The Big List of Time Travel Adventures

 Related to: Charlton Comics
 from antiquity to 2017





   Charlton Comics (Anthologies)
First time travel: Space Adventures 1, Jul 1952

Charlton’s first issue of Space Adventures included a character called Hap Holliday, the Time Skipper, who travels to the future to rescue a queen. Hap appeared again in issue 3.

Later in the 1950s, with the legal demise of Fawcett Comics in the ’50s, Charton Comics took over the non-superhero Fawcett titles, and I’m still tracking down their time-travel stories, but the earliest I’ve found so far is a Steve Ditko tale, “The Last Laugh” in Strange Suspense Stories 32 (May 1957). As I find more definitive time-traveling (surely there’s some in the comic book version of The Mysterious Traveler), I’ll include the comics on my time-travel comics page.

 What a book title! Time—The Fourth Dimension! Going time travelling, Lester? 

—from “The Last Laugh”




   Charlton Comics (Superheroes)
First time travel: Blue Beetle 2, Sep 1964

When I turned 10, Steve Ditko broke my heart by leaving Marvel and rejoining Charlton Comics, which published only two superheroes at that time. I loyally bought the new Blue Beetle (aquired from Fox Comics in the ’50s) and Captain Atom (whom Ditko had first drawn in 1960’s Space Adventures), but I no longer have them and I can’t remember whether they had any time travel in the ’60s. Nevertheless I know of a few possible time-travel moment in the ’60s Charlton superhero comics: the pre-Ditko Blue Beetle 2 (Sep 1964) features on its cover the Man of Dung vs. a mammoth and a saber-tooth tiger; Charton Premiere 1 (Sep 1967), which (among other items) has Pat Boyette’s time traveling Spookman; and Hercules 9 (Feb 1969) with Thane of Bagarth vs a 21st century time traveler.

 The mightiest man battles reds from today, and monsters from yesterday! 

—from Blue Beetle 2, Sep 1964




   Gorgo
by Joe Gill, Steve Ditko, Dick Giordano and ROcco Mastroserio
First time travel: Gorgo 23, Sep 1965

I don’t know which was conceived first: the movie version of Gorgo giant-monster-from-the-sea (who turns out to be a baby) or the comic book version, but the comic book version from Charlton first appeared in December 1959, whereas the movie wasn’t released until 1961. More importantly, however, the final issue of the comic (Gorgo 23, Sep 1965) has time travel when Dr. Hobart Howarth rescues Gorgo from an evil Pentagon attack by sending the giant lizard back to the late Jurassic.
Sadly, as a child, I bought only one Gorgo comic, which was not the time-travel issue, but the stories are definitely drawn by Steve Ditko, hooray!

 I, Senator Sam Brockton tell you this, my fellow citizens, the great danger to our world isn’t communism it is Gorgo and the female that spawned him! 

—Gorgo 16


 

3 items are in the time-travel list for these search settings.
Thanks for visiting my time-travel page, and thanks to the many sources that provided stories and more (see the Links and Credits in the menu at the top). —Michael (main@colorado.edu)