During the Golden Age of comics, readers were introduced to superheroes such as Captain America, Green Arrow, Blonde Phantom, Doctor Fate and many, many more. At the same time, American Comics Group (ACG) decided to venture off the hero path and take readers into the dark unknown. Do you know what series this was?

Adventures Into the Unknown, published under the B&I Publishing imprint of the ACG, is considered to be the medium’s first ongoing horror comics title. The series ran from fall 1948 through August 1967, for a total of 174 issues. The debut issue included a seven-page, abridged adaptation of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. This 1974 novel, generally regarded as the first gothic novel published, combines elements of romance, ancient prophecy, and murder. Ironically enough, it remains unknown who penned the adaptation for the premiere issue of Adventures Into the Unknown.

Along with the gothic novel adaption, the debut issue included inventive tales like “The Living Ghost,” “Kill, Puppets, Kill,” “The Affair of Room 1313,” and the ongoing “True Ghosts of History” feature. Not to mention contributions from Golden Age greats such as Fred Guardineer, Al Feldstein, Leonard Starr, Edvard Moritz, and more. Throughout the 1950s, crime and horror comics faced criticism from the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Fortunately, unlike many American horror comics of the Golden Age, Adventures Into the Unknown weathered the public criticism. 

While the series ended in 1967, PS Artbooks thrilled horror fans in 2012 by releasing all-new hardcover volumes collecting the classic issues. Horror comics have come a long way since the 1950s, but the medium certainly owes a great deal to those very first steps into the unknown.