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Issue: The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt #4
Publication Date: September 2024
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Issues: #4 of 4 Issues
Title:
Variant: unnamed
Rating:
Publisher: FlagDark Horse
Brand: object(PgSql\Result)#3 (0) { }
Indicia Publisher: Dark Horse Books
On Sale Date: 09/11/2024
Volume: 4
Pages: 220
ISBN: 9781506736419
UPC/EAN: 978150673641951999
Price: $25.99 CAD
$19.99 USD
Indicia Frequency:
Content Items: 70 (30 stories, 1 cover)
Editor(s):  
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Publication Type: Comic Book
Color: color
Dimensions: 8 3/16 in. x 10 15/16 in.
Paper Stock:  
Binding: trade paperback
Publishing Format: collected edition
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Disclose Content Items (70 total)
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[untitled]

Illustration  on  Cover, Front
Credits
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): Tales From the Crypt
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset)
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Reprinted cover with new colors and trade dress.
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[untitled]

Blank Page(s)  on  Interior Page(s)
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Inker(s): ?
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Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 2
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[untitled]

Illustration  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
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Tales from the Crypt Volume 4

Credits  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 2
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Contents

Table of Contents  on  Interior Page(s)
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Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
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Pages: 2
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Introduction

Foreword, Introduction, Preface, Afterword  on  Interior Page(s)
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Letterer(s): typeset
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Miscellaneous
Pages: 1.5
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[untitled]

Illustration  on  Interior Page(s)
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Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
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Bill & Me

Text Article  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: The first two pages appear after the Introduction and one more page appears after each reprinted issue.
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Tales from the Crypt #35

Cover Reprint (on Interior Page)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset)
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
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[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
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Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: humorous
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Mad Magazine #4.
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By the Fright of the Silvery Moon!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Crypt of Terror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); Alec Gedra (farmer, death); Peter Gedra (Alec's son); Sheriff Hudson; Herb (worker in Sheriff's office); Miss Purdley (librarian); Edward Gedra (villain, Alec's son, a werewolf, death)
First Line: Heh, heh! Welcome back, fiends!
Synopsis: After two men are found torn apart on the night of a full moon, the sheriff of a small American farm community seizes a man who has arrived from Hungary with his two sons and has him shot, believing him to be a werewolf. The sons know better and believe the Sheriff is the creature, so they make plans to trap and expose him for what he is.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
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Midnight Mess!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Vault of Horror!
Character(s): The Vault-Keeper (host)
First Line: Heh, heh! Looks like supernatural is the order of the day, eh, fiends?
Synopsis: A man visits his sister in a small town where people get off the street and close up shop before sundown due to a recent spate of seventeen vampire killings, but scoffs at the idea as the work of a homicidal maniac as vampires don't exist. He is hungry since the restaurant he was in earlier closed down before he could order something to eat and so he goes for a walk after dinner. He comes upon the same restaurant that he was in earlier and it is open now. He enters the place to get something to eat, but ends up on the menu himself, for it serves as an after-hours eatery to the local vampires.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
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[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Weird Science #18
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The Rack

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: The gaping mouth of the castle stuck out its drawbridge like an impudent tongue.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
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[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for the Picture Stories comics.
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[untitled]

