Strange Tales

It was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the groundbreaking work of writer-artist Jim Steranko.

Virtually every issue would open with a Kirby monster story (generally inked by Christopher Rule initially, then later Dick Ayers), followed by one or two twist-ending thrillers or sci-fi tales drawn by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, or Joe Sinnott, all capped by an often-surreal, sometimes self-reflexive Stan Lee-Steve Ditko short.

[7] Prototypes of the Spider-Man supporting characters Aunt May and Uncle Ben appeared in a short story in Strange Tales #97 (June 1962).

[8] The anthology switched to superheroes during the Silver Age of Comic Books, retaining the sci-fi, suspense and monsters as backup features for a time.

[9] Here, Johnny still lived with his elder sister, Susan Storm, in fictional Glenview, Long Island, New York, where he continued to attend high school and, with youthful naivete, attempted to maintain his "secret identity" (later retconned to reveal that his friends and neighbors knew of his dual identity from Fantastic Four news reports, but simply played along).

Ditko's surreal mystical landscapes and increasingly head-trippy visuals helped make the feature a favorite of college students, according to Lee himself.

Bill Everett succeeded him through #152 (January 1967), followed by Marie Severin (self-inked for four issues before being inked by Herb Trimpe in some of his earliest Marvel work).

The 12-page feature was initially by Lee and Kirby, with the latter supplying such enduring gadgets and hardware as the Helicarrier – an airborne aircraft carrier – as well as human-replicant LMDs (Life Model Decoys), and even automobile airbags.

He spun plots of intrigue, barely hidden sensuality, and hi-fi hipness – and supplying his own version of Bond girls, essentially, in skintight leather, pushing what was allowable under the Comics Code at the time.

became the first Strange Tales feature to receive its own cover logo below the main title, beginning with #135; it skipped an issue before returning permanently with #137.

Five years later, Strange Tales resumed its old numbering with #169 (Sept. 1973),[23] which introduced the supernatural feature Brother Voodoo by writer Len Wein and artist Gene Colan.

This lasted only to issue #173 (April 1974), with Brother Voodoo continuing briefly in the black-and-white Marvel horror-comics magazine Tales of the Zombie.

[25] This feature introduced the characters Gamora, Pip the Troll and The Magus, and helped establish the mythos Starlin would mine in his many "Infinity" sagas of the 1990s.

A one-shot Human Torch, Thing, and Doctor Strange story, by writer Kurt Busiek, with painted art by Ricardo Villagran, was released in squarebound bookshelf format in 1994.

[27] Another one-shot, the 52-page Strange Tales: Dark Corners in 1998 was an anthology featuring Morbius, Gargoyle, Cloak and Dagger, and Spider-Man.

[28] A Strange Tales miniseries featuring Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night was published in 1998 to tie up plotlines after their individual series had been canceled.