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Adventure into Fear

American horror comic book series

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ4686568
Source-derived summary

Adventure into Fear is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from cover dates November 1970 through December 1975, for 31 issues. This is its trademarked cover title for all but its first nine issues, though the series is copyrighted in its postal indicia as simply Fear.

The first nine issues, cover-titled Fear, reprinted science fiction/fantasy and monster stories from the late 1950s and early 1960s "pre-superhero Marvel" comics, primarily Journey into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, and Tales of Suspense. Most were written by Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee and/or Larry Lieber, and generally penciled by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, or Don Heck, though occasionally by Paul Reinman or Joe Sinnott. Most covers were reprints, though Marie Severin drew the new top half of issue #4, John Severin the cover of issue #8, and the team of Gil Kane (penciler) and Frank Giacoia (inker) the covers of issues #5, 6 and 9.

Man-Thing

With issue #10 (Oct. 1972), the series was retitled Adventure into Fear (though it remained titled Fear in the indicia) and began featuring new material. Issues #10-19 featured the swamp creature the Man-Thing, continuing from his introduction in the black-and-white comics-magazine Savage Tales #1 (May 1971). Following a story written by Man-Thing co-creator Gerry Conway, scripting was taken over by Steve Gerber, for whom the feature and eventual comic book series The Man-Thing would prove a signature work. Through issue #14, a back-up reprint story would be featured, similar to those that appeared in the first nine issues.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Adventure into Fear” is american horror comic book series. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Adventure, Fear and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1970, 1975, 1972, 1971—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Adventure, Fear and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american horror comic book series” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4686568. The first chronological checks are 1970, 1975, 1972 and 1971.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Adventure into Fear”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Adventure into Fear primary sources, Adventure into Fear archive and Adventure research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Adventure into Fear”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Adventure into Fear” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.