MARTIANS

Classification: Extraterrestrial (Martians) (1950s era)

Location/Base of Operations: Mars

Known Members: Oog (see comments), unidentified invasion leader

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Earthlings, including "Heath Russell" (see comments)

First Appearance: Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1 (October, 1951)

Powers/Abilities: Armed with energy-projecting handguns, these warlike Martians displayed no paranormal abilities of their own. They possessed rocket-ships capable of flying in Earth's atmosphere, which were armed with atomic bombs and destructive energy beams; although technologically advanced in comparison to Earth, they had not yet achieved interplanetary travel -- their rocket-ships were only able to reach Earth because their planet had temporarily been pulled into closer proximity.

Traits: These Martians were bald, and had large bulging eyes and pointed ears. They were unable to eat Earth food; additionally, they were unable to breathe Earth's "foul air," and required transparent helmets that contained their own planet's atmosphere.

Type: Semi-humanoid
Average height: 7' 2" (by approximation)
Eyes: Two (on head)
Fingers: Five (including opposing thumb)
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Pale green

History:
(Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of these Martians is unrevealed, but they had established an advanced civilization on the red planet, where they were ruled by Oog (see comments). For many centuries, they had been waiting to conquer Earth, but having only developed the rudimentary principles of space-travel, their rocket-ships were unable to traverse the millions of miles through space to get there.

   Wishing to prevent a third world war by uniting the nations of Earth against a common enemy, scientist "Heath Russell" built the Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo, then used the immense device to pull the planet Mars closer to Earth.

(Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1) - After "Russell" activated his invention, its beam of energy began to draw Mars closer; on the red planet, the jolting effects of the ray caused the Martian cities to crumble. When the Martians realized their world was getting nearer to "the accursed planet of Earth," they saw it as a sign from the fates, so they launched their attack fleet of rocket-ships to invade.

   On the morning of August 12, 1956 (see comments), the skies of Earth were darkened by the Martian invasion fleet, which began to assault the entire world. The leader of the invasion force emerged from the flagship and planted the banner of Mars, claiming Earth for the red planet.

   The various countries of the world quickly mobilized a counter-assault, but Earth's "primitive" weapons were no match for the invaders -- although "Russell's" plan for bringing the world together to combat a common foe had succeeded, he had overlooked one important factor: he hadn't anticipated that the armed strength of Mars would exceed the combined forces of all Earth's nations.

   Desperate to undo what he had done, "Russell" formulated a scheme and he turned himself over to a pair of Martian soldiers, then he was taken to the invasion force's leader. "Russell" lied and told the leader that he had been sent to deliver the terms of Earth's surrender, and he had the leader fly him back to his laboratory (which "Russell" claimed to be United Nations headquarters); once inside his lab, "Russell" pulled a lever that he claimed would summon Earth's leaders, but the lever actually reversed the action of the Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo, and the beam pushed Mars back, returning it to its regular orbit, millions of miles from Earth.

   Seeing that he'd been tricked, the invasion force leader realized that he and his fellow Martians could never return to their home-world again, because they would starve trying to cross such a vast distance. Then "Russell" shoved the leader into the Magnetic Dynamo and dived for cover; the alien's body short-circuited the machine, and the ensuing explosion completely destroyed it.

   Now cut off from their supply-line on Mars because their rocket-ships could never fly the great distance, the remaining Martians faced defeat as starvation struck, and they would soon asphyxiate without their native world's atmosphere. Rather than perish on a foreign planet, the entire Martian fleet committed mass suicide by rocketing off into deep space to die.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Russ Heath (see comments).

The scientist in this story was the protagonist, but was never identified; rather than continuously type "unidentified scientist," I just inverted the artist's name.

While these Martians were depicted as towering giants in the splash-panel (see main image), they were only about a head taller than "Heath Russell".

Regarding the date when the Martians arrived: Although published in 1951, this story was set five years in the "future".

This 8-page story--The Men Who Conquered the Earth!--was basically just a retread of the earlier-published Captain America Comics I#70/1 (January, 1949), wherein Captain America (Jeff Mace) battled a Martian invasion lead by Oog after Professor Kulto's Atomic Powered Planet Mover brought their planet closer to Earth -- the roles played by Captain America and Professor Kulto were combined as "Heath Russell" in this story.

Although these Martians invoked the name of their leader Oog several times (see third image above), they probably had no connection with that earlier Martian invasion in the Captain America story -- I can't believe the exact same circumstances occurred just a few years after that story. I'd prefer to think that this story did take place in Reality-616 (mainstream Marvel Universe), but it's just a fictionalized version of the events from the Captain America adventure, and was published as a comic book story by the Earth-616 version of Timely/Atlas Comics.

It remains to be explained how so many different races/beings allegedly originated from Mars.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
These Martians have no known connection to:

The Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo should not be confused with:

"Heath Russell"

One of the world's top scientists, "Heath Russell" (see comments) had been a soldier during World War II; having witnessed the horrors of warfare, he conducted college lectures where he talked about world peace, and he thought that another global conflict would completely destroy Earth. He believed that the only thing that would save the world was for all the nations of Earth to unite against a common enemy.

From his years of studies, "Russell" secretly learned that there were creatures on Mars who would attack Earth, if not for the fact that their rocket-ships could not travel the tremendous distance. Figuring that an invasion from the red planet would be just the thing to unite Earth, he built the Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo to pull the planet Mars closer to Earth, so that the Martians could more easily attack the world.

But "Russell" had not taken into consideration that the Martians had superior weaponry, and the invaders soon began to overwhelm Earth's defenses. In an attempt to undo the damage he had unintentionally caused, "Russell" reversed the action of his machine and pushed Mars back into its regular orbit, then he shoved the invasion force's leader into the machine, which caused a short-circuit that destroyed his Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo. Upon learning that their leader was dead and their supply-lines were cut, the remaining Martian invaders realized they were unable to ever reach their home-world again, so they chose to fly their rocket-ships into deep space to die, rather than perish on a foreign world.

With the extraterrestrial threat ended, the world returned to "normal" -- nations once again threatened and distrusted each other, just as they had before "Russell" tried to bring them "peace".

--Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1

Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo

An extremely large device developed by "Heath Russell," it took him six years to build. Once activated, it shot a beam of energy that towed the planet Mars closer to Earth.

When the invading Martians began to overwhelm the combined military forces of Earth, "Russell" reversed the device's action and pushed Mars back to its regular orbit; afterward, he shoved the invasion's leader into the machine and short-circuited it--the resulting explosion destroyed the device.

--Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1

images: (without ads)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p1, pan1 (main image - Martians)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p6, pan3 (headshot - Martian invasion leader)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p5, pan1 (Martian invasion leader plants banner on Earth and invokes Oog's name [underlined in RED])
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p5, pan5 (Martian soldiers capture "Heath Russell")
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p8, pan3 (defeated Martians; Martian rocket-ships [background])
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p2, pan1 ("Heath Russell" delivering lecture at college)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p8, pan6 ("Heath Russell" after Martian invasion)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p2, pan3 ("Heath Russell" standing before completed Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1, p3, pan2 (beam from Atomic-Powered Magnetic Dynamo pulls Mars closer to Earth)

Appearances:
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#7/1  (October, 1951) - unidentified writer, Russ Heath (pencils/inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 04/15/2026
Last updated: 04/15/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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