Synopsis
A NEW ERA FOR THE MOST INFAMOUS AND INFLUENTIAL AMERICAN HORROR BRAND OF ALL TIME STARTS HERE IN ONE DEVILISHLY DELUXE HARDCOVER COLLECTION!
After 70 years, EC Comics—the notorious comics publisher that spawned TALES FROM THE CRYPT, WEIRD SCIENCE, MAD magazine, and many more—rises from the grave with its first new series of the twenty-first century! For the first time in one comprehensive collection, join us for a guided tour of the Grave-Digger’s cemetery on the edge of the endless abyss . . . where EVERY TOMBSTONE TELLS A TALE . . . and the quickest way to etch your own is through MALEVOLENCE, MALICE, and MURDER!
In 1955, the Comics Code Authority drove a stake through the depraved heart of EC Comics—the iconic publisher behind Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, and more instantly influential titles that redefined American horror for generations to come.
Now, groundbreaking comics publisher Oni Press has done the unthinkable: Resurrected the immortal spirit of EC Comics for the 21st century with a brand-new slate of wildly bestselling, critically acclaimed, and award-nominated new series . . . beginning with its flagship horror series EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS!
Collecting EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1–12 for the first time in a staggeringly deluxe, oversized (7.5 x 11.5") hardcover, witness these all-new tales of depraved intention and traumatic tension in the undying EC tradition—as wrenched from the grave by relentless writers Jason Aaron (Thor), Brian Azzarello (Joker), Corinna Bechko (Green Lantern: Earth One), Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine), J. Holtham (The Horizon Experiment), Matt Kindt (BRZRKR), and more, and realized into bloody reality by “all-slaughter” artists Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Tyler Crook (Out of Alcatraz), Kano (Gotham Central), Klaus Janson (The Dark Knight Returns), Leomacs (Benjamin), Alison Sampson (Department of Truth), and more!
Plus: More than 50 pages of “behind-the-screams” material, including process art, character designs for EC's newest horror hosts, a cover gallery, and more!
IN THIS GRAVEYARD . . . EVERY TOMBSTONE TELLS A TALE! Enter the Grave-Digger’s domain and experience the comics milestone decades in the making as . . . EC COMICS LIVES AGAIN!
"EC is back from the beyond—resurrected . . . with the same radical spirit as their predecessors.” —LA Review of Books
“It’s hard imagining a higher quality modern continuation of EC’s horror brand . . . Superb . . ." —The Beat
“EC Comics is back, and they’re better than ever.” —AiPT!
About the Author
Brian Azzarello has been writing comics professionally since the mid-1990s. He is the author of SPACEMAN, BATMAN: BROKEN CITY and the Harvey and Eisner Award-winning 100 BULLETS, all created in collaboration with artist Eduardo Risso. The New York Times best-selling author's other work for DC Comics includes the titles HELLBLAZER and LOVELESS (both with Marcelo Frusin), SUPERMAN: FOR TOMORROW (with Jim Lee), JOKER, LUTHOR and RORSCHACH (with Lee Bermejo), COMEDIAN (with J.G. Jones), SGT. ROCK: BETWEEN HELL AND A HARD PLACE (with Joe Kubert), and most recently the ongoing series WONDER WOMAN (with Cliff Chiang).
JASON AARON has been writing award-winning comic books for over two decades. After winning a Marvel Comics talent search contest in 2001, Aaron quickly became one of Marvel’s preeminent writers, crafting character-defining runs on such titles as GHOST RIDER, WOLVERINE, PUNISHER and DOCTOR STRANGE. His landmark seven year run on THOR featured the headline-grabbing adventures of Jane Foster as the Mighty Thor, and his 2015 STAR WARS series became the best-selling American comic book in more than 20 years. Aaron’s critically acclaimed creator-owned work includes the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning SOUTHERN BASTARDS from Image Comics and the New York Times best-selling SCALPED from Vertigo Comics, plus the recently launched ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE END OF THE WORLD from BOOM! Studios. Aaron is soon to make his DC Comics debut in the form of BATMAN OFF-WORLD and a 2024 takeover of Superman's ACTION COMICS. Jason Aaron was born and raised in Alabama and currently resides in Kansas City. He enjoys many things but shaving is not one of them.
Corinna Bechko is a Hugo- and Eisner-nominated New York Times bestselling author. Her work includes Invisible Republic, Star Wars: Legacy, Savage Hulk, Angel, Once Upon a Time, Court of the Dead, Green Lantern: Earth One, and The Expanse. Corinna lives in Los Angeles, where she works with dinosaurs and rescues parrots.
Cullen Bunn is the writer of comic books such The Sixth Gun, Shadow Roads, The Damned, and Helheim for Oni Press. He has also written titles including Harrow County (Dark Horse), Uncanny X-Men, and Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe (Marvel). Cullen claims to have worked as an alien autopsy specialist, rodeo clown, pro wrestling manager, and sasquatch wrangler. He has fought for his life against mountain lions and performed on stage as the world';s youngest hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime and he'll tell you all about it.
Christopher Cantwell is an American writer, producer, and director who has worked in television, film, and comic books. He is best known as one of the two co-creators of the TV series Halt and Catch Fire, for which he also served as a producer, showrunner, screenwriter, and director.
Chris Condon is the low-down dirty scoundrel behind the ongoing Image Comic series That Texas Blood and its acclaimed Wild West spinoff, The Enfield Gang Massacre, both with artist Jacob Phillips. He waded deep into bayou waters to adapt Barry Gifford's Night People for Oni Press and has not been the same since.
Tyler Crook is a comic book artist and illustrator. For over two decades, he has worked as a comics creator, artist, and 3D modeler in the video game industry. Released in 2011, Petrograd was Tyler’s first published comic and earned Tyler the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award. Since then, he has worked on dozens of comics titles including B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, Witchfinder, Bad Blood, and The Sixth Gun. In 2016, Harrow County, the horror comic he created with Cullen Bunn, was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series, and his Comixology Original book, Stone King, was nominated for Best Digital Comic in 2019. Tyler lives in rural Oregon with his wonderful spouse and many terrible pets
Joshua Hale Fialkov is the creator (or co-creator, depending) of graphic novels, including ELK'S RUN, THE BUNKER, THE LIFE AFTER (all from Oni Press); PUNKS and ECHOES (from Image, and KING (from Jet City Comics). He also served as a writer on the Emmy Award Nominated animated film Afro Samurai: Resurrection, and as Executive Producer of the cult hit LG15: The Resistance web series. He's written for NBC's CHICAGO MED, MAX’s YOUNG JUSTICE, and Netflix's AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. Joshua grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, went to college in Boston, where he got a BFA in writing and directing for the stage and screen, and then worked in the New England film industry, until finally deciding to move to Los Angeles to do it properly. He lives with his wife, author Christina Rice, their daughter, and their dogs, Cole and Olaf (12 Monkeys and Frozen, respectively).
J. Holtham is an American screenwriter, best known for his work on TV shows such as Cloak and Dagger, Jessica Jones, and Supergirl. He recently broke into Marvel Comics with Bishop- War College, and is bringing back fan favorite nineties character, Night Thrasher, for his first solo series in 30 years.
Matt Kindt is a Harvey Award–winning and New York Times bestselling writer and artist of comics and graphic novels. His work includes MIND MGMT, BRZRKR (with Keanu Reeves), Bang!, Eniac, Revolver, 3 Story, Super Spy, 2 Sisters, and Pistolwhip. He has been nominated for four Eisner Awards and three Harvey Awards (and won once). His work has been published in French, Spanish, Italian, and German. The author lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife and Dept H. collaborator, the colorist and artist Sharlene Kindt.
Jeremy Lambert is a writer and filmmaker from Bowie, Maryland. He's known for his comics work on Doom Patrol, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellmouth, Dungeons & Dragons, Goosebumps, The Hollywood Special, and his stories for Warhammer, among others. As a film producer, his productions for Breakwater Studios, Ltd. have won an Academy Award and James Beard Award. This is the first volume in the Night Mother trilogy by Alexa Sharpe and Jeremy, with Volumes II and III to follow. He believes there are few things in life better than a nice pair of socks.
Greg Pak (rhymes with “rock”) is an award-winning Korean American writer and director best known for writing over 600 comic books, including series like Planet Hulk, Darth Vader, Mech Cadet Yu, and Ronin Island and Sam Wilson: Captain America (with Evan Narcisse) for Marvel and Lawful for BOOM. His non-comics work includes the feature film Robot Stories, the children’s book The Princess Who Saved Herself, the illustrated poetry book I Belong to You / Motherland, and the how-to book/memoirs Cooking Will Break Your Heart and 35mm Love Letter.
Stephanie Phillips is an American writer known for comics and graphic novels such as Harley Quinn, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Sensational Wonder Woman, and The Butcher of Paris. Her stories and comics have appeared with DC Comics, AfterShock Comics, Dark Horse, Oni Press, Top Cow/Image Comics, Heavy Metal, and more. Stephanie also holds a PhD in English.
