Weird Science #20

(July-August 1953)

The Loathsome! (Table of Contents: 1)

comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils

Wally Wood (signed as Wood)

Inks

Wally Wood (signed as Wood)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

This is the story of a little girl with no name.

Genre

science fiction

Synopsis

A doctor sends a deformed mutant child that was the product of her father's exposure to atomic radiation to be brought up in an orphanage. The women of the orphanage dislike her because she displays poor behavior. One day the younger nurse comments to the older one that the girl is behaving herself recently and the older nurse recalls that all children receive a birthday party at ten years old and the girl must figure she is going to get one. The young woman asks if she is going to give the child one and the older woman states that it wouldn't be right to expect the other children to attend, so they'll just skip it in the mutant girl's case. They discover that the girl was spying on them and when she returns to her room she smashes the mirror. She's punished, and that evening the younger nurse sees the girl on the grounds stuffing notes into tree hollows. She assumes that she must be up to no good and informs the older woman. The following evening they confront the child demanding the note and the girl flees from them. She climbs up a tree branch overhanging the orphanage's spiked wall and loses her grip. As the note slips from the hand of the dying impaled child, the older woman picks it up. It says "To whoever finds this note - I love you."

Reprints

• in Nacht der vampiers (Classics/Williams, 1973 series) (1973)
• in Weird Science (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #4 ([1980])
• in EC Classics (Russ Cochran, 1985 series) #12 - Weird Science (1989)
• in Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1991 series) #2 (November 1991)
• in Weird Science (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (June 1997)
• in Weird Science (001 Edizioni, 2006 series) #4 (settembre 2008)

Indexer Notes

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

Surprise Package (Table of Contents: 2)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Ray Bradbury; Al Feldstein (adaptation)

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

By eight o'clock she had placed the cigarettes...

Genre

science fiction

Characters

Leonard Hill (mention only); robotic Leonard Hill (death); Martha (villain, death)

Synopsis

Martha was very suspicious of Leonard. Although she planned to kill him, she had this eerie feeling that something was different about him and she wondered if there were two of him. Soon she discovers that she was partially right; there were six of him!

Reprints

• in Weird Science (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #4 ([1980])
• in Planète rouge (Albin Michel, 1984 series) (1984) [N&B [B&W]]
• in EC Classics (Russ Cochran, 1985 series) #12 - Weird Science (1989)
• in Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1991 series) #2 (November 1991)
• in Weird Science (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (June 1997)
• in Weird Science (001 Edizioni, 2006 series) #4 (settembre 2008)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #8 - Zero Hour and Other Stories (March 2014) [Reprinted in black and white.]
• in Home to Stay! The Complete EC Ray Bradbury Stories (Fantagraphics, 2022 series) (January 2023)

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

Progress (Table of Contents: 3)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Letters

typeset

Reprints

• in Weird Science (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #4 ([1980])
• in Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1991 series) #2 (November 1991)

The Reformers (Table of Contents: 4)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils

Joe Orlando (signed as Joe Orlando)

Inks

Joe Orlando (signed as Joe Orlando)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The ship came down from the space-vacuum...

Genre

science fiction

Reprints

• in Creepy Worlds (Alan Class, 1962 series) #54, #161 ([circa 1976 - 1977]), #194 ([circa 1980 - 1981])
• in Weird Science (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #4 ([1980])
• in The American Comic Book (Ohio State University Press, 1985 series) (1985) [In black and white.]
• in Bild & Bubblas stora seriebok (Seriefrämjandet; Hammarström & Åberg bokförlag; Satellitförlaget, 1989 series) (1989)
• in EC Classics (Russ Cochran, 1985 series) #12 - Weird Science (1989)
• in Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1991 series) #2 (November 1991)
• in Weird Science (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (June 1997)
• in Nemi (Hjemmet / Egmont, 2003 series) #29 ([september] 2005)
• in Weird Science (001 Edizioni, 2006 series) #4 (settembre 2008)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #9 - Judgment Day and Other Stories (May 2014) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

50 Girls 50 (Table of Contents: 5)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils

Al Williamson (signed as AL WILLIAMSON)

Inks

Al Williamson (signed as AL WILLIAMSON); Frank Frazetta; Roy Krenkel

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

I have to laugh!

Genre

science fiction

Characters

un-named General; Sid (death); Laura Masters (death); Wendy (villain)

Synopsis

Fifty men and fifty women are chosen to make a 100-year journey to a far-off solar system in order to inhabit it and continue the population process well into the future. Each volunteer would be quick-frozen so that they could be thawed out at the end of the journey and ready for their job, which is a process that could only be performed once. But one of the men, Sid, sees an opportunity of being able to enjoy one woman per year while on the trip.....unfortunately, his intended has different plans!

Reprints

• in Tales of the Incredible (Ballantine Books, 1965 series) #U2140 (March 1965)
• in EC Portfolio (Russ Cochran, 1971 series) #3 (1973)
• in Weird Science (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #4 ([1980])
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[2] - Science-Fiction (1983)
• in EC Classics (Russ Cochran, 1985 series) #12 - Weird Science (1989)
• in Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1991 series) #2 (November 1991)
• in Weird Science (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (June 1997)
• in Nemi (Hjemmet / Egmont, 2003 series) #9 ([januar] 2004)
• in Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious E.C. Comics! (HarperCollins, 2005 series) (2005)
• in Weird Science (001 Edizioni, 2006 series) #4 (settembre 2008)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #3 - 50 Girls 50 and Other Stories (March 2013) [black and white reprint]
• in Choke Gasp! The Best of 75 Years of EC Comics (Dark Horse, 2019 series) (2019)

Indexer Notes

Krenkel inker credit added by Craig Delich 2013-9-21.

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.