The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 1 by Al Feldstein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As with my recent reading of THE EC ARCHIVES: THE HAUNT OF FEAR, VOL. 1, I found the stories in TALES FROM THE CRYPT, VOL. 1 to be utterly charming in a cheesy, nostalgic sort of way. Nothing here is going to get under the skin of a modern horror reader, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll love the stories anyway. They’re earnest, direct, and anything but subtle. Most of them are tales of supernatural comeuppance, although a few, like the vampire story “Blood Type V” and the body horror “Rx…Death!”, break the mold to offer a sting in the tail.
Something I never knew was that the first four issues of TALES FROM THE CRYPT were actually titled THE CRYPT OF TERROR (in keeping with the titles of its sister publications THE HAUNT OF FEAR and THE VAULT OF HORROR). What’s more, those initial issues, which are included here, focus on stories of crime and suspense rather than horror, perhaps as holdovers from when CRYPT was originally a crime comic called CRIME PATROL. In fact, it isn’t until the comic changes its name to the more familiar TALES FROM THE CRYPT that the stories become the supernatural tales we all know and love. (This is my sole reason for giving the volume 4 stars instead of 5.)
Interestingly, the first horror story in the first issue titled TALES FROM THE CRYPT, “The Thing from the Sea,” is an uncredited and I assume unauthorized adaptation of F. Marion Crawford’s “The Upper Berth.” I can only guess that Al Feldstein, the credited author, thought none of the comic’s young readers would notice! (He also changed the ending.)
The EC ARCHIVES series from Dark Horse is truly a joy. I look forward to getting my hands on more volumes!
