Shock SuspenStories #4
"Split Second!" in Shock SuspenStories #4 (1952) delivers a chilling twist on love and deception in a future where marriage licenses must be renewed every three years. Written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein, with art by Joe Orlando and coloring by Marie Severin, the story follows a man who hires a woman for a three-year marriage—no sex, just appearances—only to reveal he’s a robot whose emotional connection was a calculated performance. Cover by Wally Wood captures the eerie tension of this unsettling tale from EC’s legendary lineup.
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In the 21st Century, marriage licenses must be renewed every three years, so a man pays a woman thirty thousand dollars to be his wife for three years, but both agree on no sex. She agrees, and over time, falls in love with him. At the end of the three years she tells him that she'll claim she's expecting a child and the license will automatically renew. But he tells her that she could not be expecting a child and reveals he is a robot, and that he only wanted a wife during the past three years for crucial business negotiation appearances.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).