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Issue: Tales from the Crypt #38
Disclose Detail
Title:
Variant: unnamed
Rating:
Publisher: FlagEC
Brand:
Indicia Publisher: I. C. Publishing Co., Inc.
On Sale Date: (not set)
Volume: 1
Pages: 36
ISBN: none
UPC/EAN: none
Price: $0.10 USD
Indicia Frequency:
Content Items: 7 (5 stories, 1 cover)
Editor(s): Al Feldstein
Disclose Notes:  
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Disclose Format
Publication Type: Comic Book
Color: color
Dimensions: Standard Golden Age U.S.
Paper Stock: glossy cover; newsprint interior
Binding: saddle-stitched
Publishing Format: was ongoing series
Format Notes:  
Disclose Reprinted From0
There is currently no data for this Issue being reprinted from anywhere.
Disclose Images3
Cover, Front
Original Artwork
Digital Edition
Adult Image
Title Page
Indicia on this Page
 
 

Cover, Front
Original Artwork
Digital Edition
Adult Image
Title Page
Indicia on this Page
 
 

Cover, Front
Original Artwork
Digital Edition
Adult Image
Title Page
Indicia on this Page
 
 
Assets0
 
[untitled]

Illustration  on  Cover, Front
Credits
Jack Davis (signed)
Jack Davis (signed)
?
?
Subject Matter
horror
The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset)
Reprinting
FlagTales from the Crypt #38 published December 1953
as [untitled] [Illustration on Cover, Front]
FlagIskalde Grøss #6/1990 published January 1990
as [untitled] [Illustration on Cover, Front]
FlagTales from the Crypt #22 published December 1997
as [untitled] [Illustration on Cover, Front]
 
Miscellaneous
1
Tight Grip!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)
Jack Davis (signed)
Jack Davis (signed)
Marie Severin
Jim Wroten
Subject Matter
horror
The Crypt of Terror
The Crypt-Keeper (host); Wilma (death); Jeeves (Wilma's butler); unnamed Justice of the Peace; unnamed bellboy; Willy (villain); Carl Roswell (villain, Wilma's fiance, death)
This story is narrated by a trunk and concerns the murder of a woman the trunk is fond of. When the murderer attempts to hide in the trunk, he panics and shoots holes through it, whereupon the trunk contracts itself turning the killer into flesh spaghetti and concentrated bone.
Reprinting
FlagThe Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #4 published March 2013
FlagIskalde Grøss #6/1990 published January 1990
as En grepa kar! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
FlagTales from the Crypt #22 published December 1997
as Tight Grip! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
8
Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
...Only Skin Deep!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)
Reed Crandall (signed)
Reed Crandall (signed)
Marie Severin
Jim Wroten
Subject Matter
horror
The Vault of Horror!
The Vault-Keeper (host); Herbert; Suzanne (Herbert's wife); A. M. Moore (Justice of the Peace); Moore's wife
A man marries a woman at Mardi Gras who wears a hag mask. She continually puts off his requests to remove her mask until he becomes agitated enough to bodily pull the mask off of her head whereupon he realizes she wasn't wearing a mask.
Reprinting
FlagDe vloek van de volle maan #[nn] published January 1981
as ...Alleen het uiterlijk! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
FlagIskalde Grøss #6/1989 published January 1989
as Ansiktsløftningen! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
FlagTales from the Crypt #22 published December 1997
as ...Only Skin Deep! [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
7
Script revisions, colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Big Fish!

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
[untitled]

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Al Feldstein
typeset
Subject Matter
The Crypt-Keeper's Corner
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Letters (whole and partial) from Nelson Bridwell (future DC employee), Milton Hughes, Dick Baumann, Patrick McKernam, Emanuel Peluso, Richard Renner, Otis Barton, Roger Todahl, Ira Bankoff, Lynn Weber, J. Farmisano, Judy Albarado, Hepster Jim Moran, Bob West, Ronald Frager, Jack Laws, Danny Simons.
Last Laugh

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Bill Gaines (co-plot); Albert B. Feldstein (co-plot, script)
Bill Elder (signed)
Bill Elder (signed)
Marie Severin
Jim Wroten
Subject Matter
horror
The Crypt-Keeper (host); practical joker; a doctor (villain)
An obese practical joker with a stomach problem visits a doctor and relates a practical joke involving getting old clothes and bloody butchered chunks of horse flesh to take down to the trainyard near where some children regularly play. When the train rolls through, he lets out a scream after dropping the gory mess on the rails, and finds the ensuing panic tearfully funny. Unfortunately, the doctor's son died from that prank, so gets his revenge by giving him some capsules that contained fish hooks and he straps the obese man to a table and tickles him so that he will literally 'die laughing'.
Reprinting
FlagIskalde Grøss #4/1990 published January 1990
as Den som ler sist ... [Story on Interior Page(s)]
FlagTales from the Crypt #22 published December 1997
as Last Laugh [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
6
This story was actually based on an event Bill Elder was involved with as a kid.

Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.

Script credit from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #[18] - The Million Year Picnic and Other Stories.
Mournin' Mess

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Bill Gaines (co-plot); Albert B. Feldstein (co-plot, script)
Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed)
Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed)
Marie Severin
Jim Wroten
Subject Matter
horror
The Witch's Cauldron!
The Old Witch (host); Mayor Merk; Sweeney (reporter, death); Sweeney's boss; Felix J. Copehard (villain, a ghoul, representative of the Grateful Hoboes Society)
The Grateful Hoboes, Outcasts, and Unwanteds' Layaways Society is run by a man who read 'Midnight Mess' in Tales from the Crypt #35, and offers a pleasant burial for the penniless. A local reporter thinks their setup odd, and when his boss later tells him that they have buried their 1000th derelict, he is sure something stinks because their cemetery does not have enough area for 1000 graves. He discovers the truth: that the 20-30 members of the society are ghouls!
Reprinting
FlagTales from the Crypt #22 published December 1997
as Mournin' Mess [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
7
Script revision by Craig Delich, formerly Al Feldstein.

Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.

Much of the story is told in flashback.

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