My curiosity about this title was piqued at an early age, when tiny-but-alluring reproductions of some of its covers ran in editions of The Overstreet Comic Book price guide.
Here they all are, nice and big and colourful. Oh, and you can read them all here for free!
This is Adventures Into Darkness no. 5 — the first issue — don’t ask — (Aug. 1952, Standard). Cover by George Roussos (1915-2000).This low-key entry is Adventures Into Darkness no. 6 (Oct. 1952, Standard). Cover by George Roussos. Though unspectacular, this theme would be taken up and imitated (with variations) a bunch of times, which goes to demonstrate some folk’s morbid fear of marriage.This is Adventures Into Darkness no. 7 (Dec. 1952, Standard). Cover by the remarkably driven Jack Katz (b. 1927)… a most interesting man.This is Adventures Into Darkness no. 8 (Feb. 1953, Standard). Cover by future Charlton Comics pillar Rocco “Rocke” Mastroserio, already showing his tremendous potential as a cover creator. One of my all-time favourite bloggers (et cetera!) Jason Willis, loved this cover so much that he used it to create a bonafide animated commercial for the issue! Bless you, Jason!This is Adventures Into Darkness no. 9 (Apr. 1953, Standard). Cover artist unknown… and what’s going on here? Did the femme fatale turn her unsuspecting victim into a werewolf, or did she doom him with a deadly dose of acid or some other poison?This is Adventures Into Darkness no. 10 (June 1953, Standard). Cover by Ross Andru… possibly my very favourite cover of his — lord knows he dragged his reputation through forty miles of bad road with his dire late 1970s work at DC.This is Adventures Into Darkness no. 11 (Sept. 1953, Standard). And we’re back to Mr. Roussos, who provides more of a crime comic cover this time around. Still grisly, though!This is Adventures Into Darkness no. 12 (Dec. 1953, Standard). Cover by Mike Sekowsky… those cute little caps the mine demons are wearing are a bit of a Sekowsky trademark.
We skip over issue thirteen, not through superstition, but because it’s already been featured in our Mike Sekowsky spotlight — and with good cause, as it’s a spiffy one!
And finally, this is Adventures Into Darkness no. 14 (June 1954, Standard). Cover tentatively attributed to Ross Andru.
A fifteenth (well, eleventh, really) issue had been in the offing, but as censorship tore the comics industry apart in 1954, plans to publish it were abandoned… which brings us full circle to one of our earliest countdown posts on that very topic.
Somehow, after yesterday’s rather epic (or at least time-consuming) post, I thought I’d breathe a little easier today, but no… these things have a way of imposing themselves, complications and all.
When I was a young collector, say under the age of fifteen, when I still gave a hoot about what comics were ‘worth’, financially speaking, I enjoyed leafing through the Overstreet Price Guide. Not so much out of greed, but rather of curiosity about the past. One title that piqued my imagination was Pines’ The Unseen. I mostly saw tiny, tantalising postage-stamp-size reproductions of its covers, but they lived up to my expectations. Lots and lots of talented folks toiling on the insides, too!
So I thought I’d collect them for your viewing pleasure, with two exceptions: the initial one, by Ross Andru, is kind of lame, so I’ll skip it; the final one, number fifteen, was featured in last year’s countdown.
This is The Unseen no. 6 (Sept. 1952, Pines); cover by George Roussos. Read it here!From the thumbnail version of this cover, I always wondered what ol’ Adolf Hitler had done (a rhetorical question) to be stalked by vampires. Seeing it full size, the question remains. This is The Unseen no. 7 (Nov. 1952, Pines); cover by John Celardo. Read it here! This is The Unseen no. 8 (Jan. 1953, Pines); cover (possibly) by Nick Cardy. Read it here!It’s the Combover Cadaver, run for your lives! This is The Unseen no. 9 (Mar. 1953, Pines); cover (possibly) by Art Saaf. Read it here!The Spaghetti Mummy strikes! This is The Unseen no. 10 (May 1953, Pines); cover by Jack Katz. Read it here!This is The Unseen no. 11 (July 1953, Pines); cover by the fascinating Jack Katz. Read it here!This is The Unseen no. 12 (Nov. 1953, Pines); cover by Nick Cardy. Read it here!Aw, that’s sweet. This is The Unseen no. 13 (Jan. 1954, Pines); cover by Alex Toth. Read it here!Aw, give it a chance — try the cocktail, at least. This is The Unseen no. 14 (Mar. 1954, Pines); cover by Mike Peppe. Read it here!
