ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN NO. 2

Ed Moritz continues his series of striking cover art, this time likely inspired by "Isle of the Dead" by Swiss painter, Arnold Böcklin, illustrating the interior story, "Out of the Unknown".

More known for his weird fiction and being a "member" of the legendary H.P. Lovecraft Circle, Frank Belknap Long made ends meet by writing comic book scripts. He wrote the lion's share of stories in the first two issues of this title, including creating The Living Ghost character who also appeared in the first two issues. These stories were probably the ones that could be considered straight up horror stories, the others focusing on the supernatural and ghostly hauntings. Long wrote one more script for ACG in UKNOWN's issue #3 then disappeared from the title along with his Living Ghost.

Edmond Good was a Canadian cartoonist and began his career drawing for Canadian Comics, then traveled south to work for, among other American imprints, DC, Pines, Eastern Color, Fox and Fiction House. Max Elkin drew for Quality, Fiction House, Fawcett and numerous others. Before the prolific Paul Reinman came onboard ACG, he worked for Archie, DC, Hillman and Marvel.

Readers got a real bargain with this comic; 52 pages for a dime and the only ad is on the inside front cover.

ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN

Vol. 1 No. 2

December 1948 - January 1949

B. & I. Publishing Co. Inc. (ACG Comics)

Editor: Richard Hughes

Cover: Ed Moritz

Pages: 52

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"Kill, Puppets, Kill"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: ? (Ed Moritz inks)

"Out of the Unknown"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: Ed Moritz

"The Old Tower's Secret"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: Edmond Good

"The Master's Hand"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: Max Elkin

"Phantom of the Seas"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: Paul Reinman

"True Ghosts of History: The Grim Lady of Raynham Hall"

Script: ?

Art: King Ward

ANOTHER HORROR COMIC FIRST!

What's behind that door? Readers wanted to know when they grabbed up copies of the first issue of ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN off the stands in the Fall of 1948. It took almost two years after Avon published their one-shot EERIE COMICS for another full-blown horror comic to appear and it arrived in fine style; ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN was the first all-new, all-horror comic published on a regular basis.

ACG Comics was founded by Benjamin W. Sangor in 1943. After supplying his son-in-law Ned Pines with animation cartoonists to work part-time for his own comic book company, he tried his hand at the business by forming the Sangor Shop. The first ACG books were funny animal titles published under the Creston imprint. Fred Iger, part owner of National Periodical publications bought a slice of Sangor's company in 1946, then the rest of it in 1953. Harry Donenfeld, who had published the first Superman and Batman comics bought it from Iger and owned it until 1967 when it ceased publishing.

During the Golden Age of comics in the 1940s, Richard E. Hughes co-created a few superheroes for Pines, including The Black Terror and Fighting Yank. In 1944, he became the business manager for ACG and remained there until the company closed in 1967. During that time he edited the full 147 issues of ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN, as well as writing many of the scripts.

Hughes' editorial policy did not allow for the gory and gruesome nature that horror comics were known for during the pre-Code era and as a result ACG escaped much of the wrath from the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in early 1954 and the draconic rules of the Comics Code Authority ratified later in the same year. He retired from the comics industry in the 1960's (likely when ACG folded) and ended his days writing replies to customer complaints for Gimbel's Department Store in New York.

NOTE Ads have been removed from this scan.

ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN

Vol. 1 No. 1

Fall 1948

B. & I. Publishing Co., Inc. (American Comics Group [ACG])

Editor: Richard E. Hughes

Cover: Ed Moritz

Pages: 52

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"The Werewolf Stalks"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: Ed Moritz

"The Living Ghost"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: Fred Guardineer

"Strange Spirits: Voodoo"

Script: ?

Art: King Ward

"It Walked By Night"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: Max Elkan

"The Cursed Pistol"

Script: ?

Art: Ed Moritz

"The Castle of Otranto"

Script: Frank Belknap Long adaptation of Horace Walpole novel

Art: Allen Ulmer

"True Ghosts of History: The Vengeful Specter of Lord Tyrone"

Script: ?

Art: Ed Moritz

"Haunted House"

Script: Frank Belknap Long

Art: King Ward