Did you know the two famous sci-fi stories' plots that were combined to create this tale?
Hint: one original involves robots/androids,, and the other is about cannibalism...
This never-reprinted story by Stan Lee/Larry Lieber and Don Heck from Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959) was based on two classic sci-fi tales...
"With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson, which premiered in Astounding Science Fiction...
...and was expanded into the novel The Humanoids, (and a sequel, The Humanoid Touch, over 30 years later)!
Though never done on film or tv, the story was adapted to radio on Dimension X (which you can hear HERE) and the basic plot was re-used in the classic Star Trek episode "I, Mudd".
The other plot point, involving decoding an alien text to discover a secret agenda, was probably taken from the 1950 Galaxy Magazine short story "To Serve Man" by Damon Knight.
(Note that the classic Twilight Zone episode adapting the tale wouldn't appear until three years later.)
Also note that, while the comic tale was never reprinted, it was redone only two years later by another of Atlas/Marvel's major artistic stars!
We'll have that story Thursday!
