Strange Worlds

"Strange Worlds" was the name of two American, science-fiction anthology comic book series of the 1950s, the first published by Avon Comics, the second by a Marvel Comics predecessor, Atlas Comics. Each featured work by such major comics artists as Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert, and Wally Wood.

Avon

The first comic-book series to be titled "Strange Worlds" ran 15 issues published in two sequences by Avon Comics. Issues #1-10 ran cover-dated November 1950 to November 1952. No issues #11-17 were released, and the series began publication again with #18, having taken over the numbering of the defunct Avon comic "Eerie". This second sequence ran through issue #22 (Oct./Nov. 1954 - Sept./Oct. 1955). One ongoing feature in the otherwise anthological title was "Kenton of the Star Patrol".

While Avon was a minor comics publisher in relation to such contemporaneous industry leaders as Atlas Comics, DC Comics, and EC Comics, the series featured artwork by such top talents as Wally Wood, who would soon go on to become an industry star at EC; Joe Kubert, later a signature artist of DC's Hawkman and Sgt. Rock; portrait painter Everett Raymond Kinstler and Western-art painter Charles Sultan, early in their careers; and seminal African-American comics artist Alvin C. Hollingsworth a.k.a. Alvin Holly.

Reprinted stories include:
* #3: "The Alien Raiders" (Kenton of the Star Patrol), by artist Wally Wood::reprinted "Golden-Age Greats" Volume 12 (Paragon Publications / AC Comics, 1998)
* #8: "Death on the Earth-Mars Run", by artist Everett Raymond Kinstler ::reprinted "The Heap" #1 (Skywald Publications, Sept. 1971)
* #8: "The Thing on the Broken Balcony", by artist Alvin C. Hollingsworth::reprinted "The Heap" #1 (Skywald Publications, Sept. 1971; retitled "Curse of the Broken Balcony")

Atlas Comics

The second "Strange Worlds" was a short-lived series from Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor company, Atlas Comics. Running five issues (Dec. 1958 - Aug. 1959), the title nonetheless showcased artwork by industry legend Jack Kirby, who penciled all but one cover and supplied a story each in issues #1 and #3, and future Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, who drew the cover of #2 and a story in each issue.

The premiere issue's cover and its seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" marked Kirby's return to Marvel, which he had left in 1941 [Kirby had previously returned to freelance on five comics cover-dated Dec. 1956 and Feb. 1957, but did not stay: "Astonishing" #56 (4 pp.), "Strange Tales of the Unusual" #7 (4 pp.), "Quick-Trigger Western" #16 (5 pp.), and "Yellow Claw" #2-3 (19 pp. each).] ; three years later, he and writer-editor Stan Lee would create the industry-changing superhero series "The Fantastic Four".

Other well-known comics artists who drew for the Atlas anthology included EC Comics greats Joe Orlando and Al Williamson; and future Marvel mainstays Dick Ayers, John Buscema, Don Heck and Joe Sinnott; and Human Torch creator Carl Burgos and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle artist Bob Powell, both veterans of the 1930s-1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books.

Reprinted stories include:

* #1: "I Captured the Abominable Snowman", by writer Stan Lee, artist Steve Ditko::reprinted "Strange Tales Annual" #2 (1963); "Chamber of Darkness" #7 (Oct. 1970); "Journey into Mystery" vol. 2, #13 (Oct. 1974); and "Thrilling Science Fiction" #2 (AC Comics, 1998)
* #1: "I Am Robot, by artist Joe Sinnott::reprinted "Strange Tales Annual" #2 (1963)
* #2: "I Was a Prisoner on the Planet of Plunder", by artist Don Heck::reprinted "Strange Tales Annual" #2 (1963)
* #2: "I Am the Scourge of Atlantis", by artist Dick Ayers::reprinted "Strange Tales Annual" #2 (1963)
* #3: "I Was the Man Who Lived Twice", by artist John Buscema::reprinted "Strange Tales Annual" #2 (1963)
* #3: "I Fly to the Stars", by writer Stan Lee, penciler Jack Kirby, inker Dick Ayers::reprinted "Strange Tales Annual" #2 (1963)
* #5: "I Am ... Gorilla", by artist Paul Reinman::reprinted "Sinister Tales" (UK) #223

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.comics.org The Grand Comics Database]
* [http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/ The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators]