The pulp publishing company EC Comics was only around for about fifteen years before absorbed into the broader brands of the publishing world. But in that short time, the fledging comic company was able to establish itself as a cult icon, thanks to a few offbeat anthology collections you may have heard of like Tales from the Crypt and MAD Magazine.
One of the company's lesser known (but still infamous!) ventures included a series of comic book adaptations of the work of Ray Bradbury. EC Comics put out 28 of these illustrated Bradbury comics between 1951 and 1954, featuring work by now-iconic artists such as Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, Will Elder, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Graham Ingels, Jack Kamen, Bernard Krigstein, Joe Orlando, John Severin, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson, and Wallace Wood.
Now — seven decades later — Fantagraphics is remastering and republishing all of these comics for the first time ever in a single oversized hardcover volume. Home to Stay!: The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories comes out on October 25. From the press release:
Highlights in this singular volume include:
"Home to Stay"— a clever combination of two Bradbury science fiction stories that Bradbury himself proclaimed topped his originals (available in no other form or medium), masterfully woven together by Al Feldstein and Wallace Wood."A Sound of Thunder" — the classic time-travel-gone-wrong story brilliantly illustrated by Al Williamson and Angelo Torres.
"Touch and Go" — an obsessive psychological thriller tautly executed by Johnny Craig.
And many more, including "The Million Year Picnic" (Elder), "I, Rocket" (Williamson and Frazetta), "Zero Hour" (Kamen), "Mars Is Heaven" (Wood), and "There Will Come Soft Rains…" (Wood). Plus three bonus stories inspired by other Bradbury tales!
If you're a fan of pulp art, or black-and-white comic art, Home to Stay!: The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories looks like a pretty cool collection. If you want a taste, check out Al Feldstein's adaptation of Bradbury's chilling short story, "The Lake."
