Weird Science #21

In "EC Confidential," the editor of Fables Publishing Company begins to suspect that the stories in Weird Science—crafted by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein—might be more than fiction when a sudden alien attack threatens the office. As the building comes under siege, the truth unfolds: Gaines, Feldstein, and the entire staff are not human, but survivors of a long-ago Martian genocide, refugees from Venus who have lived among Earthlings for decades.

In "Punishment Without Crime," a man grappling with betrayal takes a desperate, illegal step: he pays to reenact his life with a marionette meant to represent his wife, then stages her murder as revenge. Though the marionette is not real, the law treats the act as if it were, leading to a chilling verdict that shocks even the man who committed it.

In the quiet isolation of a forgotten planet, a stranded man named Forbes finds unexpected connection with a mute girl named Velda, their bond growing amidst alien landscapes and prehistoric creatures. When a rescue mission arrives and claims she’s not real, his world shatters—until a shocking twist rewrites everything.

In a quiet corner of a human-like world, a newborn is met with horror by her family—her appearance is so alien that she’s cast out from the moment she’s born. Raised in isolation, the woman grows into a lonely adult, tormented by the world’s rejection, until a sudden arrival changes everything: a spaceship descends, and she’s offered a chance to return to her true home. There, she learns the truth—her beauty is not a flaw, but a gift, and the world she’s known as monstrous was the one that truly looked strange.