EC Archives
Encyclopedia
The EC Archives are a series of American hardcover collections of full-color comic book
reprints of EC Comics
, published by Russ Cochran
and Gemstone Publishing
from 2006 to 2008.
The output of Bill Gaines
' EC Comics
line in the 1940s and 1950s is one of the most critically acclaimed of the pre-Comics Code comics publishers (and one of the major casualties of the Comics Code). Such EC Comics
as Tales from the Crypt and Weird Science
are known even to people unfamiliar with the source material, due to film-TV adaptations and numerous reprints, including publisher Cochran's Complete EC Library, published from 1978 to 2006. Between 1992 and 2000, Cochran and Gemstone Publishing
also produced full-color individual issues and EC Annuals reprints of almost all the EC Comics, beginning with The Haunt of Fear
, The Vault of Horror
and Weird Science.
, Gemstone began producing a more durable series of hardback reprint collections designed by Michael Kronenberg. Similar to the DC Archives
and Marvel Masterworks
series, the EC Archives superseded Cochran's original annotated EC Library (of black-and-white stories) by reprinting sequential compilations of EC titles in a full-color, hardback archival format with new annotations. On January 11, 2011, Cochran looked back on the project, noting the differences between his earlier EC Library and the later EC Archives:
Each book reprints six issues for a total of 24 stories. The original coloring by EC's colorist Marie Severin
was used as a guide for digital recoloring by Jamison Services, a color separation company in West Plains, Missouri
, the hometown of publisher Cochran. Allen Jamison and Jamison Services had previously done coloring for the DC Archives. Also contributing to the project at Cochran's West Plains office were operations manager Angela Meyer and production artist Chris Rock. Crediting Kronenberg as "Art Director/Designer and Color Editor" and Marie Severin for "Colors", Cochran explained the digital upgrade given to Severin's coloring:
Along with the original EC advertisements, editorials and letters pages, the books also feature introductions by John Carpenter
, Joe Dante
, Paul Levitz
, George Lucas
, Steven Spielberg
, R. L. Stine
, Jerry Weist and others. The entirety of the New Trend and New Direction comics were planned for eventual release. Kronenberg suggested EC's Pre-Trend titles might also be reprinted in Archive form. However, EC's black-and-white Picto-Fiction magazines are unlikely to be reprinted as EC Archives.
The EC Archives publishing schedule was suspended in 2008 due to financial difficulties at Gemstone Publishing, but the line is now being revived under a new publisher. GC Press LLC, a boutique imprint established by Russ Cochran and Grant Geissman
, announced in a September 1, 2011 press release that it is continuing the EC Archives series. The first new releases, The Haunt of Fear Volume 1 and The Vault of Horror Volume 2, are slated for publication in November 2011.
. Weird Science Volume 2 was released in August 2008. The limited editions came packaged with a pair of white gloves for handling of the expensive volumes.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
reprints of EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
, published by Russ Cochran
Russ Cochran (publisher)
Russ Cochran is a publisher of EC Comics reprints, Disney comics and books on Hopalong Cassidy, Chet Atkins, Les Paul and vacuum tubes. He has been a publisher for over 30 years, after quitting his job as a physics professor....
and Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
from 2006 to 2008.
The output of Bill Gaines
William Gaines
William Maxwell Gaines , better known as Bill Gaines, was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically important line of mature-audience comics...
' EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
line in the 1940s and 1950s is one of the most critically acclaimed of the pre-Comics Code comics publishers (and one of the major casualties of the Comics Code). Such EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
as Tales from the Crypt and Weird Science
Weird Science (comic)
Weird Science was a science fiction anthology comic book that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. Over a four-year span, the comic ran for 22 issues, ending with the November–December, 1953 issue...
are known even to people unfamiliar with the source material, due to film-TV adaptations and numerous reprints, including publisher Cochran's Complete EC Library, published from 1978 to 2006. Between 1992 and 2000, Cochran and Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
also produced full-color individual issues and EC Annuals reprints of almost all the EC Comics, beginning with The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. The Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue...
