Tales from the Crypt (comics)

Publication history

Original run

In 1950, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines and his editor, Al Feldstein, began experimenting with horror tales in their crime titles. Tales from the Crypt traces its origin to a Feldstein story, "Return from the Grave!", in EC's Crime Patrol #15 (December 1949/January 1950) with the Crypt-Keeper making his debut as teller of the tale. Issue #16 featured more horror tales than crime stories, and, with issue #17, the title changed from Crime Patrol to The Crypt of Terror. Due to an attempt to save money on second-class postage permits, the numbering did not change with the title and continued as The Crypt of Terror for the next two issues.

Tales from the Crypt debuted with issue #20 (October/November 1950) and continued to run for a total of 27 issues (excluding the initial three, #17–19, published as The Crypt of Terror) before ceasing publication with issue #46 (February/March 1955). Along with its sister titles, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers, and others who believed the magazines contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency. In April and June 1954, highly publicized congressional subcommittee hearings on the effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines cancelled Tales from the Crypt and its two companion horror titles.

Reprints

Tales from the Crypt has been reprinted on numerous occasions. Ballantine Books reprinted selected stories in a series of paperback anthologies from 1964 to 1966. The magazine was fully collected in a series of five black-and-white hardbacks by publisher Russ Cochran as part of The Complete EC Library in 1979. Cochran (in association with Gladstone Publishing and solo) reprinted a handful of single issues in color from 1990 to 1991. Between 1992 and 1999, Cochran and Gemstone Publishing reprinted the full 30 individual issues. This complete run was later rebound, with covers included, in a series of six softcover EC Annuals. In 2007, Cochran and Gemstone began to publish hardcover, re-colored volumes of Tales from the Crypt as part of the EC Archives series. Three volumes (of a projected five) were published before Gemstone's financial troubles left the project in limbo. The series was revived by Dark Horse Comics, which published the last two volumes in 2013 and 2014. These were later republished as over-sized trade paperbacks from 2021 to 2025.

Revivals

Papercutz began running a new series of original Tales from the Crypt comics in 2007. The first issue was published in June 2007 with a cover drawn by Kyle Baker. All three of EC Comics' horror hosts (the GhouLunatics) appear in the issue, drawn by Rick Parker. Contributors to subsequent issues included brothers Joe R. Lansdale and John L. Lansdale, Don McGregor, husband and wife team James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook, Mort Todd, and Chris Noeth. The run consisted of 13 issues, each featuring 2 stories. There was also a run of 9 collections, released in smaller digest size with a graphic novel style bookbinding. They not only collected all of the stories from the issues, but also 10 new stories, and 1 "classic" story from the original run. The last release from Papercutz was published in September 2010.

Super Genius Comics relaunched Tales from the Crypt for two issues in November 2016 and March 2017.

Production

Creative team

Early covers were created by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, and Wally Wood, with the remaining covers (1952–55) by Jack Davis. The contributing interior artists were Feldstein, Craig, Wood, Davis, George Evans, Jack Kamen, Graham Ingels, Harvey Kurtzman, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, Bernard Krigstein, Will Elder, Fred Peters, and Howard Larsen. Davis took over the art for the Crypt-Keeper's stories with #24 (June/July 1951) and continued as the title's lead artist for the rest of the run. Feldstein devised the Crypt-Keeper's origin story, "Lower Berth!" (#33), which was illustrated by Davis. Issue #38 was one of two covers from EC's horror comics censored prior to publication. While The Vault of Horror cover for issue #32 was restored in Russ Cochran's EC Library reprints, the Tales from the Crypt cover remained censored. "Kamen's Kalamity" (#31) starred many members of the EC staff, including Gaines, Feldstein, and the story's artist, Kamen. Ingels, Davis, and Craig also made cameo appearances in the story in single panels which they drew themselves.

