List of EC Comics publications

Entertaining Comics, commonly known as EC Comics, was a major publisher of comic books in the 1940s and 1950s. The letters EC originally stood for Educational Comics. EC's Pre-Trend titles are those published by Max Gaines and his son William M. Gaines, who took over the family business after his father's death in 1947.

In 1950, with the addition of writer and artist Al Feldstein, EC found success with their New Trend line, including their horror titles Tales From the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror. A line of science fiction titles soon followed, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, illustrated by the best artists in the business, such as Wallace Wood, Reed Crandall, Johnny Craig, George Evans, Graham Ingels, Jack Davis, Bill Elder, Joe Orlando, Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta. In addition to original stories, the books also featured adaptations of Ray Bradbury's short stories.

The New Direction group was a response to the Comics Code Authority. Picto-Fiction was a short-lived line of heavily illustrated short story magazines. Beginning in 1958, EC published annual and special editions of Mad.

Publications

Pre-Trend

Title Genre Initial Run Issues Notes
Animal Fables Comedy 1946–1947 #1–7
Animated Comics (1947) N/A N/A #1
Blackstone the Magician Detective Fights Crime! Superhero (1947) #1
Crime Patrol Crime 1948–1950 #1–16
  • Issues #1–5 titled as International Comics
  • Issue #6 titled as International Crime Patrol
  • Issue numbering continued as The Crypt of Terror
Dandy Comics Comedy 1947–1948 #1–7
Fat and Slat Comedy 1947–1948 #1–4
  • Issue numbering continued as Gunfighter
Gunfighter Western 1948–1950 #5–14
  • Issue numbering continued as The Haunt of Fear
Happy Houlihans Comedy 1947 #1–2
  • Issue numbering continued as Saddle Justice
Land of the Lost Adventure 1946–1948 #1–9
Modern Love Romance 1949–1950 #1–8
Moon Girl Superhero 1947–1950 #1–12
  • Issue #1 titled as Moon Girl and the Prince
  • Issues #7–8 titled as Moon Girl Fights Crime!
  • Issues #9–12 titled as A Moon, a Girl...Romance
  • Issue numbering continued as Weird Fantasy
Picture Stories from the Bible (New Testament edition) N/A 1944–1946 #1–3
Picture Stories from American History N/A 1945–1947 #1–4
Picture Stories from Science N/A 1947 #1–2
Saddle Justice Western 1948–1950 #3–11
  • Issues #9-11 titled as Saddle Romances
  • Issue numbering continued as Weird Science
Tiny Tot Comics Children 1946–1947 #1–10
War Against Crime! Crime 1948–1950 #1–11
  • Issue numbering continued as The Vault of Horror

New Trend

Title Genre Initial Run Number of Issues
The Crypt of Terror/Tales from the Crypt Horror April/May 1950 to February/March 1955 30 issues
The Vault of Horror Horror April/May 1950 to December/January 1955 29 issues
The Haunt of Fear Horror May/June 1950 to November/December 1954 28 issues
Weird Fantasy Sci-fi May/June 1950 to November/December 1953 22 issues
Weird Science Sci-fi May/June 1950 to November/December 1953 22 issues
Crime SuspenStories Crime October/November 1950 to February/March 1955 27 issues
Two-Fisted Tales War November/December 1950 to February 1955 24 issues
Frontline Combat War July/August, 1951 to January 1954 15 issues
Shock SuspenStories Suspense February/March 1952 to December/January 1955 18 issues
Mad Comedy October–November 1952 to April 2018, rebooted June 2018 with new numbering from #1. Ceased news stand distribution in December 2019 after 10 issues. Soon after switched to mostly reprinted contents 550 issues
Three Dimensional E.C. Classics/Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror N/A Spring 1954 to March 1954 2 issues
Panic Comedy February–March 1954 to December/January 1956 12 issues
Weird Science-Fantasy Sci-fi March 1954 to May/June 1955 7 issues
Piracy Fantasy October/November 1954 to October/November 1955 7 issues

New Direction

Title Genre Initial Run Number of Issues
Impact Suspense March/April 1955 to Nov/Dec 1955 5 issues
Valor Fantasy March/April 1955 to Nov/Dec 1955 5 issues
Extra! Slice of Life March/April 1955 to Nov/Dec 1955 5 issues
Aces High War March/April 1955 to Nov/Dec 1955 5 issues
Psychoanalysis Slice of Life March/April, 1955 to September/October 1955 4 issues
M.D. Slice of Life April/May 1955 to Nov/Dec 1955 5 issue
Incredible Science Fiction Sci-Fi July/August 1955 to Jan/Feb 1956 4 issues

Picto-Fiction

Title Genre Initial Run Number of Issues
Confessions Illustrated Romance February 1956 – July 1956 3 issues
Crime Illustrated Crime December 1955 – April 1956 2 issues
Shock Illustrated Suspense September/October 1955 – Spring 1956 3 issues
Terror Illustrated Horror November/December 1955 – Spring 1956 2 issues

Mad annuals and specials

  • More Trash from Mad, 1958–1969 (12 issues)
  • Worst from Mad, 1958–1969 (12 issues)
  • Mad Follies, 1963–1969 (7 issues)
  • Mad Special, 1970–1973 (10 issues)
  • Mad Super Special, 1973–1999 (131 issues)
  • Mad XL, 2000–2005 (34 issues)
  • Mad Color Classics, 2000–2005 (11 issues)
  • Mad Classics, 2005–2009 (25 issues)
  • Mad Kids, 2005–2009 (14 issues)

Reprints

For the Russ Cochran reprints, see Russ Cochran (publisher).
For the Gladstone reprints, see Gladstone Publishing.
For the Gemstone reprints, see Gemstone Publishing.
For the Fantagraphics reprints, see The EC Artists' Library.

Many of these titles were reprinted during the past 30 years by publisher Russ Cochran, both independently and in conjunction with Gladstone Publishing and later with Gemstone Publishing.

Russ Cochran's reprints include The Complete EC Library in black and white but with full-color covers; EC Annuals in full-color, comic-book sized reprints with four to six complete comics in each Annual; and EC Archives, full-color hardcover books containing six complete EC comics.

In 2012 Fantagraphics Books began publishing a series of artist- and theme-based collections of EC stories titled The EC Artists' Library.

The full-color EC Archives project was taken up by Dark Horse Comics in 2013, both reprinting previous Gladstone and Gemstone volumes and producing new volumes collecting further EC Comics titles.

References