If you missed Part 2…
Here are the last three of the ACG Northerns. These three are post Comics Code. “The Face Behind the Ice” appeared in Adventures of the Unknown #62 (March-April 1955). The author is not known but the art was done by Creig Flessel.
Sanderson and Booth work their gold mine all winter and it is now time to leave. Booth is in the mine getting the last of the gold when an avalanche buries him in. Sanderson wants to save him but the falling snow stops him. A sled dog howls as Sanderson runs away. He leaves camp with the gold, planning to give half to Booth’s daughter. As he rides the dog sled a bright light blinds him. He thinks he sees Booth’s face in the ice. Again, a dog howls. Collapsing he rides the sled to town. The doctor there explains to him that he had snow blindness and must have seen his own reflection in the ice. Sanderson returns but doesn’t give half of the money to Booth’s daughter.
A year later, when out with his new fiancee, a reporter asks Sanderson about the accident. He yells at the reporter but he can’t get the sound of howling out of his head.
His angry behavior sends his fiancee in a huff, she leaving her new fox stole on the sofa. When Sanderson sees it he freaks out and rushes outside into a blizzard.
Sanderson bangs his head on a lamp post before it assumes Booth’s face, haunting him about the money. Sanderson runs away from the face. The next morning two cops find his frozen body in the lake in Central Park, by seeing his face under the ice.
“Miracle of the Ice” appeared in Adventures of the Unknown #70 (January 1956). The author is not known but the art was by John Rosenberger. Mike Conlan and Dick Hunter are American photographers in Alaska.
When Mike hears about a lost city further north, he goes in search of the greatest prize a photographer could have. Mike has a sled accident but is rescued by a citizen of the the great domed city, Colchak.
Mike is taken to a doctor. Later, when better, he meets the ruler of the city. he explains the history of the place, where the city’s ancestors used solar power to heat the great dome.
Mike is asked not to take any pictures because the place is sacred. He can’t help himself and secretly films. The city dwellers get wind of this and plan to thwart him. A small figurine of a wolf is placed in his pack with the undeveloped films.
Mike makes it back to civilization and has the films developed. Unfortunately, the wolf figure was radioactive and destroyed the movies.
Mike rants about the lost city and it looks like he is headed for the looney bin, until he produces the wolf figurine, that is made of a radioactive substance unknown to science.
“The Faithful Bozo” (Forbidden Worlds #57, August 1957) is a three-pager that was reprinted several times. The author is unknown but the art is by John Rosenberger.
Lt. Don Jeffrey is flying for the military in the Arctic when his plane crashes. He finds a dog who leads him to the base and safety. Don recovers thanks to the canine. He sees the dog’s tag. His name is Bozo.
At the base, the doctor tells him there was no dog. It is only his injured imagination. When he gets home he buys a dog and names him Bozo. He shows the dog to his mother. She tells him to call him Bozo the Second. When Don was little, before he could remember, he had a dog named Bozo.
Gone are the days of werewolves and haunting killer ghosts. The Comics Code Northerns lean towards psychological ghosts and science fiction. There is little to distinguish them from any 1960s issue of The House of Mystery or Strange Adventures. Yawn. I’d give anything for one more Ed Moritz strip with a shambling hulk.
