Adventure Comics | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
Schedule | List
|
Format | List
|
Publication date | List
|
No. of issues | List
|
Main character(s) | |
Creative team | |
Written by | List |
Penciller(s) | List
|
Inker(s) | List
|
Adventure Comics is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from New Adventure Comics), making it the fifth-longest-running DC series, behind Detective Comics , Action Comics , Superman , and Batman . The series was revived in 2009 through a new "#1" issue by artist Clayton Henry and writer Geoff Johns. [1] It returned to its original numbering with #516 (September 2010). The series ended again with #529 (October 2011) prior to a company-wide revision of DC's superhero comic book line, known as "The New 52".
Adventure Comics began its nearly 50-year run in December 1935 under the title New Comics, which was only the second comic book series published by National Allied Publications, now DC Comics. [2] The series was retitled New Adventure Comics with its 12th issue in January 1937. [3] Issue #32 (November 1938) saw the title changed again to Adventure Comics, which would remain the book's name for the duration of its existence. [4] [5]
Originally a humor comic, it evolved into a serious adventure series. In issue #12, while the series was briefly re-titled New Adventure Comics, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel introduced the first version of the character Jor-L as a science fiction detective in the far future; the character would eventually become the alien father of Superman, although the first Superman story, in Action Comics #1, would not appear until more than a year after Jor-L's first appearance. [6] [7] The series' focus gradually shifted to superhero stories starting with the debut of the Sandman in issue #40. Other superheroes who appeared in the early days of Adventure included Hourman (from #48 to #83); Starman created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Jack Burnley in issue #61 (April 1941) [8] (#61–102); and Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Manhunter replacing a similarly named business-suited investigator beginning with #73 (April 1942) until #92. [9]
A pivotal issue of the series was #103 (April 1946), when Superboy, Green Arrow, Johnny Quick, and Aquaman moved to the series from their previous home in More Fun Comics , which was itself converted to a humor format. [10] Starman's and Sandman's series were canceled to make room for the new features, while Genius Jones moved to the comic the new arrivals had just vacated. Superboy became the star of the book, and would appear on each cover into 1969 (counting Superman on the covers of issues #354–355). Superboy's popularity in Adventure resulted in the character receiving his own title in 1949, when superhero titles in general were losing popularity. Krypto the Superdog debuted in issue #210 (March 1955) in a story by Otto Binder and Curt Swan. [11]
In issue #247 (April 1958), by Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, Superboy met the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team of super-powered teens from the future. [12] The group became popular, and would replace "Tales of the Bizarro World" as the Adventure backup feature with #300, [13] and soon be promoted to its lead. Lightning Lad, one of the Legion's founding members, was killed in Adventure Comics #304 (January 1963) and revived in issue #312. [14] Issue #260 (May 1959) saw the first Silver Age appearance of Aquaman. In Adventure Comics #346 (July 1966), Jim Shooter, 14 years old at the time, wrote his first Legion story. [15] Shooter wrote the story in which Ferro Lad died – the first "real" death of a Legionnaire (although Lightning Lad had been believed dead for a while before) – and introduced the Fatal Five. [16] The Legion feature lasted until issue #380. [17] With the next issue, Supergirl migrated from the backup slot in Action Comics to the starring feature in Adventure [18] and ran until issue #424. [19] The series reached its 400th issue in December 1970 and featured a Supergirl story written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky. [20]
As of #425 (December 1972), the book's theme changed from superhero adventure to fantasy/supernatural adventure. That issue debuted one new feature along with three non-series stories, the pirate saga "Captain Fear". The next edition added a semi-anthology series, "The Adventurers' Club". Soon, editor Joe Orlando was trying out horror-tinged costumed heroes such as the Black Orchid, [21] and then the Spectre. [22] [23] Before long, conventional superheroes returned to the book, beginning behind the Spectre, first a three-issue run of Aquaman (issues #435–437, an early assignment for Mike Grell) and then a newly drawn 1940s Seven Soldiers of Victory script (issues #438–443). [24] [25] [26] Aquaman was promoted to lead (issues #441–452), and backing him up were three-part story arcs featuring the Creeper (#445–447), the Martian Manhunter (#449–451), bracketed by issue-length Aquaman leads. He was awarded his own title and Superboy (#453–458) took over Adventure with Aqualad (#453–455) and Eclipso (#457–458) backups. Following this was a run as a Dollar Comic format giant-sized book (issues #459–466), [27] including such features as the resolution of Return of the New Gods (cancelled in July–August 1978), "Deadman", and the "Justice Society of America".
