{"id":36105,"date":"2026-08-02T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=36105"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:24:02","slug":"came-the-dawn-and-other-stories-illustrated-by-wallace-wood-the-fantagraphics-ec-comics-artist-library-volume-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/08\/02\/came-the-dawn-and-other-stories-illustrated-by-wallace-wood-the-fantagraphics-ec-comics-artist-library-volume-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Came the Dawn and Other Stories illustrated by Wallace Wood (The Fantagraphics EC Comics artist Library volume 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Wallace Wood<\/strong>, with Al Feldstein<\/strong>, Harry Harrison<\/strong>, Gardner F. Fox<\/strong> & various (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-546-4 (HC\/Digital edition<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content<\/strong> employed for dramatic effect.<\/em><\/p>\n

EC began in 1944 when comic book pioneer Max Gaines sold the successful superhero properties of his All-American Comics<\/strong> company – including Wonder Woman<\/strong>, Flash<\/strong>, Green Lantern <\/strong>and Hawkman<\/strong> – to half-sister National\/DC. He retained only Picture Stories from the Bible<\/strong>, with a plan to produce a line of Educational Comics and with schools and church groups as the major target market. Max then augmented his core title with three more in similar vein: Picture Stories from American History<\/strong>, Science<\/strong> and World History.<\/strong> The worthy but unsustainable project was already struggling when he died in a boating accident in 1947. His son William was eventually convinced to assume control of the family business and, with much support and encouragement from unsung hero Sol Cohen and multi-talented associate Al Feldstein, transformed the ailing enterprise into Entertaining Comics<\/strong>, consequently triggering the greatest qualitative leap forward in comic book history…<\/p>\n

After a few tentative false starts and abortive experiments, Gaines settled into a bold and impressive publishing strategy, utilising the most gifted illustrators in the field to tell a \u201cNew Trend\u201d of stories aimed at an older, more discriminating audience.<\/p>\n

From 1950 -1954 EC was the most innovative and influential publisher in the US, dominating the genre markets for science fiction, war, horror and crime comics. The company even added a new type of title and another genre with the creation of parody magazine Mad<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

This second volume of the Fantagraphics EC Library<\/strong> is a magical and groundbreaking omnibus of horrific tales and human dramas displaying the astounding artistic expertise of Wallace Allan Wood: one of the greatest draughtsmen our art form has ever produced.<\/p>\n

Woody was a master of every aspect of the business. He began his career lettering Will Eisner\u2019s Spirit<\/strong> strip, moved into pencilling and inking and latterly, publishing. After years working all over the comics and syndicated strip industries, as well as in legitimate illustration, package-design and other areas of commercial art, he devised the legendary T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents<\/strong> franchise and even created one of the first adult independent comics with Witzend<\/strong> as the 1960s closed.<\/p>\n

The troubled genius carried the seeds of his own destruction, however. Woody\u2019s life was one of addiction (booze and cigarettes), traumatic relationships, tantalisingly close but always frustrated financial security, illness and eventually suicide. It was as if all the joy and beauty in his existence stayed on the pages and there was none left for real life.<\/p>\n

Although during his time with EC Wood became the acknowledged and undisputed Master of Science Fiction art in America, he was equally adept, driven and accomplished in the production of all genres. This powerful collection concentrates on some of his best early crime, horror and suspense tales and includes all the evocative, emotionally-charged social dramas (lovingly dubbed \u201cPreachies<\/em>\u201d) which Feldstein & Bill Gaines devised to address hot-button issues and challenge the smugly hierarchical status quo of post-war triumphalist America.<\/p>\n

