Shock SuspenStories
The EC Archives
Dark Horse Comics, 2021
Young Adult
No other pre-code comic can hold a candle to the quality of writing, art, even the mechanical lettering* of Entertaining Comics. EC’s shock and horror is true class, the fireside tale taken as an art form. (*using a Leroy lettering scribe)
The introduction to this volume by Grant Geissman details a quick overview of EC’s history with Bill Gaines, from Picture Stories From the Bible to Seduction of the Innocent. (But if you aren’t already familiar with that story you probably wouldn’t have sought out this valuable collection.) These new releases are much the same as Russ Cochran’s 1981 hardcover reprints, but in four beautifully resonant and restored colors!
The short forward by Stephen Spielberg notes how the Suspense Stories are really morality plays, despite Wertham’s claims. Unswayed by public opinion, Gaines and Feldman weren’t afraid to take on controversial topics like racism or patriotic mob mentality. The evil horrors and delectably guilty tortures are both delightful and viscerally thrilling because they are presented as natural justice for some hateful transgression, not of social norms, but crime against the love and respect due our fellow human beings. Here, revenge is the result of cruelty, paid in kind.
With the latest edition in affordable paperback (at long last), Dark Horse comics has artfully reproduced the classic tales from the original Shock SuspenStories artwork; ads, letter columns, and all. The original run was only 18 issues, highlighted by unforgettable covers, from 1952 to 1955. But Shock SuspenStories aren’t the only title being reprinted. Dark Horse is making EC’s entire catalog available for consumption by the public on paper, no less, not just as an E-comic. These just happen to be my favorite.
While EC defined the “zombie returns from the grave for revenge” story, some of their crime comics were even more gruesome than the supernatural horror. A bag placed over a victim’s head along with starving sewer rats, faces disintegrated with acid, it was all too horrible. For grown-ups anyway. These stories will bring you back to a time when you could tell the difference between fact and fiction and right was made clear from wrong, even if it had to be shoved down the antagonists throat or beaten into them with a meat cleaver.
I remember when Russ Cochran ran reprint comics back in the ‘90s, but with the comic market on fire like it is today, even the Gladstone editions can get pricey to buy individually. My suggestion is that you run out and grab a few of your favorite titles or some of these Dark Horse reprints with the creepiest stories to hold on to. EC in full color on paper will be something you will definitely want to have on the shelf for the long term.
