Amazing Adult Fantasy
Entry updated 3 August 2026. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1961-1962). Marvel Comics. Edited by Stan Lee. Nine issues. Contents written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. 36 pages, with five strips in each issue. Eight issues were titled Amazing Adult Fantasy and numbered #7-#14 (continuing the numbering from the second series of Amazing Adventures, which had 6 issues in 1961), followed by one named Amazing Fantasy and numbered #15. All Amazing Adult Fantasy covers claim this is "the magazine that respects your intelligence!"
Each issue had three or four sf strips, others usually being Fantasy; several are discussed below. Many are minor: "I Come from the Black Void" (#9) has an Alien diplomat landing on Earth, only to be baffled as to why no one takes them seriously; the twist lies in the date, 1 April. "Something Fantastic" (#12) features Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (in silhouette) at their office trying to come up with ideas ("How about a flying saucer story?" "You kiddin'? We've done a million of them.") and are interrupted by a man from the fifth Dimension who has story ideas; unaware of his origins, they rudely turn him away. Several strips include plots previously used in 1950s Marvel-related anthology comics. Thanks to the talents of Lee and Ditko the stories are usually well told and look good.
#7 (the first issue) opens with "Why Won't They Believe Me": a man finds a crashed Spaceship whose log book reveals how, in preparation for conquest, the hostile Alien pilot is to Shapeshift into a human. Initially met by disbelief, the man eventually finds a Scientist who, on looking at the book, believes him – and sends for the military police: the language (see Linguistics) used in the log is like none on Earth, so the man is clearly the now Amnesiac alien. "Journey's End" finds a murderer escaping imminent capture by using a Time Machine and going back to 1946; but on arrival he kills a man who proves to be the device's inventor, and as it was thus never invented he is returned to the present (the Time Paradox is not further explored). #8 has "A Monster Among Us" where a spacecraft lands in a city and a Monster holding a piece of paper gets out; an angry crowd gathers and begin throwing things, then a shot is fired. The alien retreats and departs – the crowd cheer, pleased with themselves, until a man picks up the dropped paper and finds it is an invitation to join the galactic community and receive its many benefits (long life, freedom from want, etc.). Despite warnings by a colleague of the possible consequences, "Those Who Change" (#10) has human scientists send a camera into the distant past (see Time Travel) – unfortunately it hits a creature emerging from the water, knocking it back in. They believe the present cannot be affected by changes to the past and congratulate themselves: "We were right, as usual!" while the reader sees they are now reptiles. The plot is the same as "The Scientists" in Astonishing #9 (1952), both perhaps derived from William Tenn's sardonic "Brooklyn Project" (Fall 1948 Planet Stories). "No Sign of Life" has astronauts puzzled that a galaxy they are exploring seems lifeless; in fact its planets are Living Worlds.
"In Human Form" (#11) features another shapeshifting alien preparing to conquer our planet. He needs to decide what the "supreme life form on Earth" is and take on its appearance; after considering Dogs and cars, he eventually decides on flies ("They are strong, fast, free! They can walk, they can fly.") and is swatted. "For the Rest of Your Life" reveals Jupiter's reputation for being soft on criminals is due to their practice of Hypnotizing prisoners into believing they have escaped – so their prisons are happy places (see Crime and Punishment). "The Secret of the Universe" has a journey to the edge of the universe in a new Faster Than Light spaceship to find out what lies there; this is piloted by a terminally ill man, as the effect of FTL travel is unknown. He returns as a baby, the Rejuvenation effect having also removed the illness. Another FTL spaceship appears in "The Living Statues" (#12), where a glory-seeker cons his way into being its first pilot; his inexperience leads to him entering "another dimension of Time" where he is "living at a rate faster than light". On returning to Earth he perceives everyone and everything moving at an imperceptible pace – in effect, frozen in time (see Stasis Field; Time Distortion). "The Ultimate Weapon" (#13) is set in 1970 (see Near Future), when a globe sent by the West appears above Moscow: assuming this is a Weapon, the Russian leaders agree to disarm – in fact the sphere is empty (see Cold War). Invading aliens in "Footsteps at Midnight" (#14) loathe violence, but use fear to conquer; on hearing a policeman complain about his lot – and unaware humans routinely grumble – they assume he could be made an ally if threatened; he responds by firing at them and they flee. "The Man in the Sky" has a persecuted Mutant contacted by another who has made a haven for their kind, to wait there until the human race is able to accept them; this is one of the reused Lee/Ditko plots, based on "The Man With the Atomic Brain" (1959 Journey into Mystery #52), arguably a proto-X-Men tale.
Amazing Fantasy #15 is one of the most historically important comics, as the opening two-part story has student Peter Parker bitten by a radioactive spider, leading to him – eventually – becoming the Superhero Spider-Man. The other tales include "There Are Martians Among Us" (see Mars) where a crashed spaceship is found; it is empty, and its design suggests any occupants were human-like. The authorities believe they are hostile and use hounds to hunt for them, with the public urged to stay indoors. We see a couple worried by the situation, but the wife – despite instructions from the husband not to do so (see Women in SF) – leaves the house to buy coffee and is accosted. The twist is that the couple are the Martians. [SP]
links
- Grand Comics Database
- Grand Comics Database – Amazing Fantasy
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