This ACG story, from Forbidden Worlds #3 (1951), boggles the mind. I could make a list of things that the characters do in this story that are screwy, but here are just a couple: Bruce Norton takes his girlfriend, Betty, to see an atomic bomb test, and she does not have to present any kind of pass, identification or secret clearance (page 1 ). Even though they have floated into the stratosphere with the balloon hoisting the bomb aloft, Bruce “knows” that they have “absorbed atomic rays from the fissionable material inside the bomb to enable us to withstand the extreme cold and lack of oxygen.” (Page 3.) And that is just the first example of Bruce or another character “knowing” what is going on even though they are involved in extraordinary experiences no other human — or monster — has ever had.
Ah, those ACG comic books. The stories, silly as they are I still love them. They unfold with nary a thought to how impossible they are to believe. I am not sure of the writer, although I suspect editor Richard E. Hughes. I have noticed ACG stories with an inevitable use of the expression “Ye gods!” which I always attribute to Hughes. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can tell me if I’m right.
The Grand Comics Database says that King Ward did the artwork.
Well, I guess that the real heroes of the story were the giant tardigrades.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my real question is of what happened to the evil creatures. My initial expectation would have been that, as the evil creatures who had been made mortal were subsequently killed, they would reappear on the Planetoid o' the Doomed as troublesome immortal beings; after all, that's what happened after their previous deaths.
The best way to describe this story: Stuff happens. LOTS of stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how well physicists can fight!
Wacky to the max, but it was fun, fun, fun. I like the expression on the girl's face in the last panel. The mole creatures were cute.
ReplyDeleteThat's one whacked out story! I liked the mind-bending anti-bomb theme, but then the bomb creates something "good" -- not to mention Bruce & Betty's superhuman survivabilty in space. You’ve got me interested in similarly twisted stories, ACG and otherwise.
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