the ec archives the haunt of fear volume 1

One thing that neophytes will be quick to note is that, following the convention of the pulp fiction of the era, the stories can be very text heavy.

Each story is essentially a variation on same sort of moral espousing Monkey’s Paw parable. If you’re at all familiar with the conventions of horror movies or literature you know exactly what to expect.

This volume (EC’s fourth) collects six issues of the evil anthology, reprinting 42 of these classic stories in full technicolor (somewhat ironically, that last part’s not technically true). If that speaks to a certain sensibility you have in your heart of hearts, the *EC Archive*’s latest trade collection of classic *The Haunt of Fear* stories should be right up your alley. From an industry standpoint, horror comics (and true crime comics for that matter) served as a great landing point for many pulp writers, who could at last provide images to go along with their sordid tales of murderous mad men and dangerous damsels. As the first real visual outlet for the sort of macabre tales of murder, mayhem, ghouls and ghosts, comics like *Tales from the Crypt* and *Adventures Into the Unknown* introduced an entire generation of readers to the dark side of fiction. In both horror and heavy metal circles, the role of grotesque pulp comics from the ‘50s and ‘60s in the shaping of the general aesthetic and development of these art forms can not be overstated. Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!

The ec archives the haunt of fear volume 1