Uncanny Tales | |
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![]() Uncanny Tales #1 (June 1952). Cover artist unconfirmed; possibly Sol Brodsky [1] | |
Publication information | |
Publisher | Atlas Comics Marvel Comics Alan Class Comics |
Publication date | (Atlas) June 1952 - Sept. 1957 (Marvel) Dec. 1973 - Oct. 1975 (Alan Class) 1963 - c. 1989 |
No. of issues | (Atlas) )56 (Marvel) 12 (Alan Class) 187 |
Editor(s) | Stan Lee |
Uncanny Tales is the name of two American science-fiction / horror comic-book series, published in the 1950s and the 1970s. The first volume was by Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics, and the second volume by Marvel. It is also the title of a British comics digest.
The first volume of the science-fiction / horror comic Uncanny Tales ran 56 issues, beginning publication with cover-date June 1952 and ceasing publication with its September 1957 issue. The first 28 issues predated the Comics Code Authority, the comics industry's self-censorship bureau. The series came under the Code's aegis with #29 (Feb. 1955). Published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics, it was edited by the company's chief writer, Stan Lee, and included such art contributors as Bill Everett, Russ Heath, Fred Kida, Bernard Krigstein, Joe Maneely, Jerry Robinson, Syd Shores, Angelo Torres, and Doug Wildey. [1]
Uncanny Tales vol. 2, cover-titled Uncanny Tales from the Grave beginning with issue #3, was a 12-issue science-fiction / horror title published by Marvel Comics (cover-dated Dec. 1973 - Oct. 1975). It consisted entirely of reprints from the 1950s Uncanny Tales and several other Atlas and Marvel titles. The majority of issues had newly drawn covers by artists including Gil Kane (#1), Larry Lieber (#5-7) and Arvell Jones (#8). [2]
The British reprint specialist Alan Class Comics published an unrelated Uncanny Tales in the UK that ran 187 issues from 1963 through c. 1989. (The company did not print cover dates.) The series, digest-sized rather than in standard comic-book size, with color covers but black-and-white interior pages, reprinted stories from the American Comics Group, Atlas Comics, Charlton Comics, Marvel Comics, and Tower Comics, as well as occasional stories from such defunct publishers as Novelty Press and Fox Comics. In addition to science fiction, fantasy and horror takes, it occasionally ran superhero stories, starring characters including Marvel's Daredevil, Spider-Man and the Avengers, and Tower's NoMan. [3]
Journey into Mystery is an American comic book series initially published by Atlas Comics, then by its successor, Marvel Comics. Initially a horror comics anthology, it changed to giant-monster and science fiction stories in the late 1950s. Beginning with issue #83, it ran the superhero feature "The Mighty Thor", created by writers Stan Lee and Larry Lieber and artist Jack Kirby, and inspired by the mythological Norse thunder god. The series, which was renamed for its superhero star with issue #126, has been revived three times: in the 1970s as a horror anthology, and in the 1990s and 2010s with characters from Marvel's Thor mythos. The title was also used in 2019 for a limited series as part of the "War of the Realms" storyline.
Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.
Marvel Mystery Comics is an American comic book series published during the 1930s–1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. It was the first publication of Marvel Comics' predecessor, Timely Comics, a division of Timely Publications.
Richard Bache Ayers was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four. He is the signature penciler of Marvel's World War II comic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, drawing it for a 10-year run, and he co-created Magazine Enterprises' 1950s Western-horror character the Ghost Rider, a version of which he would draw for Marvel in the 1960s.
Weird Fantasy is an American dark fantasy and science fiction anthology comic that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The companion comic for Weird Fantasy was Weird Science. Over a four-year span, Weird Fantasy ran for 22 issues, ending with the November–December 1953 issue.
Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic-book publishing label that evolved into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time. Atlas evolved out of Goodman's 1940s comic-book division, Timely Comics, and was located on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building. This company is distinct from the 1970s comic-book company, also founded by Goodman, that is known as Atlas/Seaboard Comics.
