Secrets of the Unknown #248
In "Punishment!", Roger and Helen stumble upon a mysterious imitator machine in their garage, a device that can duplicate anything—starting with small luxuries and quickly spiraling into life-changing creations. When the machine suddenly turns on them, it vanishes with all its duplicates, leaving Roger and Helen stranded on an alien world where their exact copies are now being studied by scientists who don’t realize the originals are gone. The story, illustrated by John Forte in both pencils and inks, unfolds with a quiet dread that lingers long after the final page, while Bill Everett’s cover captures the eerie, otherworldly tone of the tale.
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Roger finds an imitator machine in his garage which creates duplicates of anything. He and Helen use it to make copies of valuable things to enrich their lives but one day the machine fires upon them, then vanishes with everything it created. The duplicated items plus duplicates of Roger and Helen are brought to an alien world to be studied by scientists without anyone realizing they're gone.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).