EC Library #18

Plot

With his obsessive attention to detail and his larger-than-life personality, Will Elder set the standard for precise rendering and abundant sight gags at EC Comics. (“Unquestionably the nuttiest guy that ever walked in the doors here.” — EC publisher William M. Gaines.) This collection includes all 15 of Elder’s Panic stories (EC’s in-house attempt to duplicate Mad), all seven of his science fiction tales (including two Ray Bradbury adaptations in collaboration with John Severin), and more. Elder lends his pen to dead-on satires of “The Night Before Christmas” — which got the first issue of Panic banned in the entire state of Massachusetts — and a variety of popular comic strips, including Li’l Abner and Dick Tracy. Showing his serious side, the team of Severin and Elder adapts two Ray Bradbury stories — “King of the Grey Spaces!” and the classic “The Million-Year Picnic” — along with five other solo Elder tales in the classic EC tradition from the pages of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. This volume also includes a special Elder horror story that hasn’t been since its original publication more than 60 years ago. Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC Artists’ Library, Million Year Picnic also features essays and notes by EC experts on these superbly crafted, classic stories.