The Undead Thread: Pre-Code Horror 21 21

[Norrin_Radd]

Scrooge said he wanted to hear a report on my Vault of Horror #26, so here it is.

 

First off, I would like to state that this was my first EC comic and it definately seemed ahead of it's time. To me, it read more like a SA comic than one from 1952 as far as the quality of the comic.

 

 

The first story ("Two of a Kind") reads more of a romance comic than a horror story. An actor and actress go away for a skiing weekend. Both have something to hide. They end up getting snowed-in at a log cabin. The actress is a vampire and the actor is a ghoul. We know this ahead of time because the Vault Keeper lets the cat out of the bag about halfway through the story (which I thought kind of spoiled the surprise). Both brought the other up there under false pretense, but finding that they have fallen in love with each other cannot go through with it. Days pass without rescue and they are both starving, one for blood and the other for flesh. By the time they are found, they are both dead. The ghoul having eaten most of his flesh and the vampire having drank her own blood.

Not a bad opening story, but fairly simple with little horror. I give it one Vault Keeper.

 

 

The second story ("Graft In Concrete") is the cover story and is introduced by the Crypt Keeper. The story starts out with a secret meeting between the mayor and a businessman who is a city official. The mayor is blackmailed into approving the route of a new road to go through the businessman's land. At the next meeting of city hall, the two other members disapprove at first. Until some financial arrangements are made including directing the road's path through part of the cemetery. When the road is about to reach the cemetery, the owner decides to cut costs by simply moving the headstones. Well, you can imagine what happens. All four officials are driving on the new road to the ribbon-cutting ceremony when a skeletal hand breaks through the concrete road. The car swerves off and crashes. They are trapped inside as a group of corpses come for them. The police drive by and notice the empty limousine and inquire. They find all four men pressed into the road with the steamroller that had been left on-site.

This story I liked. Dirty city hall officials lining their own pockets with some good horror aspects. I have to wonder if this story was the basis for the movie "Poltergeist".

Some nice art and coloring. I give it three Vault Keepers.

 

 

The third story ("Half-Way Horrible") was more involved with more character development. A man calls for an undertaker to visit him. The ensuing meeting is held in his darkened apartment. The undertaker asks why he has been summoned and the stranger tells him his back story. How he was diagnosed with some mental problems and started going to a psychiatrist. And how, as his condition continued to worsened, he would go out on the town at night and do things that where completely out of character for him. He finally realized that he has an evil side that is growing beyond his control. When his evil side kills his psychiatrist, he flees to the Carribean. Hearing a rumor in a bar, he tracks down a voodoo witch-doctor and asks him to cure him by killing his evil half. The witch-doctor ultimately agrees and does as he is commanded. It is at this point that the man turns on the lights and he tells the undertaker why he requires his services. The left half of his body (his evil side) is a decomposing corpse that he wants the undertaker to embalm! It seems that the voodoo witch-doctor took him a little too literally.

Classic horror comic story! Dramatic storyline and art. Four Vault Keepers.

 

 

The last story ("Hook, Line, and Stinker") is a more amusing one hosted by the Old Witch. Set in the 19th century, a woman has been engaged to a man for fifteen years but he won't commit. All he talks about is fishing. He spends his weekends away fishing and gives the mounted trophies to her. She is getting desperate. The next weekend, she happens to see him while on a walk. But he's not fishing, he's with another woman and overhears that the fishing is all a ruse to get away from her. Upon his return, she presses her fiancée for a date to get married. When he flounders, she takes more desperate action. In the morning, the housemaid finds him stuffed and mounted on the wall. The woman is in hysterics talking about she fought him for fifteen years but she finally landed him in.

Great stuff! Three Vault Keepers.

 

 

The letters page had comments from several readers that were all about some negative comments made about EC comics by a Mrs. Phelan.

 

 

Last night, I read a review of Vault of Horror in my Slings & Arrows guide. They state that the art in the series improved with every issue reaching a pinnacle at #35-#40. All of them have cover & story art by Johnny Craig (whom I like) and contain some great stories that are less violent than their counterparts in Haunt of Horror/Tales from the Crypt. So I'm definately intrigued and want to read more of this series.

 

While I could just buy reprints, I think I might buy the original issues piecemeal. How well do the reprints match the originals as far as coloring? What are the different reprints out there?

[Scrooge]

When he flounders , she takes more desperate action. In the morning, the housemaid finds him stuffed and mounted on the wall.

 

Tell me that was intentional

 

I am glad you liked the comic. Thank you for the review I tried to look up the artist line-up to share with every one but surprisingly this book is not indexed at the GCD

 

I would like to hear the opinion of others about the quality of the reprints. However, aren't the hardcover reprints in B&W while the softcover ones are in color? My local Half-price book has all (?) the hardcover sets for yee bit too much I think. Are there any sets hard to come by? Are there several editions of these? I'd like to hear from experts, or for that matter anyone who knows more than I do which is easy.

