Space Museum (comics)
Encyclopedia
Space Museum was a science fiction
comics
series published by National Comics (now DC Comics
) in their flagship science fiction title Strange Adventures
between 1959 and 1964. The series was written by Gardner Fox
and was drawn by Carmine Infantino
for almost the whole series.
. The series of 8-page stories was published in rotation with two others, The Atomic Knights
and Star Hawkins
, and appeared in every third issue of Strange Adventures from #106 - 157 (July 1959 - October 1963), with one last story, "Space Museum of the Dead World," in issue #161 (February 1964) - a total of 20 stories. With the exception of the first tale, which was drawn by Mike Sekowsky
and Bernard Sachs, all the other Space Museum stories were drawn by Carmine Infantino
. Only the initial story featured on the cover of Strange Adventures.
The first three Space Museum stories were reprinted in the DC Comics science fiction reprint anthology, From Beyond the Unknown
#23 -25 (July/August 1973 - November/December 1973), but the title was then cancelled. Eighteen years later writer Gerry Conway
re-introduced the Space Museum concept in "The Secret that Time Forgot" in Justice League of America #206 (September 1982), and in 1984 writer Paul Kupperberg
followed in The New Adventures of Superboy #50 (February 1984), this in a 30th century Legion of Superheroes framing sequence by Keith Giffen
around a modern-day Superboy
story by Kurt Schaffenberger
. Two years later Dan Jurgens
returned to the original 25th century Space Museum for the location of Booster Gold's
origin story. With the exception of the retrospective origin story of the Museum, "The Startling Secret of The Space Museum" in Secret Origins
#50 (August 1990) by editor Mark Waid
and Gerard Jones
(with Carmine Infantino again returning to the artwork), and two stories set in the Museum - "When Robots Attack" in Legionnaires #68 (Feb 1999) by Roger Stern
and Tom McGraw
, and Booster Gold #0 (April 2008) - the few other references since have all been in retellings of or allusions to Booster Gold's origin.
Only one tale does not fit into the normal narrative sequence, when Tommy and two of his friends in the Interplanetary Boy Scouts, using the skills Tommy has learned from the heroic stories he has been told, rescue Earth from aliens bent on stealing all its energy, and also rescue the Space Museum, which has been stolen by them.
The Space Museum also figures prominently in the origin of the superhero Booster Gold. In 2462 Michael Carter, a disgraced ex-football player is working as a night watchman in the Museum, and studies the history. He deactivates and steals "Skeets
," a robot Museum guard with an encyclopaedic knowledge of 20th century Earth history, together with an alien power suit, some power gloves and control bands, mystic power rods, a Legion Flight Ring, a forcefield belt, a credit card and other unspecified items from the displays, and escapes in Rip Hunter's
Time Sphere, a time travel device from the 1960s, to journey back to the 1980s, become a superhero, and get rich and famous on the franchising opportunities.
As an adult Tommy Parker took his own son Gordon to the Museum and told him a story of the exhibits, something he had hoped for years before. At some later point Ultra the Multi-Alien
is known to have searched for the cosmic staff of Prince Gavin, Starman, as an artifact for the Museum.
By 2984 the Space Museum has been renamed The Museum of Heroes and Legends, and has a whole wing dedicated to The Legion of Superheroes, as well as one to Earth's historical superheroes. That year one of the Dial H for Hero
H-Dials is stolen from the museum by a petty crook while Chameleon Boy is attending a ceremony there. The villain escapes to 1984 with the help of the Dial, which is ripped to pieces by Krypto
the Superdog before eventually being returned to the Museum in pieces by Chameleon Boy, where the Curator reveals they have another one. The Museum appears to have been renamed the Time and History Museum some time later, and it is partly demolished by Xotar the Conqueror, a minor Justice League of America foe, on a mission to conquer the 30th century
by Howard Chaykin
, in the 22nd century Karel Sorensen of the Star Rovers
creates a Church in her name and headquarters it at the Space Museum.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
series published by National Comics (now DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
) in their flagship science fiction title Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures was the title of several American comic books published by DC Comics, most notably a long-running science fiction anthology that began in 1950.-Original series:...
between 1959 and 1964. The series was written by Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
and was drawn by Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
for almost the whole series.
