The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories Volume 2 (v. 2) [Hardcover]

Al Feldstein (Author, Artist), Wally Wood (Author), Reed Crandall (Author), Johnny Craig (Author), George Evans (Author), Joe Orlando (Author), Jack Kamen (Author), Al Williamson (Author), Jack Davis (Author)

Book Description

Series: EC Archives | Publication Date: June 12, 2007

This second beautiful hardcover volume of Shock SuspenStories reprints issues #7-12, featuring 24 stories in all by an all-star line-up that includes Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, Al Williamson, Jack Kamen, George Evans, John Severin, Bill Elder, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, and Marie Severin.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: William M. Gaines Agent, INC.; Reprint edition (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888472707
• ISBN-13: 978-1888472707
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RAW SHOCK AND SUSPENSE FROM THE 50'S - GREAT ENTERTAINMENT, August 8, 2009

By 

Mike Silverman (Milford, MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories Volume 2 (v. 2) (Hardcover)

Length:: 1:25 Mins

When you were a kid, do you remember those comic books your parents told you would rot your brain if you kept reading them? Well here they are, lovingly preserved on the beautiful hardcover-bound glossy pages of EC's SHOCK SuspenStories collection. My video shows you some highlights of the various covers and artwork to give you a feel for the content of the volume. Yes, the ten cents price you see printed on the comic book cover was the actual price for the comic in those days, funny that today a volume like this costs about 40 dollars, in its own time all six originals if bought off the shelf would have come to a whopping 60 cents. With all the stylized and expertly drawn and inked "graphic novels" available today, you might wonder how these stories from the 1950's stand up against today's comics. The answer is, they stand up very well indeed. The artists who contributed to EC were the best in their day, and great art never stops being great. There is actually more of a tension and chilling feeling looking at the retro artwork of these classic reprints simply because of the wonderful penchant they had for making a person look horrified when facing something horrible. The focus and detail on the faces in these stories is remarkable. You see the fear, the terror, the shock in the wide eyes and twisted expressions as victims realize their worst nightmares are upon them. Every story is set up to have a shock ending. Though sometimes you can predict what it will be, many times I was surprised to find the end was different than what I was expecting. I was ... shocked. Perhaps you are thinking that the stories contained in this volume might be tame by today's standards because of how old they are. That would be a mistaken assumption. These stories and art were printed before the terrible comics code authority came along and ruined comics for decades by forcing self censorship on comics. So these pre-comics code stories do not hold back on the graphic imagery. You see the blood, the burned and brutalized flesh, the death screams and final gasps of victims falling prey to murderers and worse. But none of the stories are gratuitous. None of the stories glorify the violence, and most of them serve up justice in one way or another to the protagonists. Basically the theme of most of these stories is that a violent life leads to a violent end. Although..., I must say that there are a few stories that are downright nasty and justice is left hanging. In fact the very first story in this collection is such a story. It's called Beauty and the Beach and the last few panels are pure shock content. It's a story of revenge and people driven to insanity and there is simply no justice done, but the raw blunt horrific images at the end live up to the title of the comic. The volume is well worth having , both as a collectors item, and for the pure entertainment of reading these great classic comics from the 50's.

- Mike S.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Jolting Tales of Tension in the EC tradition", August 15, 2009

By 

Grant Watson (NC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories Volume 2 (v. 2) (Hardcover)

Gemstones EC Archive collection is stunning. This is the gold standard for quality "Archive Collections". Volume 2 of EC comics "Shock Suspense Stories" continues on from volume one with more great art and more "Jolting Tales Of Suspense". As some might be aware, EC comics were the highest quality comics of their time. Best writing, best art, best quality, and the most eye catching covers. Unfortunately for EC, the covers and the interiors happened to catch the eye of a certain Dr. Wertham. Wertham published a book called "Seduction of the Innocent" in which he cited EC comics repeatedly as a contributing factor to the moral decay of 1950s youth.

Indeed, in Volume 2 of "Shock Suspense" we see covers portraying a terrified woman with a knife held to her throat as a man hold's her by the hair. We see a man handcuffed to a corpse while vultures eat at the decaying body. And perhaps even more disturbing, a drug addict lying in his bed, screaming, tears running down his face, his drug "paraphernalia" on the table next to him. Strong stuff.

Most stories often started innocuously enough, but quickly descended into violent, gory tales with ironic, surprising and "Shocking" endings. Some were tales of racism. Some tales were adaptations of Ray Bradbury stories. In this volume, there are two Bradbury stories. The art on the covers and the interiors is stunning and lush. With talent like Al Feldstein, Jack Kamen, Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, its no wonder EC was the company to beat in quality.

This volume reprints Shock Suspense Stories issues 7 through 12 complete, cover to cover. This includes all the "text" stories, the readers' letter section and advertisements. It also has a foreword by Dean Kamen, son of EC artist Jack Kamen. I am slowly trying to purchase all of the EC archives. However, I started with the Shock Suspense collection first as these are my personal favorites of the EC titles. But I highly recommend not just this particular volume, but all of the EC archives. They aren't just gory, decadent fun, they are comic book history.

5.0 out of 5 stars Shock Suspenstories: Big Fun, Old-School Comic Style, March 18, 2011

By 

B. Illes "bobbygoode" (Sherman Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories Volume 2 (v. 2) (Hardcover)

Shock SuspenStories were among comic books from the 50's that were part of the Senate crusade to censor comics and "protect our youth". But here they are, in a beautiful collection. The artwork is magnificent - by many of the same "usual gang of idiots" who created Mad Magazine, and even more significantly, the writing is very compelling - some by the great Ray Bradbury among others. I am so glad Russ Cochran and crew reproduced these great entertainments. Big, big wonderful fun. Highly recommended.