EC Archives: Weird Science Volume 2

In general, the EC WEIRD SCIENCE stories are excellently rendered, with mediocre writing by Al Feldstein. Feldstein essentially recycles tried and true plots with "twist" endings that stop being a surprise when you come to expect a twist. Things don't end well in EC comics, so it becomes formulaic. The Comics Code Authority, influenced by Werther inspired furor, reacted against this notion, and demanded a different formula, one where all's well that ends well - both formulas are equally predictable and contrived.The art, of course, is spectacular. Not only did EC hire top artists, Gaines paid them top dollar. Comic artists got paid by the page. EC's rates allowed artists to spend more time on each page, since it gave them a higher monetary yield. Simple economics - when these artists were getting paid half the rate to work for other companies, they simply had to put out twice as much work to make the same amount of money, so they couldn't spend the same amount of time on it.In this volume there are several excellently drawn stories by Wally Wood, and Joe Orlando, and a few by Jack Kamen. Orlando had just been hired by EC, and was determined to make an impression, his work stands out in this collection. There is one Harvey Kurtzman comic (the best written story in the volume of course). There are a couple stories by George Roussos, and one by Feldstein.Unfortunately, the computer coloring does not jibe with the old comic illustrating techniques. These guys were not expecting a colorist to fill in background detail for them, nor were they expecting colorists to try to mold depth into faces, bodies, or folds of clothing. The artists created depth with rendering. The modern coloring creates strange patterns. Faces just look odd, and folds in clothing look like random patterns due darkened shades of computer colors over rendered inks.Comic Artist Frank Thorne said of computer coloring "...it's too gaudy and slick. The technicians try to model the form, but it seldom is convincing." I have to agree. Whether or not they are following Marie Severin's color scheme doesn't matter, the new techniques don't really accomplish what they set out to do on modern comics, and they just get in the way on these masterpieces of rendering.

Although I personally find this series of the EC Archives less engrossing overall than the others (VAULT OF HORROR, SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES, TALES FROM THE CRYPT), it is still fun to read. It's too bad that the EC Archives appear to be going the way of the rare collectible; perhaps not perfect, perhaps formulaic...they, nonetheless, have a charm of their own.WEIRD SCIENCE presents six artwork packed issues per volume, beautifully colored, and masterfully drawn. At the end of each issue, there is an essay sharing background information on the artists or on that particular issue. The science may seem "primitive" to our more "advanced" eyes, but it doesn't matter. It's that famous EC surprise ending we all wait for...and sometimes guess in advance. The stories themselves have no shortage of handsome leading men and curvaceous females, not to mention a plethora of aliens. The Letters pages are a bit difficult to read because of the small text and italics originally used but still entertaining.The men and women of EC were definitely dedicated to their art and the respect they always demonstrated for their audience through their stories makes this series worthy of your archives collection.

I have absolutely loved all the titles in the EC Archives and am so disappointed that the publisher has evidently ceased publication. Missed release dates and no word on future releases tells me that this incredibly fabulous series of EC reprints is coming to a close. I also like the 8 1/2"x 11" size of them; they're bigger than the DC comics archival reprints. If you're a fan of these great '50s comics, you can't go wrong with any of the books in this series. The colors are bright, crisp, and the paper is extremely high-quality.UPDATE (Aug. 2019): Dark Horse publishers have picked up where the previous publisher left off, and they've done it fabulously. The quality, size, format, etc. have stayed the same. Not only did Dark Horse continue the various EC titles, but they've gone back and reissued earlier volumes done by the previous publisher, which allows anyone who's discovered these titles late the opportunity to own them all. These are great, well-crafted volumes sure to thrill everyone who's a fan of EC!

I'm a big EC pre-code comics fan. In my mind they're tops in that class.

I buy these EC books every year for my brother on his birthday. He loves them. Loves the artwork. Loves the stories. He reads and re-reads them many times and examines the artwork. Loves Wally Wood. Since he is satisfied so am I.

I owned the Cochran black and white reprints which I had to sell to pay for college; so reading these stories again in color was great, well made and very well colored. Weird Science vol #2 is when things really start moving towards the quality of the New Trend. You are seeing the EC masters getting into their prime and what a season it is.

Fun reading for a rainy afternoon!

Very enjoyable fantasy/sci fi comics, and very artistic. However, some of the plots are on the verge of being predictable.

Im Grunde hat Karl B comickenner dieses Buch zutreffend beschrieben. Wir haben es hier tatsächlich mit einer der schwächsten Ausgaben der EC ARCHIVES zu tun. Richtig ist auch, dass nur ganz wenige der enthaltenen Stories mit einem überraschenden Abschluss, einen "Knaller" zum Ende aufwarten können (sonst die Stärke von EC). Hier kann man den Ausgang jeder einzelnen Geschichte schon nach wenigen Bildern erraten. Allerdings, auf welch hohem Niveau wird hier geklagt? Auch die schwächeren EC Bücher sind zeichnerisch und ja, auch vom Storytelling besser als fast alles andere, was sonst an Comics in den fünfziger Jahren (und weit darüber hinaus) geschaffen wurde.

If you want to read comics very different from what's being released today, with a plethora of 50s themed concepts, this is the book for you. There's lots of film-noir to these books. I loved every page. Incredible artwork too.