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"ALIEN SCOUT"

Real Name: GSSOK (? - see comments)

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (race unknown)

Occupation: Scout

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: His superior

Enemies: U.S. military (only because of misunderstanding) 

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile in interstellar space

First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery I#51/4 (March, 1959)

Powers/Abilities: Vaguely humanoid and standing about 6 feet tall, this alien could surround itself with an invisible force field that was strong enough to withstand an artillery barrage--it is unknown if this was accomplished by technical means or by its own inherent abilities. The alien traveled in a spaceship.

History:

(Journey Into Mystery I#51/4 (fb) - BTS) - A representative of an alien race was dispatched to Earth on a mission to determine if humankind was worthy of leaving its homeworld and venturing into outer space. 

(Journey Into Mystery I#51/4) - When the alien's spaceship reached Earth, it flew eastward over the United States. It was first sighted over the skies of New Mexico; by the time it reached Chicago, it had outrun all pursuing planes. It soon landed in a clearing on Long Island, New York, and when the hatch opened, the alien scout emerged from the craft. A small crowd of people gathered and the alien began to speak, but its language was incomprehensible and sounded so harsh that most people thought the creature to be crying out in pain. The U.S. Army soon arrived and surrounded the extraterrestrial vessel. Panic and fear over the alien's unknown intentions quickly spread around the world, although some countries were suspicious and dismissed the whole "alien invader" scenario as merely a hoax. Finally, a decision was made to attack the creature. The soldiers began to fire their weapons, but the extraterrestrial protected itself from the bombardment with a force field. Five hours (and many phone calls) later, a decision was made to detonate an atomic bomb in the Atlantic Ocean--far enough out that it wouldn't threaten the coastal limits, but close enough that the alien scout could still see it--in the hopes that it would frighten the creature and return to its own planet. The bomb was dropped and the alien saw the explosion (see comments), then mutely climbed aboard its spacecraft and departed--the people watching assumed that the creature was suitably impressed when shown how technically advanced Earthlings were. But as the ship flew through space, the alien scout contacted its superior on a telecommunication screen to make a report. The scout regretfully informed its leader that the mission was a failure because Earthlings were primitive barbarians who were only in their "Atomic Age,"...and (worst of all) they still used weapons! The scout recommended that Earth be quarantined for another thousand years ("Perhaps then we can permit them to reach the stars--if they haven't destroyed themselves first!"). 

Comments: Created by an uncredited writer, Jack Kirby (artist) and Christoper Rule (inker).

For the benefit of the readers, this story translated the final conversation between the scout and its superior into English. This alien's name was never revealed in the story, but when it first spoke, it said: "BVKT- GSSOK- LAUQI-" which I'll interpret as "Greetings! (I am) GSSOK! (I) come in peace!"; however, I don't claim to be an expert in interstellar dialects, so I could be wrong (These guys seemed intelligent enough, so you'd think they would have invented a Universal Translator!). 

So it wouldn't endanger the populace, I'm guessing that the atomic bomb that was detonated off Long Island was an experimental "clean" bomb which didn't produce any radioactive fallout (much like the Sunday Punch Missile). 

Assuming this story took place on Earth-616 (rather than some alternate reality), I had a thought: Since this race judged humankind to be too violent to allow out in the universe, maybe they created a radioactive barrier (kind of like their version of an "electric fence") around the Earth to keep humans confined to their own planet, and maybe this barrier was the cosmic rays that interrupted the spaceflight of Reed Richards and company (@ Fantastic Four I#1)... Just a thought... 

And a BIG Thank You to Monsterblog for the scans! 

Profile by John Kaminski.

CLARIFICATIONS :
This alien scout has no known connections to:


Spaceship

A spherical craft, it could accommodate at least one occupant. It flew at supersonic speeds in Earth's atmosphere, and presumably could reach faster-than-light speeds for interstellar travel.

 

--Journey Into Mystery I#51/4


images: (without ads)
Journey Into Mystery I#51/4, p1, pan4 (main image)

p2, pan1 (headshot - dig that crazy ET lingo!)
p1, pan2 (spaceship)


Other Appearances: None


Last updated: 09/18/10

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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