Mystery in Space #23 is an issue of the series Mystery in Space (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1954.
Synopsis for "Monkey-Rocket to Mars"
A monkey-piloted spacecraft is sent to Mars, and the Martians mistake them for the sentient inhabitants of the planet. Earth wins Mars's allegiance when they use a "chemical weapon" to wipe out Mars's deadly locusts, in actuality just the common cold.
Appearing in "Monkey-Rocket to Mars"
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- Chimps
- Martians
- Martian locusts (Dies)
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Synopsis for "The Trojan Horse of Space"
A strange spacecraft magnetically steals a train and a bridge from Earth. As no rocket ships are able to fly that far out into space, Professor Adam and his assistant Bert hide in an all-metal skyscraper and allow themselves to be abducted. They quickly overpower the aliens, whom explain that a comet melted all the metal on their world and they need more to build ships to evacuate. Earth agrees to help them in exchange for returning their buildings.
Appearing in "The Trojan Horse of Space"
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Synopsis for "Stone-Men of Luna"
A film's director demands authenticity in everything done, so he commissions a state-of-the-art rocket to have his actors shoot scenes on the moon. They're suddenly attacked by stone-like men whom inhabit the planet and their weapons prove useless, but it turns out the stone-men are actually shooting a movie about humans invading them. When the films are released, the inhabitants of both worlds refuse to believe it's real.
Appearing in "Stone-Men of Luna"
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Synopsis for "The Living Camera!"
The galaxies richest man, M. M. Memmon, has died, and his cousin Lance Memmon is to be given 100 million credits from his life insurance policy. However, Lance refuses the cash out the policy as verification would involve taking photographs of his retinas, which he is opposed to.
Bert Brandon tries multiple schemes to get Lance to sign the policy, eventually resorting to buying a Polaroid Bear - a bear with a third eye that it uses like a camera. After several attempts, Bert finally gets a shot of his eye when he peeps through a keyhole, but is caught by Lance's bodyguards and forced to erase the photo.
Eventually, Lance bribes the Supreme Court into deeming retinal scans unconstitutional and cashes out the life insurance, but is immediately arrested. Bert had secretly already made a copy of the eye photograph and compared it to identify that Lance Memmon is actually M. M. Memmon in disguise. Bert also gets arrested due to previously impersonating a police officer.
Appearing in "The Living Camera!"
Characters:
- Interplanetary Insurance, Inc.
- Bert Brandon
- William J. Emory
- M.M. Memmon (posing as Lance Memmon)
- Klik, a polaroid bear
Locations:
- Capitol City
- Belvedere
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Trivia
- The polaroid bear is named after the patented Polaroid Instant camera, because his third eye can be used to take pictures.
See Also
Links and References
