Strange Tales

Notes: Launched as a science-fiction/horror anthology along with Mystic (Marvel, 1951 series), increasing Marvel's science-fiction line from four to six books. This book, along with World of Fantasy (Marvel, 1956 series), was one of only two science-fiction anthologies to resume publication immediately following the publication hiatus caused by the collapse of Marvel's distributor and the subsequent restructuring known as the "Atlas Implosion". Strange Tales included a Human Torch/Human Torch and Thing feature in issues #101–134, a Doctor Strange feature from issue #110 (July 1963), and a Nick Fury feature from issue #135 (August 1965). Strange Tales introduced both Doctor Strange and SHIELD. Accompanied from 1962–1963 by Strange Tales Annual (Marvel, 1962 series). Scripts were generally not credited before the superhero days. However, it is well known that Stan Lee (sometimes assisted by Larry Lieber, or Lieber on his own) wrote the overwhelming majority of these stories from 1959 to 1963. Steve Ditko wrote in 2015 "Stan never wanted me to write any actual dialogue or names. That goes back to our 5-page days. Writing, editing, dialogue, sound effects, captions, were all Stan's division of labor at Marvel." Where there is no positive confirmation, credits may be listed as "Stan Lee ?; Larry Lieber ?", or either person individually, or simply "?", according to the indexer's best information. Text story pages were a regular feature from issue #1 through issue #125 excepting issues #112, #119 and #124, which do not have text story pages. Text story pages do not appear in the remainder of the series, issues #126 through issue #168.