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[fangaby]

I read the story once in late 1960 or early 1961. It was in one of the American Comics Group science
fiction anthologies. It involved a simple guy named Simon who everybody screwed with. They even
made fun of him when his dog Buster died. It just so happened that space aliens picked Simon up for
study. They were going to destroy the earth because it was a nothing planet. They gave Simon a chance
to voice his opinion. Before he could speak the aliens announced that they had found earth
worthy after all. But Simon was still pissed. He reached out pulled the fatal lever and from space,
watched it blow up.
I had been used to soft stories, thanks to the Comics Code. This made me think.
I put the comic down, certain that I could find in the mess that was my room. Yeah, right.
The story stuck in my mind. Whenever I could find an ACG I grabbed it. When comic book stores
appeared in the 1970s I sought the books out. No luck.
I hoped that the internet would make things easier. I asked about Simon and Buster on a forum devoted
to old comics. I was told that there was no way editor Richard Hughes would approve a story like that.
I could see his point, but I also knew that I had seen the story.
The website Comic Book Plus had an incredible, almost complete, collection of ACG and other now
public domain comics.
I started going through Adventures into the Unknown and thought that I had found the story. In issue 61
but though it had Simon, the bad treatment, and the aliens, it was different from what I had remembered
and the year it appeared 1955 was way too early.
I found the version I was looking for in Forbidden Worlds Mar-Apr 1960.
It was a common practice to reprint stories. But I had never encountered a situation where the reprint
had so drastically changed.
In 1955 the focus had been on Simon?s overall situation. It opens with the view of the hypocritical town
morality. We see the townspeople laughing as a local businessman destroys a peddler's cart. Simon
then sees a kid getting beat up for his lunch money with the bully being praised for his resourcefulness.
Simon then falls for a trick that results in his stealing a wallet. Simon escapes just in time to avoid
being hauled to the lock-up.
Simon hides under a bridge as aliens. They capture him and take him aboard their spaceship. They are
informed of their mistake but Simon on reflection pulls the lever and destroys the earth.
In 1960, the focus was more on Simon himself. We get the same setup of the hypocrisy of the town. We
see people laughing but they?re laughing at a practical joke played on Simon. Still, he believes that
people are basically good until he?s turned down when he begs for food. We next see that he is okay
with hunger if he can be hungry with his dog, Buster.
Buster then dies and the townspeople laugh. Simon tries to get back at them but he gets beaten up. He
runs off just in time for the aliens to land and take him, prisoner. The rest of the story is the same.
So, what is there to learn from this? If you check the time periods of the two versions, nothing was that
different. Changes in Richard Hughes? life. Not for me to say.
It may be just that he knew he had a good idea and didn?t let go of it.
And that, my friends, if part of the pageantry and panoply of writing.

Malcolm Dakoff

[The Australian Panther]

fangaby, [going to use the Avatar]

Good to hear from you. Interesting that one story can have such a huge effect on you. I am sure that we could make a thread from that. Of reminiscences of stories we read as a kid which are still big in our memories for one reason or another.
The circumstances of the story being edited and changed are even more interesting, understandably making you curious as to why the changes occurred.
I'm thinking - as an hypothesis, that some parent read the story and put a complaint on record, giving them a motivation for changing it.
And yes, its reasonable to assume that Richard Hughes was in a particularly negative space to write a story like that and later thought better of it.
I have a feeling you are a bit of a writer yourself?

Cheers! 
     

[crashryan]

I never saw the story you describe, but a while back, here at CB+, I encountered a similar story that I was surprised to read in an ACG magazine. It's "Joey's a Real Pal," the lead story in Forbidden Worlds #115 (the next-to-last issue, Oct 1963). Joey is a friendly mystery boy who uses otherworldly powers to help three other boys with typical ACG problems, like near-fatal accidents and bullies. Then Joey sneaks into a research facility and upon emerging literally walks into the air and vanishes. While the three friends discuss what a nice guy Joey was, Joey returns to the alien spaceship he came from and gives his team stolen plans for a fleet of missiles they'll use to destroy life on earth. When one of the aliens regrets the loss of life, especially the children, Joey snarls, "I hate them all--all earthlings are our enemies! Keep your pity--I'll take special joy from wiping out their young!" The story ends with the earth boys wondering where Joey has gone to and agreeing "He was a swell guy!"

