Friday 4 March 2016

Tales of the Unexpected #91 (DC/1965)



Tales of the Unexpected #'91 (DC Comics)

Various (w) & (a)

Back in the sixties comics published by the "big two" companies were far more diverse than they are today. Superheroes faced competition from other genres including the then very popular mystery/horror titles that were put out by both Marvel and DC.

Tales of the Unexpected was a bi-monthly comic published by DC and contained three stories per issue. As a child I did pick up the occasional copy of this and other similar titles such as House of Mystery, Strange Adventures and House of Secrets. I particularly recall the story from the following issue, Captive of the Giant Raindrops which was part of a plot by aliens. However when searching through the back issues at my local comic shops I was attracted to #91 by the cover.

Unlike many of the covers put out by DC in the sixties the cover was not misleading about the content of the story and (for once) I got what I expected. One man alone could see the aliens building their weapon and had to save the world by himself because everyone thought he was mad. Well you would wouldn't you?

 

The other stories included a "Green Glob" adventure (yes you did read that right. The "hero" in this story is a glob of green mist from outer space) who starred in The Prophetic Mirages in which whilst on safari a wicked investor is given a series of visions which all turn out to be true...except for the last one.

The other story feature "Automan" a robot. Hadn't come across him/it before and frankly it's well forgotten.

However Tales of the Unexpected lasted 104 issues until it's title was changed to simply the Unexpected with #105. These comics are a mixed bag as you would expect from an anthology. But most are charming stories from a much simpler age.

 

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