EC comics in TPB form

[jmanning]

Are there any reprints of the the horror/sc-fi comics published by EC comics like Tales from the Crypt and Weird Science?

[Slam_Bradley]

The Gemstone Reprints of the EC line were collected in to "trades". They usually consisted of five issues of each title. You can find them pretty readily on E-bay.

[Sir Tim Drake]

The Gemstone Reprints of the EC line were collected in to "trades". They usually consisted of five issues of each title. You can find them pretty readily on E-bay.

Confusingly enough, those collections were called annuals, not trades.

[Chad Anderson]

Also worth noting that the "annuals" show up in Previews from time to time, under Gemstone's listing. I just received a full run of the Tales From the Crypt annuals that I preordered.

[Slam_Bradley]

I've picked probably half of them up piece-meal on E-bay. I never pay more than $5 apiece for them. (that's including postage)

[flatPatter]

Thanks for the info. I've got most of the EC weird science / tales reprints in single issues but am looking to trade up to the fatty TPB's.

[jam]

Not sure I'm adding anything to the discussion but those "annuals" are great.

I managed to get "Weird Fantasy" and "Weird Science Fantasy" collections, and "Panic" and "Impact".

I actually bought some direct from Gemstone so I guess I paid top dollar (and postage from the USA all the way to merrie ol' blighty) ... but worth every penny.

Years ago I bought the B/W Hardback collection of "Weird Science" ...

As much as I love EC I can't bring myself to buy any of the horror titles. I'm not a big fan of horror and I find the EC material quite tough to take. This may be because when I was a child my sister bought a paperback collection of EC horror (I wonder where the heck she found it? Woolworths, perhaps? She wasn't a comics fan, although I was ...) and I read it. Trauma!!!!

Good ol' Woolworths. I remember when it used to get imported American paperbacks and sell them really quite cheapily. Although I had been reading SF at the library, I'm pretty sure the first SF paperback I ever bought was from Woolworths : "Space, Time and Crime", an anthology. It was really good (or at least that's how I remember it), I can still remember some of the stories. I also bought some of the "Batman" Bob Kane (well, Dick Sprang and Sheldon -- argh! I've forgotten his last name!, really) paperbacks, brought out, no doubt, to cash in on the TV show. Good times. I wish Woolworths was still that kind of shop!

[Slam_Bradley]

Not sure I'm adding anything to the discussion but those "annuals" are great.

I managed to get "Weird Fantasy" and "Weird Science Fantasy" collections, and "Panic" and "Impact".

I actually bought some direct from Gemstone so I guess I paid top dollar (and postage from the USA all the way to merrie ol' blighty) ... but worth every penny.

Years ago I bought the B/W Hardback collection of "Weird Science" ...

As much as I love EC I can't bring myself to buy any of the horror titles. I'm not a big fan of horror and I find the EC material quite tough to take. This may be because when I was a child my sister bought a paperback collection of EC horror (I wonder where the heck she found it? Woolworths, perhaps? She wasn't a comics fan, although I was ...) and I read it. Trauma!!!!



There really isn't a huge amount of difference between the EC horror books and the "science fiction" books. Seriously, the bug-eyed monsters in the SF books and the SF trappings are really pretty close to the supernatural critters in the horror mags.

By far the best books, in my opinion, were the Harvey Kurtzman edited war mags. Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat set a standard of excellence that has seldom been met since.

"Panic" and "Impact" are two that I'd really like to find, but haven't as yet.

[dan bailey]

Good ol' Woolworths. I remember when it used to get imported American paperbacks and sell them really quite cheapily. Although I had been reading SF at the library, I'm pretty sure the first SF paperback I ever bought was from Woolworths : "Space, Time and Crime", an anthology.

edited by miriam allen deford! can't remember if i still have my copy, though i'm pretty sure i still remember the typically excellent abstract richard powers cover. (how in heck he wound up doing a handful of covers for gold key [the first few dr solars, i think, & at least one starstream], i have no idea.)

[Rob Imes]

The thing about the "annuals" that should be emphasized, just in case somebody reading this thread doesn't know and goes out and buys a bunch of them: They are actually leftover copies of the single issue reprints which are simply bound together (usually 4 or 5 issues at a time) under one cover.

Which means that sometimes the edge of the pages come closer to the spine than they were originally intended, which can make it a bit of a pain to read unless you don't mind trying to flatten each page.

I think the "Annuals" were a good idea in theory, and probably ideal for long car trips, but personally I try to avoid them. I prefer Gemstone's single-issue reprints.

Personally I don't see the desirability of an EC trade paperback series. The work consists of short stories which were never intended to be read in one volume or in one sitting. In fact, I would surmise that experiencing EC that way might even lessen their impact, bringing out a sameness in the storytelling. (For example, I used to love stories with twist endings. EC got me hating twist-endings, though, because after awhile it seemed like they were often forcing corny twist-endings onto many otherwise-good stories.)

And the runs were short enough that the company's entire output can fill two short boxes without much difficulty, unlike the sprawling runs of Marvel and DC superhero mainstays where storylines spread across different titles, etc.

However, if a trade paperback collection were to be done, I think that it ought to be approached the way a good prose short-story collection is done, with stories selected by an editor with an eye toward making a really good essential anthology (unlike the "Essentials" which include many non-essential stories). Perhaps a book focusing on the EC work of a particular artist (e.g., "Johnny Craig's EC Crime Stories") or a "best of" for each series ("The Best of Crime SuspenStories").

Until that time, however, we luckily have Gemstone's single-issue reprint series, which I recommend collecting.

[Ed Cunard]

And the runs were short enough that the company's entire output can fill two short boxes without much difficulty, unlike the sprawling runs of Marvel and DC superhero mainstays where storylines spread across different titles, etc.

For me, it's a durability issue, and a convenience one--I'm not big on collecting, per se, and part of that is due to the fact that I don't take care of things and I'm terribly unorganized. My wife and I have just started getting the EC Gemstone hardcovers off Ebay (and I'm hoping the new Archive-style collections will have more of the old black-and-white collections popping up on ebay). I do agree, though, that reading them all in one sitting isn't the best way to read them, but I love seeing the black-and-white art, and they're just so durable and pretty on a bookcase.

However, if a trade paperback collection were to be done, I think that it ought to be approached the way a good prose short-story collection is done, with stories selected by an editor with an eye toward making a really good essential anthology (unlike the "Essentials" which include many non-essential stories). Perhaps a book focusing on the EC work of a particular artist (e.g., "Johnny Craig's EC Crime Stories") or a "best of" for each series ("The Best of Crime SuspenStories").

That is a really cool idea.

[Slam_Bradley]

The thing about the "annuals" that should be emphasized, just in case somebody reading this thread doesn't know and goes out and buys a bunch of them: They are actually leftover copies of the single issue reprints which are simply bound together (usually 4 or 5 issues at a time) under one cover.

Which means that sometimes the edge of the pages come closer to the spine than they were originally intended, which can make it a bit of a pain to read unless you don't mind trying to flatten each page.



I actually haven't found this with any of the "annuals" that I've gotten. I have come across a couple where one issue is significantly more yellowed than the others. But all have been easily readable.

I absolutely agree that overall they don't read well in one sitting. That's especially true of the horror books. It is repetitive. On the other hand, I read Valor, over a period of three or four days and the subject matter was varied enough that it read just fine. With the horror and SF books I prefer to read an issue a week or thereabouts.

[MDG]

Personally I don't see the desirability of an EC trade paperback series. The work consists of short stories which were never intended to be read in one volume or in one sitting. In fact, I would surmise that experiencing EC that way might even lessen their impact, bringing out a sameness in the storytelling.
That's really true--I don't own the hardcovers, but I've read some of them and reading even 4 issues worth in a row gets you wondering what the big deal was. And I consider myself an EC fan.

MDG

[jam]

edited by miriam allen deford! can't remember if i still have my copy, though i'm pretty sure i still remember the typically excellent abstract richard powers cover. (how in heck he wound up doing a handful of covers for gold key [the first few dr solars, i think, & at least one starstream], i have no idea.)

Oh my GOD!!!! Someone who not only remembers the anthology but the name of the person who EDITED IT!!! Wow!!!!

Anyhoo ... great book, wasn't it? (I lost my copy a LONG LONG time ago!)

[discostu]

I'm still trying to track down the HC tales from the crypt reprints from 79. And you people do realize that you don't have to read an entire trade in one sitting, right?

[Prelude]

I absolutely agree that overall they don't read well in one sitting. That's especially true of the horror books. It is repetitive. On the other hand, I read Valor, over a period of three or four days and the subject matter was varied enough that it read just fine. With the horror and SF books I prefer to read an issue a week or thereabouts.Of course the horror stories can be repetitive, but they're addicting to read. Still, I try to read only two reprinted comics at a time. I can't really say if I would read an entire trade of EC horror stories all in one sitting. Hell, I probably would ruin it for myself and read it all at once.

I want to get my hands on some EC science fiction. Until then, I'll enjoy my reprinted horror.

[TheHistorian]

I'm still trying to track down the HC tales from the crypt reprints from 79.

It shows up pretty regularly on eBay (I see only one up at the moment).

[Richard Onley]

I would surmise that experiencing EC that way might even lessen their impactI ordered the entire run at one time, put them into the original order of their publication (near as I could determine it), and read them chronologically. It was the ideal way to experience EC. You vary the routine a bit by following a horror book with a sci-fi book with a war book with a humor book, and get a good feeling for the trends they went through (like the Bradbury fad, which sort of went nova; the way Feldstein started out wasting a full page each story getting the rocket ship off the ground; or the increasing issue-by-issue one-upping of new walking-dead gimmicks).


And the runs were short enough that the company's entire output can fill two short boxes without much difficultyMy complete "New Direction" titles all fit comfortably into a single long box.

[MDG]

Gemstone is selling full runs of their reprints on eBay. Here's an example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/EC-Comics-The-Vault-of-Horror-32-page-comics_W0QQitemZ6564210043QQcategoryZ70QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem

Although I get the feeling you could probably find them elsewhere at a better price.

Also some single volumes of the B&W hardcovers.

MDG