In episode 11 of Lost’s fourth season, “Cabin Fever,” Richard Alpert comes to a young John Locke with the Dali Llama test. First thing’s first — Richard is perpetually 45 years old. The only change in his appearance that I’ve seen to date is the length of his hair when he first met Benry Gailinus.

Richard produces several items for consideration; some everyday, some rather nefarious. He asks John to pick which ones are “his.” After some consideration, John picks a compass or watch, a small vial of sand, a Book of Laws and a worn knife. Richard is disturbed and leaves suddenly. I-I-I-I want the knife….pleeease.

What Locke didn’t pick up was the Mystery Tales #40. Comic books seem to play a small but fan teasing role on Lost. The first sighting being the Spanish translated Green Lantern and Flash “Faster Friends” issue in which Walt sees a polar bear. Because of that tie-in, seeing another comic book at such a pivotal moment sent fanboys into a lather trying to figure out if it had any meaning.

I’m of the impression – however naive – that everything on Lost has a purpose. There are no names, dates, actors, characters, places, numbers, songs, coffee mugs or shoe brands that are just thrown in on a whim. Not listening to director/producer podcasts, I’m not privy to what are undoubtedly sad truths about the haphazard nature of writing such an intricate show. Rather I dream of a giant white board around which the writers congregate, drawing linking paths and pasting up photos like some giant Law & Order Visio nightmare.

That said, I’m not sure Mystery Tales has anything to do with anything. At least not the stories inside.

The cover is probably the most interesting and relevant part. It boldly admonishes the reader with jazzy balloons shouting, “What was the secret of the mysterious HIDDEN LAND?” and “Does it pay to ignore the VOICE OF WARNING?” Just those two lines together make you think of Lost. It also makes you think of Jurassic Park and City of Lost Children, but that’s beside the point. The cover art also has a floating city (which never showed up in the book.) But the cover’s floating city does bear a striking resemblance to the Lost show placard with the island trees reflected as a cityscape in the ocean waves. So yeah, if you turn that upside-down they kinda look the same.

It’s a stretch.

What else is a stretch is that any of the stories hold clues to future plot points of the show anymore than your horoscope is an accurate assessment of how your day will pan out. But let’s take a look all the same.

- The Hidden Land –

A mousey book keeper works for a business mogul. The man is unhappy with his failure of a life. His boss, the business baron, is successful, but also unhappy. He has no friends and he seems to be in ill health. Bookkeeper Man is collecting files from his boss’s desk when he sees a ring, a ring his boss usually wears. He puts on the ring and suddenly feels he knows everything and can use this ring’s power to make him successful and happy. Out of nowhere appear a group of Tibetan monks. They spirit him away to The Hidden Land to tell him the ring is a gift to Humanity, but not today’s Humanity and that the business man had stolen it from them. Bookkeeper Man returns the ring and goes back to his life which he now sees as a happy life with family and friends.

- A Warning Voice -

A military man is on his way home on leave or between tours when he suddenly hears a voice saying, “Watch out! Watch out!” He doesn’t know where it’s coming from, but he takes heed and avoids several near disastrous events including cars on runways, cars driving off cliffs and planes flying into mountains. When he finally makes it home, he hears the voice again, but it’s coming from a record his son is playing that’s skipping when the song gets to the phrase “watch out.”

- Crossroads of Destiny –

Ernest builds a time machine but sends his soon to be bride away because she’s a distraction. Not only does his time machine go to the future and past, but also to points in “…time that might have been.” Examples given are Caesar becoming a scholar instead of a general, Columbus becoming a merchant instead of a sailor and finally his own story had he married that girl. In all cases the results were utopian if not a bit naïve. Sure the city of Rome would have prospered, but without an Empire to follow, what happens to the rest of civilization, and so on. He returns and marries the girl.

- Sammy’s Secret –

Sammy can fly, but only does so at night to avoid being seen. One night he’s abducted by a UFO and taken to Venus where he’s told he was orphaned on Earth as a child, his real home is here with all these other flying people.

- The Silent Stranger -

We’re in a rundown town that’s pulling its founder’s statue down as it’s a blight, a reminder of (apparently) a time when things were better. The town matriarch/crazylady keeps praying for her dead “ancestor” to show them courage. Suddenly a stranger appears and begins rebuilding the town. The townspeople, under a hypnotic spell coming from this stranger, work against their will to rebuild the town. The factories open back up, the town now prospers, the stranger disappears. When they find the statue and put it back up, they all realize the stranger looked exactly like this statue and must have been the town’s founder.

These are all very Twilight Zone and aren’t much longer than a couple pages. Plus, they’re poorly done, even for 1956 standards. I could see a couple of them being done as full books and they’d have held up a little better, but as they are now they’re more like someone you don’t like telling you about a nonsensical bad dream they had. It’s achingly pointless. But what, if anything do these stories have to do with Lost?

Little. The Silent Stranger’s town founder is named John. There was a time machine that showed future possibilities. A soldier hears voices of warning. An accountant finds a magic talisman but returns it. I’m going to pretend the flying alien one didn’t exist. Read as bullet points, they seem to indicate a great tie to Lost, but as the stories are so short, I can’t see that this book could be used for scrying into the later seasons. There’s always the possibility. A record playing a warning voice sounds good, but the only record player on the island was turned into a fridge magnet when the Swan station blew. There’s a time machine in the comic, but there’ve been countless stories about time travel. A possibility is that the Island “moves” but moves through time to other possible time lines rather than just forward and backward or through space. There aren’t any rings on the island or any talismans I’m aware of (Eko’s stick notwithstanding) but I suppose a tie to the Tibetan monks given a power to humanity could be made what with the Island’s power to heal or even resurrect.

But to what end? Mystery Tales are more tea leaves or bones than actual road signs. Out of all the comic books made, I’m sure a great number of fantastic tales have been told about mysterious strangers, powerful jewelry and premonitions not to mention time machines. As much as I want to put faith in the creators assigning importance to all props and set pieces in the show, I think we’re all going to have to assume this one was taken on face value alone.

Either way, in two years we’ll know for sure.