Review- ACG COLLECTED WORKS: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN VOL. 2

ACG COLLECTED WORKS: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN VOL. 2 (PS Artbooks, First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Adventures Into The Unknown #6-10 (cover dates August/September, 1949- April/May, 1950)

Writers: Lynneal H. Diamond, J. Yakayima, Robert Brice, E. Nelson Bridwell, and other unidentified writers

Artists: Edvard Moritz, Robert Brice, Jon Blummer, Paul Gattusso, Charlie Sutton, John Celardo, Bob Lubbers, R.S. Pious, Johnny Craig, Harry Lazarus, Bob Jenney, George Klein, and Ed Good

This series was the first ongoing Horror comic book, predating even EC's entry into the field by a year. This series runs through the usual Pre-Code Horror gamut, with scenarios such as deals with the devil, ghosts, vampires, knowledge forbidden in the Western world (such as tribal voodoo, witchcraft, swamis, etc.), ancient curses, mummies, etc.

#5's Spirit Of Frankenstein became an ongoing strip in this series, with the characters and their “Frankenstein” robot appearing again in #8, 9, and 10, with a promise of more in the next issue. I guess I'll find out if that's the case when I read Volume 3 in this line of books.

Issue 6's The Mummy's Cloth features artwork by EC great Johnny Craig. I always enjoy stories like #9's The Thing At The Bottom Of The Sea. The writing and artwork are all solid and typical for the era. I'm still in the early pre-boom part of the series.

Dark Horse launched their own line of Archives for this series since it is in the public domain. The primary difference between their line and this line is that this book has raw scans of original comics and the Dark Horse one has full blown restoration. My friend bought both and we have compared them side by side. I was already several volumes into this run and decided against the double dip. The Dark Horse line stalled, presumably because most people bought this line first and were reluctant to double dip.

A lot of these 1950s Horror comics are admittedly interchangeable, but I enjoy them all. I am glad that PS Artbooks is rescuing these lost gems from obscurity. I just wish that they didn't pump them out so dang fast. I can't keep up on buying them, and I certainly can't keep up on reading them. I'm pretty sure that my Halloween reading is all set for the next 40 years.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I enjoy huffing these Chinese made books. PS Artbooks smell the best. Whenever I crack one open I sit there and snort it...Oh yeah, that's the stuff.

Linework and Color restoration: Raw scans with minimal tinkering. They remove all color from the word balloons, leaving them as bright white as the paper stock. The original printed comics had shoddy printing, and that is presented here warts and all. Off register printing and line bleed are all present, just like they were back then. The scan quality seems to vary from one issue to the next.

Paper stock: Uncoated bright white stock.

Binding: Sewn binding. Lies y flat in one hand when reading.

Hardback cover notes: No dustjacket. Image printed on casewrap with matte finish and spot varnish.