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Mystery in Space
book is new. straight from comic store. may have slight shelf wear.
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Gardner Francis Fox
1,192 books90 followersGardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic book historians estimate that he wrote more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC Comics.
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"
Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"
Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 17, 2010
Great collection of older science fiction heroes from DC comics. Questionable science, but a lot of fun.
'Space Cabbie' is one of my all time favorite goofy characters. shame it's so rare to see any stories with him reprinted.
'Space Cabbie' is one of my all time favorite goofy characters. shame it's so rare to see any stories with him reprinted.
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July 19, 2012An anthology of DC space-related comics, from 1946 to today--if today was 1981. There's some introductory material that noodles around the difficulty of writing science fiction comic books; and if I had to judge by the evidence of this anthology, I would say that it's not possible to write good s.f. comics. But as historical artifacts--and especially if you like gee-whiz-bang storytelling of ye olde 1950s--these comics are interesting. This anthology is also organized nicely, both by date and by topic.
So, the 1940s (p11-29) are noted as being the time of the short, semi-educational piece. We get "Rocket Lanes of Tomorrow," which is two pages of people flying in rockets; "Mr. Future," five pages on H. G. Wells; and some what-if speculations on the sun going out (two pages) or another sun rushing through our solar system (two pages), which, rather than tear the Earth apart with its gravity, would mostly increase how much time people spent cooling down at the beach.
The 1950s (p32-137) is split into two categories: one for famous writers and artists; one for recurring characters. The famous writers/artists category is pretty inside baseball stuff, I think; it's hard to think of anyone but a comic nerd being interested in Frank Frazetta's early work on "Spores from Space!" (Though I am not a comic nerd--really, I'm not!--I am an s.f. nerd, so it's interesting to see prose writers like Manly Wade Wellman contribute. It reminds me of an Alfred Bester lament about the death of radio plays and the closing of comic books to new writers, that new kids had no where to go to be terrible.)
The section on series characters spans the 1950s and 1960s (p138-189). It features a lot of characters that I can't imagine ever getting updated for re-use, even though I know some of them have reappeared, including the most famous, Adam Strange. (When what we really want is more adventures of the post-apocalyptic Atomic Knights. And maybe the Space Cabby who tells crazy stories to his space fares--that seems like it would be a promising frame for Neil Gaiman.) If you like ridiculousness, this section is really primo stuff. But who wouldn't want to read a story called "The Hotrods of Space!"?
The final section (p192-223) covers "Modern Space-Opera" from 1980 to 1981 (though the book was published in 1999). In a strange reversion, these are mostly short pieces published in relaunched anthology titles like "Mystery in Space." The best of the bunch is probably "Killing Time," which is a seven-page retread of the "kill Hitler, make a worse world" sort of story that was old, curiously, even before Hitler was born. But while this story goes down a well-travelled groove, it gives some nice graphic expression to this scenario. (Bonus: Earth under the Nazis looks a lot like Darkseid's Apokolips. Did I say I wasn't a comic nerd? I might have lied.)
So, the 1940s (p11-29) are noted as being the time of the short, semi-educational piece. We get "Rocket Lanes of Tomorrow," which is two pages of people flying in rockets; "Mr. Future," five pages on H. G. Wells; and some what-if speculations on the sun going out (two pages) or another sun rushing through our solar system (two pages), which, rather than tear the Earth apart with its gravity, would mostly increase how much time people spent cooling down at the beach.
The 1950s (p32-137) is split into two categories: one for famous writers and artists; one for recurring characters. The famous writers/artists category is pretty inside baseball stuff, I think; it's hard to think of anyone but a comic nerd being interested in Frank Frazetta's early work on "Spores from Space!" (Though I am not a comic nerd--really, I'm not!--I am an s.f. nerd, so it's interesting to see prose writers like Manly Wade Wellman contribute. It reminds me of an Alfred Bester lament about the death of radio plays and the closing of comic books to new writers, that new kids had no where to go to be terrible.)
The section on series characters spans the 1950s and 1960s (p138-189). It features a lot of characters that I can't imagine ever getting updated for re-use, even though I know some of them have reappeared, including the most famous, Adam Strange. (When what we really want is more adventures of the post-apocalyptic Atomic Knights. And maybe the Space Cabby who tells crazy stories to his space fares--that seems like it would be a promising frame for Neil Gaiman.) If you like ridiculousness, this section is really primo stuff. But who wouldn't want to read a story called "The Hotrods of Space!"?
