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ACG Collected Works: Adventures Into The Unknown, Vol. 1
Ah, they were truly the best of times. Forget the rest. Richard Hughes s groundbreaking Adventures Into The Unknown, the world s first anthology-title boldly stepped where no comicbook had gone before. And now, hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed and hugely popular Harvey Horrors series, those lovely folks at PS Artbooks are making them all available again . . . along with ACG s other much-loved titles--and this time in state-of-the-art hardcover volumes containing five toseven issues apiece. This is going to be one hell of a come make it with us as we travel together through some of the most memorable comicbooks of all time. Weird, Mysterious and Spine-tingling tales featuring Issues 1-5 from Fall 1948 to June/July 1949 of the ACG classic Adventures Into The Unknown. Featuring an essay by British author Barry Forshaw, this first volume has been meticulously compiled from the original source material and painstakingly digitally restored.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2011
About the author
Barry Forshaw
57 books14 followersBarry Forshaw is a writer, broadcaster and journalist whose books include British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia, The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, Brit Noir, British Gothic Cinema, Nordic Noir, Sex and Film, Euro Noir, Death in a Cold Climate: Scandinavian Crime Fiction and BFI Classics: War of the Worlds along with books on Italian cinema, film noir and the first UK biography of Stieg Larsson, The Man Who Left Too Soon. He has written on books and films for many newspapers and magazines; he also edits Crime Time, and is one of the talking heads for the ITV Crime Thriller author profiles. He records documentaries on crime fiction and film for a variety of BBC producers for both TV and radio, along with much work for foreign broadcasters. He has been Vice Chair of the Crime Writers' Association. As well as his specialist area of books (in most genres), he writes on film (booklets for special edition DVDs) and all aspects of the arts (popular and serious). He is winner of the Keating Award for Non-Fiction for British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood)
In a previous career he was an illustrator, working for both The Natural History Museum and Jackie.
In a previous career he was an illustrator, working for both The Natural History Museum and Jackie.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 31, 2022
The American Comics Group collections of pulp comics from the mid-20th century are good to dive into from time to time. This collection includes the first five issues of Adventures into the Unknown spanning the Fall of 1948 to the summer of 1949. It’s hard to read these without feeling a sense of immersion into the mind of a post-war American teen escaping the mundane. The inclusion of the original ads from the first printings helps with that, as you read cheesy advertisements directed at the insecurities of boys and girls hoping to grow up to be perfect specimens of attraction or success. The comics are standard horror and supernatural fare, like ghosts, hauntings, witches, curses, monsters, demons, regional folklore and superstition, and the occasional surprise, like time travel. The same handful of artist-authors are featured over all the issues.
Art and writing are good, with noticeable style differences among the artists, and some pretty involved and attractive panels that capture the imagination. It’s easy to imagine being a 1940s teenager getting lost in the images and letting their imagination run away, because I was a 2020s adult closing in on 40 doing the same thing, with a childlike wonder. The stories vary in quality, and given their brevity and the medium, don’t tread too far from a predictable path. But they’re a fitting way to celebrate Halloween and explore the old days of horror before it became a part of pop culture.
The focus on the chosen subject is something I admire about these pulp comics. Each magazine had a specialty, like horror, science fiction, fantasy, western, crime, or adventure. So you knew you’d be getting a lot of stories revolving around certain themes and visuals. You got exactly what you wanted. These ACG collections are worth tracking down for anyone interested in the genre comics of the mid-century, or interested in exploring some of the early forms of these genres before they took on the forms they have today.
Art and writing are good, with noticeable style differences among the artists, and some pretty involved and attractive panels that capture the imagination. It’s easy to imagine being a 1940s teenager getting lost in the images and letting their imagination run away, because I was a 2020s adult closing in on 40 doing the same thing, with a childlike wonder. The stories vary in quality, and given their brevity and the medium, don’t tread too far from a predictable path. But they’re a fitting way to celebrate Halloween and explore the old days of horror before it became a part of pop culture.
The focus on the chosen subject is something I admire about these pulp comics. Each magazine had a specialty, like horror, science fiction, fantasy, western, crime, or adventure. So you knew you’d be getting a lot of stories revolving around certain themes and visuals. You got exactly what you wanted. These ACG collections are worth tracking down for anyone interested in the genre comics of the mid-century, or interested in exploring some of the early forms of these genres before they took on the forms they have today.
November 15, 2023
I and many others have said this repeatedly over the years but it bears repeating: we are truly living in the Golden Age of collected editions. These are the good old days. This title is historically significant because it was the first Horror anthology, pre-dating even EC's legendary titles by years. ACG stands for American Comic Group, a company that sort of spun out of other companies from the '30s. They lasted until 1967, when they switched to doing commercial comic supplements into the 1980s.
As is the case with all Golden Age comics, these are dated by modern standards and require the reader to take into context the era in which they were originally published. If you expect 2013 “sophistication” then you will be disappointed. If you, like me, are a lover of all comics from all eras then you will find yourself drooling over these obscure, expensive old comics. Just getting an opportunity to pore over these treasures is a joy.
I love the rawness of the writing and especially the artwork of old comic books. No photoshop back then! Art supplies were expensive and these guys had to be fast and good in order to make the meager, near-poverty level living that they did back then. I must give a shout out to the work of Edvard Moritz, a lost great if ever there was one. Great craftsmanship and storytelling ability, he is one of the countless old school artists whose names are lost to the mists of time. If these collections serve any purpose, it is to help modern comic fans remember the contributions of these pioneers. While, say, Mike Deodato might not claim Moritz as an influence, those who influenced him (or those who influenced the artists that influenced them) undoubtedly were impacted by the work of these cats. In short, it's important for fans to know about this stuff.
Storywise, these are all charming and loveable, with topics ranging from things that go bump in the night to ghosts, haunted castles, pirate ghosts (or is it ghost pirates?), mirrors, paintings, haunted houses, haunted ships, vampires, so on and so forth. There is zero gore in these comics, although it is not uncommon for murders to occur.
Issue 1's The Living Ghost has a set of characters which were obviously intended to be an ongoing feature. The silly nonsense continues in Issue 2 with Out of the Unknown, where the faux Horror/ occult overtones continue as Tony once again consult Dr. Vandyke at the Institute for Psychic Research. The Living Ghost has captured Gail, but Dr. Vandyke once again has an answer: conjuring the Dark Phantom, the hated enemy of the Living Ghost. Gail and Tony pull a double cross and the Phantom beats the Ghost...only the Phantom's spell which captured the Ghost fails when he lives the mortal world. There was a blurb at the bottom of the last panel which stated that it would continue with issue 3, but like many old comics, things came to an abrupt halt and we are left hanging. Was this storyline continued in future issues? It wasn't continued as of the end of issue 5.
Issue 2's Kill, Puppets, Kill! is one of those stories that has been told and ripped off so many times that you feel like you've read it a dozen times before. Someone should do some research and find out where this whole killer puppet thing started. We get treated to some early Al Feldstein artwork in Issue 3's The Creekmore Curse. His craft was already fully developed, with Feldstein creating a proper creepy mood with his finely detailed artwork.
Issue 4's The Affair of Room 1313 blazes a trail that The Twilight Zone would follow a decade later. Issue 5's The Ghostly Crew features amazing artwork by Jon Blummer, whose work resembles ol' Ghastly Graham Ingels of EC Comics fame. A search reveals that he did a ton of comic work in this era, mostly for DC. His claim to fame is creating the mostly forgotten Golden Age hero the Fighting Yank. Readers of Dynamite's Project Superpowers will recognize that character.
I have the first four volumes of this line, and 5 should be out shortly while 6 is slated for an early 2014 release. PS pumps these books out, which is good and bad. Good because we will all live to see the completion of all 21 volumes. Bad because we have to pay for them. Oh well, it's like I always say: who needs food when we can have comic books?
As is the case with all Golden Age comics, these are dated by modern standards and require the reader to take into context the era in which they were originally published. If you expect 2013 “sophistication” then you will be disappointed. If you, like me, are a lover of all comics from all eras then you will find yourself drooling over these obscure, expensive old comics. Just getting an opportunity to pore over these treasures is a joy.
I love the rawness of the writing and especially the artwork of old comic books. No photoshop back then! Art supplies were expensive and these guys had to be fast and good in order to make the meager, near-poverty level living that they did back then. I must give a shout out to the work of Edvard Moritz, a lost great if ever there was one. Great craftsmanship and storytelling ability, he is one of the countless old school artists whose names are lost to the mists of time. If these collections serve any purpose, it is to help modern comic fans remember the contributions of these pioneers. While, say, Mike Deodato might not claim Moritz as an influence, those who influenced him (or those who influenced the artists that influenced them) undoubtedly were impacted by the work of these cats. In short, it's important for fans to know about this stuff.
Storywise, these are all charming and loveable, with topics ranging from things that go bump in the night to ghosts, haunted castles, pirate ghosts (or is it ghost pirates?), mirrors, paintings, haunted houses, haunted ships, vampires, so on and so forth. There is zero gore in these comics, although it is not uncommon for murders to occur.
Issue 1's The Living Ghost has a set of characters which were obviously intended to be an ongoing feature. The silly nonsense continues in Issue 2 with Out of the Unknown, where the faux Horror/ occult overtones continue as Tony once again consult Dr. Vandyke at the Institute for Psychic Research. The Living Ghost has captured Gail, but Dr. Vandyke once again has an answer: conjuring the Dark Phantom, the hated enemy of the Living Ghost. Gail and Tony pull a double cross and the Phantom beats the Ghost...only the Phantom's spell which captured the Ghost fails when he lives the mortal world. There was a blurb at the bottom of the last panel which stated that it would continue with issue 3, but like many old comics, things came to an abrupt halt and we are left hanging. Was this storyline continued in future issues? It wasn't continued as of the end of issue 5.
Issue 2's Kill, Puppets, Kill! is one of those stories that has been told and ripped off so many times that you feel like you've read it a dozen times before. Someone should do some research and find out where this whole killer puppet thing started. We get treated to some early Al Feldstein artwork in Issue 3's The Creekmore Curse. His craft was already fully developed, with Feldstein creating a proper creepy mood with his finely detailed artwork.
Issue 4's The Affair of Room 1313 blazes a trail that The Twilight Zone would follow a decade later. Issue 5's The Ghostly Crew features amazing artwork by Jon Blummer, whose work resembles ol' Ghastly Graham Ingels of EC Comics fame. A search reveals that he did a ton of comic work in this era, mostly for DC. His claim to fame is creating the mostly forgotten Golden Age hero the Fighting Yank. Readers of Dynamite's Project Superpowers will recognize that character.
I have the first four volumes of this line, and 5 should be out shortly while 6 is slated for an early 2014 release. PS pumps these books out, which is good and bad. Good because we will all live to see the completion of all 21 volumes. Bad because we have to pay for them. Oh well, it's like I always say: who needs food when we can have comic books?
April 26, 2012
A fun collection of graphic novels from 1948. The sexist nature of graphic novels at that time was somewhat disconcerting but a simply fun read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews