Horror Comic History - EC Comics

The same month that Adventures into the Unknown was released,
EC Comics released Moon Girl #5.

This book featured their first horror story, Zombie Terror.
You can check that out here.

Then came their one horror comic that probably has the biggest "name" recognition: Tales from the Crypt. Most people are at least familiar with the Crypt Keeper if not the TV series.

Horror hounds know that Tales wasn't on its own though!

It actually had two other "sister" horror comics: The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear. Each book has its own GhouLunatic host. You can see them on the cover above. 

Although each host had their own book, it wasn't unusual for any of them to present stories in another book. In fact, there were times when they would get into a bit of  comedic rivalry among themselves.

91 issues were published across the three titles between 1950-55. Not surprisingly, these books fell victim to the Comics Code Authority restrictions on horror trappings. Before that, the success of these EC titles spawned numerous imitators, some racking up far more issues than even the combined trilogy's run.

That might make you wonder what it is about these books that has enabled them to stand the test of time (and multiple reprints) where other similar books have been buried in unmarked graves. For starters, they all but set the standard for horror comics of the early 50s. But probably most importantly, they had some soon to be big name talent a midst their writers and artists.

Alas, foul reader, these comics are not available at Comic Book Plus as they are not public domain like many of the other titles I've been posting.

Click here for Part 6 of Horror Comic History.

 

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