Number 1680: Adventures into EC imitation

In the last few issues of their horror titles before the Comics Code was implemented, the American Comics Group dropped its regular vampire/werewolf/ghost stories for less “objectionable” fare. Unlike some other publishers, EC’s Bill Gaines, for instance, who took opposition to the forces that were looking to either kill or censor comic books, ACG decided it needed to voluntarily make some changes. In Adventures Into the Unknown #60 (Nov.-Dec., 1954), an editorial on the state of the horror comics says, “ . . . As violations of good taste [by rival publishers] increased — as pictorial content grew more and more lurid — it was inevitable that a wave of protest should come into being. Such protest is constructive, we feel — save where it attempts to condemn the entire realm of comics because of the sins of the few.” [Emphasis mine.]



ACG was one of the few publishers signed up for the Code able to make the transition and keep the line going. It lasted another 12 years, until 1967. But in the few remaining pre-Code issues something different from what their readers were used to was tried, and that was the “shock ending” type of story. It was a style used by EC, and imitated by some of their competitors. ACG tried it, and as an example came up with this science fiction story. It was a short-lived experiment. The art is by Kenneth Landau.

Two more Landau stories: another pre-Code tale, and the very last story published in Forbidden Worlds in 1967. Just click on the thumbnail.

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