Strange Mysteries
From the Weird Strange Archive
Strange Mysteries
Strange Mysteries is an anthology comic book series published during the Golden Age of comic books. Launched as a flagship Pre-Code Horror and supernatural title, the original run was published by Toronto-based Superior Publishers Limited (Superior Comics) between September 1951 and early 1955. The series ran for 21 issues before succumbing to industry fallout surrounding the Comics Code Authority. In the early 1960s, publisher Israel Waldman's I.W. Publications / Super Comics reissued unauthorized reprint editions bearing the same title.
Publication History
Superior Publishers Run (1951–1955)Strange Mysteries debuted with issue #1 cover-dated September 1951, priced at 10 cents with a standard 36-page layout.
Published by Superior Publishers Limited (headed by Canadian publisher Leroy Paige), the series targeted the booming American newsstand appetite for lurid, shocking horror and weird suspense popularized by EC Comics' Tales from the Crypt.
Across its 21-issue run, the comic showcased a combination of macabre ghost stories, alien invasions, occult folklore, and gothic thrillers.
In late 1954 and early 1955, rising moral panics over juvenile delinquency—culminating in the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings and the formation of the Comics Code Authority (CCA)—abruptly ended the Pre-Code Horror era. Unwilling or unable to sanitize its violent and monstrous themes, Superior ceased publication of Strange Mysteries around early 1955.
Between the late 1950s and mid-1960s, packager and publisher Israel Waldman acquired defunct printing plates and packaged unlicensed reprints of Golden Age titles under the I.W. Publications and Super Comics banners.
Several issues of Strange Mysteries were reprinted without CCA approval and distributed through budget variety-store multi-packs and bag-ins.
Themes and Notable Content
Like many Pre-Code anthologies, Strange Mysteries was characterized by dark, twist endings, vengeful spirits, and Good Girl Art (GGA) aesthetics:
"The Living Corpse" (Issue #1): A classic Faustian pact where a husband deals with the Devil to resurrect his wife's dead lover, only for the revived corpse to turn against them.
"Swamp Terror!" and "The Haunted Hand!" (Issue #2): Centered on cursed objects, disembodied body parts, and supernatural inheritance traps.
Classic Covers: The series is sought after by vintage comic collectors for several iconic, gruesome Pre-Code cover motifs, including the floating skull cover of issue #12 and the notorious "eyeball cover" of issue #13.
Contributing Talent: The series featured contributions from notable comic book veterans of the period, including artists Matt Baker, Jack Kamen, and editorial work attributed to Leroy Paige.