Weird Fantasy
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Weird Fantasy was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly science-fiction comic, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, replaced romance comic A Moon, A Girl... Romance with the May/June 1950 issue. Although the title and format change took effect with issue 13, Gaines and Feldstein decided not to restart the numbering in order to save money on second class postage. The Post Office took note and, starting with issue #6, all the issues were numbered correctly. Because of this, "Weird Fantasy #13" could refer to either the May/June 1950 issue or the actual 13th issue of the title, published in 1952. The same confusion exists for issues #14-17, #17 being the last issue published before EC reset the numbering. Over a four-year span, Weird Fantasy ran for 22 issues, ending with the November-December 1953 issue.
Cover illustrations were by Feldstein with the exception of two by Joe Orlando, one collaboration by Feldstein and Al Williamson, plus another collaboration by Williamson with Frank Frazetta. Artists who drew stories for this EC title were Feldstein, Frazetta, Williamson, Orlando, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, George Roussos, Harry Harrison, Reed Crandall, Will Elder, Bernard Krigstein, Jack Kamen, John Severin and Mac Elkin.
The companion comic for Weird Fantasy was Weird Science. Due to lack of sales, the two titles merged in 1954 to become Weird Science-Fantasy. Weird-Science Fantasy ran for seven issues before a title change to Incredible Science Fiction for the final four issues.
[edit] Stories of note
- Home to Stay in Weird Fantasy 13 was an unauthorized adaptation of two Ray Bradbury stories, The Rocket Man and Kaleidoscope. After Bradbury contacted EC about this, they reached an agreement for EC to do authorized adaptations of Bradbury's short fiction, resulting in "There Will Come Soft Rains" (Weird Fantasy 17), "Zero Hour" (18), "King of the Grey Spaces" (19), "I, Rocket" (20), "The Million Year Picnic" (21) and "The Silent Towns" (22).
- For Weird Fantasy 17, Al Williamson illustrated "The Aliens": Three aliens head for Earth to prevent a nuclear war, but they arrive too late. Amid the devastation they find a copy of Weird Fantasy 17. When they read "The Aliens", they see that it had predicted their arrival. On the last page they see a picture of themselves looking at a comic book with a picture of themselves looking at... ad infinitum.
- Issues 14 and 15 ran EC Quickies, a format featuring two similarly themed stories, each three or four pages, in the space usually devoted to a seven or eight-page story.
- Gaines and Feldstein made cameos in "Cosmic Ray Bomb Explosion" (14, July-August 1950), "7 Year Old Genius" (7) and "The Expert" (14) and "The Ad" (14). In "Cosmic Ray Bomb Explosion," comic book editors Gaines and Feldstein are investigated by the FBI after they publish a comic book story about the destruction of Washington, D.C. by a cosmic ray bomb. Summoned to Washington, they explain it's just a comic book story, so the investigation ends. Foreign agents who purchased the comic book launch an attack on Washington just as Gaines and Feldstein exit FBI headquarters.
[edit] External links
- CBW Comic History
- Horror from the Crypt of Fear 9: "OTR: The Evil Influence Behind EC" by Kurt Kuersteiner
[edit] Issue guide
| # | Date | Cover Artist | Story | Story Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13(1) | May/June 1950 | Al Feldstein | Am I Man or Machine? | Al Feldstein |
| Only Time Will Tell | Wally Wood & Harry Harrison | |||
| The Men of Tomorrow | Jack Kamen | |||
| ...Trip into the Unknown | Harvey Kurtzman | |||
| 14(2) | July/Aug 1950 | Al Feldstein | Cosmic Ray Bomb Explosion! | Al Feldstein |
| The Black Arts | Wally Wood & Harry Harrison | |||
| The Trap of Time! | Jack Kamen | |||
| Atom Bomb Thief! | Harvey Kurtzman | |||
| 15(3) | Sept/Oct 1950 | Al Feldstein | Martian Infiltration | Al Feldstein |
| Henry and His... Goon Child | Harvey Kurtzman | |||
