Weird Science-Fantasy #24

Credits:
Cover dated June 1954
Cover by Al Feldstein

"...For Posterity" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Teacher from Mars" - Art by Joe Orlando/Story by Otto Binder
"The Pioneer" - Art by Bernie Krigstein/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Upheaval!" - Art by Al Williamson/Story by Harlan Ellison

Weird Science-Fantasy was the combination of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, both of which failed to be popular enough to last past their fourth year. The comic originally started off as a 15 cent quarterly, but soon went back down to the standard 10 cent comic. It changed to a bi-monthly in 1955 and eventually had its title changed to Incredible Science-Fiction. Quality was fairly high in the early issues, with things dipping towards the end of its run.

"...For Posterity" - This story features two prospectors who one night find a flying saucer land nearby. The two men walk up to it and when the door opens, walk inside. The door of the flying saucer suddenly shuts and it blasts off into space. They suddenly pass out and when they awake the door opens. Outside of the saucer they find a civilization made up entirely of women. The leader of the women tells them that they are now in Earth's future. Due to the fallout from nuclear weapons, all males went sterile and eventually died out. The women were able to survive due to a element that allowed them to self-reproduce, but now that element has entirely run out. The women need the two men to help inpregnate then; they will then be returned to the past with no memory of what happened. The men awaken back on Earth and believe it to be just a dream, but discover roses by their sleeping bags revealing that it was true after all. A decent story to start things off, featuring what is probably the ultimate male fantasy.

"The Teacher from Mars" - Martian Professor Mun Zeerohs comes to Earth to become a teacher. Zeerohs finds his student on Earth cruel and intolerant, particularly a boy named Tom Blaine who constantly makes fun of Zeerohs and criticizes both him and the Martian race as a whole. Zeerohs also finds Earth hard getting used to, such as the wasting of water that is such a precious resource on Mars, and his fear of snakes, which are much more dangerous on Mars. Tom Blaine's pranks continue, he wastes water in front of Zeerohs, hides his glasses, pours salt in his food, plants snakes in his bedroom and even starts lynching him and falsely accusing him of murder. Zeerohs decides to return to Mars. The next day a special event is held on the campus and a major in the space patrol announces the heroic act of Zeerohs' son, who saved the life of Tom Blaine's father, being killed in the process. Blaine and the others, now with a newfound respect for Zeerohs start supporting him and he decides to stay on Earth. This story was adapted by one written by Binder and his brother Earl under the name "Eando Binder". An obvious metaphor for racial intolerance, it reminds one of similar such stories told in Shock SuspenStories and is similar in theme to "In Gratitude" from Shock SuspenStories #11 (although with a much happier ending).

"The Pioneer" - A Professor Latham causes a large explosion while testing a type of fuel. After he recovers, he becomes obsessed with furthering his research on the fuel so as to provide man with the ability to travel into space. Latham's students make fun of him for it and he gets so worked up that he ends up quitting when brought before the Board of Trustees. Latham spends his life savings on buying a farm in the countryside where he can work on building a rocket engine without interruption or disturbance. Soon however a neighbor named Jenkins stops by and laughs at his attempts to build a rocket engine just as his students had. Latham eventually gets upset enough that he turns on the engine while Jenkins is standing near it, burning him to a crisp. Latham is soon met by the local state troopers who take him with them. Before a government panel Latham explains the capability of his engine. He is kept in heavily guarded living quarters where his guards relay his directions on his rocket ship, which they tell him is being built. He eventually receives his last meal on Earth and is brought to the rocket where he is strapped aboard He feels electrifying pressure as the rocket blasts off. In actuality, Latham has been sent to jail for Latham's murder, convicted and put in the electric chair, but he deluded himself into believing that he was going into space. A really good story, my favorite of the issue.

"Upheaval!" - A rocket ship in search of a lifeform more advanced than man has had no succes thus far. They start thinking about heading back to Earth, with the conclusion that man is the most advanced lifeform in the galaxy, but stop on one last planet. The ground of the planet is quite soft, and once the men step out of the rocket ship it sinks right through the surface of the planet. The men are soon swallowed up by the surface of the planet as well, finding themselves in a sort of protoplasm-like environment. Suddenly both the rocket and the men are expelled from the planet back to the surface. They quickly get back in the rocket and blast off. One of the men comments that they finally have found a lifeform more advanced than man - the planet itself, which was a single organism. He comments on them facing the ultimate insult, having been vomitted up by the planet. This story was written by Harlan Ellison, who wrote the story while in college and submitted it to EC. Ellison went on to become one of the most well known modern science fiction writers. This was his sole story that appeared in an EC comic.