Number 1013


The Cosmic Secret


Edmond Hamilton, writing here as Hugh Davidson, had a long career in the science fiction, weird tales and comic book field. I believe he wrote mainly, if not all, his comic book stories for DC, under editors Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz. The story, "Secret of the Ages" is a fantasy about living for centuries with an "elixir of youth." It's a variation on the type of story I showed Monday, from The Twilight Zone. In "Secret of the Ages" a scientist, Roger Bacon, predicts the scientific miracles that will come to the human race in time. An acolyte, Alleyn (later Allan) Kent takes the elixir, keeping him young for centuries while he follows scientific progress, keeping the formula for the "greatest secret" from his villainous rival.

The artwork is by comic book journeyman John Giunta, who drew comics from the 1940s through the '60s. He died in 1970; Hamilton died in 1977.

From Mystery In Space #2, 1951: