Shock SuspenStories #8

(April-May 1953)

Piecemeal (Table of Contents: 1)

A Horror SuspenStory / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The blood-curdling screams that had filled the night...

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

Sidney (a naturalist); Eric (villain, Sidney's brother, Sally's lover, death); Sally (villain, Sidney's wife, death)

Synopsis

A woman plots to give her naturalist husband an overdose of sleeping pills so that she can be with his younger brother. Before he passes, he acquires a large shark and places it in their outdoor pool in which the wife regularly swims.

Reprints

• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1981 series) #2 (1981)
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[3] - Suspense (1983)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #6/1993 (uke 51 1993)
• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1992 series) #8 (June 1994)
which is reprinted
• in Shock SuspenStories Annual (Gemstone, 1994 series) #2 (1994)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #14 - Forty Whacks and Other Stories (November 2015) [Reprinted in black and white.]
• in The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #2

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-8. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! -- The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

The Assault! (Table of Contents: 2)

A Shock SuspenStory / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils

Wally Wood (signed as Wood)

Inks

Wally Wood (signed as Wood)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The downpour had begun again.

Genre

crime

Characters

Mrs. Cartwright (Lucy's mother); Mr. Cartwright (Lucy's father); Hodges (town derelict, death); George (villain, Lucy's lover); Lucy Cartwright (villain, death)

Synopsis

Lucy, who was spending hours away from home on a regular basis, comes home one night and claims that old Hodges kidnapped and raped her, when, in fact, she had been with her lover. However, when the old man is killed and Lucy spurns her lover, he does the only honorable thing in his mind: kill her!

Reprints

• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1981 series) #2 (1981)
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[3] - Suspense (1983)
• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1992 series) #8 (June 1994)
which is reprinted
• in Shock SuspenStories Annual (Gemstone, 1994 series) #2 (1994)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #5/1994 (uke 41 1994)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #2 - Came the Dawn and Other Stories (August 2012) [black-and-white reprint]
• in The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #2

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-8. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! -- The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

Suicide (Table of Contents: 3)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

? (spot illustration)

Inks

? (spot illustration)

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Patterson bit his lip and sent his fist crashing into the old man's face.

Genre

crime

Characters

unnamed old man (janitor, death); Patterson (villain, death)

Synopsis

Patterson had to kill the old janitor after he had broken into a joint in order to keep the man from identifying the criminal. However, Patterson tried to make his crime look like suicide, but the plan backfired when the bullet to the old man's head went into a nearby boiler and scalded the criminal to death!

Reprints

• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1981 series) #2 (1981)
• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1992 series) #8 (June 1994)
which is reprinted
• in Shock SuspenStories Annual (Gemstone, 1994 series) #2 (1994)
• in The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #2

Shock Talk (Table of Contents: 4)

Shock Talk / letters page / 1 page (report information)

Letters

typeset

Reprints

• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1981 series) #2 (1981)
• in The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #2

Indexer Notes

After making an appeal to readers to ask their newsdealers to prominently display EC magazines, the editors publish a variety of letters from the readers, plus a few reacting to the story "Undercover" from issue #6.

The Arrival (Table of Contents: 5)

A Science-Fiction SuspenStory / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils

Al Williamson (signed); Frank Frazetta (some panels on pages 4-6); Roy Krenkel (alien architecture)

Inks

Al Williamson (signed); Frank Frazetta (some panels on pages 4-6); Roy Krenkel (alien architecture)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

They had watched Earth.

Genre

science fiction

Characters

Grozo (Martian); Zkorl (Martian); Spdork (Martian); unnamed Pharaoh of Egypt (flashback); Christopher Columbus (flashback); Napoleon Bonaparte (flashback); Thomas Edison (flashback); Orville Wright (flashback); Wilbur Wright (flashback)

Synopsis

Ninety-five thousand years after man destroys himself with nuclear weapons, the evolved rats develop space travel and meet their Martian neighbors.

Reprints

• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1981 series) #2 (1981)
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[3] - Suspense (1983)
• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1992 series) #8 (June 1994)
which is reprinted
• in Shock SuspenStories Annual (Gemstone, 1994 series) #2 (1994)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #3 - 50 Girls 50 and Other Stories (March 2013) [black and white reprint]
• in The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #2

Keywords

atomic bomb; Earth Rocket 029; Great Canal of Xnera

Indexer Notes

Krenkel and Frazetta credits added by Craig Delich 2013-9-20.

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-8. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! -- The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

Seep No More! (Table of Contents: 6)

A Crime SuspenStory / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils

George Evans

Inks

George Evans

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

I wondered if Mrs. Monahan had called the police.

Genre

crime

Characters

Mrs. Monahan (Finner's landlady); Irene Lauton (actress, death); two unnamed detectives; Mr. Finner (villain, boarder)

Synopsis

Every morning, after a man stabs a woman to death and stashes her body in the attic, he sees a huge bloodstain spreading across his ceiling. He tries to cover it up with paint, but every morning it's there. He even puts a bucket on the floor to collect the blood, and it appears half full to him when the suspicious detectives listen to his confession and tell him there is no stain and no blood in the bucket.

Reprints

• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1981 series) #2 (1981)
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[3] - Suspense (1983)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #4/1992 (uke 23 1992)
• in Shock Suspenstories (Russ Cochran, 1992 series) #8 (June 1994)
which is reprinted
• in Shock SuspenStories Annual (Gemstone, 1994 series) #2 (1994)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #11 - Aces High (December 2014) [Reprinted in black and white.]
• in The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #2

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-8. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! -- The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

Loosely based on "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Cover story.