 

I give your report an AB. not listing the artists Yet ... that's a great opportunity. Now that we know the stories, let's play editor - from the EC artist stable, who would you assign to each story? let me think about that one for a bit and post again. Then we can check with David who pencilled each.

[Norrin_Radd]

When he flounders , she takes more desperate action. In the morning, the housemaid finds him stuffed and mounted on the wall.

 

Tell me that was intentional

Of course.

 

 

 

I tried to look up the artist line-up to share with every one but surprisingly this book is not indexed at the GCD

 

I give your report an AB. not listing the artists Yet ... that's a great opportunity. Now that we know the stories, let's play editor - from the EC artist stable, who would you assign to each story? let me think about that one for a bit and post again. Then we can check with David who pencilled each.

I would have included the artist but I don't know who did three of the four stories. I know the cover story was pencilled by Jack Davis because he signed the splash page. I couldn't find any info online.

 

I checked GCD, CBDB, ComicsPriceGuide, kutprice.com, ecfanaddict, and comics-db.com.

 

[originalisbest]

Nice review! From memory I know that Johnny Craig did the vamp/ghoul in the cabin story - Jack Davis as mentioned did "Graft in Concrete" - Ghastly Graham Ingels did the Old Witch story, all of these being par for the course (Vault-Keeper was Johnny Craig's character, Crypt-Keeper was Jack Davis', and the Old Witch the most strongly connected of all, to Graham Ingels.)

 

The artist who executed half-way horrible did a nice job, but wasn't an EC regular - sort of a sometimes EC-artist. His name slips my mind at the moment... unfortunately.

 

In those days, the penciling/inking was all done by the same person, and certainly this was the case for all these EC mainstays. Wood in fact mentioned he often/always did his own color, such as for the cover of Weird Science-Fantasy #27.

 

By the time this ish was published, out of habit/expectations of the audience, 3 of the 4 stories couldn't have been assigned to anyone but the guys who did them. Earlier on, it would have been more up in the air; Feldstein had a hand in almost everything at that time, before concentrating on the writing and editing of all the EC lineup.

[Norrin_Radd]

Nice review! From memory I know that Johnny Craig did the vamp/ghoul in the cabin story - Jack Davis as mentioned did "Graft in Concrete" - Ghastly Graham Ingels did the Old Witch story, all of these being par for the course (Vault-Keeper was Johnny Craig's character, Crypt-Keeper was Jack Davis', and the Old Witch the most strongly connected of all, to Graham Ingels.)

Thank you for the insight!

[Norrin_Radd]

I would like to hear the opinion of others about the quality of the reprints. However, aren't the hardcover reprints in B&W while the softcover ones are in color? My local Half-price book has all (?) the hardcover sets for yee bit too much I think. Are there any sets hard to come by? Are there several editions of these? I'd like to hear from experts, or for that matter anyone who knows more than I do which is easy.

 

Just bought a set of color reprint Annuals on eBay from Gemstone.

 

 

[originalisbest]

The hardcover editions are definitely a premium product, and appeal to a collector who might enjoy the feeling of looking at the original B/W art. However, the covers are in color. The popular titles have pretty much remained in print since first coming out in '79 - for whatever reason though, it's tough to find the Haunt of Fear set's slipcase. Dunno why that one's never around anymore....

 

For the enjoyment of reading them, certainly the color reprints are the way to go. I have all of the individual reprints Russ Cochran offers, but still enjoy collecting the originals too!

[Scrooge]

The hardcover editions are definitely a premium product, and appeal to a collector who might enjoy the feeling of looking at the original B/W art. However, the covers are in color. The popular titles have pretty much remained in print since first coming out in '79 - for whatever reason though, it's tough to find the Haunt of Fear set's slipcase. Dunno why that one's never around anymore....

 

Thank you. I vaguely remembered one was less common than the others, just couldn't remember which one. Are there different editions of the HC sets?

[originalisbest]

I do believe there are different editions, sort of "constantly in print" for the 3 horror titles - but I don't actually own any! So, I don't know how they're marked inside as to copyright, etc. I do know that in old issues of the Comics Journal, the very first examples came out in '79. But the slipcase design, binding, etc. has not changed in appearance since then - so if you're buying a set off ebay, etc. I don't think there's a clear way to tell.

 

I myself, if wanting a set, would gravitate to wanting the first edition of it, but so far as I know there's not a great difference in value. Certain sets may not stay in print as long; I'm not sure how available the Sci-Fi is from Russ, but with patience it could be found on eBay eventually, I'm sure.

 

Edit to say, you can get the Haunt of Fear books easy enough - just not the slipcase! But, I did recently see a set with slipcase on eBay. It's all out there somewhere...

