American Comics Group


American Comics Group was an American comic book publisher started in 1939 and existing under the ACG name from 1943 to 1967. It published the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title, Adventures into the Unknown. ACG's best-known character was the 1960s satirical humor hero Herbie Popnecker, who starred for a time in Forbidden Worlds. Herbie would later get his own title and be turned into a superhero called the Fat Fury.
Founded by Benjamin W. Sangor, ACG was co-owned by Fred Iger from 1948 to 1967. Iger's father-in-law, Harry Donenfeld, head of National Periodical Publications, was also a co-owner in the early 1960s. ACG was distributed by Independent News Company, which also distributed by DC.

History

Origins

The company evolved out of a company owned by Sangor. In the mid-1930s, Sangor and Richard E. Hughes began to produce a short-lived prepackaged comics supplement for newspapers. In 1939, the Sangor Shop began producing comics for Sangor's son-in-law Ned L. Pines. The Sangor Shop produced the characters and stories of The Black Terror, Pyroman, and Fighting Yank for Pines' Nedor Comics and produced most of the comics for Pines until 1945.

Independent publishing

In 1943, ACG started to publish its own work under such names as B&I Publishing, Michel Publications and Regis Publishing. It acquired the publisher Creston Publications in 1943, making Creston into an ACG imprint. By 1948, it was publishing comics under the name of American Comics Group. Its titles were typical of the times, including horror, crime, mystery, romance, and talking animal comics. In 1948, it began publishing the long-running horror title Adventures into the Unknown. This was the first of a trilogy of ACG horror/supernatural titles that also included Forbidden Worlds and Unknown Worlds.
In 1949, ACG began publishing two long-running romance titles, Romantic Adventures, and Lovelorn. Both titles lasted into the 1960s.
The company survived the 1954 Senate subcommittee hearings on the dangers of comic books, even retaining its somewhat diluted horror title Adventures into the Unknown. However, in 1955 ACG canceled four long-running humor titles: the talking-animal series Giggle Comics and Ha Ha Comics, and the teen-humor titles Cookie and The Kilroys.
An October 1, 1952 "Statement of the Ownership, Management, and Circulation" published in ACG's Forbidden Worlds #15 gave its publisher's name as “Preferred Publications, Inc., 8 Lord St., Buffalo, New York” and the owners as Preferred Publications and "B. W. Sangor, 7 West 81st Street, New York, N. Y." The editor was listed as “Richard E. Hughes, 120 West 183rd St., New York, N. Y.” and the business manager as "Frederick H. Iger, 50 Beverly Road, Great Neck, Great Neck, L. I., N. Y." An October 1, 1950, statement published in ACG's Cookie #29 gives identical data, with the exception of the publisher and co-owner being listed as "Michel Publications, Inc. 420 DeSoto Ave., St. Louis 7, Mo.”
Almost all stories after 1957 were written by editor Hughes under a variety of pseudonyms. Besides the satirical superhero the Fat Fury, other ACG superheroes of the period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books included Magicman, Nemesis in Adventures into the Unknown, and John Force, Magic Agent, in his own title in 1962, then later in Unknown Worlds, with a few stories in Forbidden Worlds and Adventures into the Unknown. ACG's superheroes failed to catch on. Sales of Forbidden Worlds and Adventures into the Unknown slumped after superheroes were put into their pages, and Hughes responded by dropping the entire ACG superhero line and returning both series to their original fantasy formula in the Winter of 1967.
By 1968, the company had ended publication, except for its commercial comics division, Custom Comics, established in 1950, which lasted until the early 1980s doing work for a variety of clients such as the A. C. Gilbert toy company, Montgomery Ward, Tupperware, and the United States Air Force.

Titles

  • Adventures into the Unknown #1–174
  • Blazing West #1–20 ; continues as The Hooded Horseman v1
  • Commander Battle and the Atomic Sub #1–7
  • Confessions of the Lovelorn #52–114 ; continues from Lovelorn
  • Cookie #1–55
  • Dizzy Dames #1–6
  • Forbidden Worlds #1–145 ; paused after #34 to briefly continue as Young Heroes before resuming
  • Funny Films #1–29
  • Gasp! #1–4
  • Giggle Comics #1–99 ; acquired from Creston Publications; continues as Spencer Spook
  • Ha Ha Comics #1–99 ; continues as TeePee Tim
  • Hi-Jinks #1–7
  • Herbie #1–23
  • The Hooded Horseman v1 #21–27 ; continues from Blazing West
  • The Hooded Horseman v2 #18–22 ; continues from Out of the Night
  • The Kilroys #1–54
  • Lovelorn #1–51 ; continues as Confessions of the Lovelorn
  • Magic Agent #1–3
  • Midnight Mystery
  • Milt Gross Funnies #1–2
  • Moon Mullins #1–5 ; continued at St. John Publications
  • My Romantic Adventures #49–138 ; continues from Romantic Adventures
  • Operation Peril #1–16
  • Out of the Night ; continues as The Hooded Horseman v2
  • Romantic Adventures #1–48 ; continues as My Romantic Adventures
  • Search For Love #1–2
  • Skeleton Hand in Secrets of the Supernatural
  • Soldiers of Fortune #1–12 — acquired from Creston Publications
  • Spencer Spook #100–101 ; continues from Giggle Comics; see Ace Comics
  • Spy and Counterspy #1–2 ; continues as Spy Hunters
  • Spy Hunters #3–24 ; continues from Spy and Counterspy
  • Teepee Tim #101–103 ; continues from Ha Ha Comics
  • Unknown Worlds #1–57
  • Wrangler Great Moments in Rodeo
  • Young Heroes #35–37 ; continues from Forbidden Worlds #34
  • One shots: Chuckle, Hi-Jinx, Merry-Go-Round, The Sheriff of Coshise, and ''The Clutching Hand''

    Imprints

Source:
  • B & I Publishing Co., Inc.
  • B. & M. Distributing Co., Inc.
  • Best Syndicated Features, Inc.
  • Creston Publications Corp.
  • Culver Publications
  • Custom Comics, Inc.
  • La Salle Publishing Co.
  • Michel Publications, Inc.
  • Milt Gross, Inc.
  • Modern Store Publications
  • Modern Store Publishing
  • Preferred Publications, Inc.
  • Regis Publications, Inc.
  • Scope Magazines, Inc.
  • Titan Publishing Co. Inc.