Strange Adventures #18 is an issue of the series Strange Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1952.
Synopsis for Captain Comet: "The World of Flying Men"
Appearing in Captain Comet: "The World of Flying Men"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Enghart
- the Dark-Siders
Other Characters:
- King Afthors
- his advisors
- Doriana, his adopted daughter
- Dr. Harkovy (Mentioned only)
- Joan Harkovy (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Vehicles:
- The Cometeer
Synopsis for "Girl in the Golden Flower"
A tiny spore drifts down from the sky and lands in Brad Mulford's backyard garden. Days later, Mulford notices a strange new flower growing amongst the rest of his plants. He attempts to identify it through horticultural books but has no luck. One night Mulford has a dream that he is in a strange land and notices a girl beckoning for help. The girl is being pursued by strange fireballs but the couple finds refuge in a river where the fireballs dare not venture. The girl introduces herself as Flora and Mulford notices that she has purple patches on her skin along with a red streak in her golden hair. Mulford thinks to himself that the girl looks vaguely familiar. He wakes up the next morning and realizes that he had been dreaming. He looks out the window at the strange flower that has been growing in his garden and notices that it has the same strange purple markings as the girl in the dream. After a while Mulford notices that the flower begins to wither and its leaves begin to fall off. The weather then turns bad and brings on a torrential rain as Mulford falls asleep once more. He dreams that he has returned to the same strange land but now he notices huge bursts of raindrops falling. He encounters the strange girl who seems to be passed out in a pool of water but this time she has short hair. Mulford pulls her out of the water and dries her off by building a small fire. Mulford inquires as to why she has short hair and the girl replies that the leaves had started to fall from the flower in his garden. Mulford suddenly wakes up and decides to move the strange flower to another part of the garden. This time the weather turns windy and Mulford wonders if he will have another dream. Sure enough his next dream finds him in the strange land once more struggling to fend off a powerful wind storm. He encounters Flora once more as she fights to survive the wind. He takes her to a shelter behind a rock to protect her. The next morning Mulford wakes up and places the strange flower in a protected hothouse. He realizes that the flower and his dream girl are somehow connected. Throughout the long summer Mulford travels to the strange land in his dreams on a nightly basis. He learns of other worlds from Flora and develops a relationship with her. One autumn day Flora announces that she is dying but that they will meet once more. Mulford wakes up the next morning to find that the flower from space is dead. The doorbell suddenly rings and Mulford finds a beautiful girl standing there as she introduces herself as Fora, a new Astronomy student. The girl remarks that she feels that she knows Mulford and Mulford realizes that Flora had kept her promise that they would meet again.
Appearing in "Girl in the Golden Flower"
Featured Characters:
- Brad Mulford, astronomer
Supporting Characters:
- Flora
Other Characters:
- Arrhenius (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Synopsis for "One-Way Trip to Mars"
Appearing in "One-Way Trip to Mars"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Norris
Other Characters:
- A Martian woman (In a vision)
Locations:
Vehicles:
- Rocketship
Synopsis for "The Man in the Mystery Mask"
Appearing in "The Man in the Mystery Mask"
Characters:
- Ross Rackett
- Abner Primm (Single appearance; dies)
- Hector Van
- Interplanetary Police
Locations:
Items:
- moving sidewalks
- Electric chair
Vehicles:
Notes
- "Girl in the Golden Flower" is reprinted in DC Special #3
- Published by National Comics Publications, Inc.
Trivia
- "The World of Flying Men":
- The story implies an Earth scientist was able to build a rocketship in 1937 (15 years before 1952). Historically, a V-2 rocket, developed by Nazi Germany during World War II, reached an altitude of 176 kilometers (109 miles), on June 20, 1944, making it the first human-made object to reach space.
- Captain Comet mentions that he cannot fly. Modern stories describe him being able to fly under his own power. However he could rescue the girl from a distance because since his first story it is known that he has telekinesis.
- "The Man in the Mystery Mask":
- The story from the third page onwards allegedly takes place in the 26th century. If Rackett traveled 500 years into the future, that would be 2452 AD - the 25th century.
- The story suggests that the death penalty would not be extinct 500 years in the future.
- Includes a half-ad page of Superman and the Mole Men.
See Also
Links and References
Look at how sad this is making Batman. You did this.
