We Have Already Seen...
(Yes, this pulp-style cover by legendary sci-fi artist Frank Kelly Freas is incredibly-inaccurate, but it is incredibly-kool!)
When a smuggler's plane is shot down after he stole bioengineered plant pods from a Soviet lab, the now-released spores were carried by wind to the four corners of the earth, where they propagated like crazy!
The invasive species, initially-thought to be harmless, possessed stingers, which would strike any animal (or human) who wander too close!
However, scientists discovered the triffids' sap was valuable as the basis for cures for several diseases.
Wherever they were found, the plants were transferred to farms for cultivation and harvesting!
Triffid researcher Bill Mason, temporarily-blinded by a sting to the face, doesn't get to see a once-in-a lifetime meteor shower.
But when he removes his bandages the next morning, after no one in the hospital comes to do so, he discovers that everyone who did see the meteors is now blind...and that triffids are now mobile...and attacking anything that moves!
To Be Continued...
Next Wednesday!
To correct my comment from last week, this story, meant for the color comic Worlds Unknown, was not an attempt to do a novel in one issue, but as a two-part tale, much as Marvel was doing with its' adaptations of Doc Savage novels...which were almost all penciled by this story's artist, Ross Andru!
Trivia: the cover art was altered by Marvel's Art Director, John Romita, Sr, when a deadline loomed and artist Kelly Freas was unavailable to do the changes himself.
The unaltered version of the cover was used for the cover of the British edition of Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction.
Note the different human figures on the left!
Interestingly, Romita's alteration were done to a photographic print of Freas' art, since the original, unaltered painting has since been sold to a collector by a noted auction house!
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