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The EC Archives
The EC Archives: The Haunt of Fear Volume 3
Delight in fright! This third volume of the EC Comics horror classic The Haunt of Fear collects even more of the unforgettable scares! Featuring art from the timeless talents of Graham Ingles, Johnny Craig, Jack Kamen, Jack Davis, George Evans, Bill Elder, Wally Wood, and Sid Check! Includes a forward by Cullen Bunn, writer of comics, short stories and novels.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 7, 2016
15 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Jack Davis
302 books6 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 21, 2020
Nobody did horror like the old EC comics. Great art and writing make these stories a great read. Recommended
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February 18, 2024Strike another bulls-eye for Dark Horse Books and their continual re-releases of the best of EC’s most notable comics. They have had quite the collection to select from, and no matter which comics are reprinted, they are definitely worth your time and money.
In this collection issues 13-18 of HAUNT OF FEAR are reprinted in their entirety. They definitely are as gripping and fun to read today, as they were when they were released almost 75 years ago. EC hired some of the best comic artists in the market, among then Jack Davis, who went on to display his talents at MAD magazine.
In Volume 3, we view stories that always had some kind of unexpected twist to them, making them all the more entertaining, but that was what EC was all about, giving the public stories they would never forget. The stories are narrated by three of EC’s most notable individuals, The Old Witch, The Vault-Keeper and the Crypt-Keeper. They never failed to add amusing anecdotes and comments to the stories they were spotlighting.
The book opens with For The Love of Death. A man is obsessed with going to funerals for people he doesn’t even know. He enjoys seeing the emotions of the mourners, the coffins, and just the general charm of the service. He enjoys seeing the deceased in the coffins, but decides to go a step further to see how people might react to him, inside a coffin. He murders someone, then hires someone to help dig up a body. The old man decides to get inside a coffin that people are arriving for the service about. He is touched by their comments, even though they have no idea he is inside the coffin. He was ready to go to the cemetery with the plan to escape later, but is shocked to see that the coffin is about to go to crematorium instead. This truly burns him up!
It is stories like this that keep readers anxiously turning pages. Another story Chatter-Boxed, features a man thought to be dead, who comes back to life at his funeral. He had a cataleptic fit that made him appear dead. If it happens again and he is deemed dead, but he arranges for a coffin with special phone in it, that he can call people to rescue. Sure enough he appears to be dead, waking up in the coffin, calling family and friends, but each time he found the line busy. Unfortunately he ran out of time and air inside the coffin.
You owe it to yourself to enjoy these stories, rarely a sub-par one in the selection. Thanks as always to Dark Horse for bringing beams of light into comics of yesteryear.
In this collection issues 13-18 of HAUNT OF FEAR are reprinted in their entirety. They definitely are as gripping and fun to read today, as they were when they were released almost 75 years ago. EC hired some of the best comic artists in the market, among then Jack Davis, who went on to display his talents at MAD magazine.
In Volume 3, we view stories that always had some kind of unexpected twist to them, making them all the more entertaining, but that was what EC was all about, giving the public stories they would never forget. The stories are narrated by three of EC’s most notable individuals, The Old Witch, The Vault-Keeper and the Crypt-Keeper. They never failed to add amusing anecdotes and comments to the stories they were spotlighting.
The book opens with For The Love of Death. A man is obsessed with going to funerals for people he doesn’t even know. He enjoys seeing the emotions of the mourners, the coffins, and just the general charm of the service. He enjoys seeing the deceased in the coffins, but decides to go a step further to see how people might react to him, inside a coffin. He murders someone, then hires someone to help dig up a body. The old man decides to get inside a coffin that people are arriving for the service about. He is touched by their comments, even though they have no idea he is inside the coffin. He was ready to go to the cemetery with the plan to escape later, but is shocked to see that the coffin is about to go to crematorium instead. This truly burns him up!
It is stories like this that keep readers anxiously turning pages. Another story Chatter-Boxed, features a man thought to be dead, who comes back to life at his funeral. He had a cataleptic fit that made him appear dead. If it happens again and he is deemed dead, but he arranges for a coffin with special phone in it, that he can call people to rescue. Sure enough he appears to be dead, waking up in the coffin, calling family and friends, but each time he found the line busy. Unfortunately he ran out of time and air inside the coffin.
You owe it to yourself to enjoy these stories, rarely a sub-par one in the selection. Thanks as always to Dark Horse for bringing beams of light into comics of yesteryear.
