Prompted by the Atomic Age, the 1950s were one of the coolest decades for American science fiction. Ray Bradbury, a key writer in elevating the genre’s cultural status from disposable pulp to respected literature, published The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Fahrenheit 451. In cinema, gems like Gordon Douglas’ Them!, Jack Arnold’s The Incredible Shrinking Man, Joseph M. Newman’s This Island Earth, and John Sherwood’s The Monolith Monsters had a kind of simplicity to them, but also wide-eyed imagination, thought-provoking ideas, and unsettling imagery that projected the era’s sociopolitical paranoia – a trend that culminated in Rod Serling’s original The Twilight Zone, in the turn towards the ’60s. (I’m clearly not the only one with a lingering obsession for this period of sci-fi, as we keep getting neat throwbacks to that type of mood, from Brad Bird’s charming The Iron Giant and Frank Darabont’s terrifying The Mist to Andrew Patterson’s recent recreation in The Vast of Night).
If you were looking for this eerie sort of vibe in comic books at the time, Strange Adventures was probably one of the closest things you could find, at least after EC closed shop in the mid-50s (because of the Comics Code Authority’s censorship). It also boasted the most consistently amazing covers on the stands. So, as a tribute, here is your weekly reminder that comics can be awesome, Strange Adventures edition!
