SPOTLIGHT ON THE CRYPT-KEEPER By Ryan B.
“Hey, you! Young’un! Do you know who The Crypt-Keeper is?”
“You mean that guy from the old TV show?”
“…Sit down.”
Long ago, in a wondrous time known as the 1950’s, when the world had a certain glow about it (thanks largely to atomic energy), people swooned while Perry Como crooned, tuned in every week to watch the wacky hijacks that June Cleaver’s Beaver got into, and nine out of ten doctors recommended smoking. Amidst this climate, a well established comic book company called EC decided to reinvent itself. The EC in EC Comics started out standing for “Educational Comics” and printed bible stories, animal fables, and stories from history. That was under its founder, Max Gaines. After his death, his son Bill took over the company and changed the name to “Entertaining Comics” which, no doubt, saved on having to buy new company stationary. After testing the waters with new things like teen and romance comic books, Bill realized that what he had really
liked to read himself as a child was horror, crime, and science fiction stories. His editor, Al Feldstein, felt the same way and soon EC was in the suspense business. Stories of murderers, monsters, and men from Mars became the new trend in comic books and EC led the way with its three top sellers, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear, and The Crypt of Terror, later retitled Tales from the Crypt.
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