Fantastic Worlds

About Fantastic Worlds

Fantastic Worlds was a science fiction comic book from Standard Comics, published in 1952 and 1953. Like many titles from publisher Ned Pines, its numbering began at #5, so its three issues ran #5 to #7, alternating months with Standard's other science fiction comic, Lost Worlds. Each issue mixed four comic stories with a two-page prose story, one-page factual features and a cartoon. Its artists included Alex Toth, John Celardo, Jon L. Blummer and Art Saaf, and Otto Binder, best known as co-creator of Supergirl, scripted a story in every issue.

Issue #7, cover-dated January 1953, opens with "The Music Makers of Aldebaran," pencilled by Ralph Mayo. Binder wrote "The Ace of Space," drawn by Ross Andru and inked by Mike Esposito, the pair who later had a long run together on DC's Wonder Woman. John Celardo, best known for the Tarzan newspaper strip, drew the cover and "The Asteroid God," and Jon Blummer drew "Doom in the Depths." The prose story, "Flight to Forever," is credited to Harry Neal, a pen name of Jerome Bixby, who wrote the 1953 story "It's a Good Life."

Toth's "Triumph Over Terror" from #5 was reprinted in Fantagraphics' 2011 book Setting the Standard: Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954, and in 2017 PS Publishing collected all three issues together with Lost Worlds.

On LiveComics, every issue here plays panel by panel, with each line voiced by a full cast, plus sound effects and a score.

Sources, checked October 2026: SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fantastic Worlds [comic] · Grand Comics Database: Fantastic Worlds (Standard, 1952) · Grand Comics Database: Fantastic Worlds #7 (Standard, January 1953) · Grand Comics Database: Fantastic Worlds #5 (Standard, September 1952) · Wikipedia: List of Standard Comics publications · Wikipedia: Standard Comics · Wikipedia: Otto Binder · Wikipedia: Mike Esposito (comics) · Wikipedia: Ross Andru · Wikipedia: John Celardo · Wikipedia: Jerome Bixby