Tales from the Crypt, 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...

and The Vault of Horror are three bi-monthly horror comic

Horror comics

Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...

 anthology series published by 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...

 in the early 1950s. Tales from the Crypt hit newsstands with its October/November 1950 issue (#20) and ceased publication with its February/March 1955 issue (#46), producing a total of 27 issues (excluding the initial three issues, #17-19, published under the title The Crypt of Terror). The title was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers and others who believed the books contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency. In April and June 1954, highly publicized Congressional subcommittee hearings

Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency

The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established by the United States Senate in 1953 to investigate the problem of juvenile delinquency.- Background :...

 on the effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code

Comics Code Authority

The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...

, EC Comics publisher 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...

 canceled Tales from the Crypt and its two companion horror titles, along with the company's remaining crime and science fiction series in September 1954. All EC titles have been reprinted at various times since their demise, and stories from the horror series have been adapted for television and film.

Origin

Horror comics emerged as a distinct comic book genre after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 when young adult males lost interest in caped crimebusters, and returning GIs wanted titillating sex and violence in their reading. One-shot Eerie Comics

Eerie Comics

Eerie is a one-shot horror comic book cover-dated January 1947 and published by Avon Periodicals as Eerie #1. Its creative team includes Joe Kubert and Fred Kida. The book's contents comprise six full-length horror feature stories and a 2-page humorous tale. The title went dormant for a number of...

(1947) is generally considered the first true horror comic with its cover depicting a dagger-wielding, red eyed ghoul

Ghoul

A ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights...

 threatening a rope-bound

Bondage (BDSM)

Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...

, scantily clad, voluptuous young woman

Good girl art

Good girl art is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction...

 beneath a full moon. In 1948, Adventures Into the Unknown

Adventures Into the Unknown

Adventures Into the Unknown was a horror and supernatural comic series from the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title was released in the fall of 1948 by B&I Publishing and enjoyed a run of 174 issues for nearly two decades, ceasing publication in August 1967...

became the first regularly published horror title, enjoying a nearly two decade life-span.

In 1950, publisher Gaines and his editor Al Feldstein

Al 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...

 discovered they shared similar tastes in horror and began experimenting with horror tales in their crime titles. Tales from the Crypt traces its origin to a Feldstein story, "Return from the Grave!", in EC's Crime Patrol (#15, December 1949/January 1950) with the Crypt-Keeper making his debut as host. Issue #16 featured more horror tales than crime stories, and, with issue #17, the title changed from Crime Patrol to The Crypt of Terror. Due to an attempt to save money on second-class postage permits, the numbering did not change with the title and continued as The Crypt of Terror for the next two issues. The title saw its final form, Tales from the Crypt, with issue #20, October/November, 1950.

Artists

Early front covers were created by Feldstein, Johnny Craig and Wally Wood

Wally Wood

Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...

, with the remaining covers (1952–55) by Jack Davis

Jack Davis (cartoonist)

Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...

. The contributing interior artists were Craig, Feldstein, Wood, Davis, George Evans, Jack Kamen

Jack Kamen

Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...

, Graham Ingels

Graham Ingels

Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...

, Harvey Kurtzman

Harvey Kurtzman

Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...

, Al Williamson

Al Williamson

Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...

, Joe Orlando

Joe Orlando

Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...

, Reed Crandall

Reed Crandall

Reed Crandall was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the Quality Comics character Blackhawk and for stories in the critically acclaimed EC Comics of the 1950s.Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.-Early...

, Bernard Krigstein

Bernard Krigstein

Bernard Krigstein , was an American illustrator and gallery artist who received acclaim for his innovative and influential approach to comic book art, notably in EC Comics. He was known as Bernie Krigstein, and his artwork usually displayed the signature B...

, Will Elder

Will Elder

William Elder was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art, but is best known for a zany cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952....

, Fred Peters and Howard Larsen. Jack Davis took over the art for the Crypt-Keeper stories with (#24, June/July, 1951), and continued as the title's lead artist for the rest of the run. Feldstein devised the Crypt-Keeper's origin story "Lower Berth!" (#33) which was illustrated by Davis. Issue #38 was one of two covers from EC's horror comics censored prior to publication. While The Vault of Horror cover for issue #32 was restored in Russ Cochran's EC Library reprints, the Tales from the Crypt cover remained censored. "Kamen's Kalamity" (#31) starred many members of the EC staff, including Gaines, Feldstein and the story's artist, Kamen. Ingels, Davis and Craig also made cameo appearances in the story in single panels which they drew themselves.

Influences and adaptations

As with the other EC comics edited by Feldstein, the stories in this comic were primarily based on Gaines reading a large number of horror stories and using them to develop "springboards" from which he and Feldstein could launch new stories. Specific story influences that have been identified include the following:

• "Death Must Come" (issue 17) - Ralph Murphy's The Man in Half Moon Street
  The Man in Half Moon Street
  The Man in Half Moon Street is a fantasy film dealing with a man who retains his youth and cannot die, living throughout the ages. It bears some comparison to Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray, except that there are more logical explanations for the eternal youth of the main character...
  
  
• "The Maestro's Hand" (issue 18) - Robert Florey
  Robert Florey
  Robert Florey was a French screenwriter, director of short films, and actor who moved to Hollywood in 1921. In 1950, Florey was made a knight in the French Légion d'honneur....
  
  's The Beast with Five Fingers
  The Beast with Five Fingers
  The Beast with Five Fingers is a horror film directed by Robert Florey and with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak, based on a short story by W. F. Harvey first published in the New Decameron. The original music score was composed by Max Steiner...
  
