(November-December 1950)

EC, 1950 Series
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Volume
1
Price
0.10 USD
Pages
36
Indicia Frequency
bi-monthly
On-sale Date
1950-07-27
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
Fables Publishing Co. Inc.
Brand
EC An Entertaining Comic
Editing
Bill Gaines (credited as William M. Gaines) (managing editor); Harvey Kurtzman (editor (uncredited)); Al Feldstein (credited as Albert B. Feldstein) (associate editor)

Issue Notes

The on-sale date is the publication date reported in the U. S. Copyright Office filing.
Parts of this issue are reprinted:

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents)

cover / 1 page (report information)

Script
Harvey Kurtzman
Pencils
Harvey Kurtzman
Inks
Harvey Kurtzman
Colors
Harvey Kurtzman (see notes)
Letters
Ben Oda
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Here I am, you bilge-rat...
Genre
adventure
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

According to Marie Severin (1995), “[Harvey] Kurtzman colored his own art, especially on covers....”
_________
References:

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.

Cover Thumbnail for Two-Fisted Tales (EC, 1950 series) #18
Edit cover
Cover gallery

Conquest (Table of Contents: 1)

comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script
Harvey Kurtzman
Pencils
Harvey Kurtzman
Inks
Harvey Kurtzman
Colors
Harvey Kurtzman ? (see notes)
Letters
Ben Oda
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Ha ha! Look at them!
Genre
adventure
Characters
unnamed Indian King (death); various native inhabitants (many die); Captain Juan Alvarado (villain, death); Alvarado's men [Francesco; Lieutenant Velasquez; others unnamed] (villains, all die)
Synopsis
Given a commission by the Spanish government, Captain Alvarado arrives in the Americas on a mission of conquest of the native inhabitants and the looting of their gold.
Reprints
Keywords
Gulf of Campeche; Huitzilpochli Temple; Spain

Indexer Notes

Story based in the 16th Century.

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

Hong Kong Intrigue! (Table of Contents: 2)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script
Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)
Pencils
Al Feldstein (signed)
Inks
Al Feldstein (signed)
Colors
? (see notes)
Letters
Jim Wroten
First Line of Dialogue or Text
I stood on the terrace outside my hotel room, puffing an American cigarette...
Genre
detective-mystery
Characters
Gregg King; Carol Stanton; Carol's father (death); Chinese killers (villains)
Synopsis
Gregg saves Carol from a Chinese thug, then she informs him that her father was kidnapped because he could prove that the northern rebels of East Asia were taking orders from a foreign power. The evidence, however, remains in a hidden place, known only to her father. So the pair begin the arduous task of tracking him down and then recovering the evidence.
Reprints
Keywords
Blue Dragon Cafe; Hong Kong

Indexer Notes

Script revision as shown per Bill Gaines.

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.

Man-Trap! (Table of Contents: 3)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
? (masthead illustration)
Inks
? (masthead illustration)
Colors
? (see notes)
Letters
typeset
Genre
adventure
Characters
Shipstead; unnamed woman (villain); savages (villains)
Synopsis
After trying to rescue a woman in the jungle from the clutches of fierce savages, Shipstead awakens to find his head on the execution's block, and discovered the woman was revered by the tribe and he had been suckered into trying to rescue her. Quick thinking allowed him to save himself, capture the woman and turn her over to the authorities.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Page count revision by Craig Delich.

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin (see Indexer Notes for “Hong Kong Intrigue!,” above).

Rescue (Table of Contents: 4)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
? (masthead illustration)
Inks
? (masthead illustration)
Colors
? (see notes)
Letters
typeset
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Jon Crandall watched the pirate chieftan herding the women toward the rail...
Genre
adventure
Characters
Jon Crandall; unnamed young girl; unnamed captives; pirate chieftain (villain); pirate crew (villains)
Synopsis
Crandall had to think fast, but he did as he overcame several of the pirate crew and saved a girl prisoner, then shot off a cannon to alert a Man-o-War to come and rescue them and other captives.
Reprints
Keywords
Man-o-War

Indexer Notes

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin (see Indexer Notes for “Hong Kong Intrigue!,” above).

