heebiejeebie

I've recently purchased and read some of the EC Archives books. As someone who is not really that into comics, these books as great. I've read Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and Vault of Horror so far. I plan on buying more of the EC Archives books, but I'm also curious if there are any good non-EC books out there worth reading. My preference would be pre-code, color, large hardback collections. I've noticed Eerie and Creepy are in black and white, but are they worth reading? Any suggestions are welcome.

davidh777

I like Eerie and Creepy, but I admit I haven't read a ton of EC to compare.

Neil M.

Eerie and Creepy are pretty good overall. I also like Vampirella. Titan books has a nice hardcover of Simon and Kirby Horror but I've only glanced at it. I also like Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery but it looks like Dark Horse is not finishing the series.

PS Artbooks has a number of horror titles in hardcover but I think some of them are OOP. They've been reissuing them in softcover. The stories are of a mixed variety but the quality is basically just digital scans of the original books. Craig Yoe has put out some books that contain a mix of stories from various golden age horror comics. I've heard the quality is pretty good but they contain material from a variety of different comics. Fantagraphics had some hardcovers of horror works by Ditko, Kubert, and Everett, but they contain other genres as well.

There's a lot of overlap in these golden age books since a lot of the stories are in the public domain and some titles are OOP. You really can't go wrong with Eerie and Creepy as that would keep you busy for quite a while. It looks like Dark Horse is committed to finishing the line and keeping it in print. You're talking close to 40 hardcovers in total so far between the two lines.

robin2099

Eerie and Creepy aren't bad. They are more adult than some of the EC stuff since they were published in magazines to avoid the comic code. There's also the early Mad stories before EC changed it to a magazine to check out and there's a book which name has escaped me but it reprints a whole bunch of random horror stories from other comic book publishers called Four Color Fear.

Honestly for the 50's time period though the EC stuff is head and shoulders above all the similar stuff other companies were doing at the time.

heebiejeebie

Thanks for the replies. I think I might give Creepy or Eerie a try. What about Forbidden Worlds or Adventures into the Unknown? Anyone read those?

Neil M.

I enjoy them a lot but I would put them below EC, Creepy, and Eerie. There's a lot to like but they don't have the same quality in story and art. I have the PS Artbook releases in slipcases. They're scans from the original books that haven't been touched up at all so the quality is not that great. Dark Horse has released some volumes that look much better but with one less issue per book. PS Artbooks is also further along in their releases. So basically, you can get more bang for your buck with PS Artbooks or you can spend more for better quality. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably buy the Dark Horse releases even though I like my slipcases.

This is a link to everything that PS artbooks has released:http://psartbooks.com/catalog/index.html

The pre-code books come highly recommended, especially The Thing.

The Antipodean

The Harvey Horrors are a lot of fun, done by PS artbooks.

I'll also make a shout out for YOE! Books who are doing fantastic work reprinting all sorts of strange curiousities of the pre-code era in a series of book and even a regular ongoing comic Haunted Horror. They've got a bunch of nice hardcovers too and IMHO I like the way they reproduce the books, a little raw rather than gussied up and recoloured. Also a bit cheaper than the PS books which are a bit overpriced I think. http://yoebooks.com

Etrigan

No Affiliation, I assure you.

You can't go wrong with the "Annuals" This will be the closest you will get to the original "Floppies" In terms of color & size reproduction-wise (Of course-IMHO)

http://www.russcochran.com/

Russ's son used to sell these on EBY for a much more reasonable price than this link. (Don't know if he still does? - This is the way that I bought everyone available.)

Anyhow's, Good luck and enjoy - Best Artist's & Comics Ever!

Paul_SD

What is it you liked about the ECs specifically? Is it the writing/art or the genres and short story structure?

There were a bunch of pre-code horror and sci-fi titles at that time, but the EC's were leagues better than the competition. Everything printed contemporaneously you find will be "also rans" at best and most were simply uninspired dreck.
There is some fun stuff from the era out there though and your best bet is the Craig Yoe books. Bob Powell's Terror, Jack Cole's Deadly Horror, and Zombies are all good compilations.
The Warren mags of the 60's and 70's did a decent job of trying to appeal to the same audience as the ECs did earlier (older, more literate), and as magazines they were outside the restrictions of the comics code so gore and sex were ramped up. The Warrens also employed a lot of EC alum artists like Frazetta, Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, Alex Toth, John Severin- and were an incubator for new and up and coming talent at the time like Bernie Wrightson, Bruce Jones, and Rich Corben.
Rather than buying the Creepy and Eerie archives though, I would recommend getting some of the focused collections like "Creepy presents Richard Corben'. That one is an especially a good bang for the buck value.
They're releasing one on Alex Toth soon as well, and I'd keep my eye out for that too.

cultshock

This. There are other pre-code horror books that are fun reads, but EC was so far ahead of everything else that was coming out at the time, if you start with them and then move onto other titles, you'll only be let down.

There is some great art in Creepy and Eerie, but the stories have always been hit or miss for me, same with Vampirella. Pacific Comics' Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds anthologies from the 80's were decent EC homages, I'd hope they would be collected in volumes someday.

I've been a huge EC fan since I was a teen, and have bought the various reprints, but my favourites are the B&W large format EC Library volumes that Russ Cochran published. I'm slowly putting together a collection of these out of print books, they are gorgeous to look at!

Paul_SD

Yeah, that's how I discovered EC too. Love the Russ Cochran Library sets.
Had almost all of them at one point, but ended up selling them off for money to buy weed (ah...the impulsive stupidity of youth). Their cold, clammy innards were also good for hiding my sheet of acid one summer.

As much as I would love to still have them, I'm happy with the current Fantagraphic artist centric collections, which are also in black and white and have some decent editorial content. As much respect as I have for the material, I can't see myself ever going through them book by book and re-reading every story again. The FB books work great for dipping into here and there and getting a quick fix. And they're in B&W which, thanks to the Cochran's, will forever be my preferred way to look at the art.

ytrez

Dark Horse Archive editions of Crime Does Not Pay, Adventures into the Unknown, and Forbidden Worlds might be up your alley.

Trevor

Those often go on sale for $5 a volume on their digital store. The Crime ones were just up this past weekend, probably over now.