Metal Men #6 is an issue of the series Metal Men (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1964.
Synopsis for "The Day Doc Turned Robot"
Returning from the Tin Amazonia Weird Planet,[1] several of the Metal Men recuperate in Dr. Will Magnus' rocket ship. Tin steers them home and Magnus is shocked to see Platinum sleeping. She awakens saying that she dreamt of him. A meteor slams into the rocket and Magnus puts on a space suit to dislodge it. Platinum follows him into space and protects him from further meteors, damaging herself in the process.
He reenters to repair her and chastises Mercury for the scorn he always gave her. Gold is concerned that Magnus' exposure to cosmic rays may have negatively impacted him. No sooner does he say this than Magnus starts transforming into metal. Platinum is initially ecstatic, as she thinks the two can now be lovers but Magnus immediately grows cold and harsh, ordering the Metal Men to do basic cleaning and maintenance while he pilots the rocket. Lead pushes the astronauts on their way while Iron pounds the comet creature to dust.
The Metal Men spot an American manned spacecraft that is pursued by a sentient comet. They want to save the crew but Magnus says that it's irrelevant to their concerns and pilots on. The heroes head into space and save the astronauts. When they arrive back at Magnus Labs, the Doc wonders aloud about melting down the Metal Men and replacing them with some other robots made of gases or liquids. Gold shoves Magnus into a side room and they lock him in to keep him from harming them.
The Metal Men try to figure out a way to cure Magnus but he is busy creating a new team of robots: the Gas Gang. Chloroform attacks, causing them to double over laughing and Oxygen follows by causing the heroes to rapidly rust. They run away and are battered by the twins Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide, causing them to rapidly erode. They run into a closed off room in the lab and Helium traps them by rapidly expanding. Gold narrowly manages to turn up the heat in the lab, causing the gases to all evaporate but the robotized Magnus was caught in the fighting as well and appears to be inert. The robots place him in the metal recovery room and he reverts to his human form. He wakes up with no memory of what happened and Tina consoles him.
Appearing in "The Day Doc Turned Robot"
Featured Characters:
- Metal Men (Flashback and main story)
- Will Magnus (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- Comet creature
- The Gas Gang (First appearance)
- Carbon Dioxide (First appearance)
- Carbon Monoxide (First appearance)
- Chloroform (First appearance)
- Helium (First appearance)
- Oxygen (First appearance)
- Tin Amazonians (Flashback only)
- Queen Robot (Flashback only)
Locations:
Items:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in The Metal Men Archives Vol. 2 and Showcase Presents: Metal Men Vol. 1.
Trivia
- The idea for the "Gas Gang" evidently came from the last issue's Metal Facts and Fancies, which were all about these gases instead of metals.
- Amazing Alloys fact sheet:
- Bronze (made of copper and tin) was used in the Ancient Near East before tin was ever isolated.
- Duralumin (95% aluminum, 4% copper, ½% manganese, and ½% magnesium) is used in plane propellers for its prehensile strength.
- Monel (68% nickel, 29% copper, and trace amounts of iron, manganese, silicon, and carbon) is anti-corrosive.