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
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Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Letters from Paul Naylor, Jerry Smoller, Ralph Schurr, Stuart Glass, Nidred the Were-cat, Dick Mandel, Fred Barth, Howell Robertson, Bob Oravec.
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Busted Marriage!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host)
First Line: Here's a yarn that figures to end up pretty horrible...
Synopsis: A man has voodoo dolls made as wedding cake figures in order to get a wealthy woman to marry him. He meets a younger woman, and so to remarry, places his wife's doll under glass so that she suffocates from lack of air. He keeps both dolls until the second wedding as he plans to use them on the cake, but the wife figurine is rotting since it now resembles the woman lying in the grave. The man throws it away, and settles into bed with his new bride, but it gets out of the trash and hauls itself up to the shelf where his doll is kept to push it off, breaking it into a thousand piece, while in the bedroom the new bride screams in terror.
Reprinting
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Miscellaneous
Pages: 6
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
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This Wraps It Up!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Witch's Cauldron!
Character(s): The Old Witch (host); Dr. Arnold Munson (archaeologist, death); Professor Thomas Steele (villain, archaeologist, death); Dr. Jerome Grabel (villain, archaeologist, death); mummy of Pharaoh Ikah-Mu-Kahma (villain)
First Line: Hee, hee! So it's supernatural you want, eh?
Synopsis: Three archeologists, one with a bad heart (Munson), uncover the tomb of the 5th Pharaoh of Egypt with a large treasure. Two of them hatch a plot involving the Pharaoh's mummy in order to get the other's heart to give out, because they know that he will insist on turning over the treasure to the museum. The third man does indeed drop dead from fright from the Pharaoh's mummy, but the schemer pulls out a pistol and empties it into the mummy as he wishes to keep all the treasure for himself, but he can't understand why the mummy doesn't drop.
Reprinting
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Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Revised script credit by Craig Delich, formerly Albert B. Feldstein.

Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
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Tales from the Crypt #36

Cover Reprint (on Interior Page)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset)
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
George Evans

Text Article  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: Latest permanent addition to the E.C. family...
Reprinting
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Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: EC Artist of the Month
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Fare Tonight, Followed By Increasing Clottyness...

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Crypt of Terror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); un-named newsstand operator; Dr. Eggbert Muller (mythologist, death); un-named taxi driver (villain, a vampire)
First Line: Heh, heh! Welcome, boils and ghouls...
Synopsis: A cab driver has a dream that he is pursued by a Dr. Mueller into a basement filled with vampire-occupied caskets. When he wakes, and Dr. Mueller actually shows up at his cab, he recognizes the dream as a subconscious warning the doctor may be dangerous to him so he takes the doctor to the basement he dreamed of and then drains his blood. Afterwards, the vampire cabbie returns to the earthen sod in his trunk to pass the coming day.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
Curiosity Killed...

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Vault of Horror!
Character(s): The Vault-Keeper (host); Henrietta Clayton (Milton's wife, death); Emily Durand (Wallace's wife, death); George (elevator operator); Jed (desk clerk and switchboard operation (mention only); Wallace Durand (villain); Milton Clayton (villain, Emily's husband)
First Line: Heh, heh! Venture into the vault, vultures.
Synopsis: A woman is convinced that her friend down the hall has been murdered by her husband and that he is disposing of her remains bit by bit via carrier pigeon to a local kennel. It turns out that her husband is in on the deal too, and he comes for her sooner than he anticipated since she has found out.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

The visage of the Vault-Keeper on Page 1 is a photostat by Johnny Craig.
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: We at E.C. are proudest of our science-fiction magazines!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Weird Science #19.
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Tight Squeeze

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: Not ten seconds after Kendall had seized the payroll bag...
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Pages: 1
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
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Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Picture Stories titles from E.C.
Disclose
[untitled]

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Letters from Silmy Syd, Edwin Zureich, Ralph Chapman, Dick Duggan, Maura (Mo) Miller, Dave Borden and Dick Merrit, Warren A. Freiberg, Ed Redling.
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How Green Was My Alley

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host)
First Line: Here's a terror-tale of sporting life!
Synopsis: A bigamist is decapitated by his two athletic wives when they find they've been deceived. The golfer putts with his eyes and the bowler uses his severed head.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 6
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
The Handler

