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(Interview conducted by\u00a0Danica Davidson)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n CEMETERY DANCE: How are you reviving EC Comics?<\/b><\/p>\n HUNTER GORINSON: So we are bringing EC Comics into the 21<\/span>st<\/span> century. I\u2019d be lying if I said it wasn\u2019t both hugely, hugely exciting and incredibly daunting. There are few things that are more sacred in the annals of comic book history than the EC legacy. We are not trying to do the retro nostalgia version of this. I think if this was any other comic book publisher, you would definitely be getting<\/span> Tales from the Crypt #1 <\/span><\/i>with a bunch of stories set in 1955. We have specifically set out not to do that because we think the original EC canon is canon. It\u2019s perfect. There\u2019s 40-plus perfect issues of <\/span>Tales from the Crypt <\/span><\/i>out there that you can go read and should read. We wouldn\u2019t want to impugn that legacy. <\/span><\/p>\n But also, at the same time, the EC legacy is one of those things that\u2019s been truncated before its time because of what happened with the Comics Code Authority. We never got to see what EC would have become in the \u201960s, \u201970s, \u201980s, let alone the 21<\/span>st<\/span> century. <\/span><\/p>\n So our vision for this is to take the power and tone and intensity of what made EC Comics great, that very special storytelling formula they put together, and bring it into the year 2024, with the first of what will hopefully become several new titles. The first is <\/span>Epitaphs from the Abyss<\/span><\/i>, our first horror anthology, beginning in July. And then <\/span>Cruel Universe<\/span><\/i>, our science fiction anthology, beginning in August.<\/span><\/p>\n What can you tell us about <\/b>Epitaphs from the Abyss<\/i><\/b>?<\/b><\/p>\n We do have supernatural stories. Obviously they\u2019re going to happen in <\/span>Epitaphs<\/span><\/i>. But there\u2019s still a strong current of shock running through there. So you might get a reanimated corpse, you might get someone who is just dedicated to causing as much wanton destruction to their loved ones or their community as possible. But at the core of it — what I think makes EC special, the theme that we\u2019re trying to recapture — is EC specifically was kind of the first time in American pop culture when the villains weren\u2019t monsters. They weren\u2019t Dracula and the Wolfman and Frankenstein\u2019s monster or ghosts, vampires, werewolves, etcetera. In that original EC canon, it\u2019s like they introduced the notion that the worst thing that could happen to you might not be supernatural. It might be the ill-intent that your neighbor next door is harboring. Like, not what lurks behind the Haunted Mansion, but what lurks behind the picket fence. We\u2019re experiencing so much anxiety and sometimes outright terror in American society right now. We\u2019re plumbing those depths with <\/span>Epitaphs from the Abyss<\/span><\/i>. So one foot in the old EC formula, but another foot in today\u2019s social anxieties for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s a power, tone, and intensity to the original EC library that we just are missing from comics these days. EC really took the creative guardrails off with creators in many ways for the first time, both in terms of content, and in terms of their artistic liberties. We\u2019re trying to get back to that place as quickly as possible. If we\u2019d talked about doing this 20 years ago in the year 2001, there was a common sense then that we had reached the end of history, that we are on the cusp of achieving a perfect 21<\/span>st<\/span> century near-utopia if not utopia. Things like nuclear war and the climate crisis and political instability — those were going to be 20<\/span>th<\/span> century phenomena. As we have quickly found out, none of those things are true, and the cruel irony of it all is that many of the same things that William Gaines and his contemporaries and EC were dealing with in 1952 are right back in the headlines today and perhaps even more so, amped up to a whole new degree for the 21<\/span>st<\/span> century. The EC storytelling mechanism is giving us a vehicle to deal with all of that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And what can you tell us about <\/b>Cruel Universe<\/i><\/b>?<\/b><\/p>\n How are you finding talent for the comics?<\/b><\/p>\n I gotta tell you, I\u2019ve had few more pleasurable experiences in my time working in comics than being able to call up high-profile creators who I\u2019ve worked with previously — or I\u2019ve always wanted to work with — and saying, \u201cHere\u2019s a phone call you didn\u2019t think you\u2019d get today. Would you like to write a new EC comic?