The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #14 - Forty Whacks and Other Stories

(November 2015)

Forty Whacks and Other Stories (Table of Contents: 1)

illustration / 1 page (report information)

Pencils

Jack Kamen (credited)

Inks

Jack Kamen (credited)

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Title page with an image drawn by Jack Kamen.

Titles in this Series (Table of Contents: 2)

credits, title page / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

List of titles in series; credits; indicia

Forty Whacks and Other Stories (Table of Contents: 3)

text article / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Title page; no image

[Table of Contents] (Table of Contents: 4)

table of contents / 2 pages (report information)

Script

?

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Table of Contents with an abstract image as background.

Look, Buster! (Table of Contents: 5)

foreword, introduction, preface, afterword / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Bill Mason (credited)

Pencils

Jack Kamen (credited)

Inks

Jack Kamen (credited)

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Introduction with art by Jack Kamen

Contract For Death (Table of Contents: 6)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen

Inks

Jack Kamen

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #2 (December 1950-January 1951) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Premium Overdue! (Table of Contents: 7)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #4 (April-May 1951) [Reprinted in black and white.]

The Gullible One (Table of Contents: 8)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #5 (June-July 1951) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Out of My Mind! (Table of Contents: 9)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime; horror-suspense

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #6 (August-September 1951) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Revenge! (Table of Contents: 10)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #7 (October-November 1951) [Reprinted in black and white.]

A Trace of Murder! (Table of Contents: 11)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #8 (December 1951-January 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Medicine! (Table of Contents: 12)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #9 (February-March 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

The Neat Job! (Table of Contents: 13)

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

Script

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

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Arthur Berdeen (death); two un-named detectives; Eleanor Berdeen (villain)

Synopsis

An abused housewife married to a neat freak snaps one day and neatly dices the sections of her husband's body into small jars.

Reprints

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #1 (February-March 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-1. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Lady Killer (Table of Contents: 14)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Mildred (Ralph's wife, death); Ralph (villain); Jeanne (villain, Ralph's lover, old school friend of Mildred's, death)

Synopsis

Ralph and Jeanne conspire to kill Ralph's wife who refuses to give him a divorce. After making sure he has an air-tight alibi, Ralph sneaks back to his home to shoot his wife, but she is not there. He sits down to wait on her, remembering back to when he first met Jeanne. When Mildred finally comes back, he kills her then races back to Jeanne's apartment. He enters and discovers Jeanne shot and dying; Mildred had killed her to get even with Ralph and what he was doing! Later, on death row, he sits, waiting to die....but charged with killing Jeanne!

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #10 (April-May 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Letters credit from Craig Delich.

Kickback! (Table of Contents: 15)

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

Script

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

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Oscar Higgins (Freda's husband, death); un-named doctor; Rick (Freda's boy friend); Fritz (construction worker); Mr. Davidson (Freda's lawyer); Freda Higgins (villain)

Synopsis

A young woman marries an older man for his money and gets tried of caring for him after a heart attack leaves him paralyzed. She comes up with a plot to stock the cellar with canned goods for three weeks and then pretends to be locked inside while her husband starves to death. It works, and she is cleared of suspicion in her husband's death, but the new man she meets manages to lock himself in the cellar without provisions for several days and is reduced to the same condition as her previous husband.

Reprints

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #2 (April-May 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Ajax Construction Company

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-2. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

One Man's Poison! (Table of Contents: 16)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #11 (June-July 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Just Desserts! (Table of Contents: 17)

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

Script

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

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Jimmy (Bernard's son, death); Cora (Bernard's wife, death); Irving (Bernard's best friend, death); Clorissa (Bernard's Aunt, death); Julius (Bernard's business partner, death); Fanny (a nurse, death); Fanny's un-named boy friend); Joe (Julius' employee); Bernard (villain)

Synopsis

A madman holds a dinner party for five people who have done dirt to him in the past and decapitates them.

Reprints

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #3 (June-July 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Last page is full-page splash.

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-2. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Snooze to Me! (Table of Contents: 18)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen

Inks

Jack Kamen

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Mr. Crestwood (Herbert's co-worker); Higgin (business associate of Herbert's); Nancy Chase (Herbert's wife, death); Herbert Chase (villain, Nancy's husband); Edith (villain, the Chase's maid, Herbert's lover)

Synopsis

Herbert comes home late one night and his waiting wife. Suspecting that he is having an affair, she confronts him, shooting down all of his alibis. She tells him to leave but has second thoughts and phones him to come back, but he refuses. So she devises a plot to take a whole bottle of sleeping pills after writing a suicide note, then have Edith, her maid, call Herbert, then an ambulance so the attendants can save her life. But Edith and Herbert pull a fast one on Nancy!

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #12 (August-September 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Letters credit added by Craig Delich, verified by Al Feldstein.

Split Second! (Table of Contents: 19)

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

Script

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

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Jack (lumberjack); Fuz (lumberjack); Ted Morgan (lumberjack); Steve Dixon (villain, lumberjack boss, death); Liz (Silver Dollar Saloon singer, Steve's wife, eventual death)

Synopsis

When a lumberjack boss blinds a young worker by hitting him in the head with a rock, the other lumberjacks gag him and stuff him in a hollow log for the blind boy to practice chopping through......and Liz, his wife, is next!

Reprints

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #4 (August-September 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-2. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Hear No Evil! (Table of Contents: 20)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Inks

Johnny Craig (signed as Craig)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Fred Reardon; Irma (Mrs. Reardon's friend); unnamed detective; Rita Waldon Reardon (villain); Vance Tobin (villain, Fred's business associate, death)

Synopsis

Rita is introduced to Fred Reardon at a party and sets her sights on marrying this rather wealthy man, even though he is stone deaf.....for his money, of course. Soon, she falls in love with Vance Tobin and together they plot to kill Fred. However, Fred is involved in a car accident soon after and regains his hearing, unbeknownst to Vance and Rita, and he overhears the plot to poison him.

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #13 (October-November 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Some of the story is told in flashback.

Forty Whacks! (Table of Contents: 21)

Haunt of Fear / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Old Witch (host)

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #13 (October-November 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Well-Traveled! (Table of Contents: 22)

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

Script

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

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Jack Bailey (Horace's neighbor); Philip Bailey (Jack's son); Bess Weems (Horace's wife, death); Horace Weems (villain)

Synopsis

A henpecked husband dis-members his wife after she refuses to let him spend money on toy trains once too often.

Reprints

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #5 (October-November 1952) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-5. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

The Perfect Place! (Table of Contents: 23)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #14 (December 1952-January 1953) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Dead Right! (Table of Contents: 24)

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

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Madame Vorna (fortune teller); J. Flag Marson (prison warden, mention only); Mr. Clayton (Cathy's boss); Cathy Finch Marno (office clerk, waitress, death); Charles Marno (villain, Cathy's husband, death)

Synopsis

A fortune teller predicts to a woman that a man who wants to marry her, but she finds repulsive, is going to inherit twenty-five thousand dollars and die shortly afterward, so she marries him. What the fortune teller doesn't tell her is that she wins the twenty-five thousand dollars as a prize, and when she tries to walk out on the slob, he murders her and inherits her money then dies in the electric chair.

Reprints

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #6 (December 1952 - January 1953) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Daily Clarion; Netherlane Cafeteria

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit per Russ Cochran and added by Craig Delich 2013-12-7. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

The Screaming Woman! (Table of Contents: 25)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen

Inks

Jack Kamen

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

horror-suspense

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #15 (February-March 1953) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Adapted from the short story "The Screaming Woman" by Ray Bradbury

Beauty And The Beach! (Table of Contents: 26)

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

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Characters

Mary Milton (John's wife); Ginger Fullman (Percy's wife, death); Cedric Abels (publicity man); Tom Simmens (advertising director); John Milton (villain, plastics factory worker); Percy Fullman (villain)

Synopsis

Two men are frustrated by the vanity of their attractive wives and the fact that they have offers to do some modeling and to participate in four beauty contests. One encases his wife in plastic while wearing her bathing suit, and the other broils his wife alive under forty sun lamps.

Reprints

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #7 (February-March 1953) [Reprinted in black and white.]

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.

Fission Bait! (Table of Contents: 27)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Jack Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Genre

crime

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #16 (April-May 1953) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Piecemeal (Table of Contents: 28)

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

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Letters

Jim Wroten

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

• from Shock SuspenStories (EC, 1952 series) #8 (April-May 1953) [Reprinted in black and white.]

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.

One for the Money... (Table of Contents: 29)

Crime SuspenStories / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as JACK KAMEN)

Letters

Jim Wroten

Reprints

• from Crime SuspenStories (EC, 1950 series) #17 (June-July 1953) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Jack Kamen (Table of Contents: 30)

text article / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Steve Ringgenberg (credited)

Pencils

Jack Kamen (credited)

Inks

Jack Kamen (credited)

Letters

typeset

Reprints

• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #36 - Kamen's Kalamity and Other Stories (2024)

Indexer Notes

Biography of Jack Kamen with art by Kamen

Behind the Panels (Table of Contents: 31)

credits, title page / 1 page (report information)

Script

Janice Lee (credited); Tom Spurgeon (credited); Steve Ringgenberg (credited as S. C. Ringgenberg)

Letters

typeset

Indexer Notes

Biographies of Ray Douglas Bradbury; John (John Thomas Alexis) Craig; Albert B. Feldstein; William Maxwell Gaines

[Fission Bait Splash] (Table of Contents: 32)

illustration / 1 page (report information)

Pencils

Jack Kamen

Inks

Jack Kamen

Indexer Notes

Close-up of the splash panel for "Fission Bait."

Crime, Horror, Terror, Gore, Depracity, Disrespect for Established Authority... and Science Fiction Too! The Ups and Downs of EC Comics (Table of Contents: 33)

foreword, introduction, preface, afterword / 4 pages (report information)

Script

Ted White (credited)

Letters

typeset

Reprints

• from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #1 - Corpse on the Imjin and Other Stories (August 2012)

Indexer Notes

History of EC Comics

[Man Chasing Woman] (Table of Contents: 34)

illustration / 1 page (report information)

Pencils

Jack Kamen

Inks

Jack Kamen

Indexer Notes

Close-up of a panel from an interior story.

Murder, Murder Everywhere (Table of Contents: 35) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)