The final section (p192-223) covers "Modern Space-Opera" from 1980 to 1981 (though the book was published in 1999). In a strange reversion, these are mostly short pieces published in relaunched anthology titles like "Mystery in Space." The best of the bunch is probably "Killing Time," which is a seven-page retread of the "kill Hitler, make a worse world" sort of story that was old, curiously, even before Hitler was born. But while this story goes down a well-travelled groove, it gives some nice graphic expression to this scenario. (Bonus: Earth under the Nazis looks a lot like Darkseid's Apokolips. Did I say I wasn't a comic nerd? I might have lied.)
December 7, 2016
A real mish-mash of a collection: some slight and goofy, some just plain muddle-headed, a few solidly told stories. The art's interesting with quite a few big names represented in here. And I've always had a fondness for Star Hawkins and Adam Strange.
October 9, 2016
This collection is a literal time capsule of DC's sci-fi anthology series. From the fanciful stories of the wonders of the future from the 1940s to the atomic-aged heroes of the 50s and 60s to the revival of the twist ending in the 70s through to 1981 when DC published it's last sci-fi genre comic- it's all here!
My favorite stories were of the heroes created during the 50s and 60s. The most famous of these is the earth-man Adam Strange whom become the hero of faraway Rann when a transporter ray teleports him light years away. But where is J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter? Sure, he got his start in the pages of Detective Comics and headlined the 'horror' anthology title House of Mystery, but the green man from Mars was the quintessential DC sci-fi character!
The stories of the 70s and 80s were phenomenal as well. Featuring art by masters such as Joe Kubert and Brian Bolland, those short stories were gems being both masterfully drawn and well written.
This book was supposed to be the flagship of a new imprint of anthologies called the Pulp Fiction Library. Collections devoted to DC's horror titles, war books, and other genre series were slated to follow this book. But for some reason, those plans were scrapped. Thankfully, DC created the Showcase Presents line that reprinted in chronological order large runs of classic Silver Age titles. Those black and white collections were much cheaper to produce but that's not the reason why the Pulp Fiction Library went nowhere as this book was published 6 years before the first Showcase title.
My favorite stories were of the heroes created during the 50s and 60s. The most famous of these is the earth-man Adam Strange whom become the hero of faraway Rann when a transporter ray teleports him light years away. But where is J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter? Sure, he got his start in the pages of Detective Comics and headlined the 'horror' anthology title House of Mystery, but the green man from Mars was the quintessential DC sci-fi character!
The stories of the 70s and 80s were phenomenal as well. Featuring art by masters such as Joe Kubert and Brian Bolland, those short stories were gems being both masterfully drawn and well written.
This book was supposed to be the flagship of a new imprint of anthologies called the Pulp Fiction Library. Collections devoted to DC's horror titles, war books, and other genre series were slated to follow this book. But for some reason, those plans were scrapped. Thankfully, DC created the Showcase Presents line that reprinted in chronological order large runs of classic Silver Age titles. Those black and white collections were much cheaper to produce but that's not the reason why the Pulp Fiction Library went nowhere as this book was published 6 years before the first Showcase title.
May 18, 2019
Reprints representative sci-fi stories from the history of DC Comics. Because the editor chose to use representative stories instead of the best, this book is a reasonable sampling of the kinds of sci-fi National published in its various eras. The sampling, I presume, offers the best material available from each era, but some stories are really not very good, especially in the first and last sections. A "best of" approach would probably have seemed more repetitive, but would have been more fun.
October 29, 2025
Can’t say that I read any of DC’s SF comics when I was young. Reading this representative collection I can’t say I was missing much. The artwork is often great (Kirby, Toth, Kubert, Kane, Murphy Anderson, Lee Elias) but the stories are pedestrian and goofy. Glad to see this stuff republished for those comics fans who are interested.
July 4, 2018
Loads of fun
April 14, 2008
Science Fiction,Anthology
January 15, 2012
Even the robots are air-headed, submissive, and emotional, if they're female robots.
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July 31, 2011Lovely stuff.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews