Mixed Pickles - the Book log 2012

That sinking feeling...

Six complete issues of this classic 1950s horror comic, so twentyfour tales of revenge from beyond the grave, premature burial, revenge from beyond the grave, voodoo, faithless wives and philandering husbands... oh, and revenge from beyond the grave.

TftC lacks the variety of, say ShockSupenStories - and although its stories tend to have a moral (albeit most of them are along the lines of "Do this, and someone will take revenge on you from beyond the grave") there is nothing which comes close to the social commentary stories , and none of the adaptations of other writers' works (like the Ray Bradbury's seen elsewhere).

You can forgive the lack of variety - Bill Gaines provided most of the plots for Al Fedstein to write the stories, for most of the EC line of seven bi-monthly titles.  Do the maths - that fourteen short stories a month, every month.  No wonder the plots could be a little samey (or even "inspired" by other media - note the number of times a Wax Museum provides the setting). 

Still - you can imagine the chill these stories gave the unsophisticated juvenile reader, and some of the artwork is pretty ghastly (in the best possible sense).  And you can equally imagine how parents siezed up the EC horror line as the cause of all their problems (in much the same way that, say "Civil War" bubblegum cards outrgaed British parents in the 1960s, and punk rock in the late 70s).  Every generation needs something other than their own failings to take the blame for the inevitable youth disaffection.  Poor old Bill Gaines - it was him and the Communists, and his comics were easier to spot.

Volume 1 now sells for around the £200 mark - not sure that I am completist enough to go that far.  But I shall continue to pick up odd volumes of the EC archive whenever I see them at a decent price.

Unputdownability:  Like a big box of chocolates, one or two taste great, but the the whole lot in one sitting 'll make you a little bit icky.