{"product_id":"the-history-of-ec-comics-signed","title":"THE HISTORY OF EC COMICS Signed","description":"\u003cp\u003eTaschen presents the full, fascinating story of this fabled company, written and designed by EC-expert \u003cstrong\u003eGrant Geissman\u003c\/strong\u003e. Even the most die-hard EC Fan-Addicts will find something new within these pages, with the Gaines family archives providing over \u003cstrong\u003e100 rarities\u003c\/strong\u003e that have never seen print. Cover images are reproduced from Gaines file copies. 1,000 illustrations include the rarest and most notorious covers, interior pages and panels, rare photos, vintage original artwork, and some of the most celebrated stories ever to be printed in four colors.\n\nThe ultimate EC Comics compendium.\n\nIn 1947, \u003cstrong\u003eBill Gaines\u003c\/strong\u003e inherited EC Comics, a new venture founded by his legendary father M. C. Gaines, who was responsible for midwifing the birth of the comic book as we know it during his tenure at All-American Comics, bringing the likes of Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to the world. Over the next eight years, Bill Gaines and a “who’s who” of the era including \u003cstrong\u003eAl Feldstein, Harvey Kurtzman\u003c\/strong\u003e, and Wally Wood would reinvent the very notion of the comic book with titles like \u003cem\u003eTales from the Crypt, Crime SuspenStories, Weird Science\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eMAD\u003c\/em\u003e.\n\nEC delighted in publishing gory, morbid horror and crime comics that had snap, ironic endings -- but they also pioneered the first true-to-life war comics, the first “real” science-fiction stories, and a series of tales about such then-taboo subjects as racism, bigotry, vigilantism, drug addiction, police corruption, and anti-Semitism. Too good to last, they were eventually caught up by various 1950s guardians of morality, who were convinced that EC’s often over-the-top content was causing juvenile delinquency. A year or so after a full inquiry investigating horror and crime comics, the incredible EC Comics were no more.\n\nAuthor Grant Geissman was a customer in my San Jose comic book store in 1968-69, long before he became a recording star and EC expert. Grant has written several books on EC and, in my mind, is the foremost authority on both Mad and EC. He generously did a special bookplate for us, which reproduces a \"fantasy\" cover for \u003cem\u003eIncredible Science Fiction \u003c\/em\u003ethat he commissioned from Angelo Torres. It's in full color and signed by Grant (he produced 100 also signed by Torres and the Gaines family, but both of these are gone). -Bud\n\n\u003cstrong\u003eNote:\u003c\/strong\u003e This is packed in a cardboard mailing container, essentially a clamshell box, meant to protect the book in transit. Occasionally these boxes will not be perfect and might have a minor bump or scuffs. Please bear in mind these are merely mailing containers to protect the book inside from damage...they are not meant to be \"mint.\" The best condition boxes will go out to the earliest orders. Call in your order, or add a note at the bottom of your checkout in COMMENTS, if you want us to hand-pick a box for you.\n\nFirst published in 2020 in a limited edition, this is a new 2025 printing with no limitation note.\n\n\u003cstrong\u003eRush Service and International shipping could require an additional charge.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"vendor-unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59639964172574,"sku":"HISECH","price":200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0999\/0684\/7006\/files\/product_h_i_hisech-history-ec-comics-book.jpg?v=1784481434","url":"https:\/\/shop.budsartbooks.com\/products\/the-history-of-ec-comics-signed","provider":"Bud's Art Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}