The long, gory life of EC Comics: why the Crypt-Keeper never dies.

• Author: Harris, Franklin
• Position: E.C. Publications Inc.

WHEN WILLIAM M. Gaines became publisher of EC Comics, he inherited a company deep in debt and struggling to survive. Within a few years, he transformed it into the most innovative publisher of comic books in the 190s. Although EC's brief reign came to an end amid Senate hearings and industry self-censorship, Gaines and his stable of artists and writers created a legacy that continues to inspire American pop culture, in no small part because of EC's notoriety.

EC'S lasting appeal is the subject of Chip Selby's slick and entertaining documentary Tales From the Crypt: From Comic Books to Television (available from cryptdvd.com) and Grant Geissman's lavishly illustrated coffee table book Foul Play!: The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics! (Harper Design). In the film, Selby talks to such filmmakers as George A. Romero and Joel Silver, who credit EC's pioneering blend of gory horror and black humor with jump-starting their film careers.

At a time when the Hays Code restricted movie content, EC Comics brought visceral horror to the mainstream, where it now flourishes. With the help of artist and writer Al Feldstein, Gaines turned his back on the instructive comic books that used to be EC's product--the company's initials, which originally stood for Educational Comics, now referred to Entertaining Comics instead--and launched what he called a "new trend." Other publishers filled drugstore spinners with westerns, romances, and the few superhero books to survive World War II, but those genres didn't interest Gaines. Inspired by radio programs like Inner Sanctum, he and Feldstein experimented with horror. Feldstein's "Vault of Horror" and "Crypt of Terror" stories were popular enough that Gaines spun off the features into their own books. In January 1950, vault of Horror and Crypt of Terror (renamed Tales From the Crypt three issues later) hit newsstands.

EC was onto something. With Gaines and Feldstein as co-editors and Feldstein writing most of the stories, EC launched more horror titles, including The Haunt of Fear and Crime Suspense Stories. Artists like Graham Ingels and Jack Davis provided the gore, while adaptations of Ray Bradbury short stories gave the magazines credibility. By 1953, other companies were imitating EC, and horror comics accounted for nearly a quarter of all comics published.

When psychiatrist Frederic Wertham began his crusade against comic books, EC was one of his targets. Wertham was a leftist influenced...