In this issue:
Trull the Unhuman
13 pages :: Jack Kirby/Dick Ayers
reprinted in Creatures on the Loose 10
But life is strange and complex…
Our tale starts with the crash-landing of an alien spacecraft somewhere deep in Africa. We shed a tear for the deceased alien lying in the twisted wreckage.
But wait… the alien ain't so dead after all! This kind of alien has a “life essence”, a soul as it were, that can leave its body and move on to another host.
Oh, and one more thing, this life-essence is nasty! As it announces to all us fear-struck readers, “Soon shall I have a new body! Then, let Earth beware of Trull, the mighty!!”
As we wipe the sweat from our trembling brow, we're whisked off to meet our hero, an engineer named Phil. Phil's had a tragedy in his past, one that forced him out of his profession and lost him his best girl. Now, the poor sop is bound for Africa with a newly designed steam shovel that's made for a big construction job.
Phil's old flame, Gloria, has now hooked up with the crew's foreman and the two take delight in tormenting him. When the bullying foreman attempt to beat a stubborn elephant, Phil stands up for it thus beginning his path to redemption.
Great Caesar's ghost — it's speaking!
In the meantime, the path of the evil Trull has crossed that of the unsuspecting construction crew. Trull is smitten by the powerful steam shovel and decides to “inhabit” it.
He worked out scientific formulas to help him understand our planet!
Well, that's some bad news for our crew and, heck, all of mankind! So here we are with a massive hunk of metal and motor that's animated by a power-mad alien. What's the crew supposed to do but obey its every command?
They're stuck helping this monster prepare for a take over of the entire planet. Well, someone has to snap under the stress — and that someone is Gloria!
You are doomed, Earth woman! Doomed!!
She makes a dash for the jungle but Trull is in hot pursuit! And who runs to her rescue? The rough and rugged foreman, Bart Hanson? NO!! Our beloved engineer, Phil, that's who!
He stalls Trull long enough to ensure his own demise, as well as Gloria's. Just then, the cavalry arrives in the form of that elephant Phil had protected earlier.
An epic battle ensues and the elephant prevails. Trull is back to being vapor and Phil is his old self once again. “For by standing up to Trull, I had redeemed myself! I had found my courage and regained my self-respect! …Trull had done that for me — he had made me a man again!” Amen!
............. Philip Parodayco :: 17 February 2004
- Also see:
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NOTE: Trull is a vastly superior re-telling of a story by Paul Reinman called “The Metal Monster” from Journey Into Mystery 57 (reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell 12).
............. Philip :: 09 November 2003
Both “The Metal Monster” and “Trull” involve animated steamshovels, but that's as far as the resemblance goes. A gypsy animated the shovel in “Metal Monster” and removed the spell once he'd convinced the main character of the wrongheadedness of his position. So I wouldn't call it a “re-telling” but, rather, a re-working of the same basic idea, something that happened again and again in Marvel monster comics.
............. Chris Jarocha-Ernst :: 01 June 2004
Does anyone know if the original story the “Killdozer” adaptaion from Worlds Unknown #6 was based on existed before or after these Lee/Kirby stories?
............. Justin Fairfax :: 01 June 2004
Thedore Sturgeon's “Killdozer” first appeared in the November, 1944, issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine.
............. Chris Jarocha-Ernst :: 01 June 2004
The fans are singing! Join the choir, oh Jubilant One.
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Tales to Astonish 21, July 1961
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