Comic Title: Strange Adventures #40
Publisher: DC (National Comics Publications, Inc.)
Address: 480 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: January 1954
Approx. On Sale Date: November 27, 1953 Copyright Date November 25, 1953
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1953
Until 1958 DC did not report actual on sale dates to the copyright office
The publication dates listed in LoC records are NOT release dates.

Frequency: Monthly
Cover Price: $0.10
Page Count: 32
Editor: Julius Schwartz

Title: "The Mind Monster"
Pages: 8

Feature(s):
Captain Comet (of Earth-1)

Writer: John Broome
Artist: Murphy Anderson

Feature Character(s)

• Captain Comet (last appearance in Strange Adventures #39; next appearance in Strange Adventures #41)

Supporting Character(s)

• Emery Zackro (last appearance in Strange Adventures #38; next appearance in Strange Adventures #41)

Villain(s)

• A mutated spider (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• A police lieutenant (no further appearances)
• A bank messenger (no further appearances)

Synopsis:
Captain Comet and Professor Zackro view a nova through their telescope. Somehow radiation from the nova reaches Earth and transforms an ordinary spider into an evolved being. The spider can then shift to any form along its evolutionary path including a human female.

As a woman, the spider begins committing robberies forcing Captain Comet to take action. The spider tricks Comet into exposing himself to the nova radiation. Captain Comet then transforms into a disembodied brain. However, he uses the spider's female instincts to make itself more beautiful to divert the creature until he can reverse the evolutionary process. Captain Comet succeeds in restoring himself and the spider to normal permanently.