PIRACY
ANNUAL VOL. 2 (Gemstone, 1998;
Softcover)
Collects
Piracy
5-7 (cover dates July- November, 1955)
Writers:
Jack Oleck, Carl Wessler, and other unknown writers
Artists:
Reed Crandall, George Evans, Graham Ingels, Bernie Kirigstein, and
Jack Davis
A
three issue trade paperback? Yes, in the days before mapping out
lines, publishers settled on a format (in the case of these Annuals,
four issues per book) and went from there with sometimes amusing,
unintended results.
EC's
New Direction line was the result of the implementation of the Comics
Code Authority, the industry's self-inflicted gunshot wound to
creativity and art in the wake of the Senate subcommittee hearings on
the correlation between comic books and the rise in juvenile
delinquency. Out were Horror and Crime, in were bold interpretations
of genres like pirates.
 |
| George Evans rules! |
Most
of these stories take place in the 18th and 19th
centuries, the days when seafaring men set sail for adventure and
riches. There are no humor or horror elements to be found, only men
who fought with their fists and their wits.
The
EC stable of artists turned in some of the best art of their careers
here. George Evans and Bernie Krigstein are just incredible, and I
cannot stress enough how incredible their artwork is. The writing is
also top notch, nothing unusual for EC. #7's Salvage and
The Keg are fully formed stories with powerful messages. Each
could easily be an hour long television episode. The fact that they
are beautifully illustrated by Krigstein (the former) and Evans (the
latter) only cements the brilliance of the writing of those stories.
Other
stories, like Fur Crazy and Temptation, are morality
plays, something of an EC trademark. They have a variation of the
ironic EC twist ending. As well as things were going creatively,
comics are, alas, a business, and if it doesn't sell then it doesn't
get published. Many wholesalers were boycotting EC still, not
understanding the changes that they had made after implementing the
Comics Code Authority. Other times it was the drugstores and
newsstands which refused to even put them out, instead returning them
as unsold credit. The New Direction was a failure, which is a shame.
The worst part about the EC story is that they made the best comics
but were railroaded by politicians and their industry peers who used
the Comics Code Authority to essentially blackball them. One can only
wonder how they would have adapted to emerging trends like
superheroes, which enjoyed a revival several years after these comics
were made.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.
The
OCD zone-
Gemstone
overprinted their single issue reprints in the '90s with an eye
toward selling their own back issues. They re-purposed this overstock
by trimming and 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. The EC Annuals are the most economical and efficient
way of getting your EC collection.
Linework
and Color restoration: Shot from the original artwork with a
color palette authentic to the original publication. If you want to
see EC Comics in full color then this is the best way to do so, as
these look superior to the originals in print quality.
Paper
stock: Standard pulp paper of the day. The pro is that this
looks and feels like a real comic book. The con, and it is a very
large one, is that this will age and yellow, just like real comic
book paper. I am admittedly less and less worried about this sort of
thing as time goes by, as I will likely be dead and gone before this
book deteriorates too badly.
Binding:
Perfect bound trade paperback.
Cardstock
cover notes:
Thick cardboard with minimal coating. There are signs of wear after
years but all in all very solid.
