Despite the genial goofiness of most of the story there is that nasty behavior on the part of the Earth crew. But while the commander is a badass, at least one of his crew has a conscience. He pipes up with, “. . .But can’t we humans rise above greed and blood-baths? Can’t I put a little pity into you, in God’s name?” The psychopathic captain responds: “I've taken all I can from you — you muddled liberal! You’ve dared to criticise me, cast doubt on my plans — and that’s mutiny!” he says as he ss-putts! his outspoken crewman with a ray gun blast. Early in the story he had ejected two crew members into space for fighting. This captain brooks no nonsense. Any infraction is a capital offense.
I wasn’t expecting that dark story thread to weave through what is otherwise a silly plot from a silly ACG comic book. It’s drawn by Pete Costanza and written by editor Richard E. Hughes under his pen-name of Shane O’Shea. It’s the second posting from our theme week of Skiffy Stories (see Monday’s post for an explanation), and it originally appeared in Unknown Worlds #28 (1963).
