THE READTHRU: VAULT OF HORROR Part 1 (#12-16)
TheReadthru is designed to take you through the issue run of a comic book ormagazine. It will be an ongoing series of capsule review guides to famoustitles of yesteryear.
After a few horror-oriented tales tested well in one ofE.C.'s crime comics, William Gaines and Al Feldstein saw the gory writing onthe wall and added the genre to the company's roster. Vault Of Horror debuted simultaneously alongside Tales From The Crypt and followed thesame creative dictates: it was an anthology with four stories per issue, alltales were framed by a host who leavened their narration with gruesome punsa-plenty and the stories were punchy affairs with excellent art and twist-happydenouements.
As with all E.C. horror titles, their trio of residenthorror hosts appeared here but the main host was the Vault Keeper, who wouldlead off each issue in a tale usually drawn by Johnny Craig. He also plottedout his Vault Keeper-lead stories, which was unique for an E.C. artist(plotting was usually handled by other writers). The first five issues of Vaultshow that the house style settled in quickly and effectively...
VAULTOF HORROR #12: The title starts well with a quartet ofwhat would become familiar E.C. archetypes. "Portrait In Wax" is aCraig-helmed riff on Mystery Of The WaxMuseum retrofitted to E.C.'s greed-gone-wrong theme, featuring plentifulcorpses, an acid facial and a dramatic unmasking. "The WerewolfLegend" is identical in concept to a tale from the first issue of Crypt Of Terror but is told with betterplot hooks and superior, downright phantasmagorical art from the team of WallyWood and Harry Harrison. "Horror In The Night" is one of thosenightmare-never-ends tales of circular fate set at a motel with some noirishHarvey Kurtzman art. "Terror Train" closes things out with acrazy-or-not tale of a woman on the run from an ominous husband she can'tescape: Feldstein handled the art, putting his classically styled heroinethrough the ringer with a tale that includes knives, a coffin and an opengrave.
VAULTOF HORROR #13: It's a shame Feldstein didn't have moretime for art as E.C. Comics gained success because he does ace work on theopening tale "The Dead Will Return," bringing shadowy style and asense of growing madness to a tale of a corpse that won't stay hidden."The Curse Of Harkley Heath" is a darkly humorous tale of greeddividing a group of murderous relatives told with gothic visual flair by theWood/Harrison team. "Doctor Of Horror" is a tale of ambition goneamuck at a med school: the punch of the final twist is curiously muffled herebut the Graham Ingels art captures the grotesquery of its antihero nicely."Island Of Death" closes things with a riff on The Most Dangeous Game: it feels more like adventure-lite thanhorror but the Kurtzman art suggests his future greatness in war comics.
VAULTOF HORROR #14: Craig's lead-off tale for this one is"Voodoo Vengeance," a voodoo doll narrative that gets a charge fromhow his charming cartoon stylings of characters get subverted by the story'smix of deceit, jealousy and magic-assisted violence. "Werewolf" is asupernatural-inflected murder mystery with a novel mountain setting and slickart from the team of future screenwriter Jules Feiffer and Harry Harrison, includinga fun final panel. "Rats Have Sharp Teeth" brings Ingels' trademarkghastly-gothic touch to a tale of grave-robbing: he nails the anti-hero'srising greed and the crypt interiors with equal skill. "The StrangeCouple" is another one of those E.C. 'woke up from a nightmare... that'sreal!' tales, with appropriately moody Feldstein art and a kitchen-sink finaltwist.
VAULTOF HORROR #15: "Horror House" brings Craig'sclean comic-strip stylings to a familiar tale of pranksters getting pranked bythe great beyond but it has an amusing meta-element by having a horrorspecialist writer as its protagonist. "Terror In The Swamp" is one ofSchlockmania's favorite tales drawn by Feldstein, a tale of mad science in thetitle location with elements that predict both The Blob and Swamp Thing."Report From The Grave" is one of the lighter horror tales that JackKamen specialized in, handsomely illustrated. It redeems its convoluted plotwith a clever final twist. "Buried Alive!" ends things on anentertainingly macabre note, spinning a yarn of cheating, double-crosses andfaked deaths with gripping Ingels art that captures both the lust and thecruelty of its participants.
VAULTOF HORROR #16: "Werewolf Concerto" is anotherCraig-helmed tale that uses protagonists with a comic-strip look to offset itshorror themes: the double-twist isn't that hard to predict but it's carriedalong by its macabre good cheer. The H.P. Lovecraft-inspired "FittingPunishment" is a revenge tale with gothic trappings ideally suited toIngel's style, particularly its depiction of its elderly cheapskate villain."The Grave Wager" is another twist-happy tale of pranks gone wrong,atmospherically illustrated by lite-horror pro Kamen. The best is saved forlast: "Escape" mixes crime comic characters into an ironic tale offate with very cinematic storytelling by Feldstein.
Note: The following tales from the above issues were alladapted for the Tales From The Cryptt.v. show - "Horror In The Night," "Doctor Of Horror,""Report From The Grave," "Fitting Punishment" and"Werewolf Concerto."