| Adventures Into the Unknown | |
|---|---|
First issue cover, 1948 |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | B&I Publishing American Comics Group |
| Publication date | Fall 1948-August 1967 |
| Number of issues | 174 |
Adventures Into the Unknown was a horror and supernatural comic series from the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title was released in the fall of 1948 by B&I Publishing (later known as American Comics Group) and enjoyed a run of 174 issues for nearly two decades, ceasing publication in August 1967. Though not the first horror comic published (one-shot Eerie Comics of January 1947 holds the distinction), Adventures Into the Unknown was the first horror comic to enjoy regularly scheduled publication.
In comparison with other horror titles of the period, Adventures Into the Unknown was somewhat restrained in its depiction of violence, gore, zombie-ism, werewolfism, cannibalism, sexual perversion, sadism, torture, scantily clad young women bound with ropes and other gruesome trappings of horror fiction. B&I based the book on traditional prose ghost stories, rather than radio drama or earlier comics, with the first issue featuring an adaptation of Horace Walpole's 18th-century gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. Adventures Into the Unknown was a popular success.
Unlike many horror comics of the Golden Age, it weathered the public criticism of the early 1950s and survived the aftermath of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings of April and June 1954 when the comics industry attempted self-regulation with a highly restrictive Comics Code.