The Unexpected was a fantasy-horror comics anthology series, a continuation of Tales of the Unexpected, published by DC Comics. The Unexpected ran 118 issues, from #105 (February–March 1968) to #222 (May 1982). As a result of the so-called DC Implosion of late 1978, beginning in 1979 The Unexpected absorbed the other DC horror titles House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, and Doorway to Nightmare into its pages. Horror hosts featured in The Unexpected included The Mad Mod Witch, Judge Gallows, Abel, and the Witches Three. This title is not to be confused with The Unexpected published by DC Comics in 2018. Publication history Unlike the predecessor series, The Unexpected was a fantasy anthology at first, then turned into a weird/horror anthology in the style of House of Secrets and House of Mystery. The series was published in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format from #157 (May–June 1974) to #162 (March–April 1975). The Unexpected Special was published in 1977 as an issue of DC Special Series. With issue #189 (January–February 1979), The Unexpected converted to the Dollar Comics format and incorporated the previously cancelled titles House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, and Doorway to Nightmare. With issue #196 (March 1980), the series was restored to standard size, and rather than three complete issues in one, there was one story each per issue. The House of Secrets content continued through issue #208; The Witching Hour content continued to appear until issue #209 (April 1981), which incorporated the science fiction series, Time Warp. The final issue of the series was #222 (May 1982) which included early artwork by Marc Silvestri. 2018 series DC again revived the title in 2018, in the wake of the Dark Nights: Metal event, this time as a mystical superhero team featuring revised versions of Neon the Unknown and Firebrand. It was cancelled after eight issues. Regular features The series' first "host" was the Mad Mod Witch, who first appeared in issue #108, the fourth issue of the revived series. The Mad Mod Witch — later known as "Fashion Thing" in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman — acted as host in issues #108–112, 114–116, 140, and 162; while Judge Gallows filled that role in issues #113, 118, 121, 125, and 133. Judge Gallows would also appear years later, alongside Abel and the Witches Three, in issues #203 and 205. The Judge Gallows character would later appear in the final story