How about another tale from the April 1951 issue of
Adventures into the Unknown #18, and because it's been awhile since we've had a multi-post theme around here, this will be the start of a bunch of bloody brain stories to gently carry us out of February 2011.
Ultra cool story! There is nothing like a little ersatz Greek mythology to begin a rigorous day! Avatos... heeheeheehee!
ReplyDeleteI had to chuckle, though... "Noble" prize, eh? Well, I am sure he earned his!
And poor Mildred! This fate she did not deserve!
Oh, well, at least the schlemazel had enough character left to do away with himself before he ever acquired a nuclear trigger. That is to his credit.
This story tells us: if we want to change ourselves for the better, don't depend on anyone else to be the template. Earn the change by growing yourself.
Nice comment Turok, thanks! I made a point of posting this story in contrast to Drew's previous comment about ACG and their "romantic subplot ending with the nice young couple triumphing over the resident evil." While he's mostly right, this of course is most certainly NOT the case with this story and the downbeat / doomed ending.
ReplyDeleteWell stated, magnificent one!
ReplyDeleteAnd though it ended tragically, one cannot say it ended necessarily badly. There is a difference in that the good doctor did in the end recognize his errors and sought to correct them, drastically, but only because the alternative would have been much worse for everyone.
He did in the end rise to the challenges of dealing with what in essence he himself had created...no, not the brain, but the unearned benefits incurred by his stealing it.
Betrayal, theft, more betrayal... and at the end, a selfless act to avert disaster should he become president.
Redemption, but at what a price.
MOre like these! More like these!
ReplyDeleteGotta love any evil scheme baroque enough to include both deceitful matrimony and a homemade LP ("baby I love you. I made you a dub tape"). I kind of like the open ending, too. I saw that brain back when it was just a little guy in pink water, and I tell ya the jury's out on whether or not the bad doctor was marksman enough to hit it in that last frame.
ReplyDeleteI like what Turok and Calvin said, and I can't think of anything better. Maybe I need The Brain...or any brain, for that matter!
ReplyDeleteAnother fun story.
ReplyDeleteNow onto my necessary complaints :)
These brain replacement stories always get to me -- he gets a brain replacement (the text at the beginning makes it clear it's a replacement) -- yet retains all his original memory and personality.
Where are these memories and personality stored? His liver? Is that what bile is for?
Also, that's a mighty small brain for thousands of years of knowledge! What filled out the rest of his skull, packing peanuts?
... and, of course, yet another 50s stories where the woman gets caught up in something and through no fault of her own dies.