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Will Gemstone ever complete publishing the EC Archives?

Started by bronze johnny,

52 posts in this topic

bronze johnny

bronze johnny

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I happen to have purchased the first 3 volumes of Gemstone's EC Archives Weird Science and Tales From the Crypt and was wondering if volume 4 will ever get published. Does anyone have any information concerning this?

 

Thanks,

 

John

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ashrael

ashrael

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I am not sure, and from recent messages it doesn't sound good :(

 

But if someone wants to sell me a set of the "Tales of the Crypt" annuals reprints, send me a PM :thumbsup:

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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These are great archive books, and I was very disappointed to see Gemstone finish just prior to reaching Weird Science Volume 4, which contains some of my favourite SF comics ever. Dark Horse seemed to be the most obvious new home for the project, because the Creepy and Eerie Archives they publish look pretty much identical in format.

 

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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I happen to have purchased the first 3 volumes of Gemstone's EC Archives Weird Science and Tales From the Crypt and was wondering if volume 4 will ever get published. Does anyone have any information concerning this?

 

Thanks,

 

John

Here's a link to some extra reading material on the subject...

 

EC News or Comments? (Marvel Masterworks Fansite)

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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What's the best way to read these series then?

They have all been reprinted in individual issue, colour comic book format, and also in thicker colour 'annual' collections, which each give you 4 to 6 complete EC comics. There are a lot of these Annuals listed as available on Russ Cochran's site, very reasonably priced at $7-50 each. The art reproduction is passable, and as cheap introductory reads you can't go wrong trying a few of them.

 

 

I was lucky to start reading ECs when the Russ Cochran Library box sets were first being published, and I built up a complete run in this format. The black and white artwork is brilliantly reproduced - you feel you can see every line drawn on the page, crystal clear. Long out of print, but you do occasionally find the odd one appearing in the sales threads here.

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ComicConnoisseur

ComicConnoisseur

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What's the best way to read these series then?

I wouldn`t be surprised if these eventually all went online and you could legally download them on to your IPAD. Think about it, this would be a great way to bring in more new EC readers. This could be the future for these great books. (thumbs u

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Unca Ben

Unca Ben

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I recently pulled out some old EC's from a long box and reread them, got the bug and bought some EC Archives off Amazon.

 

They are really nice; I can't believe I didn't buy them sooner. I heard some complaints about the color, but I kind of like it. The covers colored by Marie Severin are great.

 

I'm definitely a Silver-age Marvel guy, but for overall depth of writing and art I feel the EC line is the best run of comics ever produced.

 

The only criticism I have is that the tone of some stories can be a bit disturbing, and often women are shown in an unfavorable light. There are lots of "painted women" looking to off their husbands for one reason or another, and many of the female victims are portrayed as self centered, uncaring beauties who reap the vengeance of a hapless (and homicidal) male.

 

It would be nice if the series gets completed someday.

 

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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I didn't mention this because I'm disappointed with the format chosen by Fantagraphics, standard-sized black and white reprints, which leaves many of us with an incomplete run of remastered colour Archive editions.

 

Maybe their collections will make good samplers to introduce new readers to ECs? For long term fans, not really much use.

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ticket_stub-migration

ticket_stub-migration

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I didn't mention this because I'm disappointed with the format chosen by Fantagraphics, standard-sized black and white reprints, which leaves many of us with an incomplete run of remastered colour Archive editions.

 

Maybe their collections will make good samplers to introduce new readers to ECs? For long term fans, not really much use.

 

How about the fact that they are releasing them by artist and not by title? That caught me by surprise!

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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I didn't mention this because I'm disappointed with the format chosen by Fantagraphics, standard-sized black and white reprints, which leaves many of us with an incomplete run of remastered colour Archive editions.

 

Maybe their collections will make good samplers to introduce new readers to ECs? For long term fans, not really much use.

 

How about the fact that they are releasing them by artist and not by title? That caught me by surprise!

That's true, but I own a complete run of the oversized black and white Russ Cochran Library sets and I started collecting the colour Archives as a companion set. That's quite enough for me. I'm sure a lot of us already have the books in multiple formats.

 

Also, most of the New Trend ECs are so consistent that you can read through them in their entirety, and I enjoy the variety of having a mixture of A-list 50s comic artists in a single book. Both complete issue and artist compilations work for me here.

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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I think there's more justification for using the artist compilation strategy with Dark Horse's Creepy and Eerie reprints, which nosedive in quality and consistency very quickly. At least they've done one with Berni Wrightson's art.

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goldust40

goldust40

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I didn't mention this because I'm disappointed with the format chosen by Fantagraphics, standard-sized black and white reprints, which leaves many of us with an incomplete run of remastered colour Archive editions.

 

Maybe their collections will make good samplers to introduce new readers to ECs? For long term fans, not really much use.

 

How about the fact that they are releasing them by artist and not by title? That caught me by surprise!

That's true, but I own a complete run of the oversized black and white Russ Cochran Library sets and I started collecting the colour Archives as a companion set. That's quite enough for me. I'm sure a lot of us already have the books in multiple formats.

 

Also, most of the New Trend ECs are so consistent that you can read through them in their entirety, and I enjoy the variety of having a mixture of A-list 50s comic artists in a single book. Both complete issue and artist compilations work for me here.

 

Having owned many E.C, reprints over the years, including the Gemstone / Gladstone editions, the Russ Cochran Libraries etc. as well as most of the originals, I'd say that the recent E.C. Archives were the best reprint format. Even though some of the color schemes were altered, for the most part it had more of the "feel" of the originals. Shame the series wasn't completed.

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