Number 1119


The werewolf comes from out of the night!


[I'm going to have some fun and show some monster stories; postings through Pappy's #1124 on March 24 will have monster stories of various types.]

Out Of the Night, which is a great name for a horror comic, came from ACG to be an addition to their two best-selling horror titles (they actually called them "supernaturals"), Adventures Into the Unknown and Forbidden Worlds. Apparently the supply of stories featuring vampires, werewolves and zombies was endless, because they felt they needed a third book in the line. Out Of the Night lasted 17 issues, suspending publication after the November 1954 issue. The Comics Code was being implemented and that might have had something to do with it, but it could also be that sales on OOTN were down, and the book would have been killed, Code or not.

The first issue, from 1952, is strong, with a great Ken Bald cover and a sharp lead story by Al Williamson and Harold LeDoux, signed with the pseudonym Harold Williams. LeDoux went from comic books to the Judge Parker comic strip, eventually (after more than a decade) getting sole credit and his byline on the strip. He is retired and apparently still with us at age 85. Al Williamson died in December 2010.