Customer Reviews

Foul Play!: The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics!

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Grant Geissman hits another one out of the park with this book. FOUL PLAY is the perfect melding of good ol' gory EC fun and the EC research we've come to expect of Geissman. He provides fresh insights into the EC stable of artists, rather than just regurgitating what's already known. That's quite an accomplishment for subject matter that's 50 years old and already mined extensively. Geissman even dares to confound the traditionalists by not choosing "Master Race" as Bernard Krigstein's story example.

My only quibble (and it's a tiny one) is his story choice for the criminally under-rated Johnny Craig. One would almost think "Touch and Go" was Craig's only masterpiece. It would've been nice to pick a different, under-appreciated gem such as "The Sewer" from Crime Suspenstories #5 or Johnny's tour de force "Mausoleum" from Vault of Horror #29.

The care lavished on this book, along with its quietly elegant production values, makes it a must-buy for any EC fan. Or for anyone who knows the idiom of comics can spawn work as timeless as any other art form.

David Burlington

To be perfectly honest, I've spent all of 15 minutes looking at this book in a comic shop less than 20 minutes ago, but I can tell you it's good. Whole stories have been reprinted (photographed from printed comics rather than from original art, but the reproduction is good), as well as individual panels and examples from other aspects of their careers. Each artist is well represented with his best work, and the images are chosen with knowledge and taste. The biographies are well researched, giving an overview of each artist's career arc. I could lay in bed for hours looking at this thing, and I intend to.

Such a beautiful book....For someone who doesn't know much about EC comics (or for that matter comics printed during the 50s-80s),this book was an eye-opener.It describes the art and lives of the artists and creaters of EC in such a beautiful manner that once I started this book ,I was hooked.What a shame that these very interesting comics were stopped from being published only after a short run at the printing press.The book is done in a beautiful manner with about 14 EC comics stories included.The whole package is very nicely done.Highly recommended,even if you are not a big EC comic fan.Buy it just for the art.If I had a choice I would give it ten stars,one of the best books I own.

For fans of EC, FOUL PLAY is unquestionably required reading. A visual treat and a true pleasure to read, this is simply a beautifully done book.

I love this book! It takes a fun peek into the the horror, sci-fi, and adventure comics of the 1950's. A must for any fan of pop culture, kitch, comics, or visual art. Highly recommended!

Hugely disappointed with the over-design of this book, and consider it a magnificent book criminally ruined by overly decorative backdrops to the pages of original EC stories. The biographies and text here by Geissman is simply terrific; providing a cogent, articulate, evocative context for these iconic 1950s artists - from Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, Graham "Ghastly" Ingels, to the incredibly talented cover-art genius of Johnny Craig - not to mention the epochal Krigstein and the whole range of science fiction art in this justly remembered EC period. BUT... the clutter of coloured backgrounds placed behind the reproduced pages of stories by these artists made me want to immediately consign this book to an Ingels watery grave in the bayou! It is a travesty. Unbelievably congested, busy, "wriggling amoebae" multi-coloured backgrounds to the reproduced 1950s art visually compete with it throughout. It provides the WORST "visual noise" that totally distracts and competes with the well-reproduced art; the backgrounds COMPETE for attention like trying to read a comic-book in a vast tub of spaghetti, or enlarged coloured slides of dissected innards under a microscope. It becomes visually unbearable, and TOTALLY UNDERMINES the EC art. It is one of the very worst examples of appallingly over-designed books I can think of, where some faddish photo-shop graphics moron has been allowed to run their rampantly stupid techno-boots ALL OVER the crisp, stark integrity of the original artists. Wally Wood will be rolling in his grave. Geissman should be shot for having this desecrating, congested muddle of coloured vomit over-design and compromise the VISUAL CLARITY of these great artists. A TRULY APPALLING DESIGN/BOOK LAYOUT DECISION. ALL THE EDITORS ON THIS PROJECT SHOULD ALSO BE LINED UP FOR THESE TECHNI-COLOUR CRIMES AND GIVEN A BLOODY HIDING. A great book by Grant Geissman that has become a grievous, unredeemable INSULT to the original 1950s artists it is supposed to be honouring.

Super book!! Brings back memories of buying those (great, dirty, violent, perverted, notorious---choose your adjective)comics.

I was and still am a fan of science-fiction and loved the art of Wally Wood in Weird Science and Weird Fantasy and their reincarnations. I never bought Superman, Batman, Archie, et al.

Everyday I mourn the fact that my mother tossed out the magazines when I was in the service. And reading these comics apparently never hurt me as I went on to garner four academic degrees.

So buy this book and relive the golden days of EC comic books.

In the 1950s, while the other kids were ooohing-and-ahhhing over Superman and the Green Lantern, we few proto-geeks were absorbed in MAD Magazine and the equally lunatic E.C. monthlies, especially Tales from the Crypt, Creepy, Haunt of Fear, Weird Science, and the SuspenStories series. Nobody could keep your eyes glued silently to the page like Jack Davis, Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, and their cohorts. Some of the stories were original, some were adaptations of authors we also doted on. (Ray Bradbury was a favorite source, and you'll find his classic story "Touch and Go!" here, which I clearly remember reading when it appear in 1953.) This lavish volume is partly a history of that genre and partly a collection of full-length, photoreproduced stories -- plus an original, "Wanted for Murder!," written by Johnny Craig for E.C.'s "picto-fiction" magazine, Crime Illustrated! (which was actual typeset text -- no balloons -- overlaid on the black-and-white artwork). This is a great book for fans of the days when they published real comic books!

"Tales of Terror:The EC Companion " was a remarkable work. Now , Grant Geissman scored another goal. " Foul Play..." brings to us a skillful selection of EC comics stories in a visually stunning & literate cofee table book .And the artists...Directly from the 50's, samples of the work of marvelous artists such as Al Feldstein,Jack Davis ,Graham Ingels,Johnny Craig ,Al Wlliamson and Wallace Wood.A great book indeed!

This is an excellent history and gives a good look at all of the E.C. artists who made those comics so famous and infamous. The work and the stories were way ahead of their time. Author Geissman deserves a large kudo for this treasure for all of us old "fan-addicts"!
My only complaint is that too many 0f the illustrations are much too small, but the stories from the E.C. comics that are used are excellently reproduced.