Many of you left comments expressing your gratitude for the "Creepy" and "Eerie" horror comics that I recently posted. While I believe that Creepy and Eerie are two of the best horror comics to ever see print, I would like to add a bit of variety here before the Halloween Countdown ends. Several of you have requested that I post a few of the horror titles that EC Comics released beginning in the early 1950s. I hope to be able to share the complete run of the three titles that most people are familiar with, "Tales From the Crypt", "Vault of Horror", and "The Haunt of Fear". I will start with the most well known title of the three "Tales From The Crypt". Despite the fact that only 27 issues were published, Tales From The Crypt managed to be one of the most influential horror comics of all time, spawning three movies, a television series on HBO and a Saturday morning cartoon.
I will be posting these 10 issues at a time, with the first collection starting at #17 and ending at #27, which were published between 1950-1953. If you are wondering why I am starting with issue #17, it is because during this time publishers would often change the name of a comic, yet keep the numbering system for issues intact. In this case the original comic was called "Crime Patrol", until issue #17 where it was changed to "Crypt of Terror". After two issues EC again changed the name to "Tales From The Crypt". The collection presented for download contains scans of both the original comics as well as reprints. The reprints are noted in the file name and are of much better quality than the original scans. You can find a summary of the stories contained in each comic on the Wikipedia article for the comic, which I have linked to above. Below you will find an excerpt from Wikipedia covering the history of the comic and it's sibling publications. You will need a comic book reader program to view the .cbr and .cbz files. I suggest CDisplay if you only need a simple viewer, or ComicRack if you're looking for a more fully featured program, both of which are freeware programs.
Download: Tales From The Crypt Comic - Issues 17-27 (EC Comics)
Download Size: 137MB
The remaining issues in the series can be found below:
Tales From The Crypt - Issues 28-37
Tales From The Crypt - Issues 38-41
Tales From The Crypt - Issues 42-46
Note: Series started with issue #17
I will be posting these 10 issues at a time, with the first collection starting at #17 and ending at #27, which were published between 1950-1953. If you are wondering why I am starting with issue #17, it is because during this time publishers would often change the name of a comic, yet keep the numbering system for issues intact. In this case the original comic was called "Crime Patrol", until issue #17 where it was changed to "Crypt of Terror". After two issues EC again changed the name to "Tales From The Crypt". The collection presented for download contains scans of both the original comics as well as reprints. The reprints are noted in the file name and are of much better quality than the original scans. You can find a summary of the stories contained in each comic on the Wikipedia article for the comic, which I have linked to above. Below you will find an excerpt from Wikipedia covering the history of the comic and it's sibling publications. You will need a comic book reader program to view the .cbr and .cbz files. I suggest CDisplay if you only need a simple viewer, or ComicRack if you're looking for a more fully featured program, both of which are freeware programs.
"Tales from the Crypt is a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series that, together with its horror siblings The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror were published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Tales from the Crypt hit newsstands with its April/May 1950 issue and ceased publication with its February/March 1955 issue, producing a total of 30 issues. The title was popular, but, in the late 1940s and 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 industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code, EC Comics publisher William Maxwell Gaines canceled Tales from the Crypt and its two companion titles in September 1954. All three titles have been reprinted at various times since their demise and have been adapted for television and film.
In 1950, publisher William Gaines and his editor Al Feldstein discovered they shared similar tastes in horror and began experimenting with horror tales in their crime titles. Tales from the Crypt traces its origin to a Feldstein story, "Return from the Grave!", in EC's Crime Patrol (#15, December 1949/January 1950) with the Crypt-Keeper making his debut as host. Issue #16 featured more horror tales than crime stories, and, with issue #17, the title changed from Crime Patrol to The Crypt of Terror. Due to an attempt to save money on second-class postage permits, the numbering did not change with the title, and continued as The Crypt of Terror for the next two issues. The title saw its final form, Tales from the Crypt, with issue #20, October/November, 1950." - Wikipedia
Publisher: EC Comics
Schedule: Bimonthly
Publication Date: 1950-1955
Number of Issues: 27
E-book Format: .cbr & .cbz
Schedule: Bimonthly
Publication Date: 1950-1955
Number of Issues: 27
E-book Format: .cbr & .cbz
Download: Tales From The Crypt Comic - Issues 17-27 (EC Comics)
Download Size: 137MB
The remaining issues in the series can be found below:
Tales From The Crypt - Issues 28-37
Tales From The Crypt - Issues 38-41
Tales From The Crypt - Issues 42-46
Note: Series started with issue #17
issues 18 & 27 are missing and issues #2, and #11 are in their place.
ReplyDeleteWHile i'm here i must say i'm really enjoying these posts as well as the soundtracks! Thank you for your work.
@Anon: The issues you are referring to are not really issues #2 and #11. Before the comic was called Tales From The Crypt it was called "Crypt of Terror" from issues 17-18, and before that it was called "Crime Patrol" from issues 1-16. The issues you are referring to are actually reprints, which is why they didn't retain the original numbering system. #2 is actually #18 while #11 is actually #27. I know it is confusing, but hopefully that helped to shed some light on the problem.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words. I hope you will enjoy what I have left in store for the remainder of the countdown. Take care.
Thanks for the info Zer0_II !
ReplyDeleteNice to see a blog with your approach for a change.
@Anon: I'm not exactly sure how you consider my approach to differ from other bloggers, but I'm glad you're enjoying the blog nonetheless. Thank you for taking the time to comment, which is always very much appreciated. Take care.
ReplyDeletehey, thanks for referring me to this awesome blog for those EC's...while i'm not particularly a fan of e comics, it's always good to see some EC's i haven't seen before. i linked your blog on my site, keep up the awesome work!
ReplyDelete