Curt Pires is a bestselling writer, producer, and creative that splits his time between Calgary, Canada, and Hollywood. He is the creator of hit series Youth and Wyrd, both of which are in development as scripted television series (at Amazon and FX, respectively), and the architect of the bestselling Lost Fantasy Universe at Image Comics. The founder of Tecc Content, a vertically integrated publishing and production house, Pires was named to the 2022 class of Forbes illustrious “30 under 30.”
Matthew Rosenberg is the award-winning, powerfully handsome, shockingly clever, and painfully modest writer of comics such as What's The Furthest Place From Here?, 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, and We Can Never Go Home. He has also written a lot of comics about angry people in tights, such as Uncanny X-Men, The Punisher, Hawkeye Freefall, DC vs. Vampires, Task Force Z, and The Joker. Weirdly, he once co-wrote an album with a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He was born and raised in New York City, where he can still not be seen.
Amy Roy was born and raised in Philadelphia. She made her directorial debut at age ten, helming the neighborhood’s annual Christmas pageant. There were mandatory rehearsals, a script revision to the main character’s birth and hot chocolate to keep the talent happy. Too scared to try and become a real artist, Amy graduated from Penn State and become a copywriter, working in the ad industry for over ten years. After years of unhappiness, Amy made the leap and went back to film school in Vancouver, starting her life all over again. She moved to L.A. a year later, and has been working in the industry ever since, as an assistant to various writers and directors. Today, she works for the Donners' Company, and considers it a great honor to work with Richard Donner and Lauren Shuler Donner. Recently, she wrote four issues of the Smooth Criminals comic book series for Boom! Entertainment. She wrote and produced the short, Rent Control, which was screened at over a dozen film festivals, including the DC Independent, winning the audience award at three. She produced the short Of Darkness, accepted to over 100 horror festivals. The Lonely Store marks her (official) directorial debut.
Tim Seeley is one of those “slash” people…a writer-slash-artist. He has drawn a number of different comic book series including G.I JOE, HALLOWEEN, WILDCATS and EXSANGUINE. His writing work includes NY TIMES bestselling Hack/Slash, Grayson, Batman Eternal, The Art Of Masters of the Universe, and the critically acclaimed Revival. He resides in Chicago, Illinois and works at Four Star Studios where he is never far from his 80s action figure collection.
Joanne Starer has been described as “witty,” “hilarious,” “thoughtful,” and “gassy.” All of these things are true. Leaving behind a career as an accomplished editor, Joanne dove headfirst into writing in 2018. Now she spreads her unique brand of comedy with a conscience across a wide spectrum of themes, including pro-wrestling, the Holocaust, abortion, and modern romance. Her work can be found at most major comic publishers, and occasionally somewhere surprising–like your next visit to the Smithsonian Museum. Outside of her writing pursuits, she has served on the board of the Editorial Freelancer’s Association and holds a Master’s in Media Studies as well as a certificate in Digital Film Editing. Joanne owned and operated a women’s wrestling promotion out of Pennsylvania back in 2002, championing equality in pro-wrestling a decade before it became a nationwide trend. Originally from New York, Joanne now resides in Vienna, Austria, with one very demanding cat and too many action figures to count.
Jay Stephens is a three-decade veteran of the Canadian alt-comics scene, starting out in the early 1990s with the influential creator-owned series' Sin, The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales, and Jetcat Clubhouse, while also dabbling in licensed comics work like Aliens, Star Wars, Teen Titans, and The Invisibles. Also known for his kids' comic strips Chick & Dee, Arrowhead, and the syndicated newspaper strip Oh, Brother!, as well as the underground weekly strips, Oddville! and Nod. Jay's side career in film includes working in the Art Department on a few low-budget horror movies, and creating and producing animated television like Jetcat, the Emmy Award-winning Tutenstein, and Cartoon Network's The Secret Saturdays.
Jordan Thomas hails from the South of England but is currently living in Valencia, Spain. His first published comics work was the 1920s post-war, farm-based horror series, Frank At Home On The Farm. Since then he has written a sci-fi short for the Oni Press XINO anthology and the alien world crime story, Weird Work, at Image Comics, both with Shaky Kane as well as the UK crime epic Mugshots at Mad Cave Studios. He likes dogs, swimming, and swimming with dogs.
