tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post3246602927768788647..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: EC Comics! It's An Entertaining Comic! Issue 43John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-9259851955705844902022-04-13T14:49:21.696-07:002022-04-13T14:49:21.696-07:00Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment! After r...Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment! After reading countless Warren comics, we may have to go back and give every EC story 4 stars.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-42943217787516550892022-04-13T14:45:23.097-07:002022-04-13T14:45:23.097-07:00Interesting reviews, and I agree with some of them...Interesting reviews, and I agree with some of them, but HARD disagree with the critical review of "Shoe-Button Eyes." Both the art and the storytelling are disturbingly brilliant in that one, and it even rivals the classic "...And All Through the House" as the best story in that issue, although "...And All Through the House" is much more fun. And while "Beauty Rest" is the weakest story in the issue, I didn't find it a bad story for what it was. Also, while "Half-Baked" is only average as a story, the lovely Ingels art really brings out the main character's nastiness, and makes it a much better story than it would have normally been.A. Sternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09486941043870666894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-90512125981427625102017-10-24T08:08:33.171-07:002017-10-24T08:08:33.171-07:00Thanks, Q99! We covered 2 months on this post, sin...Thanks, Q99! We covered 2 months on this post, since only 1 comic has a February cover date. Thanks, as always, for your interesting comments!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-27853762772347699472017-10-23T19:34:31.532-07:002017-10-23T19:34:31.532-07:00Big month! I forgot that they shifted around the r...Big month! I forgot that they shifted around the rotation here, giving us basically every EC comic aside from Two-Fisted Tales for this month.<br /><br />Well, on the bright side I think there's only 1 more Grim Fairy Tale left after this month, and I think its quite a ways off. I get why EC went with them (surely an easy day of writing for Feldstein at a time when they were running out of unique ideas), but by this point they're kinda just reduced to parodies of well known ones with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hansel & Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood all done in a short period of time. The rest of this issue is fairly strong though, including Davis' comedic horror story, I think his only writing credit for a horror story.<br /><br />Yikes, I couldn't disagree more about "Understudies" which may be my favorite Craig Crime story. The interesting panel style, the slow transformations of the protagonists into what they hate, just a top notch story all around for me. Overall I'm quite happy with this issue of Crime, "Mothers Day" is quite strong too and the remaining 2 stories are decent as well. Val > Rita though!<br /><br />I was never much of a fan of Panic (nor original Mad either), and don't have all that much to say about the stories themselves. Our one and only appearance of a Grim Fairy Tale outside of the horror comics. This issue brought up probably more controversies than any other EC story, with the first and last story in particular. The first story had lots of controversy over the panel where the main chararacter shoots a woman and the clothing of I think the same charcter in an earlier panel, enough so to get Lyle Stuart arrested for selling offensive material (which was promptly thrown out of court), and the Christmas story was considered blaphemous enough for Panic to be banned in my own state of Massachusetts!<br /><br />Agreed on all counts with Squeeze Play a terrific story with even greater art by Frazetta in his sole EC solo story. Crandall's art in Upon Reflection is fairly good for a so-so story. I'd agree with you about how mediocre that opening story is. As for Blood Brothers, it is for all intents and purposes just a redo of the superior "Hate" from issue 5. <br /><br />I'd lean more towards Jack's opinion on Prairie Schooner, an okay story, but not on the level of say "The Flying Machine" or the later "Master Race". Otherwise very enjoyable art throughout an issue with so-so stories. "Pearly to Dead"'s ending essentially gets redone (in a different setting) with Evans art again a bit later in Haunt 27. <br /><br />An excellent issue of Weird Science-Fantasy, making up for the downward trend in the 2 sci-fi stories as they reached their end. First 3 stories are all great, while the last is rather so-so at best. The combination of the titles for at least a little while seems to have upped their quality which is good to see.<br /><br />Absolutely classic story from Craig to start off this month's Vault of Horror, arguably Craig's best and most well known horror story, having been adapted not only for the movie, but the first episode of the Tales from the Crypt TV show too. Unlike the adaptions, Craig ends it at exactly the right moment, in line with his usual style of implying, but not actually showing the violence. "Shoe Button Eyes" is another Christmas themed classic, although I gotta admit I missed what the ending meant for many years. The question was asked if this was the only collaboration for Craig and Ingels, and unfortunately it was. This is Craig's first issue as editor for Vault of Horror and he'd have a short stint writing stories for other artists, doing so for Ingels this issue and both David and Krigstein in the next.Quiddity99https://www.blogger.com/profile/17809157926893454731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-38816649679031867182017-10-23T16:14:50.805-07:002017-10-23T16:14:50.805-07:00Thanks for your comments, Jim. You have now whet m...Thanks for your comments, Jim. You have now whet my appetite for Mad 12 and SS 14!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-5341439710768287452017-10-23T14:37:10.850-07:002017-10-23T14:37:10.850-07:00I lean toward Bhob Stewart's view on Krigstein...I lean toward Bhob Stewart's view on Krigstein in general and "The Flying Machine" in particular, but there are other Krigstein stories that I love even more than this one. -- "Master Race" and "Poetic Justice" from Valor, to name a couple. His work in Mad #12 and #17 is also ground-breaking, and the art in his two SS stories is almost as good as the art in "Master Race". I'm not that much of a fan of the science fiction titles, but WSF #23 is easily my favorite EC sci-if issue because of the combination of Krigstein's story and the likewise extraordinary "The Children." Like the early issues of TFT and FC that contain stories by both Wood and Kurtzman, the issues of 1954 and 1955 comics that contain stories by both Wood and Krigstein tend to stand out. The great, great Mad #12 and SS #14 are examples that come to mind.<br /><br />I agree with your observation that Wood's consummate draftmanship in his SS stories and covers is a big part of what gave this title such unusual gravitas. By this stage of the run, SS was clicking on all cylinders. The stretch from 12 through 14 in particular is so good that, even though #13 contains the once-in-a-lifetime gem "Squeeze Play", I think it is the weakest issue of the three -- in part because the cover is so disappointing when compared with the corresponding panel in the story. I'm no expert on the horror titles, but for my money Frazetta's ground-eye view of the murder is the scariest panel in any EC comic.<br /><br />-- JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com