Weird Science #4

In "Rapiti!", every few centuries, Earth faces an eerie, silent invasion as aliens descend to abduct humans—not for war or conquest, but for a feast. Their arrival brings mass hypnosis, erasing the victims from memory before they vanish without a trace.

In "Il mostro dell'isola," a Broadway promoter chasing legend sails to a remote island, drawn by whispers of a monstrous creature. What he finds is not a beast, but a misunderstood being—peaceful, alien, and carrying a message of hope from beyond the stars.

In "I lunghi anni!", a group of Earthlings exploring a desolate, war-scarred Mars stumbles upon an isolated scientist living in a crumbling outpost with his young children. When the man suddenly dies, the visitors uncover a hidden cemetery nearby—where they discover the graves of his family, and the chilling truth behind the androids who’ve kept him company all these years.

In "Un finale col botto!", the crew of Rocketship #269 ventures close to a planet of unimaginable density, drawn by its mysterious pull—only to make a fateful decision to land on one of its satellite moons, setting off a chain of events that quickly spiral beyond control. The story builds tension with a mix of awe and dread as the crew confronts the unknown, testing their limits in a setting that defies expectation.

In "Il parallelo!", Calvin, haunted by the eerie sense that he’s relived this moment before, confides in his wife that a parallel world must exist—one that mirrors his every action in real time. Driven by a desperate need to claim control over his fate, he devises a plan to cross over and eliminate his alternate self.

In "Disassemblato!", a curious electrical engineer discovers a mysterious metal object inside an abandoned flying saucer and brings it back to his station to uncover its secrets. What begins as a routine investigation takes a terrifying turn when the object screams in pain—revealing it’s alive. Soon after, another alien, a living robot from the saucer, arrives and turns the tables, disassembling the engineer to learn what makes humans tick.

In the year 4152, where immortality is enforced through endless injections, Martin—550 years old and weary of endless life—meets Jean, a woman as ancient and disillusioned as he is. Drawn together by shared exhaustion and a quiet longing, their unexpected connection reignites something long buried. Sent to a remote colony planet without the means to prolong life, they face the uncertain end of their days—finally, for the first time, truly alive.

In "Colui che attende," a group of Earthlings crash-lands on Mars, drawn to a mysterious "Soul Well" that pulses with an ancient, formless presence. As the entity begins to possess them one by one, the crew faces a desperate choice: fight to stay human or surrender to the well’s pull. When the last of them dies, the entity retreats—but then, silence is broken by the distant arrival of another ship.

In a tense, intimate sci-fi twist, a young woman named Della faces an impossible choice when an alien invasion unfolds on Mars—only the invaders look identical to the native Martians. The chilling truth emerges on her wedding night, when she notices her husband has a navel, a detail that marks him as something other than one of her people. As doubt takes root, she must decide what loyalty truly means in a world where identity is no longer clear.

In the silent void of space, Guernsey and Benson are the last survivors of a crashed ship, their fragile trust shattered by a past tragedy. When a meteor strike forces Guernsey to venture outside, Benson locks him out—only to be haunted by the sight of his frozen corpse just beyond the viewport. The weight of guilt proves unbearable, and Benson finally steps into the cold darkness to remove the body, unaware that the act will seal his own fate.

In "Abominevole!", a deformed mutant child raised in an orphanage becomes a source of unease for the women who care for her, her strange behavior drawing suspicion. When a younger nurse discovers the girl secretly hiding notes in tree hollows, the staff confronts her, forcing the child to flee—only to fall fatally onto a spiked fence. As she dies, a single note slips free, bearing a quiet, heartbreaking message: "To whoever finds this note — I love you."

In "Pacco a sorpresa," Martha's unease about Leonard grows as she begins to suspect he's not who he claims to be. What starts as a quiet dread spirals into something far more unsettling when she uncovers a shocking truth: Leonard has been replicating himself through marionettes, spreading his presence across multiple relationships. The story unfolds with a chilling mix of intimacy and horror, as Martha confronts the uncanny reality of a man who has become six.

In "I Riformatori," a group of self-appointed Reformers travel across the cosmos, blaming alien societies' ills on comic books, alcohol, and fashion—only to land on a world where such indulgences coexist with peace and integrity. Shocked by a civilization that thrives without moral decay, the Reformers grow frustrated and scheme to stir unrest, unaware their target is no ordinary planet. Their mission unravels when their leader, Satan, calmly confirms they’ve arrived in Heaven.

In "50 ragazze 50," fifty men and fifty women are selected for a century-long voyage to colonize a distant solar system, each frozen to wake only at the journey’s end. Sid, one of the men, sees a chance to cheat the system—awakening early to spend fleeting romances with different women, then refreezing them when he tires. But when one woman outsmarts him, the balance of power shifts in a way he never expected.

In "EC Confidential!", the editor of Fables Publishing Company grows uneasy as the bizarre tales in Weird Science begin to mirror real events. When a sudden alien attack threatens the office, the truth unfolds: the editor, along with Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, and the entire staff, are actually survivors from Venus—refugees from a long-ago Martian genocide, hiding in plain sight on Earth.

In "Castigo senza delitto," George, consumed by betrayal after discovering his wife’s affection for another man, takes a desperate and forbidden step: he pays to have a stringless marionette crafted to resemble Katherine, then stages her murder as an act of vengeance. When the law treats the destruction of the puppet as equivalent to murder, George faces execution—despite his real wife still being alive.

In due si sta bene... follows a stranded astronaut who, years after a crash on a distant planet teeming with alien dinosaurs, finds unexpected connection with a mute girl named Velda. As their bond deepens in isolation, a rescue mission arrives—only to shatter Forbes’s world by claiming she’s not real. When the truth collapses, his desperation erupts in violence, but in the aftermath, Velda returns in a way that defies explanation.

In "Il brutto," a young woman born on a human-like planet is cast out by her family and community for her unsettling appearance—only to spend her life enduring isolation and despair. When a mysterious rocket ship arrives, she's offered a chance to return to her true home, where she’ll finally be seen as beautiful. The story flips expectations with a quiet, haunting twist that redefines what it means to be alien.

In "Un nuovo inizio," a visionary professor harnesses the power of time to send Adam and Eve back to a primordial Earth, hoping to reshape humanity from its roots. As they step into a world untouched by civilization, the couple must confront the weight of their mission—and the moral cost of rewriting history.

In "I cacciatori di teste," a doctor treats a raving man brought in from a park, using a diathermy machine to calm him—only to find the man cured, yet marked with a strange burn on his forehead, a sign shared by others before him. The mystery deepens as the true purpose of the machine unfolds: tiny spacemen descend upon the victims’ heads, eradicating worm-like parasites in their brains that drive madness.

In "Il mio mondo," a young man with the power to conjure entire worlds shares a glimpse of his boundless imagination—shifting between alien landscapes and human moments, between beauty and ruin, life and death. The story unfolds as a surreal, intimate tour through infinite possibilities, all drawn in the unmistakable style of Wally Wood.

In "Il reietto delle stelle," a struggling father dreams of sharing the stars with his children, though he can’t afford a real rocket. With only a broken prototype and his last coins, he builds a fragile illusion of flight—just enough to spark wonder in their eyes.