EC Comics Return From The Dead in the 21st Century

 In 2022 to tie in to the Shudder ongoing Creepshow TV series, Image comics released a five issue mini series. The first new Creepshow comic to be widely released since the original movie comic book adaptation in 1982. Creepshow was George Romero and Steven Kings loving homage to the EC horror comics they grew up with and were inspired by. The most well known and remembered being Tales From The Crypt, in no small part due to the 90s TV series that itself was inspired by the Creepshow movie. 

Image released another five issues as volume 2 in 2023 with a third volume due in Autumn 2024. With the red box around the title on the cover and horror host The Creep introducing each tale inside it felt like a modern return to EC. 

Maybe due to Creepshows success, Oni Press have acquired the license to produce official EC comics. Though rather than reviving established titles such as Tales From The Crypt or Weird Science, they have instead created all new EC titles. The first two being Epitaphs From The Abyss for horror and Cruel Universe for their sci-fi tales. This helps to establish them as something original and somewhat avoid too many comparisons to the classic EC titles which were some of the best comics ever produced and a very hard act to follow or replicate. 

Oni Press are soon to include two more EC titles, Shiver Suspenstories and Cruel Kingdom in the vein of the classic EC titles Shock Suspenstories and Weird Fantasy. 

Oni Press have been proud to announce they are the first return to EC in 70 years though this is not quite true. In 2007, Papercutz had the rights to produce EC comics and published Tales From The Crypt Volume 2 which lasted 13 issues. Then almost a decade later in 2016 Papercutz released a volume 3 of Tales under their Super Genius imprint. This volume was aimed at a slightly older audience than volume 2 which was an ages 10 and up comic. Volume 3 only lasted two issues though from December 2016 to January 2017. 

So really it's been 7 not 70 years since new EC comics were published. But I guess a 7 year gap doesn't sound so impressive. 

As an interesting coincidence, Tales From The Crypt issue 1 and Creepshow issue 1 both show their respective horror hosts rising from the grave to signify their returns after such long absences. 

Aliens Magazine Volume 3 (UK)

The UK Aliens magazine had run from 1991-1994 spanning 32 issues as well as a three issue mini series printing the comics adaptation of Alien 3 to tie in with the release of that movie. Initially it was published by Trident for volume 1, then when Trident went out of business Dark Horse International picked up the license for volume 2. Sadly Dark Horse International didn't last many years before also going under and Titan comics picked up most of their licenses such as Jurassic Park, Terminator and Aliens.

Titan started Volume 3 of the Aliens magazine in December 1997 to tie in with the release of Alien Resurrection. The first two issues printed the comic adaptation of the film as well as Earth Angel. Both stories concluded in issue 2 with issue 3 beginning two new stories, Aliens: Berserker and Aliens: Mondo Pest. 

Sales proved poor though and issue 3 became the final issue, abruptly ceasing publication with no announcement or official final issue released. It is unclear if the comic was intended to be an ongoing or just a mini series for five or six issues. Aliens Berserker would have been a four issue story which indicates Titan had planned at least three more issues after issue 3. 

Titan didn't have much better luck with the other titles they picked up from Dark Horse. Only releasing four issue mini series of The Lost World Jurassic Park and Terminator Salvation to tie in with the release of those films. 

Batman Guardian of the Night Panini Comic

Panini Comics UK began publishing Batman comics in 2003 with Batman Legends which would feature three US issues in one, bound in a cardboard cover like Paninis Marvel Collectors Editions. They eventually lost the license to Titan Comics but in 2020 regained it and released the one and only issue of Batman: Tales of the Dark Knight. Unfortunately the global pandemic quickly put an end to what was to be a new series. This one issue still had the cardboard cover but now only included two US comic issues rather than three to reduce costs, coming in at £4.50

 Panini are now making a second attempt to return Batman to UK comic stands with Batman Guardian of the Night. Featuring two US comic issues but now without the cardboard cover the Collectors Editions are known for. This change seems to have knocked the cover price down to £2.99. It's sad to see the cardboard covers go but £4.50+ per issue was getting a little high for many readers. Especially if they bought multiple titles from Paninis Marvel and now DC range every month.

H.P Lovecraft Cool Air Comic Adaptations

Cool Air is a short story written by H.P Lovecraft in 1926, originally published in the March 1928 issue of Tales of Magic and Mystery. It tells the tale of a man who moves into a New York apartment block and meets a fellow tenant who is obsessed with defying death and preserves himself though increasingly low temperatures. Though his efforts come gruesomely unstuck when the power goes out....

                                      

Berni Wrightson adapted H.P Lovecraft's Cool Air into a comic strip eventually collected by Pacific Comics in issue 2 of Berni Wrightson, Master of the Macabre. Wrightsons art work brings the story to beautiful and gruesome life. Invoking the style of Ghastly Graham Ingels of EC fame.

EC had themselves adapted the story in Vault of Horror issue 17, renaming it Baby It's Cold Inside and giving it a more contemporary setting.

 

Jurassic Park Comics UK

 Dark Horse International published 16 issues of Jurassic Park in the early 90s, reprinting Topps comics movie adaptation, prequel and sequel stories. Much like their Alien and Terminator comics which would feature supporting strips from relevant franchises such as Predator for Alien and Robocop for Terminator, Dark Horse International included Xenozoic Tales and Age of Reptiles in their Jurassic Park comic.

After 13 issues however, the title rights changed to Manga who sold the comic direct to consumers rather than it appearing in newsagents. This only lasted three issues and the comic was cancelled at issue 16. The comic rights then changed hands to Titan Publishing who also acquired the rights to Alien and Terminator from Dark Horse International. Titan would release their own Jurassic Park comic to tie in with Lost World. This was a four issue series reprinting the Topps Lost World comic adaptation from the US. As with Titans Alien Resurrection and Terminator Salvation movie tie in comics, after four issues it was cancelled,

Terminator Comics UK

 Terminator comics in the UK have followed an almost identical trajectory to Alien comics. Being initially published by Trident Comics who also published Aliens, both being reprints of the US Dark Horse comic strips. The series then went to Dark Horse International as Aliens and all Tridents titles did. Dark Horse International also incorporated Robocop into the Terminator comic as it had Predator into Aliens.

Once dark Horse International went under, the Terminator comic ceased publication with issue 17. Titan then picked up the rights (along with Aliens) and released a new Terminator comic to tie in with the release of Terminator Salvation, though this only lasted four issues. Reprinting the prequel story for Salvation originally published by IDW in the US.

Aliens Comics UK

In the UK Aliens has not had much success in comics. But in the 1990s it did spawn three volumes of a comic beginning with a series published by Trident Comics reprinting various Dark Horse Aliens stories. This lasted 17 issues until Trident was absorbed into Dark Horse International, the European branch of dark Horse Comics who published Aliens Volume 2 for 22 issues along with a 3 issue mini series comic adaptation of Alien 3. The main Aliens series eventually incorporated Predator stories as well.

After Dark Horse International folded, many of the franchise they held the rights to went to Titan Publishing. To coincide with the release of Alien Resurrection, Titan released a third Aliens title which reprinted the comic adaptation of Resurrection along with various other Dark Horse Alien stories. This time the comic only lasting 3 issues. It had a very similar lay out to the previous two volumes even though it was published by a different company and was basically set up as a third volume, continuing where Dark Horse international left off.