Class Ditko #1

I often cite the Alan Class reprints of American horror and science-fiction comics as one of my biggest influences. When I was a kid there were British comics, like The Beano and Eagle, there were irregular imports of American Marvel and DC comics, and then there was Alan Class. Every month, half a dozen titles hit the newsagents. They originally boasted 68 pages every issue, though the page-count later dropped to 48. The contents seemed to be randomly selected from American publishers as diverse as Timely, Atlas, AGC, Charlton, Archie, Fawcett and King Features.

Whoever chose the strips had a good eye. There would usually be at least one Steve Ditko classic in there and sometimes three or four. The strip sampled below is from Secrets of the Unknown #222. Beautiful art but watch out for a classic boo-boo when it comes to the denouement.

So far, so good, but after raiding the local homes for their priceless antiques,

our dastardly dealer finds an an unforeseen problem.

And then the answer hits him!

A perfect story, except for one little mistake... surely an "occult time machine" constructed from an "ancient book of black magic" wouldn't depend on electricity! 

And so we leave our writer consigned to his fate, wandering forever in the endless void that is... the plot hole!