MARTIAN ANTS
Classification: Extraterrestrial (Martian [supposedly, see comments], 1950s era)
Location/Base of Operations: Professor Stowe's laboratory; originally from Mars [supposedly, see comments]
Known Members: Two (names unrevealed)
Affiliations: Professor Stowe, Keller
Enemies: None
First Appearance: Spellbound I#26/3 (February, 1956)
Powers/Abilities: Apparently intelligent, they possibly possessed some method of teleportation (see comments), but displayed no other paranormal abilities.
Traits: These two supposed Martians had the forms of terrestrial ants; one of them was winged.
Type: Insectoid
Eyes: Unrevealed
Legs: Six
Skin color: Black
Average length: 0.25" (by approximation)
History:
(Spellbound I#26/3 (fb) - BTS) - One night, two Martians--along
with a sample of a Martian brain--were apparently teleported to Earth
(see comments). They arrived in the laboratory of Professor Stowe.
(Spellbound I#26/3) - When Professor Stowe arrived at his lab in the morning and unlocked the door, he was startled to find a large jar labelled MARTIAN BRAIN on a tabletop. At first, Stowe believed it to be a hoax, since nothing had a brain of that shape or size. Stowe's assistant Keller soon arrived, but he denied any knowledge of how the brain got there. Wanting to get a closer look at the brain, Stowe opened the lid of the vacuum-sealed jar, but the large brain seemed to disappear, and Stowe supposed the sudden pressure change disintegrated it. With the distraction of the mysterious brain gone, Stowe and Keller turned their attention to serious work.
(Spellbound I#26/3 - BTS) - That night, the two Martians apparently teleported another brain sample into Stowe's lab.
(Spellbound I#26/3) - The next morning, having put the previous day's puzzling event out of his mind, Stowe unlocked the door to his lab; he was again startled to find a second Martian brain on the tabletop. Figuring this incident was getting persistent enough to be taken seriously, Stowe and Keller began a detailed examination of the brain.
While he inspected the brain through the side of the jar, Stowe examined the structure of the organ and described his estimation of the Martian's size, along with the physical characteristics of its body structure; Keller listened to the professor's description and drew a rough sketch of the supposed Martian. When they had finished, Keller's drawing depicted a fearsome-looking alien--Stowe theorized that perhaps the Martians sent the brain to him because they wanted an Earth scientist to make an approximate sketch of a Martian, to lessen the shock to the world when interplanetary contact was made.
But then Keller noticed that the jar was actually a thousand-power magnifying glass--when viewed from the side, the brain appeared large, but when viewed from the flattened top, one could hardly see the tiny brain. Realizing that the brain's actual size would throw off his calculations of the Martian's size, Stowe decided to open the vacuum-sealed jar to see what it really looked like; but this time, they connected the jar to an air-tank and cautiously raised the pressure within the jar, so as not to affect the frail brain inside.
Once the pressure had been equalized, Stowe and Keller opened the jar's lid and looked inside--they discovered that the Martian brain was the size of a pinhead. Looking back at Keller's drawing, Professor Stowe reached the conclusion that Martians were ants!
Meanwhile, unseen on the lab floor, two ants wiggled their antennae excitedly, as if realizing at last that interplanetary contact had been made...
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Robert Q. Sale.
Like many other "Martians" claiming to be from Mars, these ants may not be natives of that planet, and may have just been using it for a base of operations; they may actually come from another world outside Earth's solar system.
When Keller wondered how the brains had appeared in the locked lab, Professor Stowe theorized that the Martians had some method of teleporting objects into locked rooms.
This 4-page story--The Brain--was done with a surprise ending, and Professor Stowe's assumption of the Martians' appearance wasn't revealed until the last two story-panels (see second and third image). Since it was such a short story, it was never definitely stated that the ants were actually Martians, and it was left up to the readers to draw their own conclusions.
Or maybe they weren't from Mars at all; maybe they had some connection to the ant scientists that the shrunken Dr. Perry Moore encountered, and they were only pretending to be Martians for some unspecified scheme.
This profile was completed 02/03/2025 but it was saved for the March 2025 Mars event.
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Martian ants have no known connection to:
Professor Stowe has no known connection to:
Keller has no known connection to:
The Martian brains have no known connection to:
Stowe (first name unrevealed) was the leading authority on human and animal brain structure; the shelf of his lab contained samples of various brains, including human and monkey. Keller (first name unrevealed) was Stowe's artistically-inclined assistant.
A large vacuum-sealed jar labeled MARTIAN BRAIN had mysteriously appeared in Stowe's laboratory. While Stowe viewed and examined the large brain through the jar, he described what the creature that had possessed it would have looked like; listening to the professor's description, Keller drew a rough sketch of the supposed Martian's appearance.
But then Keller noticed that the jar was actually a thousand-power magnifying glass--although the brain appeared large when viewed at the sides of the jar, it was tiny when viewed from the flattened top. Realizing that his calculations of the Martian's size would be thrown off if the brain was actually tiny, Professor Stowe decided to pump air into the jar and equalize the pressure, so they could open it and see what the brain really looked like.
They cautiously raised the vacuum's pressure without affecting the frail brain within, then removed the lid and looked inside the jar--the brain was the size of a pinhead, the size of an ant's brain.
After taking another look at Keller's sketch, Professor Stowe concluded that Martians were ants!
--Spellbound I#26/3
Two samples of Martian brains, both had apparently been teleported into the lab of Professor Stowe (see comments). Because of their relatively tiny size to humans, they were both contained within vacuum-sealed magnifying jars which made them appear extremely large when viewed from outside the jars.
The first sample jar was opened by Professor Stowe, but the brain was apparently crushed when Stowe broke the vacuum seal.
The second sample appeared in Stowe's lab the following day. Stowe examined it through the jar while he gave a description of what the Martian looked like to Keller, and Keller drew a rough sketch of the Martian based on Stowe's words.
But after Keller discovered its magnifying properties, they connected an air-tank to the jar and slowly equalized the pressure, so as not to damage the frail brain. When pressure was equalized, they opened the jar and discovered that the brain was actually the size of a pinhead. With this new knowledge of the brain's true size, along with Keller's sketch, Stowe concluded that Martians were ants.
--Spellbound I#26/3
images: (without ads)
Spellbound I#26/3, p4, pan7 (main image - two Martian ants)
Spellbound I#26/3, p3, pan6 (Keller and Professor Stowe looking at Keller's drawing of supposed Martian)
Spellbound I#26/3, p4, pan6 (Professor Stowe [left] realizes that Martians are ants)
Spellbound I#26/3, p1, pan2 (Professor Stowe looks at first jar with Martian brain)
Spellbound I#26/3, p3, pan2 (Keller begins to draw Martian)
Spellbound I#26/3, p3, pan1 (Professor Stowe and Keller begin examination of second Martian brain)
Spellbound I#26/3, p1, pan1 (first Martian brain in magnifying jar)
Spellbound I#26/3, p2, pan6 (Professor Stowe discovers second Martian brain)
Spellbound I#26/3, p4, pan5 (Keller and Professor Stowe open magnifying jar and see true size of second Martian brain)
Appearances:
Spellbound I#26/3 (February, 1956) - unidentified writer, Robert Q. Sale (pencils/inks), Stan Lee (editor)
First Posted: 03/24/2025
Last updated: 03/24/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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