Product Description

EC Comics (Entertaining Comics) were all published from the late 1940s until around 1956, when the Comics Code Authority whitewashed all comic books to remove all themes of horror and violence. Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham and Senator Estes Kefauver's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency attacked horror comics as causes of the rise in juvenile delinquency and crimes by minors. These comic books were accused of having no redeeming value to society and were effectively banned by the actions of these groups in creating the Comics Code. EC Comics were superior to other comics of the 1950s because of a higher quality of writing and artwork, and they were widely imitated by other comics publishers. The subject matter for EC Comics were horror, science fiction/fantasy, crime stories, war stories and stories with a social message that generally had a twist or "shock" ending. This volume reprints the first six complete issues (24 stories) of the comic book Shock SuspenStories, originally published in 1952, and features a mixture of horror, crime, war and social issue-based stories, characterized by ironic "O. Henry" type twist endings, and including the first attempts in the comics medium to teach moral lessons about racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, gang violence, corrupt officials, etc.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #304326 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 212 pages

Customer Reviews

This is an AWESOME product!
Finally, Gemstone (and lifetime fan Russ Cochran) has published this, The EC Archives. It's what we fans have been waiting for....and it's finally in color.
This is THE original comics that was published by William gaines (yes, the founder of MAD!) along with Al Feldstein, and it contains artwork by all these legends in the comicbook business; "Ghastly" Graham Ingles, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, George Evans, Bernie Kriegstein, Joe Orlando, Harwey Kurtzman, Jack Kamen and even Feldstein himself! These stories were published during the period of 1950-1954, then after a congress hearing,where William Gaines defended his beloved comics, they banned these "morally wrong" comics, stating they caused "juvenile delinquency".
Now, after over fifty years later, they're regarded as classics! And the stories are all here, with exceptional art and newly added color (based on Marie Severin's original coloring schemes from the period), the book is all made up from six issues of the title, excactly as it was back in the fifties! If you love comics, then you can't go wrong with buying this book.....a cultural treasure from the "Golden Age" of comics! I just hope you'll get as big a kick from these beautifully done stories as i have.
Prepare to be amazed....

Comics at their best!
This is a great book. By 1952 EC Comics were in their stride, and the confidence of their production is evident here. These twist in the tale stories (which perhaps inspired The Twilight Zone years later) showcase the work of comic artists such as Jack Kamen, Wally Wood, and Graham Ingels in sharp detail. They also show the craft of the short story; almost a lost art in the multi-part comics of today.

The attraction of Shock SuspenStories were its morality tales. Not presented as twee homilies but as hard edged stories that showed the dark side of human nature. It's a place where every leafy suburb hides a secret that escalates into calamity, and where on every city street there's a hustler or a hoodlum about to be hoist by his own petard. In a way it's a corruption of the clean-cut image that America tried to create for itself in the 1950's. No wonder EC Comics disturbed the establishment; these stories peeled back the facade and showed that despite the sharp suits and the prosperity the seven deadly sins were still prospering too.

Excellent stuff.