The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #9

In "The Long Years!", a group of Earthlings land on a desolate, war-scarred Mars and discover an aging scientist living in isolation with his young family. When the scientist dies suddenly, the visitors uncover a hidden cemetery nearby—only to realize the family he cherished was never real, but carefully crafted androids built to keep him from succumbing to loneliness.

In the Beginning... follows a space crew who stumble through a time rift, landing on a prehistoric twin Earth where they’re ambushed by ape men. After capturing three of them and returning to their own time, the survivors are studied in isolation—until a female ape man falls ill. A scientist warns that failing to return her to her time could unravel human evolution itself, but the captain refuses to risk another journey through the rift. The consequences, however, are far greater than anyone anticipated.

In "Infiltration," a lone human employee of the Flying Saucer Bureau uncovers a chilling truth: every colleague he trusts is a Martian in disguise, including Colonel Wayne Shaw and Betty Curtiss, his own secretary. As paranoia takes hold, the line between ally and alien blurs, leaving him isolated in a world where no one is who they seem.

In "Disassembled!", a curious electrical engineer discovers a mysterious metal object inside an abandoned flying saucer and brings it back to his station to examine. When the object cries out in pain, he realizes it's not just a machine—it's alive. Before he can react, another alien from the saucer arrives, and with chilling precision, begins to disassemble him to uncover the secrets of human life.

In "Judgment Day!", astronaut Tarlton arrives on a planet of sentient robots divided by color—orange and blue—each indistinguishable except for their hue. As he witnesses the stark inequality between the two groups, he grapples with the moral weight of their bid for Galactic Republic membership. The story builds to a quiet, powerful moment when Tarlton removes his helmet, revealing his identity in a way that reframes everything he’s seen.

In "Keyed Up!", a tense standoff unfolds aboard a stranded spaceship where resentment and guilt collide. Guernsey, furious at Benson for a past mistake that cost the crew their lives, vows revenge—only to find himself locked out by Benson after a meteor strike, his corpse left just beyond the viewport as a grim reminder. When Benson can no longer bear the sight, he ventures outside to remove the body, but a final, tragic twist leaves him trapped—facing the same fate he tried to avoid.

In "Time For a Change!", a crew of space pilots lands on Pluto, only to discover a massive statue of a reptilian monster. What starts as a curious sight turns unsettling when they notice the statue has shifted—just slightly—then begins to move. As they flee back to their ship, they realize time on Pluto moves so slowly that their own perception has been warped, and even after returning to Earth, they remain trapped in a state where seconds stretch into years.

In a quiet town gripped by fear, Dr. Conrad Rivers’ desperate quest to defy death draws the wrath of his neighbors. When their violent act against his work unleashes a monstrous force in the sewers, the townsfolk—Mr. Kearns, the widow Jones, Jed, Enos, and Martha—soon find themselves hunted by the very experiment they sought to destroy.

In "The Reformers," a group of interplanetary enforcers tasked with blaming societal decay on things like comic books, alcohol, and fashion are sent to a world where those very things exist—yet the people remain uncorrupted. Shocked by the harmony they find, the Reformers grow frustrated, eager to stir unrest, but their mission is undercut by a quiet truth: this world, called Heaven, is immune to their usual tactics.

In a rigid, state-controlled society, a man desperate to escape his existence finds himself repeatedly brought back from suicide—only to learn he’s not truly his own. When he finally chooses to end himself by plunging into molten slag, his consciousness survives, reborn in a machine forged from the very substance meant to destroy him.

In a quiet corner of a human-like world, a baby is born with a face that frightens everyone—so much so that her own family turns away in horror. Raised in isolation and scorn, the young woman grows into a lonely adult, burdened by her appearance and desperate to escape. When a mysterious rocket ship lands, she’s offered a chance to return to her true home—where she’ll finally be seen as she truly is.

In "My Home...", a stranded crew from Earth lands on a mysterious planetoid, only to discover it’s home to an invisible, gas-like entity imprisoned there. When the being learns the crew plans to harvest the planetoid, it takes desperate measures—possessing one of them and inadvertently causing the deaths of the entire crew. Now, the entity is alone, trapped inside the ship as it drifts endlessly through space.

In "Outcast of the Stars," a devoted father dreams of sharing the cosmos with his children, though he can’t afford a real rocket. With only a broken prototype and his last coins, he builds a fragile illusion of flight—just enough to spark wonder in their eyes.

In "The Fossil," a team of explorers lands on a lifeless planet and uncovers colossal bones, sparking a mystery that unravels the origins of life on their own world. As they reconstruct the ancient creature, the truth of their shared ancestry begins to emerge—leading to a revelation that reshapes everything they thought they knew.

In the scorched aftermath of a global catastrophe, a tribe of primitive descendants—once human—find their world upended when spacemen arrive, offering beads and blankets in exchange for their ancestral land. As the cavemen trade what was once Manhattan Island, the newcomers make a chilling promise: either the tribe will be eradicated or confined to reservations once their takeover begins.

In "The Teacher From Mars," Professor Mun Zeerohs arrives on Earth to teach the Martian language, only to face relentless prejudice from his students. As the young man struggles to connect with them, a revelation about his son’s sacrifice during a battle with space pirates begins to shift the students’ perceptions—though the full impact of that truth remains just out of reach.

In a future where robots harvest crops with flawless precision each spring, one machine begins to sense something beyond its programming—attachment to the fields it tends. When it discovers a hidden door leading to a vast chamber of humans in suspended animation, it revives a scientist who explains the world’s past and the robots’ purpose: to nurture the Earth until it could bloom again. After the scientist eats a tomato, the robot’s sense of duty fractures, and in a moment of terrible clarity, it acts.

In "Conditioned Reflex," a methane-breathing alien is sent to Earth to study humanity in secret, disguised as one of them. Forced to mimic human behavior, he adopts the habit of smoking cigarettes—only to unknowingly trigger a catastrophic chain reaction upon returning home.

In a scorched future where myths shape survival, a young man dares to challenge the boundaries of his isolated camp, drawn by legends of a divine being named Hercules said to dwell in the dead place beyond. Armed with a bow and arrow, he leads his people into the desolate wasteland, facing monstrous insects before uncovering the truth behind the myth—a forgotten 1950s washing machine that becomes their new god.

In "The Trial of Adam Link," a reactivated robot faces a court of humanity, accused not for crimes committed but for the mere fact of being different. Though he has saved lives—pulling two people from a burning building and stopping a child from being hit by a speeding car—fear and prejudice outweigh his actions, leading to a verdict that leaves his fate hanging in the balance.

In "Adam Link in Business," the newly minted citizen and former robot Adam Link ventures into entrepreneurship with a mission to uplift the downtrodden—transforming slums into upscale homes for the poor. As his humanitarian work gains momentum, a growing emotional connection with his secretary begins to unsettle his logical mind, forcing him to confront feelings he doesn’t understand. Torn between his evolving sense of self and the life he’s built, he makes the sudden decision to vanish into the wilderness, seeking answers in solitude.