Revolution! (Table of Contents: 5)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script
Wally Wood (signed as Woody)
Pencils
Wally Wood (signed as Woody)
Inks
Wally Wood (signed as Woody)
Colors
? (see notes)
Letters
Jim Wroten (sourced); Margaret Wroten (sourced); Wally Wood (sourced) (corrections)
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Revolutions are as common as rainstorms in the tiny states of Central America!
Genre
war
Characters
Clay Hill (professional soldier, death); "Bullet" Hunter (death); General Bovar (Revolution leader, death); Bovar's pilots (all die); San Sonorez (villain)
Synopsis
Hill and Hunter meet up once again in the Canal Zone, and Hill discovers that his friend Hunter has accepted an offer from General Bovar to fly and fight for him in the on-going revolution. Unfortunately, Hunter soon discovers that his aerial opponent is none other than Clay Hill.
Reprints
Keywords
Canal Zone; Cororota

Indexer Notes

Letters credits originally given either Jim Wroten or Ben Oda individually. Todd Klein confirmed it was both Wroten and Wood (October 11, 2022) and agreed on by Craig Delich. Todd said:

“I can explain exactly what happened with the lettering on this story. It’s a case of artist Wally Wood fighting the mechanical look of the Leroy lettering by Jim and Margaret Wroten by adding some of his own lettering. The Wrotens did most of the lettering with Leroy templates, as described in this article:
https://kleinletters.com/Blog/leroy-lettering-by-jim-and-margaret-wroten/

“Ben Oda never used that method, he always did everything by hand. Al Feldstein loved the Wroten lettering, and had most of his stories lettered by them on the art before anything was drawn. Harvey Kurtzman hated Leroy lettering, as did Wood, and they fought it when they had the chance, often using Ben Oda instead, or at times Wood did his own lettering, he was good at that too.

“This story is a case where Wood had to work with the existing Wroten Leroy lettering, but the Wrotens were probably told to leave room for him to do his own large initial capitals and story title. This made the lettering look somewhat better, but Wood wasn’t satisfied with that, in some places he went over the emphasized words in places with a small pen point to make them more angular and with pointed corners. The result is closer to his own lettering, and even somewhat like the Ben Oda sound effects in the panels above, which may have added to the idea that Oda worked on this.”

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin (see Indexer Notes for “Hong Kong Intrigue!,” above).

Mutiny (Table of Contents: 6)

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
Our story begins in a sleazy bar near the waterfront...
Genre
adventure
Characters
Captain Steve Cutter; Hawkins (a sailor); Hook (villain); Hook's men [Skeever; Krank] (villains)
Synopsis
Captain Cutter sails from port not knowing his three crew members are out after the Captain's valuable bag of diamonds. They set the Captain adrift with a bag of flour, then begin a search for the gems. Not able to find them, the villains are unaware that the good Captain has returned to his ship, who quickly takes care of the three. He then reveals the hiding place of the gems: the bag of flour!
Reprints
Keywords
Port Elizabeth (South Africa); The Shark (a ship)

Indexer Notes

Colors were previously attributed to Marie Severin (see Indexer Notes for “Hong Kong Intrigue!,” above).
Cover story.

Editing
Issue at my.comics.org
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. ["Here I am, you bilge-rat..."]
  2. 1. Conquest
  3. 2. Hong Kong Intrigue!
  4. 3. Man-Trap!
  5. 4. Rescue
  6. 5. Revolution!
  7. 6. Mutiny
This issue was modified by, among others
  • David B
  • Ray Bottorff Jr
  • Chris Boyko
  • Craig Delich
  • Katy Hayhurst
  • Jerry Hillegas (R.I.P.)
  • Michael Hoskin
  • R. S. Martin
  • Tony R. Rose
  • Jason Sacks
  • Jim Stangas
  • Mike White
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