EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories vol. 1
I picked this up during the Amazon pricing glitch I blogged about earlier. Shock SuspenStories was an EC sampler of sorts, featuring a horror story, a crime story, a science fiction story, and a war story. It quickly distinguished itself from the other EC titles by including social commentary stories about hot button issues like prejudice. Amusingly, these stories were dubbed "Preachies" by the EC editor-in-chief, William M. Gaines.
These are high-quality comics (which I expected from EC), but I didn't enjoy Shock anywhere near as much as the other EC stuff I've sampled — precisely because it incorporated real-world issues. When I sit down for some cheesy pulp 50s comics, I don't want to be reminded that the KKK used to beat people to death. Or that police brutality happens. It's like sitting down in front of a nice warm fire and then getting dashed in the face with a glass of ice water. I'll not be pursuing this line of comics any further; I'll stick to the purer escapism of horror and SF.
I won't be getting rid of this book anytime soon, though, simply because the cover is a perfect storm of exploitation.
Tags: comics