These strident, still truly shocking morality plays viciously jabbed at the nation\u2019s dark underbelly, attacking prejudice, police corruption, drug abuse, sexual attitudes, racism, institutionalised intolerance and all manners of hypocrisy. It\u2019s no stretch to consider that these tales, more than any other childhood influence, probably shaped the resurgent liberal attitudes which blossomed as the future \u201cFlower Power\u201d generation reached their majority a decade later. They certainly riled the powers that be who made sure that when the Comics Code Authority was established all such dangerously seditious fare was kept well away from the kiddies…
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\nThe stories are re-presented here in stark yet lavish monochrome, with supplementary interviews, features and dissertations, beginning with Bill Mason\u2019s \u2018Come the Stories\u2019<\/em> weighing the yarns included here with forensic discipline. Then the pictorial parade picks up with rather pedestrian scam caper in \u2018The Werewolf Legend\u2019 <\/em>(Vault of Horror<\/strong> #12 April\/May 1950) as an innocent man is convinced he\u2019s a ravening monster. It was scripted by prolific and ubiquitous Gardner Fox, one of Gaines senior\u2019s greatest assets and discoveries. The pencils are by cartoonist Harry Harrison (Stainless Steel Rat<\/strong>, Make Room! Make Room!<\/strong>, The Technicolor Time Machine<\/strong>, Bill, the Galactic Hero<\/strong>) and inked by Wood. Although Harrison found his greatest fame as a prestigious prose author in later years, he was a major player in the comics biz during the 1950s and had worked with Wood as a jobbing production team since they\u2019d met at the Cartoonists and Illustrators school in 1948.<\/p>\n

For Haunt of Fear<\/strong> #15 the trio concocted legend of lethal legerdemain \u2018The Mad Magician\u2019<\/em>, whilst an anonymously-authored enigma of \u2018The Living Corpse\u2019<\/em> (Crypt of Terror<\/strong> #18) edged closer to truly supernatural shenanigans as another illusionist took things too far in pursuit of his craft…<\/p>\n

Fox scripted and Harrison pencilled \u2018The Curse of Harkley Heath\u2019<\/em> in VoH <\/strong>#13, wherein a gothic triangle of greedy heirs come to unpleasant, untimely ends after a will is read, after which Wood began handling all the art chores, starting with \u2018Horror-Ahead!\u2019<\/em> in HoF <\/strong>#16 (July\/August 1950) when rival curio collectors endure a jungle jaunt in search of shrunken skulls and end up the only way they possibly could…<\/p>\n

A Noir-tinged new era began when Al Feldstein began scripting for Woody. \u2018Death\u2019s Double-Cross\u2019<\/em> – from the sublimely mature Crime SuspenStories<\/strong> #1 (October\/November 1951) offers the twisted tale of a woman cheating on her husband with his twin brother in a moody masterpiece reminiscent of James M. Cain. Naturally it quickly turns into a nightmare that won\u2019t end pretty…
\n\"\"
\nFox delivered a final shot in \u2018The Man from the Grave\u2019<\/em> from HoF <\/strong>#4, which saw a dissolute craftsman commit gruesome murder for his art… and live to regret it in desperate luxury and a relentless, compulsive paroxysm of over-work, before Feldstein\u2019s \u2018Terror Ride!\u2019<\/em> (Tales From the Crypt<\/strong> #21) finds young lovers who soon regret being the last couple to ride a decrepit Amusement Park\u2019s Old Mill<\/em> boat attraction. Feldstein\u2019s epic run of stories fill most of this tome and continue in a yarn from Haunt of Fear<\/strong> #5, where Wood\u2019s dark imagination and gift for \u00a0rendering grotesques is expertly exploited in \u2018Horror in the Freak Tent!\u2019<\/em> Here a cruel carnival owner who mercilessly mistreats his exotic employees finally receives a macabre measure of justice…<\/p>\n

Crime SuspenStories<\/strong> #3 then provides a fearsome farrago of betrayal and vengeance when two fugitive bandits are \u2018Faced With Horror!\u2019<\/em> after picking the wrong plastic surgeon to sort out their public notoriety problems, whilst \u2018So They Finally Pinned You Down!\u2019<\/em> (HoF <\/strong>#6) follows a troubled soul who can\u2019t understand why he\u2019s always stumbling over dead women…
\n\"\"
\nThe macabre mayhem concludes with two tasty titbits from Tales From the Crypt<\/strong> #24 & 25, beginning with a classic philandering-murderer-gets-his-come-uppance saga in \u2018Scared to Death!\u2019<\/em>, after which a baroque body-switching melodrama concerning a cunning crone and a lovely young thing compels a bewildered husband to conclude \u2018Judy, You\u2019re Not Yourself Today!\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

The remainder of this potent volume is comprised of those controversial conscience-rending polemical passion-plays and human dilemmas Gaines called Preachies, opening with \u2018The Guilty!\u2019<\/em> as seen in Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #3 (June\/July 1952), which sees a typical small town enflamed by the murder of a young white girl. The Sheriff knows the black kid in his jail is guilty and is just as keen as the mob to spare the State the cost of a trial and takes steps to ensure it too.<\/p>\n

