The Comic Book Trade Paperback You SHOULD have Bought...but DIDN'T!

Remember this spectacular wraparound cover?

This superb, never-reprinted Murphy Anderson illustration encapsulates what made DC's science fiction line in the 1950s and 60s so entertaining!

• Adam Strange and Alanna! (DC's premiere Silver Age space-going heroes!)
• Winged Apes! (DC was famous for using apes almost anywhere you could think of!)
• A ridiculous, physically-impossible image (giant arrow thrown by aforementioned winged [but normal-sized] ape through the Earth) that you just must know the story behind! (Though, sadly, in this case, there's no actual story behind this particular piece!)

Fireside's Mysteries in Space (1980), a $7.95 trade paperback reprint compiled from Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, Tales of the Unexpected, and From Beyond the Unknown came and went quickly through bookstores.

Sadly, it didn't sell well, and many copies were returned to the publisher and pulped!

It's not available in e-book form, and a different 1999 trade paperback, Mystery in Space, doesn't reprint any of the stories featured in this compilation!

When you can find a copy now, it runs from $30 to $100, depending on condition!

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Space Force Saturdays MARS COMPANY in "Winner"

In the early 1970s, DC experimented with pulp-style illustrated prose tales...

...in genre (sci-fi, horror, western, and romance) titles!

Written by Denny O'Neil, and rendered in retro 1950s Buck Rogers style...

...by Murphy Anderson, this never-reprinted text feature from DC's Strange Adventures #227 (1971) seems more a tribute to classic 1940s-50s "hard" sci-fi pulps instead of a then-current "new wave" science fiction tale!
Since it featured the last story about Earth's interplanetary fighting force, Mars Company, we felt it would be the perfect "capper" to the SpaceBusters saga, which Murphy re-conceived just before its' cancellation!

Murphy seemed to be DC's "go-to" guy when they needed retro-style material in the 1960s-70s!

He was the artist for Silver Age revival try-outs of Golden Age characters in Brave & Bold (Starman & Black Canary) and Showcase (Dr Fate & HourMan and The Spectre), as well as the first few issues of The Spectre's own Silver Age title!

Anderson was also the initial artist on DC's Bronze Age version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, as well as filing-in where needed on other Burroughs strips including Korak and Beyond the Farthest Star!

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Reading Room STRANGE ADVENTURES "Radioactive Invasion of Earth!"

Remember when obsessed sci-fi toy collectors almost doomed the Earth...

...and only rock and roll music could save us?
No?
Good thing we're here to remind you...

Writer Gardner Fox was noted for his scientific accuracy and meticulously-plotted stories.

So why did he have scientists handling radioactive material without protective clothing or shielding?

Otherwise, this tale from DC's Strange Adventures #84 (1957) makes total, logical, sense!

Note: the story, penciled by Sid Greene and inked by Bernard Sachs has only been reprinted once, in Showcase Presents Strange Adventures Volume 2 (2013), and only in black and white!

Wonder why they're keeping it so well hidden?

Think about that next time you're ordering toys from Sideshow or some other vendor...and note if the toys give off a weird, unearthly glow...

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Showcase Presents
Strange Adventures
Volume 2
(which reprints this tale...but in black and white!)

Monday Mars Madness STRANGE ADVENTURES "Science-Fiction Convention on Mars!"

You gotta ask: how can three of the best creatives of the Silver Age of Comics...

...make such an exciting concept so dull?

Writer Gardner Fox, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Joe Giella (together and separately) produced some of the koolest tales of the Silver Age!

Yet, this story from DC's Strange Adventures #73 (1956) almost put me to sleep!

The premise is great, the concepts are well-thought out, but the rendering of it is...well...drab!

Why aren't the Martians more visually-interesting?

They're just bald guys!

Couldn't they be using disguises (either masks or holograms) while on Earth and then reveal themselves to be Martians when the convention-goers arrive on Mars?

It's not like penciler Gil Kane has any problem with rendering kool-looking humanoid aliens, as shown HERE!

And would it have killed them to give the creatives an extra page?

Jamming in all that exposition into the last page really limited Gil into what he could present.

(Remember, DC worked "full script", so Kane knew how much room the captions and dialogue balloons needed to take!)

Using two pages for that last sequence would've helped enormously!

And what about the weird rays that destroy any spaceships?

Natural?

Artificial?

We'll never know...

In comparison, this tale from Dell's Four Color #1288: Twilight Zone has a less-epic, but much more "fun" feel to it!

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Showcase Presents

Strange Adventures

Volume 1

(which reprints this tale...but in black and white)

Reading Room STRANGE ADVENTURES "Secret of the Cosmic Bullet!"

"Golden Gladiator"?
"Star Amazon"?

You'd think this story should be in our brother RetroBlog, Hero Histories!

But...you'd be wrong...

This never-reprinted tale from DC's Strange Adventures #119 (1960) by writer Gardner Fox and artist Sid Greene plays on the concept that beings from other worlds could take our writings, both fictional and non-fictional, and implement them in "real life"!
BTW, note the house ad at the end for three other sci-fi anthologies!
Man, those were the good old days...

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Showcase presents Strange Adventures Volume 1

Showcase presents Strange Adventures Volume 2