The Unexpected (1968 comic book)

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The Unexpected
The Mad Mod Witch
Judge Gallows
The Witches Three
Abel
Creative team
Written by
List
Penciller(s)
List
Inker(s)
List
Editor(s)
List

The Unexpected is a

Judge Gallows, Abel
, and the Witches Three.

This title is not to be confused with

The Unexpected
published by DC Comics in 2018.

Publication history

Unlike the predecessor series, The Unexpected was a fantasy anthology at first, then turned into a weird/horror anthology in the style of House of Secrets and House of Mystery.

The series was published in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format from #157 (May–June 1974) to #162 (March–April 1975).[1][3]

The Unexpected Special was published in 1977 as an issue of DC Special Series.[4]

With issue #189 (January–February 1979), The Unexpected converted to the

Doorway to Nightmare.[6]

With issue #196 (March 1980), the series was restored to standard size, and rather than three complete issues in one, there was one story each per issue. The House of Secrets content continued through issue #208; The Witching Hour content continued to appear until issue #209 (April 1981), which incorporated the science fiction series Time Warp. The final issue of the series was #222 (May 1982) which included early artwork by Marc Silvestri.[7]

2018 series

DC again revived the title in 2018, in the wake of the Dark Nights: Metal event, this time as a mystical superhero team featuring revised versions of Neon the Unknown and Firebrand.[8] It was cancelled after eight issues.

Regular features

The series' first "

The Sandman — acted as host in issues #108–112, 114–116, 140, and 162; while Judge Gallows filled that role in issues #113, 118, 121, 125, and 133. Judge Gallows would also appear years later, alongside Abel and the Witches Three, in issues #203 and 205. The Judge Gallows character would later appear in the final story arc of The Dreaming
.

Nick Cardy was the cover artist for The Unexpected for issues #111, 116–117, 119–120, 123, 125–139, and 141–162.[9]

Each "Unexpected" story would always include the word "unexpected" in the last panel. After the series merger with House of Secrets and The Witching Hour, this was only true of the Unexpected section; there would then be complete, advertisement-free issues of The Witching Hour, hosted by its witches, and The House of Secrets, hosted by Abel. The Witching Hour feature was alternated with Doorway to Nightmare starring Madame Xanadu, who appeared in issues #190, 192, 194, and 195.

Johnny Peril

The series' only continuing feature at any point was "Johnny Peril", which ran from issues #106 to 117.[10] For issues #111 on, the titular protagonist was billed as an "adventurer of the weird". Johnny Peril returned in issues #200 and 205–213.

Johnny Peril's roots, prior to his first appearance in The Unexpected, came in the one-off story "Just a Story" in All-American Comics' Comic Cavalcade #19 (July 1946), by writer–artist Howard Purcell.[11]

With issue #22 (Sept. 1947), the "Just a Story" anthology series gained newspaper-reporter Johnny Peril, who often acted as witness or narrator rather than as an integral part of the narrative. With this issue, the series title became "Johnny Peril Tells Just a Story", eventually changed to "Johnny Peril's Surprise Story" as Johnny became the series' two-fisted hero until the series ended with issue #29 (Nov. 1948). According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, "he's an adventurer who tangles with nearly every sort of enemy in nearly every sort of background, from the jungles of the Congo to the concrete jungles of New York to the moon".[12]

By then the character was appearing in his own backup feature in

Silver Age return in 1968 came in Sensation Comics #107-116 (Feb. 1952 - Aug. 1953; retitled Sensation Mystery #110-116) where artists included Alex Toth and Frank Giacoia.[11]

2011 one-shot

A

Vertigo in 2011.[13][14]

Collected editions

References

  1. ^ a b The Unexpected at the Grand Comics Database
  2. ISBN 978-1603602334
    .
  3. ^ Eury, Michael (July 2015). "A Look at DC's Super Specs". Back Issue! (#81). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 28–29.
  4. ^ "DC Special Series #4". Grand Comics Database.
  5. ^ Romero, Max (July 2012). "I'll Buy That For a Dollar! DC Comics' Dollar Comics". Back Issue! (#57). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 39–41.
  6. ^ Wells, John (October 24, 1997), "'Lost' DC: The DC Implosion", Comics Buyer's Guide, no. #1249, Iola, Wisconsin, p. 134, Following #85, The Witching Hour was merged with House of Secrets and Doorway to Nightmare in The Unexpected, beginning with #189.
  7. ^ Pasko, Martin (w), Silvestri, Marc (p), Celardo, John (i). "Act of Contrition" The Unexpected, no. 222 (May 1982).
  8. ^ Orlando, Steve (w), Sook, Ryan; Nord, Cary (p), Gray, Mick; von Grawbadger, Wade (i). "Call of the Unknown, Part One: Punch First" The Unexpected, vol. 2, no. 1 (August 2018).
  9. ISBN 1-887591-22-2
    .
  10. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0
    .
  11. ^ a b Markstein, Don (2010). "Johnny Peril". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015.
  12. ISBN 978-1-61318-023-5
    .
  13. ^ The Unexpected one-shot at the Grand Comics Database
  14. Vertigo. October 12, 2011. Archived
    from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2012.

External links
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