[This is another comics letters column that I managed to get
into. I love the EC reprints. Imagine trying to hunt down the originals. That
would have been the only option without the reprints. I do have a few original
EC comics, including the famous one where they had to edit a cleaver out of a
man’s head on the cover. But that’s an expensive habit. Anyway, as it turned
out, this was the last of the reprints, so I really lucked out. Not only that,
but I got a response from the Crypt-Keeper himself! This was in WAR AGAINST
CRIME #11.]
Call me nostalgic, but I really enjoy the old-fashioned
storytelling I find in CRIME PATROL and WAR AGAINST CRIME. The stories within
each issue are simple didactic detective stories that amount pretty much to
just one lesson (that crime doesn’t pay), but despite a formula that would
usually equal bad storytelling, you guys pull it off nicely.
What impresses me even more is the appearance of the
Crypt-Keeper in CRIME PATROL #9. For the most part, the stories in these two
magazines are directed at a younger audience, but I was surprised at (and grateful
for) the surprising maturity of “Return from the Grave.” Carter and Dickson are
truly ghoulish characters who value money over human life. Their way of thinking
is simplistic, yet terrifying. My favorite line is this bone chilling
statement: “A mere six feet of earth and a pine box would not stand in their
way now.” There is something definitely wrong with these guys.
Of course, as per usual, the bad guys get what’s coming to
them. Couldn’t have happened to nicer people. Keep up the good work. I’ll
definitely be here for the next issue.
[The Crypt-Keeper replied with this: No, call ME
nostalgic—because I’m a 50-year-old item of popular culture! –CK]
Extra credit: Here is the cover with the cleaver cut out. See that weird circle on that guy's head? That's where it was. When they reprinted the book, they put the cleaver back in.
See?
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