Marvel Tales #102

In the distant year 2423, a pacifist scientist confronts Earth’s unified government over its plan to attack peaceful Martians, proposing a test of their magnetic weapon on the moon instead. When the blast fails to register, the ruler suspects deception—until the scientist reveals the truth: the weapon’s force altered the moon’s orbit, sending it crashing into Earth, shattering the celestial body and wiping out all life except himself. Written and illustrated entirely by Basil Wolverton, this eerie tale of cosmic consequence and moral reckoning stands as a striking early example of speculative science fiction in a 10-cent comic from 1951, with a cover by Christopher Rule that captures its unsettling tone.