… And that\u2019s when the girl\u2019s white boyfriend confesses…<\/p>\n

Although stridently moralising and rather heavy handed by contemporary standards, these stories are the very bedrock of EC\u2019s well-deserved reputation as the crusading creators of America\u2019s very first adult comics for mature readers. Moreover, these ugly truths were gloriously draped in so very beautiful clothes, with Wood\u2019s incredible illustrations inspired by the fiercely impassioned scripts, soaring to unparallelled heights of sensitivity with gut-wrenching impact.
\n\"\"
\nShock SuspenStories<\/strong> #4 took the cultural campaign further in a sordid tale of the innocent witness relentlessly beaten into a \u2018Confession\u2019<\/em> by cops determined to capture a hit-&-run driver who\u2019d killed their Lieutenant\u2019s wife. So why then, is the grieving officer\u2019s car all banged up and covered in blood? Sheer, old-fashioned anti-Semitism fuels the \u2018Hate!\u2019<\/em> of a quiet little town and leads to the death of a family too stubborn to be warned. Imagine instigator John Smith\u2019s<\/em> surprise when his appalled mother tells the entire town that he was adopted and what his true origins are. Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #6\u2019s \u2018Under Cover!\u2019<\/em> combines the local Klan chapter\u2019s campaign of punishment-floggings for miscegenation<\/em> with the end of a crusading reporter who tries to expose the scandal. Tragically, he forgot that there might be almost anybody under those pointy hoods…<\/p>\n

In #7 \u2018The Bribe\u2019<\/em> reveals how even the most honest and dedicated of civil servants can be pushed into abandoning his principles – especially with a loving daughter, her upcoming wedding and crushing society pressure hitting him so hard…<\/p>\n

Even today \u2018The Assault!\u2019<\/em> is potentially the most contentious tale here, exposing how a small town girl with salacious appetites callously guards her precious but precarious reputation by framing an old man for her \u201crape\u201d. In typical tone for those times, her lie ultimately and inevitably causes two deaths, after which eponymous \u2018Came the Dawn!\u2019<\/em> from Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #9 offers a superb \u00a0example of Greek tragedy in modern dress. Here a lonely backwoods hermit finds a beautiful naked woman in his cabin and, after a night of mutual passion with the girl of his dreams, discovers that an inmate fitting her description has escaped from the nearby asylum. Only after he\u2019s locked his dream girl outside out does he discover that she\u2019s not the only mysterious blonde lost in the forest…<\/p>\n

Far less emotionally loaded but equally devastating is the darkly introspective \u2018…So Shall Ye Reap!\u2019<\/em> (Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #10) which sees a penitent, angry young man contemplating every hypocritical act of his pompously pious parents before reaching his own moment of judgement prior to \u2018In Gratitude\u2019<\/em> launching a simply breathtaking assault on the nation\u2019s double standards after a wounded soldier comes home to a hero\u2019s welcome. However, he savagely turns on his friends and family when he finds out what they\u2019ve done to the \u201ccoloured man\u201d who saved his life…<\/p>\n

More quirky crime-caper than social commentary, \u2018Fall Guy\u2019<\/em> (Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #12) follows the doomed decade that saw upstanding citizen Danny Jansen<\/em> steal a fortune to please a greedy girl far out of his league only to spend ten years in jail paying for it. Surprisingly, she waited all that time for him, but wasn\u2019t best pleased when he couldn\u2019t remember how to retrieve \u201ctheir\u201d ill-gotten gains…<\/p>\n

A campaign of hate to drive out a man who foolishly admitted to being part-Negro ends in suicide and a sense of smug satisfaction when the bigot-in-charge boasts of his success to the local doctor in \u2018Blood-Brothers\u2019 <\/em>(Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #13). Imagine the vile cross-burner\u2019s surprise when the aged medic reveals the source of the transfusion which had long-ago saved the happy hate-monger\u2019s life. Next, \u2018The Whipping\u2019<\/em> (scripted by Feldstein & Gaines for Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #14) returns to scandalmongering territory, when a dutiful daughter defies her racist father and starts dating an Hispanic boy. Dad doesn\u2019t call it that, and the outrageous steps he and his pure-white buddies take to end the affair horrifically backfire…
\n\"\"
\nThe last tale reprinted here is \u2018The Confidant\u2019<\/em> (Feldstein, Gaines and Wood from Shock SuspenStories<\/strong> #15, June\/July 1954), created at a moment in time when public outcries against comics was reaching its fevered peak. It deals with mob-justice and sees an entire town baying for the blood of a newcomer who they \u201cknow\u201d has murdered a young girl. Then, when a dark stranger arrives searching for one of his children, the unofficial posse jump to a wrong conclusion with tragic and irreparable consequences…<\/p>\n

