Tales of Terror: The Ec Companion [Anglais] [Broché]

Nearly 50 years after they were crushed by moral guardians outraged by their Grand Guignol excesses, the genre comic books published by EC Comics still enthrall readers who grew up with them and generations of younger fans, too. EC's horror, science fiction, and war comics remain unsurpassed, and the early EC issues of Mad vitally influenced a generation of humorists and cartoonists. EC's output has been the subject of many lavish publications, including slipcased, oversize reprints of the runs of several titles and massive coffee-table tributes, but this book by two longtime fans is something else again. Its heart is a checklist, with detailed writer and artist credits, of every single EC comic book. This core is rounded out with interviews of comics creators, photos, private sketches, and other memorabilia, such as EC publisher William Gaines' testimony before the U.S. Senate subcommittee investigating horror comics. Most of the previous books about EC were designed for a relatively mainstream audience. This one aims at the hardcore fan-addicts--and should hit that target dead center. Gordon Flagg
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A marvelous scrapbook that provides a comprehensive checklist [and] a variety of interviews with and insiders' accounts....

The definitive story of EC Comics, the most notorious and well-regarded mass-market publisher in comics history. The EC line (MAD, Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, etc.) was a high point in terms of craft and presentation. From the humanistic, well-paced writing of editor Harvey Kurtzman to the artwork of lauded masters like Wally Wood and Bernie Krigstein, what truly sets EC apart in comics history is its wider influence on American pop culture. Horror, crime and sci-fi stories "in the EC tradition" are a staple of movies and television almost 50 years after their original heyday, and the original stories themselves were many readers' first exposure to these now-ubiquitous cultural trends. MAD magazine has been a rite of passage for three generations of American comedians, while Kurtzman's war comics—Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat—were not only amongst the very first comic books ever to successfully express human drama but were also perhaps the first popular entertainment in any medium to look at America's involvement in the Korean War and other conflicts with anything less than a strictly nationalistic and patriotic eye.

Every EC title is included in this comprehensive volume that uncovers the amazing history behind the comics, up to the US Senate driving EC out of business for allegedly corrupting America's youth (EC publisher Bill Gaines' testimony to a U.S. Senate Subcomittee—one of the most capricious political witch hunts this side of Joseph McCarthy—is included). Legendary EC creators like Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Graham Ingels and others are all represented, including previously unpublished interviews with several. Best of all, every EC cover is reproduced in full color. Co-published with Gemstone Comics, the official licensor of the EC line, and fully authorized by the estate of EC's Bill Gaines. Hundreds of lavish full-color pages.

Grant Geissman, author of several MAD magazine retrospectives, is also an accomplished musician and composer, having recorded with artists including Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, and Keiko Matsui. He lives in Los Angeles. Fred Von Bernewitz has edited several books concerning EC and MAD magazine and is also involved in an experimental film group called ReBirth Cinema, based in his hometown of New York.