Fantastic was an American
digest-size fantasy and
science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by
Ziff-Davis as a fantasy companion to
Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and Ziff-Davis quickly decided to switch
Amazing from
pulp format to digest, and to cease publication of their other science fiction pulp,
Fantastic Adventures. Within a few years sales fell, and
Howard Browne, the editor, was forced to switch the focus to science fiction rather than fantasy. Browne lost interest in the magazine as a result and the magazine generally ran poor quality fiction in the mid-1950s, under Browne and his successor,
Paul W. Fairman.