Harvey Thriller

Harvey Thriller was a comic book imprint used by Harvey Comics for their brief foray into publishing super heroes and other non-'kiddie' comics in the mid 1960s.

While Harvey Comics has for decades been known for their many kids comics, such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, etc, they have published other kinds of comics over the years. From 1955 to 1962, most of their non-kid comic output was done under the "Thrill Adventure" line, under the editorship of Joe Simon, after which they stopped publishing any non-kid comics.

In the mid-1960s, with the camp comic crazy created by the Batman television series, Harvey approached Joe Simon again to oversee a new line of comics, mainly superheroes, but with science fiction/fantasy stories thrown in as well. All were short-lived.

The line started off with one-shots "Unearthly Spectaculars" #1, "Thrill-O-Rama" #1, "Blast-Off" #1, and "Warfront" #36 in October, 1965, using work that was apparently done for the 1950s Thrill Adventure line. The next issues would not come out until almost a year in September, 1966! Along with the new titles were two reprint titles for Fighting American and The Spirit, which did include new stories for these characters. All the titles ended by March 1967, however, unpublished work for "Jigsaw" #3 and "Thrill-O-Rama" #3 may exist.

All titles feature work by many well known creators, including Jack Kirby, Bob Powell, Wally Wood, Otto Binder, and the earliest known work by Jim Steranko.

Thrill Adventure titles

* "Alarming Adventures" (1962-63) 3 issues (sf/fantasy)
*"Alarming Tales" (1957-58) 6 issues (sf/suspense)
*"Black Cat Western" (1955) #54-56
*"Black Cat Mystery" (1956) #57
*"Black Cat Mystic" (1956-58) #58-62
*"Chamber of Clues" (1955) #27-28 (detective)
*"Man in Black" (1957-58) 4 issues
*"Race for the Moon" (1958) 3 issues (intro 3 Rocketeers in #3)
*"Thrills of Tomorrow" (1955) #19 (Stuntman, Boy Explorers reprints)
*"Warfront" (1955-?) #26-35
*"Western Tales" (1955-56) #29-30
*"Witches Western Tales" (1955) #27-28

Harvey Thriller titles

*"Blast Off" (1965) #1 (3 Rocketeers, stuff intended for "Race for the Moon" #4)
*"Double-Dare Adventures" (1966-67) 2 issues (Bee-man, Glowing Gladiator, Magic master)
*"Fighting American" (1966) 1 issue
*"Jigsaw" (1966) 2 issues
*"Spirit" (1966-67) 2 issues
*"Spyman" (1966-67) 3 issues
*"Thrill-O-rama" (1965-66) 3 issues (Man in Black-Fate, Pirana #2-on)
*"Unearthly Spectaculars" (1965-67) 3 issues (Tiger Boy, Jack Q Frost, 3 Rocketeers, Miracles, Inc, Earthman)
*"Warfront" (1965-67) #36-39 (Dynamite Joe, Lone Tiger in 2nd issue)

Harvey Thriller characters

* Bee-Man
* Captain 3-D (owned by Simon and Kirby)
* Dynamite Joe (owned by Joe Simon)
* Fighting American (owned by Joe Simon)
* Glowing Gladiator
* Jack Q. Frost
* Jigsaw (owned by Joe Simon)
* Magicmaster
* Man in Black
* Miracles, Inc
* Pirana (owned by Joe Simon)
* Spyman (owned by Joe Simon)
* Tiger Boy (owned by Joe Simon)
* 3 Rocketeers (owned by Joe Simon)

External links

* [http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=56&products_id=224 Comic Book Artist #13] Issue devoted to Harvey Comics, including Harvey Thriller.