\u201d And then watching their eyes light up as they think about it. These stories haven\u2019t been made in 70 years. <\/span><\/p>\n Also, the challenge for ourselves is EC obviously had one of the best stables for artistic talent of all time, everyone from Wally Wood to Frank Frazetta to Johnny Craig. How do we cast artists in the year 2024 who can stand in that shadow, not replicate what was done, but carry the tradition forward with their own distinct artistic styles that fit into these genres? And also, tell a story that\u2019s punchy and memorable and shocking in 6, 8, or 10 pages? Doing that is, in my opinion, sometimes harder than doing a full six-issue arc of a story. I\u2019m very fortunate to say we\u2019ve brought along some hyper-talented newcomers, some longtime industry favorites, and even some full-on comic book legends. Like, we have Klaus Janson contributing a story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Is there anything else going on at Oni Press that would be of interest to <\/b>Cemetery Dance <\/i><\/b>readers?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We have a lot of both horror and mystery titles in the mix at any given time. I should definitely give a shoutout to two books in particular. One is the <\/span>Hobtown Mystery Stories<\/a>, <\/span><\/i>which is by two very talented Canadian creators, Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes. They\u2019re really cool, moody, small town mystery stories, not super far removed from the vibe of <\/span>Twin Peaks<\/span><\/i>, but with a very specific 21<\/span>st<\/span> century update, with absolutely masterful control of comic book pacing. They dole out these stories of crime and subterfuge and mystery in a small Canadian town. We\u2019ve been publishing the first volume of <\/span>The Case of the Missing Men<\/span><\/i>, which was a very critically acclaimed self-published black-and-white book several years ago. We\u2019re publishing it for the first time in color and there\u2019s a whole series of these coming. We have five volumes currently planned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"cover](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/EC_ABYSS_002_Cover-B_POLLINA.jpg?resize=228%2C350&ssl=1\")
The famous and infamous EC Comics — known for horror classics like <\/span>Tales from the Crypt <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Vault of Horror —<\/span><\/i> is being revived by Oni Press<\/a> in an alliance with William M. Gaines Agent, Inc. Oni Press Publisher Hunter Gorinson spoke to <\/span>Cemetery Dance <\/span>about the publisher\u2019s new lineup with <\/span>Epitaphs from the Abyss<\/span><\/i> (July 2024) <\/span>and<\/span> Cruel Universe <\/span><\/i>(August 2024)<\/span>, how Oni is bringing EC Comics into the 21<\/span>st<\/span> century, and what other comics they have that would interest <\/span>Cemetery Dance <\/span><\/i>readers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"cover](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/EC_ABYSS_002_Cover-A_BERMEJO.jpg?resize=228%2C350&ssl=1\")
If you\u2019re an EC Comics aficionado, you know it\u2019s not a paint-by-numbers recreation of what you would have seen in <\/span>Tales from the Crypt <\/span><\/i>or <\/span>Vault of Horror <\/span><\/i>or <\/span>Haunt of Fear<\/span><\/i>. If you know anything about the original EC line, they kind of had the horror titles and then they also had the crime titles, Crime SuspenStories<\/em>, as well as Shock SuspenStories<\/em> where terrible things happen to terrible people. Oftentimes they were supernatural <\/span>in Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, <\/span><\/i>\u00a0etcetera. In Crime SuspenStories<\/em>, and specifically in Shock SuspenStories<\/em>, it was often people who were the greatest antagonist of all. <\/span><\/p>\n![\"cover](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/EC-UNIVERSE_001_COVER_SMALLWOOD-WEB.jpg?resize=228%2C350&ssl=1\")
Cruel Universe<\/span><\/i> is one that I think is going to take people by surprise. It\u2019s a science fiction anthology. It still has the dark imagery<\/span>, of course, that all EC stories have, and that twist or comeuppance that comes at the end, through a science fiction lens. That being said, the very first story in the very first issue is by writer Matt Kindt, who a lot of folks know from creating BRZRKR<\/i> with Keanu Reeves. He has also done many, many creator-owned books, including Mind MGMT<\/i> at Dark Horse and a bunch of other fantastic work over the years. This is a story that fits that mandate: it is wrenching, it has a devastating twist, but it also made every single person at Oni who\u2019s read it cry. So that may not be what your first initial impression is when you see science fiction stories, but they\u2019re using the genre of science fiction to explore the full range of human experience.<\/p>\n