Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ORBIT "Marooned Off Vesta"

 We All Know Isaac Asimov!

Amazing Stories March 1939 Art by Robert Fuqa

The Three Laws of Robotics!

Several seminal series including Foundation, Galactic Empire, and Robots...all of which have been unified into one massive universe!

Literally hundreds of novels, novellas and short stories!

Amazing Stories, March 1959 Art by Virgil Finlay

But did you ever read his very first story?

(The pages above are from the tale's first publication in 1939 and it's (1959) 20th Anniversary appearance in the same magazine!

Now here's the never-reprinted 50th Anniversary adaptation of that tale, scripted by JD Scott and illustrated by Michael Davis.

It appeared in #2 of Eclipse's sci-fi anthology Orbit, which featured adaptations of stories from Davis Publications' Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine! and several of Asimov's own stories!

When the prose version of this story was reprinted in 1959 for its' 20th Anniversary appearance in Amazing Stories, Asimov penned a sequel, "Anniversary", featuring the characters gathering to celebrate their survival and then having a new, related, adventure!

The two tales have usually been reprinted together since.

But there's been no graphic adaptation of "Anniversary"...yet!

Next Week: A New World of Wonder!

Space Force Saturdays WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

While exploring an alien world, the crew of the exploratory vessel Space Beagle encounter Coerl, who looks like a Terrestrial panther or lion...with the addition of tentacles!

But this is not a friendly housecat!

It's a primitive, but sentient, being who can not only reason, but kill and deceive...

Trivia: The announced adaptation of Day of the Triffids ended up as the cover-featured tale in the premiere issue of Worlds Unknown's b/w magazine successor, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction...

...under a misleading, but undeniably-kool cover by Kelly Freas!
In fact, an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon's KillDozer ran in the next issue of Worlds Unknown...

Meanwhile, back with Black Destroyer...

Roy Thomas was concerned that the finale as shown in the adaptation wasn't clear enough, so he included an explanation on the letters page...

Bonus #1: You can read the complete original short story HERE.

Feel free to compare and contrast!
Bonus #2: here are the illustrations from the original pulp magazine, so you can see how closely Dan Adkins and Jim Mooney kept to the pulp magazine "feel" of the tale!

"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with other short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, the title of which is a tribute to Charles Darwin's scientific exploratory ship, "The Beagle".

BTW, Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet", both of which were adapted into Voyage of the Space Beagle.

Fox settled out of court for #50,000!

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Voyage of the Space Beagle

(which includes "Black Destroyer")
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Space Force Saturdays WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer" Part 1

 In Space, No One Can Hear You MEOW...

 ...as in this 1940s pulp story that's a clear inspiration for aspects of movie and tv science fiction ranging from Forbidden Planet and Alien to Star Trek and Space: 1999 (among many others)!

Will Coeurl deceive the crew and return with them to Earth?
Or will he simply kill the humans and commandeer the ship?
Find out...Next Saturday!
Plus: read some kool background info about the comic adaptation!

This never-reprinted tale from issue 5 (1974) of Marvel's short-lived science fiction anthology Worlds Unknown was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Dan Adkins & Jim Mooney.

The story is based on "Black Destroyer", A E Van Vogt's first published story, which appeared as the cover story (a rare honor for a writer's premiere tale) in Astounding Science Fiction (July 1939).

It was later expanded in Vogt's novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, which continued the voyages of the starship and crew!
(BTW, it would make an absolutely dynamite feature film or streaming service mini-series!)
Unlike many other sci-fi stories of the era, it has never been directly-adapted to any other medium, not even radio!
However, the similarities plot elements in the movie Alien to both "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet" (which involved an alien who laid eggs in humans) caused Van Vogt to sue 20th Century-Fox, which settled out-of-court for $50,000, with the whole matter sealed with an NDA!

Support Atomic Kommie Csmics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Voyage of the Space Beagle
(which includes "Black Destroyer")
Paid Link

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

While exploring an alien world, the crew of the exploratory vessel Space Beagle encounter Coerl, who looks like a Terrestrial panther or lion...with the addition of tentacles!

But this is not a friendly housecat!

It's a primitive, but sentient, being who can not only reason, but kill and deceive...

Trivia: The announced adaptation of Day of the Triffids ended up as the cover-featured tale in the premiere issue of Worlds Unknown's b/w magazine successor, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction...

...under a misleading, but undeniably-kool cover by Kelly Freas!
In fact, an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon's KillDozer ran in the next issue of Worlds Unknown...

Meanwhile, back with Black Destroyer...

Roy Thomas was concerned that the finale as shown in the adaptation wasn't clear enough, so he included an explanation on the letters page...

Bonus #1: You can read the complete original short story HERE.

Feel free to compare and contrast!
Bonus #2: here are the illustrations from the original pulp magazine, so you can see how closely Dan Adkins and Jim Mooney kept to the pulp magazine "feel" of the tale!

"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with other short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, the title of which is a tribute to Charles Darwin's scientific exploratory ship, "The Beagle".

BTW, Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet", both of which were adapted into Voyage of the Space Beagle.

Fox settled out of court for #50,000!

Support Atomic Kommie Csmics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Voyage of the Space Beagle

(which includes "Black Destroyer")
Paid Link