PHILIP PHILIPS

Real Name: Philip Philips

Identity/Class: Human (1950s era)

Occupation: Unrevealed (see comments)

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Unidentified friend

Enemies: Unidentified extradimensional creatures

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Phil (as called by unidentified friend)

Base of Operations: His apartment in an unidentified American city

First Appearance: Marvel Tales I#122/4 (April, 1954)

Powers/Abilities: Philips was an ordinary man with no paranormal abilities--he possibly suffered from an unspecified ocular condition which affected his depth perception, because he was unable to properly view 3-D movies. Philips owned a camera and a semi-automatic handgun.

Using a defective pair of 3-D movie glasses, Philips stumbled upon a method to see and photograph extradimensional creatures--this accidental discovery would ultimately lead to his untimely death.

Height: 5'10" (by approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Brown

History:
(Marvel Tales I#122/4) - One evening, Philip Philips went to a 3-D movie--he immediately complained to the usher because he couldn't see a thing through the stereoscopic glasses. The usher brought Phillips a second pair of glasses, but all he could see was a blur of colored lines, so he demanded to see the theater manager. The manager apologized for the inconvenience and speculated that the coloring chemical in the lenses of the two 3-D glasses must have been defective; the manager handed Philips a third pair and assured him that these glasses worked, because he had tested them himself, and he told Philips he could keep the two defective glasses as a souvenir.

   But Philips was disappointed by the quality of the 3-D effects in the movie, so he took the two pairs of defective glasses and went home. When he got to his apartment, Philips turned on a fluorescent desk lamp and looked through one of the glasses--he was shocked to see weird alien figures through the lenses! When he pulled the glasses off, Philips saw that the strange beings were gone; then he tried the second pair, and saw the same unearthly creatures again.

   The terrified Philips ripped off the glasses and flicked off the desk lamp, then he went upstairs and told his friend about the strange creatures he saw--although his friend doubted the claim, he humored Philips and went down to his apartment. The friend put on a pair of glasses, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary; surprised, Philips put the second pair of glasses on with his shaking hands, and saw that the creatures weren't there. Thinking that Philips had only been playing a joke, his friend departed for his own lodgings.

   Alone in his apartment, Philips suddenly realized that when his friend tried the glasses, the fluorescent lamp had been off--he guessed that its light somehow affected the glasses, so he switched it back on; once again, Philips saw the unearthly creatures--he was horrified when one of them pointed one of its three clawed fingers straight at him, for he realized the creature had seen him! Grimly determined to prove that the things he saw really existed, Philips set up the glasses in front of his camera and successfully took a picture of the strange beings through the colored lenses.

   The next evening, Philips took the developed photograph up to his friend's apartment, but his friend only laughed it off as trick photography. When Philips returned to his own apartment, he noticed that both 3-D glasses were missing from his desk, then he heard a clicking sound and saw the door lock snapped shut by unseen hands, and the curtains were flung across the window by some invisible force. Icy fear gripped Philips, because he realized the creatures were there to get him! Reaching into the desk drawer, Philips withdrew his handgun--without the glasses, he knew he couldn't see the creatures, but maybe lucky shots would hit them.

   As he turned, Philips was startled to see both 3-D glasses hovering unsupported in the air, and he guessed that the invisible creatures must be wearing the stereoscopic spectacles--Philips figured if he fired below the glasses, he should be able to hit the creatures. But as he raised the gun, his wrist was bent back by an overpowering force, with the gun swinging toward him. Desperately, the terrified Philips tried to turn the gun away, but relentlessly the deadly muzzle edged toward him--then an irresistible force pressed his finger against the trigger, and the sound of a gunshot rang out...

   As Philips' body slumped to the floor, the extradimensional creatures spoke amongst themselves--they would keep a pair of the glasses, which also allowed them to see the terribly hostile "five-fingered monsters" (humans), so they could be on guard against them...

Comments: Created by Paul S. Newman (writer) and Chuck Winter (artist).

Philips' occupation was never revealed, but since he had a camera, and possibly access to darkroom facilities (which would explain how he got that photograph developed so quickly), I'll guess that he was a professional photographer.

This 4-page story--The Glasses!--was published during the 3-D movie craze of the 1950s.

