Ziff-Davis occasionally advertised their Golden Age comic books as, "Wholesome reading for the entire family." But I'm sure some of you will agree, "The Beautiful Robot", from the July - August 1951 issue of Weird Adventures #10, takes a rather unwholesome, and viciously dark turn in opposition to that claim as it nears an intensely terrific climax. This is a beautifully rendered sci-fi horror "love story", with some exceptional art by an unfortunately, uncredited artist. Anyone have any thoughts or clues about it? I'm fairly certain the ad at the very bottom was done by Bernie Krigstein though...
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A robot/android woman-
Once again, comics predict the future.
From Google-
Akihiko Kondo: In November 2018, a Japanese man named Akihiko Kondo symbolically married the virtual Vocaloid pop singer Hatsune Miku in a public ceremony in Tokyo. He later founded the General Incorporated Association of Fictosexuality in 2023 to advocate for understanding around fictosexual relationships.
Yurina Noguchi: In July and October 2025, a 32-year-old Japanese woman named Yurina Noguchi (also known as Kano) held a symbolic wedding ceremony in Okayama, Japan, marrying a custom AI persona named Lune Klaus Verdure—created via ChatGPT based on a video game character. She wore a wedding dress and used augmented reality (AR) glasses and a smartphone during the ring exchange.
Oh what a world we live in, but at least these digital companions won't try to kill anyone.
Post part two-
The professor wears a cape, if he is aiming for supervillain status he is going to be really disappointed when a superhero shows up.
This was an interesting take on a femme fatale Frankenstein.
> at least these digital companions won't try to kill anyone
Yet!
I kind of love Agatha in the beginning of this story. Sure, she’s mean and blunt but the fact that the professor creates a robot out of spite simply because she taunts that only a robot would love him so he should go create one is hilarious to me. I love the second panel on the second page where the Professor is shadowed in green declaring what type of robot he’ll create. Katha calls Jim, “Bill” in the panel where she first gets the hots for him. Kind of crazy that Katha ends up kissing Jim for 10 minutes straight-and Barbara doesn’t inform the professor about this until that much time has passed.🤣🤣 Maybe he should have taught Katha about consent. I also laughed at “Die..ugly…old…human!” It’s almost like a divine punishment at the end when the robot gets struck by lightning.
"SMASH DOOR!" predicts The Incredible Hulk.
And speaking of Frankenstein, the bride having premonitions on her wedding night with Katha lurking outside remind you of that story.
Which is why I'm a little surprised that Jim and Barbara both survive.
There's so much to love about this. The art is fabulous, our scientist has this weird symphony conductor look to him which I like, lots of good girl art, some twists and turns, and a pretty good ramp up at the end.
That said -- and I don't usually do this -- didn't like the ending. It was really going somewhere and there was a lot of tension and then the robot gets killed out of the blue with no gun stuck on the wall over the fireplace.
Jim and Barbara do nothing in the story because of this.
It's a single sour in a lot of sweets but the sweets overpower. The art of Katha attacking the door is just great. Extra points for the coloring, which handles the rain really well.
Pretty sure if I were brutally snubbed and stalked off to build a robot in a chagrined huff, I'd try to make it look a lot more like Agatha. Whatta knockout! Not that I mean to imply that I'm the sort of person who ranks robots or anything.
I like the unknown artist, who reminds me a little of Sheldon Moldoff (especially in the hair and clothes), but doing a bit of an impression of Jack Cole (in those flamboyant body attitudes). I also like the unknown colorist in those rare times when he really stands out. The green and pink mad science panel at the bottom of page two is pretty jazzy.
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