You either die a pirate, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain...wait, that's not right either.

You may have noticed, I traditionally don't scan the cover when I blog a comic; I just include a link to the Grand Comics Database. But, I have been scanning my Twilight Zone comics, partly because they have the nice old Gold Key painted covers; but also because TZ is one of those titles I used to only have a few of, so I could just grab them whenever I saw them cheap, and now I'm trying to avoid buying the same ones over and over. (See also: Kamandi, Groo the Wanderer, most Jonah Hex titles...) All that is to say, pretty nice cover on this one: from 1969, the Twilight Zone #29. No cover credit, but man, I hope that painting is still out there somewhere.

"Captain Clegg's Treasure" opens with Norton Mitchell having a bad day on the boat, tossed by a storm to the point he was looking forward to drowning. He enters a fogbank, then comes out to safety; for about 30 seconds, before he's picked up by pirates! Confused, Norton is forced at knifepoint to sign on as a pirate and hey, good timing, ship ahoy! Norton doesn't want to hurt anyone, but Captain Clegg makes it clear, he could fight, or he could die. On their second raid, Norton clonks a guy over the head; so he's meeting them halfway. After several weeks of pirate raids, he's had about enough, and tries to escape: Clegg catches him, and has him keelhauled. Norton survives, to the relief of his crewmates, who had taken a shine to the little weirdo. Cleeg takes him ashore to a small island, to bury some treasure: Norton tries to escape again, and is immediately captured again.

Cleeg's first mate murders some of the other sailors, at Cleeg's order, then Cleeg kills him. But Norton's third escape attempt is the charm, as he gets the longboat out and into a convenient fogbank...Norton drifts back into his own time, where he's rescued and taken to a hospital, muttering about pirates. The doctors think he must have cracked, but Norton ditches the hospital, and goes back and gets Clegg's treasure! A somewhat rare happy ending, but like Norton says, he earned it. (No art credit on that one, and I'm not sure I've seen any writing credits for these.)

Next, "Past...Present...Eternity" follows some students in Mexico City using hypnosis to explore past lives. Ray has a vivid tale of being a slave, working on the great pyramid; his pal Dick doesn't buy it. Ray is then killed on a drive, but his spirit comes back to...move a nail around? (Art by Joe Certa.)

Finally, in "Trapped Between Lives" Bernie Madsen is a sad nobody, selling peanuts at the ball game, convinced all 40,000 in the stadium have a better life than him. But, as often was the case in these stories, he finds a mysterious ad to "Change Your Life" which leads to a mysterious storefront and a mysterious salesman. The store is full of people, but they aren't customers, they're inventory: the salesman promises Bernie could become any of them. He picks a strapping blond man, and immediately becomes him, then remembers to ask the cost: a "very modest fee" of $500...a month. Oh, and he can't change back. Bernie is confident at first, but looks don't get him as far in business as he expected, and the $500 was coming due. He has a moment's respite when he realizes, wait, the salesman didn't know his name or where he lived...yeah, collections still finds him right enough, a thug that gives him a 'warning' square on the jaw.

Bernie turns to crime pretty quickly, which goes well for a minute, then south. He returns to the storefront, to try and get his old body back; but someone had bought it, wanting a simple, quiet life. Chased by the cops, Bernie ends up back at the ballfield, trying to lose himself in the crowd, but gets tripped by his old body! He's hauled off to jail, while the old Bernie is hailed as a hero. Rod Serling makes the traditional closing, like, it's makes you think, but it maybe doesn't? (Hey, full credits on this one! Written by Paul S. Newman, pencils by Art Saaf, inks (maybe) by Win Mortimer.) 

Two good ones this time, and the ever-popular US Postal Service Statement of Ownership: total paid circulation, single issue nearest to filing date, 225,841. Including 408 subscriptions!