, The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies...
and Weird Science.
Digital recoloring
In 20062006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...
, Gemstone began producing a more durable series of hardback reprint collections designed by Michael Kronenberg. Similar to the DC Archives
DC Archive Editions
DC Archive Editions, collect early, sometimes rare, comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series. With more than 100 titles, this series began in 1989 with Superman Archives Vol. 1...
and Marvel Masterworks
Marvel Masterworks
Marvel Masterworks are a American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics. They are printed in full color and feature various titles from the Golden Age, Pre-Code , Silver Age, and Bronze Age of comics.The collection started in 1987 with volumes...
series, the EC Archives superseded Cochran's original annotated EC Library (of black-and-white stories) by reprinting sequential compilations of EC titles in a full-color, hardback archival format with new annotations. On January 11, 2011, Cochran looked back on the project, noting the differences between his earlier EC Library and the later EC Archives:
- A few years ago, with the support and encouragement of Steve GeppiSteve GeppiStephen A. Geppi is a comic book distributor, publisher and former comic store owner. Having established an early chain of comic shops in Baltimore in the mid-late 1970s, he is best known for his distributing business. Geppi founded Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest comic direct distribution...
and with the permission of the Gaines Estate, I started on a new format: the EC Archives. These are slightly smaller hardcover books (smaller than the EC Library volumes but larger than the original ten-cent comic books), and because of increased demand and the availability of cheaper color printing in China, the EC Archives books were full color, with new color in an infinite palette now being possible with the advances in technology.
Each book reprints six issues for a total of 24 stories. The original coloring by EC's colorist Marie Severin
Marie Severin
Marie Severin is an American comic book artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics....
was used as a guide for digital recoloring by Jamison Services, a color separation company in West Plains, Missouri
West Plains, Missouri
West Plains is a city in Howell County, Missouri, United States. The population was 10,866 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Howell County. The West Plains Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Howell County.-Geography:...
, the hometown of publisher Cochran. Allen Jamison and Jamison Services had previously done coloring for the DC Archives. Also contributing to the project at Cochran's West Plains office were operations manager Angela Meyer and production artist Chris Rock. Crediting Kronenberg as "Art Director/Designer and Color Editor" and Marie Severin for "Colors", Cochran explained the digital upgrade given to Severin's coloring:
- Most of the original coloring of these stories is the work of EC colorist Marie Severin, and although all of these stories have been re-colored for this new edition, her style of coloring was followed to retain the integrity of the original EC comic books.
Along with the original EC advertisements, editorials and letters pages, the books also feature introductions by John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
, Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....
, Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he has worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles...
, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, R. L. Stine
R. L. Stine
Robert Lawrence Stine , known as R. L. Stine, and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American writer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature," is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The...
, Jerry Weist and others. The entirety of the New Trend and New Direction comics were planned for eventual release. Kronenberg suggested EC's Pre-Trend titles might also be reprinted in Archive form. However, EC's black-and-white Picto-Fiction magazines are unlikely to be reprinted as EC Archives.
The EC Archives publishing schedule was suspended in 2008 due to financial difficulties at Gemstone Publishing, but the line is now being revived under a new publisher. GC Press LLC, a boutique imprint established by Russ Cochran and Grant Geissman
Grant Geissman
Grant Geissman is a crossover jazz, contemporary jazz and new age guitarist and an Emmy-nominated composer for network TV series and TV movies. An in-demand studio musician, he has recorded extensively for several labels since 1976, and he can be heard playing guitar on the theme for Monk and...
, announced in a September 1, 2011 press release that it is continuing the EC Archives series. The first new releases, The Haunt of Fear Volume 1 and The Vault of Horror Volume 2, are slated for publication in November 2011.
