THE VAULT OF HORROR ANNUAL VOL. 4 (Gemstone, 1997; Softcover)
Collects
The
Vault of Horror Nos.
27-31 (cover
dates October/November, 1952- June/July, 1953)
Writers:
Al Feldstein, Bill Gaines, Ray Bradbury, and Johnny Craig
Artists:
Johnny Craig, Jack Davis, George Evans, Graham Ingels, Jack Kamen,
and Joe Orlando
I
feel silly reviewing these EC Comics because I sound like a broken
record, but I am going to say it again anyhow. EC Comics are the
greatest comic books from the Golden Age of Comics, and are among the
greatest comic books ever made, period. Easily the best Horror comics
ever made. The Walking Dead will never be held in higher
regard than EC, babe.
They
really upped the ante at this stage of the game, with the stories
become edgier while retaining the sophistication and artistic
elegance found in earlier EC's. Some of these stories are still
disturbing by 2013 standards, and I can only imagine how frightening
they must have been in a pre-Psycho, pre-modern Horror movie
Mayberry world.
I
will list my favorite story from each issue. My favorite from #27
would have to be Strictly From Hunger!, a story about a man
dying from cancer who gets a witch to hex him so that he won't die.
Needless to say the witch kept her end of the bargain. #28's winner
among the winners is For How The Bell Tolls! This George Evans
penciled treat is about a Royal Bell Ringer, and the young boy who
became his apprentice. For 34 years the apprentice waited and waited
and waited for the Royal Bell Ringer to grow old and step down,
giving him a change to fulfill his lifelong desire and become the new
Royal Bell Ringer. I won't give away anything, suffice it to say that
the apprentice finally gets his wish.
#29's
Let's Play Poison! is a Ray Bradbury story about a teacher
(Mr. Howard) who hates children, believing them to be monstrosities
of some sort. He catches the kids playing Poison on his sidewalk,
jumping over cracks because they claim that they are tombstones. When
Mr. Howard goes outside to ask them why they are playing this, they
explain it to him and tell him that the name stamped on the concrete
is the name of the person buried there. When the city is ripping up
his sidewalk to install new drain pipes he loses his mind with all of
the noise. The children push ol' Mr. Howard too far, and let's just
say that he finds out the truth about the game the hard way.
It's tough to pick a favorite from issue 30, but after some careful consideration I give the prize to Ghastly Graham Ingels' masterwork, Notes To You! People in a small town start getting letters, first a man stating that his wife is cheating on him, then an employer gets one accusing an employee of embezzlement, and finally, the townsfolk all get letters stating that the local bank is using their funds unwisely and are in danger of going belly up, resulting in everyone making a mad dash for everyone to withdraw all of their money. The poison pen notes are all the work of one man, a bitter and cantankerous fella who, in the finest of EC ironic twist endings, gets his.
The
best story in this entire book also gets props for possibly being my
favorite EC story in my marathon thus far. Graham Ingels is an
absolute master, with his artwork being a creepy crawly Gothic
affair. No photoshop back then, just pure craftsmanship. One Good
Turn is one of the most f-ed stories that I have ever read, and I
love it. Jennifer, a sweet looking elderly lady, comes home. She
calls to her husband, Edwin, who has been paralyzed and bed ridden
for the past eight months, and tells him about her day. She proceeds
to tell him how happy she is now that she's helping people by making
them happy. She recounts how she made a bum happy...by
stabbing him. How she made a lady that she met at the park whose
husband had left her happy...by bashing her head in with a rock. How
she made a blind man selling pencils happy...by pushing him out into
traffic. Yes kiddies, Jennifer is quite insane! She reminisced as she
got into bed with Edwin after her long day about how sad he was four
months ago when he was laying there unable to move, tears streaking
down his cheek as she recounted the events of her day, so she made
him happy by making him hot chocolate...laced with cyanide! She is
disturbed in the middle of this story by a knock at the door. I've
spoiled a fair amount of this story but will save the classic EC
twist ending for you.
These
comics look great because of the artwork of course, but one of the
things that have helped them age well is the mechanical Leroy
pantograph lettering device used to letter the caption boxes and word
balloons. These sets were used in technical writing and were a tool
used in drafting. I priced them out, and you can get a vintage set
for under $20. Tempting...I'd prefer a computer font that was
compatible with Windows. Hell, I'd even use it as my o-fish-al blog
font if I could.
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| The Vault Keeper says there's only 24 shopping days 'til Christmas! |
While
I am thrilled that Fantagraphics is re-releasing these in artist
centric collections and Dark Horse is continuing on with the EC
Archives, I rest easy knowing that I own all of the New Trend and
New Direction titles in these Annuals. I ordered all of them
in one fell swoop from Russ Cochran nearly two years ago and they
arrived in a big crate on my front porch. Opening it was like opening
the treasure of the Ark of the Covenant or something. I have been
reading them slowly, savoring them, content in the knowledge that
nothing but greatness awaits me as I bounce back and forth between
the various titles. I will of course continue picking up the EC
Archives as they are released but these Annuals are my
insurance policy.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.
The
OCD zone- If you do not know what an EC Annual is, then pull up a
chair and I'll give you the skinny on these great books. Gemstone
overprinted their single issue reprints in the '90s with an eye
toward selling their own back issues. They re-purposed this overstock
by gluing 5 entire issues into a cardstock cover. While this is not
technically a trade paperback (it has no ISBN), it is squarebound and
has the title on the spine. Close enough for Rock and Roll in my
book.
These
EC Annuals can be ordered directly from Russ Cochran at his site for
a paltry $7.50 each. You can't find a better entertainment value for
that price anywhere.
Linework
restoration rating: 5 out of 5. William Gaines kept the original
artwork, or filmed it, and so what you have here are superb
presentations of this material with no line dropouts.
Color
restoration rating: 5 out of 5. The color palette is entirely
faithful to the original issues with the exceptions of the covers.
Marie Severin recolored them all for the EC Library sets, and those
same versions are found here. Some of the blacks on the interior
pages look weak, but that is the result of the water based inks used
in the 1990s.
Paper
rating: 3.5 out of 5. The comics themselves are printed on the
mando/heavy pulp paper of the day, while the covers are presented on
the original slick cover stock. Some folks prefer this comic book
feeling paper. I prefer paper with a little more heft. Your mileage
may vary.
Binding
rating: 4.5 out of 5. The glued binding is over 15 years old and
has nary a creak when you flip through it.
Cardstock
cover coating rating: 4 out of 5. There isn't much in the way of
coating, but this book has a nice thick cover and a fair amount of
flex.
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