Reading Room WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Survival of the Fittest"

Fiction or prophecy?

This is only 8 years away!

Consider recent developments in Artificial Intelligence and prepare for the possible (if not probable) mechanical Armageddon!

The penciler of this never-reprinted story from Key's Weird Tales of the Future #1 (1952) was a young Ross Andru, but the mediocre inking is clearly not his soon-to-be-partner Mike Esposito!
The identity of the embellisher, as well as the scripter remain a mystery to this day...

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Ten-Cent Plague

Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

Reading Room STRANGE STORIES OF SUSPENSE "Man of Mystery"

Here's a never-reprinted tiny tale about a tiny man...

...specifically, a miniature man of metal, from Atlas' Strange Stories of Suspense #5 (1955)!

The illustrator of this tale of a bionic blabbermouth was highly-unappreciated Golden Age/Silver Age workhorse Sud Shores, though the teller of the tin terror's tale is, regrettably, unknown!
Trivia: Though this was #5, it was actually the first issue of Strange Stories of Suspense, since the first four issues were called Rugged Action...

...featuring manly men performing manly feats of derring-do in various venues...which apparently didn't sell well enough to keep the book going in that format!
OTOH, Strange Stories of Suspense continued though #16 until a change in newsstand distributors in 1956 reduced the amount of titles Atlas Comics could distribute per month!

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Atlas Comics Library No 1

Adventures into Terror
Volume 1

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Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "Mechanical Man!"

As artificial intelligence advances into almost every aspect of daily life...

...let see how the creatives of the 1950s envisioned how it might occur!

Yes, it's the "It was all a dream!" cliche!

The writer of this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #1 (1956) is unknown, so we can't directly heap scorn upon him for using such a timeworn trope to get out of his own plotting without really solving it!
OTOH, artist Chuck Miller, who broke into comics illustrating a single story before being drafted, then returned after the war to work steadily until the industry almost collapsed in the mid-1950s due to the "Seduction of the Innocent" debacle, does a commendable job with what he's given to work with!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room VENUS COMICS "Plot!"

With concern mounting about artificial intelligence (AI) taking over more and more control of our daily lives...

...we thought we'd take a look at one of the early tales about robots rebelling against Mankind!

As you might have guessed, we're re-presenting the never-reprinted back-up stories!

This back-up story from Atlas' Venus Comics #11 (1950), is illustrated by Russ Heath.

The writer is unknown.

Long before the Terminator and Matrix films, sci-fi literature presented examples of our creations such as the Robotmen of the Lost Planet one-shot comic we recently re-presented!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Robot Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "Robot Hater!"

The third variation on the "robot saves human despite mistrust" theme...

...as shown HERE and HERE, shares both plotter and artist in common with one of the other tales!

Technically, the pilot is an android, not a robot.

Illustrator Paul Reinman, also rendered the Xmas-themed "It Walks Like a Man!" which was plotted, like this story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #3 (1959), by Stan Lee!
There are several more Atlas/Marvel stories with this same concept.
Would you like to see them?

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Marvel MasterWorks
Atlas-Era Tales of Suspense
Volume 1

Holiday Reading Room TALES TO ASTONISH "It Walks Like a Man!"

Sometimes a child becomes too attached to a Christmas present...

...or is it vice versa...as seen in this story which has only been reprinted once since its' initial publication in Marvel's Tales to Astonish #45 (1963).

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Robert Bernstein, and illustrated by Paul Reinman, this tale was one of several from Atlas/Marvel in the 1950s and 60s based on the theme of an automaton developing emotion and protecting the human object of its' affection.
You'll see two of them next week!

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas Tales to Astonish

Volume 4
(with the only reprint of this story in almost 60 years!)

Wednesday World of Wonder ROBOTMEN OF THE LOST PLANET "Chapter Three: Rise of the Humans!"

When Last We Left What Remains of Humanity...

Don't you love it when the story synopsizes itself?

(Note that inside front cover illustrator Mort Lawrence did an excellent job matching story artist Gene Fawcette's art style!)

So there's at least one universe where we don't end up enslaved by machines!

Yay!

This 1952 one-shot title from Avon Comics was scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and rendered by Gene Fawcette.

Avon did an amazing amount of one-time-only titles, probably more than any other publisher.

Some were adaptations of novels Avon's paperback division had published, like An Earth Man on Venus.

Others, like RobotMen, were original stories.

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Panic Pete!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROBOTMEN OF THE LOST PLANET "Chapter Two: the Robots Rule the Earth!"

When Last We Left the Few Surviving Humans on a Post-Robot Apoocalyptic Earth...

...just five years and we've lost all sense of fashion?

(And what weapons were they using to kill the large mammals that provided those big pelts?)

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Next Wednesday:
The Astounding Finale as We Witness...
Rise of the Humans!

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Panic Pete!