Tag: EC Comics

SDCC | Oni’s EC Comics revival announces two new projects

The winter months will bring ‘Shiver Suspenstories’ and ‘Cruel Kingdom’ to the line, while the just-launched ‘Epitaphs from the Abyss’ grows into a maxi-series.

Oni Press is in Sand Diego this week to talk about all the comics and graphic novels they have in the “coming soon” pile, but one title they’ll be talking a lot about is already out — Epitaphs from the Abyss, part of the EC Comics revival.

According to the publisher, Epitaphs is their “biggest Direct Market launch in a decade,” and with its success comes three pieces of news related to their EC Comics plans.

First, the planned five-issue miniseries has now been extended to 12 issues, taking the horror anthology into next summer. Oni also announced two new EC titles that will come out in December and January.

“With Epitaphs from the Abyss #1 now on store shelves, it’s safe to say the full-blooded return of EC Comics to store shelves worldwide has exceeded even our own aggressive expectations to become Oni Press’ biggest Direct Market launch in a decade,” said Hunter Gorinson, Oni Press president and publisher. “We owe a huge debt of thanks to the fans, creators and retailers who have supported this righteous resurrection for one of the most iconic and influential publishing houses in the history of the comics medium. It also means the second phase of our ambitious plans to strengthen the scope of our EC publishing program can now be revealed – beginning with a surprise expansion for Epitaphs from the Abyss and continuing into two new releases: this winter’s holiday-themed Shiver Suspenstories special and EC’s first-ever excursion in dark fantasy, Cruel Kingdom, beginning in January!”

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Dustin Weaver designs three new ‘hosts’ for Oni’s EC Comics revival

‘… it’s just such a treat to draw characters so unabashedly wicked.’

As EC Comics continues its climb out of the grave, publisher Oni Press has revealed a trio of faces that will serve as “hosts” for the revived horror line — The Grave-Digger, The Tormentor and The Grim Inquisitor.

They’ll make their debut next month in Epitaphs from the Abyss #1, the first double-sized issue of the anthology. It will feature contributions from Brian Azzarello, Chris Condon, J. Holtham, Stephanie Phillips, Jorge Fornes, Phil Hester, Peter Krause, Vlad Legostaev and more, and in between those stories, you’ll find appearances by EC’s new “torturous trio,” as designed by Paklis creator Dustin Weaver.

“Usually a big part of designing characters is costuming, but in looking back at the original Tales From the Crypt comics, it’s clear that the most important and defining features of the horror hosts are their ghoulish faces,” the former Avengers and Star Wars artist said. “It’s all about the faces, and with these modern host designs I wanted to carry on that tradition.”

Check out the three new faces on Weaver’s “Horror Host” variant cover:

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EC Comics will return this summer

Oni Press has announced a publishing partnership that will bring new EC material to print for the first time since the 1950s.

EC Comics, the notorious and influential publishing house from the 1950s headed up by William Gaines that was at the forefront of Dr. Fredric Wertham’s campaign against comics, will return as an imprint of Oni Press this summer.

Oni Press has partnered with William M. Gaines Agent, Inc. to bring Entertaining Comics, or EC Comics, back from the dead. The publisher of Tales from the Crypt, Two-Fisted Tales, Weird Science and more has not published new comic books since the 1950s — with MAD Magazine, probably their most famous publication, being the exception.

“There are few things more sacred to the canon of comic book history – and global pop culture – than EC Comics. The company’s audaciously inspired sensibilities have continuously echoed through nearly all facets of entertainment – like pieces of shrapnel embedded in American imagination,” said Oni Press President and Publisher Hunter Gorinson. “It’s both a huge honor and immense responsibility to be entrusted to work alongside the Gaines family in inhabiting EC’s indomitable spirit for a new generation. At a moment when we find ourselves confronting the same reactionary forces – injustice, inequality, and of course, censorship – that EC challenged head-on, we intend to write a new and powerful chapter that honors and expands one of the most important legacies the comic book medium has ever produced.”

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Fantagraphics gets spooky in a new collection of Ray Bradbury’s EC Comics stories

Almost 30 stories by the author, drawn by some of EC’s finest artists, will arrive in stores later this month.

EC Comics will also hold a special place in the hearts of comics fans, as they brought together some of the best creators of the time to create comics featuring horror, science fiction, war and other genres — names like Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta, Joe Orlando, John Severin and Al Williamson, among many others. Just in the past week EC Comics was referenced by both Scott Snyder and D.G. Chichester in their respective newsletters.

One name that might not immediately come to mind, though, is Ray Bradbury. The author of Fahrenheit 451, The Halloween Tree, Something Wicked This Way Comes and more was a prolific short story writer, and EC adapted many of those stories into comics — 28 of them, in fact, which are being collected later this month by Fantagraphics.

Home to Stay includes every Bradbury story that EC adapted between 1951 and 1954, including “Home to Stay”— a combination of two Bradbury science fiction stories that Bradbury himself proclaimed topped his originals, combined by scripter Al Feldstein and artist Wally Wood.

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