  
• "The Thing from the Sea" (issue 20) - F. Marion Crawford's "The Upper Berth"
• "Rx Death" (issue 20) - Arthur Machen
  Arthur Machen
  Arthur Machen was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror...
  
  's "The Novel of the White Powder"
• "Reflection of Death" (issue 23) - H. P. Lovecraft
  H. P. Lovecraft
  Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
  
  's "The Outsider
  The Outsider (short story)
  "The Outsider" is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between March and August 1921, it was first published in Weird Tales, April 1926. In this work, a mysterious man who has been living alone in a castle for as long as he can remember decides to break free in search...
  
  "
• "The Living Death" (issue 24) - Edgar Allan Poe
  Edgar Allan Poe
  Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
  
  's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
  The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
  "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" is a short story by American author Edgar Allan Poe about a mesmerist who puts a man in a suspended hypnotic state at the moment of death. An example of a tale of suspense and horror, it is also, to a certain degree, a hoax as it was published without claiming...
  
  "
• "Judy, You're Not Yourself Tonight" (issue 25) - H. P. Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep
  The Thing on the Doorstep
  "The Thing on the Doorstep" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the so-called Cthulhu Mythos universe of horror fiction. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales.-Inspiration:...
  
  "
• "Loved to Death" (issue 25) - John Collier
  John Collier (writer)
  John Henry Noyes Collier was a British-born author and screenplay writer best known for his short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s to the 1950s. They were collected in a 1951 volume, Fancies and Goodnights, which won the International Fantasy Award and remains in...
  
  's "The Chaser"
• "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" (issue 34) - H. P. Lovecraft's "The Outsider"
• "Last Laugh" (issue 38) - David H. Keller
  David H. Keller
  David H. Keller was a writer for pulp magazines in the mid-twentieth century who wrote science fiction, fantasy and horror. He was the first psychiatrist to write for the genre, and was most often published as David H...
  
  's "The Doorbell"
• "Shadow of Death" (issue 39) - Carl Theodor Dreyer
  Carl Theodor Dreyer
  Carl Theodor Dreyer, Jr. was a Danish film director. He is regarded by many critics and filmmakers as one of the greatest directors in cinema.-Life:Dreyer was born illegitimate in Copenhagen, Denmark...
  
  's Vampyr
  Vampyr
  Vampyr is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's collection of supernatural stories In a Glass Darkly. Vampyr was funded by Nicolas de Gunzburg who starred in the film under...
  
  

After their unauthorized adaptation of one of 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...

's stories in another magazine, Bradbury contacted EC about their plagiarism

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...

 of his work. They reached an agreement for EC to do authorized versions of Bradbury's short fiction. These official adaptations include:

• "There Was an Old Woman" (issue 34)
• "The Handler" (issue 36)

The Crypt-Keeper

Although EC's horror stable consisted of three separate magazines, there was little beyond their titles to distinguish between them. Each magazine had its titular host, but the hosting duties for any one issue were typically shared with the hosts of the other two. Thus, a single issue of Tales from the Crypt would contain two stories told by the Crypt-Keeper, one by the Vault-Keeper (of The Vault of Horror) and one by the Old Witch (of The Haunt of Fear). The professional rivalry between these three GhouLunatics was often played for comic effect.

The Crypt-Keeper was the primary host of Tales from the Crypt. He was introduced to the public in Crime Patrol #15, and he continued with that magazine through its changes in title and format. He was a frightening presence in those early issues, a sinister hermit sitting framed in the lightless crypt's half-open door, his face all but hidden by the double curtain of his long white hair. But he soon evolved into a more comedic horror host

Horror host

Horror hosts are a particular type of television presenter, often tasked with presenting low-grade films to television audiences. This tradition is primarily American, though there have been a few international hosts over the years.-Film Packages:...

, delivering an irreverent and pun-filled commentary to lighten the horrific tone of the stories he introduced. Later he served as the host of EC's 3-D comic book, Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror

Three Dimensional E.C. Classics

Three Dimensional E.C. Classics was a quarterly comic book anthology series published by EC Comics in 1954. It began publication with its Spring 1954 issue and ceased with its March 1954 issue, producing a total of two issues. The stories it contained were classics in that they were recyclings of...

.

The Crypt-Keeper's duties were not limited to hosting. He would occasionally appear as a character as well, and these appearances give the reader a glimpse of his biography. "The Lower Berth" (Tales from the Crypt #33) gives an account of the circumstances surrounding his birth. "While the Cat's Away" (The Vault of Horror #34) conducts a tour of his house above and below ground. "Horror beneath the Streets" (The Haunt of Fear #17) tells how he and his fellow GhouLunatics got their EC publishing contracts.

Demise

In 1954, Gaines and Feldstein intended to add a fourth book to their horror publications by reactivating an earlier title, The Crypt of Terror. They were stopped dead in their tracks, however. Following the publication of Fredric Wertham

Fredric Wertham

Fredric Wertham was a Jewish German-American psychiatrist and crusading author who protested the purportedly harmful effects of violent imagery in mass media and comic books on the development of children. His best-known book was Seduction of the Innocent , which purported that comic books are...

's Seduction of the Innocent
, horror and other violent comics had come under scrutiny by parents, schoolteachers, clergymen, psychologists, and others who viewed the material as dangerous to the well-being of children and a significant contributor to the juvenile delinquency crisis in America. Matters came to a head in April and June 1954 with a highly publicized Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency

Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency

The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established by the United States Senate in 1953 to investigate the problem of juvenile delinquency.- Background :...

. Hearings targeted violent comic books—which fared poorly in the proceedings. While the committee stopped short of blaming the comics industry for juvenile delinquency, they did suggest it tone down the product. Publishers were left reeling.