Tales of the Zombie was an American black-and-white horror comics magazine published by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics. The series ran 10 issues and one Super Annual from 1973 to 1975, many featuring stories of the Zombie by writer Steve Gerber and artist Pablo Marcos.
Tower of Shadows is a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published by the American company Marvel Comics under this and a subsequent name from 1969 to 1975. It featured work by writer-artists Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Johnny Craig, and Wally Wood, writer-editor Stan Lee, and artists John Buscema, Gene Colan, Tom Sutton, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Bernie Wrightson.
Chamber of Darkness is a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published by the American company Marvel Comics. Under this and a subsequent name, it ran from 1969 to 1974. It featured work by creators such as writer-editor Stan Lee, writers Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, and Roy Thomas, and artists John Buscema, Johnny Craig, Jack Kirby, Tom Sutton, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Bernie Wrightson. Stories were generally hosted by either of the characters Digger, a gravedigger, or Headstone P. Gravely, in undertaker garb, or by one of the artists or writers.
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.
Supernatural Thrillers was an American horror fiction comic book published by Marvel Comics in the 1970s that adapted classic stories of that genre, including works by Robert Louis Stevenson and H.G. Wells, before becoming a vehicle for a supernatural action series starring an original character, the Living Mummy.
Mystic Comics is the name of three comic book series published by the company that eventually became Marvel Comics. The first two series were superhero anthologies published by Marvel's 1930-1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. The third, simply titled Mystic, was a horror fiction-suspense anthology from Marvel's 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics.
Bill Benulis was an American comic book artist in the 1950s. His style is distinctive, and he signed his work, he drew 146 stories in a variety of genres. He was associated with artist Jack Abel who inked much of his work. His work appears in war comics, horror comics, and science fiction comics, and was reprinted in the Marvel Comics reprint series, War Is Hell, as well as in several of the reprints of fifties comic books published under the IW imprint in the sixties. His work is also collected in several reprints in the Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era series.
Chamber of Chills is the name of two anthology horror comic books, one published by Harvey Publications in the early 1950s, the other by Marvel Comics in the 1970s.
Monsters Unleashed is the title of an American black-and-white comics magazine published by Magazine Management and two color comic-book miniseries from Marvel Comics. The first ran from 1973 to 1975. The two miniseries ran consecutively in 2017.
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga e.g. focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.
Alan Class Comics was a British comics publishing company that operated between 1959 and 1989. The company produced anthology titles, reprinting comics stories from many U.S. publishers of the 1940s to 1960s in a black and white digest size format for a UK audience. During the 1960s and 1970s, these reprints were the main medium through which British children were introduced to the aforementioned monster and mystery stories and most non-DC or Marvel superheroes.
Menace was a 1953 to 1954 American crime/horror anthology comic book series published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics. It is best known for the first appearance of the supernatural Marvel character the Zombie, in a standalone story that became the basis for the 1970s black-and-white comics magazine Tales of the Zombie. As well, a standalone story in the final issue introduced a robot character that was revived decades later as the Human-Robot, a.k.a. M-11, the Human-Robot.
Dracula Lives! was an American black-and-white horror comics magazine published by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics. The series ran 13 issues and one Super Annual from 1973 to 1975, and starred the Marvel version of the literary vampire Dracula.
Thorpe & Porter was a British publisher, importer, and distributor of magazines and comic books. At first, the company was known for repackaging American comics and pulp magazines for the UK market. Later on, it became a publisher of original material. The company released more than 160 comics titles in the UK, the most prominent being Classics Illustrated, MAD UK, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes, Larry Harmon's Laurel & Hardy, House of Hammer, and Forbidden Worlds. T & P's most prominent imprints were Top Sellers Ltd. and Brown Watson. Thorpe & Porter operated from 1946 to c. 1979.