Ryan drops by his favorite comic store to pick up his pull list, and is shown a real treasure by the owner of the shop – a one-of-a-kind March 1947 issue of Jay Star’s Tales Of The Undead, signed by Star himself and acquired from an estate sale. It’s expected to go for five figures at auction…except that it’s attracted the attention of a petty thief. But the thief, once he breaks open the glass case set up to display the comic, assumes the guise of Ferrus, the robot-like armored villain of the comic, assaults the owner, and knocks Ryan aside. Mickey finds the comic in Uncle Lewis’ ledger…and discovers that Lewis bought it from Jay Star himself. Ryan visits Star’s address in the ledger and comes face to face with one of his idols…and Star soon sees through Ryan’s “starstruck fan” facade. When Ryan asks who would steal an issue of Star’s comic, Star reveals that his original characters and works were stolen by unscrupulous publishers. But when Ryan describes Ferrus’ attack, Star sets out to track down the thief and reclaim the stolen comic…not to stop the boy from killing again, but to use the powers of Ferrus for himself, avenging injustices that he felt ruined his life, and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Once Ryan discovers who now holds the power of Ferrus, he has to turn to the original comics to learn how to defeat him…which may mean killing his idol.
teleplay by Bill Taub and Marc Scott Zicree
story by Alfred Sole & Paul Monette
directed by Lyndon Chubbuck
music by Fred Mollin
Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), Ray Walston (Jay Star), David Hewlett (Cal), Bob Aarrons (Charlie), Michelle George (Mrs. Forbes), Jennifer Griffin (Linda), David Clement (Carmine), Anthony Bekenn (Mrs. Briggs)
Notes: Ray Walston is, of course, best known for his starring role in the sitcom My Favorite Martian, though more recent sci-fi fans may know him primarily as Starfleet Academy groundskeeper Boothby, from episodes of both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. His much younger co-star, David Hewlett, appears here in only his fourth screen credit at
the age of 20; Hewlett would later become much better known as laconic Stargate project scientist Dr. Rodney McKay, a recurring guest so popular on Stargate SG-1 that he became a regular for the entire run of the spinoff series Stargate Atlantis. The character of Jay Star is based loosely on any number of comic creators – take your pick: Siegel & Schuster, Jack Kirby, and far too many others – whose creations were taken over by corporate interests with little interest in compensating them fairly for their creations.
LogBook entry by Earl Green