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The EC Artists' Library #20
Daddy Lost His Head and Other Stories
In this collection of twisty EC tales, there are scheming spouses, vampires, voodoo, and an ancient mummy’s curse! Famed for his deft delineations of beautiful, scheming women, handsome jealous husbands, and not-so-innocent children, Kamen returns with a collection of classic EC horror tales from The Vault of Horror, Tales From the Crypt, and The Haunt of Fear. In the title tale, a cruel stepfather sends his stepdaughter to bed without her supper, but the old crone next door gives the hungry girl a candy figure made in the likeness of her father … In “What the Dog Dragged In” ― one of the EC’s earliest adaptations of a Ray Bradbury story ― a wheelchair-bound blind woman asks her faithful dog to go find her fiancé, unaware that he had been killed in an auto accident… In “Loved to Death,” a rejected suitor spends one dollar to buy a potion that makes a woman fall in love with him, but when it works too well he discovers the price of the antidote is more than he can afford … Plus over 20 more tales of madness and horror as only EC can do them!
185 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 3, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 15, 2018
Daddy Lost His Head and other stories is a collection of 25 EC comics tales illustrated by Jack Kamen.
Aside from a Ray Bradbury adaptation, all of the stories in this volume were written by Al Feldstein, workhouse of the EC writers. They run the usual EC gamut of cheating husbands, cheating wives, cheating business partners, ghouls, vampires, people being buried alive, and vengeance from beyond the grave.
Of all the tales in the collection, my favorite might be Horror in the School Room, the tale of a boy and his monster. Was the name Ezra popular in the 1950s? I swear every EC collection I've read so far features one Ezra. And a ghoul.
Since Jack Kamen is the artists, most of the stories feature women and kids. Kamen's art reminds me of Jazzy John Romita's in his prime, meaning that Kamen's art is about fifteen years ahead of the curve. It would look right at home in a late 1960s, early 1970s Marvel book. Kamen draws gorgeous women and wide-eyed kids equally well. His style is such that he could draw pretty much any genre with it.
Jack Davis' rotting corpses are light years head of Kamen's but Davis could draw the living shit out of a suburban scene. Even with his clean style, Kamen's use of blacks and perspective really sets the mood.
Daddy Lost His Head is the best collection of comic stories by the father of the inventor of the Segway I've ever read. 4 out of 5 stars.
Aside from a Ray Bradbury adaptation, all of the stories in this volume were written by Al Feldstein, workhouse of the EC writers. They run the usual EC gamut of cheating husbands, cheating wives, cheating business partners, ghouls, vampires, people being buried alive, and vengeance from beyond the grave.
Of all the tales in the collection, my favorite might be Horror in the School Room, the tale of a boy and his monster. Was the name Ezra popular in the 1950s? I swear every EC collection I've read so far features one Ezra. And a ghoul.
Since Jack Kamen is the artists, most of the stories feature women and kids. Kamen's art reminds me of Jazzy John Romita's in his prime, meaning that Kamen's art is about fifteen years ahead of the curve. It would look right at home in a late 1960s, early 1970s Marvel book. Kamen draws gorgeous women and wide-eyed kids equally well. His style is such that he could draw pretty much any genre with it.
Jack Davis' rotting corpses are light years head of Kamen's but Davis could draw the living shit out of a suburban scene. Even with his clean style, Kamen's use of blacks and perspective really sets the mood.
Daddy Lost His Head is the best collection of comic stories by the father of the inventor of the Segway I've ever read. 4 out of 5 stars.
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August 17, 2024There were a lot of great artists who were part of the EC line of comic books. Perhaps one of the artists who got less recognition than some of the others was Jack Kamen. He was originally noted for his work in the romance comics world, drawing women who were model-types. But then along came the opportunity to handle the EC horror lines of The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt, and The Haunt of Fear.
