Number 2580: The writer is out of ideas at Out of the Night

American Comics Group editor, Richard E. Hughes, was inserted into stories a few times over the years in ACG’s supernatural comics, as they were referred to in house. This pre-Code story, “Adventure into Witchcraft,” has some panels of Hughes listening to a writer’s problem of not being able to write a good story. The ACG way in a story with a writer and an editor was having the writer encounter the type of situation for real to give his fiction some credibility. To the fictitious depiction of Hughes, that is.

Harry Lazarus was an artist who worked for ACG, both pre-Comics Code and post-Comics Code. He was a solid professional artist, which to me showed he could tell a story. He worked for several other publishers, also.

The story is from Out of the Night, a comic book ACG added to its list of supernaturals. ACG titles were apparently doing well in those days. I like the panels with Hughes at his desk with his door advertising not only Out of the Night, but Adventures Into the Unknown and Forbidden Worlds. Out of the Night ended in late 1954 after 17 issues.

From Out of the Night #5 (1952):

Number 2058: In the jungle, the frighty jungle

In both of today’s horror tales from pre-Comics Code Atlas, white people go into the jungle and something terrible happens to one or more of them. In “The Lizard,” from Adventures Into Terror #8 (1952), search for a devil lizard ends in a transformation. (Bad juju, bwana.)

Artwork is credited by Atlastales.com to Harry Lazarus, with Dick Beck a guess as inker. The Grand Comics Database agrees that Lazarus penciled it, but guesses that either Beck or Christopher Rule inked it.

Cal Massey (not to be confused with Cal Massey, jazz trumpeter and composer) drew “Look Out For Lakoonda.” In the case of this story, greed is the motivator. That and the jungle are usually disastrous for the characters in a horror comic.

Massey, an African-American, was a very talented artist who worked in comics for a time, then went into other art fields in the fifties. He became a very important fine artist. But at one point after comic books, he was contributing to Jim Warren’s nascent publishing empire, and Warren’s short-lived Playboy imitator, After Hours. Here is a full-page cartoon Massey did for After Hours #1 (1957):

From Adventures Into Terror #20 (1953):

Number 1836: Man with a lion’s head, and lion with a man’s head

A few days ago I featured two similar horror stories, one directly swiping from the other. The more recent of today’s stories doesn’t swipe from the first, but both have somewhat similar themes. They were also published five years apart in ACG’s Adventures Into the Unknown. The first is pre-Comics Code, from 1952, in issue #31, and the second is from a Comics Code-approved issue, #86 published in 1957. “The Curse of Ukpong” is drawn by Lou Cameron, and “Lion With a Man’s Head” is signed by longtime ACG artist Harry Lazarus.

Number 857

The 3-D fakes

Movies in three dimensions are all the rage nowadays. But comic books in 3-D were one of the quickest disappearing fads in comics history. The first titles that appeared sold millions, influenced other publishers who rushed their own titles into production, then the whole fad died overnight. That's the comic book biz!

Some publishers got smart and decided not to join in. It looks like at least one, ACG, decided to go into 3-D without actually using the red-blue printing and obnoxious glasses. If you go back to the Wally Wood "V-Vampire" original art I showed a few days ago, Wood had to do a base page and then overlays for each level of the 3-D effect. ACG probably decided it wasn't worth the effort or the expense. They tried to give a 3-D effect and while it wasn't the same, it was an interesting experiment.

This is the first story from the issues of Adventures Into the Unknown that used the black borders and 3-D styled drawing they called "Truevision" (as opposed to "Fakevision," no doubt). "Nightmare" comes from AITU #51, 1954, and is drawn by Harry Lazarus, who did the bulk of the "Truevision" stories from #51 to the last story in issue #59.

I don't know if Charlton ever planned a 3-D comic, but if so then "A Sip of Death" from Charlton's Crime and Justice #18, 1954, would be a candidate for the process. It's drawn by Stan Campbell, an artist who worked for Fawcett, Dell, and Charlton, for whom he also drew the legendary comic book, Space Western.