Brain Bats of Venus

The Brain-Bats of Venus is a weird horror comic about two astronauts who crash-land on a strange planet. It appeared in Mr. Mystery #7 (1952) and the art is by Basil Wolverton.

Two astronauts named Crenshaw and Bitner are flying over the planet Venus when their spaceship is hit by a stray meteor.

They crash-land on the planet’s fungus-covered surface, but Bitner is killed on impact.

When Crenshaw ventures outside to make repairs, he is attacked by weird-looking alien creatures… Brain-Bats!

One of them tries to smother him in the folds of its clammy skin, but he manages to fight it off.

Crenshaw runs back onto the ship and closes the door behind him. But when he turns around, he sees Bitner standing there. The corpse of his dead colleague has been taken over by a Brain-Bat.

Bitner’s cold, dead lips move as the Brain-Bat speaks through him, revealing its dastardly plans.

Bitner opens the airlock and Crenshaw watches in horror as the other Brain-Bats flap inside.

He manages to beat them off and takes refuge in a storage closet.

The Brain-Bats take control of the spaceship, blasting off and heading towards Earth.

As the ship enters Earth’s atmosphere, Crenshaw comes up with a way to thwart the Brain-Bats’ plans. He uses his gun to blast away electrical cables that power the ship’s motor.

The ship crash-lands on Earth’s surface. Crenshaw scrambles out of the wreckage and crawls as far away as possible.

The ship bursts into flames and, to his horror, Crenshaw sees the ship’s door open. Bitner steps out, followed by the flapping Brain-Bats.

Crenshaw takes aim and blasts the Brain-Bat on Bitner’s head. At that exact moment, the ship explodes.

When his senses clear, Crenshaw somehow finds himself hoping that some of the Brain-Bats escaped the explosion. With his last free thought, the horrific realization jits him. He died in the blast and his body has been taken over by one of the Brain-Bats.