Vault of Horror #31

(June-July 1953)

Ray Bradbury (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

in-house column / 1 page (report information)

Easel Kill Ya! (Table of Contents: 2)

The Vault of Horror! / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Johnny Craig (signed as Johnny Craig [circle])

Pencils

Johnny Craig (signed as Johnny Craig [circle])

Inks

Johnny Craig (signed as Johnny Craig [circle])

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Heh, heh! Thank Hades, you're on time.

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Vault Keeper (host); young artist; artist's fiancee (death); art enthusiast; unnamed doctor (death)

Synopsis

The man went to a bridge he intended to jump from to his death at age 29. He was a lonely, unappreciated artist who was going to end it all when a car slammed into a barrier and from the crumpled wreck a woman staggered out. He was inspired to paint the scene, then sold it to a certain gentlemen. This scenario played out again and again as horrible accidents gave him inspiration to paint until he met a girl he was to marry. When she had a horrible accident and needed an operation, the artist killed someone for inspiration to paint the picture to sell, but inadvertently made a horrible mistake.

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 (1982)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #2/1991 (uke 9 1991)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (July 1997)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #5 - Fall Guy for Murder and Other Stories (July 2013) [Reprinted in black and white.]
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2014 series) #4, #4
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #4

Indexer Notes

Letterer credit by Craig Delich.
Cover story, although the murderer doesn't kill his victims with a hammer.

A Peach of a Plot! (Table of Contents: 3)

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

Script

Al Feldstein

Pencils

Jack Davis (signed)

Inks

Jack Davis (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Heh, heh. And now it's's your Crypt-Keeper's turn to curdle your blood.

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Crypt-Keeper (host); Michael Lane; Lt. Phil Dolan

Synopsis

Lieutenant Dolan looked at the roots of a peach tree that held the corpse in its roots, and ordered the corpse and tree be taken in for autopsy. He turned to Michael Lane, the murderer, who now confessed to why he did the act. Her name was Sarah, young, wealthy and beautiful, and he got what he wanted from her until she realized that he didn't love her....just her money. There was a terrible fight, then talk of divorce. Finally one night, as she ate a peach, he killed her, buried her in the garden and destroyed all of her possessions, giving the impression she had left him. The problem was that she has swallowed the peach pit, and from that pit, a peach tree began to grow. Seven years passed by and finally the tree bore fruit.....Lt. Dolan came by the house, hoping to trap Lane into admitting the act he suspected him of. Then as they walked into the garden, Lane reached for a peach and bit into it....quickly spitting it out. The Lieutenant now knew where to look for Lane's wife's body, for that peach had blood inside it!

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 (1982)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #4/1991 (uke 22 1991)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (July 1997)
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2014 series) #4
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #4

One Shot (Table of Contents: 4)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

? (spot illustration)

Inks

? (spot illustration)

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Genre

crime

Characters

Metcalf

Synopsis

Metcalf hid in the bushes with a rifle, eyeing his prey standing just above him. A shot rang out and the man fell back and tumbled 1000 feet down over a sheer rock wall. Metcalf went down and viewed the body of his victim. To give the appearance that there had been an exchange of shots, he took the rifle and aimed at a solitary rock above him, and shot at it. Unfortunately, it then dislodged many rocks, all which came crashing down upon him. As he lay crumpled and broken at the base of that wall, he suddenly spied that single, last meteor of a rock heading towards his face and closed his eyes.

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 (1982)
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2014 series) #4
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #4

Indexer Notes

The text story is found on the inner halves of the two pages. To each side are EC house ads, one for Weird Fantasy #19 [with a Joe Orlando cover], while the other page promoted, with covers, the Complete Old & New Testament editions from the Picture Stories From the Bible series, Picture Stories From Science #2 and Picture Stories From World History #2.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 5)

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

Letters

typeset

Synopsis

Letters from Montana Lamb, Don Thompson, Peter Kroll, Ted Finch, Ronald Wade, Matt Flynn and Norman Benedict were printed. V-K thanks readers for responding to the plea to buy and ask for more EC's from their dealers, then pushed the 3rd Annual Tales of Terror volume and subscriptions.

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 (1982)
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2014 series) #4
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #4

The Lake (Table of Contents: 6)

The Vault of Horror! / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Ray Bradbury (plot); Al Feldstein (adaptation)

Pencils

Joe Orlando

Inks

Joe Orlando

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

It was September...

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Vault-Keeper (host); a little boy; Margaret (the grown-up little boy's wife); lifeguard; Tally (death, in flashback)

Synopsis

Years ago, a little boy and his young girl friend, Tally played at the beach and built sandcastles together. One day, Tally swam out into the water and drowned, leaving the sandcastle undone, and no closure for the boy. Years later, the little boy, now grown, got married and returned to the beach with his wife, and met with the old lifeguard, who showed him Tally's body in a sack. Once more, the young man returned to the beach, built an entire sandcastle and walked back to his wife, Margaret, leaving the past behind.

Reprints

• in The Autumn People (Ballantine Books, 1965 series) (October 1965)
• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 (1982)
• in Monsieur Sourire (Albin Michel, 1985 series) (1985) [N&B [B&W]]
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #2/1993 (uke 15 1993)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (July 1997)
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2014 series) #4
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #19 - The Thing from the Grave and Other Stories (October 2017) [Reprinted in black and white.]
• in Choke Gasp! The Best of 75 Years of EC Comics (Dark Horse, 2019 series) (2019)
• in Home to Stay! The Complete EC Ray Bradbury Stories (Fantagraphics, 2022 series) (January 2023)
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #4

Indexer Notes

Story was adapted from Ray Bradbury's "The October Country," which appeared in May 1944's "Weird Tales" and the anthology "Dark Carnival."

Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

One Good Turn... (Table of Contents: 7)

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

Script

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

Pencils

Graham Ingels (signed as Graham)

Inks

Graham Ingels (signed as Ghastly)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Hee, hee! And now it's wind-up time in K.K.'s mag...

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Old Witch (host); Edwin (Jennifer's husband, death); Bert (Jennifer's old friend, death); Grace (Jennifer's acquaintance, death); Sidney (a small boy, death); a blind man (death); Thelma (an old woman, death); two detectives [Steve; other unnamed]; Jennifer (villain)

Synopsis

Jennifer came home in a cheerful mood and went into the bedroom to see her husband, who had been paralyzed in bed for many years. She excitedly told him just how wonderful it felt to actually be needed by other people: people who were unhappy for a variety of reasons, and how she cheered them up by killing them. When the two detectives came to the home to investigate, they found Edwin already dead by cyanide poisioning, and Jennifer happy that she could make him happy as well.

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 (1982)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #4/1990 (uke 22 1990)
which is reprinted
• in Iskalde Grøss pocket (Hjemmet / Egmont, 1998 series) #7 ([mars] 1999)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #20 (July 1997)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #7 - Sucker Bait and Other Stories (February 2014) [Reprinted in black and white.]
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2014 series) #4
• in The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror (Dark Horse, 2021 series) #4

Indexer Notes

Script and letterer credits by Craig Delich.