The industry deftly avoided outside censorship by creating the self-regulatory Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA) and a Comics Code Authority

Comics Code Authority

The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...

 (CCA) that placed severe restrictions on violent comic book genres. Publishers were forbidden from using the words "terror" and "horror" in titles, for example, and forbidden from depicting zombies, werewolves, and other gruesome characters and outrè horror fiction

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 trappings. Gaines was fed up; he believed his titles were being specifically targeted and realized they were doomed to future failure. He threw in the towel, canceling Tales from the Crypt and its companion titles in September 1954. Since an issue of The Crypt of Terror had already been produced, it was published as the final issue of Tales from the Crypt, February/March, 1955.

Reprints

Tales from the Crypt has been reprinted on numerous occasions. Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...

 reprinted selected Crypt stories in a series of paperback EC anthologies in 1964-66. The magazine was fully collected in a series of five black-and-white hardbacks by publisher 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....

 as part of The Complete EC Library in 1979. Cochran (in association with Gladstone Publishing

Gladstone Publishing

Gladstone 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...

 and solo) reprinted a handful of single color issues in 1990/91. Between September 1992 and December 1999, 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...

 reprinted the full 30 individual issues. This complete run was later rebound, with covers included, in a series of six softcover EC Annuals. In 2007, Cochran and Gemstone began to publish hardcover, re-colored volumes of Tales from the Crypt as part of the EC Archives

EC Archives

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....

series. Three volumes (of a projected five) were published before Gemstone's financial troubles left the project in limbo. But the project may soon be 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 press release dated September 1, 2011 that it is continuing the EC Archives series, with the first new releases scheduled for November 2011.

Media adaptations

The 1972 movie

Tales from the Crypt (film)

Tales from the Crypt is a British horror movie, made in 1972 by Amicus Productions. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on stories from EC Comics. Only two of the stories, however, are actually from EC's Tales from the Crypt...

 features five stories from various EC comics. "Reflection of Death" (#23) and "Blind Alleys" (#46) were adapted for the movie. In 1989, the book was adapted into the TV series Tales from the Crypt

Tales from the Crypt (TV series)

Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...

, which features John Kassir

John Kassir

John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...

 as the Cryptkeeper and included comic book covers designed to look like the original 1950s covers by Mike Vosburg

Mike Vosburg

Mike Vosburg is an American comic book artist primarily known for his work on the Tales from the Crypt TV series.-Biography:...

 with at least one drawn by Shawn McManus

Shawn McManus

Shawn McManus is an American artist who has worked extensively over three decades for DC Comics and other companies, notably for DC's Vertigo imprint, including the current Fables.-Swamp Thing:...

.

The following tales were used in HBO's Tales From The Crypt

Tales from the Crypt (TV series)

Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...

television series: "The Man Who Was Death" (issue #17), "Mute Witness to Murder" (#18), "Fatal Caper" (#20), "The Thing From The Grave" (#22), "Last Respects" (#23), "Judy, You're Not Yourself Today" (#25), "Loved to Death" (#25), "Well Cooked Hams" (#27), "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" (#28), "Korman's Kalamity" (re-titling of "Kamen's Calamity", issue #31), "Cutting Cards" (#32), "Lower Berth" (#33), "None But The Lonely Heart" (#33), "Oil's Well That Ends Well" (#34), "Curiosity Killed" (#36), "Only Skin Deep" (#38), "Mournin' Mess" (#38), "Undertaking Palor" (#39), "Food For Thought" (#40), "Operation Friendship" (#41), "Cold War" (#43), "Forever Ambergris" (#44), "The Switch" (#45) and "Blind Alleys" (#46).

In 1993, Tales from the Crypt was adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon series entitled Tales from the Cryptkeeper

Tales from the Cryptkeeper

Tales from the Cryptkeeper is an animated series aimed at children made byNelvana Limited, PeaceArch Entertainment, kaBOOM! Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Animation. It was shown on TVO and ABC,and is still shown near Halloween on Teletoon. It was based on the live-action television...

, based on the series (albeit with none of the violence or other questionable content that was in the original series), with Kassir as the Cryptkeeper again; it ran from September 18, 1993 to December 6, 1997. In late 1993 a pinball

Pinball

Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...

 machine, titled Tales from the Crypt, was produced under license by Data East

Data East

also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, when it declared bankruptcy...

.

In 1996, another adaptation (a Saturday morning game show) called Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House

Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House

Secrets of the Cryptkeeper’s Haunted House is a Children's Saturday-morning game show that ran on CBS. It premiered on September 14, 1996 and lasted until August 23, 1997. It featured the Cryptkeeper of Tales from the Crypt now serving as an announcer...

ran from September 14 to August 1997, with Kassir once again in the role of the Cryptkeeper as announcer.

Two movies, Demon Knight

Demon Knight

Demon Knight is a 1995 American horror film directed by Ernest Dickerson, starring Billy Zane, William Sadler, and Jada Pinkett Smith...

(1995) and Bordello of Blood

Bordello of Blood

Bordello of Blood is a 1996 comedy/horror film starring Dennis Miller, Erika Eleniak, Angie Everhart, Corey Feldman, and Chris Sarandon. It is based on the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt. It received an R rating for vampire violence, gore, language, and nudity...

(1996), were based on the series, neither of which was particularly successful. A third movie, Ritual

Ritual (film)

Tales From the Crypt Presents: Ritual is the third and final film spin-off from the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt, the first being Demon Knight and the second being Bordello of Blood. The film was released in 2002 and stars Tim Curry, Jennifer Grey, and Craig Sheffer with Avi Nesher...

, was slated for theatrical release in 2001, but was only distributed internationally (without the Tales from the Crypt connection) until 2006 when it was released on DVD in the United States, with the Cryptkeeper bits restored.