He definitely found his niche here, as well thanks to the fact he was a master at adding a touch of the macabre to his drawings. In DADDY LOST HIS HEAD, this is definitely best of his best, featuring twenty-five of his tales, reproduced for our reading pleasures. He joined EC in 1950, and before too long he was among the artists who readers turned to first thing when they opened their comics. The stories in the classic edition are most notable, and memorable. You may want to read them more than once, just for the artwork alone. Yes, they were graphic and ghoulish, but that is what EC was all about, until there was a rebellion against EC and often comics in general for corrupting kids and being part of the rise in juvenile crimes, allegations that were more fear-mongering than fact. Some of the best of the book include the story from which the book got its title, Daddy Lost His Head, about a very mean stepfather, who was most abusive to the stepdaughter and his wife. He contributed to the death of the wife, leaving the little girl alone to deal with the horrors at home. But when a neighbor offers the little girl some specialty candy to eat, she finds that it offers some nasty surprises for the stepfather and sweet revenge.
Minor Error features a young boy living with his mean uncle, who is nasty to the children in the neighborhood. The other boys want the boy to play with them, but he cannot come out of the house. When there is a death that seems to point to a vampire, the boys conclude it was the uncle, and it is time for justice to prevail. But sometimes people are mistaken, making for a nasty little twist in the story.
There are other stories of note drawn by Kamen, including Death’s Turn, Child’s Play, What The Dog Dragged In, The Mask of Horror, and Report From The Grave, making for intense reading. Whether stories of cheating spouses, nasty parents and stepparents, or just gripping intrigue, DADDY LOST HIS HEAD is a must-have for fans of the talented Jack Kamen.
He definitely found his niche here, as well thanks to the fact he was a master at adding a touch of the macabre to his drawings. In DADDY LOST HIS HEAD, this is definitely best of his best, featuring twenty-five of his tales, reproduced for our reading pleasures. He joined EC in 1950, and before too long he was among the artists who readers turned to first thing when they opened their comics. The stories in the classic edition are most notable, and memorable. You may want to read them more than once, just for the artwork alone. Yes, they were graphic and ghoulish, but that is what EC was all about, until there was a rebellion against EC and often comics in general for corrupting kids and being part of the rise in juvenile crimes, allegations that were more fear-mongering than fact. Some of the best of the book include the story from which the book got its title, Daddy Lost His Head, about a very mean stepfather, who was most abusive to the stepdaughter and his wife. He contributed to the death of the wife, leaving the little girl alone to deal with the horrors at home. But when a neighbor offers the little girl some specialty candy to eat, she finds that it offers some nasty surprises for the stepfather and sweet revenge.
Minor Error features a young boy living with his mean uncle, who is nasty to the children in the neighborhood. The other boys want the boy to play with them, but he cannot come out of the house. When there is a death that seems to point to a vampire, the boys conclude it was the uncle, and it is time for justice to prevail. But sometimes people are mistaken, making for a nasty little twist in the story.
There are other stories of note drawn by Kamen, including Death’s Turn, Child’s Play, What The Dog Dragged In, The Mask of Horror, and Report From The Grave, making for intense reading. Whether stories of cheating spouses, nasty parents and stepparents, or just gripping intrigue, DADDY LOST HIS HEAD is a must-have for fans of the talented Jack Kamen.
August 27, 2022
Hey, good lookin! It's the first horror work of Jack Kamen, with all the Marilyn Monroe lookalikes that you can shake a bug eyed monster at! "Tunnel of Terror" is a nicely visual subversive tale, but really the highlight are his stories about kids dealing with evil adults, and there are a few of those classics here: "Childs Play", "Grandma's Ghost" "Horror In the Schoolroom" and the title story all have that jolt of electricity that comes from being a kid and realizing not all the adults are good, and not all of the scary stories are made up. Of all the Kamen collections in this series, this one shows off the best of what he does best, the only complaint being that it's just too darn short! Why the Kamen books so skinny? I mean, just because I bought them all......
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews