This week's REMAKE challenge from the Whitechapel forums. Si Spurrier writes:

"CAPTAIN FUTURE!

Before anyone says so: Yes, I know Warren ran a R/R of this name a couple of years ago. Well just settle, petal: that thread revolved around the Nedor Comics Character Of The Same Name. We’re more interested in this fellow here.

Quoth the ‘pedia:
Although sometimes mistakenly attributed to science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton, who indeed authored most of Captain Future stories, the character was created by Better Publications editor Mort Weisinger during the 1939 World Science Fiction Convention. The stories were published in the pulp magazines from 1940 to 1951. The adventures mostly appeared in Captain Future's own magazine but later stories appeared in Startling Stories.

And Quoth the mighty Jess Nevins:

Captain Future's adventures take place in the far-distant future of 1990. Roger Newton, his wife Elaine, and their best friend Simon Wright leave Earth for the Moon, where they establish an advanced laboratory. In this lab they create two artificial beings: Grag, a seven foot tall superstrong robot, and Otho, an android who "looked only half human...its arms and legs had a rubbery, boneless look. Its artificially created flesh was not pink like human flesh, but pure, dead white.” Unfortunately Simon is dying from an incurable disease and Roger is forced to remove his brain and put it in a plastic box. Grag, Otho, and the Brain become known as the Futuremen.

[The Newtons’ enemy] Kaslan eventually catches up with the trio, and the Newtons are killed. This leaves their infant son Curtis an orphan, but Grag, Otho and the Brain decide to raise him. He grows up to be Captain Future, a strapping six-foot-four, red-haired scientific genius with "space-bronzed" skin and two powerful fists.


NO, NO, NO, YOU DON’T GET BETTER THAN THAT.

I mean, okay, there’s all sorts of other stuff – Otho and Grag each have a silly pet and constantly bicker, a “Planet Police” lass called Joan Randall becomes Cap-Fu’s bit of crumpet, there’s a spherical rocket ship, a proton-pistol, a Magician Of Mars, etc etc etc – but you’ve got the bare bones of this beastie already.

Ass-kicking gun-master of ScienceJitsu, in the distant and unknowable decade of the nineteen nineties, forces his trio of unhappy Lab-Freaks into perilous situations for his own Science Gain. Probably while cracking-wise.

I want to emphasize the three roboty henchfreaks, please. Because Otho, Grag And The Brain, on names alone, are twice as interesting as yet another buckle-swashing Spacegit. Extra kudos may be awarded for deploying MIGHTY! PUNS! OF! SCIENCE!

You have two weeks."
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So I decided to go with a prequel of sorts, based on the story thread "This leaves their infant son Curtis an orphan, but Grag, Otho and the Brain decide to raise him." Oh, this couldn't go wrong, could it? Apologies to the classic piece of shi... cinema "Three Men and a Baby".