Amazing Fantasy Omnibus

    (Marvel, 2007)
™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

From the Publisher:

The words "Amazing Fantasy" have long been synonymous with Spider-Man, the icon of all comic icons that premiered in the very last issue of this cult classic series. But it would be a grave mistake to say that the debut of Spider-Man, as auspicious and important as that moment may be, is all there is to write about concerning this wonderfully odd little series that served to bridge a gap between two definitive eras of Marvel!

The Post-Impolosion monster comics, though still bristling with fun and frenetic stories, were winding down in popularity, and years of being adrift to the vageries of the comics marketplace were taking its toll on the company Stan Lee had guided through good times and bad. By the time the first stories for Amazing Adventures were being written and drawn, the new breed of super-hero adventures comics launched with Fantastic Four #1 were still months away from developing. But in that time, Stan and his ace stable of artists—Jack Kirby with Dick Ayers on inks, and Steve Ditko—turned out some interesting and innovative stories, featuring the classic monsters Sserpo, Monsteroso, and Torr, among others, all in long-form (for the time) thirteen page feature stories.

Further, a proto-hero, Dr. Doom, made his premiere in these pages months before FF #1 saw print. This master magician would later graduate from his humble beginnings in these oddball stories to a lead role in the Marvel Universe’s stable of mystical artists like Dr. Strange!

By the time FF #1 premiered in the late summer of 1961, Amazing Adventures was given the first of its two makeovers. Perhaps trying to solicit purchases from a more mature demographic, the series changed its title to Amazing Adult Fantasy and illustration of the entire series was handed over to Steve Ditko. With this quirky new title in place, and a funky tagline to encourage people of taste to give it a look (“The Magazine That Respects Your Intelligence”), Amazing Adult Fantasy was a mainline into Ditko’s idiosyncratic visions of life in the outer limits of imagination!

The next nine issues, well into the first year’s worth of the post-FF Marvel Age, Steve was given free rein to offer up weird stories straight out of his innovative id. Ditko and writer Stan Lee’s tales of mutant mayhem, nuclear paranoia, outer-space intrigue and creepy suspense flowed like a torrent, all the twist-endings that would have made O. Henry proud.

By the time Spider-Man made his debut in the series’ fifteenth and final issue, the “Adult” had been dropped from the title, the funky tagline had disappeared, and the book was readied for cancellation. Spider-Man would live on in his own title, and Marvel would close the book on the kind of monster/suspense fare that had served it so well for so long.

Only now in 2007, there are legions of true comic art fans who demand to relive this wonderful material once again, and Marvel is proud to present this stunning first-ever collection of one of comics’ most intriguing series!
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