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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 245
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 245 VIII The Adaptive Superman Created by injection of a newly-discovered serum, Kyra Zelas, a hopeless tuberculosis case, becomes the basis for Weinbaum's "Adaptive Ultimate." She has the ability to adapt her organism to suit almost any prevailing environment, even the coloring of her hair and complexion changing naturally with the sun and seasons. An ability to influence anyone about her to carry out her wishes makes her a menace to the world. Fully realizing the extent of her powers, she laughingly taunts the despairing scientists responsible for her creation by plunging a knife into her heart and then withdrawing it from an unscarred bosom. Though anesthetics are impotent, they at last succeed in subduing this superwoman by an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, to which (being a metabolic waste product) even her super-adaptive body cannot adjust itself. An operation successfully carried out while she is still insensible restores her again to normalcy. It is only by charity that "The Chameleon Man" of William P. McGivern can be included in this discussion, for it deals less with a superman than with a normal human being unwittingly possessed of a body that adapts itself to blend perfectly with its surroundings. Little plot surrounds this intriguing phenomenon, the author failing utterly to capitalize upon the novel variation he evokes. Interesting though this concept is, these two stories alone have exploited its possibilities. This state of affairs is indeed an unusual exception in the "pulp" field, where a new idea is as a rule promptly given a dozen uninspired elaborations soon after initial appearance. Thus excellent material for a novel is still potentially present. On this hopeful note closes the section on adaptive supermen and the entire singular superman category alike. From discussion of the stories here it is easily seen that all conform to a single broad plot. Like them, those embodying racial supermen also follow a distinct basic trend. Book Two: The Racial Supermen I Birth or Creation Racial supermen who are natural mutants are included in "Slan," "Minimum Man" and "The Changeling." The entire race of slans descends from original mutant twins of opposite sex. The Changeling is born with his unusual qualities of totipotency inherent within him, though they are recessive until made dominant by necessity. The first minimum men are born asexually and breed henceforth heterosexually; the original pathological birth of course produced twins, necessary if the race were to be perpetuated. Keller's "Conquerors" and "The Evening Star," and "The Microscopic Giants" of Paul Ernst provide supermen who are the results of their environment. Those in the first two of the trio result when the human race separates early in the dawn of history, one portion remaining on the surface and the other carrying on existence beneath it. The latter, unhampered by the ravages of nature and the constant wars of their ferocious cousins, evolve unhampered through thousands of generations; the result is emotionless dwarfs that are glorified intellects with atrophied bodies. Ernst also postulates a racial split early in history, with one branch of the race however penetrating much further toward the Earth's core. There it grows ever more diminutive because of the greater gravitational pull, until protoplasm has assumed a density almost equal to that of stone. Both McClary's "Short Wave Castle" and Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God" are miniature superbeings produced by advanced evolutionary means. Intense ultraviolet radiation is used by McClary to reduce their life-span from a period of
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 245 VIII The Adaptive Superman Created by injection of a newly-discovered serum, Kyra Zelas, a hopeless tuberculosis case, becomes the basis for Weinbaum's "Adaptive Ultimate." She has the ability to adapt her organism to suit almost any prevailing environment, even the coloring of her hair and complexion changing naturally with the sun and seasons. An ability to influence anyone about her to carry out her wishes makes her a menace to the world. Fully realizing the extent of her powers, she laughingly taunts the despairing scientists responsible for her creation by plunging a knife into her heart and then withdrawing it from an unscarred bosom. Though anesthetics are impotent, they at last succeed in subduing this superwoman by an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, to which (being a metabolic waste product) even her super-adaptive body cannot adjust itself. An operation successfully carried out while she is still insensible restores her again to normalcy. It is only by charity that "The Chameleon Man" of William P. McGivern can be included in this discussion, for it deals less with a superman than with a normal human being unwittingly possessed of a body that adapts itself to blend perfectly with its surroundings. Little plot surrounds this intriguing phenomenon, the author failing utterly to capitalize upon the novel variation he evokes. Interesting though this concept is, these two stories alone have exploited its possibilities. This state of affairs is indeed an unusual exception in the "pulp" field, where a new idea is as a rule promptly given a dozen uninspired elaborations soon after initial appearance. Thus excellent material for a novel is still potentially present. On this hopeful note closes the section on adaptive supermen and the entire singular superman category alike. From discussion of the stories here it is easily seen that all conform to a single broad plot. Like them, those embodying racial supermen also follow a distinct basic trend. Book Two: The Racial Supermen I Birth or Creation Racial supermen who are natural mutants are included in "Slan," "Minimum Man" and "The Changeling." The entire race of slans descends from original mutant twins of opposite sex. The Changeling is born with his unusual qualities of totipotency inherent within him, though they are recessive until made dominant by necessity. The first minimum men are born asexually and breed henceforth heterosexually; the original pathological birth of course produced twins, necessary if the race were to be perpetuated. Keller's "Conquerors" and "The Evening Star," and "The Microscopic Giants" of Paul Ernst provide supermen who are the results of their environment. Those in the first two of the trio result when the human race separates early in the dawn of history, one portion remaining on the surface and the other carrying on existence beneath it. The latter, unhampered by the ravages of nature and the constant wars of their ferocious cousins, evolve unhampered through thousands of generations; the result is emotionless dwarfs that are glorified intellects with atrophied bodies. Ernst also postulates a racial split early in history, with one branch of the race however penetrating much further toward the Earth's core. There it grows ever more diminutive because of the greater gravitational pull, until protoplasm has assumed a density almost equal to that of stone. Both McClary's "Short Wave Castle" and Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God" are miniature superbeings produced by advanced evolutionary means. Intense ultraviolet radiation is used by McClary to reduce their life-span from a period of
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