Reading Room: Flying Saucers x Four #1 "Secret of the Flying Saucer"

In the old days (pre-Silver Age), comic books recycled plots every few years...

Art by Bill Everett

...since the target audience changed every few years!

Let's see how one specific concept was re-used over a decade by one publisher.

Exhibit #1 is this tale...

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Fred Kida, this never-reprinted, pre-Comics Code tale from Atlas' Men's Adventures #21 (1953) is definitely more "horror" than "sci-fi".

That's to be expected since this was the era of horror comics' greatest popularity, before the Congressional witchhunts and claims of comics causing juvenile delinquency.

Stan Lee would reuse the concept of a sentient spaceship meeting hapless humans several more times...as we shall see tomorrow!