The gimmick of special glasses that could be used to see otherworldly creatures would later be used in such films as 13 Ghosts (1960) and They Live (1988).

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Philip Philips has no known connections to:

Philip Philips' 3-D glasses have no known connections to:

Philip Philips' 3-D glasses

When Philips went to see a 3-D movie, he received two pairs of defective stereoscopic glasses. After replacing them with a third pair that did work, the theater manager theorized that something had gone wrong with the coloring chemicals of the two glasses, and he told Philips he could keep them as a souvenir.

After the film, Philips returned to his apartment, where he discovered that the light produced by his fluorescent desk lamp somehow affected the glasses in such a manner that he could see creatures in another dimension when he looked through them.

Eventually, one of the 3-D spectacles was taken by an extradimensional creature, because the glasses allowed it to see humans.

--Marvel Tales I#122/4

Philip Philips' friend

He was an unidentified acquaintance who lived in an apartment above Philips' lodgings.

One evening, Philips came to his room and claimed he saw strange creatures through some 3-D movie glasses. Laughingly, the friend humored Philips and went downstairs to his apartment, but when he donned the mysterious glasses, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, and only thought that Philips was trying to play a joke.

The next evening, Philips showed his friend a picture he shot of the creatures, but his friend thought that it was merely trick photography.

--Marvel Tales I#122/4

Philip Philips' camera

An ordinary camera owned by Philips, it was used by him to photograph creatures from another dimension.

To get proof of the creatures existence, Philips propped the camera on a book and aimed it through some defective 3-D movie glasses he had--he used the colored lenses as a filter, so the creatures would show up on film.

Philips later showed the developed photograph to his friend; but Philips' friend doubted the authenticity of the picture, and thought it was only trick photography.

--Marvel Tales I#122/4

Extradimensional creatures

Having three clawed fingers and a grotesque appearance (by human standards), they were intelligent beings who inhabited another unspecified dimension. They could not be seen on Earth, nor could they otherwise perceive Earth's dimension from their otherworldly realm--although some among the extradimensional creatures warned their brethren about "five-fingered monsters from another dimension" (humans), they were laughed at and called fools.

The creatures were seen by Philip Philips when he wore a pair of defective 3-D movie glasses that allowed him to see into their dimension; however, some of them also caught a glimpse of Philips.

Later, two of the creatures took Philips 3-D glasses, but when Philips tried to shoot them, they turned his handgun back upon him and forced Philips to shoot himself. One of the creatures kept the 3-D glasses so his people could stay on guard against the hostile "monsters".

(Note: Despite their frightening appearance, they didn't seem to be inherently evil, and they apparently only killed Philips in an act of self-preservation.)

--Marvel Tales I#122/4

images: (without ads)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p2 pan2 (Main Image - Philip Philips leaving movie theater)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p2, pan5 (Headshot - horrified Philip Philips removes 3-D glasses after seeing extradimensional creatures)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p3, pan5 (terrified Philips realizes extradimensional creatures can see him)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p4, pan5 (Philips forced by extradimensional creatures to point his handgun at himself)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p2, pan3 (Philips first exposes 3-D glasses to light of fluorescent desk lamp)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p3, pan2 (Philips realizes light of fluorescent desk lamp allows him to view extradimensional creatures with 3-D glasses)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p2, pan7 (unidentified friend tries 3-D glasses; Philip Philips (background) )
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p3, pan1 (unidentified friend leaves Philips' apartment; Philip Philips (background) )
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p3, pan6 (Philips sets his camera to take a picture through 3-D glasses)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p3, pan7 (photograph of extradimensional creatures)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p2, pan6 (extradimensional creatures, as seen through red-filter lens)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p2, pan4 (extradimensional creatures, as seen through green-filter lens)
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p4, pan4 (two invisible extradimensional creatures wearing 3-D glasses; Philip Philips, holding handgun (foreground) )
Marvel Tales I#122/4, p4, pan8 (one of the extradimensional creatures (as seen through green-filter lens) keeps 3-D glasses)

Appearances:
Marvel Tales I#122/4 (April, 1954) - Paul S. Newman (writer), Chuck Winter (pencils), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 11/05/2019
Last updated: 05/31/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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