony Rud’s “Slime” is another perennial trope, having appeared in the very first issue of Weird Tales. Experimenters in swamps always come to a bad end. I suppose if we are looking for yet another common idea, the slime as space creature is well represented here too. The Blob gave us that one. So whether they come from space, out of lab or a swamp, slime creatures are found in all three of the Comic ages.
