Strange Adventures

Infobox comic book title
title=Strange Adventures" (vol. 1 & 2)
"JSA Strange Adventures


imagesize=
caption="Strange Adventures" #1 (August-September 1950). Artist unknown.
schedule=(vol. 1)
Bi-monthly (#1-2, #212-244
Monthly (#3-211)
(vol. 2 & "JSA...")
Monthly
format=(vol. 1)
Ongoing series
(vol. 2 & "JSA...")
Limited series
limited =Y
ongoing =Y
publisher=(vol. 1 & "JSA...")
DC Comics
(vol. 2)
Vertigo
date=(vol. 1)
August-September 1950 - September-October 1973
(vol. 2)
November 1999 - February 2000
("JSA...")
October 2004 - March 2005
issues=(vol. 1)
244
(vol. 2)
4
("JSA...")
6
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writers=
artists=
pencillers=
inkers=
letterers=
colorists=
editors=
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creative_team_year=
creators=
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subcat=DC Comics
sort=PAGENAME
addpubcat1 = Vertigo limited series
nonUS=

"Strange Adventures" was the title of several American comic books published by DC Comics, most notably a long-running science fiction anthology that began in 1950.

Original series

Running for 244 issues from 1950 through 1973, the original "Strange Adventures" is probably best known for introducing the character Deadman, and as an early showcase for the artwork of Neal Adams; although it was also home to one of the last of the pre-Silver Age superheroes, Captain Comet, from 1951-1954, and ran a number of other notable series such as the Atomic Knights and Star Hawkins adventures. Strange Adventures also introduced Animal Man to the DC Universe in five issues (later to be revived by Grant Morrison in a much-acclaimed series in 1988).

Mention should also be made of the story 'The Strange Adventure That Really Happened' (issue 140, May 1962), which features members of the DC staff Julius Schwarz and Sid Greene struggling to make writer Gardner Fox recall a story he has written that holds the key to saving the Earth from alien invasion. (In a rare acknowledgement of the rest of the DC universe in Strange Adventures, one panel mentions Gardner Fox having previously met The Flash in the iconic Silver Age story 'Flash of Two Worlds').

Initially a science fiction anthology title with some continuing features starring SF protagonists, the series became a supernatural-fantasy title beginning with issue #202, for which it received a new logo. With issue #217, the title became a reprint series with another new logo. Several of its stories were reprinted in some of DC Comics' later anthologies, such as "From Beyond the Unknown".

Publication history

Continuing features in "Strange Adventures" included:

* Chris KL-99 (issues 1-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15)
* Darwin Jones (issues 1, 48, 58, 66, 70, 76, 77, 79, 84, 88, 93, 149, 160)
* Captain Comet (issues 9-44, 46, 49) (cover feature many times)
* Space Museum (issues 104, 106, 109, 112, 115, 118, 121, 124, 127, 130, 133, 136, 139, 142, 145, 148, 151, 154, 157, 161)
* Star Hawkins (issues 114, 119, 122, 125, 128, 131, 134, 137, 140, 143, 146, 149, 152, 155, 158, 162)
* Atomic Knights (issues 117, 120, 123, 126, 129, 132, 135, 138, 141, 144, 147, 150, 153, 156, 160, with reprints in 217-231)
* Faceless Creature from Saturn (issues 124, 142, 153)
* Star Rovers (from "Mystery in Space", issues 159, 163)
* Animal Man (issues 180, 184, 190, 195, 201)
* Immortal Man (issues 177, 185, 190, 198)
* Enchantress (issues 187, 191, 200)
* Deadman (issues 205 thru 216)
* Adam Strange (reprints in #217 thru 244; new stories in #222, 226/227 text stories with illos)

Contributors to the series included Neal Adams, Murphy Anderson, Arnold Drake, Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Bernard Krigstein, Mike Sekowsky, and Alex Toth.

Awards

The series was nominated and awarded several awards over the years, including Alley Awards in 1963 for General Fantasy, in 1965 for Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic, in 1966 for Best Fantasy/SF/Supernatural Title, in 1967 for Best Cover (for issue #207 by Neal Adams), in 1967 for Best Full-Length Story ("Who's Been Lying in My Grave?" in issue #205 by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino), and the 1967 for Best New Strip (Deadman by Drake and Infantino).

Revivals

Vertigo miniseries

In 1999, DC Comics imprint Vertigo released a four-issue mini-series reviving the "Strange Adventures" title and concept.

It featured stories written by Brian Azzarello, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Bruce Jones, Joe R. Lansdale, John Ney Rieber, Robert Rodi, and Mark Schultz. Artists included Edvin Biuković, Richard Corben, Klaus Janson, Frank Quitely, James Romberger, and John Totleben. The miniseries is cover-dated November 1999 to February 2000.

JSA Strange Adventures

In 2004, "Strange Adventures" was again revived, in modified format, as the six-issue limited series "JSA Strange Adventures", which presented a new Golden Age Justice Society of America story incorporating fantasy-fiction themes. It was written by Kevin J. Anderson, with art by Barry Kitson and Gary Erskine. The miniseries is cover-dated October 2004 to March 2005.

References

*comicbookdb|type=title|id=845|title="Strange Adventures" (1950)
*comicbookdb|type=title|id=2135|title="Strange Adventures" (1999)
*comicbookdb|type=title|id=4082|title="JSA: Strange Adventures"
* [http://www.dcindexes.com/database/series-details.php?seriesid=1919 Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics - DC Database: "Strange Adventures'] '
* [http://home.aol.com/MG4273/strngadv.htm Classic Comics: "Strange Adventures"]