Influences and adaptations

As with the other EC comics edited by Feldstein, the stories in this comic were primarily based on Gaines using existing horror stories and films to develop "springboards" from which he and Feldstein could launch new stories. Specific story influences that have been identified include the following:

• "Death Must Come" (#17): Ralph Murphy's The Man in Half Moon Street
• "The Maestro's Hand" (#18): Robert Florey's The Beast with Five Fingers
• "The Thing from the Sea" (#20): Francis Marion Crawford's "The Upper Berth"
• "Rx Death" (#20): Arthur Machen's "The Novel of the White Powder"
• "Impending Doom" (#20): W. F. Harvey's "August Heat"
• "Reflection of Death" (#23): H. P. Lovecraft's "The Outsider"
• "The Living Death" (#24): Edgar Allan Poe's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"
• "Judy, You're Not Yourself Tonight" (# 25): H. P. Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep"
• "Loved to Death" (#25): John Collier's "The Chaser"
• "Bargain in Death!" (#28): Ambrose Bierce's "One Summer Night"
• "Grounds... for Horror!" (#29) – John Collier's "Thus I Refute Beelzy"
• "A Hollywood Ending" (#30): H. P. Lovecraft's "Cool Air"
• "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" (#34): H. P. Lovecraft's "The Outsider" and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
• "Dead Right!" (#37): Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "The Room in the Dragon Volant"
• "Last Laugh" (#38): David H. Keller's "The Doorbell"
• "Shadow of Death" (#39): Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr

Anecdotes from Bennett Cerf's Try and Stop Me were sources for stories, including "House of Horror" (#21), "Death Suited Him!" (#21), and "Death's Turn!" (#22).

After their unauthorized adaptation of one of Ray Bradbury's stories in another magazine, Bradbury contacted EC about their plagiarism of his work. They reached an agreement for EC to do authorized versions of Bradbury's short fiction. These official adaptations include:

• "There Was an Old Woman" (#34)
• "The Handler" (#36)

The Crypt-Keeper

Although EC's horror stable consisted of three separate magazines, there was little beyond their titles to distinguish them from one another. Each magazine had its own host, known as a GhouLunatic. The Crypt-Keeper was the primary host of Tales from the Crypt. Hosting duties for any one magazine were typically shared with the hosts of the other two. For example, a single issue of Tales from the Crypt would contain two stories told by the Crypt-Keeper, one by the Vault-Keeper (of The Vault of Horror) and one by the Old Witch (of The Haunt of Fear). The professional rivalry among these three GhouLunatics was often played for comedic effect in the letter column.

The Crypt-Keeper was introduced in Crime Patrol #15, and he continued with the magazine through its rebrandings. The character began as a frightening presence in the early issues, shown as a sinister hermit sitting framed in the lightless crypt's half-open door, his face all but hidden by the double curtain of his long white hair. He soon evolved into a more comedic horror host, delivering an irreverent and pun-filled commentary to lighten the horrific tone of the stories he introduced.

Occasionally, the Crypt-Keeper would appear as a character as well, often providing the reader a glimpse of his life. "The Lower Berth" (Tales from the Crypt #33) gives an account of the circumstances surrounding his birth. "While the Cat's Away" (The Vault of Horror #34) conducts a tour of his house above and below ground. "Horror Beneath the Streets" (The Haunt of Fear #17) tells how he and his fellow GhouLunatics got their EC publishing contracts.

The Crypt-Keeper also served as the host of EC's 3-D comic book, Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror (1954). He was portrayed by Ralph Richardson in the 1972 film and voiced by John Kassir in the 1989 television series.

List of issues

In other media

The 1972 film, Tales from the Crypt, from Amicus Productions, features five stories from EC's horror comics. "Reflection of Death" (#23) and "Blind Alleys" (#46) were adapted from Tales from the Crypt, while the others came from The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror. A second Amicus film, The Vault of Horror (1973), also used stories from Tales from the Crypt: "Midnight Mess" (#35), "This Trick'll Kill You" (#33), "Bargain in Death" (#28), and "Drawn and Quartered" (#26). Another story came from Shock SuspenStories (despite its name, it did not use any stories published in The Vault of Horror).

