ADVENTURE COMICS 11
work in another medium or a new ongoing title based on another work, adapted and
licensed works have been a part of comic books for 75 years and will continue to be so
for years to come.
David S. Serchay
ADULT COMICS. See Underground and Adult Comics
ADVENTURE COMICS. Beginning as one of the early Golden Age DC anthology series,
Adventure Comics ran under that title from issue #32, in November 1938 to #503,
dated September 1983, and featured a wide array of DC heroes. Adventure Comics is
best known for its lengthy run of Superboy stories along with the introduction and
subsequent adventures of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Adventure began in December of 1935 as New Comics (changed with its 12th issue
to New Adventure Comics ). Early anthologized works included the Federal Men by
Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Also featured were adaptations of
literary classics including A Tale of Two Cities and She. Th e title became Adventure
Comics with issue #32 in November 1938. With the popularity of the new mystery
men/superhero genre (Superman was introduced in Action Comics in June 1938),
Adventure showcased Manhunter , Hourman (and his sidekick Minuteman), and most
notably the work of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby on Sandman (from issue #72 in March
1942 to #91). Sandman would continue to be featured up to issue #102, February–
March 1946.
Superboy stories begin with issue #103 in April 1946. Other heroes were anthol-
ogized but Adventure would feature Superboy on the cover throughout the 1950s
and 1960s (including the fi rst appearance of Krypto the Superdog in issue #210).
Issue #247 in April 1958 introduced Superboy to the Legion of Super-Heroes.
As the popularity of the legion grew, the solo Superboy stories began to give way
to Superboy-and-the-Legion stories by 1962. With issue #300, the “ Tales of the
Legion of Super-Heroes” ran alongside solo Superboy stories until issue #380 in
May, 1969.
Supergirl was a featured character in Adventure for 43 issues, between June 1969
and October 1972. Adventure showcased Supergirl’s fi rst solo outing as National Com-
ics (the forerunner of DC) would benefi t by tying their limited line of well-known
female heroes, such as Wo n d e r Wo m a n , to the women’s liberation and empowerment
movements of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Th e tone and content of Adventure would change in the 1970s to feature the more
marginalized characters who would have traditionally been unsuccessful in carrying
their own titles, such as Black Orchid, Spectre, Martian Manhunter, and the New Gods.
After the Cancelled Comic Cavalcade implosion in the late 1970s, Adventure began
to anthologize canceled series storylines, most famously the Justice Society of America
tales that began with the revived All-Star Comics , of which issue #462 featured the
death of the Golden Age ( Earth 2) Batman.