 

Oh yes, here's another fun tidbit. The EC cover sets - just extra covers that were printed for the slipcase editions - in the Haunt of Fear cover set, there should be (surprise extras) the 3 annual Horror covers. I don't think they appear in the slipcase books anywhere - but I could be wrong.

 

Same deal for the Sci-Fi cover sets; one of them came with the Sci-Fi annual covers.

Edited January 14, 2006 by originalisbest

[originalisbest]

Oh yeah, Sid Check did "Half-Way Horrible" in Vault #26. Dangit that was bothering me - he was a great artist, but not really one of the EC regulars.

[precodekeith]

Just bought a set of color reprint Annuals on eBay from Gemstone.

 

I'm very partial to the bound "Annuals", myself!

[Norrin_Radd]

Just bought a set of color reprint Annuals on eBay from Gemstone.

 

I'm very partial to the bound "Annuals", myself!

I've been waiting for you to chime in on this subject.

[precodekeith]

Just bought a set of color reprint Annuals on eBay from Gemstone.

 

I'm very partial to the bound "Annuals", myself!

I've been waiting for you to chime in on this subject.

 

Yeah, I'm a little behind on posting. Getting ready to wrap up my clinicals, start my precepting, & prepare for final exam & state testing. Not to mention getting the baby room ready. (She's due March 12th, & I gradute March 9th.)

 

STRESS!!!.....

[Scrooge]

(She's due March 12th, & I gradute March 9th.)

 

At least, you're the one who will be doing the walking. Congrats.

[Norrin_Radd]

Yeah, I'm a little behind on posting. Getting ready to wrap up my clinicals, start my precepting, & prepare for final exam & state testing. Not to mention getting the baby room ready. (She's due March 12th, & I gradute March 9th.)

 

STRESS!!!.....

 

Congratulations and good luck.

[adamstrange]

The hardcover editions are definitely a premium product, and appeal to a collector who might enjoy the feeling of looking at the original B/W art. However, the covers are in color. The popular titles have pretty much remained in print since first coming out in '79 - for whatever reason though, it's tough to find the Haunt of Fear set's slipcase. Dunno why that one's never around anymore....

 

Thank you. I vaguely remembered one was less common than the others, just couldn't remember which one. Are there different editions of the HC sets?

 

As far as I'm aware there isn't any substantial difference between the editions.

 

I recommend the HC sets. These particular artist starting drawing as much or more for each other as they did the readers. What they brought into the office to show off was their B&W work and it's absolutely incredible stuff that just doesn't come across on the comics page when shrunk and splattered with color (and that's not a knock against Marie Severin's coloring, which I think is superb on the covers).

 

The hard cover sets also have articles and interviews just like the Carl Barks Library. I was lucky to find most of mine when they were somewhat out of favor and got them for 10 bucks a book, although I only got the ones I'm particularly interested in, the Sci Fi and the War.

[originalisbest]

Good info to have, adamstrange! Thanks for reminding me that the B/W artistry of the EC staff is what really makes those worthwhile. They are larger format, not quite the original art size, but a much better view than what the normal-sized books can offer.

[Norrin_Radd]

Here is an interesting discussion on the topic of EC reprints from 12/04...

 

 

Goldust40

 

IMO I do prefer the way the original E.C.s look over the reprints.....I think it's to do with the paper stock or brightness of the repros not quite providing the right feel or tone for the stories.

 

Having said that collecting E.C.s is worthwhile whichever format you choose. If you're not concerned about condition low grade copies of most of them (except possibly the keys) are very affordable and absolutely knockout reading. For a time E.C. were way ahead of the pack when it came to storytelling and artistic maturity.

 

 

chrisco37

 

No doubt. I also prefer the originals, but even low grade copies can be pretty pricey. I grabbed the reprints to read and decide which books I'd like to plunk my money down on.

 

 

That's what I plan to do as well. I loved VoH #26 so now I'll read the color reprints to decide what else I want to buy. VoH #17's werewolf cover is a contender.

[precodekeith]

Yeah, for aesthetic "feel" I'd have to say that the originals (which I only have a couple of) are going to provide something better than the reprints. Like stated, I don't know if it is in the colors or paper, but the originals have a more pleasing "tone" to the art, if you will.

 

I still like the reprint Annuals for sheer reading pleasure convenience.

[originalisbest]

I concur, there's just NOTHING like the originals - different coloration methods + age of the paper.

 

IMO Norrin, do NOT miss the chance to pick up an original of Vault #28. Absolutely one of my fave issues, every story!

 

As well, I love Crypt #37 - seldom has a blood-red cover looked so good. "Where's that blasted polish!"

 

Crypt #35 comes in high on the list of coolness as well, due to Joe Orlando's "Midnight Mess". For me it is due to the atmospheric art Orlando pens - great stuff there.

 

A sentimental fave is Crypt #40, with an outstanding Davis cover and, again, every story inside a winner. This is a sentimental fave for me, as it was the first TFTC issue I ever read.