Tales from the Crypt #45

(December 1954-January 1955)

Telescope (Table of Contents: 1)

The Crypt of Terror / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Pencils

Jack Davis (signed)

Inks

Jack Davis (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Heh, heh! Menace, anyone?

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Crypt-Keeper (host); Eric Walford (seaman on the Bramwell, death)

Synopsis

A man and a rat from a shipwreck wash up on an island and eye each other warily as the only food source available.

Reprints

• in Tales from the Crypt (Russ Cochran, 1979 series) #5 (1979)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #6/1989 (uke 36 1989)
which is reprinted
• in Iskalde Grøss pocket (Hjemmet / Egmont, 1998 series) #5 ([mars] 1998)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gladstone, 1990 series) #5 (March 1991)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (September 1999)
• in Nemi (Hjemmet / Egmont, 2003 series) #5 ([juli] 2003) [2. translation]
• in Biblioteca Grandes del Cómic: Clásicos del Terror de EC (Planeta DeAgostini, 2003 series) #5 (septiembre 2003)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #4 - Tain't the Meat...It's the Humanity and Other Stories (March 2013) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

S.S. Bramwell

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit by Craig Delich. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

The Substitute (Table of Contents: 2)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Pencils

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Inks

Jack Kamen (signed as Kamen)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Here's a delightful sample of escape literature called...

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Vault-Keeper (host)

Synopsis

A man assumes that the body of the governor of the penal colony he is a prisoner in will be sent back to Paris, so he kills him with a poisoned dart from a blowgun and makes plans to switch places with his body in the casket. They nail him in and bury him at sea.

Reprints

• in Tales from the Crypt (Russ Cochran, 1979 series) #5 (1979)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #2/1989 (uke 9 1989)
which is reprinted
• in Iskalde Grøss pocket (Semic, 1996 series) #3 ([mars] 1997)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gladstone, 1990 series) #5 (March 1991)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (September 1999)
• in Biblioteca Grandes del Cómic: Clásicos del Terror de EC (Planeta DeAgostini, 2003 series) #5 (septiembre 2003)
• in Nemi (Hjemmet / Egmont, 2003 series) #35 ([mars] 2006) [2. translation]
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #36 - Kamen's Kalamity and Other Stories (2024) [Reprinted in black and white.]

This Is An Appeal For Action! (Table of Contents: 3)

A Special Editorial / text article / 1 page (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

THE PROBLEM: Comics are under fire... horror and crime comics in particular.

Reprints

• in Tales from the Crypt (Russ Cochran, 1979 series) #5 (1979)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (September 1999)

Squeeze Play (Table of Contents: 4)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

From the place where he crouched on the metal ladder...

Genre

horror-suspense

Reprints

• in Tales from the Crypt (Russ Cochran, 1979 series) #5 (1979)

Murder Dream (Table of Contents: 5)

Tales From the Crypt / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Pencils

Bernie Krigstein (signed as B. Krigstein); Jack Davis (Crypt Keeper illustration in masthead)

Inks

Bernie Krigstein (signed as B. Krigstein); Jack Davis (Crypt Keeper illustration in masthead)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Here's a crazy, mixed-up frightmare I call...

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Crypt-Keeper (host); Howard Leighton (death) [as Claude Grymes in dream sequences]; Cathy Leighton (Howard's wife, death); Claude Grymes (villain, house caretaker)

Synopsis

A maniac axe murderer assumes his victim's identity in his dreams until he is compelled to return to the scene of the crime to murder the victim's wife as well.

Reprints

• in Tales from the Crypt (Russ Cochran, 1979 series) #5 (1979)
• in De overlevende en andere verhalen (Zet.El, 1988 series) (1988)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #7 [1988] (uke 41 1988)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gladstone, 1990 series) #5 (March 1991)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (September 1999)
• in Biblioteca Grandes del Cómic: Clásicos del Terror de EC (Planeta DeAgostini, 2003 series) #5 (septiembre 2003)
• in B. Krigstein Comics (Fantagraphics, 2004 series) (July 2004)
• in Messages in a Bottle: Comic Book Stories by B. Krigstein (Fantagraphics, 2013 series) (April 2013)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #21 - Master Race and Other Stories (March 2018) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Layout, Jack Davis, letterer and colorist credits by Craig Delich.

Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.

Much of story told in dream sequences.

The Switch (Table of Contents: 6)

The Witch's Cauldron! / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Pencils

Graham Ingels (signed as Ghastly)

Inks

Graham Ingels (signed as Ghastly)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Hee, hee! Hi, horror hooligans!

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Old Witch (host); Carlton Webster; Fulton (Webster's butler); Linda Stewart Booth (Carleton's love interest); Dr. Hurley (Carleton's physician); Dr. Faulkner (surgeon); George Booth (man who swapped body parts with Carleton)

Synopsis

An old millionaire falls in love with a young woman but he doesn't want her to marry him for his money so he tells her he's poor. She puts him off telling him his face is too old-looking and he still has an old man's body so he gets a doctor to do an expensive face and torso transplant, but she still isn't satisfied because of his legs. He spends the last of his fortune to swap out his legs and she marries the man, George Booth, he has swapped body parts with because she only wanted to marry a millionaire.

Reprints

• in Tales from the Crypt (Russ Cochran, 1979 series) #5 (1979)
• in De vloek van de volle maan (Loeb, 1981 series) (1981)
• in Gysertimen (Interpresse, 1987 series) #2 (13. maj 1987)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #2/1989 (uke 9 1989)
which is reprinted
• in Iskalde Grøss pocket (Semic, 1996 series) #3 ([mars] 1997)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gladstone, 1990 series) #5 (March 1991)
• in Tales from the Crypt (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (September 1999)
• in Biblioteca Grandes del Cómic: Clásicos del Terror de EC (Planeta DeAgostini, 2003 series) #5 (septiembre 2003)
• in Choke Gasp! The Best of 75 Years of EC Comics (Dark Horse, 2019 series) (2019)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #29 - Accidents and Old Lace and Other Stories (January 2021) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit by Craig Delich. Feldstein reports that Wroten used a K & E Lettering Stylus to do all the lettering with.