About Heroes

Creators: Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, Graham Ingels, Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, and others
Publisher: Gem Stone Publishing

As I have mentioned before I was too young when the original comics were released, but back when I was in middle school, I saw a comic adaptation of Creepshow and it changed the way I saw comics. Around this time HBO started their Tales from the Crypt series and when I found out there were comics I went nuts. I was lucky enough to get some of the hardcover rereleases in the early 90’s that were done in black and white and I was blown away by the stories and artwork. Lucky for me I no longer have to find those other volumes missing from my collection.

This volume reprints the second six complete issues (24 stories) of the comic book "Tales From the Crypt", originally published in issues 13 through 18 (1952 to 1953). Some of the stories featured in this collection are The Thing from Glades, Taint the Meat it’s the Humanity and A Sucker for a Spider. Some of these stories were the inspiration for several feature films and the HBO series of the same name. The stories in Tales from the Crypt rarely deviated from the basic formula in that they almost always ended with a shocking, ironic twist with a character getting what they deserve. Throughout the 200+ pages of this book the creators give us our dosage of morality tales with their own supernatural twist.

This book features some fantastic talents, because to be fair EC had the best artists of the era; Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Marie Severin, Graham Ingels, and Harvey Kurtzman. This restored collection the artwork shines like never before. The pages are vibrant and crisp and look like they were illustrated by today’s top artist. I can’t get over how nice this art looks on high quality paper and the coloring looks vibrant. Sadly that is part of the reason it brought down the rating a bit. Some of the pictures look too vibrant and flashy and the colors don’t mesh well with the art style. I believe it sometimes takes away from the wonderful art. Volume 3 also includes special features such as a forward by Bob Overstreet and original EC ads that run throughout the volume. This book set the standards for drawing and writing sequential horror stories and you can still tell why after all these years. Want a special treat this year for Halloween? Go and buy this book. I can't wait for Gemstone to reprint the rest. B+