This article has been updated with further information several times since its publication.
Via The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and IGN, legendary horror and sci-fi publisher EC Comics (Entertaining Comics) is returning as an imprint at Oni Press this summer. The revival will begin in July with horror anthology series “Epitaphs from the Abyss,” and continue in August with the sci-fi sister title “Cruel Universe.”
Writers and artists confirmed for the books in the announcement include Jason Aaron, Rodney Barnes, Cecil Castellucci, Matt Kindt, Brian Azzarello, Stephanie Phillips, Cullen Bunn, Christopher Cantwell, Chris Condon, J. Holtham, Jeff Jensen, Jay Stephens, Peter Krause, Malachi Ward, Dustin Weaver, Kano, and Leomacs. Rian Hughes (“The Multiversity”) has been assigned as graphic designer, carefully recreating the layout and style of the original comics’ covers for the new ones. Cover artists include Lee Bermejo (who created the art for “Epitaphs from the Abyss” #1 to the side), and Greg Smallwood & J.H. Williams III (both providing covers for “Cruel Universe” #1).
Founded by Maxwell Gaines in 1944, EC published the original “Tales from the Crypt” and “Weird Science” comics, and was also the initial home of MAD Magazine. The company ceased publishing all of its titles except MAD amidst the moral panic over comics in 1956. Since then, the Gaines family have licensed out the reprint rights to various publishers, including the late Russ Cochran, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, and IDW. Despite the media adaptations of Tales from the Crypt and Weird Science (yes, including the John Hughes movie starring Kelly LeBrock), new comics under the name were never produced – until now.
Cathy Gaines Mifsud, daughter of Maxwell Gaines’s son William, and president of the family company William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., commented, “My father said, ‘Only in the bounds of good taste!,’ and I’m so excited to exhibit EC’s good taste with Oni Press, who have distinguished themselves with both an award-winning library of comics and graphic novels, and a passionate understanding of EC’s singular role in shaping comics history.”
Hunter Gorinson, president and publisher of Oni Press, promises the new series will be topical, just as the original comics reflected issues of the 1950s like racial inequality and nuclear war. He says, “In ways both artful and shocking, EC confronted the darkness lurking behind the thin facade of American society — a throughline of radically confrontational storytelling that we intend to both uphold and escalate with the first new EC tales in decades.”
Corey Mifsud, executive director of the Gaines estate, adds, “This is not an exercise in nostalgia. These are comics meant to get people talking and to keep them up at night.” The announcement comes several years after the original art for ‘Master Race,’ a 1955 EC comic by William Gaines, Al Feldstein and Bernard Krigstein, depicting a post-war encounter between a Nazi war criminal and a Holocaust survivor, sold for $600,000 at Heritage Auctions – clearly, EC Comics remains as popular (and relevant) as ever. For more in the meantime, including cover art and comments from Oni editor-in-chief Sierra Hahn, head to the Reporter and IGN.
