Dates
- Cover date
- November-December 1955
- Pages
- 36
Editions and covers
- Original editionSource ↗
Creators
Stories
- Fallen Idol · 6 pages
In an apocalyptic future, a young man yearns to discover what's out in the "dead place," beyond his camp. Legends tell of a God named Hercules who dwells in the battle-scarred zone. He orders his people to accompany him into the "dead place." They discover gigantic carnivorous insects but, with the help of bow and arrow, they manage to defeat the creatures. They ultimatly find "Hercules" which turns out to be a 1950s washing machine that they bring back to camp and worship as a God.
- Failure · 1 pages
Scientists launch a rocket full of monkeys into space but it disappears and is presumed to have been destroyed. Thus the mission is dubbed a failure. Little do they realize that an orbiting alien warship was planning on attacking Earth. They captured the rocket and thinking the monkeys represented the dominant life form on Earth, deemed Earth not worth conquering and left.
- Food For Thought · 8 pages
An Earth ship returns to a planet that it had seeded over 50,000 years before in order to see if the planet is ready for colonization. They discover that somewhere along the line that evolution on the planet took a wrong turn and Earthmen could never thrive there. Thus they decide to start all over again and re-seed the planet after destroying it, unaware that an intelligent tree exists on the planet!
- The Ultimate Weapon · 6 pages
Gurt, after completing many conquests of a variety of planets in a dozen different solar systems with his crew, for the purpose of his home planet's colonizing it without opposition, now decides to take on a planet that does not seem to show any fear or signs of panic. That planet is Earth.
- Marked Man · 7 pages
After the verdict on his court-martial comes down, Commander Abel Grant reflects on his twenty years of space duty; fighting battles with planets beyond Pluto, blasting Venusians who've taken Earthlings hostage, and dumping the Grand Admiral of the Fleet's corpse into space after he dies from an alien virus so as not to contaminate Earth when the crew returns. The latter incident is what got him court-martialed. When the trial is over, he discovers there are men within the government who appreciate his no-nonsense approach and elevate him to new Grand Admiral!
Reprinted in
Incredible Science Fiction (1982), Incredible Science Fiction (1994), The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (2012), The EC Archives: Incredible Science Fiction (2022), Spellbound (1960), Mystic (1960), Voodoo (1961), Fantastic Exploits (1965), EC Portfolio (1971), Al Williamson: Hidden Lands (2004), The EC Archives: Incredible Science Fiction (2017)