Please forgive any deliberate vagueness on my part here: the point is to make you want to read these poignant. shocking stories and I don\u2019t want to devalue their impact or spoil your otherwise assured enjoyment…<\/p>\n

A detailed history of Woody the flawed genius is provided by historian S.C. Ringgenberg in prose piece \u2018Wallace Wood\u2019<\/em> after which this truly beautiful book is closed by \u2018Behind the Panels: Creator Biographies\u2019<\/em> compiled by Arthur Lortie & and Bill Mason before Ted White\u2019s \u2018Crime, Horror, Terror, Gore, Depravity, Disrespect for Established Authority – and Science Fiction Too!: \u2018The Ups and Downs of EC Comics: A Short History\u2019<\/em> offers a comprehensive rundown of the entire EC phenomenon.<\/p>\n

The short, sweet, cruelly limited EC back catalogue has been revisited ad infinitum in the decades since its demise. Those amazing yarns changed not just comics but also infected the larger world through film and television to convert millions into dedicated devotees still addicted to New Trend tales. Whether you are an aged EC Fan-Addict<\/em>, a nervous newbie, or simply a mere fan of brilliant stories and sublime art, Came the Dawn<\/strong> is a book no sane and\/or sensible reader can afford to be without.
\nThis edition \u00a9 2012 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All comics stories \u00a9 2012 William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., reprinted with permission. All other material \u00a9 2012 the respective creators.<\/p>\n

Today in 1904 British cartoon colossus Reg Parlett<\/strong> (Just Jake<\/strong>, Billy Bunter<\/strong>, Mowser<\/em>, countless assorted strips for Merry and Bright<\/strong>, Funny Wonder<\/strong>, Radio Fun<\/strong>, Film Fun<\/strong>, Knockout<\/strong>, Buster<\/strong>, Valiant<\/strong>, Lion<\/strong>, Whizzer and Chips<\/strong>, Cor!!<\/strong>, Whoopee!<\/strong>, Jackpot<\/strong>, Wow!<\/em>) was born, sharing the day with Golden age letterer Betty Bentley<\/strong> (Superman<\/strong>, Batman<\/strong>, Starman<\/strong>) in 1916; artist\/illustrator\/inker Dave Hunt<\/strong> (Transformers<\/strong>, Avengers<\/strong>, Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong>, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes<\/strong>, Wonder Woman<\/strong>, DC Comics Presents<\/strong>) in 1942; Belgian creator Luc Cromheecke<\/strong> (Taco Zip<\/em>, Tom Carbon<\/em> & Roboboy<\/em>) in 1961; writer\/letterer John Layman<\/strong> (Chew<\/strong>, Thundercats<\/strong>, Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness<\/strong>) in 1969 and writer\/moviemaker Kevin Smith<\/strong> (Clerks<\/strong>, Chasing Amy<\/strong>, Daredevil: Guardian Devil<\/strong>, Green Arrow<\/strong>, Batman: The Widening Gyre<\/strong>, Batman: Cacophony<\/strong>, Jay and Silent Bob<\/strong>) in 1970.<\/p>\n

Belgian master storyteller Fran\u00e7ois Craenhals<\/strong> (Karan<\/em><\/strong>, Fant\u00f4mette<\/em>, Chevalier Ardent<\/em><\/strong>, Les 4 As<\/em>, Pom et Teddy<\/em><\/strong>) died today in 2004.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Wallace Wood, with Al Feldstein, Harry Harrison, Gardner F. Fox & various (Fantagraphics Books) ISBN: 978-1-60699-546-4 (HC\/Digital edition This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content employed for dramatic effect. EC began in 1944 when comic book pioneer Max Gaines sold the successful superhero properties of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Came the Dawn and Other Stories illustrated by Wallace Wood (The Fantagraphics EC Comics artist Library volume 2)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,75,239,429,66,105,369,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comicsacademic","category-crime-comics","category-drama","category-ec-comics","category-horror-stories","category-mature-reading","category-wally-wood","category-war-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9ol","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36113,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36105\/revisions\/36113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}