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Witch's Cauldron!
Character(s): The Old Witch (host); Mr. Rodgers (druggist); Mr. Stuyvesant (a contractor); Mr. Flinger (delicatessen man); various corpses [Mr. Smith; Mr. Andrews; Mrs. Walters; Miss Brown; Mrs. Shellmund; Mr. Wren (a racist); Edmund Worth; three unnamed gossips; unnamed lawyer; rest unnamed]; Merriwell Blythe (death); Mr. Benedict (villain, mortician, death)
First Line: Hee, hee! Yep, it's your dietician of disgusting drama, the Old Witch...
Synopsis: A mortician avenges himself against perceived slights upon the closed-casket victims of his parlor by violating their bodies until a corpse who isn't quite dead yet overhears his gruesome doings and begs the dead to rise from their graves and stop this horrid man. This they do, and bury parts of Mr. Benedict under a dozen gravestones.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.

The splash panel displays the latter part of Bradbury's name.

Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
Tales from the Crypt #37

Cover Reprint (on Interior Page)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): Tales From the Crypt
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset)
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Colorist credit by Craig Delich.
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: humorous
First Line: No Mad!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for a subscription to Mad Magazine.
Disclose
Dead Right!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Crypt of Terror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); Carl (heart specialist, death); Ben Norton (funeral parlor undertaker); Dr. Joseph Fairbanks (villain, surgeon)
First Line: Heh, heh! Back for more, fiendish fans?
Synopsis: A doctor rigs up an elaborate hoax to convince his heart specialist friend that his theory of awareness immediately after death could be true by pretending to poison him but really only administering an anesthetic. When the heart specialist fails to come out from it, they realize he truly is dead, and since the story is told in first person, it confirms the doctor's theory of awareness beyond death since the end of the story reveals that the heart specialist died of a heart attack upon ingesting the supposed poisoned brandy and subsequently relates everything he perceives.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
Pleasant Screams!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Vault of Horror!
Character(s): The Vault-Keeper (host); Felix Purdy (high school teacher); student of Mr. Purdy; a werewolf (villain); a vampire (villain); rotting corpse (villain); little monsters (villains)
First Line: Heh, heh! Welcome to the vault of horror, hidiots.
Synopsis: A high school teacher narrates his experiences as the main character in the dream of a sadistic student. When he realizes the child is waking up, he is terrified at the true end of his existence.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: We at E.C. are proudest of our science-fiction magazines!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Weird Science #20
Disclose
Solid

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
Genres: adventure
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Picture Stories titles from E.C.
Disclose
[untitled]

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Horror Hit Parade suggestions from Dick Seaberg, Mike Anderson, Charlie Harrington, Martha Conrad and Jason Rile. Poems by Michael Britekant, Michael Graziano, Leoniece Baer, and "Unsigned". Alma mater hymn by Janice Lopez and Putrid Proverb by Hebert Teisch.
Disclose
Strop! You're Killing Me!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); Mayor Witter; Dan Harper; Clem Dunlop (old Fire Chief, mention only); Frank Miller (villain, Fire Chief, death)
First Line: Here's a horror tidbit to whet your dulled fiendish appetites.
Synopsis: When Clem retires as Fire Chief, that leaves old Dan Harper on the job, until the Mayor appoints a younger man as Chief and since then, Dan and Chief Miller never see eye-to-eye about anything. One night, a fire breaks out at Dan's home, and the new Chief purposely delays his response to that call, hoping that Dan will die in it, which he does. Soon after, Chief Miller gets a ghostly call that his own house is on fire, and he rushes to the descent pole, which somehow has been replaced with a steel strip, sharpened to a keen razor-edge!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 6
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #[18] - The Million Year Picnic and Other Stories.
Disclose
The Rover Boys!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Witch's Cauldron!
Character(s): The Old Witch (host); State Medical Board [Dr. Hale; Dr. Simpson; other three unnamed] (all die); Captain John Smythe; unnamed theatrical agent; unnamed milkman; Dr. Sheldon Remsen [aka Sheldon] (villain, death)
First Line: Hee, hee. Smell the concoction I'm cookin' in my cruddy cauldron?
Synopsis: A doctor gets his revenge on the five members of the medical board who revoked his license to practice medicine by transferring their brains into the bodies of dogs, and using their reasoning abilities to make money as a novelty act. However, they get their revenge upon him by transferring his brain into the body of a horse and chasing him around the town streets.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Script revision by Craig Delich, formerly Al Feldstein.

Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Disclose
Tales from the Crypt #38

Cover Reprint (on Interior Page)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset)
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: For the ultimate in pure terror, we, the three Ghoulunatics ...
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad fro Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear.
Disclose
Tight Grip!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Crypt of Terror
Character(s): 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)
First Line: Heh, heh. Well, all I can say is... you're either fans or fiends...
Synopsis: 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
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: Colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
...Only Skin Deep!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Vault of Horror!
Character(s): The Vault-Keeper (host); Herbert; Suzanne (Herbert's wife); A. M. Moore (Justice of the Peace); Moore's wife
First Line: Heh, heh! Yep, creeps, it's your scream-story-teller in the Vault of Horror...
Synopsis: 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
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Script revisions, colorist and letterer credits by Craig Delich.
Disclose
Adventure Fans!

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Two-Fisted Tales.
Disclose
Big Fish!

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: As he poised at the edge of the lake...
Reprinting
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Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Picture Stories titles from E.C.
Disclose
[untitled]

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: 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.
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Last Laugh

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); practical joker; a doctor (villain)
First Line: Ernie visited the doctor but never expected the last laugh
Synopsis: 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
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 6
Disclose Notes: 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.
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Mournin' Mess

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Witch's Cauldron!
Character(s): The Old Witch (host); Mayor Merk; Sweeney (reporter, death); Sweeney's boss; Felix J. Copehard (villain, a ghoul, representative of the Grateful Hoboes Society)
First Line: Hee, hee! And now that your appetites for horror have been sufficiently piqued...
Synopsis: 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
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: 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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Tales from the Crypt #39

Cover Reprint (on Interior Page)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset)
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
First Line: Melvin? You say you can't find Mad anywhere?
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for subscription to Mad magazine.
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Undertaking Palor

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Crypt of Terror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); Chubby; Pete; Billy; Percy Vandam, Jr.; Percy Vandam, Sr. (Percy's father, death); Averill Esprock (villain, undertaker, death); Mort Grudny (villain, druggist, death)
First Line: Heh, heh! So you're back for more gore, eh, fiends?
Synopsis: Some boys peeping through an undertaker's basement window overhear a plot between the town druggist and undertaker to poison citizens to profit from their funeral costs. When Percy's father becomes a victim, they resolve to take matters into their own hands!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
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The Craving Grave!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Vault of Horror
Character(s): The Vault-Keeper (host); Cynthia (death)
First Line: Heh, heh. And now, vultures, if you venture into the Vault of Horror...
Synopsis: This story is told by a grave. It speaks of spending lonely years of being laughed at by the other graves, because they have children (corpses) while the narrator remains barren. Finally a casket is brought to the craving grave, but the body of Cynthia does not rest in peace. Her no-good nephew, who once robbed her, returns with his wife and begs forgiveness. Cynthia takes the two of them in, only to be murdered for her money.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: We at E.C. are proudest of our science-fiction magazines!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Weird Science #19.
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Fire!

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 0.5
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for the Picture Stories comics.
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[untitled]

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Letter from C.K. and editorial about the E. C. Fan-Addict Club.
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The Sleeping Beauty!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Crypt-Keeper's Grim Fairy Tale!
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host)
First Line: Because I have received a flood of requests (One... the editor's mother-in-law..)...
Synopsis: In this grim fairy tale, the REAL reason sleeping beauty spends all that time sleeping during the daytime hours turns out to be...aw, you guessed it.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 6
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
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Shadow of Death