Feature | Feature | Feature | Feature | Feature | Feature |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Flash #459–466 | Deadman #459–466 | Green Lantern #459–460 | Elongated Man #459 | Wonder Woman #459–464 | The New Gods #459–460 |
Justice Society of America #461–466 | Aquaman #460–466 | no fifth feature #465–466 | no sixth feature #461–466 |
The standard format returned (issues #467–478), split between a new Starman [28] named Prince Gavyn and Plastic Man. With an increase in the story-and-art page count, the last four issues also included one more run of Aquaman. [29] All three were dropped simultaneously to make way for a new version of an old feature, "Dial H for Hero" (issues #479–490). [30] Issue #490 (February 1982) saw the comic's cancellation. [31] "Dial 'H' for Hero" was moved to New Adventures of Superboy as of that series' issue #28. Adventure Comics was soon rescued. As of the September issue it was revived as a digest-sized comic. This format lasted from issues #491–503, with most stories during this period being reprints (featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, from the beginning and in chronological order, and others), and with new stories featuring the Marvel Family and the Challengers of the Unknown including a new five-issue retelling of their origin. The long-running title was discontinued with the September 1983 issue.
An Adventure Comics 80-Page Giant was released in 1998.
DC published an Adventure Comics #1 as part of the company's Justice Society Returns event in 1999.
As part of the 2008 "Superman: New Krypton" story arc, a special issue of Adventure Comics was published, titled Adventure Comics Special Featuring the Guardian #1 (cover dated January 2009). Jimmy Olsen continues to delve into the mystery surrounding the American government's safeguards against the new Kryptonian population.
The five-issue miniseries Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds led into an all-new volume of Adventure Comics, featuring the revived Conner Kent/Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. [32] The main creative team of Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul debuted in a backup story in Adventure Comics #0 (April 2009). [33] A secondary feature starring the Legion of Super-Heroes was co-written with Mike Shoemaker and drawn by Clayton Henry. The first issue of the new run of Adventure Comics was released on August 12, 2009, and features watermarked numbering marking it as both #1 and #504, thus continuing the original numeration of the series concurrently with the volume 2 numeration. For the variant incentive cover editions, the original numeration was dominant on the cover while the vol. 2 numeration was the watermarked numbering marking. The indicia of the comic book also reflects this dual numbering. The title officially returned to its original vol. 1 numbering with #516 (cover dated September 2010), until #529 when it was finally ended prior to DC's The New 52 company reboot.
The revived ongoing title Adventure Comics features Conner as the headlining character for the first six issues in the story arc entitled, "Superboy: The Boy of Steel". It begins as Conner settles back into his life in Smallville, Kansas. Returning to live with Martha Kent, who is thrilled to take the young boy in after her husband's death, Conner returns to Smallville High School and begins keeping a journal of everything Superman has done as a costumed hero, going down a checklist titled, "What Did Superman Do?" He and the also recently returned Bart Allen supposedly rejoin the Teen Titans, and Conner symbolizes the team being "stacked" again by destroying his memorial statue outside of Titans Tower West.
After the Johns and Manapul run, writer Paul Levitz took over the series. It was renumbered with its previous numbering and highlighted Clark Kent's years as Superboy as well as the Legion of Super-Heroes' past. Starting with issue #523, the Legion Academy, by Levitz and Phil Jimenez, became the major feature.
The Legion of Super-Heroes appeared as the second feature in issues #504–514 before taking over as the lead feature in issue #515 (August 2010).
Following this was the one-shot Brightest Day: Atom , written by Jeff Lemire with art by Mahmud Asrar. The same team was to create a ten-part, ten-page "Atom" co-feature in Adventure Comics, but DC ended all its second features and reduced its titles to twenty pages of story. Issue #521 was the last issue to feature the Atom. [34]
The series has won several awards for itself and its creators over the years, including the Shazam Award for Best Pencil Artist (Humor Division) for Bob Oksner for his work on Adventure Comics and other DC comics in 1970.
Douglas Curtis Swan was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Comics Universe, and first appeared in Adventure Comics #247.
Starman is a name used by several different DC Comics superheroes, most prominently Ted Knight and his sons David and Jack.
Thom Kallor is a character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The character has also been known as Star Boy and Starman.
Mike Grell is an American comic book writer and artist, known for his work on books such as Green Lantern/Green Arrow, The Warlord, and Jon Sable Freelance.
