Graham Ingels’ Stories Artist’s Edition Review

Celebrating EC’s Master of Horror

Tripwire’s Senior Editor ANDREW COLMAN grabs his torch and his pitchfork and takes a look at IDW’s massive Graham Ingels Artist’s Edition from IDW…

Graham Ingels’ Stories Artist’s Edition
Writers: various
Artist: Graham Ingels
IDW Publishing

Gasp!! choke

Think of 1950s pre-code, that five year interim between the end of the Golden Age and the nascent Silver Age, and one instantly thinks of horror – not the most successful genre of that period, but the one that has cast by far the longest shadow. And as far as pre-code horror is concerned, the market leader (and inadvertent pariah) was of course E.C., whose infamous and unsurpassed roster of ghouls was led by the magnificent “Ghastly” Graham Ingels. This almighty tome from IDW, measuring fifteen by twenty-two inches, and taken as always from original art pages, once again delivers in spades, enhancing Ingels’s outre, stark, gloriously grotesque gothic in breathtaking widescreen.

Although Haunt Of Fear was Ghastly’s own title (more or less) there are 17 stories featured here not just in that hallowed series, but also in Tales From The Crypt, Vault Of Horror and Crime Suspenstories (the line between horror and crime was never more blurred than at E.C.). Each tale is a slice of American expressionism, delineated as per usual with heavily inked shadows, combining kinetic realism with larger-than-death gruesomeness. There are so many classic moments to choose from in these tales of dastardly crime, visceral villainry and ironic punishment. Haunt Of Fear 5’s Biting Finish, interspersed with flashbacks, showcases a revived corpse exacting a somewhat unpleasant revenge on a fugitive murderer. The more noirish Chatterboxed from Haunt Of Fear 15, may have a contrived ending but has Ghastly undertaking a premature burial, while Haunt Of Fear 24’s Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes is an amoral backwoods tale of moonshine-soaked comeuppance, with liquefied, grizzled hickabillys, that must’ve been read by Ingels’s chief acolyte, Berni Wrightson.

There are more subtle, less twisted efforts, such as Haunt Of Fear 25’s The New Arrival (no doubt read by Roald Dahl) and Haunt Of Fear 27’s About Face which has what was then a relatively new chestnut about a girl with two faces, one beautiful, the other hideous. I read a variation on this very work in a 1970s DC mystery comic edited by E.C. stalwart Joe Orlando…nothing new under the sun indeed, but with Ghastly’s panache and eye for detail, it’s all most effective. Other highlights would be Tales From The Crypt 40’s Half Baked, replete with sea-going atmospherics, with some of Ingels’s best art, Tales From The Crypt 43’s Accidents And Old Lace (need I explain?) and Vault Of Horror 15’s Buried Alive.

There are many pretenders to the pre-code crown, including some of Ghastly’s fellow horror mavens, such as Johnny Craig, John Severin, Al Feldstein, Wally Wood, Jack Kamen, Reed Crandall or Bernie Krigstein, not to mention fan favourite horror maestros like Joe Maneely, Bill Everett, Russ Heath, Bernard Baily, Basil Wolverton, Lou Morales, Rudy Palais, Don Heck, Tony Mortellaro, Bob Powell or Warren Kremer, and even the legendary Frank Frazetta. However Ghastly, who looks very mild mannered and normal in his ident picture at the back, remains the king of the genre – his covers for Haunt Of Fear 12, 15 and above all 17 (the publishers agree) so outrageously lurid and bizarre that they are unrivalled in terms of envelope-pushing. None of this would mean as much but for his artistic virtuosity, which was consistently excellent throughout his tenure under Bill Gaines. Merely check out his sepia woodcut artwork in Terror Illustrated’s The Basket for evidence of his exceptional and innovative talent that would prove to be as influential to future name artists like Neal Adams, Jeff Jones, Barry Smith, the aforementioned Berni Wrightson and many others.

For dedicated horrorheads, this is the edition you’ve been waiting for. Time for a dose of beautifully rendered, deluxe ghastliness, courtesy of Mr. Ingels and IDW.

http://imgur.com/a/l19OW

www.idwpublishing.com