Surrounded by the ornate, retro, proto-splatter horror graphics of Jack Davis and Graham Ingels and the slick, futuristic sci-fi stylings of Wally Wood and Al Williamson, EC Comics superstar Johnny Craig stood out in the 1950s with his elegant, crisp, contemporary graphic style.

And nowhere did this style work more beautifully than in the dozens of superb crime and horror comics he wrote and drew for EC, mostly for the two comics he also edited, Crime SuspenStories and The Vault of Horror. (Craig was the only EC artist to habitually write his own material for the entire length of EC's run.)

Featuring murderous husbands and wives, executioners, thieving surgeons, vengeful sword-swallowers, time bombs, private dicks, vampires, werewolves, and ghouls, the 23 stories in this book comprise a perfect encapsulation of the very best and darkest kind of noir and horror writing, stunningly executed (in more than one sense of the word) by one of the great cartoonists of his (or any) era. And all in seven or eight pages per story!

Fall Guy For Murder and Other Stories is once again, as are the other EC Comics Library releases, supplemented with several fascinating essays and informative historical notes on the stories.

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Artist: Johnny Craig / various
Series: The EC Comics Library
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Page Count: 208pp
Size: 7.5 x 10.25
Notes: hardcover, b/w
Date of Publication: August 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-60699-658-4