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E.C. Fan Addict THREAD
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6,315 posts in this topic

Today's mail call.  Some people have this one down as the poor person's Weird SF 29, which I think is unfair... while the cover isn't as good, it's still pretty great; and unlike the WSF 29 this one has a couple of classic stories inside, Saved and The Million Year Picnic.  It also has, to my delight, a fan letter from Archie Goodwin. For some reason it makes me very, very happy to know that Goodwin showed up in an EC book, even in that small way.

Weird_Fantasy_21.jpg

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23 minutes ago, OtherEric said:

Today's mail call.  Some people have this one down as the poor person's Weird SF 29, which I think is unfair... while the cover isn't as good, it's still pretty great; and unlike the WSF 29 this one has a couple of classic stories inside, Saved and The Million Year Picnic.  It also has, to my delight, a fan letter from Archie Goodwin. For some reason it makes me very, very happy to know that Goodwin showed up in an EC book, even in that small way.

Weird_Fantasy_21.jpg

That’s a book I covet more for the innards than the cover, and that’s saying something!

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1 hour ago, OtherEric said:

Today's mail call.  Some people have this one down as the poor person's Weird SF 29, which I think is unfair... while the cover isn't as good, it's still pretty great; and unlike the WSF 29 this one has a couple of classic stories inside, Saved and The Million Year Picnic.  It also has, to my delight, a fan letter from Archie Goodwin. For some reason it makes me very, very happy to know that Goodwin showed up in an EC book, even in that small way.

Weird_Fantasy_21.jpg

One of my favorites I think, other than MAD, this was my first EC. I traded a kid a Beatle nodder doll for it. Still have it. 

Congrats!

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Was looking at sold books on eBay, that Shock Suspenstories 6 1.8 I had been considering sold at the $525 asking price.  (After shipping and tax, it would have run me $600, which is why I said that was the price.)  And it looks like the .5 actually sold for very close to the $500 asking price as well.  That book is going ballistic right now.

 

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17 hours ago, OtherEric said:

Was looking at sold books on eBay, that Shock Suspenstories 6 1.8 I had been considering sold at the $525 asking price.  (After shipping and tax, it would have run me $600, which is why I said that was the price.)  And it looks like the .5 actually sold for very close to the $500 asking price as well.  That book is going ballistic right now.

With all due respect to CSS 22, I personally prefer SS 6 (along with VOH 35) so glad to see the gap narrowing.

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3 hours ago, sacentaur said:

With all due respect to CSS 22, I personally prefer SS 6 (along with VOH 35) so glad to see the gap narrowing.

CSS has a striking design that's clearer when you see a small image of the cover, or from a distance.  It also gets a massive historical bonus.

But, as great as Johnny Craig is- and make no mistake, he's great- Wood is one of the  4 or 5 best artists ever to work on comics.  I sometimes say the greatest comic book artist of all time was Wally Wood on a good day... the catch being, he had a lot of bad days, particularly later in his career.  Shock 6 was one of the very good days.

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It’s not fair to compare Crime Suspenstories 22 to Shock Suspenstories 6. Sure, we all have preferences to the art and stories of any given comic book. We also have preferences for artists and debate back and forth as to whether one artist is better than another. We have preferences for one cover over another and there are times when some will even compare two totally different covers. This is one of those instances where a comparison is drawn between a “decapitated head” cover to that of a woman in bondage/ men in hooded sheets. A comparison that’s all about preference. However, CSS 22 isn’t just about what’s on the cover. It also isn’t just about Johnny Craig’s artistic style. CSS 22 is the greatest representation of the “last stand of the precode comic book,” when Gaines sat across the U.S. Senate Committee and argued for freedom of artistic expression. The preferences anyone has for a book can’t change the history surrounding that book and having helped to define the meaning of it. In fact, there isn’t a precode book out there that compares to CSS 22 given the history surrounding it. Unrivaled history. CSS 22 is the book that is forever connected to Bill Gaines in a way unlike any other EC Comic. It’s very simple: Senate Hearing; Gaines; and CSS 22. There’s no more definitive moment in the history of precode comic books and that’s part of what CSS 22 is. I sometimes wonder whether Gaines had Kefauver and company somewhere in the back of his mind when he signed off on the most controversial cover of the Bronze Age of Comics- Mad Magazine 166.

