Shock SuspenStories

Shock SuspenStories

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title=Shock SuspenStories


caption=Wally Wood cover, issue #6
schedule=Bimonthly
format=Anthology
publisher=EC Comics
date=February/March 1952- December/January 1955
issues=18
main_char_team=
writers=
artists=
pencillers=
inkers=
letterers=
colorists=
creative_team_month=
creative_team_year=
creators=William Gaines
Al Feldstein

Shock SuspenStories was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly comic, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, began with issue 1 in February/March 1952. Over a four-year span, it ran for 18 issues, ending with the December/January 1955 issue.

Artists and writers

Front covers were by Feldstein, Wally Wood, Johnny Craig, George Evans and Jack Kamen. Kamen was the comic's most prolific artist, usually doing the lead eight-page story in each issue. Other stories were illustrated by Craig, Evans, Wood, Graham Ingels, Jack Davis, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, Bernard Krigstein and Frank Frazetta. Writing was handled by Gaines and Feldstein exclusively through the first 12 issues with the exception of a single story written by Craig. Over the last 6 issues other writers that contributed included Carl Wessler, Otto Binder, and Jack Oleck.

Issue 13 of the title featured the story "Squeeze Play", which was the only solo story Frank Frazetta drew for E.C.

Origin and major themes

"Shock SuspenStories" originated in early 1952 as a "sampler" featuring stories of various genres. Gaines and Feldstein explained the comic's origin and the source of its title in the first issue::We've tried to satisfy every one of you readers who have written us insisting that E.C. increase its output! Many of you wanted another science-fiction mag... you horror fans wanted another horror book... and you suspense readers wanted a companion mag to Crime SuspenStories! We decided, therefore, to make this new mag an "E.C. Sampler" ...and to include in it an S-F yarn, a horror tale, a Crime SuspenStory, and... for you readers of Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales... a war story! Although there was a wide variance in the types of mags requested, all of you fans seemed to agree on one thing: all of you wanted the stories to have the usual E.C. SHOCK endings! So what could be more natural than to call the magazine SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES?

The war story would be immediately phased out with the second issue, replaced with a message story – the "Shock SuspenStory". Bhob Stewart discussed the "Shock SuspenStory" in his notes for the EC Library, which reprinted all 18 issues of this title::...It was evident from the cover of #2 that Gaines had conceived this title for matters of deeper concern. With "The Patriots (the first Shock Suspenstory, from issue 2), the "Shock SuspenStory" was born. And far from being just a label of meaningless hype, the concept proved to be a major step for EC, providing Gaines and Feldstein with a forum for expressing their views on the human condition just as Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat were for Harvey Kurtzman. The Shock SuspenStory was characterized by a running theme of mob violence and an art style best described as Heightened Realism. A similarity can be noted between Wood's dramatically effective Shock renderings, and the caricatures of corruption in the acclaimed fine art of Jack Levine. cite book | year=1981 | title=The Complete EC Library: Shock SuspenStories Volume 1|publisher=Russ Cochran| language=English ]

Over the next three years "Shock SuspenStories" would tackle many relevant and controversial issues including racism (issue 3's "The Guilty", issue 11's "In Gratitude"), mob hysteria (issue 2's "The Patriots"), police corruption (issue 4's "Confession"), vigilantism (issue 6's "Under Cover"), drug addiction (issue 12's "The Monkey"), and rape (issue 8's "The Assault", issue 16's "A Kind of Justice"). The sampler format remained for the remaining three stories in the title until the end of 1953. Starting with issue 12 the horror and sci-fi stories were phased out and the comic focused primarily on crime and "Shock SuspenStories" for the remainder of its run.

Influences and adaptions

Some stories from this comic were adapted for the "Tales From the Crypt" television series. Two stories (issue 7's "The Small Assassin" and issue 9's "The October Game") were adaptations of Ray Bradbury short stories. [Von Bernewitz, Fred and Geissman, Grant "Tales of Terror: The EC Companion" (Gemstone Publishing and Fantagraphics Books, Timonium, MD & Seattle, WA, 2000) p. 226]

A collection of anecdotes by Bennett Cert titled "Try and Stop Me" was an influence for a number of stories include issue 1's "Yellow" and issue 2's "The Patriots". [Von Bernewitz, Fred and Geissman, Grant "Tales of Terror: The EC Companion" (Gemstone Publishing and Fantagraphics Books, Timonium, MD & Seattle, WA, 2000) p. 96]

Other specific story influences that have been found include the following: [Von Bernewitz, Fred and Geissman, Grant "Tales of Terror: The EC Companion" (Gemstone Publishing and Fantagraphics Books, Timonium, MD & Seattle, WA, 2000) p. 161-5]

*"Just Desserts!"(issue 3) - Ray Bradbury's "The Smiling People"
*"Dead Right!"(issue 6) - John Collier's "In the Cards!"
*"Seep No More!"(issue 8) - Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"
*"You Murderer"(issue 14) - the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Artistically, Joe Orlando used fellow artist Wally Wood as the influence for the main character of issue 3's "The Big Stand Up". [Von Bernewitz, Fred and Geissman, Grant "Tales of Terror: The EC Companion" (Gemstone Publishing and Fantagraphics Books, Timonium, MD & Seattle, WA, 2000) p. 161]

Controversies and demise

Issue 14 contained two of the title's most controversial stories, "The Orphan", which featured a ten year old girl murdering her father and framing her mother, and "The Whipping" which featured a bigoted father mistakenly beating his daughter to death, under the impression that she was her hispanic boyfriend. Gaines was questioned extensively about both stories by the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in April 1954. cite book | year=1981 | title=The Complete EC Library: Shock SuspenStories Volume 3|publisher=Russ Cochran| language=English ]

"Shock SuspenStories" was one of five comics voluntarily killed by publisher Bill Gaines in 1955 due to the current outcry over horror and crime comics.

Issue guide

Reprints

"Shock SuspenStories" has been reprinted on a couple of occasions. The series was collected in a series of three black-and-white hardbacks by Russ Cochran in 1981 (also available together as a slipcased set), and all 18 individual issues saw print from Cochran (in association with Gemstone Publishing) between September 1992 and December 1996.

In December 2006, "Shock SuspenStories" became (with the first volume of "Weird Science") the inaugural titles reprinted in lavish, full-color hardback books by Cochran and Gemstone Publishing as part of the "EC Archives" series. These volumes aim to collect the series in its entireity (alongside other EC Comics titles), in full-color volumes (of six issues each). Volume 1 included a foreword by fan Steven Spielberg and Volume 2 followed in May, 2007.

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