Outer Space #17

Charlton's Outer Space #17 (May 1958) captures the space-age urgency of its era with a cover by Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio featuring a helmeted astronaut gazing confidently alongside a sleek yellow rocket ship and a disc-shaped flying saucer drifting through a star-filled void. The bold cover copy proclaims outer space "the most vital subject of our times," a sentiment that resonated deeply with American readers in 1958. At just ten cents, this Charlton anthology brings together sci-fi storytelling — including the interior tale "The Dream" — that reflects the era's genuine wonder and anxiety about what lay beyond Earth's atmosphere.