Resurrection

In 2007, Papercutz, an independent comics publisher managed by former Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 editor Jim Salicrup

Jim Salicrup

Jim Salicrup is an American comic book editor, known for his tenures at Marvel Comics and Topps Comics. At Marvel, where he worked for twenty years, he edited books such as The Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers and various Spider-Man titles...

, began running a new series of original Tales from the Crypt comics. The new version was announced at the year's New York Comic Con. The first issue was published in June 2007, with a cover drawn by Kyle Baker

Kyle Baker

Kyle John Baker is an American cartoonist, comic book writer-artist, and animator known for his graphic novels and for a 2000s revival of the series Plastic Man....

. All three of EC Comics' horror hosts (The GhouLunatics) appear in the issue, drawn by Rick Parker (artist of Marvel/MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head

Beavis and Butt-Head

Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...

 Comic Book). Contributors to subsequent issues have included well-known horror talents Joe R. Lansdale

Joe R. Lansdale

Joe R. Lansdale is an American author and martial-arts expert. He has written novels and stories in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense...

 and his brother John L. Lansdale, Don McGregor

Don McGregor

Donald Francis McGregor is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics, and the author of one of the first graphic novels.-Early life and career:...

, husband and wife team James Romberger

James Romberger

James Romberger is an American fine artist and cartoonist known for his depictions of New York City's Lower East Side.Romberger's pastel drawings of the ravaged landscape of the Lower East Side and its citizens are in many public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art...

 and Marguerite Van Cook, Mort Todd, and Chris Noeth. The new version has a smaller digest size

Digest size

Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end...

 with a graphic novel

Graphic novel

A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...

 style book binding.
Controversy erupted in 2008 when Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

 was featured on a cover attacking the horror hosts with a hockey stick, published with a letter from William Gaines' daughter Cathy Gaines Mifsud commenting on censorship.

