Customer Reviews

Tales from the Crypt, Vol. 1: Issues 1-6 (The EC Archives)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Gemstone Publishing has been slowly releasing the EC Archives in hardcover format, whetting the appetites of fans with the appetizers Shock Suspenstories Vol. 1 and Weird Science Vol. 1, but now Gemstone has given us a delicious entrée with perhaps the most well-known and notorious EC title, Tales From the Crypt Vol. 1. This gorgeous book re-prints the first six issues of the title which began as The Crypt of Terror #17 (having changed its name from Crime patrol). It would finally adopt is more popular name with issue #20.

Tales from the Crypt may seem tame by today's standards where blood and gore oozes off the pages, but when these stories were originally published back in the early 1950's, they were well ahead of their time and were really the pre-cursor of magazines like Creepy & Eerie.

EC wasn't just ahead of its time with its horrific subject matter, it was ahead of its time with their artwork as well. The roll call of the artists whose work appears in the first volume is like a who's who of some of the all-time greats: Wally Wood, Marie Severin, Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Harvey Kurtzman, Graham Ingels, and Jack Kamen. While most comic art of the 50's was bland, mass produced house art, EC gave its artists unrivaled creative freedom. It's the reason why those issues are so highly sought after by collector's today.

The stories in Tales From the Crypt rarely deviated from the formula...they almost always ended with a shocking, ironic twist with a character getting their just desserts. Even when following this pattern, the gifted talent always kept things fresh and innovative. Inside these 212 pages you'll find stories featuring werewolves, mad scientists, zombies, animated limbs, ghosts, raving madmen (and women) and a host of other terrors.

One of my favorites is the Feldstein story "Ghost Ship" where the occupants of a downed airplane chance upon a long-drifting pirate ship. Another winner is Wally Wood's "Terror Ride." A couple decides to visit a rundown carnival and take a tunnel of love ride they will not soon forget!

The color had been complete re-mastered and looks wonderfully, although perhaps much bolder than it looked when originally printed on cheap newsprint. The book even reprints the original covers and letter columns, hosted by the Crypt-Keeper himself. There are a number of short articles written by publisher Russ Cochran about the early days of EC Comics, featuring the recollections of Al Feldstein, one of the few surviving, former EC artists. Cochran even addresses the issue of the color controversy by stating that the re-mastered color takes advantage of modern technology while the originals were limited in regard to color combinations.

The book lists for $50 but you can definitely find it online much cheaper making it well worth the price. This is the volume that everyone has been waiting for and Gemstone has not disappointed.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

Never imagined i would get a chance to read the EC collections of Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, Shock Suspenstories etc, that too in good quality bound volumes in glorious color on art pages.All are real collector items. A good investment to treasure and re-read on lonely rainy nights. Boooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The EC Archives: Tales From The Crypt Volume 1
This the best way to collect these classic tales of American Comic book history. Quality from cover to cover. The new colouring compliments the vintage art work, the hard cover and the heavy stock paper will far outlast the original newsprint editions. My only criticism is I would appreciate more extensive texts on the history of the publication and more detailed profiles on the artists. All Deluxe Comic Books should attain this high standard.

I'm a huge EC fan, and consider the art, writing, and concepts to be among the most revolutionary in the history of comic books. Tales From The Crypt has an amazing run of stories, and the only reason this first volume only gets four stars from me is because the comic was still in its early stages. By the time you hit the end of what will be volume 2 and thereon forward, you're firmly in five-star city. But this collection might actually cause people to wonder if all the fuss is warranted, and I can only push them to buy the next volume. Each story is a classic in the historical sense, but the later stories are much better at standing the test of time.

for my whole life growing up ive been looking for old school tales from the crypt comic books but thanks to this hardcover book with the first 6 issues i have them and i dont think ive been happier since. theres alot of stories in here that i remember seeing on tv and their very different from the tv version... this is definitly a collector's item now i must get vol 2

This first volume of Tales From the Crypt comics is absolutely fantastic. The art reproduction, the recoloring - everything - is perfect. The size of the book is also larger than I expected; I believe it's a full 8 1/2" x 11", which I think is the size of the original EC comics themselves. Given that this series of E.C. archival books cost exactly the same as the D.C. archival comics (which are smaller in size) the value of these editions is all the more apparent.

