The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 1

by Grant Geissman

As any fan of comics knows, EC Comics still represent the best of golden age writing and artwork. Now, Dark Horse Books is proud to bring you the very first issues of EC's Tales from the Crypt , featuring the amazing artistic talents of Johnny Craig, Al Feldstein, George Roussos, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Graham Ingels, and Jack Kamen!

Genres: Horror, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Graphic Novels Manga, Anthologies

216 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2021

Reviews

[Ken W]

This just wasn’t for me. I do enjoy some older books and older comics but this graphic novel horror anthology from the ‘60’s just didn’t appeal to me. DNF at 45%. 2 stars.

[Dan]

The comics themselves are four stars but the coloring on these Dark Horse editions is an eyesore. Whose dumb ass idea was it to use gradients when coloring a 1950s horror comic?

[Wayne Farmer]

Pure nostalgia - my sister used to love the reprints of this comic and I used to read them too. The hardback editions are too pricey for my pocket, but glad they look to be doing cheaper paperback versions and hopefully they'll do the full collection. All the creepy, scary, gory, stories you could possibly want - I got a copy for my 14 year old daughter in Australia too.

[Karen]

Vintage Horror

This is horror from another time and place. While I very much enjoy it my only issue is the way that women are portrayed. They are either in love and subservient or lustful and ready to kill. The 40's and 50's saw a lot of murdered husbands and boyfriends as part of the horror. But while not fully scary it definitely made you think about the opposite sex in a whole new light.

[Matt Goldberg]

This scratches the pulp horror itch like nothing else. Sure, a few stories are anticlimactic and some plot beats recur across tales, but when it works, it’s a macabre perfection. And regardless of the story quality, the artwork is always incredible.

[Seth Augenstein]

The pinnacle of the form

[angelofmine1974]

Loved the old horror comics and the stories!

For the rest of my review, visit my Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/FGbmnNkayII

Enjoy!

[Melina]

I hope they make all 5 Vols into trade paperbacks!

[Michael Miller]

It's my childhood all over again... I only wish my kindle could zoom



The title says it all
If you love classic writing this book will not disappoint. I only wish it would not end

[DonJohn80]

Gamer than expected

Considering all the fuss and moral panic I expected something much closer to the series. It still has the Crypt charm though.

[Joaquin del Villar]

Se trata de una recopilación o mejor, lo que se ha venido en llamar un tomo integral con una serie de números de la revista Tales of the Crypt, de EC. Relatos con un estilo único e innconfundible, que luego fueron muy imitados.
En este tomo, yo destacaría "The man who was death" que es la historia de un excelente verdugo, que cuando no hay un condenado a mano, hace él mismo el papel de juez y verdugo, relato muy imaginativo. "Mute witness muerder", una mujer que es testigo de un asesinato, pierde la voz de la impresión, para curarla no tienen otra ocurrencia que internarla en la clínica regentada por el asesino, como en estas historias puede pasar cualquier cosa, el final fué lo que mas me gustó. Por último "The thing of the sea" sobre una aparición en el camarote número trece de un barco. Este relato, bueno, uno muy parecido lo he leído en algún libro de relatos de terror, pero no pongo en pie donde.

[Joshua]

The stories in this collection are a perfect blend of horrific and irreverent, and I honestly found myself laughing far more than any amount of dread. The stories in this collection were written with adults in mind, and often are predictable in terms of the narrative twist and that's most of the fun. Despite the fact that these stories are about murder, live burials, homicidal maniacs, and monsters attacking the living the victims in these stories are often gullible fools or else rediculous fops leaving the reader often sympathizing with the attacker. Tales from the Crypt allowed adult readers to revel in some macabre humor and even today the tone of these stories holds up really well.

Enjoy a laugh, maybe a fright, at these stories.

[Alan Barredo]

Este es el inicio de una revista que fue angular para el desarrollo del género de terror, su influencia en cómics, cine y televisión es innegable.

Peeeeero... muchas de las historias de estos primeros números son bastante medianas, se sienten muy predecibles y algunas la verdad es que son hasta aburridas.

Lo bueno es que va mejorando poco a poco conforme avanzas, hasta llegar al brinco de calidad más grande, qué ocurre justo después del cambio de nombre de The Crypt of Terror a Tales From the Crypt.

Una lectura histórica e importante, pero hay que tenerle paciencia al principio.

[Orlando Rodriguez]

This was a lot of fun! If you’re into anthology horror stories, this is a great read. The way the collection is published also gives you a look at how it must’ve felt to receive these magazines once long ago.

[Alyssa]

I really love these golden age comics, they’re very charming! The stories are simple (not really scary or creepy) but I like how the bad guys always get their due. Will be reading the next volumes! (they say it gets more scarier or creepier)

[Chris Miskimins]

Classics

I haven't read many pf.the old EC comics. They were more legendary in my mind as a comic fan especially after reading "Seduction of the Innocent" in high school in the 80s. To be able to visit these stories 75 years after they were published was a real treat.

[Brett Feinstein]

Very similar to other EC horror titles with formulaic underdeveloped stories with twist endings.

[Kelvin Fisher]

Reading this makes me reminisce about the TV show I watched as a kid.

[Byron Clements]

Love the nostalgia. Classic fun horror storys with a twist. I will be collecting all volumes.

[Poocy Mills]

Some nice spooks and creeps

[Cletis]

Nice job!

I have really been entertained by these classic tales of horror. It's not too much and It will time travel you back to a more simple time.

[Brett Littman]

EC Comics … definitely the blueprint for horror for decades to come.

[John Lane]

Okay

A bit repetitive and not as much fun as I remember. Not cheap for its vintage either. Wouldn't read again

[John Ward]

Classic stories. Beginning of a genre.

[Katherine Calicchia]

Classic.

[Sam Dicks]

Not too scary, but very cool to see the beginnings of horror comics

[Dylan Rock]

Possible the most influential horror comics in history whose influence on modern horror can be seen in such influential figures as Stephen King, Tom Savini and John Carpenter to name just a few.

[Troy Tradup]

Meh. Pretty artwork but very tame morality tales that didn't do much for me. A friend tells me EC Comics got gnarlier and more transgressive as time went on, so perhaps the later collections would be more up my alley. We'll see.

[Jeff McIntosh]

EC Comics, lauded by such luminaries in the field as Stephen King, as classics within the genre, and, sadly, unavailable in their original edition due to cost. There are any number of reprints out there, but thank Dark Horse Books for releasing this volume, which contains The Crypt of Terror 17-19, and Tales from the Crypt 20 - 22.

Artwork by Johnny Craig, Al Feldstein, George Roussos, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Ghastly Graham Ingels, and Jack Kamen.

Printed in a larger format than the original comic books, every horror and/or comic book fan would want these on their shelf.

Waiting for Volume 2....

[Chris Stephens]

Great reprints.
Must say that the glossy pages stink for reading comics though, glare.