Issue guide

#	Date	Cover artist	Story	Story artist	Host	Summary
17	April/May 1950	Johnny Craig	Death Must Come!	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Crypt-Keeper	Freddy has managed to cheat death for many decades by having his old friend, a surgeon, perform transplants on him to replace his organs with those from a younger man. But he has to steal them from corpses, and now he's finding he has less and less time before he needs another operation.
			The Man Who Was Death	Bill Fraccio	None	A public executioner decides to take the law into his own hands.
			The Corpse Nobody Knew	George Roussos George Roussos George Roussos , also known under the pseudonym George Bell, was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age inkers, including on landmark early issues of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four.-Early life and career:George Roussos was born in Washington, D.C., the son of...	None	A private detective finds himself with a new case to solve when he and his wife rent a hotel room and find an unidentifiable body hidden inside it.
			Curse Of The Full Moon!	Johnny Craig	None	Convinced that he became a werewolf after a mysterious incident during a trip to Europe, Ralph goes to visit his old friend George for help. But with the full moon rising, he's closer to the truth than he knows.
18	June/July 1950	Johnny Craig	The Maestro's Hand!	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Crypt-Keeper	A surgeon, furious that his fiancee has left him to marry an artistically gifted man, decides to take his revenge by cutting off his love rival's hand. The artist commits suicide, but the severed hand appears to have taken on a life of its own.
			The Living Corpse	Wally Wood Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...	None	A morgue attendant begins having visions of death which he links to the "Living Corpse"-a performance artist who feigns death during his act.
			Madness At Manderville	Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...	None	Marian Mander is convinced she is going insane when she begins to see and hear strange things after her son's death. Her husband is worried about her, but how deep is his own involvement?
			Mute Witness To Murder!	Johnny Craig	None	A woman becomes mute with shock after witnessing the local doctor murdering his wife. He commits the witness to an insane asylum, but then decides he must kill her before she regains her voice.
19	Aug/Sept 1950	Johnny Craig	Ghost Ship!	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Crypt-Keeper	A couple whose plane went down over the Bermuda Triangle Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....  are trapped on a lifeboat in the middle of the sea. They think they're in luck when they come across a ship; until they find a skeleton tied to the helm.
			The Hungry Grave	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	None	Ida and Jim are plotting to murder Ida's stingy, drunken husband so they can be together. He proves a little harder to kill than they'd like.
			Cave Man	Johnny Craig	None	The young sub-curator of a museum is angry that his own invention is being ignored in favour of a new exhibit: the body of a Neanderthal Neanderthal The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...  encased in ice. The enraged man decides to get even by thawing out the body and leaving it to decompose in the sun, but doesn't think to check that the "caveman" is really dead.
			Zombie!	Johnny Craig	None	Daniel Richards is staying in Haiti Haiti Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...  with his wealthy plantation-owning friend. He ignores instructions not to spy on a native voodoo ritual, but then notices something very interesting about the photo he took of the event.
20	Oct/Nov 1950	Johnny Craig	The Thing From The Sea!	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Crypt-Keeper	You are a man on a sea crossing, forced to take a cabin that is supposedly cursed: everyone who slept in it has either gone crazy or mysteriously left the ship.
			A Fatal Caper!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	None	Four wealthy, arrogant college students come to bitterly regret playing around with a book of voodoo spells.
			Rx... Death!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	None	Janet is worried that her workaholic brother is ruining his health, so she calls in the family doctor to give him a reviving tonic. When he begins going through a monstrous transformation, it's a race against time to find out what was in the tonic.
			Impending Doom!	Johnny Craig	None	Theodore Warren goes into a trance and draws the face of a terrified-looking man. He's shocked, but not as much as when he meets the man in real life - a man who's carving Warren's own name into a tombstone.
21	Dec/Jan 1951	Al Feldstein Al 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...	A Shocking Way To Die!	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Crypt-Keeper	A prisoner on death row is visited by a professor who claims to be able to revive him after his death. The prisoner is executed in the electric chair, and the professor brings him back to life. He shoots the professor and goes to take his revenge on the judge who sentenced him to death, but finds that maybe he shouldn't have been quite so hasty ...
			Terror Ride!	Wally Wood Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...	None	A couple on their honeymoon come across a deserted funfair. Only one ride is open, and as they discover, the owner is a little too obsessed with making sure that his "dummies" look perfectly real.
			House Of Horror	Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...	None	A fraternity Fraternity A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...  boy is determined to terrify the new pledges going through a hazing Hazing Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....  ritual, and makes them go to the top floor of an old house rumoured to be haunted. He gets his comeuppance when the boys disappear and he is sent to find them.
			Death Suited Him!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	Larry kills his love rival, John, and as a parting shot is determined to marry John's wife wearing the same tuxedo that John wore at the wedding. Unfortunately, this is what John was buried in, and now Larry has to dig up the body to retrieve it.
22	Feb/March 1951	Al Feldstein Al 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...	The Thing From The Grave!	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Crypt Keeper	Bill is in love with Laura, but Laura loves only Jim. Bill kills Jim and decides he must kill Laura because she knows about the murder. What Bill doesn't know is that when Jim promised to always protect Laura, he really meant it.
			Blood Type "V"!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	None	Jean and her lover Freddie are involved in a car accident. Jean needs a blood transfusion but no one at the scene is a match, until a mysterious stranger appears and volunteers his help. Shortly afterwards, bodies begin turning up in town, drained of their blood ...
			Death's Turn!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Old Witch	The owners of a failing amusement park find themselves in luck when a newcomer agrees to sell them the rights to an amazing new rollercoaster. They decide to save on further costs by not testing the ride for safety, but then when it opens, they're offered the first turn on the new attraction.
			The Curse Of The Arnold Clan!	Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Robert needs a fancy dress costume for a New Year party, and goes to the attic. He discovers there's a curse on his family which means that anyone who uses the old Arnold musket and powder-horn dies at New Year. Robert's confident that curses don't exist, until he takes the items to complete his costume.
23	April/May 1951	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Reflection Of Death!	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Crypt Keeper	You and your friend Carl are on a long drive. Carl, the driver, falls asleep at the wheel and crashes the car. You wake up, glad to have survived. But why does everyone you meet run away from you?
			Last Respects!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	Tony decides to pay his "last respects" to his newly deceased wife, but finds himself trapped in the crypt with her body. He's forced to turn to a shocking method of survival.
			Seance!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A man skeptical about the supernatural is talked into attending a seance Séance A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"... . He's sure he can trick the medium into proving herself a fake by asking her to channel the spirit of his wife, who's still alive. Or is she?
			Voodoo Death!	Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Jay and Bill, visitors to Haiti Haiti Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island... , are determined to witness a voodoo ritual. But when the locals catch them spying, it's not long before they start seeing strange dolls everywhere.
24	June/July 1951	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Bats In My Belfry!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Harry loses his hearing and with it his job and his wife. An old friend points him in the direction of a man who may be able to help by giving Harry a hearing transplant from a bat.