DC Comics Presents is a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 which ran for 97 issues and four Annuals. It featured team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters in the DC Universe. A recurring back-up feature "Whatever Happened to...?" had stories revealing the status of various minor and little-used characters.
Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002 to 2009, he worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, Levitz was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman and Alan Moore, artists such as George Pérez, Keith Giffen, and John Byrne, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's line of comic book heroes.
"DC One Million" is a comic book crossover storyline which ran through an eponymous weekly miniseries and through special issues of almost all of the "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998. It featured a vision of the DC Universe in the 853rd century, chosen because that is the century in which DC will have published issue #1,000,000 of Action Comics if it maintains a regular monthly publishing schedule. The miniseries was written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Val Semeiks.
Kurt Schaffenberger was an American comics artist. He was best known for his work on Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family during both the Golden Age and Bronze Age of comics, as well as his work on the title Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane during the 1950s and 1960s. Schaffenberger used the alias "Lou Wahl" on certain comics, when he was moonlighting from his main job of drawing Lois Lane at DC Comics.
The Superman Family is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1974 to 1982 featuring supporting characters in the Superman comics. The term "Superman Family" is often used to refer to the extended cast of characters of comics books associated with Superman. A similarly titled series, Superman Family Adventures, was published in 2012.
Thomas Grummett is a Canadian comic book artist and penciller. He is best known for his work as penciller on titles such as The New Titans, The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, Power Company, Robin, New Thunderbolts and Heroes.
"Genesis" is a comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics that ran through a self-titled four-issue weekly miniseries and various tie-in issues, all cover-dated October 1997. The main miniseries was written by John Byrne and drawn by Ron Wagner.
Superman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero Superman as its protagonist. Superman began as one of several anthology features in the National Periodical Publications comic book Action Comics #1 in June 1938. The strip proved so popular that National launched Superman into his own self-titled comic book, the first for any superhero, premiering with the cover date summer 1939. Between 1986 and 2006 it was retitled, The Adventures of Superman, while a new series used the title Superman. In May 2006, it was returned to its original title and numbering. The title was canceled with issue #714 in 2011, and was relaunched with issue #1 the following month which ended its run in 2016. A fourth series was released in June 2016 and ended in April 2018, while the fifth series was launched in July 2018 and ended in June 2021. The series was replaced by Superman: Son of Kal-El in July 2021, featuring adventures of Superman's son, Jon Kent. A sixth Superman series was released in February 2023.
Cary Bates is an American comic book, animation, television and film writer. He is best known for his work on The Flash, Superman, Superboy, the Legion of Superheroes and Captain Atom. Bates is the longest-serving Superman writer, at twenty years.
Superboy is the name of several American comic book series published by DC Comics, featuring characters of the same name. The first three Superboy titles feature the original Superboy, the underaged version of the legendary hero Superman. Later series feature the second Superboy, who is a partial clone of Superman.
"The Lightning Saga" is a comic book crossover story arc that took place in DC Comics' two flagship team books: Justice League of America and Justice Society of America. It was written by Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns, and illustrated by Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, and Shane Davis. It is notable for re-introducing the Legion of Super-Heroes in the post-Infinite Crisis era.
Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds is a five-issue 2008 limited series produced by DC Comics. The series is a tie-in to Final Crisis. It is scripted by Geoff Johns, and drawn by George Pérez.
The 1958 version of the Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 31st century of the DC Comics Universe. The team is the first incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and was followed by the 1994 and 2004 rebooted versions. It first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino.
Limited Collectors' Edition is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972 to 1978. It usually featured reprints of previously published stories but a few issues contained new material. The series was published in an oversized 10″ x 14″ tabloid format.
With New Fun already out on the newsstands, [Malcolm] Wheeler-Nicholson didn't waste any time in adding a second title to his line. New Comics appeared in a smaller format than New Fun, one that was similar in size to what are now considered standard comic book dimensions.
Adventure Comics also became home for the Spectre, the sinister Golden Age character who got a new lease on life after [Joe] Orlando was mugged and decided the world needed a really relentless super hero.
An unpublished script starring the Seven Soldiers of Victory was published within five issues of Adventure Comics…Thirty years after the Seven Soldiers of Victory feature was canceled!
The title has suffered from poor sales for several years, with the recent 'Starman/Plastic Man' issues' sales being especially dismal. It was hoped that the new 'Dial 'H' for Hero' series would revitalize Adventure's sales, but apparently such was not the case.