Milla Automata Space Beta Doll

Milla Automata
A Ruthless Doll
Beta doll Version 2008-10-05
Copyright 2006-2008 Ruthless
This version is incomplete. It is made for purpose of playtesting only, please do not redistribute.

This is a kisekae doll, it only works on PlayFkiss and DirectKiss.

Download by clicking on the left "download" icon.

You need the Kiss Viewer program to open the doll. You can download a free Directkiss viewer program from [link]

Milla Automata (also known as Space Girl) is a EC Comics herorine, making her first appearance in "Weird Tales of Outer Space" #76 (January/February 1958), published by the now defunct Artoo Comics.

Milla Automata is a normal human girl who has just enrolled as a rookie space cadet on her 18th birthday at the Candyland Space Academy. Despite her lack of fighting abilities, Milla uses her wits and gadgets such as her trademark bubble gun or shrinking ray to protect earth from alien slave traders, space zombies, mad scientists and other nefarious characters. Unlike other comic titles, Milla does not have a defined costume, but is highly recognisable by virtue of her bright pink hair.

Noteable Antagonists:
Professor Gunray - constantly tries to take over the world/destroy it. A mad scientist who can create anything from robots to planetary tractor beams. Uses his genius level intellect for evil.
Space Zombies - Encounted on the dread planet Zolton-5. Origin unknown.
Cyborg Ninjas - Mercenaries. Hired by both the Confederate Space and Pirate Space
Space Pirates - Outlaws operating outside the bounds of Confederate Space.
Killer Robots - Variety varies
Space Bugs - leeches, praying mantis, roaches... all of the giant variety
Slime Mounds - indestructible, nigh unstoppable... S-S-SLIIIME!

Golden Age
Milla made her debut as Space Girl in Weird Tales in a short 10 page one shot mini-adventure, where she saved earth from invasion by giant bugs. The character was created by Miranda Ruth, who was assistant editor for Weird Tales, writing under the alias of Ruthless. The character was so well received that she became a recurring character in Weird Tales of Outer Space from the 60s to 70s, occassionally doing double duty to introduce other stories, similar to the Crypt-Keeper's role in Tales of the Crypt.

Silver Age
Milla's popularity led to her own comic Space Girl #1 being launced in 1967, which coincided with a time of declining interest in science fiction comics as the market became dominated by colourful superheroes. Space Girl remained successful commercially due to the popularity of space fiction in other media, with shows such as Star Trek and Barberella. One of the key differences of Space Girl from other superhero comics was the lead character Milla Automata does not have a defined uniform or costume other than her trademark shocking pink hair. Her choice of outfits seemed almost random, wearing whatever the artist assigned to that issue decided to draw her in. This variety of clothing styles quickly became so popular that each issue of Space Girl came with a cut-out paper doll printed on card stock featuring the costumes she wore in that particular issue. This marketing gimmick proved to be popular with the predominantly teenage girl readership. The paperdoll remained a standard of every issue (with a few some exceptions) until the late 80s.

1980s-1995
By the 80s, following the merger of Artoo Comics with EC Comics, the direction for Space Girl was transferred from its creator Miranda Ruth to Bill Ferguson. By this time, the readership of Space Girl was waning, as it was deemed to kiddy. Ferguson's answer was to inject more sex appeal in Space Girl in order to compete with more popular comic heroines such as Wonder Woman. The task to vamp up Milla was undertaken by "good-girl" artist Adam Hills as the lead penciler. In addition, EC hired a then unknown writer Neal Simons to take over the writing duties. Ferguson directed Neal to create more adult appeal to the comic, a task which Neal resented.

The initial change in Space Girl was criticised by both long-time fans of the series and industry critics, who were quick to focus on the sexy revamp of Milla as a sellout, largely ignoring the great improvements made to the storyline by Neal. Up until 1982, Space Girl did not have a regular writer, being penned by guest writers from other titles. The lack of regular writers resulted in several inconsistencies with the characterisation and kept the series from benefiting from a continuity of persistent storyline. Neal redefined the character of Milla and gave her a personality and history beyond just a pretty face. Unlike previous writers, Neal does not refer to Milla as Space Girl within the comics but by her actual name, which went a long way into giving the character a real personality. Neal was able to subtly introduce layered nuanced characterisation and weave intricate storylines in a comic title aimed at a younger teen audience. The initial negative buzz ironically garnered new interest in the title as a largely new male readership bought into the comics initially for the eye-popping good-girl art from Hills, but were ultimately won over by the writing of Neal Simons. Adam Hills also won over critics with his pioneering use of sophisticated lines and cinematographic techniques beyond providing the obvious titillation.

Neal's storywriting is typically structured in a 3 issue story arc sequence which allowed him to develop the stories with more depth than otherwise allowed in a single 30 page issue. This was considered a risky move for a medium with a readship known for their short attention. However the gamble paid off as the readership came back for more, in part due to the alluring artwork of Hills and Neal's deft use of cliffhangers to sustain interest in the continuing story cycle. In the guise of pulp science fiction, Neal was able to introduce Space Girl's readership to though provoking issues dealing with social responsibility, moral ambiguity and loss seldom addressed in comics. Neal's story-arcs from Space Girl have garnered several industry awards, with the story sequence "Echoes in the Void" being nominated for the Hugo Science Fiction Award.

1996-2001
Neal worked on Space Girl until 1996 where he took over writing duties for the Incredulous Bulk. The artists who subsequently took over Space Girl played up the sexy art of the title during the "bad-girl" phase in the comics industry, while writers churned out by-the-numbers storylines as a premise for gratuitious art. The 3-issue story arc pioneered by Neal was discontinued in favour of a two-issue arc, with Milla typically featured in a perilous scenario in the first issue, then escaping in the second. This "damsel-in-disdress" formula worked well for the first few years, but the series gradually declined as it was eclipsed by tons of new bad-girl comics flooding the market. In April 2001, EC Comics filed for insolvency. The last issue of Space Girl ended in a cliffhanger that featured Milla captured by Professor Gunray and strapped to his brain-washing machine.

2002 - Present
In late 2001 the EC Comics imprint and all its intellectual properties was successfully purchased by Waller Brothers Inc. Under the new management, EC Comics streamlined its operations and cancelled all non-profitable titles. This included Space Girl, even though it was enjoying moderate popularity even as late as 2001. EC only retained its superheroes line of comics, terminating its war comics, pirate comics, and scienti-fiction comics lines. Some popular characters from the non-superhero comics were re-introduced into the superheroes comics continuity, including the main villian of Space Girl Professor Gunray, now operating as a supervillian.

Alternate Milla?
Milla Automata now frequently appears as the assistant and consort of Professor Gunray, aiding him in his nefarious plans. There is no mention within the new comics on the events that turned Milla into a supervillian, so it may be sumised from the last issue of Space Girl that Professor Gunray succeeded in brainwashing his former adversary. The villian version of Milla is always shown with platinum blonde hair, so it is unknown if this version is actually the brainwashed Milla, or a cloned version with the original still in captivity somewhere.