Customer Reviews

Mystery in Space (Pulp Fiction Library)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I truly enjoyed seeing some of the classic science fiction comics stories from DC comics past. 33 stories in just 223 pages! They did know how to get to the point back then. The stories range from the years 1946 to 1981 and include just about every DC artist, writer and character that was involved in their space comics. Space Ranger, Adam Strange, The Atomic Knights, Tommy Tomorrow, Space Cabby and even Ultra the Multi-Alien are there, as well as a number of non series stories. Mind you, you don't get a lot of any of them. I for one would like to see the Atomic Knight reprinted in it's entirety... But I will take what I can get. There are also examples of the writing and art work of Gardner Fox, Kirby, Binder, Kubert. etc. Like I said just about all of them.I found this a very entertaining bit of nostalgia.

If you grew up reading, and loving, those great old DC science fiction comics of the 50's and 60's then you'll love this book. It is a nice little sampler of such comics as Tommy Tomorrow, Captain Comet, Star Hawkins, Space Cabby, Adam Strange, Space Ranger, the Atomic Knights, plus some really good general science-fiction themed stories. If anything, the printing is brighter and sharper than the originals were when they were first published. Other than the nostalgia value, these are some very good stories and some excellent retro art work (though it was anything but retro back then.) Funny, some of this stuff is more futuristic looking than anything you see nowdays.
My only disappointment was that my all time favorite sci-fi comic story "Brain Robbers of Satellite X" wasn't included. I got over it though- unlike some reviewers who didn't get their favorites....

If you are looking for highly literate science fiction comics...well, this is not quite for you. But, some of these stories are well written, and the art, for most of them, is very good to excellent. Murphy Anderson is well represented, along with two comics drawn by Virgil Finlay, two from Joe Kubert (decades apart), one by a young Gil Kane, a couple from Jack Kirby. Single stories by Alex Toth, Frank Frazetta, Nick Cardy Rick Veitch, Tom Yeates.

There is some solid, if mostly unspectacular, writing from comic book sci-fi stalwarts John Broome, Gardner Fox and Otto Binder. Edmond Hamilton and Manly Wade Wellman apparently wrote for comics as well, and there are a few stories by them. Most of the work in this anthology is very readable, with interesting characters, well paced plots, and very engaging art. There are certainly some clunkers, and the Introductory text by Stuart Moore leaves much to be desired, though he does provide some good background information. He sometimes appears to be writing for young, pre-teen comic readers, which is odd, since I doubt many comics fans that age would buy this book.

The editors clumped the stories under different classifications. Most of the comics are reprints from the 40's, 50's and 60's. The last section jumps to 1980-81, with stories from more modern DC sci-fi anthology comics. These stories are by far the worst of the collection. The plots are riddled with holes in logic, and are reliant on the "twist" ending, usually contrived to be a dark ending, that one can generally see coming a mile off, or seems forced. The collection begins with comics that are not stories, per se, but are full of science "facts" and "what if" type exposition. The facts are often wrong. So, the collection begins and ends with it's weakest comics. But in-between there are a lot of very fun, interesting, engaging stories, with wonderful art. And the art in the two weaker sections is also very good. But these are not hugo award winning stories, so don't expect that level of literature.

This collection also has a section devoted to the ongoing series that ran through DC's silver age sci-fi titles. So you get a good overview, with each series getting one reprint. I find myself in agreement with another reviewer - I would love for DC to collect the entire "Atomic Knights" series some day, as they have with Adam Strange.

I ordered this volume, with expectations that I was going to get a selection of the best of Adam Strange material. Apparently, unknown to the editors, Mystery in Space became uniquely sucessful due to it's long term hosting of ADAM STRANGE in the 1960s, not due to it's secondary stories and certainly not due to the few science fiction stories they reprinted from twenty years later when the magazine had virtually no circulation.
Don't get me wrong, I like the silver age secondary stories, but they don't really have much to do with Mystery in Space per se and could have occured in Strange Adventures or whatever as fillers. Adam Strange is synonymous with MiS, and it's dumb to waste a celebration of MiS on a hodgepodge of other minor stories.
NOTE to DC:
We need a "Best of Mystery in Space with Adam Strange" from the Silver Age, or better yet an "Adam Strange Archives".
A Complete collection of the Atomic Knights silver age stories would be great also, as one of the minor series which had something special to offer.

I find it interesting to read old comic stories of the past. Unfortunitaly many of the short sci-fi stories of the 40s, 50s, and 60s that are presented in this volume are just a little to dull for my tastes.

This collection was by no means bad, it's just that I found most of the stories collected here to be bland or semi-interesting.

Interesting for sentimental reasons would be a perfect way for me to put it.

I'll rate it 3 stars out of 5. Based on the Amazon rating system this falls below the mandatory 4 star level that makes a book a worthwile read.

Unless you have a strong need to revisit past comics of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, then I would suggest you skip this book.