Checklists

Fantastic

Begun in 1952 by editor Howard Browne and publishers Ziff Davis (Z-D) as an attempt at a sophisticated and handsome digest-sized magazine, Fantastic was initially a success, and became even more so by its third issue, which featured a story attributed to the enormously popular crime fiction writer Mickey Spillane (although it was actually written by Browne.

Subsequent issues of Fantastic sold well enough for the pulp Fantastic Adventures to be merged with it in 1953; Amazing had already been reshaped to resemble Fantastic.

The title changed frequently to reflect the contents, and often varied between the cover, the spine and the masthead. Some major title changes included:

Summer 1952 - Feb-1955: Fantastic
Apr-1955 - Feb-1958: Fantastic Science Fiction
Mar-1958 - Aug-1959: Fantastic
Sep-1959 - Sep-1960: Fantastic Science Fiction Stories
Oct-1960 - Jun-1965: Fantastic Stories of Imagination
Sep-1965 - Feb-1975: Fantastic (cover and spine varied at times)
Apr-1975 - Jan-1979: Fantastic Sword & Sorcery and Fantasy Stories (cover and spine varied at times)
Apr-1979 - Oct-1980: Fantastic Science Fiction

A British Reprint Edition was published for 8 issues from 1953 to 1955.

1952
v1 #1
Summer
v1 #2
Fall
v1 #3
Nov/Dec

1953
v2 #1
Jan/Feb
v2 #2
Mar/Apr
v2 #3
May/Jun
v2 #4
Jul/Aug
v2 #5
Sep/Oct
v2 #6
Nov/Dec

1954
v3 #1
Jan/Feb
v3 #2
Apr
v3 #3
Jun
v3 #4
Aug
v3 #5
Oct
v3 #6
Dec

1955
v4 #1
Feb
v4 #2
Apr
v4 #3
Jun
v4 #4
Aug
v4 #5
Oct
v4 #6
Dec

1956
v5 #1
Feb
v5 #2
Apr
v5 #3
Jun
v5 #4
Aug
v5 #5
Oct
v5 #6
Dec

1957
v6 #1
Feb
v6 #2
Mar
v6 #3
Apr
v6 #4
May
v6 #5
Jun
v6 #6
Jul
v6 #7
Aug
v6 #8
Sep
v6 #9
Oct
v6 #10
Nov
v6 #11
Dec

1958
v7 #1
Jan
v7 #2
Feb
v7 #3
Mar
v7 #4
Apr
v7 #5
May
v7 #6
Jun
v7 #7
Jul
v7 #8
Aug
v7 #9
Sep
v7 #10
Oct
v7 #11
Nov
v7 #12
Dec

1959
v8 #1
Jan
v8 #2
Feb
v8 #3
Mar
v8 #4
Apr
v8 #5
May
v8 #6
Jun
v8 #7
Jul
v8 #8
Aug
v8 #9
Sep
v8 #10
Oct
v8 #11
Nov
v8 #12
Dec

1960
v9 #1
Jan
v9 #2
Feb
v9 #3
Mar
v9 #4
Apr
v9 #5
May
v9 #6
Jun
v9 #7
Jul
v9 #8
Aug
v9 #9
Sep
v9 #10
Oct
v9 #11
Nov
v9 #12
Dec

1961
v10 #1
Jan
v10 #2
Feb
v10 #3
Mar
v10 #4
Apr
v10 #5
May
v10 #6
Jun
v10 #7
Jul
v10 #8
Aug
v10 #9
Sep
v10 #10
Oct
v10 #11
Nov
v10 #12
Dec

1962
v11 #1
Jan
v11 #2
Feb
v11 #3
Mar
v11 #4
Apr
v11 #5
May
v11 #6
Jun
v11 #7
Jul
v11 #8
Aug
v11 #9
Sep
v11 #10
Oct
v11 #11
Nov
v11 #12
Dec

1963
v12 #1
Jan
v12 #2
Feb
v12 #3
Mar
v12 #4
Apr
v12 #5
May
v12 #6
Jun
v12 #7
Jul
v12 #8
Aug
v12 #9
Sep
v12 #10
Oct
v12 #11
Nov
v12 #12
Dec

1964
v13 #1
Jan
v13 #2
Feb
v13 #3
Mar
v13 #4
Apr
v13 #5
May
v13 #6
Jun
v13 #7
Jul
v13 #8
Aug
v13 #9
Sep
v13 #10
Oct
v13 #11
Nov
v13 #12
Dec

1965
v14 #1
Jan
v14 #2
Feb
v14 #3
Mar
v14 #4
Apr
v14 #5
May
v14 #6
Jun
v15 #1
Sep
v15 #2
Nov

1966
v15 #3
Jan
v15 #4
Mar
v15 #5
May
v15 #6
Jul
v16 #1
Sep
v16 #2
Nov

1967
v16 #3
Jan
v16 #4
Mar
v16 #5
May
v16 #6
Jul
v17 #1
Sep
v17 #2
Nov

1968
v17 #3
Jan
v17 #4
Mar
v17 #5
May
v17 #6
Aug
v18 #1
Oct
v18 #2
Dec

1969
v18 #3
Feb
v18 #4
Apr
v18 #5
Jun
v18 #6
Aug
v19 #1
Oct
v19 #2
Dec

1970
v19 #3
Feb
v19 #4
Apr
v19 #5
Jun
v19 #6
Aug
v20 #1
Oct
v20 #2
Dec

1971
v20 #3
Feb
v20 #4
Apr
v20 #5
Jun
v20 #6
Aug
v21 #1
Oct
v21 #2
Dec

1972
v21 #3
Feb
v21 #4
Apr
v21 #5
Jun
v21 #6
Aug
v22 #1
Oct
v22 #2
Dec

1973
v22 #3
Feb
v22 #4
Apr
v22 #5
Jul
v22 #6
Sep
v23 #1
Nov

1974
v23 #2
Jan
v23 #3
Mar
v23 #4
May
v23 #5
Jul
v23 #6
Sep
v24 #1
Nov

1975
v24 #2
Feb
v24 #3
Apr
v24 #4
Jun
v24 #5
Aug
v24 #6
Oct
v25 #1
Dec

1976
v25 #2
Feb
v25 #3
May
v25 #4
Aug
v25 #5
Nov

1977
v26 #1
Feb
v26 #2
Jun
v26 #3
Sep
v26 #4
Dec

1978
v27 #1
Apr
v27 #2
Jul
v27 #3
Oct

1979
v27 #4
Jan
v27 #5
Apr
v27 #6
Jul
v27 #7
Oct

1980
v27 #8
Jan
v27 #9
Apr
v27 #10
Jul
v27 #11
Oct

Fantastic (UK)

1953

v1 #1

1954

v1 #2

v1 #3

v1 #4

v1 #5

v1 #6

v1 #7

1955

v1 #8