| I Died Tomorrow! | Jack Kamen | |||
| Dark Side of the Moon | Wally Wood | |||
| 16(4) | Nov/Dec 1950 | Al Feldstein | The Last City | Al Feldstein |
| The Mysterious Ray From Another Dimension | Harvey Kurtzman | |||
| Second Childhood | Jack Kamen | |||
| A Trip to a Star! | Wally Wood | |||
| 17(5) | Jan/Feb 1951 | Al Feldstein | Child of Tomorrow! | Al Feldstein |
| THe Time Machine and the Shmoe! | Harvey Kurtzman | |||
| Deadlock! | Wally Wood | |||
| Prediction of Disaster! | Jack Kamen | |||
| 6 | March/April 1951 | Al Feldstein | Space-Warp! | Al Feldstein |
| The Dimension Translator | Harvey Kurtzman | |||
| ...And Then There Were Two! | Jack Kamen | |||
| Rescued! | Wally Wood | |||
| 7 | May/June 1951 | Al Feldstein | 7 Year Old Genius! | Al Feldstein |
| Come Into My Parlor | Jack Kamen | |||
| Across the Sun! | George Roussos | |||
| Breakdown! | Wally Wood | |||
| 8 | July/Aug 1951 | Al Feldstein | The Origin of the Species! | Al Feldstein |
| It Didn't Matter | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Slave Ship | George Roussos | |||
| The Enemies of the Colony | Wally Wood | |||
| 9 | Sept/Oct 1951 | Al Feldstein | Spawn of Mars | Wally Wood |
| The Duplicates | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Connection | Marty Elkin | |||
| A Mistake in Multiplication | Joe Orlando | |||
| 10 | Nov/Dec 1951 | Al Feldstein | The Secret of Saturn's Ring! | Wally Wood |
| A Timely Shock! | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Mutants! | Wally Wood | |||
| Not on the Menu | Joe Orlando | |||
| 11 | Jan/Feb 1952 | Al Feldstein | The Two-Century Journey! | Wally Wood |
| Shrinking From Abuse | Jack Kamen | |||
| The 10th At Noon | Wally Wood | |||
| The Thing in the Jar | Joe Orlando | |||
| 12 | March/April 1952 | Al Feldstein | Project... Survival! | Wally Wood |
| A Lesson in Anatomy! | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Die is Cast! | Wally Wood | |||
| A Man's Job! | Joe Orlando | |||
| 13 | May/June 1952 | Al Feldstein | The End! | Wally Wood |
| The Trip! | Jack Kamen | |||
| Home to Stay! | Wally Wood | |||
| Don't Count Your Chickens... | Joe Orlando | |||
| 14 | July/Aug 1952 | Al Feldstein | The Exile! | Wally Wood |
| The Expert! | Joe Orlando | |||
| The Ad! | Joe Orlando | |||
| Close Call! | Jack Kamen | |||
| Mad Journey! | Al Williamson | |||
| 15 | Sept/Oct 1952 | Al Feldstein | Revulsion! | Joe Orlando |
| The Quick Trip | Al Williamson | |||
| The Long Trip | Al Williamson | |||
| He Who Waits! | Jack Kamen | |||
| By George!! | Al Williamson | |||
| 16 | Nov/Dec 1952 | Al Feldstein | Mass Meeting! | Joe Orlando |
| Skeleton Key! | Al Williamson | |||
| What He Saw! | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Green Thing! | Joe Orlando | |||
| 17 | Jan/Feb 1953 | Al Feldstein | In the Beginning... | Joe Orlando |
| Ahead of the Game! | Bill Elder | |||
| The Aliens | Al Williamson | |||
| There Will Come Soft Rains... | Wally Wood | |||
| 18 | March/April 1953 | Al Feldstein & Al Williamson | Counter-Clockwise | Bill Elder & John Severin |
| Zero Hour | Jack Kamen | |||
| Homesick! | Al Williamson | |||
| Judgement Day! | Joe Orlando | |||
| 19 | May/June 1953 | Al Feldstein | King of the Grey Spaces! | Bill Elder & John Severin |
| Hot-Rod! | Jack Kamen | |||
| Brain-Child! | Al Williamson | |||
| Time For a Change! | Joe Orlando | |||
| 20 | July/Aug 1953 | Al Feldstein | ...For Us the Living | Bill Elder & John Severin |
| I, Rocket | Al Williamson | |||
| ...Conquers All! | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Automaton | Joe Orlando | |||
| 21 | Sept/Oct 1953 | Al Feldstein | My Home... | Joe Orlando |
| Saved | Al Williamson | |||
| Planely Possible | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Million Year Picnic | Bill Elder and John Severin | |||
| 22 | Nov/Dec 1953 | Joe Orlando | The Silent Towns | Reed Crandall |
| The Freaks | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Fossil | Joe Orlando | |||
| Derelict Ship | Bernard Krigstein |