First let me say that before I was
truly impressed by the quality of text
and art I wasn't overtly enthusiastic
about it.Being labelled
as "tame" by some readers and in the
beginning of its lifecycle, I was a bit
apprehensive to buy this expensive hardcover.
The plot ideas or "springboards" by William Gaines,
while not wholly original (the majority of them
"borrowed" from classic literary weird fiction
of such authors as William Hope Hodgson, Mary
E. Wilkins Freeman, H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur
Machen among others), are masterfully developed
(despite some stilted dialogue and other minor
flaws) by Al Feldstein (some of them are
beautiful examples of classic cinematic
storytelling).
The art is almost always top notch. Here you'll
encounter amazing artwork by Jack Kamen,
Johnny Craig , Graham "ghastly" Ingels, Wally
Wood (the last two being my all time favorites)
among others.
While not all stories are top notch
the majority of them are excellent and
even the lesser ones are worth reading.
Here you'll find classy hitchcokean
thrillers (Mute Witness Murder), nautical
horror (Ghost Ship!, The Thing from the
Sea!), standart crime/detection drama (The
Corpse Nobody Knew), medical horror
(Death Must Come!), vampire fiction
(Blood Type "V"), out-and-out horror
(Terror Ride), zombie fiction (Zombie),
clever psychodramas (Madness at
Manderville), teen horror (House of Horror)
conte cruel (Death Suited Him), classic
monster fiction (Curse of the Full Moon!),
nightmarish thrillers (The Living Corpse),
revenge from beyond the grave (The
Thing from the Grave!), gothic/lovecraftean
fiction (Rx... Death!), ironic grand guinol
(The Maestro's Hands), cozy fantasy/horror,
(Impending Doom) even cheesy, silly sci fi
(Cave Man).
If you like vintage horror and weird fiction
do yourself a favour and read it.



Here is the contents and personal ratings (* to *****):

THE E.C. ARCHIVES: TALES FROM THE CRYPT VOL.1


The Crypt of Terror #17:

Death Must Come! ========================== ****1/2
The Man Who Was Death ===================== ****1/2
The Corpse Nobody Knew ==================== ***
Curse of the Full Moon!==================== ****1/2

The Crypt of Terror #18:

The Maestro's Hand ======================== *****
The Living Corpse ========================= *****
Masness At Manderville ==================== ****1/2
Mute Witness Murder ======================= ****1/2

The Crypt of Terror #19

Ghost Ship! =============================== ***
The Hungry Grave ========================== ***1/2
Cave Man ================================== **1/2
Zombie ==================================== ***1/2

Tales from the Crypt #20

The Thing from the Sea! =================== ***1/2
A Fatal Caper! ============================ ****1/2
Rx... Death =============================== *****
Impending Doom! =========================== ****1/2

Tales from the Crypt #21

A Shocking Way to Die ===================== *****
Terror Ride =============================== ****1/2
House of Horror =========================== ***1/2
Death Suited Him ========================== *****

Tales from the Crypt #22

The Thing from the Grave! ================= *****
Blood Type "V" ============================ ***1/2
Death's Turn ============================== **
The Curse of Arnold Clan ================== ****1/2

First of all, the production values on this volume are excellent. The binding and pages are high quality. The colors have been cleaned up. In addition to reprinting the comics, covers, letter pages, and pure text stories, they have also added in pages of trivia and history, which is interesting to read.

However, this volume starts at the beginning of the "Tales from the Crypt" lifecycle. Is that bad? No, but there is some background information you should know. "Tales from the Crypt" actually started out as a crime comic called "Crime Patrol". This comic was renamed "The Crypt of Terror" at issue 17, and that is the first issue reprinted in this volume. 3 issues later, the comic was again renamed, this time to "Tales From The Crypt" at issue 20 (Don't worry, they didn't skip 19 issues).

"So what?" you're asking. Well, in this entire volume, the influence of the comic's criminal past is still very strong. Those expecting wall-to-wall horror may be disappointed that so many of the stories are still basically crime stories. Those who want more horror may be better served by the "Haunt of Fear" and "Vault of Horror" comics (both of which provided about as much material to the "Tales from the Crypt" TV series as the "Tales from the Crypt" comic itself).

Overall, this is a very nice volume showcasing the early years of "Tales from the Crypt." Just understand that this is still early in the comic's lifespan, and the editors still weren't creating an all-out horror comic.

I used to read EC Horror Stories long ago, and always loved them. When I had the chance to buy the original Volumes, I ran and did it.

Great quality for a classic work, I really recommend it!

I grew up reading comics and heard about EC, but they were long gone by the time I came along. In the early 90s, Gladstone began reprinting several EC titles in standard comic book format, two issues of material in each book. Now they are releasing the titles in chronological order in a larger, more durable format. This book is larger than the DC Archives, Marvel Masterworks amd similar collections, closer to a magazine size rather than a typical hard-cover book.. This allows the reader to see details in the artwork that would not have been noticeable in earlier editions. The artwork is reproduced sharply, surprising for a fifty-plus year old comic. There are several pages with information about the various creators at EC, the company history and the almost assembly line type art production style utilized in the book. Very interesting, and a bonus to the stories.
The stories themselves still hold up. Current comic stories can run over a years worth of issues, so the ability to tell three or four tales in one book is apparently rare these days. They contain the twist in most of them, where something isn't what it originally seemed or the bad person gets their come-uppance in a surprising way. Solid storytelling.
If you've never read any EC, I'd suggest starting with this, one of their more well-known titles, but can also recommend the Weird Science, ShockSuspense and Two Fisted Tales titles as well.