The twist ending is, this one wasn't bad!

OK, so I finally just eBayed a reader copy of Twilight Zone #70 so maybe I won't have to mention it every time I blog an issue of the series; but we've seen more than a few from Gold Key and more recently from Now. Surprisingly, this might be one of the best of those we've blogged! From 1993, the Twilight Zone #3, "A Job for Fear" Written by Andrew Barlow, pencils by Nick Choles, inks by Tony deZuniga. 

Three men in a car, preparing for a robbery, are joined by an uninvited fourth; a handsome man in a nice suit. (Think Robert Redford from "Nothing in the Dark," mean ol' Death tricking that old lady! ACAB.) The men aren't able to harm their guest, who introduces himself as "perhaps your greatest enemy, perhaps your greatest friend, and certainly a lifelong companion." He has no intention of stopping the men, he's just going to show them the possible outcomes of their robbery. They live out a possible version, where the muscle, Leo, tells his trigger-happy cousin Eddie the clerk pushed a button, and Eddie shoots the clerk. Leo had accidentally killed his brother as a child, and lived in mortal fear of something happening to his only relative; but no longer wanted to hurt or kill anyone. He opts out of the robbery, but the guest shows them what might happen then. Patrick, the planner, realizes their guest is Fear. 

In the second version, Eddie and Patrick try the job themselves: after crashing their getaway car, Eddie gets into a shootout, while Patrick gets away. Eddie shoots a cop before getting hit himself, and is arrested; which he claims not be afraid of; but the guest says that's not the end of it: Eddie's lawyer does perhaps too good of a job, getting him off on an insanity plea and sent to a mental institution. Eddie heard voices in his head; and was afraid of being considered "crazy" and losing Leo and Patrick. His friends are surprisingly compassionate, suggesting he could get help. Fear offers him a choice: leave, and Leo and Patrick won't recall any of this; or stay. Eddie chooses to stay. 

The robbery had been Patrick's idea, to get seed money for a get-rich-quick scheme; which, in Fear's telling, works: Patrick not only gets away clean, he's a millionaire within five years, and goes on to live a happy and fulfilled life with a wonderful family. But in the afterlife, he comes before God, and realizes he had sinned. Fear won't say if that's what actually happens when you die, but notes it was a fear in the hearts of all men. (I wish...it would change a lot if it was, huh?) Fear advises that wasn't Patrick's greatest fear; he would still have to face that. Getting out of the car, Patrick goes into the liquor store not to rob it, but to apply for a job. 

Like most of Now Comics' output, the art is somewhat workmanlike: nothing spectacular, but gets the job done. Still, I could see this one turned into a half-hour episode; and that's more than I can say of a lot of TZ comics.