Charlie Adlard was born August 1966 in the town of Shrewsbury, England and, having moved away to study film and video at art college, eventually moved back and still resides there today. Before moving back to Shrewsbury, he spent a brief stint in London, finding out that the BA he’d earned at art college was pretty useless in getting a job in the film industry, and, after failing to set the world alight playing the drums in a rock band, eventually settled on the “third” option—which was comics. An option he finally realized should have been number one right from the beginning. After spending two years back in Shrewsbury working on a portfolio, he eventually found his first work on the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992 and hasn’t looked back since.
Valeria Burzo is an Italian cartoonist and illustrator. In 2013, she obtained a two-year degree in Design and Applied Arts, Cinema and TV Scenography section at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. She has worked on several comic projects including collaborating with Luca Raimondo on the pencils of Il Cabalista di Praga published by Glenat, L'Ultimo Scugnizzo published by Marotta & Cafiero Editore, Le Indagini di Tom Bacardi published by Edizioni Inkiostro, Samuel Stern published by Bugs Comics, The Witches of World War II published by TKO Studios, Castle Full of Blackbirds published by Dark Horse, and The Hunt for the Skinwalker published by Boom Studios.
Jonathan Case is a cartoonist from the great Pacific Northwest. His 2015 graphic novel, The New Deal (author/artist, Dark Horse), was a nominee for the Reuben, Harvey, and Oregon Book awards for best graphic album. In 2012, he won an Eisner Award for Green River Killer, A True Detective Story (Dark Horse). His other books include Dear Creature (author/artist, Dark Horse), Batman ’66 (artist, DC), Superman: American Alien (artist, DC), and Over the Garden Wall: Distillatoria and Over the Garden Wall: Circus Friends (author, BOOM!).
Jorge Fornés is a gifted Spanish illustrator known for his exceptional artistic talent and innovative storytelling style. Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, after completing his studies in fine arts, Fornés embarked on a successful career as an illustrator. His work spans various genres, including comics, graphic novels, and book illustrations. Fornés has gained recognition for his dynamic and expressive illustrations, particularly in the realm of superhero comics.
Phil Hester has been writing and drawing comics since the dawn of time. He has drawn Kevin Smith's Green Arrow, Mark Millar's Swamp Thing, Robert Kirkman's Ant-Man, and Jeff Lemire's Family Tree, as well as notable runs on Nightwing, The Flash, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and many more. His recent penciling assignments include Kevin Smith's Tales from the Quick Stop, and Gotham City: Year One with Tom King.
Phil has written Wonder Woman, The Darkness, Deathstroke, Mythic, Titans Giant, Swamp Thing Giant, and his co-creations The Coffin with artist Mike Huddleston, and Firebreather with artist Andy Kuhn, which became an Emmy-winning feature on Cartoon Network.
He wrote and drew The Wretch, which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series. He lives in the sticks.
Klaus Janson is the iconic illustrator of the seminal The Dark Knight Returns and a long run on Daredevil, among many, many projects. Klaus lives in New York, where he writes, draws, inks and colors, and teaches comics.
Kano is the pseudonym of Spanish comic book artist Jose Ángel Cano López. Kano began his career at the age of 13, editing Spanish-language comics fanzines. At 15, he was already doing layouts and design work for Planeta-DeAgostini. Kano is a founding member of the Spanish magazine about comics, Krazy Comics, as well as the Phoenix Studio, which provided design, illustration, and publishing services and was eventually merged with Camaleón Ediciones, a publishing house that Kano worked for in his early days. He has worked for both DC and Marvel Comics. He worked on a long run of Action Comics, including the “Emperor Joker” storyline, as well as Gotham Central and Swamp Thing. He worked on Daredevil, Iron Fist, Man Thing, and Beta Ray Bill Godhunter for Marvel, as well as others.
Peter Krause is an American illustrator and comic book artist. He is best known for his work on various DC Comics titles, most notably the Superman-related titles and a three-year run on The Power of Shazam! with Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family.
David Lapham began his career in the comic industry at the age of twenty working at Valiant Comics learning his craft illustrating and helping to create many original titles, including Shadowman, Harbinger and Rai. He left Valiant to work at Defiant Comics where he co-created Warriors Of Plasm with Jim Shooter. David turned his back on the superhero genre in 1995 to co-found the independent publishing company, El Capitan Books, which began publishing David's comic series Stray Bullets. Lapham has won Eisner Awards for his work on Stray Bullets and Murder Me Dead.