Publication history
Space Museum first appeared in the story "The World of Doomed Spacemen" in Strange Adventures #104 (May 1959), written by creator Gardner Fox under the editorship of Julius SchwartzJulius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
. The series of 8-page stories was published in rotation with two others, The Atomic Knights
Atomic Knight
Atomic Knight is a DC Comics superhero and was briefly a member of the Outsiders team. He is sometimes depicted as one of a group of Atomic Knights, which first appeared in Strange Adventures #117 .-Original Atomic Knights:...
and Star Hawkins
Star Hawkins
Star Hawkins is a science fiction detective character published by National Comics in their flagship science-fiction anthology title Strange Adventures...
, and appeared in every third issue of Strange Adventures from #106 - 157 (July 1959 - October 1963), with one last story, "Space Museum of the Dead World," in issue #161 (February 1964) - a total of 20 stories. With the exception of the first tale, which was drawn by Mike Sekowsky
Mike Sekowsky
Michael Sekowsky was a Jewish American comic book artist best known as the exclusive penciler for DC Comics' Justice League of America during most of the 1960s, and as the regular writer and artist on Wonder Woman during the late 1960s and early 1970s.-Early life and career:Mike Sekowsky began...
and Bernard Sachs, all the other Space Museum stories were drawn by Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
. Only the initial story featured on the cover of Strange Adventures.
The first three Space Museum stories were reprinted in the DC Comics science fiction reprint anthology, From Beyond the Unknown
From Beyond the Unknown
From Beyond the Unknown was the title of a science-fiction comic book series published by DC Comics. It ran as a bi-monthly for 25 issues, from October 1969 to December 1973...
#23 -25 (July/August 1973 - November/December 1973), but the title was then cancelled. Eighteen years later writer Gerry Conway
Gerry Conway
Gerard F. "Gerry" Conway is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man...
re-introduced the Space Museum concept in "The Secret that Time Forgot" in Justice League of America #206 (September 1982), and in 1984 writer Paul Kupperberg
Paul Kupperberg
Paul Kupperberg is a former editor for DC Comics, and a prolific writer of comic books and newspaper strips.-Biography:Kupperberg entered the comics field from comics fandom, as had his brother, writer/artist Alan Kupperberg...
followed in The New Adventures of Superboy #50 (February 1984), this in a 30th century Legion of Superheroes framing sequence by Keith Giffen
Keith Giffen
Keith Ian Giffen is an American comic book illustrator and writer.-Biography:Giffen was born in Queens, New York City....
around a modern-day Superboy
Superboy
Superboy is the name of several fictional characters that have been published by DC Comics, most of them youthful incarnations of Superman. These characters have also been the main characters of four ongoing Superboy comic book series published by DC....
story by Kurt Schaffenberger
Kurt Schaffenberger
Kurt Schaffenberger was an American comic book artist. Schaffenberger was best known for his work on Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family , as well as his work on the title Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane during the 1950s and 1960s.-Early career:Schaffenberger was born on a farm in the...
. Two years later Dan Jurgens
Dan Jurgens
Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Booster Gold, and for his lengthy runs on the Superman titles Adventures of Superman and Superman , particularly during The Death of Superman storyline...
returned to the original 25th century Space Museum for the location of Booster Gold's
Booster Gold
Booster Gold is a fictional DC Comics superhero. Created by Dan Jurgens, he first appeared in Booster Gold #1 and has been a member of the Justice League, DC Comics' all-star team of heroes. The character is initially depicted as a glory-seeking showboat from the future, using knowledge of...
origin story. With the exception of the retrospective origin story of the Museum, "The Startling Secret of The Space Museum" in Secret Origins
Secret Origins
Secret Origins is the title of three American comic book series published by DC Comics.The title began in 1961 and for one issue, all reprints. The title Secret Origins of Super Heroes went onto a second series, also reprints, which ran for seven issues from 1973-1974...
