As the new decade began, Broome wrote science-fiction stories for DC, both standalone tales—including "The Mind Robbers", in "Mystery in Space" #1 (May 1951), under the pseudonym Robert Stark—and continuing-character features, such as "Astra" (in "Sensation Comics", one story of which teamed him with his future regular artist collaborator, Gil Kane), and "Captain Comet", which he created with penciler Carmine Infantino in "Strange Adventures" #9 (June 1951). For the latter he used the pen name Edgar Ray Merritt, devised by his friend and editor Julius Schwartz, as a nod to fantasy writers Poe, Bradbury, and Abraham. Outside that genre, he wrote a large number of stories for the crime comics anthology "Big Town", based on the radio and television shows.