			The Living Death!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	Two old friends are doctors who can't agree whether illness is physical or just in the mind. When one of them is close to death, the other is convinced he can save his old friend through hypnosis - a technique so successful it keeps the patient's heart beating even after his death.
			Midnight Snack!	Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Duncan falls asleep while reading a horror story about a ghoul Ghoul A ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights... , and when he wakes up, he finds he has a strange new taste in food ...
			Scared To Death!	Wally Wood Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...	Crypt Keeper	Ralph wants to give his fragile, sickly wife such a fright that it will cause her fatal heart failure, and he can inherit her money, the money she gained when they murdered her wealthy old uncle together. He decides that making her uncle "reappear" will be just the shock to kill her, not knowing that the corpse is already ahead of him.
25	Aug/Sept 1951	Al Feldstein Al 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...	The Trophy!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A man who loves to collect hunting "trophies" discovers that it's not just animals who can be hunted.
			Judy, You're Not Yourself Today!	Wally Wood Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A housewife is terrorized by an evil old witch who switches their bodies, leaving the witch alone with the woman's husband.
			Loved To Death!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	Eddie is madly in love with a woman who doesn't return his affections. He meets a mysterious stranger claiming to be an alchemist Alchemist An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist may also refer to:-People and groups:*The Alchemist , a hip hop music producer and rapper*Alchemist , an Australian progressive metal band... , who gives Eddie a potion to make the woman fall madly in love with him. The stranger says Eddie will soon be back for the antidote, and Eddie laughs, but soon finds out he should have listened.
			The Works... In Wax!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	Henri Mataud is the proprietor of a wax museum devoted to figurines of famous murderers. He becomes fed up with his wife "ruining" the exhibits by relieving them of their heavy weapons and awkward poses, so he decides to stop her for good, without realizing just how much the figures appreciated her efforts.
26	Oct/Nov 1951	Wally Wood Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...	Drawn And Quartered!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	An artist who has been conned out of money goes to a voodoo practitioner in the hope of revenge.
			The Borrowed Body!	Howard Larsen	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Sandra and her lover Fred arrange to kill Sandra's husband, but at the same time as she is murdering her husband, Fred is hit by a truck and dies. When Sandra's husband wakes up in Fred's body, he has only one thing on his mind.
			Indian Burial Mound	George Roussos George Roussos George Roussos , also known under the pseudonym George Bell, was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age inkers, including on landmark early issues of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four.-Early life and career:George Roussos was born in Washington, D.C., the son of...	Crypt Keeper	A man buys a farm which he plans to turn into a flying school, ignoring the old farmhand's instruction not to bulldoze the Native American Indigenous peoples of the Americas The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...  burial plot on the site.
			Political Pull!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A corrupt politician poisons his rival so he can become the town mayor. His actions quite literally come back to haunt him.
27	Dec/Jan 1952	Wally Wood Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...	Well-Cooked Hams!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Two entrepreneurs want to pay off a French stage magician to perform his wondrous magic tricks on stage in the USA. He refuses, so they kill him and steal his manuscript with the intention of staging his horrific "illusions" themselves. There's just one important detail he left out of the script.
			Madam Bluebeard	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A woman whose husbands have all died in mysterious circumstances gets more than she bargained for when she goes to lay flowers at the grave sites.
			Return!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	Myra is devastated after her husband takes off on an unexpected business trip and never comes back. His business partner returns without him, and Myra discovers that maybe her husband isn't quite who she thought he was.
			Horror! Head... It Off!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	During the French Revolution French Revolution The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years... , a corrupt duke makes money by taking bribes to save condemned aristocrats from the guillotine Guillotine The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body... , and then turning them in to the authorities. But if a chicken can survive without its head, why can't a human?
28	Feb/March 1952	Al Feldstein Al 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...	Bargain In Death!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Two medical students who are planning to rob a grave so they can save on expenses for their dissection project cross paths with a pair of conmen trying to fake a death.
			Ants In Her Trance!	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A hypnotist's act includes reducing his wife to a near-death state by using his powers to slow her heart. He decides to use this to kill her so he can marry his new girlfriend; but forgets that there is also a command to revive her.
			A-Corny Story	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	Arnold takes over his father's business and fires a loyal employee for being too old. The man returns to his native Haiti Haiti Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...  and sends Arnold a present: a sapling from a magical tree that prevents old age. It works just a bit too well.
			The Ventriloquist's Dummy!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A seaside resort owner tries to convince his old friend, a once-famous ventriloquist, to come out of retirement and perform there. The dummy is less keen to take part in the act.
29	April/May 1952	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Grounds... For Horror!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A child whose abusive stepfather keeps locking him in the closet appears to have found an imaginary "friend." He tells his mother that someone really lives inside the closet, someone who wants to punish his stepfather.
			A Rottin' Trick!	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Clint is on the run and asks an old "friend" to help him escape by boat - a friend whose lover he seduced, crippled in an accident, and then abandoned. The friend agrees to help Clint, but Clint didn't specify exactly where he wanted to be taken.
			Board To Death!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	Myrna has a phobia of being buried alive. Now, her worst fear has come true. Can she escape from the coffin before her oxygen runs out?
			A Sucker For A Spider!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A greedy businessman who loves spiders uses one of his pets to kill a business associate who was about to expose his embezzlement. On a trip abroad, he finds himself closer to his fanged friends than he could ever have imagined.
30	June/July 1952	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Gas-tly Prospects!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A prospector Prospecting Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...  returns from the dead to take revenge on a rival who murdered him to steal his gold.
			A Hollywood Ending!	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A film producer travels to the Arctic on location and falls in love with a beautiful young girl he meets there. He wants her to come to Hollywood with him and become a star. The girl's guardian angrily opposes this, and the producer convinces her to run away with him anyway. But once they arrive he discovers a very good reason why she should have stayed at home.
			Auntie, It's Coal Inside!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	Seven-year-old Toby lives with his abusive aunt, who beats him for stealing coal from the shed. She eventually decides to put a lock on the coal-bin to keep him out, which backfires when she becomes trapped there herself.
			Mournin', Ambrose...	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	Andrew goes to stay with his wealthy uncle Ambrose, whose other heirs have all mysteriously died after coming to live at Ambrose's mansion. Ambrose seems like a kindly old man but his wife warns Andrew that something far more sinister is afoot.
