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50 Girls 50 and Other Stories

Barely old enough to drink when he joined the EC Comics stable, Al Williamson may have been the new kid on the block, but a lifetime of studying such classic adventure cartoonists as Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon) and Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) had made him a kid to reckon with — as he proved again and again in the stories he created for EC's legendary "New Trend" comics, in particular Weird Science and Weird Fantasy.

As a result of Williamson's focus, it's possible to compile all of Williamson's "New Trend" EC work into one book — which Fantagraphics is finally doing here. Sci-fi aficionados should note that although most of the stories were written by Al Feldstein, 50 Girls 50 features three of EC's legendary Ray Bradbury adaptations, including "I, Rocket" and "A Sound of Thunder" — and a unique curiosity, a strip adapted from a short story submitted by a teen-aged Harlan Ellison.

Williamson ran with a gang of like-minded young Turks dubbed the "Fleagle Gang," who would help one another out on assignments. Thus this book includes three stories upon which Williamson was joined by the legendary Frank Frazetta, and one story ("Food for Thought") where Roy Krenkel provided his exquisite alien landscapes, to make it one of the most gorgeous EC stories ever printed. As a supplementary bonus, 50 Girls 50 includes three stories drawn by Fleagles sans Williamson: Frazetta's Shock SuspenStories short "Squeeze Play"; Krenkel's meticulous "Time to Leave"; and Angelo Torres's "An Eye for an Eye," an EC story that famously fell prey to censorship and was not released until the 1970s. As with other Fantagraphics EC titles, 50 Girls 50 also includes extensive story notes by EC experts.

'Tain't the Meat... It's the Humanity! and Other Stories

Tales from the Crypt was the quintessential American horror comic book, and Jack Davis the quintessential Tales from the Crypt artist: A brilliant virtuoso whose long-limbed, cartoony but hyperdetailed slapstick both cut against and amplified the weird and nauseating grotesqueries that spilled from the EC Comics writers' fevered minds, including — as seen in this volume — "'Tain't the Meat... It's the Humanity," an evil-butcher horror story that ends pretty much like you’d expect any evil-butcher horror story to end.

Presenting the classic EC material in reader-friendly, artist-and-genre-centric packages for the first time, 'Tain't the Meat collects every one of Davis's 24 Crypt stories in one convenient, gore-drenched package.

Mostly written by EC editor Al Feldstein, these stories run the gamut from pure supernatural horror (the werewolf story "Upon Reflection" and the vampire story "Fare Tonight, Followed by Increasing Clottyness…") to science gone horribly wrong ("Bats in My Belfry!"), as well as the classic "disbeliever gets his comeuppance" story ("Grounds… For Horror!") to EC's bread and butter, the ridiculously grisly revenge-of-the-abused tale ("The Trophy!" and "Well-Cooked Hams!")… seasoned with buckets of blood and some of the punningest titles ever committed to newsprint.

Tales from the Crypt was the inspiration for the no-holds-barred pop-culture horror revolution of the 1970s and later, be it Stephen King, Tobe (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper, zombiemeister George A. Romero, or the current generation of extreme-horror practitioners like Eli (Hostel) Roth. Yet try as they may, no one has been able to capture the combination of technical virtuosity, tongue-in-cheek grisliness, and sheer naughty desire to provoke and appall that these classics managed to pull off again and again. 'Tain't the Meat… also includes extensive story notes by EC experts from around the world.

"...I have a spot in my heart for Jack Davis. I mean, that guy just makes me laugh. Even when he's drawing a gross-out, he just makes me laugh. I love his shoes, the way he draws shoes, and knuckles... there's just something about Jack Davis' stuff that blows me away." – George A. Romero

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