Shock Suspenstories 6 is a classic bondage cover that would be better compared to Suspense 3. Both are similar covers that happen to be drawn by two giants of their respective eras. Schomburg was a Golden Age great. Wood was an artistic genius who transcended a few comic book ages. I’ve compared these books and will argue that Wood’s cover is superior to Schomburg’s. However, I will attribute my conclusion to the fact that Wood was a superior artist imho and I have a preference for his style and technique. Just look at the detail of Wood’s cover for Incredible Science Fiction 33. Simply incredible.

Let the debate begin!

Edited by bronze johnny
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2 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

It’s not fair to compare Crime Suspenstories 22 to Shock Suspenstories 6. Sure, we all have preferences to the art and stories of any given comic book. We also have preferences for artists and debate back and forth as to whether one artist is better than another. We have preferences for one cover over another and there are times when some will even compare two totally different covers. This is one of those instances where a comparison is drawn between a “decapitated head” cover to that of a woman in bondage/ men in hooded sheets. A comparison that’s all about preference. However, CSS 22 isn’t just about what’s on the cover. It also isn’t just about Johnny Craig’s artistic style. CSS 22 is the greatest representation of the “last stand of the precode comic book,” when Gaines sat across the U.S. Senate Committee and argued for freedom of artistic expression. The preferences anyone has for a book can’t change the history surrounding that book and having helped to define the meaning of it. In fact, there isn’t a precode book out there that compares to CSS 22 given the history surrounding it. Unrivaled history. CSS 22 is the book that is forever connected to Bill Gaines in a way unlike any other EC Comic. It’s very simple: Senate Hearing; Gaines; and CSS 22. There’s no more definitive moment in the history of precode comic books and that’s part of what CSS 22 is. I sometimes wonder whether Gaines had Kefauver and company somewhere in the back of his mind when he signed off on the most controversial cover of the Bronze Age of Comics- Mad Magazine 166.

Shock Suspenstories 6 is a classic bondage cover that would be better compared to Suspense 3. Both are similar covers that happen to be drawn by two giants of their respective eras. Schomburg was a Golden Age great. Wood was an artistic genius who transcended a few comic book ages. I’ve compared these books and will argue that Wood’s cover is superior to Schomburg’s. However, I will attribute my conclusion to the fact that Wood was a superior artist imho and I have a preference for his style and technique. Just look at the detail of Wood’s cover for Incredible Science Fiction 33. Simply incredible.

Let the debate begin!

Not much to actually debate, at least from my end.  Your arguments as to the relative significance of the books aren't anything I disagree with, they are both classic EC covers for very, very different reasons.

What I would say is, as books in that top tier of classic EC covers, it is completely fair to compare them, and have personal preferences, and discuss the relative merits.  But the position that they're not really comparable is valid.

Which leads me to think, which a-list classic EC covers do I have, and which ones would others add?  Everybody has their own preferences.  I don't think too many people would argue with these; I debated slightly on including the Haunt 14 since Overstreet has it tagged as a classic cover, but I don't think it's quite as iconic as the half dozen I'm posting:

Incredible_SF_33.jpg

Mad_001.jpg

Mad_005.jpg

Shock_Suspenstories_06.jpg

Two_Fisted_Tales_30.jpg

Weird_Science_Fantasy_29.jpg

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13 hours ago, OtherEric said:

I debated slightly on including the Haunt 14 since Overstreet has it tagged as a classic cover, but I don't think it's quite as iconic as the half dozen I'm

I’ve really come to appreciate HOF 14 over time, the cover captivates me. But then I agree there are a handful of other EC covers that surpass it for iconic status.

76B4822B-58E7-4A9A-932F-49B0891CD387.jpeg

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