When William M. Gaines took over Entertaining Comics (EC) after his father's death in 1947, the company was already $100,000 in debt. The sign above Bill's desk reads: "Everything I like is either illegal, immoral, or fattening"

 

The early days (also known as the "Pre-Trend" era) at EC. From left to right: Artist/Writer Johnny Craig, Artist/Writer Al Feldstein and Publisher William M. Gaines look at some EC artwork, probably sometime in 1949.

 

Bill Gaines looks over a story by Artist/Writer Harvey Kurtzman. Kurtzman created some of the most realistic war stories ever produced for EC's Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. But he is best known for his brainchild which revolutionized the world of humor. It's title: Mad.

 
Bill Gaines (left) and Al Feldstein (right) enjoy lunch at one of their favorite restaurants, Patrissy's. Gaines would pitch story ideas - springboards - to Feldstein who would then write the story directly onto the illustration board for the artist. At one point, Feldstein was writing and editing eight different comic books every two months.
On September 14, 1954, Bill Gaines held a press conference in the EC offices to announce the death of EC's horror and crime comics. "If this is the way the public wants it, then this is the way it will have to be as far as I'm concerned, Gaines said. He then tore up a copy of Vault of Horror #39, the next to last issue.
EC's comics are famous for both their writing and their art, which featured the work of some of the finest illustrators in the field. Here is a panel by the gothic horror master, "Ghastly" Graham Ingels. When I decided to make this documentary, one thing I wanted to do was bring this great art to life for viewers who had never seen an EC comic book. In this case, the walking corpses literally pop out of the page.
EC's most infamous story, "Foul Play," featured a baseball team which enacts grisly revenge on an opposing player who has murdered one of their teammates. Al Feldstein admitted in my interview with him that he and Gaines fell into the trap of trying to top themselves and "got a little gorier than we should have."
EC Comics were dead and buried for over two decades until professor-turned -publisher Russ Cochran began the Complete EC Library - beautifully-bound hardback volumes which reprinted every EC story. The Cochran reprints eventually caught the eye of Hollywood producer Joel Silver, and a TV series was born.
Before there was a television series, there were a couple of EC-related movies, such as the 1972 Amicus Films production titled Tales from the Crypt. The movie featured Joan Collins and Peter Cushing, and was successful enough to spawn a sequel, The Vault of Horror, in 1973.
Back in the 1950's, when TV was still in its infancy, comic books were the main form of visual entertainment for children. EC's comic books influenced a generation of writers and filmmakers, including George A. Romero (left) and Stephen King (right). The two horrormeisters teamed up to direct and write their homage to EC, the 1982 movie Creepshow.
George A. Romero credits EC with indirectly influencing several of his movies, including the cult classic, Night of the Living Dead. The famed horror director said he tried to recreate the "weird angles and terrific lighting" that EC's comic book artists achieved.
John Carpenter was another film director who was heavily influenced by EC. His 1978 movie, The Fog, was his homage to the great horror comics. Carpenter said in his interview for my documentary, "I would say that a movie like The Fog is a direct connection to EC. You see the walking corpses walk up. You can't get any closer than that."
R.L. Stine's children's series, Goosebumps, was a publishing phenomenon in the 1990's. "My mom wouldn't let me buy EC comics - she said they were trash," remembered Stine. "But my barbershop always had copies to read while you waited. So every Saturday, I went down to get a haircut so I could read these incredible comic books." Stine has a new teenage series, Nightmare Room.
Most people, of course, know Tales from the Crypt as that wonderful anthology series produced for HBO in the 1990's. But what many people don't know is that each episode was based on an original EC horror story from the 1950's.
The series' pilot episode, directed by Robert Zemeckis was based on the story "And all through the house..." written and drawn by Johnny Craig for The Vault of Horror #35. Zemeckis used several of the comic book panels for inspiration. "There were lots of images that I wanted to evoke or replicate - including the final image with Santa Claus," Zemeckis said. Click on the photo at left to see how close he came to matching the comic image.
EC's horror comics featured hosts which introduced each story. The Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper and Old Witch wise-cracked their way through each tale, helping to take the edge off the horror. For the TV series, the show's executive producers created an animatronic version of the Crypt Keeper, whose speech matched the punning patter Al Feldstein created for the "Ghoulunatics."