When collectors think of Adventure Comics, they usually think of one of the greatest and most expensive of all Golden Age anthologies, featuring the likes of Sandman, Hourman, Starman, Manhunter, and the Shining Knight during World War II. What has long made Adventure highly collectible is that these superheroes had no other regular outlets, other than relatively brief memberships in the Justice Society for the first three mentioned.

When Superboy took over as the cover feature in Adventure with #103 (April 1946), only Shining Knight remained of the previous heroes, of which only Sandman and Starman lasted until #102. Superboy, Aquaman, Johnny Quick, and Green Arrow were transferred to Adventure with #103 from More Fun Comics because DC wanted to make the appropriately titled More Fun a humor title beginning with #108 (March 1946). Because the early Superboy snips generally had far less appeal to most collectors than did Adventure’s earlier heroes, Adventure became largely overlooked in contrast to Detective, with its fabulous Batman covers, and Action, with Superman. Yet by 1959, the year the Silver Age really got going in earnest with the Flash’s own title, the debut of Supergirl, and the revival of Green Lantern, among other events, who would have guessed that Adventure would retain a unique distinction?

From 1948 on, Adventure was the only all-costume hero anthology on the newsstands. For that matter, by the end of 1959, Adventure, Action, and Detective had tied with Dell’s Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories and Looney Tunes as the only issues never to skip a month or change titles over the 12-year period beginning in 1948. All five titles enjoyed remarkable runs.

Superboy’s stories may seem somewhat repetitive to many collectors — some of whom prefer his l960s complications — but the 1946-55 pre-Comics Code issues of Adventure remain well worth a look. The 1946 and 1947 issues are curiosities of sorts, with a youngish Superboy, but I think Adventure significantly improved in 1948, by which time Superboy’s stories had permanently been expanded to 10 pages, then to 12 pages with #151 (April 1950) as the character seemed to grow into a more mature teenager.

The Shining Knight’s stories, at first given 13 and then 11 pages, were strictly 7-page backups beginning with Adventure’s new lineup in #103 and were only 6 pages beginning with #139 (April 1949). Moreover, the character — always one of the oddest of the odd in DC’s lineup — appeared only sporadically in his last three years. Here are the numbers in which the Shining Knight appeared from 1948 on: #’s 124-125, 127, 131-132, 137-139, 142-145, 148,150-151,153, 155, 157, 159, 161, 163, and 165-166. Offhand, I can’t think of another DC hero to receive such treatment. Of course, collectors especially prize Frank Frazetta’s 48 pages worth of Shining Knight interpretations: the eight 6-page stories from #150 through #163.

DC apparently considered Aquaman the least important character in Adventure, since he alternated with Shining Knight from #153 through #165, meaning Aquaman missed the seven odd-numbered issues during that span. Aquaman was also left out of #166 and #169, which was the first 44-page issue. In addition, it was Adventure back-up Green Arrow, not Aquaman, who was chosen for a second regular series in 1953 starting with World’s Finest #65. Yet when Adventure was downsized from 44 pages to 36 pages beginning with #205 (Oct. 1954), Johnny Quick eventually paid the price. Johnny Quick disappeared after #207 (Dec 1954), while Aquaman remained for years and eventually got his own Showcase try-out and his own comic book in the early 1960s. That comes under the category of go figure: Johnny Quick was obviously deemed more important in 1950, but Aquaman prevailed five years later.

During the era of Adventure #170 (Nov. 1951) through #204 (Sept. 1954), Superboy, Green Arrow, Johnny Quick, and Aquaman all appeared, making the title an anthology unique in all of comics. Somehow, the editors at DC decided there was still a market for nothing but costume heroes in one of their three remaining classic anthologies. Check these comics out — they’re among the most fun of any issues published during this period, for their colorful variety. The editors left Johnny Quick out of #205, Green Arrow out of #206, and Aquaman out of #207 while deciding which two of the three heroes would survive the page crunch.

During the 1948-55 pre-Code period, there were no really iconic occurrences in Adventure; remember, Krypto debuted in #210 (March 1955), the first Code-approved issue. But there was one collectible occurrence: Superboy’s first meeting with Lois Lane in #128 (May 1948). This is a great issue, one of the most underrated in all of DC history, starting with a marvelous cover perspective of Superboy flying Lois out of a fire. The splash page, showing the adult Superman and Lois along with their teen selves, is also a classic. When Clark Kent wins a journalism contest and goes to Metropolis for one week with Daily Planet, he meets the other winner — Lois Lane! When Editor Morton — Perry White wasn’t mentioned — tells them the best story will earn a byline, Lois tells Clark, “I’ll win, naturally! Any girl is superior to a boy — that is, any boy but Superboy — and you’re no Superboy!” And, indeed, Lois wins because Superboy has to rescue her! I seldom see this issue, but I’m not prepared to say it’s scarcer than others.

There are other wonderful covers. Check out these in the Photo-Journal: #’s 126, 131, 136, 142, 150, 151, 160, 170, 189, 195, 197, and 207, just to name a few. Even if you’re not remotely interested in completing a long run of Adventure, you can collect the flavor of the series with almost any issue from 1948-54. My suggestion is to check each one out before you buy it, because you may like some of the outrageous natures of the back-up characters more in some stories than others. There are some very appealing splashes in Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Johnny Quick, while others seem more pedestrian.

I especially like the story in #189 (June 1953), in which Lana Lang gains superpowers from a mysterious necklace and becomes the masked Sky Girl to try to befuddle Superboy. This one is quite different from most of the stories of the period. Lana first appeared in Adventure in #161 (Feb. 1951) for “The Girl Who Was Scoop Crazy!” four months after her debut in Superboy #10. She first temporarily gains superpowers, though not a costume, with a mysterious helmet in #167 in “Lana Lang, Super-Girl!” Both are among Adventure’s best stories.

This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.