National Publications, soon to be D.C. Comics, opened production of what would be known as Adventure Comics in December of 1935. For the first 11 issues it was titled New Comics. January 1937 saw the name changed to New Adventure Comics and stay as that for the next 20 issues. Its name changed again to Adventure Comics with issue #32 in November 1938. The magazine ran continuously for almost a half century before the release of the last issue of this storied, #503, in September 1983. Of course in comicbook land, nothing is dead forever and a revitalized version returned in 1998 and hung around for quite a while again.
For many of the years it was on the newsstands, it was the home for stories about Superboy and later the Legion of Super Heroes but when it got its start, it was quite a bit different.
Initially as New Comics it was mostly a humor magazine with a large number of short stories with different characters. There were a fair number of serious titles in it as well but the covers clearly showed it was meant to be a "funny book". The anthology approach that the mag had, which was the norm for virtually all comic books out there, continued even after it switched to being New Adventure Comics. There were less comedic tales in it and the covers would slowly switch to showing stories more attuned to the fact that "Adventure" was now in the title.
Did you know that in the pages of this magazine, the alien detective Jor-L was introduced a year before his creators came out with their landmark Superman? (I didn't until I read it in Wikipedia).
Back to the topic, well, close to it.
One of the "serious" storylines in New Comics was writer-artist Tom Hickey's The Golden Dragon. This comic told the story of three adventurers who got involved in a fair number of hair-raising escapades in the Far East. What happened to them and who they went up against naturally changed from story to story with many tales extending several issues. Leading the trio was Ian Murray, a stalwart fellow who clearly loved danger and excitement.
Gradually, Murray took the most active role in the stories but was joined by a supporting character in the eventual love interest, Doris.
I mention Murray and Doris because when the Golden Dragon tales came to an end, they were replaced by Tom Hickey's newest creation, Skip Shuyler, ace intelligence officer in the U.S. Army.
And how did we get our first introduction to him? He is at a ?train? station on an assignment when he encounters Ian Murray by surprise. They obviously know each other from way back. Murray introduces Doris with whom he just got married earlier that day. After they exchange pleasantries and congratulations, Shuyler head out and Murray tells his wife, in answer to her question, that Shuyler was "the ace man of the U.S. Intelligence Service."
Not a bad way to pass the torch. Granted, the torch stayed lit for only ten adventures but what the hey!
Note: the titles in quotes are my creation.