F E AT U R E It’s not often that a single intellectual property can, for better or worse, be credited with changing an entire industry, but EC Comics and their Tales From The Crypt series did just that. And it took decades for comics to recover.
FOUR COLOUR NIGHTMARES T H E R I S E & FA L L O F E C C O M I C S
words by phil brown
A
s gaming fans, we’re used to getting caught up in debates about the moral and ethical implications of violent video games. It happens every few years, normally around the time that a new Grand Theft Auto is released. There are flood of Fox News exposés and think pieces from worried parents and then it all disappears. However, things weren’t always that way. Back in the 50s, there was a similar controversy and brouhaha
about the negative impact horror comics were having on children. That one made it all the way to a Congressional hearing and essentially led to the government banning the entire genre. The only reason it happened was because those comics in addition to being outrageous and shocking were also really damn good. When they disappeared suddenly from newsstands, they became legendary. Now the fabled EC Horror comics are available CGM08 | OCT2014
in reprint the Fantagraphics, the most high minded and artistically accomplished comics publisher in the land, while the books’ influence on horror films and television is legion and irreversible. Superheroes may have dominated the medium over the last 50 years, but it’s arguable that the five years of EC horror comics had just as massive of an impact on American culture through its glorious flame out. → 21