31	Aug/Sept 1952	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Survival... Or Death!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	The owners of a cargo vessel build a complicated rat trap to catch rodents on their ship, resulting in a device that traps the rats and forces them to kill each other for survival. Luckily, humans are more advanced than this - or so the men think, until their own boat begins to sink.
			The Thing In The 'Glades!	Al Williamson Al Williamson Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A sheriff investigates a series of strange murders in the Everglades Everglades The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee... . The bodies have been completely ripped apart, but he knows the killings are the work of no ordinary creature ...
			Kamen's Kalamity!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...  gets his own taste of fear when he joins the staff at Tales From the Crypt and has to start illustrating horror stories instead of romances.
			Buried Treasure!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	Villagers take revenge on a greedy feudal duke who tortures his subjects to feed his love of jewels.
32	Oct/Nov 1952	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Tain't The Meat... It's The Humanity!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	During World War II, a butcher decides to make money on the black market by selling rotted horse meat as steak, with horrific consequences when townspeople start falling sick because of it.
			Roped In!	George Evans	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A group of men frame their business partner to cover their own misdeeds, but soon find themselves trapped in a "web" of more than just false evidence.
			Cutting Cards!	Fred Peters	Crypt Keeper	Two obsessive gamblers face off in a "game" to the death.
			Squash... Anyone?	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A circus elephant trainer decides to use his act as a cover to kill his wife so he can marry his new girlfriend. He's not counting on his wife, or the elephant, making a reappearance in the ring - even after they're dead.
33	Dec/Jan 1953	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Lower Berth!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	The Crypt Keeper recounts his own origins, born to a 4000-year-old Egyptian mummy Mummy A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...  and a dead sideshow freak with two heads.
			This Trick'll Kill You!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...  & George Evans	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A greedy couple in India kill a young peasant girl who refuses to tell them the secret of her magic rope trick. They're sure they can work out how to perform it themselves and make their fortune, but didn't listen to her warnings that the rope will take orders from no one but her.
			The Funeral	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	A spoiled young prince loves his elderly nursemaid. When she dies suddenly, the king and queen promise to hold a splendid state funeral for her. The boy is looking forward to the event, until he discovers the old woman isn't dead at all, and decides to take matters into his own hands.
			None But The Lonely Heart!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A conman who seduces elderly women so he can kill them and inherit their money meets his match in a new conquest.
34	Feb/March 1953	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Mirror, Mirror On The Wall!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	You are the protagonist in a story where you take the place of Frankenstein Frankenstein Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first... 's monster.
			Oil's Well That Ends Well!	George Evans	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Conmen try to scam a town into believing there is oil buried underneath an old cemetery.
			Attacks Of Horror!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	A selfish king forces his subjects to pay all kinds of exorbitant taxes to make him rich, until he demands that people lose body parts if they can't pay. Then his subjects come to claim his own unpaid tax contribution ...
			There Was An Old Woman!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A mortician's elderly aunt is very particular about how she wants an embalming to be performed in her house. Namely, the embalming of her own body.
35	April/May 1953	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	By The Fright Of The Silvery Moon!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	In the early 1900s, a Hungarian immigrant family is blamed for a series of werewolf Werewolf A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...  attacks in town.
			Midnight Mess!	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A man pays a visit to his sister in a deserted town besieged by vampires, but why does no one come out before dark and what does the local restaurant have to do with it?
			Busted Marriage!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	A playboy uses bride and groom voodoo dolls to make a rich, elderly woman marry him so he can get his hands on her money. When he meets a new girlfriend, he uses the dolls to kill his wife, unaware that the doll still holds power even after the death of the real bride.
			This Wraps It Up!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	Explorers uncovering the tomb of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh don't believe in the reported curse of the mummy that lies inside the tomb, until they decide to steal the pharaoh's treasures for themselves.
36	June/July 1953	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Fare Tonight, Followed By Increasing Clottyness...	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A you-are-the-protagonist story. As a taxi driver working in a town where a series of recent murders have been attributed to vampires, you become suspicious of a passenger who seems to know a few too many details about the deaths.
			Curiosity Killed...	George Evans	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A shrewish housewife investigates when, after her friend suddenly goes on a long trip without warning, the friend's husband takes up a new interest in carrier pigeons.
			How Green Was My Alley	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	A bigamist has been living with two separate wives, one of whom loves bowling and the other loves to play golf. They discover this ruse when they meet in a hotel where their respective tournaments are being held; and decide to take their revenge in a most sporting fashion.
			The Handler	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A vengeful old mortician loves to desecrate the corpses he buries. But one of them turns out to be not so dead, and calls on the others for help ...
37	Aug/Sept 1953	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Dead Right!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A doctor goes to extreme lengths to convince a colleague of his medical theories about death.
			Pleasant Screams!	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	You are a man caught in an endless nightmare: attacked by werewolves, vampires and zombies, buried alive, and more. Can you work out why you're here and find a way out of this torment?
			Strop! You're Killing Me!	Bill Elder	Crypt Keeper	An arrogant young man takes over a small-town fire department. He decides to kill the only other town fireman, an old man who refuses to retire. The old man isn't so eager to give up his job.
			The Rover Boys	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A doctor swears vengeance when he is disbarred from practicing. He imprisons the committee members and transplants their brains into dogs, using the animals to make him rich as a sideshow performer. However, their survival instinct is stronger than he thought.
38	Oct/Nov 1953	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Tight Grip!	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A swindler marries a wealthy woman for her money and then kills her, disposing of her body in the faithful old trunk that she carries while travelling. The trunk is determined not to let him get away with the murder.
			...Only Skin Deep!	Reed Crandall Reed Crandall Reed Crandall was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the Quality Comics character Blackhawk and for stories in the critically acclaimed EC Comics of the 1950s.Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.-Early...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A man falls in love with a woman he met at a masquerade ball Masquerade ball A masquerade ball is an event which the participants attend in costume wearing a mask. - History :... , despite never having seen her real face. They agree to unmask each other on their wedding night but the groom may not be so keen on what he finds under the mask.
			Last Laugh!	Bill Elder	Crypt Keeper	A practical joker visits the doctor for aches and pains caused by constant laughing, little knowing that the doctor was the victim in a prank that went fatally wrong.
			Mournin' Mess	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A reporter investigates a series of deaths of homeless people, which he believes are linked to a mysterious charity in aid of street-dwellers.