DC’s Tales of the Unexpected offer quite a ménagerie of strange looking creatures! Any peculiar combination of animals you can think of, you’ll find somewhere within the pages of this series. This possibly deserves its own post, as it’s quite entertaining to see artists combining, say, an elephant with a tiger. That being said, I tend to get annoyed at artists who can’t visualize anything truly alien-looking, thus resorting to carving up earth animals and stitching different body parts together… but that’s a different conversation.
Art by Lou Cameron.
Occasionally the artists will also add tentacles, a sure shortcut to make something mundane look properly alien, and this is today’s area of interest! For more questionable monsters, have a gander at Tentacle Tuesday: Convoluted Critters.
And now, onto ‘unexpected’ tentacles, even if the result of this ends up looking like badly-made puppet with a tacked-on beak…
The Strangest Show on Earth, illustrated by Jim Mooney, was published in Tales of the Unexpected no. 10 (February 1957).
Of course one can’t discount the lasting power of classic vine-tentacles.
The Earth Gladiator, illustrated by Nick Cardy, was published in Tales of the Unexpected no. 20 (December 1957).
Whereas these mini-planets gone bonkers with tentacles-cum-hair bring to mind, but anticipate, something by Junji Ito.
The Alien Earthmen, illustrated by Ruben Moreira, was published in Tales of the Unexpected no. 62 (June 1961).
The idea of an interplanetary veterinarian makes little sense for its assumption that life on other planets would have similar physiology to ours (even limiting the scope of action to only planet earth would be too ambitious – ask a doctor to treat a sick jellyfish and see how well he would do), but here we have the satisfaction of a sweet little scene of inter-species succor.
Creature Doctor of Space, illustrated by George Roussos, was published in Tales of the Unexpected no. 63 (July 1961).
Some 30 issues later, we have another case of rabid tree-tentacles… this time composed of rubber (or something that behaves like rubber, at any rate).
Prisoners of Hate Island, illustrated by George Roussos, was published in Tales of the Unexpected no. 93 (Feb-March 1966).
Finally, this tentacled purple gorilla (so his tail is more dinosaur than gorilla, so what?) will no doubt please a regular reader of this blog!
Tales of the Unexpected no. 71(June-July 1962). Cover by Bob Brown.
« Don’t change your tack when the timbers crack On the dark and the rolling sea… » *
I am relatively indifferent to tales of adventure, but the siren song of the ocean sometimes prompts me to venture into reading tales about ruthless pirates or valorous seafarers and the perilous voyages they undertake on ships big and small, magnificent or modest. Who hasn’t felt a thrill at spotting a handsome vessel on the water, even if that water is but a canal running through the city? The other point of interest of this discussion is that where there’s an ocean and a ship upon it, there is a (preferably) giant octopus somewhere nearby, only waiting to shred the ship’s hull to smithereens and voraciously gobble up its shipmates.
Here is a modestly-sized yet utilitarian boat with a handsome octopus in tow. Maybe he just wanted to climb on deck to rest a while, like this otter?
More Fun Comics no. 44 (June 1939). Cover by Creig Flessel.
A similar boat (I don’t know whether it’s my profound lack of knowledge of boats that makes it seem that way) was attacked by a bigger, scarier – downright malevolent! – octopus some twenty years later. See Kyle “Ace” Morgan, Matthew “Red” Ryan, Leslie “Rocky” Davis and Walter Mark “Prof” Haley scramble for safety while an enraged octopus seeks to devour them! Oh, sorry, I’m being melodramatic.
Challengers of the Unknown no. 77 (Dec. 1970 – Jan. 1971, DC). Pencilled by Jack Kirby, inked by Jack and Rosalind (Roz) Kirby.
This cover has actually been recycled from Showcase no. 12 (Jan.-Feb. 1958, DC), where the background was yellow and the water a more normal shade of blue-white. I do like how the octopus stands out against a black background, however (and the multi-coloured water really sets off his beady, evilly-glowing green eyes!)
