Introduction

Super Science Stories had two British reprint editions

• SSS1 - three issues published by Thorpe & Porter, in 1950
• SSS2 - 14 issues published by Pembertons 1950-53

Depending on how you look at it, there was either one or two Canadian series, as is explained further below. The original US magazine actually appeared in two quite distinct series from 1940-43 and 1949-51, though the numbering continued unbroken after the two-year gap.

I have also seen reports of an Australian edition, but all I know about it is from a dealer catalogue that listed #9 for sale. The partial listing of contents, as far as it went, was identical to SSS2 #9.

SSS1 - 1st British reprint edition

Thorpe & Porter of Leicester published the three issues of this edition. Since they are not numbered, you can identify them by their lead story, as follows:

• 1 - The Black Sun Rises
• 2 - Gateway to Darkness
• 3 - Outpost Infinity

Their correspondence to the US issues is shown below. Each was based on a single US issue and was largely complete, lacking one short story and some non-fiction content. The covers seem to be from the original artwork, overprinted with the UK price. UK advertising has been substituted on the back and inner covers and, in one instance, on a couple of inside pages as well.

SSS2 - 2nd British reprint edition

This edition was published by Pembertons of Manchester. The 14 issues were numbered inside but not dated and #13 had the variant title "Super Science Novels", which had been adopted by the US magazine for three issues in 1941. Each issue was based primarily on the US issue corresponding to its front cover, though they were far from complete. In a few instances (#5,13,14), one or two stories were also drawn from issues of SSS other than the main one. For most issues, it looks to me as if the original artwork has been used, but there are detailed differences that lead me to suspect that the covers of #13 and 14 have been repainted. On several covers, the text has been changed to delete the title of a missing story and, of course, every issue is overprinted with the UK price.

SSS3 - Canadian edition

According to Tuck, there were 36 issues in two series of this Canadian edition, 21 from 1942 to 1945 by Popular Publications of Toronto and 15 from 1949 to 1951 by Fictioneers, Inc. You might think that these should be regarded as two separate editions, therefore. Popular Publications, or its US sister company, was the publisher of the US edition and, according to Tuck, Fictioneers, Inc was a subsidiary of Popular, so I have chosen to group them together as a single edition. The first 21 were quite distinct from the US magazine, drawing fiction from several other magazines besides SSS, especially its sister publication "Astonishing Stories", but later from a wide range of other magazines such as "Argosy", "Adventure" and even "Detective Fiction Weekly". There were also some original stories and many interior illustrations by Canadian artists. The Canadian magazine continued after the US one ceased publication in 1943 and from December 1944 onwards changed its name to "Super Science and Fantastic Stories". All 21 issues are fully indexed in SFFWF.

The majority of the covers were repainted from US originals, but not all from SSS. I have identified some based on "Astonishing" and some from "Famous Fantastic Mysteries", as shown below. Others I have not been able to identify and may be original, but if anyone recognises them from other sources, please let me know. They don't seem to be from any of the three magazines mentioned above, nor from any other obvious place I have been able to check. SFFWF does not identify any of the artists.

The second series was relatively uninteresting by comparison. Tuck and the SFFWF Index give slightly different accounts of its origins. According to Tuck, it was identical to the US magazine when it resumed publication for 15 issues after the war, except that the paper size was half an inch longer and it carried Canadian advertisements on the back. SFFWF makes no mention of the post-war Canadian series, but says of the US post-war edition that "the first five ... were printed in Canada and were about an inch taller than later issues". It is clear, however, that there were two distinctly different versions of the post-war magazine. Look at the US (left) and Canadian (right) versions of the April 1951. The red banner across the bottom is common to the Candian editions of several Popular Publications titles.

Source of Images

All of the British magazines are from my own collection. Cuyler Brooks kindly provided the US and Canadian scans of April 1951. The remining Canadian covers are from copies offered for sale on eBay or ABE Books.