I couldn't believe Richard Hughes had written this script. It turned on end everything his stories had stood for over the course of decades. It's as if he thought, "I'm sick of all these stories about noble ordinary folk and underdogs who triumph in the end! The hell with them all!" I wondered if it was a reaction to his comics company going out of business, or a bad day in his personal life.

[Captain Audio]

I read the story once in late 1960 or early 1961. It was in one of the American Comics Group science
fiction anthologies. It involved a simple guy named Simon who everybody screwed with. They even
made fun of him when his dog Buster died. It just so happened that space aliens picked Simon up for
study. They were going to destroy the earth because it was a nothing planet. They gave Simon a chance
to voice his opinion. Before he could speak the aliens announced that they had found earth
worthy after all. But Simon was still pissed. He reached out pulled the fatal lever and from space,
watched it blow up.
I had been used to soft stories, thanks to the Comics Code. This made me think.
I put the comic down, certain that I could find in the mess that was my room. Yeah, right.
The story stuck in my mind. Whenever I could find an ACG I grabbed it. When comic book stores
appeared in the 1970s I sought the books out. No luck.
I hoped that the internet would make things easier. I asked about Simon and Buster on a forum devoted
to old comics. I was told that there was no way editor Richard Hughes would approve a story like that.
I could see his point, but I also knew that I had seen the story.
The website Comic Book Plus had an incredible, almost complete, collection of ACG and other now
public domain comics.
I started going through Adventures into the Unknown and thought that I had found the story. In issue 61
but though it had Simon, the bad treatment, and the aliens, it was different from what I had remembered
and the year it appeared 1955 was way too early.
I found the version I was looking for in Forbidden Worlds Mar-Apr 1960.
It was a common practice to reprint stories. But I had never encountered a situation where the reprint
had so drastically changed.
In 1955 the focus had been on Simon?s overall situation. It opens with the view of the hypocritical town
morality. We see the townspeople laughing as a local businessman destroys a peddler's cart. Simon
then sees a kid getting beat up for his lunch money with the bully being praised for his resourcefulness.
Simon then falls for a trick that results in his stealing a wallet. Simon escapes just in time to avoid
being hauled to the lock-up.
Simon hides under a bridge as aliens. They capture him and take him aboard their spaceship. They are
informed of their mistake but Simon on reflection pulls the lever and destroys the earth.
In 1960, the focus was more on Simon himself. We get the same setup of the hypocrisy of the town. We
see people laughing but they?re laughing at a practical joke played on Simon. Still, he believes that
people are basically good until he?s turned down when he begs for food. We next see that he is okay
with hunger if he can be hungry with his dog, Buster.
Buster then dies and the townspeople laugh. Simon tries to get back at them but he gets beaten up. He
runs off just in time for the aliens to land and take him, prisoner. The rest of the story is the same.
So, what is there to learn from this? If you check the time periods of the two versions, nothing was that
different. Changes in Richard Hughes? life. Not for me to say.
It may be just that he knew he had a good idea and didn?t let go of it.
And that, my friends, if part of the pageantry and panoply of writing.

Malcolm Dakoff

Unfortunately that sounds exactly like the town I grew up in.
I remember when in the 60's five local bullies gang raped and mutilated a 9 year old girl by biting off her lip. Only one of the boys served any jail time, the only one who's parents were not well to do.
Not an isolated incident around here by any means.
We hear of victim blaming today, but it was absolutely appalling to hear the trash talking about that poor child.