39	Dec/Jan 1954	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Undertaking Palor	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Children overhear a plot between the local doctor and undertaker to make money by poisoning the wealthiest people in town and then charging their families for elaborate funerals. When their latest victim turns out to be the father of one of the boys, the children devise a little scheme of their own.
			The Craving Grave	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A lonely grave is filled with the body of an equally lonely woman who was murdered by her niece and nephew. She returns from the grave, which doesn't want to let her go, but she repays it by filling it with two new corpses.
			The Sleeping Beauty!	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	A macabre twist on the tale of Sleeping Beauty Sleeping Beauty Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince... .
			Shadow Of Death	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	An elderly, paraplegic newspaper seller loses his livelihood when a rival takes over his pitch. He isn't able to physically do anything to stop this but his shadow has no such limitations.
40	Feb/March 1954	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Food For Thought	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Carla is terrorized by her husband, a sadistic sideshow freak with the power of telepathy Telepathy Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference... . He learns that she is having an affair and settles on a plan to kill her lover, using a series of local murders as a cover. But Carla finds a way to settle the score - and whoever or whatever committed the murders is still on the loose.
			Pearly To Dead	George Evans	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	A diver kills his rival in order to mine an area of abnormally large pearls for himself, but finds a surprise waiting for him down in the depths.
			Prairie Schooner	Bernie Krigstein	Crypt Keeper	Ezra, an old sea captain, moves in with his sister Mildred. He goes insane, having the house remodelled to look like the inside of his ship, and treating Mildred as a slave. But when the exertion gives her a fatal heart attack, Ezra finds himself all at sea.
			Half-Baked!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	The proprietor of a seafood restaurant, who loves to torture the lobsters he serves, finds out what it's like to be in their place after he kills an associate he had ripped off.
41	April/May 1954	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Operation Friendship	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Geniuses Andrew and Philip have been best friends all their lives, until Philip marries an unscholarly woman and stops spending time with Andrew. Lucky for Andrew, he has devised a way to keep Philip with him forever.
			Come Back, Little Linda!	George Evans	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	The corrupt director of an insane asylum decides to clean the place up before an inspection, but discovers to his own cost that one inmate may not be so crazy after all.
			Current Attraction	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	A circus performer's daughter is seduced by a ruffian knife-thrower who is already married. The father hatches a plot to have the man sent away to jail by killing his wife during their act, but doesn't anticipate a last-minute change of circumstances.
			Mess Call	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A Nazi soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome is relieved from his post and goes to live with a friend, a butcher whose shop is mysteriously full of meat despite wartime rationing.
42	June/July 1954	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Concerto For Violin And Werewolf	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A violinist undertakes a dangerous journey to visit his old teacher, and becomes determined to kill the werewolves that inhabit the surrounding woods.
			By The Dawn's Early Light	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Two friends suspect each other of being the vampire who killed their mutual third friend and many other people in the town.
			The Bath	Bernie Krigstein	Crypt Keeper	The servant to a plantation owner takes revenge for a family his master killed.
			Hoodwinked!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A man whose greedy brother has made constant demands on him throughout their lives can take no more when his brother demands an expensive ornament for the hood of his car.
43	Aug/Sept 1954	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Four-Way Split	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Roy Dixon committed the perfect murder at Four Corners. All four connecting states have made a bid to send him to Death Row but he walked free. So why are his nightmares of execution becoming all too real?
			Cold War	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	Paul finds himself being threatened at gunpoint by his wife's lover, who doesn't seem to know there is a very special requirement for joining her family ...
			Clots My Line	George Evans	Crypt Keeper	A man takes part in a game show with a sinister twist.
			Accidents And Old Lace	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A struggling art dealer tries to take advantage of three old ladies who are able to create wonderful tapestries after they have witnessed a violent accidental death.
44	Oct/Nov 1954	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Forever Ambergris	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	A ship's captain who is in love with a crew member's wife kills her husband by deliberately exposing him to a flesh-eating virus.
			Burial At Sea	Reed Crandall Reed Crandall Reed Crandall was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the Quality Comics character Blackhawk and for stories in the critically acclaimed EC Comics of the 1950s.Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.-Early...	Vault Keeper Vault Keeper The Vault-Keeper was the host for The Vault of Horror, a horror comic published by EC Comics from 1950 until 1954. The Vault-Keeper was one of three hosts for EC's horror comics , along with the Crypt-Keeper and the Old Witch...	In a reader-as-narrator story, you attempt to steal a miser's treasure that he has been bringing up from a shipwreck. You kill him when he gets in your way, but when he said he was ready for you, he was dead right!
			The Proposal	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	Fortune hunter Pearl attempts to seduce a wealthy man and is delighted when he tells her he "wants her for his wife." But what exactly does he mean?
			The Sliceman Cometh	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	An executioner in post-Revolution French Revolution The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...  France is paid by a corrupt noble's brother to expose the man as a monarchist and have him sent to the guillotine. The executioner saves the man's head as a trophy, and finds it harder to dispose of than he expected.
45	Dec/Jan 1955	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Telescope	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	The survivor of a shipwreck becomes caught up in the "food chain" when he finds himself stranded on an island with nothing to eat but a single rat.
			The Substitute	Jack Kamen Jack Kamen Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...	Crypt Keeper	A man serving time on a penal colony makes a plan to escape by killing the governor and taking the corpse's place in the coffin. If only he'd stayed around to hear the victim's last request.
			Murder Dream	Bernie Krigstein	Crypt Keeper	Howard has to leave his beloved wife to go on a business trip, but begins to suffer from a recurring dream of her being murdered.
			The Switch	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A man is trying to woo a much younger woman, who rejects him because of his age. He finds a doctor who can give him the body of a young man again - for a hidden price.
46	Feb/March 1955	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Upon Reflection	Jack Davis Jack Davis (cartoonist) Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...	Crypt Keeper	Local men turn vigilante when the mayor won't help them rid the town of the werewolf that is killing people. The mayor, however, has his own reasons not to get involved.
			Blind Alleys	George Evans	Crypt Keeper	Inmates at a home for the blind turn the tables on the sadistic overseer.
			Success Story	Joe Orlando Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...	Crypt Keeper	Elmer's selfish wife and her freeloading parents have always criticized him for his failure to "get ahead" in life, not realizing how literally he would take their words.
			Tatter Up!	Graham Ingels Graham Ingels Graham Ingels was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear and Tales from the Crypt, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein, and The Vault of Horror, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig...	Old Witch	A conman marries a sick old woman for her money, but finds out she has a very strange relationship with the local "rag man".

External links

• Steve Stiles' history of Tales from the Crypt
• Chris Noeth Papercutz comic artist on issue #4 and #7 of the new Tales from the Crypt comic series