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Appearing in "The Thing in the Cell!"

Reprint of the 4th story from
Strange Tales #81

Synopsis for "The Thing in the Cell!"

Reprint of the 4th story from
Strange Tales #81
Strange Tales Vol 1 81 020

The police chief of a small town imposes silly fines on people for the sole purpose of acquiring enough money to construct a modern prison. He gets his first inmate when he stops a man on the street for a fine that he cannot pay. The man pleads to be let go, but to no avail. It turns out the man is the leader of a group of aliens, and to spring him, they take the entire building off its foundation into outer space with them. The police chief is deposed from his position and ends up a janitor.

Appearing in "Greed!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #36

Featured Characters:

  • Mark Bardo (First appearance; dies)

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

  • Martian Teleportation Machine (Destroyed)

Synopsis for "Greed!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #36

The author of this story appears to think that it takes thousands of years for light to travel from Mars to Earth and he compares telepathic transmission to the speed of light when postulates a researcher receiving thoughts from evil Martians, now long dead, who want him to build a machine that will allow them to cross space and conquer Earth. The gold that he gets through the machine as payment is now molten and buries him.

Appearing in ""I, the Robot""

Reprint of the 1st story from
Menace #11

Featured Characters:

  • M-11 (First appearance)

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Business Manager

Races and Species:

Synopsis for ""I, the Robot""

Reprint of the 1st story from
Menace #11

A brilliant professor has juts completed his latest invention, a robot that follows commands that are broadcast to it through a special frequency. The scientists business manager is pressuring the genius to sell the invention by the end of the month, telling him that it could easily earn them five million dollars, however the scientist declines as he will not release his invention to the world until he is sure it is operating perfectly.

Left to his work, the scientist activates his robot and orders it to pick up a chair through the special command microphone. The robot follows the orders perfectly, almost too perfectly, as after it picks up one chair it picks up another, and another. The scientist is upset that his creation is still not complete as it continues to follow it's instructed orders over and over. Seeing that there is room for improvement the scientist orders the robot back to its slab. The scientist then leaves to create an important regulator component that he believes will correct the error.

Later that night, the scientist's business manager breaks into the lab intent on taking the robot and selling it himself. Inspecting the robots inner workings the greedy business manager then takes the special command microphone and flees the lab. Later when the scientist returns to his lab with the completed regulator he begins to try to install it when suddenly the robot is ordered to kill the man in the room. The robot obeys the command and strangles his creator to death before he has time to install the device.

With the scientist dead, the business manager enters the room to collect the robot, but suddenly the robot attacks and strangles him to death as well. With both men dead, the robot walks out into the world to full fill the last order his was given: Kill the man in the room. It goes out to seek men in rooms to kill.

Appearing in "The Strange Fate of the Statue Maker"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Tales to Astonish #34

Featured Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Synopsis for "The Strange Fate of the Statue Maker"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Tales to Astonish #34

An inventor attempts to develop a growth ray but fails by creating a process that can only convert organic material into stone. He hopes to commercialize his device by selling extremely life-like statues. He puts an ad in the paper for a model with no friends or family so she won't be missed, then he trains the ray machine on the door so that when it is opened, the victim will be instantly transformed. He succeeds, but when he gazes upon who he has altered to stone, he falls in love with her beauty. He resolves to change her back with another application of the treatment, but neglects to consider the mirror behind her. The rays change her back to normal, but reflect back from the mirror turning the inventor into the world's most life-like statue.

Notes

  • Cover art: modifications by Romita.

See Also

Links and References

References

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