Tommy Tomorrow lives in a simple world. He can rescue some farmers who bought land on Mercury not knowing it was too hot, making their crops wither and die. Tommy, a Planeteer, helps them by relocating them to “impossible worlds,” planets too difficult for humans. Tommy goes to “the government” for permission to relocate, and zip...he gets it. In Tommy’s simple world it does not take years, including several studies and court battles, to get things done from the government. Tommy even uses extortion on the crook who sold the Mercury land to the farmers in the first place, and gets away with it. He must know somebody really high up in the government.
Tommy had a fairly long career in DC Comics, from appearances in
Real Fact Comics after the war ended, to 1962 when he soloed in a series for
Showcase. Between those times he appeared in
Action Comics until replaced by Supergirl, and then on to
World’s Finest Comics until he lost that spot, also. After
Showcase Tommy must have retired, perhaps to a plush desk job with the government.
This particular episode is from
Action Comics #146 (1950), credited by the GCD to writer Otto Binder, and artists Curt Swan and John Fishschetti.
So many holes in this story it's hard to settle on one to criticize. So I'll pick two.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens when the fuel for the ships runs out on planet #1? Planet stops rotating again? And of course there would be no atmosphere to begin with. No water, no vegetation, no nothing. Yet that's no problem at all for people whose main intention is to raise crops. But then again, these are people stupid enough to try to raise crops on Mercury, a planet with an average surface temperature of 354 F, miracle valleys notwithstanding. How they themselves didn't wither and die as their crops did will remain a mystery.
And the last planet, "the most dreaded of them all", merely has some giant figures walking about. They're not causing any physical harm but just their presence is enough to scare our intrepid farmers into wanting to leave. Mind you these are people who easily brave traveling the unknown depths of space but a couple of harmless ghosts scares the living daylights out of them. And apparently there's just the one projector so only that one small area of the planet is "haunted". Just go to another area that isn't "haunted" if it's such a problem.
As a kid I ate this stuff up. Now it's just incredibly silly. But it's that silliness that makes them so much fun to read again.
Ahh, to live in the future where men can wear skirts & short pants....
ReplyDeleteRick, the farmers were kind of rubes, you know? Suckered by slick con men!
ReplyDeleteSilly yes, fun definitely yes. That's why I showed it.
Thanks for your note.
Rick Heg, well, shucks...where did these styles originally come from? My guess is Flash Gordon; without the skirt, of course.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing.