We Have Already Seen...
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| Art by Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia |
While exploring an alien world, the crew of the Space Beagle encounter Coeurl, 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 deceive...
This tale from issue 5 of Marvel's short-lived science fiction anthology Worlds Unknown was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Dan Adkins & Jim Mooney.
It's
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).
You can read the complete short story HERE.
"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with later short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle.
Trivia: The Space Beagle's name is a tribute to Charles Darwin's ship, The Beagle.
Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of both "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet".
Fox settled out of court.
