Golden Age reprints/collected editions

[CromagnonMan]

Four Color Fear

Publisher: Fantagraphics
Size: Slightly wider than standard
Matte paper
Colour

Yes, another oldie. This one came out originally in 2010, i believe. It is a collection of pre-code non-EC horror. The tag line of the book is "It wasn't just EC, see?".

It is a solid collection, with some truly stand-out stories. The most memorable for me (drawing purely from memory!) "The Corpse That Came to Dinner" which is hilarious, "Swamp Monster" and "Nightmare World" drawn by Basil Wolverton, and several others. About 75% of the stories in here get the 'thumbs up' from me, 40% is pure gold, with the remaining 25% being lesser quality IMO. Not sure if the intent was to create a "best of" collection here, because it doesnt read like that, although whats here is good and is unlikely to be collected elsewhere (although "Wall of Flesh" does feature in a Harvey Horrors collection ive read, maybe "Black Cat Mystery v1"?)

The artwork is what you expect from this era, and is nicely presented, with authentic colours. Clarity of the reproduction is good (appears to be cleaned-up scans maybe?). There is an amazing "covers galley" in the centre of the book, which reprints a lot of classic horror covers from the era on glossy paper. The extensive 'notes' section at the back of the book offers information about the creators involved in each story.

Overall, this book would have been an amazing purchase at its original price, although alas it is now the dreaded "OOP" or 'out of print' and people seem to be trying to extort obscene amounts for it on the secondary market.

Ratings
Reproduction ------------B
Art -------------A
Story---------------A
Consistency--------B

[CromagnonMan]

Tales from the Crypt [EC Archives] Vol. 1

Publisher: Gemstone
Size: Oversize
Glossy paper
Colour

Collects: The Crypt of Terror [1950] #17-19 & Tales from the Crypt [1950] #20-22

An ancient one, this one came out in 2006, but i just managed to find a cheap enough copy to buy and read.

This book definately gets stronger after the 1st couple of issues IMO. The best stories to my mind are "Cave Man", "Zombie!" (would be better/more memorable as "The White Zombie" which better describes the story but maybe sounds rascist?), "Impending Doom!" and "Deaths Turn", but they are nearly all better than the average horror of this era. Like most of the best pre-code horror, i find it more humourous than shocking or scary, im not sure if this was the intent? But from a modern perspective, its enjoyable to see the tables turned on the usually prim and proper or "perfectly moral" 50's era, and the sight of a grown man with short back and sides and a pinstripe suit having the hellish fears of his very soul made flesh right in front of him is downright humourous most of the time.

The artwork is good, by EC stalwarts Feldstein, Craig, Wood and Kurtzman among others. A worthy purchase, but i wouldnt pay much more than the cover price for it. Its not really any better than the other EC Archives ive read, but i suppose its all down to taste and to a horror fan they might get more out of it, but maybe try vols 2 & 3 first as they are still "in print".

Foreward by John Carpenter, but its not particularly enlightening or anything.

Ratings
Reproduction ------------B
Art -------------A
Story---------------A
Consistency--------B

[dan bailey]

alas it is now the dreaded "OOP" or 'out of print' and people seem to be trying to extort obscene amounts for it on the secondary market.

Yep. I was watching an eBay auction last week that ended with a winning bid of $35.20 + $4 shipping, which falls well short of "obscene," but being constitutionally unable to pay more than cover price, or really much more than original Amazon asking price, the seller might as well have been asking for an arm & a leg.

I gather from a glance a few days ago at Fantagraphics' listing for the volume that the most recent printing was the 2nd; here's hoping for a 3rd. (Which is the sort of naive thinking that led to my not ever owning an Uncanny X-Men Omnibus, of course.)

[CromagnonMan]

Yep. I was watching an eBay auction last week that ended with a winning bid of $35.20 + $4 shipping, which falls well short of "obscene," but being constitutionally unable to pay more than cover price, or really much more than original Amazon asking price, the seller might as well have been asking for an arm & a leg.

I would grab it at that price. The original cover price was $30 anyway. I just wouldnt pay the $80 that some people are trying for.

[dan bailey]

Clearly, you're not a congenital cheapskate. Consider yourself fortunate!

[CromagnonMan]

Clearly, you're not a congenital cheapskate. Consider yourself fortunate!

Im cheap enough. I dont think its very realsitic you'll get one any time soon for less than around $30, but its entirely up to you of course.

[dan bailey]

Of course, if I had gone for that price (or a bit above it, actually, since my bid would've had to top the winner, of course), my bank account would be in serious trouble right now, since HeavyInk inadvertantly charged me 3 times for some TPBs I ordered a few days ago (for some reason, the charge wouldn't go through the first couple of times, so they re-tried), & the 2 superfluous transacations still show up as "pending," as does a large Books-a-Million preorder of a bunch of future releases, about half of them Showcase Presents . Not to mention the slightly earlier Books-a-Million order that AFIACT is showing up, for now, as both pending & finallized, thereby constituting a double dip. *sigh*

Yaaaay, banks!

