Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: American Comics Group, Skeleton Hand

The Chill Chatter of ACG's Skeleton Hand #1, Up for Auction

Published Sat, 07 Aug 2021 14:32:10 -0500

In a recent post regarding Adventures into the Unknown from publisher ACG (American Comics Group), we noted that the title was a vastly underrated comic book series because it is regarded as the first ongoing American comic book horror series, launching several months before other publishers began to ease into horror-focused titles, and about a year and a half before EC Comics' horror titles began in earnest. The horror comic book field would soon become very crowded. By the time ACG launched Skeleton Hand in mid-1952, the genre had exploded in comics. The month that this new series hit the newsstands, there were already about 40 horror comic book titles being published (out of a total industry output of over 280 titles), and ACG already had three horror series in publication. But they had something a little different in mind for this new series. An interesting historical hook into the state of the industry at that time, there's a copy of Skeleton Hand #1 (ACG, 1952) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Cream to off-white pages up for auction in this week's 2021 August 8-9 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122132 from Heritage Auctions.

In an editorial titled "Chill Chatter" in this debut issue of Skelton Hand, explained their intentions: "This, our first issue, marks an important epoch for all of us who are now meeting for the first time in these pages. For you, readers, it provides an opportunity to witness the advent of a completely new magazine… and to judge for yourself the success of the ideals and policies which it dares to maintain… Why did this magazine come into being? This is a justified question at a time when many supernatural magazines throng the newsstands. But your own experience, readers, should provide the answer. You've read many of these publications and realize full well that their contents are sheer and reasonless terror. Unfortunately, they've missed the boat as far as dealing with the tense and spine-tingling thrills of the real occult is concerned. To achieve such thrills calls for different ideals, different policies, and these we are striving to maintain. What is needed is research into the type of material readers prefer… and then further research into all available material thereon, with an eye to digging up exciting and little-known facts. From this must emerge tense, gripping and imaginative stories, the products of able and experienced writers. Further, such stories must be illustrated by ace artists, and presented for your attention in an attractive and cleanly printed magazine. And at all times, the taste and preferences of you, the reader, must frame our issues."

In other words, the publisher was trying to get ahead of the mid-1950s comic book moral panic that was already brewing at this time. While ACG missed the mark with Skeleton Hand — the title only lasted for six issues — the publisher did prove more adept at navigating this space than most of its rivals. Their flagship title Adventures into the Unknown navigated the changing times and lasted 174 issues from Fall 1948 to August 1967 — long after most titles of its kind had become a distant memory. Nevertheless, Skeleton Hand remains a fascinating artifact of pre-Code comic book history and there's a copy of Skeleton Hand #1 (ACG, 1952) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Cream to off-white pages up for auction in this week's 2021 August 8-9 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122132 from Heritage Auctions.

Skeleton Hand #1 (ACG, 1952) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Cream to off-white pages. Ken Bald cover. Charles Sultan art. Overstreet 2021 VF/NM 9.0 value = $884; NM- 9.2 value = $1,250. CGC census 7/21: 5 in 9.0, 7 higher.

View the certification for CGC Certification ID 1297234006 and purchase grader's notes if available.

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