January 3, 2024
What monster kid..or monster adult for that matter...doesn't get a little hitch in his/her/etc chest when thinking about the 1950s "Entertaining Comics"? Not the first comic book to depict werewolves/vampires/ghouls/zombies/revetments etc...but probably the most popular.....where crime never paid, and the villain often received their full measure of justice.
Much of the artwork in this volume reminded me of the late, great Berni Wrightson, who stated he read EC Comics back in the 1950s....
It did amuse me when EC Comics referred to Ray Bradbury as "America's TOP Horror Writer"....there is Evan an adaption of his "Black Ferris" which eventually became "Something Wicked This Way Comes"....
Just buy the damned book already...
Jeff McIntosh
Much of the artwork in this volume reminded me of the late, great Berni Wrightson, who stated he read EC Comics back in the 1950s....
It did amuse me when EC Comics referred to Ray Bradbury as "America's TOP Horror Writer"....there is Evan an adaption of his "Black Ferris" which eventually became "Something Wicked This Way Comes"....
Just buy the damned book already...
Jeff McIntosh
July 24, 2024
EC was firing on all cylinders at this point, and stories and art reflect it. Some really fun stories and Bradbury gets a few too as his EC collaboration was official by this point, as represented in the fantastic final story in this, "The Black Ferris" with art by Jack Davis. Out of the three horror titles, ,y brain leans to thinking VAULT OF HORROR was the best, but you can't go wrong with any of them.
January 30, 2019
More great EC horror stuff. The Old Witch is definitely my favorite of the three Ghoulunatics in terms of character design. Her "origin story" here is a mega-highlight and the goofier artwork Jack Davis does for the final story "Garden Party" is a breath of fresh air. Not as nuts about the repeated "Grim Fairy Tales" feature though.
February 16, 2026
Un beau conte de Bradbury finit le volume, avec une grand'roue qui fait rajeunir son passager quand elle tourne à l'envers et le fait vieillir quand elle tourne à l'endroit. Dessins de Graham Ingels, George Evans, Jack Kamen et Jack Davis.
November 13, 2024
75-year-old pre-code horror comics are my comfort read. Don't judge me. I realize it's weird.
August 4, 2025
¡Al Feldstein, olé el coño de tu madre!
February 8, 2023
For many people, this is the best volume of EC horror, certainly a highlight for the two main rock-star artists. "Horror We, How's Bayou?" was voted the best drawn EC story ever by the rabid fan-addicts of yore, for very obvious reasons, and Ingels other contributions, including the Old Witch origin, are beautifully done. Jack Davis, too, does maybe his best horror work with "Wolf Bait", and his others are consistently better than even his "Tales From the Crypt" stories. "Death of Some Saleman" is as funny and gruesome as you could hope, "Garden Party" is light fun, then nasty, "This Little Piggy" serves up a classic ending.
The caveat is the other stories, especially the "Grimm Fairy Tales" by Jack Kamen, are not as consistent as the ones in other titles (or in the next volume of this one). One could go further and complain about the diminishing returns of plots that had been recycled one too many times, even in the more masterful Ingels pieces. The 'contrived funeral story', often by him, was by this point not just done to death, but way past death, resurrected then killed again several more times over. The burnout of Gaines and Feldstein doing this for three years had begun to creep in, and would remain noticeable until they injected some fresh writers into the staff in the volume 5's.
Still, the highs are dizzying. This contains some of the best short fiction ever made: essential, dark, fantastic.
The caveat is the other stories, especially the "Grimm Fairy Tales" by Jack Kamen, are not as consistent as the ones in other titles (or in the next volume of this one). One could go further and complain about the diminishing returns of plots that had been recycled one too many times, even in the more masterful Ingels pieces. The 'contrived funeral story', often by him, was by this point not just done to death, but way past death, resurrected then killed again several more times over. The burnout of Gaines and Feldstein doing this for three years had begun to creep in, and would remain noticeable until they injected some fresh writers into the staff in the volume 5's.
Still, the highs are dizzying. This contains some of the best short fiction ever made: essential, dark, fantastic.
May 8, 2026
EC comics created some of the best graphic stories ever written and it was nice to find some stories that inspired the amazing Tales from the Crypt tv show.
August 1, 2016
Classic in every sense - superb.
December 10, 2016
There are so better stories, I really like the Grimm Fairy Tales. It was a dark volume, well, darker than other EC comics.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews