EC posts

For those sick of the EC thing, I'll slow down on those postings now and move on to other things. I just wanted to get one story each from the 14 major EC artists out of the way. Of course that still leaves some interesting artists who only did a handful of stories for EC (among them Joe Kubert, Russ Heath, Alex Toth, Ric Estrada and Gene Colan, plus the "Fleagle Gang" types who assisted Williamson on a few stories and did some solo. Speaking of which, does anyone know if Angelo Torres' "An Eye For An Eye" was ever printed outside of the early 1971 HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950s book and the ISF hardcover volume of the EC Library?). I'll probably get back to the one-story-per-week, 20-year plan now.

EC - Stampede (Severin)

Stampede
art by John Severin, story by Colin Dawkins
Two-Fisted Tales #38[#21] (1954)

John Severin of course a mainstay of the adventure books at EC, with art in almost every issue of FRONTLINE and TWO-FISTED (sometimes doing the full issue of TWO-FISTED when he took over the editing of the book), often inked by Will Elder on the earlier work, later inking himself. He also did a fair bit of work in MAD. Both the adventure and humour work would serve well in his later career (still on-going, unless Williamson is still working somewhere I don't know about I think Severin is the only major EC artist still active in comics), where he did a lot of war and western comics for various publishers and was the main artist for CRACKED for a long time (possibly still, I'm not clear what the status of CRACKED is).

This issue of TWO-FISTED is one of those where Severin drew the whole issue, after they moved the emphasis of the book from war to general adventure. This particular story is a western, of course, opening up with a dynamic scene where Slim rescues Avery from a stampeding herd. Slim then joins the ranch, but refuses to get involved in a barroom brawl and is branded a coward. Following an incident of cattle rustling, we get a shoot-out and Slim reveals his true identity and reason for not getting involved in the fight.

Of course Severin knows western art as well as anyone in comics, so this story's wide range of standard western settings and situations give him a chance to do a lot of great detailed art in just seven pages. It's full of the intricate pen-work that Severin is known for.

John Severin is the focus of the upcoming EC fanzine SQUA TRONT #11, reviewed here.

EC - Li'l Melvin (Elder)

Li'l Melvin
art by Will Elder (one panel by Basil Wolverton), story by Al Feldstein
Panic #3 (1954)

Elder of course has two roles in EC history. He inked a lot of John Severin's work for the war and sci-fi books, complementing the pencils nicely (he also did a few solo stories in a few books, but those I've seen aren't too special). More important was his work on the humour books, as one of the key artists on the early MAD style with Kurtzman, where his ability to mimic other art styles and obsessively detailed art and in-jokes were invaluable. He brought the same skills to every issue of PANIC. He left MAD with Kurtzman and they continued to work together on various projects for decades.

This story is, of course, primarily a parody of Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip. As usual for Elder, it doesn't end there, and there are lots of other parodies, most notably the running joke with Walt Kelly's Pogo characters, plus sight gags and small jokes throughout. This particular story descends to self-parody by the end, with a page showing and "analyzing" the hidden messages in some of the panels (such as the small images of some Victrolas, a sample of phonographic pictures!). The story is pretty good up until then, even if you're not familiar with what's being parodied, but that final page is just magnificent.

As mentioned above, Basil Wolverton contributes one of his "ugly woman" drawings for a gag in this story.

EC - By the Book (Evans)

By the Book
art by George Evans, story by Carl Wessler
Piracy #4 (1955)

George Evans kind of surprised me when I started to see his EC work, as I was familiar with some of his work in the 1970s DC war comics first, and didn't think it was much better than okay. For whatever reason, it was night-and-day with his EC work, and he was especially good on the war and historical material.

This story set in 1812, with a crew-man on an American ship facing off against British ships has various run-ins with a green midshipman who insists that everything be done by the Navy Manual, such as cleaning the cannon between each firing. Finally they're sent on a mission to plant a mine under a British ship under cover of smoke. When the smoke unexpectedly clears before they can, the midshipman swims out himself to finish the mission, finally earning the respect of the crew with his sacrifice.

This was a nice variation on a bit of a cliché set-up, but obviously the attraction in a book like PIRACY is the art, the loving rendition of early 19th century ships and uniforms. As I said, I was surprised at how good Evans was at it, definitely holding his own with the other PIRACY regulars like Crandall and Krigstein.

EC - A Kind Of Justice (Crandall)

A Kind Of Justice
art by Reed Crandall, story by Carl Wessler
Shock SuspenStories #16 (1954)

Before his EC work, Reed Crandall is probably best known for his work on BLACKHAWK for Quality before it was acquired by DC. Following EC he did some really nice work on Warren's black and white mags of the 1960s. He's got a very detailed realistic style that can be kind of shocking when applied to the subject matter in some of these stories.

This is an especially hard-hitting story, the kind of thing that definitely wouldn't have made it past the Comic Code the next year. It features a girl in a small town being assaulted in a shack and threatened by her attacker if she talks. As we follow the story, the police pick up a passing stranger, take him in, letting it be known to the general population what he's suspected of, coercing a signed confession out of him and then letting the increasingly out of control mob deal with him. The most striking thing in this story is how Crandall shows the crowd devolving into an animalistic fury and then the aftermath. Of course we find out at the end that the man killed was innocent, so there's no justice at all in the story.

Very dark and depressing (though a tad overwritten, as Wessler can be), and Crandall definitely sells it. This is one of my favourite of the EC crime stories I've read.

EC - Strictly Business (Orlando)

Strictly Business!
art by Joe Orlando, story by Al Feldstein
Shock SuspenStories #4 (1952)

Joe Orlando was a fixture of the EC sci-fi and horror books, and of course later was a long-established editor at DC, helming some of their more innovative 1970s titles.

In this story, set in the distant future of the 21st century, Dianne answers an ad from Alec, who offers her a job to act as his wife for three years for a healthy salary (as we're told, in this future all marriages are temporary and have to be renewed every three years). She takes the job, enjoying living a life of luxury, but gradually finds herself falling in love with Alec, who still shows no interest.

Finally, as the three years end, Dianne makes a last ditch effort by claiming she'll claim to be pregnant, which automatically renews the marriage. After all, who would believe that he hasn't shown any physical interest in such a gorgeous woman in three years. Alec finally reveals that the reason he's shown no interest in her for all these years is...

No, not that, this was published in 1952. It turns out Alec is really a robot, part of a group that has integrated into society planning a takeover, needing a wife to complete his cover.

Yeah, I think the other ending would have been better. Still, that's some nice artwork, isn't it? He does some amazing work with spot-blacks, obviously influenced by some of the better comic strips of the 1930s.

EC - Loved to Death (Kamen)

Loved to Death
art by Jack Kamen, story by Al Feldstein
Tales From the Crypt #25[#9] (1951)

Kamen was one of the most prolific of the EC artists, doing some great work in the horror and crime books. He's probably most notable for drawing some of the sexiest women in EC comics, which is evident in this story.

This is a goofy little story about Edward, a bit of a loser who is having no luck getting the girl of his dreams, Margie, interested in him. He gets referred to an alchemist, who offers to sell him a love potion for just one dollar. The alchemist also tells Edward that he expects Edward back for the antidote soon enough. For some reason this comment doesn't set off alarm bells in Edward's head. The potion works, but soon enough Edward finds himself smothered by Margie's constant adoring attention, and returns for the antidote, which turns out to be an undetectable poison which sells for one thousand dollars. Quite a scam this guy has running. Edward goes along with it, but mistakenly poisons himself. In the afterlife he's still happy to be free of the constant attention of a sexy Kamen-drawn woman, only to be shocked when Margie appears, not being willing to keep living without him.

Like I said, goofy, but some clever unexpected twists. Kamen's artwork definitely makes it stand out, though.