Weird Science-Fantasy #29
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWeird Science-Fantasy #29 (May–June 1955) holds a singular place in comic-book history as the home of what is widely regarded as one of the greatest covers ever printed on a periodical: Frank Frazetta's ferocious pen-and-ink battle scene, which EC publisher Russ Cochran later called "the most outstanding cover ever put on a comic book." As the final issue of the title before it was rechristened Incredible Science Fiction under Comics Code pressure, it also serves as a punctuation mark at the end of EC's pre-Code science-fiction run — a last flourish of uncensored imagination from one of the medium's most creatively ambitious eras. The issue assembles an extraordinary roster of Golden Age talent across all four interior stories, making it a showcase for EC's house style at its mature peak.
In "The Chosen One," a 1955 EC standout, humanity's last hope hinges on a desperate mission to Mars—only to discover that human reproduction is impossible on the red planet, where life divides like amoebas. Left behind when the others return to Earth, one man makes a fateful choice and undergoes a shocking transformation, splitting into two. Written by Albert B. Feldstein and illustrated with striking precision by Reed Crandall, with dynamic inks by the same and vibrant colors by Marie Severin, this issue features a cover by the legendary Frank Frazetta, whose dramatic art captures the eerie, otherworldly tone of a story that redefines what it means to be human.
In "The Chosen One," two mysterious celestial visitors arrive on Earth and make a startling approach to a worried father, who fears they’ve come to take his son—whom he sees as an otherworldly prodigy. But the truth is far more unexpected: the beings aren’t after the boy at all, but the family dog, whose true origins are far more extraordinary than anyone imagined.
In a society where the wheel is forbidden as a weapon of destruction, David mourns the death of his best friend John, executed for defying the law. Now, haunted by guilt and suspicion, David must navigate a world where even the most basic inventions carry deadly weight—especially when the leader, Samuel, begins to question whether the old laws still protect them.
In a future where Earth’s radiation has made humanity sterile, a lone man chooses to remain on Mars—where life begins not through birth, but through binary fission. As he faces the impossible, he undergoes a transformation that defies all known biology, splitting into two beings in a moment that blurs the line between science and miracle.
In "Adam Link in Business," the once-condemned robot is granted citizenship and builds a life as a humanitarian, transforming neglected slums into thriving homes. As he navigates the complexities of human kindness and connection, a growing bond with his secretary stirs emotions he can't understand—leading him to retreat into the wilderness, seeking answers in solitude.
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The Weird Science-Fantasy title was itself born of consolidation: publisher Bill Gaines and editor Al Feldstein merged the struggling sister titles Weird Science and Weird Fantasy into a single quarterly in 1954 to control losses. By the time issue #29 arrived in the spring of 1955, the Comics Code had made EC's future precarious, and this issue would be the last under the Weird Science-Fantasy banner. The Frazetta cover had an unusual provenance: drawn in 1954 for Famous Funnies as a Buck Rogers image, it was rejected by that publisher as too violent; Gaines then struck a deal with Frazetta — unique at EC — in which he purchased only the reproduction rights, not the original artwork itself, allowing Frazetta to retain the piece. Frazetta made minor alterations (removing Buck Rogers's helmet and adjusting the figure's hair color) before the image appeared on this issue, and Marie Severin handled the original coloring.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Final issue of the Weird Science-Fantasy title (ran #23–#29, March 1954–May/June 1955); the series continued with issue #30 as Incredible Science Fiction.
- Cover by Frank Frazetta — originally drafted as a Buck Rogers cover for Famous Funnies but rejected by that publisher as too violent; Frazetta retouched the figure and sold reproduction rights to EC's Bill Gaines.
- Gaines's acquisition of the cover was the only instance in EC's history where he purchased only the rights to an image rather than the original artwork itself, allowing Frazetta to retain ownership of the physical piece.
- Frazetta himself considered the pen-and-ink work on this cover to represent his peak mastery of that technique up to that point in his career.
- Interior stories and artists: 'The Chosen One' (art by Wally Wood), 'Vicious Circle' (art by Al Williamson with Roy Krenkel), 'Genesis' (art by Reed Crandall), and 'Adam Link in Business' (art by Joe Orlando), the last being an adaptation of a prose story by Otto Binder (writing as Eando Binder) originally published in Amazing Stories in January 1940.
- 'Adam Link in Business' is the concluding chapter of a three-part Adam Link robot-citizenship story arc that ran across issues #27–#29, scripted from Otto Binder's original fiction by Feldstein.
- Scripts for the issue were credited to Al Feldstein, Carl Wessler, and Otto Binder (as Eando Binder).
- The issue has been reprinted in The EC Archives: Incredible Science Fiction (Dark Horse, 2022) and at least one interior story was reprinted in black and white in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2024).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Squa Tront #2 (1968), Weird Science-Fantasy #1 (1982), Iskalde Grøss #3 [1988] (1988), Phantastische Geschichten #7 (1990), The Haunt of Fear #2 (1991), Iskalde Grøss #6/1992 (1992), Weird Science-Fantasy #7 (1994), The Comics Journal #174 (1995), The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #3 (2013), Artist's Edition #[13] (2013), The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #9 (2014), The EC Archives: Incredible Science Fiction #[nn] (2017), The EC Archives: Incredible Science Fiction #[nn] (2022), The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #35 (2024), Artisan Edition #[16] (2024), The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #38 (2025), Fantástico #33
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