Tales from the Crypt (comics)

Tales from the Crypt
Cover of Tales from the Crypt #24. Art by Al Feldstein.
Publication information
Publisher	EC Comics (DC Comics)
Schedule	Bi-monthly
Format	Anthology
Genre	Horror
Publication date	EC Comics: vol. 1 (October/November 1950 – February/March 1955) Papercutz (publisher): vol. 2 (June 2007 – September 2010)
Number of issues	(Crypt of Terror): 3 (vol. 1): 27 (vol. 2): 13
Main character(s)	Crypt-Keeper Old Witch Vault-Keeper
Creative team
Creator(s)	William Gaines Al Feldstein

Tales from the Crypt was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics from 1950 to 1955, producing 27 issues. (The first issue with the title was #20, previously having been International Comics (#1-#5); International Crime Patrol (#6); Crime Patrol (#7-#16) and The Crypt of Terror (#17-#19) for a total of 46 issues in the series.) Along with its sister titles, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers and others who believed the books contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency. In April and June 1954, highly publicized Congressional subcommittee hearings on the effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines cancelled Tales from the Crypt and its two companion horror titles, along with the company's remaining crime and science fiction series in September 1954. All EC titles have been reprinted at various times since their demise, and stories from the horror series have been adapted for television and film.

Horror comics emerged as a distinct comic book genre after World War II when young adult males lost interest in caped crimebusters, and returning GIs wanted titillating sex and violence in their reading. One-shot Eerie (1947) is generally considered the first true horror comic, with its cover depicting a dagger-wielding, red-eyed ghoul threatening a rope-bound, scantily clad, voluptuous young woman beneath a full moon. In 1948, Adventures Into the Unknown became the first regularly published horror title, enjoying a nearly two decade life-span.