ENTERTAINING COMICS (EC COMICS), was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s. It was published by William Gaines (humorously depicted on the left reading "Tales from the Crypt").
Noted for their high quality and shocking endings, EC's stories were also unique in their socially conscious, progressive themes (including racial equality, anti-war advocacy, nuclear disarmament, animal rights and environmentalism), which anticipated the Civil Rights Movement and dawn of 1960s counterculture. In the early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers and others who believed the books contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency.
In April and June 1954, highly publicized congressional subcommittee hearings on the effects of comic books upon children left the comics industry shaken. Had EC not succumbed to Senate Sub-Committee hysteria and the mass book burnings that followed a few years later, perhaps we might today see an even more uncomfortable image of the same child with his foot blown off or some other powerful image that occurs when we drop bombs on civilians. Then again, maybe a half-century of this kind of reality "entertainment" might have resulted in a generation not so compliant of our acts of, and support of state terrorism and of course, not so easily led to war.
1950's EC COMICS COVERS
TALES FROM THE CRYPT was an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC
from 1950 - 1955, producing 27 issues.
Other EC titles included: THE HAUNT OF FEAR,THE VAULT OF HORROR, WEIRD SCIENCE,WEIRD FANTASY, FRONTLINE COMBAT, TWO-FISTED TALES, CRIME SUSPENSTORIES, SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES, PIRACY, PANIC and MAD. There were 23 issues of MAD COMICS before it became MAD MAGAZINE.
Pictured below - the artists from the early 1950's EC Comics Group, depicted by Marie Severin (2nd from left on the bottom).
