Writer: Gardner Fox

Penciller: Sid Greene

Inker: Sid Greene

Synopsis: Karel Sorensen and Rick Purvis receive space-grams from Homer Glint telling them to meet him at Earth Spaceport. Karel, whose spaceship is not working properly, rents a "pay-as-you-go" spaceship, and she and Rick follow Homer off-planet. On the way there, Homer twlls the other two that twenty-one hours ago, he had been returning to Earth when he felt a strange compulsion to visit what appeared to be an island in space. He was unable to get his ship off of its pre-programmed course for Earth, but decided that he would return there and invite the others to join him in exploring it. He offers the other two the chance to back out, but they are already caught in the island's lure and all three of them land there. They each land in different places on the space-island. Homer lands near a strange red creature, which he takes to be game, but before he can shoot it, the creature attacks him, telling him that he's the hunter, and Homer's the game. Home manages to escape the creature and rigs a deadfall trap to do so, but the creature turns out to be a shape-changer who can fly. Homer then sees that the creature has a watery plume an top of its head and correctly guesses that it exhales water vapor and plugs up that breathing-hole, eventually rendering the creature unconscious. Elsewhere, Karel sees floating targets in the sky. She's about to use them to test her marksmanship, when another woman challenges her to a shooting contest. Karel accepts, but soon discovers that not only is her challenger an excellent markswoman, but also, the ground underneath them constantly moves. After returning to her ship for a moment, Karel takes up the challenge, and soon figures out the pattern of motion of both the ground and the targets, leading her to victory in her contest. In another part of the island, Rick sees a man skiing in air behind giant birds. The man invites Rick to race him, and Rick, intrigued by the new sport, accepts the offer. Rick soon finds that his bird is very hard to control. He concludes that his bird is easily distracted and rigs a set of blinders for his bird, allowing him to better control his bird and eventually win a race against the other man. The three then meet and talk to each other about how wonderful the island, which gives them whatever thrills they could wish for, is. Suddenly, they hear a voice in their heads, the voice of the island, which is actually a living creature named Xanathar. Xanathar tells the trio that it requires the energy of competition to remain alive, and therefore lures new travelers to itself all the time in order that they battle and provide the energy it needs. Xanathar then tells them that they will now remain on the island until they lose a competition, at which time, they will be disposed of. The three return to their ships, and Rick and Homer find themselves unable to leave. Karel convinces them to come into her ship, which takes off for Earth, and she tells the men that she made sure to neglect to place coins in the spaceship's meter, leading it to head back to Earth, as it's programmed to do in case of non-payment. They resolve to have the authorities warn unsuspecting travelers to avoid the area of the island, which will eventually lead to Xanathar's death.

Notes: This issue is the first time that the trio of Karel, Homer and Rick is referred to as the "Star Rovers."

All characters and images are copyright DC Comics.

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