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Witch's Cauldron!
Character(s): The Old Witch (host); Ezra Morton (crippled news dealer); unnamed news dealer (death)
First Line: Hee, hee! And now it's wind-up time in C.K.'s muck-mag...
Synopsis: The shadow of a corner newspaper dealer detaches itself from his body one evening and seizes the shadow of an axe in order to assault an unscrupulous competitor who is attempting to ruin him. When they find the corpse of his victim, they are astounded that the corpse casts no shadow.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
Tales from the Crypt #40

Cover Reprint (on Interior Page)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Vault-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset)
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Subject Matter
First Line: Gadzooks! My joy knows no bounds!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for the E. C. Fan-Addict Club.
Disclose
Food for Thought

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Crypt of Terror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); Eric (Marta's lover, animal trainer, death); Marta (Carl's wife, circus mind reader); Carl (villain, Marta's husband, thought projector, death); a ghoul (villain)
First Line: Heh, heh! I see you're hungry for horror again.
Synopsis: A woman plots to run away with the circus animal trainer because her husband, even though he can project his thoughts to her which they use as their act, does not love her. The husband tumbles to the plot and forces the animal trainer at gunpoint into the lion's cage where he is torn apart. The wife suspects him but has no proof and so when the husband is accidentally paralyzed when a beam lands upon him while the circus packs up, she ignores his thoughts for help and coldly advises them not to embalm him so that he is buried alive.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 8
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
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Pearly to Dead

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Vault of Horror!
Character(s): The Vault-Keeper (host); Phil Cannon (death); Gladys (Phil's girl); unnamed college swimming coach; Larry Miles (villain, death)
First Line: Heh, heh! Salutations, slime savorers!!
Synopsis: Two navy divers discover a pearl bed while placing demo charges and make plans to go back for them after the war ends. One gets greedy and murders the other one whose corpse then surprises him while he is attempting to acquire the pearls.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

Evans drew himself in as the pilot at the top of page 7.

Some of the story is told in flashback.
Disclose
[untitled]

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Rundown of song titles of the day retitled with humorous horror names.
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Choice!

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Subject Matter
First Line: The ground was soft and clinging as Farraday slipped out...
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose
Did You Like the Tales in this Magazine?

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): ?
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for Two-Fisted Tales.
Disclose
Prairie Schooner

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Character(s): The Crypt-Keeper (host); Mildred Jackson [aka Milly] (death); Mr. Gunner (shop owner, cameo); unnamed plumber; unnamed carpenter; Captain Ezra Jackson (villain, sailor, death)
First Line: Here's a bubbly little tale of titanic terror!
Synopsis: Old seaman Ezra is abruptly retired from his duties at sea and shows up at the home of his old time friend, Milly. Stranded in this Kansas home, away from all he ever knew at sea, the sailor goes mad and converts Milly's house into a ship in the middle of a prairie and she is made the one-man crew of the ship, until she drops dead.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 6
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.

Oddity: The Crypt-Keeper is clearly the host of this story. However, the final panel, featuring the Crypt-Keeper, has him stating that he is turning readers over TO the Crypt-Keeper for the final story in the issue.
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Half-Baked!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
Genres: horror
Feature(s): The Witch's Cauldron!
Character(s): The Old Witch (host); Calvin Dugan; John (restaurant's chef)
First Line: Hee, hee! And now it's morbid-meal-time.
Synopsis: A man who enjoys tormenting lobster ends up in a car crash where the steering column disembowels him and the flames that erupt broil him alive.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 7
Disclose Notes: Script credit from "Tales of Terror! - The EC Companion" by Fred von Bernewitz and Grant Geissman.
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for issues in the EC Archive series of titles.
Disclose
[untitled]

Blank Page(s)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 2
Disclose
[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Writer(s): ?
Penciller(s): ?
Inker(s): ?
Colorist(s): ?
Letterer(s): typeset
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:  
Miscellaneous
Pages: 1
Disclose Notes: Promo ad for issues reprinted in this issue. Appears on the back cover.

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