Tales of the Unexpected [comic]
Entry updated 10 August 2026. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (first run 1956-1968). DC Comics. Monthly. Editor Jack Schiff. Writers included John Broome, Gardner F Fox, and Ed Herron. Artists included Murphy Anderson, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Jim Mooney and Howard Sherman. 104 issues.
From the beginning, Tales of the Unexpected featured original sf stories, with occasional excursions into Fantasy; the stories were colourful and initially were mostly set on Earth, though there was gradually more of an emphasis on space adventures. However, it was definitely inferior to DC's other sf comics, Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, edited by the more capable Julius Schwartz; as one indication of that, when Michael Uslan compiled his collection Mysteries in Space: The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics (graph coll 1980), he included 11 stories from Mystery in Space and 6 from Strange Adventures, but only one from Tales of the Unexpected. The chosen story, Herron's and Sherman's "Missing: One Alien" (1964), involves two friendly Aliens forced to make an emergency landing on Earth, who are greeted with hostility and duplicity until they finally manage to overcome their adversaries and make preparations to return home.
Beginning in 1958, the comic regularly featured Space Ranger, a future Superhero obviously modelled on Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr, whose first adventure was David Starr, Space Ranger (1952 as by Paul French; vt Space Ranger 1973). While executive Rick Starr lacked Superpowers, he periodically donned a costume and employed advanced Weapons to battle against all the usual suspects – such as sinister aliens, Monsters, space pirates, and Mad Scientists; he was supported by a girlfriend and an alien Shapeshifter. In 1964, his stories were shifted to Mystery in Space but were soon cancelled, and this unmemorable character has subsequently made only brief appearances in the DC universe. To replace him in Tales of the Unexpected, two other recurring characters were introduced – the Green Glob, an alien who comes to Earth, and Automan, an advanced Robot – though they did not prove popular.
In 1968, the comic's title was changed to The Unexpected; it now featured horror stories, not sf, and continued using the original numbering until 1982. In the 2000s, the title has been briefly revived. The comic is unrelated to the Television Anthology Series Tales of the Unexpected (1979-1988), adapting the stories of Roald Dahl. [GW]
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