Of course these encounters also take place within the stories, as opposed to on the cover.
Page from The Outcasts of the Seven Seas, scripted by Bob Haney, pencilled by Howard Purcell, and inked by Sheldon Moldoff, was published in Sea Devils no. 23 (May-June 1965).
Time to move underwater, a very natural setting for an octopus attack. Here we have a submarine tenderly wrapped in tentacles:
Page from The Human Torch in the Clutches of the Puppet Master!, (over)scripted by Stan Lee, pencilled by Dick Ayers and inked by George Roussos. This story was published in Strange Tales no. 116 (Jan. 1964, Marvel).
Last but not least, I’ve kept this neat little submarine until the end:
Voyage to the Deep (IDW Publishing, 2019), a collection of Dell Comics’ short-lived, four-issue series published from 1962 to 1964 and illustrated by Sam Glanzman. Note the introduction by WOT favourite Stephen Bissette!
Glanzman is also a favourite of ours, though we haven’t talked about him much (yet). In case you’re wondering what the insides of one of those issues looked like – good, they looked really good! Note the octopus proudly perched in the middle of the page.
Page from Voyage to the Deep no. 1 (September-November 1962, Dell). Art by Sam Glanzman.
« Is the spring coming? » he said. « What is it like?» «It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…»| Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Having been meaning for a while now to concentrate on tentacled plant life, I was hitherto stopped by the idea that it’s somewhat unseemly to talk about flora when most of our readership is buried in snow and ice. But now, well! – today was the first day of the year suitable for wearing shorts, and green shoots are popping up wherever one’s gaze happens to land.
We have waited for quite a long time before co-admin RG managed to get his hands on this issue… and it turned out that the insides vary from ‘lacklustre’ to ‘wow, that’s ugly!’ Still, the wonderful, striking cover makes it worth owning, I believe.
Horror: The Illustrated Book Of Fears no. 2 (February 1990, Northstar). Cover by Mark Bernal.
ACG got its tentacle parade in Tentacle Tuesday: ACG’s Adventures Into the Tentacles, but as usual, some material didn’t quite fit the theme, and I saved the following cover for a more appropriate occasion. This, I do believe, is the moment.
Adventures into the Unknown no. 48 (October 1953, ACG), cover by Ken Bald.
Speaking of adventures, let’s delve into Strange Adventures for a bit. The following story has a rather peculiar plot – « Star Hawkins is down on his luck and has to pawn Ilda, his robot secretary. Luckily, Star is hired to locate a fugitive who’s thought to be hiding on Vesta, an asteroid mining settlement, in the Red Jungle. But with a little tracking skill and the help of the creepy vegetation of the Red Jungle, he nabs the fugitive, gets his prisoner, and gets Ilda back from the pawn shop, promising never to pawn her again. »
Page from The Case of the Martian Witness!, scripted by John Broome, pencilled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Bernard Sachs, published in Strange Adventures no. 114 (March 1960, DC).
Here’s another Earthman (who has dreamed of this moment, by his own admission!) struggling with some coquettish plant tentacles that just want to be friends.
A page from Super-Athlete from Earth!, scripted by Gardner Fox, pencilled by Gil Kane and inked by Bernard Sachs, published in Strange Adventures no. 125 (February 1961, DC).
The next thing after adventures is, naturally, mysteries. If they’re strange, puzzling mysteries, even better… what’s that word I’m looking for… ah, yes: baffling! Another day, yet another ravenous man-eating plant.
Baffling Mysteries no. 19 (January 1954, Ace Magazines). Cover is presumed to be by George Roussos. I think strangulation is not even the worst option here.
One more happy tromp through the jungle? Sure, why not!
The following image was originally created as a cover for House of Mystery no. 251 (1977, DC), but was nixed in favour of another, Neal Adams-penned illustration, which we’ve already featured in a previous post (Tentacle Tuesday: Plants Sometimes Have Tentacles, Too). I prefer this gruesome version (complete with skeleton being digested!… also more detail, more dynamic layout and better anatomy of all involved), pencilled by José Luis García-López and inked by Bernie Wrightson.
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