An homage film entitled Creepshow (1982) followed from Warner Brothers, paying tribute to the tone, look, and feel of Tales from the Crypt and other EC comics without directly adapting any of their stories.

The comic book was adapted into the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt, which features John Kassir as the voice of the Crypt-Keeper and included comic book covers designed by Mike Vosburg—with at least one drawn by Shawn McManus—to look like the original 1950s covers. The series ran for seven seasons from 1989 to 1996 and spawned 93 episodes.

The following tales were used in HBO's Tales from the Crypt TV series: "The Man Who Was Death" (#17), "Mute Witness to Murder" (#18), "Fatal Caper" (#20), "The Thing from the Grave" (#22), "Last Respects" (#23), "Judy, You're Not Yourself Today" (#25), "Loved to Death" (#25), "Well Cooked Hams" (#27), "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" (#28), "Korman's Kalamity" (re-titling of "Kamen's Kalamity", #31), "Cutting Cards" (#32), "Lower Berth" (#33), "None But The Lonely Heart" (#33), "Oil's Well That Ends Well" (#34), "Curiosity Killed" (#36), "Only Skin Deep" (#38), "Mournin' Mess" (#38), "Undertaking Palor" (#39), "Food for Thought" (#40), "Operation Friendship" (#41), "Cold War" (#43), "Forever Ambergris" (#44), "The Switch" (#45), and "Blind Alleys" (#46). Additional episodes were based on other entries in the EC Comics line: The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories, and Two-Fisted Tales.

Two films by Universal Pictures, Demon Knight (1995) and Bordello of Blood (1996), were based on the HBO series. A third film, Ritual, was slated for theatrical release in 2001 but was only distributed internationally (without the Tales from the Crypt connection) until 2006, when it was released on DVD in the United States with the Crypt-Keeper segments restored. Unlike the 1970s-era Amicus films, these films were not based on stories from any EC magazine.

HBO's Tales from the Crypt was adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon series called Tales from the Cryptkeeper in 1993. It lacked the violence and other questionable content that was in the original series. Kassir reprised his role as the voice of the Crypt-Keeper. It ran for three seasons from 1993 to 1994 and in 1999, spawning 39 episodes.

In 1994, ACE Games released a board game based on the cartoon called Tales from the Cryptkeeper: Search for the Lost Tales!

A Saturday morning game show, Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House, ran from 1996 to 1997 and featured two teams of kids competing in physical games for prizes. The Crypt-Keeper, voiced by Kassir, served as the game's announcer.

A pinball machine, Tales from the Crypt, was produced under license by Data East in 1993. The game incorporates art from the original comics as well as the HBO series.

References

References

1. (2013). "American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s". TwoMorrows Publishing.
2. (2021). "The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt". Dark Horse Books.
3. (July 25, 2014). "Dark Horse to Publish EC Library".
4. "The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 5 HC".
5. "The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 1 TPB".
6. "The EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt Volume 5 TPB".
7. "Tales from the Crypt (2007 Papercutz) Comic Books". Lone Star Comics.
8. "Tales from the Crypt HC (2007-2010 Papercutz) Comic Books". Lone Star Comics.
9. Johnston, Rich. (August 2, 2016). "Tales from the Crypt Returns, Takes on Broadway Hit Hamilton, with Gerry Conway and Friends". Avatar Press.
10. "Tales from the Crypt".
11. "Tales from the Crypt (1972)".
12. "The Vault of Horror (1973)".
13. "Creepshow (1982)".
14. "Tales from the Crypt (TV Series 1989–1996)".
15. "Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)".
16. "Bordello of Blood (1996)".
17. "Ritual (2002)".
18. "Tales from the Cryptkeeper (TV Series 1993–1999)".
19. "Tales from the Cryptkeeper: Search for the Lost Tales!".
20. "Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House (TV Series 1996–1997)".
21. "Data East 'Tales from the Crypt'".