We begin with cover story "The Man Who Couldn't Drown" by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs and reprinted from Strange Adventures #68 (1956).When a steward delivers dinner to Paul Browning's stateroom, he find it empty, the porthole open and a pile of papers on his desk. They tell the tale of how six months earlier, on another cruise, Paul fell overboard and when he was rescued he said he had been underwater for two hours. The National Science Foundation is curious and Paul agrees to be experimented on if it can find an answer to how he was able to breathe underwater. They discover that he can breathe only in water with the same salt content as the oceans. They believe he is a throwback to an earlier for a man, an Atlantide, a citizen of Atlantis.
Paul begins to hear a telepathic voice coming from the sea, telling him that the people of Atlantis need him. Taking to the ocean, Paul indeed finds the ruins of the city of Atlantis and is told that the city needs a man like him, a man of science to help them rebuild and one day rise again to the surface. Terrified at the prospect of living underwater, Paul races away and takes an ocean voyage to straighten thing out in his mind.
After a few days at sea, Paul begins to have trouble breathing and realizes he is a true Atlantide and so he had returned to his people, where he knows he belongs.
Next up is "Earth... Condemned World" by Otto Binder and John Giunta and reprinted from Mystery in Space #50 (1959). Daryl Halbert records the albedo (reflectivity) of planets. He receives a message to return to Earth quickly. His spaceship is damaged on his way back and he is rescued by aliens. He is told that they are on their way to Earth to destroy it! Earth's albedo is falling and when it reaches zero it will break free from the Sun and become an undetectable space menace. Halbert asks for time to find a cure and is given 7 hours. He discovers that Earth has a covering of glassy space dust. A test bomb clears a small hole and proves that the Earth, and other planets in the future, can be saved.
That is followed by Adam Strange in "Challenge of the Giant Fireflies" by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson and reprinted from Mystery in Space #67 (1961). A new discovery on Rann allows food to be enlarged to giant size. An unforeseen side effect however causes fireflies which eat the food to grow as well. The enlarged light-sacs of the fireflies cause fires to start, but the Ranagarans develop a way to neutralize the effect.
When a Zeta Beam brings a flame being to Rann instead of Adam Strange, he contacts his fellow beings and together they enjoy their new existence on Rann. However the flame beings are a hazard to the residents of Rann. Riding the giant fireflies to get close to the flame beings, Adam Strange disables them with carbon dioxide.
Next we have "The Time Killer" by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane and Sy Barry and reprinted from Strange Adventures #35 (1953). Zoo curator Alan Hunter hopes to one day take a time machine back to prehistoric times to capture footage of now extinct animals in their natural habitat, but use of the time machine is forbidden as any change in the past may affect the future. When a visiting doctor friend is called to an emergency at the Time Base, Alan offers to drive him over. Once there he sneaks into the room with the time machine and uses it. He uses a jetpack to not even touch the ground and gets many amazing pictures, but when he returns to his floating time machine, a pterodactyl knocks him out of the sky. He jumps into his time machine, but notices that he has crushed the seed of a tree.
The change to time cascades through the eons and when he arrives back to his time, the world is very different, ruled by Native Americans who conquered Europe. He uses the time machine to go back once again and this time he avoids the pterodactyl, but as he leaves the past he does not know that the pterodactyl has grabbed onto his machine. When he arrives he finds himself locked in a cage, an exhibit in the zoo of bird creatures. The birds watch him with interest as he works day after day in hope of repairing his machine and ending his nightmare.
Next is "The Winner" a six-page text story written by Denny O'Neil and illustrated by Murphy Anderson. This is the only new content in the book. When Earth outlaws war they send their infant orphans to Mars where they are raised and trained as warriors. Their CO tells them that some day Earth may or may not call for them, but that the people of Earth are soft and need leaders. One day the warriors of Mars are put into cryogenic suspension to await their fate.
Warrior Mar-O is awakened by a beautiful young woman who, along with her father explain that the Earth has been invaded and the warriors of Mars are needed to defend the planet from some insectoid invaders called the Agoon. The Agoon code of honor required them to battle the best a world has to offer in fair fights and so the woman, Tercey and her father were given a ship to bring the Mars' warriors to Earth.
The warriors fight and fall as do the Agoon, till only a single Agoon and Mar-O are left, there final battle for Earth to begin the next morning. Tercey reveals that her and her father believe they are all that is left of humanity. In the morning the fight begins and Mar-O is victorious. The dying Agoon says that by their code, no Agoon will ever attack Earth again. Mar-O looks at the beautiful Tercey and her aged father and see them for what they are, his new slaves.
That is followed by "Calling Space-Doctor Duncan" by John Broome, Gene Colan and Bernard Sachs and reprinted from Mystery in Space #26 (1955).
We end with the Atomic Knights in "The King of New Orleans" by John Broome and Murphy Anderson and reprinted from Strange Adventures #147 (1962) The Atomic Knights go to New Orleans in search of doctors. New Orleans was not damaged too badly in the war, but it is now ruled by a tyrant king. The Knights locate a medical facility, but the doctors are all entranced. They discover that music awakens the entranced men, so they walk through the streets playing jazz music. The king's guards attack them, but the music has successfully awoken the citizens, who then turn on the king and his men. The Knights then establish a medical school to train doctors for other settlements.
Edited by Julius Schwartz.
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