#50 (August 1990) by editor Mark Waid
Mark Waid
Mark Waid is an American comic book writer. He is well known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America...
and Gerard Jones
Gerard Jones
For the entrepreneur see Gérard Jones.Gerard Jones is an award-winning American author and comic book writer.-Biography:Jones was born in Cut Bank, Montana, and raised in Los Gatos and Gilroy, California...
(with Carmine Infantino again returning to the artwork), and two stories set in the Museum - "When Robots Attack" in Legionnaires #68 (Feb 1999) by Roger Stern
Roger Stern
Roger Stern is an American comic book author and novelist.-Early career:In the early 1970s, Stern and Bob Layton published the fanzine CPL , one of the first platforms for the work of John Byrne...
and Tom McGraw
Tom McGraw
Tom McGraw is a colorist who has worked in the comics industry. He has received recognition for his work, including winning the Comics' Buyer's Guide Favorite Colorist Award in 1996.-References:...
, and Booster Gold #0 (April 2008) - the few other references since have all been in retellings of or allusions to Booster Gold's origin.
Strange Adventures - 1959 - 1964
Space Museum in Strange Adventures was an anthology series set in the 25th century featuring mainly unlinked heroic tales of outer space adventure; with a regular framing sequence that opens and closes each episode with the only continuing characters - Howard Parker and his young son Tommy (and on three occasions his mother) making their monthly visit to the Space Museum, later established as being in Metropolis. It is a museum dedicated to showcasing the history of five centuries of human space travel, and features many exhibits in transparent display cases, each artifact from an adventure an Earth space traveller had had in outer space. The objects in the display cases are often ordinary, although somehow they were used to either save the Earth or some other planet from disaster: Behind every object in the Space Museum there's a tale of heroism, daring, self sacrifice. During these visits Tommy always asks his father about one exhibit in particular, and Howard Parker then tells his son the story behind that exhibit, including:- a pair of contact lenses that deflected an aliens' attempt at manipulating brain waves;
- a pocket watch that saved a planet by preventing magnetic storms from destroying it;
- a gold medal and a spaceship called Ike (the only time a story features two artifacts in the Museum);
- a stuffed magpie called Tommy (after which Tommy Parker was named) that saved the Earth from an invasion of deadly jewels;
- an invisible being of pure energy;
- one of Tommy's mother's blonde hairs, in a story which reveals that she was Admiral Ann 'Blondy' Gordon of the Space Marines and his father General 'Wrecker' Parker;
- a toy soldier that helped defeat an alien invasion;
- a picture of Tommy, who had rescued his parents from aliens at the age of three;
- a knitting needle used by Tommy's mother, then Ensign Gordon, to save Earth from aliens;
- an alien woman who appears in the Museum every few years in thanks for being saved by Alan Strange, a descendant of Adam StrangeAdam StrangeAdam Strange is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky, he first appeared in Showcase #17 .In May 2011, Adam Strange placed 97th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time....
and his wife Alanna.
Only one tale does not fit into the normal narrative sequence, when Tommy and two of his friends in the Interplanetary Boy Scouts, using the skills Tommy has learned from the heroic stories he has been told, rescue Earth from aliens bent on stealing all its energy, and also rescue the Space Museum, which has been stolen by them.