EC Archives schedule
| Title | Volume | Reprints | Introduction | First printing | Pages | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC Archives: Crime SuspenStories Crime SuspenStories Crime SuspenStories was a bi-monthly anthology crime comic published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title first arrived on newsstands with its October/November 1950 issue and ceased publication with its February/March 1955 issue, producing a total of 27 issues... |
1 | Crime SuspenStories #1 - 6 | Max Allan Collins Max Allan Collins Max Allan Collins is an American mystery writer. He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition , created the comic book private eye Ms... |
January 2008 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7274-X |
| EC Archives: Frontline Combat Frontline Combat Frontline Combat was a bi-monthly, anthology war comic edited by Harvey Kurtzman and published by EC Comics. The first issue was cover dated July/August, 1951. Over a three-year span, the title ran for 15 issues, ending with the January, 1954 issue... |
1 | Frontline Combat #1 - 6 | John Benson | October 2008 | 212 | ISBN 1-6036-0014-0 |
| EC Archives: The Haunt of Fear The Haunt of Fear The Haunt of Fear was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. The Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue... |
1 | The Haunt of Fear #15(1) - 17(3); #4 - 6 (with notes by Grant Geissman Grant Geissman Grant Geissman is a crossover jazz, contemporary jazz and new age guitarist and an Emmy-nominated composer for network TV series and TV movies. An in-demand studio musician, he has recorded extensively for several labels since 1976, and he can be heard playing guitar on the theme for Monk and... ) |
Robert Englund Robert Englund Robert Barton Englund is an American actor, voice-actor and director, best known for playing the fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger, in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in... |
November 2011 | 212 | ISBN 1-6036-0015-9 |
| EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories Shock SuspenStories Shock SuspenStories was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly comic, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, began with issue 1 in February/March 1952. Over a four-year span, it ran for 18 issues, ending with the December/January 1955 issue.- Artists and writers... |
1 | Shock SuspenStories #1 - 6 (with notes by Russ Cochran Russ Cochran Russell Earl Cochran is an American professional golfer on the Champions Tour who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He is one of eight left-handed players to win a PGA Tour event.... ) |
Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an... |
December 2006 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7257-X |
| 2 | Shock SuspenStories #7 - 12 | Dean Kamen Dean Kamen Dean L. Kamen is an American entrepreneur and inventor from New Hampshire.Born in Rockville Centre, New York, he attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but dropped out before graduating after five years of private advanced research for drug infusion pump AutoSyringe... |
June 2007 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7270-7 | |
| EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt | 1 | Tales from the Crypt #17(1) - 22(6) | John Carpenter John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born... |
February 2007 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7255-3 |
| 2 | Tales from the Crypt #23(7) - 28(12) | Joe Dante Joe Dante Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content.... |
July 2007 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7271-5 | |
| 3 | Tales from the Crypt #29(13) - 34(18) | Robert Overstreet | September 2008 | 212 | ISBN 1-6036-0011-8 | |
| 4 | Tales from the Crypt #29(13) - 34(18) | Unknown | Unknown | 212 | ISBN 1-6036-0104-X | |
| EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales Two-Fisted Tales Two-Fisted Tales was a bimonthly, anthology war comic published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title originated in 1950 when Harvey Kurtzman suggested to William Gaines that they publish an adventure comic. Kurtzman became the editor of Two-Fisted Tales, and with the advent of the Korean War,... |
1 | Two-Fisted Tales #18(1) - 23(6) | Steve Geppi Steve Geppi Stephen A. Geppi is a comic book distributor, publisher and former comic store owner. Having established an early chain of comic shops in Baltimore in the mid-late 1970s, he is best known for his distributing business. Geppi founded Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest comic direct distribution... |
March 2007 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7256-1 |
| 2 | Two-Fisted Tales #24(7) - 29(12) | Professor Rocco Versaci | August 2007 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7272-3 | |
| 3 | (Two-Fisted Tales #30(13) - 35(18)) | Unknown | Unknown | 212 | ISBN 1-6036-0017-5 | |
| EC Archives: The Vault of Horror The Vault of Horror The Vault of Horror was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies... |
1 | The Vault of Horror #12(1) - 17(6) (with notes by Roger Hill) |
R. L. Stine R. L. Stine Robert Lawrence Stine , known as R. L. Stine, and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American writer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature," is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The... |
