| Space Adventures | |
|---|---|
 Issue #1 (July 1952) | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Charlton Comics |
| Schedule | Several runs spread throughout the years. |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | July 1952 – March 1979 |
| No. of issues | 70 plusone-shot spin-off. |
Space Adventures (sometimes cover-titledScience Fiction Space Adventures,Space Adventures Presents Rocky Jones and other variations for particular issues) is an Americanscience-fictionanthologycomic book series that was published sporadically byCharlton Comics from 1952 to 1979. Its initial iteration included some of the earliest work of industry notablesSteve Ditko,Dick Giordano, andTony Tallarico, and at least one story byEC Comics mainstayBernard Krigstein.
In 1960, a second iteration introduced thesuperheroCaptain Atom by writerJoe Gill and artist Ditko, shortly prior to Ditko's work onSpider-Man forMarvel Comics.
Space Adventures, ascience-fictionanthologycomic book from theDerby, Connecticut-basedCharlton Comics, was initially published for 21 issues (cover-dated July 1952 - Aug. 1956). Issues #9-12 (Winter 1954 - Aug. 1954) were cover-titledScience Fiction Space Adventures. The following two issues were cover-billedSpace Adventures Presents The Blue Beetle, and featured reprints of the defunct publisherFox Comics' superhero, from 1939. Issues #15-18 (March-Sept. 1955) carried the rubricSpace Adventures PresentsRocky Jones, and featured thatchildren's television character in licensed TV spin-off stories. These were primarily illustrated bypenciler Ted Galindo andinked by, variously,Dick Giordano,Ray Osrin, or Galindo himself. Giordano penciled at least one "Rocky Jones" story, "Gravity-Plus", inked byJon D'Agostino, in issue #18. Issues #19 and #21 reverted toSpace Adventures, interspersed with another licensed tie-in,Space Adventures Presents First Trip to the Moon — a retitled reprint of writerOtto Binder, pencilerDick Rockwell and inker Sam Burlockoff's adaptation of the movieDestination Moon, fromFawcett Comics' 1950one-shot of that name.[1]
Space Adventures #10-11 (Spring-June 1954) contained two ofSteve Ditko's first half-dozen comic-book covers.[2] Issue #16 (May 1955) features a six-page story, "Jealousy on Kano", by artistBernard Krigstein, one ofEC Comics' acclaimed creators in one of his small handful of non-EC stories during that publisher's 1954-55 heyday.[1][3]
The numbering forSpace Adventures was taken over by the Charltonwar comics seriesWar at Sea, which ran from #22-42 (cover-dated Nov. 1957 - June 1961).[1][4]Space Adventures began again with issue #23, skipping the number #22, after taking over the numbering of the Charlton version of the former Fawcett seriesNyoka the Jungle Girl.[5][6]
This second series ran 37 issues (#23-59, May 1958 - Nov. 1964). The first issue only was cover-titledSpace Adventures Presents Space Trip to the Moon and contained a second reprinting of Fawcett's 1950s movie adaptationDestination Moon, this time with the first page deleted.[5] Subsequent issues showcased much work by artistSteve Ditko, and at least one story byEC Comics veteranJohn Severin, as well as by such Charlton Comics regulars asVince Alascia,Rocke Mastroserio,Charles Nicholas, andSal Trapani.
WriterJoe Gill and artist Ditko introduced the space-agesuperheroCaptain Atom in a nine-page story in issue #33 (March 1960).[7] The character starred through issue #42 (Oct. 1961), except for skipping #41, with all stories drawn by Ditko except for two of the three in that final issue. The character would return later in the decade, and eventually be sold toDC Comics after Charlton's 1980s bankruptcy; the version continues as a DC superhero as of 2010.
Space Adventures, which had continued all through the superhero's run to include anthological science-fiction stories, reverted to all-anthology for issues 43-59 (Dec. 1961 - Nov. 1964) — all without Ditko, who by now freelanced exclusively for atMarvel Comics, where from 1956 he had become an established presence on that company's science fiction/fantasy comics, and would, in 1963, co-create the popular superheroSpider-Man.
The title returned as aone-shot science-fiction anthology that continued the old series numbering and was published asSpace Adventures Presents U.F.O. issue #60 (Oct. 1967). This featured early work by such later notables as writerDenny O'Neil (using thepseudonym Sergius O'Shaughnessy), and artistsJim Aparo andPat Boyette.[8]
The next version began again with an issue #2, with Charlton considering the previous one-shot as the first issue of a relaunch.Space Adventures vol. 2, #2-8 (July 1968 - July 1969) featured work by writer O'Neil (again as O'Shaughnessy), and artists Alascia, Aparo, Boyette, Mastroserio, Nicholas, and a returningSteve Ditko who by now had leftMarvel Comics and was concurrently freelancing for both Charlton andDC Comics. ArtistsSanho Kim andSam Glanzman each contributed at least one story.[9]
The series returned for five reprint issues, #9-13 (May 1978 - March 1979), the first four of which were all-Ditko reprints of, primarily,Captain Atom stories. The final issue reprinted Charlton'sOuter Space vol. 2, #1 (Nov. 1968), featuring Ditko and other artists.[10]
TheBritish publisherL. Miller & Son reprinted an uncertain number of stories/issues in theU.K. in the 1950s.[11]
Captain Atom was born in a tale by artist Steve Ditko and writer Joe Gill.
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