Later appearances
It is eventually revealed that the founding of the Space Museum, on the site of an old Military Surplus warehouse where hundreds of years worth of space history has piled up, came about because Tommy's father was a Space Marine guard there, and he "liberated" some of the momentoes, keeping them in his military footlocker. Because of his knowledge of space history, Tommy's father recognizes aliens who had attacked Earth before trying again (by pretending to be scrap dealers and taking the artifacts from the warehouse to use as weapons against humanity).He is able to use the objects he has saved to stop the aliens, although demolishing the warehouse at the same time. His earlier wish ("People in my time have become jaded, bored with space travel. If only they were exposed to the heroism of Earth's star-spanning pioneers, their sense of adventure might be awakened.") is fulfilled when the military realize the value of "historical consciousness" and create the Space Museum on the site.The Space Museum also figures prominently in the origin of the superhero Booster Gold. In 2462 Michael Carter, a disgraced ex-football player is working as a night watchman in the Museum, and studies the history. He deactivates and steals "Skeets
Skeets
Skeets is a fictional artificial intelligence robot from the future in the . Usually seen as a companion to Booster Gold, he co-stars in the limited series 52 and the subsequent Booster Gold vol...
," a robot Museum guard with an encyclopaedic knowledge of 20th century Earth history, together with an alien power suit, some power gloves and control bands, mystic power rods, a Legion Flight Ring, a forcefield belt, a credit card and other unspecified items from the displays, and escapes in Rip Hunter's
Rip Hunter
Rip Hunter is a DC Comics character who first appeared in Showcase #20 . Following three more appearances in Showcase , Rip Hunter was given his own series, which ran for 29 issues . He later starred in the six-issue Time Masters series , written by Bob Wayne and Lewis Shiner...
Time Sphere, a time travel device from the 1960s, to journey back to the 1980s, become a superhero, and get rich and famous on the franchising opportunities.
As an adult Tommy Parker took his own son Gordon to the Museum and told him a story of the exhibits, something he had hoped for years before. At some later point Ultra the Multi-Alien
Ultra the Multi-Alien
Ultra the Multi-Alien was a science fiction superhero featured in comics published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Mystery in Space #103 , pushing out Adam Strange and Space Ranger from that title...
is known to have searched for the cosmic staff of Prince Gavin, Starman, as an artifact for the Museum.
By 2984 the Space Museum has been renamed The Museum of Heroes and Legends, and has a whole wing dedicated to The Legion of Superheroes, as well as one to Earth's historical superheroes. That year one of the Dial H for Hero
Dial H for Hero
Dial H for Hero is a comic book feature published by DC Comics about a mysterious dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the dial causes its possessor to become a superhero with a different name,...
H-Dials is stolen from the museum by a petty crook while Chameleon Boy is attending a ceremony there. The villain escapes to 1984 with the help of the Dial, which is ripped to pieces by Krypto
Krypto
Krypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is a fictional character. He is Superman's pet dog in the various Superman comic books published by DC Comics. Krypto's first appearance was in a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #210 in March 1955...
the Superdog before eventually being returned to the Museum in pieces by Chameleon Boy, where the Curator reveals they have another one. The Museum appears to have been renamed the Time and History Museum some time later, and it is partly demolished by Xotar the Conqueror, a minor Justice League of America foe, on a mission to conquer the 30th century
Other versions
In the non-continuity series TwilightTwilight
Twilight is the time between dawn and sunrise or between sunset and dusk, during which sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere illuminates the lower atmosphere, and the surface of the earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark. The sun itself is not directly visible because it is below...
by Howard Chaykin
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin is an American comic book writer and artist famous for his innovative storytelling and sometimes controversial material...
, in the 22nd century Karel Sorensen of the Star Rovers
Star Rovers
"Star Rovers" was an short, science fiction, American comic book feature published by DC Comics between 1961 and 1964. The feature first appeared in seven issues of DC's science-fiction anthology comic Mystery in Space, followed by two issues of DC's companion science-fiction title Strange Adventures...
creates a Church in her name and headquarters it at the Space Museum.
External links
- Space Museum information at Adam Arnold's Vanishing Point - http://www.adamarnold.net/riphunter/whoswhospacemuseum.html