Leomacs is an Italian comic book artist based in Rome, Italy. In Italy, Leomacs has worked extensively for Sergio Bonelli Editore drawing Tex and Dylan Dog. For DC Comics, he has recently collaborated on Lucifer and the seven-part Hill House Comics thriller Basketful of Heads written by Joe Hill. He has drawn the French graphic novel The Invisible Mountain, written by Pierre Makyo and Frédéric Richaud, published by Delcourt. Leomacs and Riccardo La Bella collaborated on the graphic novel Apprendre à maîtriser son destin, Mémoire Vive written by Pierre Makyo for Glénat édition. Leomacs has collaborated as a storyboard artist with Colingwood & Co. for the animated series Horrid Henry. He has also realized storyboards and animated sequences for the film Nessuno mi troverá directed by Egidio Eronico.
Dan McDaid is a comics writer and artist based in Scotland. He started out writing and drawing adventures for the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine, and he has since gone on to well-received runs on properties as diverse as Big Trouble in Little China, Judge Dredd, and Firefly. Following acclaimed work on TKO’s pulp blockbuster The Fearsome Dr. Fang, McDaid drew the swashbuckling horror Sea Dogs for Joe Hill's Hill House imprint and DC Comics. His most recent project is the self-penned title, sci-fi mystery DEGA published by Oni Press.
Andrea Mutti began drawing comics in his native Italy during the early 1990s collaborating with various European publishers on such series as DNAction (Xenia Edizioni), Lazarus Ledd and Nathan Never (both for Star Comics). In 2001, he landed in the U.S. market drawing acclaimed series such as The Executor and DMZ for DC/Vertigo, various Iron Man series for Marvel and G.I. Joe Origins for IDW, Top Cow, Image, Dark Horse, Vault, Humanoids, Dynamite, MadCave, The Lab, among many others.
Claire Roe is an artist from Scotland. Her works include her creator-owned title Foul Brood, IDW's The Hollywood Special, Marvel Comics' Nebula, Captain Marvel Snapshots, Darkhold: Wasp, DC's Batgirl & the Birds of Prey, Poison Ivy: Uncovered, Poison Ivy Marasmius, and Boom! Studios' Bury the Lede and We(l)come Back.
David Rubín is a Spanish cartoonist born in Ourense, Galicia. He’s the visionary creator behind The Hero, co-creator and illustrator on Ether with Matt Kindt, Cosmic Detective with Matt Kindt and Jeff Lemire, Battling Boy: The Rise of Aurora West with Paul Pope and J.T. Petty, Rumble with John Arcudi, the Eisner-nominated Beowulf graphic novel with Santiago García, and Grand Hotel Abyss with Marcos Prior, among others. David lives in a town close to Madrid, Spain, with his family and a dog.
Alison Sampson is an award winning London-based artist, drawing comics and illustrations in the fields of horror (Hellboy, Winnebago Graveyard, the 2023 Eisner nominated Department of Truth, Werewolf by Night), fantasy (Sleeping Beauties Vols. 1 & 2), science fiction (The Blue Tarantula), and adventure (Hit-Girl: India),and more. Recent writing credits (also drawing) are the Tori Amos anthology, Little Earthquakes, which received four Eisner nominations in 2023, Iron Maiden/Z2, and for Trina Robbins's upcoming Won't Back Down benefit anthology for Planned Parenthood.
Andrea Sorrentino is an Italian comic artist and Eisner Award winning storyteller. He is the co-creator of Gideon Falls and Primordial and has also done Batman, Joker, Wolverine, X-Men, and Green Arrow.
Alexandre Tefenkgi is an international comic book artist of Vietnamese-Djiboutian descent. He’s the visual creator of the Eisner and Harvey Award–winning comics The Good Asian with Pornsak Pichetshote, as well as the postapocalyptic love story Once Upon a Time at the End of the World with Jason Aaron. He specializes in character-driven stories and emotional poetry. His craft is devoted to expressing the complexity of human relationships.
Dustin Weaver began his career in comics as an intern at WildStorm Studios in 2003, where he was held to an unreasonable standard by his idol. Since then, he's illustrated the NY Times bestselling novel The Tenth Circle, had a fruitful relationship with Dark Horse Comics where he made significant contributions to the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, and worked for several years exclusively at Marvel where, most notably, he co-created the acclaimed series S.H.I.E.L.D: Architects of Forever with writer Jonathan Hickman. In recent years, Dustin has moved into the writing side of comics. He helped define IDW's approach to Rocksteady and Bebop in their Ninja Turtles comics by co-writing the duo's introductory issue and the mini-series Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything! For Marvel he has performed as writer and artist for Edge of Spider-Verse and the five-issue series Infinity Gauntlet: Warzones.
He now dedicates himself to his creator-owned series, PAKLIS
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