[CromagnonMan]

Yaaaay, banks!

its all part of the service, y'know! they have to earn those bonuses somehow, and AFAIK the stock markets not working for them right now..

[Venomous Mask]

Crime Does Not Pay Archives vol 1

Publisher: Dark Horse
Size: standard
Matte paper
Colour
279 pages

Collects: Crime Does Not Pay(1942) #1-4

I suppose the main draw to this series is the lurid crime covers. The cover of the book is taken from issue #3, which features a well-dressed ('30's gangster chic) man laughing as he is pushing a womans head onto a gas stove. He kind of looks like a commie to me, which may be intentional, as normal americans wouldnt do this kind of thing! The covers are well reproduced, however as the book is standard size they do look quite small, and taking into account the title banner and cover captions etc, takes away from the pure enjoyment of the cover art.

The main reason for reading this book would be for the 'real-life' crime stories, 8 to 12 page 'life' stories based on infamous or notorious gangsters. Lepke(?), Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, 'Legs' Diamond and Dutch Schultz all have individual features. The secondary stories would be the biographies of famous western 'anti-heroes' such as 'Wild Bill' Hickock, Pancho Villa, Billy the Kid and Belle Starr. The stories making up the rest of the volume could loosely be called 'filler' ranging from downright pointless and unreadable to somewhat entertaining. And of course, each issue has a text story, which i didnt read. In issue #3, we are introduced to an EC-style 'presenter', a ghoul called Mr. Crime, who claims to be the teacher of many of the criminals in the stories. The stories are characterised by the villains always receiving whats coming to them, with the moral being of course, Crime Does Not Pay! Crime Does Not Pay!

Overall a good volume. Recommended if you like reading comics from this era. As usual with these books, the content is wildly inconsistent, and attempts to comprehensively collect all the original stories , rather than an edited 'best-of'. Hence, some people may feel they are paying for some stories which they wouldnt want to.

I have rated the book according to reproduction quality, the usual story and art, rated according to the standards of the era rather than in comparison to more modern, "better" comics, consistency of content, and the 'pulp' factor, which i loosely determine to be how the stories reflect that era and the overall 'pulp' feel of the book.

The overall reproduction quality is excellent, and the book gets bonus points for including the original covers, back page ads and a contents/credits page for the individual stories.

Ratings
Reproduction ------------A
Art -------------B
Story---------------B
Consistency--------C
'pulp' factor--------A+

Attachment 91120Attachment 91121Attachment 91122
Some scans from the actual book.

I saw a number of these in a local comic shop the other day. I don't know if I'd buy them, but I wouldn't mind taking a look inside. Alot of the pre-Wertham stuff really interest me since despite the times they were pubished in, they were almost as violent and bloody as some modern comics like Crossed.

[dan bailey]

I saw a number of these in a local comic shop the other day. I don't know if I'd buy them, but I wouldn't mind taking a look inside. Alot of the pre-Wertham stuff really interest me since despite the times they were pubished in, they were almost as violent and bloody as some modern comics like Crossed.

As I noted at the time, what sold me on the Archives -- I ordered vol. 1 & preordered vol. 2 very shortly after reading it -- was the TPB Blackjacked & Pistol-Whipped: A Crime Does Not Pay Primer. Definitely worth picking up if you're at all on the fence.

[Ramage]

Recently I read the Crime Does Not Pay archives and just loved them, combined with my appreciation of Dark Horse's reproductions of 1960's Gold Key Books, I am finally interested in building an EC library and for the most part those EC archives seem affordable (mostly).

Can anyone give me a quick primer on the reproductions of EC books? Sounds like Russ Cochrane has made it his life's work

Cromagnonman, you give these EC archives a B on reproduction? Is it the digital recoloring of Marie Severin's coloring that you think weakens the books or is it just bad printing or formating?

Your input would be greatly appreciated before I take a big plunge.

[CromagnonMan]

the EC Archives are excellently produced, on a par with the Marvel Masterworks, so its not a problem with the printing. But as with the Masterworks, the digital colouring wont be to everyones tastes. But i personally dont mind this and i have a lot of the archives in my collection, if this helps.

i can maybe post some scans later if you like.

[Ramage]

That would be wonderful if you have the time, I'd love to see them. In the last year and half I have bought so many of these archive editions, I just accept the minor imperfections of updating something for a modern printer. Doesn't really bug me and empirically, the newer coloring sometimes improves the artwork. I understand that Marie Serverin herself contributed to these editions coloring.

--The older EC Library editions with the nice slipcases, those aren't color are they?

[CromagnonMan]

for Ramage (click on the images to view) :-

Random pages taken from Tales from the Crypt v1 (the first vol i came across in my pile) @ 300 dpi. Ignore the blurred edge where the page meets the spine and wouldnt scan properly - , the book is perfectly clear!







Hope this helps you to decide! About the Library editions in the slipcases, i personally wouldnt know but im led to believe those are all black & white, however slightly larger. and being out of print, hideously expensive!

[CromagnonMan]

another scan: