Journey into Fear
Entry updated 15 September 2025. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
Canadian Comic (1951-1954). Superior. 21 issues. Artists include Matt Baker and Iger Shop. Script writers include Iger Shop. 36 pages, with four long strips and a short text story each issue, plus occasional short pieces as filler.
As with many early 1950s Horror comics, sf or borderline sf elements are not uncommon. Aside from those mentioned below, there are regular Werewolf and Vampire tales, as well as out-and -out Fantasy material involving witches, ghosts, ghouls and the devil (see Gods and Demons; Supernatural Creatures). Though there are a few decent tales, Journey into Fear was fairly unremarkable in terms of story and art: plot logic was rarely a priority in horror comics of the era, but here – particularly early on – the standards were noticeably low; whilst even the covers – so important for grabbing attention at newsstands – are mostly weak.
The opening story of #1, "Preview of Chaos!", has Californians fleeing their state when they see the Moon heading towards the Earth: it turns out villains are projecting an image of an enlarged Moon into the night sky and buying up oil fields on the cheap. Their leader calls himself the Druid and dresses accordingly, despite using Technology to perform the deception. In "Was He Death-proof?" an executed criminal returns in ghost-like form to gain revenge, but is dissipated by science, namely the hero's "detecto", a device that emits radioactive Rays (see Nuclear Energy). "Freak's Revenge" (#4) seems partially inspired by Tod Browning's Freaks (1932), though here a woman who attempts to run off with the carnival freaks' money is cursed by them, becoming a Cat woman. "Partners in Blood" (#6) has a Scientist visit the castle Vampir Schloss on behalf of a psychic society to investigate whether vampires exist. They do. In "Terror without Name" (#7) an area used as a nuclear testing ground and is highly radioactive suffers an electrical storm; as a result a man wandering there grows giant (see Great and Small). His feet become embedded in the ground and his attempts to move causes earthquakes: the government attempts to kill him, which only causes the giant's feet to break free. Those watching anticipate mass destruction, but being no longer rooted to the "life-giving" radioactive soil the man disintegrates into a mountain. "Haunt from the Sea" features an amorous sea creature (see Monsters). In "Pages of Death" (#8) a chemist explains to his girlfriend how he has discovered "the chemical balance that will break down human tissue and let the psyche enter into a new Time-space Dimension. The world of fiction, for instance". He intends to prove it by entering the gentle world of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868-1869), but a love rival swaps the book for one called Tracula – so spelt throughout, but clearly Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). "Fatal Footsteps" has a collector who buys the shoes of Jack the Ripper deciding to try them on – and, of course, becomes the serial killer. In "Nightmare Come True" (#9), a man dreams of monsters that become temporarily real (once he awakens they disappear shortly after); thought mad, he is sedated – but continually dreams of nightmarish creatures. They terrorize the city, and because he is kept asleep they do not vanish; eventually a doctor shoots the dreamer.
"Evil Intruder" (#12) has the ugly Truggs, "offspring of monstrous gods", who perform "ghastly, blasphemous rites ... that were known to elementals before the Earth came into being", often involving the "Blade of Sodorm". But one broods: "deep in the bestial morass of its hellish intellect, surges an unaccustomed dissatisfied yearning" and he cries out "I ... want ... love!". It rushes to the human world and – pausing only to scare a child ("scaring helpless babies is such fun!") – murders and impersonates a woman's husband, but his brutish nature cannot be hidden. "Glove of the Ghoul" (#13) has a professor obtain a glove which had Nero ordered be made from the skin of a Christian (Petronius is claimed as the source of this). He tries it on and the Emperor's personality take control: murders, fires and harps follow, until he is found by the police and the gloves force him – like the cornered Nero – to commit Suicide. In "Deadly Revenge" (#14) Lester Parke "one of the greatest gland scientists in the world" is rejected by the woman he is infatuated with, who calls him a "filthy ape". So he acquires the corpse of a gorilla from a zoo and the brain of a recently dead imbecile from an asylum, then implants the latter into the former and brings it to life, then trains it to kidnap the woman – put the plan goes awry. "Return of the Ghoul" (#15) has a ghoul, little more than a skeleton, covering himself in the plastic used to make lifelike dolls in an attempt to pass as a normal person. In "Revenge so Evil" a chemist infects a love rival with the disease acromegalia, which turns its victims monstrous (growing scales, clawed hands and distorted features). "Demons of the Deep" (#16) has the Queen of the Fish People (see Under the Sea) seeking a husband; the queen claims she is "half-human, half-fish" – though her appearance is largely human, save for scales and fins instead of feet. "The Monster's Revenge" features intelligent gorillas who turn human at night (see Apes as Human), and when a female big game hunter shoots the wife of one he seeks revenge. "Doomed to Live Forever" (#18) has an ape-like man in the present day reveal how, in 1790 as a normal human, he injected himself with the "fountain of youth" (the result of "research", though it is not clear whether scientific or otherwise) but instead of being Rejuvenated he devolves (see Devolution), his appearance gradually changing to that of his ancestors of a million years ago. He then suddenly turns into "the original stuff of life! Jelly! Protozoa!". "Carnival of Death" has murderous Shapeshifting monsters from another Dimension entering ours via a carnival's hall of mirrors. In "Assignment Horror" (#19) Alien frog people, who have lived disguised amongst us for years, are conquering the Earth. The first step involved pretending to be people dressed in frog-like costumes promoting a science fiction film marching on city hall, then taking it over (the subsequent steps from one city's administrative centre to world domination are not really explained). "The Flat Man" is someone accidentally run over by a steam roller; despite now being flat, he survives and uses his condition to rob banks. In "Masters of the Dead" (#20) Zombies are used to smuggle jewels, whilst "Grim Revenge" (#21) has a doctor performing eye transplants using those stolen from the recently deceased (see Medicine). [SP]
further reading
- Journey into Fear – Volume 1 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2016) [graph: collects issues #1-#7 of Journey into Fear: in the publisher's Pre-Code Classics series: illus/various: hb/uncredited]
- Journey into Fear – Volume 2 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2016) [graph: collects issues #8-#14 of Journey into Fear: in the publisher's Pre-Code Classics series: illus/various: hb/uncredited]
- Journey into Fear – Volume 3 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2016) [graph: collects issues #15-#21 of Journey into Fear: in the publisher's Pre-Code Classics series: illus/various: hb/uncredited]
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