Broken Frontier

You might be excited that Superboy has returned or that Geoff Johns is writing the Legion. But you really should be excited just because Adventure Comics, one of DC’s most historic titles, is back.

Some of you younger fans might not have given much thought as to why “Adventure Comics” is called Adventure Comics. Some older fans might recall a series in the 70s and 80s by the same names. Comics historians and longtime collectors might think they realize the historic importance of the title from all the characters introduced in the title’s pages.

But Adventure Comics might just be more important than they realize. And we’re going to tell you why.

It’s 1935 and DC, which was called National Allied Publications, began as most comic book companies did in that day, as a purveyor of comic strips into comic book form. What set their first effort, January 1935’s New Fun #1, apart from the rest of the strip collection is that their book was 100% original. While most other comic books on the market were mostly repackaged newspaper strips with little or new material added, New Fun was completely new from the front cover to the back.

This was a risky move but one that paid off. New Fun was a success. And with success comes expansion. Ten months later, National released its second title.

That winter, comic book fans could bring their ten cents to the local newsstand to pick up an 80-page book featuring such stories as “Sir Loin of Beef” and “Strange Adventures of Mr. Weed”. This new series was called, appropriately enough, New Comics.

New Comics became New Adventure Comics a year later then plain old Adventure Comics in 1938.

Yes, Adventure Comics, under the name New Comics was the second comic published by DC Comics. Not Detective Comics, the title that gave the company its name, or Action Comics, which gave it its greatest character, but Adventure.

Adventure continued as an anthology for most of the Golden Age, eventually housing the first appearance of many of DC’s greatest characters such as Hourman (1940’s issue #48), Starman (1941’s issue #61) and the early adventures of the Golden Age Sandman (who first appeared in New York World’s Fair Comics #1 in April of 1939 and took a regular spot in Adventure three months later).

The world of comic books underwent a state of upheaval in the post-World War II period, as many readers’ fancies turned away from superheroes to westerns, romance and then to horror. But Adventure remained one of the few superhero comics on the stands thanks to one of the most popular concepts DC came up with.

In 1946, More Fun Comics (the re-titled New Fun) switched from superheroes to humor. As a result, the title’s cast migrated to Adventure starting with issue #103. The characters included Green Arrow, Johnny Quick, Aquaman, and, most importantly, Superboy.

Superboy’s popularity kept Adventure in business. The character held the lead story in the title for almost 20 years and over 200 issues. He was featured prominently on each cover until 1969. What was the concept that knocked Superboy out of the top spot? That would be the Legion of Super-Heroes, of course.

The Legion first appeared in a Superboy story in 1958’s issue #247. While most plot elements in Superboy stories were used once and never heard of again, the Legion caught the reader’s eye. Editors brought the super teens from the future back on a number of occasions over the years before finally giving them a reoccurring co-feature with 1962’s issue #300. Less than a year later, the Legion took the main spot in each issue and Superboy was relegated to a backup. By issue #315, the Superboy section turned over to reprints and by 1966’s issue #346 Adventure was the Legion’s and the Legion’s alone.

The Legion’s star turn lasted until 1969 when Supergirl replaced them in issue #381. Supergirl lasted as lead for about three years until Adventure became a rotating anthology once again. The series existed as such, with stars such as Aquaman, Black Orchid, Spectre, Plastic Man and others, for another 11 years before being cancelled in 1983.  The last 13 issues of the series were published in digest sized, but even that couldn’t help it.

So, it is truly unique that a series that has been off the shelves for over a quarter century is being revived with a pairing that has not occurred in 43 years. Sure, the Superboy and Legion of today are much different than the ones in 1966, but Adventure Comics is the only title that should hold such a pairing.

Adventure Comics is a title that has played an important part in the history of DC Comics. It is nice to see that present day DC recognizes this impact and in a small way honors it. A respect for its history is one of the things that makes comics fun.