October 2007 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7273-1 |
| 2 | The Vault of Horror #12(1) - 17(6) (with notes by Bhob Stewart Bhob Stewart Bhob Stewart is an American writer, editor, artist and film maker who has written for a variety of publications over a span of five decades. His articles and reviews have appeared in TV Guide, Publishers Weekly and other publications, along with online contributions to Allmovie, the Collecting... ) |
John Landis John Landis John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:... |
November 2011 | 212 | ISBN 1-6036-0103-0 | |
| EC Archives: Weird Science Weird Science (comic) Weird Science was a science fiction anthology comic book that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. Over a four-year span, the comic ran for 22 issues, ending with the November–December, 1953 issue... |
1 | Weird Science #12(1) - 15(4), #5 - 6 | George Lucas George Lucas George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones... |
December 2006 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7258-8 |
| 2 | Weird Science #7 - 12 | Paul Levitz Paul Levitz Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he has worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles... |
May 2007 | 212 | ISBN 1-8884-7269-3 | |
| 3 | Weird Science #13 - 18 | Jerry Weist / Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th... |
August 2008 | 212 | ISBN 1-6036-0010-8 |
Chronological list of EC Archives
- The EC Archives: Weird Science Volume 1 (6 December 2006)
- The EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories Volume 1 (6 December 2006)
- The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 1 (14 February 2007)
- The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales Volume 1 (28 February 2007)
- The EC Archives: Weird Science Volume 2 (18 April 2007)
- The EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories Volume 2 (30 May 2007)
- The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 2 (20 June 2007)
- The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales Volume 2 (8 August 2007)
- The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror Volume 1 (20 October 2007)
- The EC Archives: Crime SuspenStories Volume 1 (16 January 2008)
- The EC Archives: Weird Science Volume 3 (30 July 2008)
- The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 3 (10 September 2008)
- The EC Archives: Frontline Combat Volume 1 (14 October 2008)
- The EC Archives: The Haunt of Fear Volume 1 (November 2011)
- The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror Volume 2 (November 2011)
Leather-bound
- The EC Archives: Weird Science Volume 1 (February 2008)
- The EC Archives: Weird Science Volume 2 (August 2008)
- The EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories Volume 1 (October 2009)
- The EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories Volume 2 (October 2009)
Limited editions
In February 2008, the first limited leather-bound edition of one of the EC Archives was released. Weird Science Volume 1 was released in a limited print run of 300, all signed by EC editor Al FeldsteinAl Feldstein
Albert B. Feldstein is an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. Since retiring from Mad, Feldstein has concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife...
. Weird Science Volume 2 was released in August 2008. The limited editions came packaged with a pair of white gloves for handling of the expensive volumes.
See also
- Another Rainbow PublishingAnother Rainbow PublishingAnother Rainbow Publishing is a company dedicated to the re-publication and greater recognition of the work of Carl Barks that was created in 1981 by Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran. Its name references Barks's saying that there would be "always another rainbow" for his character Scrooge McDuck,...
- DC Archive EditionsDC Archive EditionsDC Archive Editions, collect early, sometimes rare, comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series. With more than 100 titles, this series began in 1989 with Superman Archives Vol. 1...
- EC ComicsEC ComicsEntertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
- Gladstone PublishingGladstone PublishingGladstone Publishing was an American company that published Disney comics from 1986 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1998. The company had its origins as a subsidiary of "Another Rainbow", a company formed by Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran to publish the Carl Barks Library and produce limited edition...
- Gemstone PublishingGemstone PublishingGemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
- List of comic books on CD/DVD
- List of Entertaining Comics publications
- Marvel MasterworksMarvel MasterworksMarvel Masterworks are a American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics. They are printed in full color and feature various titles from the Golden Age, Pre-Code , Silver Age, and Bronze Age of comics.The collection started in 1987 with volumes...
- Nostalgia PressWoody GelmanWoodrow Gelman , better known as Woody Gelman, was a publisher, a cartoonist, a novelist and an artist-writer for animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcovers and trade paperbacks...