(June-July 1950)

EC, 1950 Series
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Volume
1
Price
0.10 USD
Pages
36
Indicia Frequency
Bi-monthly
On-sale Date
1950-02-21
Publisher's Age Guidelines
Authorized A. C. M. P. Conforms to the Comics Code
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
I. C. Publishing Co. Inc.
Brand
EC An Entertaining Comic
Editing
Bill Gaines (credited as William M. Gaines) (editor); Al Feldstein (credited) (associate editor)

Issue Notes

On sale date as given in the copyright application as listed in the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Periodicals, January-June 1950, page 37, registration number B233218.

Living Corpse! (Table of Contents)

cover / 1 page (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
Johnny Craig (signed as Johnny Craig [circle])
Inks
Johnny Craig (signed as Johnny Craig [circle])
Colors
?
Letters
?
Genre
horror-suspense
Characters
Jed Bryant; Satanus
Reprints
Cover Thumbnail for The Crypt of Terror (EC, 1950 series) #18
Edit cover
Cover gallery

SuspenStory Fans! (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

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

The Maestro's Hand! (Table of Contents: 2)

The Crypt of Terror / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script
Al Feldstein (signed as FELDSTEIN)
Pencils
Al Feldstein (signed as FELDSTEIN)
Inks
Al Feldstein (signed as FELDSTEIN)
Colors
?
Letters
Jim Wroten
First Line of Dialogue or Text
So, we meet again, dear reader!
Genre
horror-suspense
Characters
The Crypt Keeper (host); Dr. Emanuel Hellman; Virginia Caddy; Maestro Borrstein
Synopsis
Dr. Hellman arrives at a cabin in the woods to forget the suicide of his ex-fiancee after he unnecessarily removed the injured piano hand of her lover and he killed himself. When he opens the package he finds upon his doorstep, the detached hand lunges for his throat. When police arrive later, they find the doctor dead from self-strangulation.
Reprints

The Living Corpse (Table of Contents: 3)

Another SuspenStory from The Crypt of Terror! / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script
Al Feldstein
Pencils
Wally Wood
Inks
Wally Wood
Colors
?
Letters
Jim Wroten
First Line of Dialogue or Text
On fog-shrouded nights, in the loneliest of places, strange horrors walk...
Genre
horror-suspense
Characters
Jed Bryant (morgue attendant, death); Tim (morgue worker); Desiree (Satanus' assistant, death); Satanus (villain, magician, death)
Synopsis
A magician strikes his assistant while wearing a snake ring and then attempts to locate where her body was taken by playing dead himself as to remove the snake imprint evidence. He assaults the morgue attendant but is locked into the freezer while the attendant suffers a heart attack and is thus doomed to freeze to death.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

Portrait of Life... and Death! (Table of Contents: 4)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
?
Inks
?
Colors
?
Letters
typeset
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Rollini touched his paint-brush to the palette...
Genre
horror-suspense
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Text story with illustration.

Madness at Manderville (Table of Contents: 5)

Another SuspenStory from the Crypt of Terror! / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script
Ivan Klapper
Pencils
Harvey Kurtzman
Inks
Harvey Kurtzman
Colors
Harvey Kurtzman ? (see notes)
Letters
Jim Wroten
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Those lights Mrs. Mander thought she saw flickering in the night...
Genre
horror-suspense
Characters
Tom Mander; Marion Mander; Rusty (a dog, death); Dr. Brenner; Dr. Holbrook
Synopsis
When Tom Mander and his wife lose their son Billy, Tom worries the strain may be driving her insane when she tells him that she sees and hears things he cannot. When they find a butcher knife soaked with blood in the kitchen and the dog in the cellar with its throat slashed Tom takes his wife in to see a doctor who has Tom committed to an insane asylum when his discussion reveals to the doctor that Tom cannot perceive sights and sounds that actually do occur.
Reprints
Keywords
Manderville

Indexer Notes

Script credit based on interview with William Gaines and Harvey Kurtzman in Squa Tront #9, 1983.

Marie Severin’s statement that “[Harvey] Kurtzman colored his own art, especially on covers...” (1995) suggests that Kurtzman colored stories that he drew, albeit perhaps less consistently than he colored his cover art.

In 1973, both Gaines and Kurtzman confirmed to John Benson that Klapper wrote this story. So ? removed from script credit by Craig Delich.
_________
Reference:

Cassell, Dewey, with Aaron Sultan. 2012. “The Artists of EC Comics” (reprinting Severin 1995). In Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics. 46–47. Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing.

Severin, Marie (John Province, transcriber [uncredited]). 1995. “Mostly About Color.” In CFA-APA 36, January.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 6)

The Crypt-Keeper's Corner / letters page / 1 page (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
Al Feldstein
Inks
Al Feldstein
Colors
?
Letters
typeset
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Drag over a casket, kiddies, and place your palpitating body upon it...
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Letters from Jose A. Benavidez, Phyllis Ankrom, Esther Murshower, and Guy Fulman.

Mute Witness to Murder! (Table of Contents: 7)

Another SuspenStory from the Crypt of Terror! / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script
Johnny Craig (signed)
Pencils
Johnny Craig (signed)
Inks
Johnny Craig (signed)
Colors
? (see notes)
Letters
Jim Wroten
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Women are known as the talkative sex,...
Genre
horror-suspense
Characters
Steve; Pam (Steve's wife); Dr. Bask's wife (death); Heanigson (hospital worker); Dr. Bask (villain, death)
Synopsis
A woman sees her neighbor doctor murder his wife and is struck dumb from the shock. Her husband summons the very same doctor and he realizes what she must have witnessed and has her committed to an asylum. He realizes that her voice may return at any time so he schedules her for a brain operation in which he plans to 'accidentally' kill her. Her voice does return and when his heart gives out without his medicine during their struggle, she chooses to let him die rather than summon aid in time.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

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

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin, but it is unlikely that Severin had begun coloring at EC when this issue was colored (Cassell 2012, 33–34 and 171).
_________
Reference:

Cassell, Dewey, with Aaron Sultan. 2012. Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics. Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing.

Editing
Issue at my.comics.org
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. Living Corpse!
  2. 1. SuspenStory Fans!
  3. 2. The Maestro's Hand!
    The Crypt of Terror
  4. 3. The Living Corpse
    Another SuspenStory from The Crypt of Terror!
  5. 4. Portrait of Life... and Death!
  6. 5. Madness at Manderville
    Another SuspenStory from the Crypt of Terror!
  7. 6. ["Drag over a casket, kiddies, and place your palpitating body upon it..."]
    The Crypt-Keeper's Corner
  8. 7. Mute Witness to Murder!
    Another SuspenStory from the Crypt of Terror!
This issue was modified by, among others
  • David B
  • Bill Borre
  • Chris Boyko
  • Craig Delich
  • Bill Devine
  • Kauldi Gilibert
  • Katy Hayhurst
  • Jerry Hillegas (R.I.P.)
  • Michael Hoskin
  • R. S. Martin
  • Mike Nielsen
  • Tony R. Rose
  • Jason Sacks
  • Jim Stangas
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