If you miss Part One…
By the second half of 1951 Adventures Into the Unknown was hitting its lycanthropic stride with were-creatures in five issues in a row. 1952 brought the new comic Out of the Night into the fold and the first issue had to have a werewolf story.
“Fangs of Horror” (Adventures into the Unknown #22, August 1951) was written by Charles Spain Verral with King Ward art. Enid Parker is a lonely little girl living with her parents who are occultists. Her father has found a way to kill all werewolves. Not surprising, the werewolves find out and kill the mother and father. The werewolves’ master raises Enid as he searches for years looking for the hidden research. Enid grows into a woman.
One night a handsome policeman, Jim Seaford, breaks in looking for clues. He is working to stop the werewolves. Enid remembers where the secret of her father’s is hidden, inside her teddy bear. Reading the note, she learns if ordinary cyanide is poured over the werewolves’ graves, it will destroy them. Jim and Enid hurry to the graveyard, chased by the fiends. Enid pours the cyanide, saving Jim. Jim, Enid and Teddy are destined for marriage.
“Shadow of the Wolf” (Adventures into the Unknown #23, September 1951) had an unknown author with art by Leonard Starr. Where there’s a will there’s a way. Kurt Cummings wants to inherit the family ranch so he uses lycanthropy to kill the other beneficiaries. But Bob gets suspicious and learns of Kurt’s plan. Bob knows he can’t bring the law in for no one would believe him so he buys a wolf instead. When next Kurt attacks, Bob unleashes the wolf and Kurt and the animal kill each other.
“The Howling Hunters” (Adventures into the Unknown #24, October 1951) was by an unknown author with art by King Ward. A remorseless murderer is hung and buried but his ghost is resurrected by the Howling Hunters, a race of werewolves. The transition from human body to wolf takes three days so the killer wanders to find somewhere to hide. He ends up at a house where a beautiful woman lives. She thinks he is her long lost brother, Bill.
The days pass and the werewolves circle the house as the killer changes. He tries to protect the woman from the werewolves but on the final night of his transformation, they take her to be killed. The killer fights and defeats the werewolves. The woman awakens to find him dead, thankful for his sacrifice.
“The Were-Tiger of Assam” (Adventures into the Unknown #25, November 1951) had an unknown author with art by Charles Sultan. Clint Desmond goes to the Naga Hills in India as a trouble-shooter. He finds a ruby mine being run by evil men dressed in tiger outfits. Clint shoots one and takes his outfit. (Remember this is a pre-Code comic.) Infiltrating the gang, he meets Tigra, the tiger girl. She believes he is the man her master, Zoltan, promised her. She turns into a tiger. Clint doesn’t tell her he is not a real were-tiger.
Clint gets captured and taken to Zoltan, who explains where Tigra came from. His Yogi, Harbari Gar Jamrad, using the ancient rope trick can enter a forbidden world in the sky where the were-tigers live. Clint’s skepticism forces Zoltan to prove it and Clint climbs up into the magical realm. Zoltan removes the rope, stranding him there. Clint shoots two were-tigers to protect himself. Meanwhile Tigra finds out Zoltan’s actions and changes into a tiger and kills him. Climbing the rope, she rescues Clint but sacrifices herself. Clint returns to our world where a dying Zoltan shoots the yogi, sealing off the magical realm forever.
“The Werewolf Burial” (Adventures into the Unknown #26, December 1951) also had an unknown author with art by Leo Morey and Ed Moritz. When Coyos the werewolf gets shot robbing city hall, Lycana has him assume wolf form and takes him to a vet named Steve. Steve fixes the wolf but falls for its owner. His girlfriend, Gilda, is jealous. When Lycana calls late at night Steve goes off to help her. She wants Steve to bury Coyos. (Unbeknownst to Steve, ghosts force the werewolves out, so a mortal has to do the job.)
Gilda meanwhile finds out about the cops shooting Coyos and gets suspicious. She spies on the werewolves and gets caught. They bite her so that at midnight she will become one of them. Steve digs up Coyos’s coffin because he thinks this is all about rabies, when Coyos jumps out of the grave and tries to kill him. He is saved by the ghosts of the graveyard. They warn him about Gilda’s predicament and they all go and rescue her.
“The Fiend in Fur” (Forbidden Worlds #4, January-February 1952) was written by an unknown author with art by George Wilhelms. Phyllis Hall is warned not to walk in the woods but goes anyway. She gets chased by a werewolf and has to find safety on a willow platform. It houses the body of an ancient native shaman. The werewolf chases her back to her cabin where Frank is waiting. The fiend knocks Frank out and takes the girl.
When Frank wakes he plans to get Phyllis back. He doesn’t take a gun, knowing it is useless, but a compass. When he goes by the willow platform his compass spins crazily and the spirit of the dead man is released. In the werewolf’s lair, a place littered with wolf skeletons, Phyllis is in trouble. Frank shows up and uses the compass to resurrect all the wolf skeletons. The wolves chase down the werewolf and tear it apart.
“The Return of the Werewolf” (Out of the Night #1, February-March 1952) was possibly written by Richard Hughes, with art by Al Williamson and Harold LeDoux. It begins when Dave buys Ginny a ratty old wolf skin as a joke. The fur came from a hundred year old house and the original owner wants it back. The werewolf gets its fur then chases Ginny out of the house. She runs to Dave who wants to give her a shot of sedative. Before long the young lovers are back in the old house and captives of the werewolf. He plans to feed them to his wolves. Good thing Dave still has that sedative…
“The Werewolves” (Out of the Night #3, June-July 1952) is a text story by an unknown author. Manfred is a werewolf and he needs to find shelter before he changes into a wolf. He chooses a deserted inn in the Catskill Mountains. The unwary proprietor is food for the starving beast. Only he has changed too, with a wolfish face but still human body, Manfred is too late to stop the knife…
After several years of werewolf stories, the writing in Adventures in the Unknown has become more complex. Gone are the simple stories ending with a silver dagger. The authors (mostly unknown) weave other strange elements into these stories to make them unusual. Whether that’s other realms, strange compacts or just simple greed, these show a nice improvement over the rather simple Victorian plots of the years before. The romantic elements have become more important too, often with a tragic end.
