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Q: My brother and I are having an argument about a story from the 1950s. He remembers it as a "Twilight Zone" episode, while I recall it as originating in a comic book, possibly "Weird Tales." It's about a guy whose wife leaves him, and he then finds a ma

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

Congratulations on beating your brother. The story you're thinking of is "Made of the Future," which appeared in the fifth issue of the magazine "Weird Science," published by EC Comics.

It was written by Al Feldstein, who was also the co-creator of "Weird Science," and who is regarded as one of the fathers of modern comics.

You actually make it sound more believable than it was. The main character didn't find the perfect-woman kit in a magazine. He accidentally stumbled on to a tour group from the future, so of course he snuck on to their time-machine tour bus and went to the future with them, where he found a store selling perfect-woman kits.

As for finding a copy, you're actually in luck. Graphic-novel publishing house Fantagraphics released a book last year called "Child of Tomorrow! and Other Stories," which is an anthology of Feldstein's work for EC Comics. It includes "Made of the Future" and is still available from major book retailers.

If any of this sounds familiar to those who aren't comic book fans, the basic story and magazine title were borrowed for the 1985 brat-pack film "Weird Science" about two teenagers who design the "perfect woman" on their computer.

 

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